Fieldwork in Shama

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to accompany Ebenezer, my boss, and Jody, the Project Officer, to a cornmill project that HelpAge supports in a village called Shama, in western region. We only went for the night and returned to Accra on a Friday afternoon. I should precede this with saying that the last couple of weeks at HelpAge have been somewhat discouraging. I am constantly reminded by my work that the organization has little money and there are currently few projects being administered because of the lack of funding. As such, I went with the hope that we would be able to see one of the projects that HelpAge supports in action and it might give us a renewed hope in the organization. This was however not to be the case, as currently the corn mill is broken, something attributed to a bad fuse and faulty wiring in the shop. Unfortunately, a part of me was thinking that this didn’t come as a surprise which I hope means I’m not losing hope altogether.

The building containing the cornmill was a wooden shed and alongside another building was in the midst of being constructed with a strong concrete foundation. The structure would house a kitchen and store room so the older women in the community could begin a small corn processing business for their village. I learned from Ebenezer that the building was yet to be finished because they had run out of resources to add windows, the floor, doors and a veranda. World Granny, who is the major donor for the project, contributed $500 to the completion of the building which was half of what the estimated budget called for. Although the money will help them get closer to realizing the full potential of the project, it falls short of allowing the grannies from seeing the project come to fruition any time soon.

I was also hoping that I would have had an opportunity to speak to the grannies and see what they thought about the project but most of the talking was done between the community contact, who is a headmistress in Shama, and Ebenezer. The women were Fente so it was even difficult to ask Nat, the driver who speaks Ga and Twi to translate what I wanted to ask them. It didn’t feel like the women really had a part in the project, apart from bringing their corn to the mill. I was reassured that the women would be taking care of the books and running the kitchen and store room but it felt like there was a lack of integration of the grannies into the planning and implementation of the project. However, I can hardly make an accurate assessment from just one glance at the community and the project, but I was getting this gut reaction nonetheless.

My hope is that HelpAge will be able to raise the funds necessary to complete the building and get the project running successfully. Or else, I might have to do my own a-maze-ing fundraising to get this thing going…hmm.

We had some time before we had to leave Shama and head back to the capital so Ebenezer decided to take us to the fort in Shama, Fort St Sebastian. The fort was first built by the Portuguese and changed hands several times before being used by the British during the slave trade. The walk through the grounds was haunting and it was not long before an uncomfortable pit formed in my stomach. When speaking about slavery, it is often hard to know what to say, especially as a descendant of British ancestry. Even now, I’m not sure how to express what I was feeling. We talked about the fates of slaves and the lasting effect that slavery has had on African development. The situation really allowed the reality of it to sink in. Ghanaians are so proud of triumphing slavery and colonialism, and have managed to keep a good relationship with the oppressors of the slave trade. They take full responsibility of the role that even their own people played in selling their people to the trade. The history of Ghana is so rich and diverse and I could feel it seep under my skin on that day in Shama. My next stop will be Cape Coast and Elmina where the larger slave forts are located.

p.s. In the pictures are some of the grannies from the cornmill project and chains from the slave fort in Shama.