The basketball court is off to a great start with $600+! Thanks so much to all that have donated already.
Things have been happening at site and any one of them used to be the highlight of the week for me. We’re having another record month of tourists, 53 so far, had lights installed in the weaving centre, been posted on BBC’s “Save our Sounds”, and installed the towns first 23 rubbish bins.
The lights in the weaving centre are overall a great thing. The lighting in there just isn’t very good all the time and sometimes the weavers just need more time. I just hope they don’t work too long as they already work more than anyone else in town.
BBC is doing a “Save our Sounds” campaign that you send in a sound that is in danger of being lost or sums up a lifestyle. I think the clicks and clatters of the weavers is an awesome sound and really sums up what it’s like here in Kpetoe. When I went to the website the only sound they had for Ghana was an old school modem, lame. I sat between 2 weavers, recorded and sent it in. They said describe it the best you can so I wrote like a few paragraphs. We got posted! They also copied the entire email I sent and put it with the sound. The link is www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specialreports/saveoursounds/index.shtml
Who’d have thought rubbish bins were so cool? NCRC (Nature Conservation Research Centre) is one of the main NGO’s that I work with. They promote eco-tourism and really do amazing things for our community. The next step for Kpetoe after finishing our constitution was placing rubbish bins throughout town. This not only makes a town more tourism friendly but also makes it much more sanitary. We did a few write-ups and picked the locations for the bins and last week 10 large bins on wheels and 13 standing ones arrived!
This was the first lasting physical influence that I have helped bring to my community. The brand new District Chief Executive (remember elections in December? Ya, he just got here) came out to thank us complete with press coverage. I had just gone to introduce myself to him the day before so now he probably thinks I can do things like this easily. He forgot my name so I was just “white man” in all his quotes; least they’ll spell it right. The day before my crew of weavers (Bright, Francis, Joshua and co.) had filled bags with sand and gravel as prep so after the ceremony we installed the first one at the District Assembly before dark.
Mr. Agba then said that we should meet at 5 the next morning to dig the holes for the standing bins. Joshua and I said that was too early but everyone else said that was fine. 5:15 rolls around and it’s only Joshua and I sitting on a log. The digging didn’t take long but the walking and the debates over placement once people woke up did. The district environmental officer left his office for the first time in a year and decided he should have the biggest say in where they went. It was sad to see how surprised he was at the state of our sanitation here. Everyone in town wanted one near them, especially the big men. During one debate Joshua, Bright, and I had a Guinness; I don’t like arguments. 8 am is a new record for first of the day, well here at least. Everyone thought a white guy riding around later in the back of a pickup and doing manual labor was hilarious. Bright couldn’t believe that I’d roofed for 5 years and was used to it, they think I’m some professional.
After we installed all of them I went to the NCRC construction manager to apologize about the debates. Before I started he told me this was the easiest installation they ever had. The holes were already dug and the fighting was nothing compared to most communities apparently. Now it’s tremendous to see people actually using them and they already want to start a Phase II of bins.
The easy part was the installations though, picking locations, determining how they will be emptied, and who maintains them wasn’t fun. Thanks to NCRC I’ve done my first sanitation project in the community and it’s pretty popular already.
This no football stuff stinks; I not only found but actually listened to the track meet in London on my radio..