Developing Trust

Two recent incidents in Ghana recently have disturbed me deeply. Both incidents have me thinking about the importance of trust in cross-cultural relations and how this plays a role in development. Last week I heard a story of a British consultant that molested a three year old Ghanaian girl. The man was with his Ghanaian colleague and the colleague left his daughter with the man, who than proceeded to molest her. The only way the father knew was because the girl was bleeding profusely when he returned. The situation enraged me because that little girl’s life will be changed forever by that one moment. I cannot imagine what is going through the mind of her father but I can only imagine that he will find it very difficult to work with foreign colleagues or develop any sort of trust with them, which is a major detriment to creating meaningful cross-cultural relationships.

The second incident also involving a British man, this one a 63-year old photographer, was with a 19-year old Ghanaian boy. The man and the boy met online and the man said he was coming to Ghana on business and would visit the boy. The boy picked the man up from the airport and brought the man to his family, who he introduced to them as his pen pal. The two then traveled to Cape Coast and Kakum NP where at each location, the man sodomized the boy, took illicit photographs and videotaped the two in indecent acts. The man was caught at the airport where he was suspected of smuggling drugs but instead was found to have indecent photographs and videos. Both the man and the boy, because he was of age, were arrested and are awaiting trial.

I do not want to know what possesses people to perform such acts. I’m sure they do not realize that their actions have repercussions far beyond themselves and their victims. These incidents weaken any trust that has been established between Ghana and foreign countries. In a culture where the history of cross-cultural abuse is so strong, because of the slave trade, the role of trust in development here is crucial. For those people that are trying to develop an environment of reciprocity and trust, there work will be overshadowed by these bad incidents. The position of foreigners working in development is already so fragile because ultimately the goal is for a country to realize its own potential without the inputs or conditions of outside sources.

This also raises questions of sustainability that is also so important to development. I’ve even noticed that my boss prefers to do things himself that could easily be shared by myself and Jody. We’ve often wondered why he doesn’t choose to share his burden with us and we’ve realized that it’s probably because he knows we are leaving in a few months and will have to do it himself then anyhow. He thinks that the work we do will be unsustainable and is trying to protect the interests of his organization and its beneficiaries. Meanwhile, Jody and I sit and wonder what it is that we can do and question whether our presence here is having any real impact.