"Madam, give me..."

It's Friday, mid-morning. There is only one teacher to control the entire primary school. The kids are a bit unruly -- playing games, screaming, doing god knows what. However, their favorite activity is antagonizing the White Lady. They clamor onto my porch, smash their grubby hands and faces against the screens. Anything to get a glimpse into the fabulous world of the White Lady. I hear them shuffling and shouting, calling for me and my dog. No matter how many times I respond to their greetings, they can't be subdued.

I finally go outside and face them head on. "What do you want?" I ask in Dagbani. Typical response -- "Madam, give me ______!" Give me money, toffee (candy), your dog, book, pen, shirt. Anything really. I say, "No, I will not give you anything. You are very rude." I go back inside and as I'm busy closing windows in the children's faces I hear, "Madam, my hunger." As I slam the last window shut I say, "Then go home and eat rice." I think I'm jaded.

Over the past ten months in Ghana, I've often wondered, where does this 'give me' mentality come from? I think it lies in the role NGOs play. Ghana is simply flooded with NGOs. This makes sense. It is in Africa, the land of destituion and despair. And unlike many other African nations it is quite stable, peaceful, and friendly. It's a pretty logical choice. So Ghanaians (to some extent) have grown accustomed to us whities coming in and giving things away. Unfortunately, this makes things quite difficult for Peace Corps volunteers who are placed in communities for an extended period of time with little to no financial resources. It also tends to completely eliminate any needs assessment activities which, in my opinion, are of utmost importance in development.

I think it is extremely important to allow communities and individuals to determine their own needs. It is easy for NGOs and do-gooders to enter a community and say, "Well, there are no latrines here. This community must need latrines." They will then proceed to provide latrines. However, unless the community has actually expressed any interest in these latrines, they will probably go unused. Or in one case in my village, be used as a chicken coop.

In response to this problem, I decided to only try projects specifically requested by the village. Especially after watching the failure of projects which were not specifically requested. I attempted a latrine project at the request of my counterpart, which failed. Villagers claimed a lack of funds. At the urging of the assemblyman and community women, I attempted to establish a community center which would contain a pre-school, nutrition center, and library. The District Assembly prepared a budget for the building alone which exceeded 100,000 Ghana cedis. Peace Corps has deemed this project too big and improbable. After reading "Banker to the Poor" by Muhammad Yunus, I wanted to try micro-credit. My parents graciously agreed to donate $100 to the cause. At the first meeting the women complained that the money was not enough and that I did not bring them sodas. The second meeting has yet to occur because it rained during the morning of the meeting. The meeting was scheduled for the afternoon.

So I'm a bit frustrated. I feel as though Ghanaians skipped, or want to skip, some development steps. Shitting in a hole rather than in the bush? Nah. Cell phones and motorcyles? Definitely. Although people in my village claim to see the importance of things such as mosquito nets, latrines, and soak-away pits, they always tend to put them quite low on the priority list. One man spent 60 Ghana cedis wiring his house for lights when there isn't even electricity in Lungbunga. Yet he supposedly cannot afford the 2 cedis for a mosquito net. It's a matter of priority.

Ultimately, this isn't such a bad move on the part of Ghanaians. They figure eventually an NGO will come around and give them these materials -- mosquito nets, latrines, boreholes, etc. So why bother spending money on them? This is perhaps my greatest irk with development work. There is a huge push to bring health, water, and sanitation materials to communities at no cost. However, it is likely that these communities can afford such materials, if only they re-prioritized.

This "give me" mentality is so pervasive that even an educated, Ghanaian adult working for an NGO asked me what I thought Obama would bring to Ghana. I told him I thought Obama would bring his friendship and that should be enough. I feel like something is amiss. If children can say "give me money/toffee/whatever," but few other English phrases, what does that say about the culture? Or maybe more importantly, what does that say about us do-gooder whites?

Whenever I ask Ghanaians about this "give me" issue they say it is mostly a joke. Who thought it would be funny to demand possesions from people? Adults in my village demand my food, money, clothes, dog, pretty much any possession I have that they like. How did this turn funny and why would anyone perpetute this problem by continuing to simply give?

Why does no one else seem bothered by these things?? And finally, am I turning into a conservative?

Fastest Six Weeks EVER

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've written. I've been busy. Well, relatively (no pun intended haha I didn't even realize that was a pun at first which makes it even better).

First and foremost, my lovely family came to Ghana! If you want to see lots and lots of pictures than go to Picasa website and search it up. It was wonderful and ridiculous, just like most things in the Trottman family. They all did very well and I am very proud! And besides, if I can live the Ghanaian lifestyle, the rest of the Trottmans DEFINITELY can. Some highlights:

1. Mama got The Heat Stroke! She decided it was a good idea to take not only one, but TWO bike rides down the dirt road under the blazing mid-day sun. Each one was about an hour long. After the second one she came back and didn't look so hot (literally, actually - she wasn't sweating at all) and she acted all woozy. The LB set in shortly after. If you don't know what LB stands for, ask someone.

2. Dad learned all about why my village doesn't have electricity! Or rather, why it actually does have electricity, but no one has it. Through traditional Doug Trottman interrogation methods he learned that electricity runs through all the wires in Lungbunga, transformers are in place, and many houses are already wired and equipped with meters. The government, however, has yet to install some small thing (yes, I forgot the name) and so no one can have electricity. Pretty lame. But it provided me the perfect opportunity to chastise my counterpart for spending 60 cedis on getting his house wired (when there aren't even lights), while claiming he can't afford a latrine (20 cedis).

3. Paul played doctor! After finding out he's going to become an actual doctor one day, he decided to do some warm-ups. An NGO called United for Sight came to Lungbunga primarily to conduct eye exams and give out low-cost glasses. They also thought it might be helpful to get some blood pressure readings, since obviously everyone in Lungbunga has access to blood pressure medication. So Paul got the job. I played documentarian for the whole event. I think it was the first time in my life I had operated a video camera. Good luck to whoever's editing it for fundraising propaganda. Sage really is a cute dog though...

4. Angela survived two weeks of Trottmans! Enough said.

We also learned a lot about sheep. Americans new to Ghana have a different, I would venture to say cleaner, smell, which seemed to attract the sheep. Also, sheep really really don't like my dog. One actually chased her. An unprovoked adult sheep chased my dog. And another sheep accidentally head-butted my shin because I was standing between it and Sage.

The Trottmans also experienced a traditional Dagomba drumming and dancing festival, hosted by a family friend living in Tamale. Even dad danced.

Paul and Angela stayed in the motherland for an extra two weeks, so they got to witness some more joys of Ghana. For example, a "meeting." Which means travelling an hour and a half on terrible roads to see someone for maybe ten minutes. And then coming right back. Also, "medical attention." My friend has been terribly sick and was diagnosed with both malaria and typhoid. Which is interesting, because most other Peace Corps volunteers who went to this particular hospital were diagnosed with both malaria and typhoid.

Then came the hardest part - tearing myself away from Ghana long enough to vacation in Europe. I spent about two weeks travelling through Europe with a good friend from high school and college. We went to Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria. Needless to say, it was amazing. Except for the part at the end when a bag containing most of my possessions was stolen. But I think the non-boxed wine, real cheese, and creamy chocolate were worth it. I also got to see an Army base. A Peace Corps volunteer visits an Army base. Hmmm...

So now I'm back. Home sweet home! It actually is though, which is nice. Although I just arrived about 12 hours ago, it's surprisingly comforting to be back in Ghana. I'm looking forward to going back to my village and seeing Musah, eating TZ (hopefully not with the phlegm soup), and watching sheep follow Sage girl. I missed that.