Volunteering

For the past week I have volunteered at SISS, or Self-help Initiative and Support Services, an NGO that aims to empower individuals from marginalized communities, and raise their standards of living. Trainees are taught skills such as catering, bead making, tie-dye, and computer skills. Also, through programs involving personal development, health instruction, and start-up assistance, SISS has impacted the lives of over a thousand people in the past 12 years.

My first day at SISS involved getting to know the organization, reading past reports, project outlines, and participant profiles. Mr. Asante and Salina, the people responsible for coordinating the NGO’s efforts, were readily available and very helpful in providing instructions. There are many success stories, such as that of a 20-year-old who went on to open her own catering business, which indicate the potential impact the programs have in the lives of the trainees. The participants range from 18-25 years of age, living by themselves, or with as many as fifteen family members. Their reported incomes could hardly be called sustainable, and the need for work deprived many of educational opportunities.

On the second day, I gave a presentation on personal finance. After seeing the incomes and current jobs of many of the participants, it was clear there was little perspective for growing earnings, let alone financial planning. So I called a few banks in Ghana, found out which savings account was the most viable, and made a few recommendations to the trainees, along with a handout with financial planning guidelines. Thus far, about 10 of the 60 students present have asked for my number, and said they were interested in opening savings accounts.

Currently, SISS works primarily with residents of Agbogbloshie, a slum in downtown Accra. Last Friday, I had the chance to tag along a visit by Mr. Asante and Salina, in an effort to implement fire-safety training in the slum. The challenges of 55 thousand inhabitants were clear: lack of sanitation, narrow dirt paths, and, surrounding the area, a trash-covered lagoon.
  

The smell of burning rubber is constant, due to the amount of electronic waste being burnt, just a few steps away from where children are playing and people are running their businesses. Animals roam the alleys, sharing the same ground where people wash dishes or even bathe themselves. Across the Agbogbloshie "border", there is a market, where many of the women sell food and other supplies.

Look closely: this is the lagoon.

The slums in Brazil, specifically in Sao Paulo and Rio, present a generalized view of what poverty is. Or at least, what it seems to be. Visiting Agbogbloshie, talking to the residents, and becoming friends with the trainees from there, create a much more vivid picture of what it is to live in a slum. On a daily basis, volunteers at SISS talk, teach, and learn from young women and men from Agbogbloshie. Being able to teach some skills and help the NGO does not seem like a fair payoff to the unique cultural exchange we participate in every day.
 

Today was a national holiday, Kwame Nkrumah Day, and despite not having formal work, one of the trainees, Georgina, invited me, no – demanded - that I be present to taste the food she would cook for her catering test. The warmth of the Ghanaian people proves to be infallible, no matter what their background. Oh, and the food (banku, fried rice, and different kinds of plantain bread) was absolutely delicious!

The proud cooks and the instructor. Georgina is the third from the left.

 In a few weeks, I will move to another institution, the DAI Organization. They are about to launch a project on economic development in Ghana, focusing on agriculture. This was one of my service aims for the Bridge Year, being able to get a look at the bigger picture, as to learn lessons that can be applied in the next ten or twenty years. I am extremely grateful for the chance to work hands-on with an NGO, and further on to observe the macro challenges of economic development, a topic which is in my academic plans for Princeton. Also, the comparison between development in Brazil and Africa was one of the reasons I chose to spend a year in Ghana.

For the rest of my time with SISS, my main assignment is to research funding options, from deciding which organization seem like compatible partners, to writing a grant proposal. Although this is a very challenging project, and NGO funding is a very competitive process, I believe this a great opportunity to concretely help SISS beyond the time I will be present.