Yede Sweet Yede

In this post: My new home, and my first week at MoFA.

Yede is house, or home. Apologies in advance for the incredibly long post, feel free to skim...

My local name!

Is Achalli (pronounced a-cha-le), meaning daughter of Acha, who is the God of the area I was staying in on my village stay. I was just informed today – apparently it needed to be approved by the head of the household before it was official.

About my New Home

My new home, in Wiaga, has been a bit of an adventure so far. I moved in on Friday evening to a large, vacant room in a mostly vacant bungalow. The other official occupant is a young man, Jacob, who also works at MoFA, and my “landlord” (he won’t let me pay rent, so I pay in random gifts of food) is Ben Leo, the officer at MoFA who has been helping me get settled and will be helping me implement AAB. My work day routine now includes a 10km bike ride to and from the office, on a one speed city bike. It sounds bad to our Western ears (I cringed a little at the thought of a single speed), but the bikes here are very comfortable, and since no one is ever in a hurry, I bike quite slowly so I’m not sweating profusely when I arrive at work.

My bungalow experience has been full of surprises. First, there were no cooking facilities, so I bought my own charcoal stove which I use to cook dinner (not always – sometimes I bail and have a groundnut paste and banana sandwich, groundnut paste is my lifesaver, never did I think I'd have peanut butter in Ghana...). I do like being able to cook my own meals, so that I can get a better vegetable intake than I might otherwise be getting. Other surprises include: toilet in bungalow does not work, and there is no latrine... free range!; the connected hall serves as a church on Sunday mornings, for the “Assemblies of God” church (very intense bible study group); herds of donkeys and goats will randomly appear outside, no idea who owns them; and finally, bats live in the roof and tend to make a lot of noise at night (or fly through a hole in the ceiling and come into my room, as was the case on Sunday night. Luckily some men were around so I got them to catch it. The hole is now covered.)

Aside from some initial challenges (free range is not that great for bathroom-related emergencies in the middle of the night...), I think this will be a good place for me. Jacob is very nice and very helpful, and I’ve made friends with some of the neighbours. My neighbour Clementia comes to greet me every morning on her way to work, which is quite nice, and my other neighbour, a school teacher, has invited me to come visit him and his family whenever I like.

First Days at MoFA

I gave my introductory presentation on Wednesday at the staff meeting, and it was fairly successful, with the majority of the staff participating and paying attention – we even had a good discussion going on the many different strategies a farmer can use to improve their income. The Director (man in charge) is particular is very on-board with AAB, and the extension agents (AEAs) seem ready to get going. Sumaila actually started the program with one farmer group on Saturday, a Guinea Fowl group, and I was able to attend. It was quite successful, the group is very motivated and is actively seeking ways to improve their production and income, and were quite keen on the program upon understanding what it would offer them.

I’m learning more about what MoFA does, and getting to know people at the office; yesterday we went to the field to check the rice valleys for ploughing and meet the village chiefs in communities that applied for the rice block farm program. In this program, communities apply to MoFA for inputs and help in land preparation, using land that is owned by the community. The land, usually around 200 acres, is divided amongst farmer groups in the community, and each group pays MoFA with 3 bags of rice seeds at harvest time to cover costs of labour and inputs provided by MoFA.

It was very interesting to observe the interactions between MoFA staff and the chiefs – it seems like an unnecessary waste of time, with about 12 people going to meet the chief and tell them that they are ready to begin ploughing, since this could easily be accomplished by one person, but it seems that this is a cultural formality that must be performed.

MoFA is in a bit of a crunch for time right now, because the rains have started and they cannot plough fields that are too wet. This means that almost every day, the staff (including AEAs) are going to the field to check the rice valleys, and as such it’s quite difficult to get AAB going. But I have faith that with enough hassling on my part, things will get moving – because they need to, if groups are to make it through the AAB curriculum (10 meetings) before I leave in August.

Random Side Note

New culinary discovery! Gari-and-beans, cousin of Rice-and-beans, is quite tasty (gari is a flour made from Casava). Dinner-size serving for 30p (about 20 cents) at a stall down the street from the office.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments, I love to hear what you're all thinking so comment away!

Anne