Answers to question

Hey Joel Here. We've had a few question and considering how we have a little time to ourselves today we thought we might give some answers.

First off, to answer some general questions regarding culture/economy and the way things are done here:

The economy is very inefficient. When y0u walk down the streets of Accra you see people selling bicycle innertubes and bars of soap from buckets on their head. There is no such thing as business districts here. every residential neighbourhood has its own bars, restaurants, shops, and hawkers, selling just about anything you can hope or expect to buy here. This is simply the way things are done.

For many people, work entails waking up at 4:30 aM, walking to the local outlet, buying 25 loaves of bread, carrying these in a basket on their head to the local bus depot or traffic jam and selling them car to car for a slight mark up. this is how a LOT of people are employed, and i'm sure that they make enough money doing this to survive... barely. 70% of the country is employed in agriculture. i've seen the farms. most of them are tiny.... the size of a backyard in calgary, with the crops planted irregularly and the field poorly maintained and insufficiently weeded.

It's easy for someone from the west to look at the way things are done here and have absolutely no sympathy. to be perfectly honest, i think a lot of the way things are done here is backwards and counter-productive. but it's not because the people are lazy or stupid. they simply lack education and training. the simplest and most basic agricultural and market9ing skills are revered as treasured knowledge here. In many of the villages we go to, farmers are taught for the first time that it's a good idea to plant their crops in rows, to stake out various parts of the field, and to raise the plots above the ground level in mounds. this is simple stuff! but no one has bothered to tell them before! Once they learn these things, they start to do things better and you see their lives improve.

Mother gave a simple course in marketing to a group of agricultural students, and you could see in their faces that this was precious material they were being taught. they are eager to learn, and ready to try new things, but they aren't willing to risk their livelihood on a new and untested idea. for a lot of them, barely enough money to survive is better than nothing, and nothing is what they might get if they try something new and untested. simply coming here and teaching basic skills improves the lives of many.

It can be very frustrating at times. the economy is so obviously inefficient. people aren't proactive, they don't innovate. everyone is stuck in a cycle of poverty and barely able to sustain their meager lifestyles.

here is the thing to understand:

It's not our fault! It's not OUR job to pull these people out of their problems. Do not feel like you have to help. they have it tough here; the climate alternates between very wet and very dry, and this makes it very hard to implement sustainable agriculture. it takes 5 hours to get from one business district to the other because road infrastructure in inefficient and public transport is so slow... this means that everything takes a long time. entrepreneurial spirit is everything here. there are only a few big companies that employ people, so the vast majority of people are self-employed as salesmen or merchants... there are simply no other job opportunities here. the 0ther problem is a lack of capital. it's hard to start business ventures here because of inflation and lack of starting capital. the only jobs available to most people are buying food in bulk and selling it on the streets to consumers... but because that is the same thing that everyone else is doing, their products are priced too low and the margins are too high. they can't make enough money to save.

Part of it is the legacy of colonialism. businesses and individuals have only had 50 years to develop themselves. that's not a very long time compared to us in the west. the other part of it is the culture, which is very different from ours. that means that things don't work the same here as they would at home. maybe that will change with time, but it will take a few generations.

Ghana is doing well compared to most African countries. the people here are unified ethnically and religiously and they have not had to deal with civil strife or civil ware. they are fortunate. yes, people are poor. but they are learning how to sustain themselves. They have a lot to learn, but every new thing they learn helps them improve their lives. a lack of education is the biggest problem, and that is not a problem that can be solved overnight. it's going to take a little bit of time.

The people here are for the most part happy and content. they want to figure things out on their own, and they don't expect anyone to help them. if people are willing to help, that's great, and they will learn everything that they can from them. They are a very patient people and all that they ask is that we be patient with them as well. they'll catch up to us one day, and if we are interested in helping them do that,"We are welcome"