Home Sweet Home!

The Ladies and I in Accra! Mr.FL my official Tamale Brother!!

I’ve really started to LOVE Tamale- there’s a lot you can do here! My week normally consists of working till about 5pm and then heading to town to meet friends or as they say here, roam the town! I finally feel like I’ve settled. I know where I need to go to get what I need, I’ve almost mastered the Market scene and I finally know how to bargain which is a BIG accomplishment! On weekends they have cultural dances at a local bar or the club which is always an interesting experience lol! Life in Tamale is very chill, people really enjoy doing things as they come and normally never plan much!
I’ve also begun Drumming lessons at the Youth Home which is a 15 minute walk from my house as well as Traditional Dancing classes at the cultural centre. I promise to have pictures up as soon as I can. Anyways I’ve met some really amazing peoples who have made being away from home much easier!
Enjoy!


Mr. Alvaro and I at one of the local night spots- Hes also my Motor Bike Teacher !
Half of my team at the office- In Ghana graduates have to do a one year placement called "National Service" inorder to be able to seek employment.
Mr. Samuel another addition to the Team also my partner on the literacy program!

Is she a Fulani?

** Side note this really isn’t a post about Ghana!
Fulani Fulani!!
I sometimes will either ride or walk to a friend of mines home who lives in my neighborhood. On many of those occasions I come across a man (he’s usually chopping wood) who feels the need to yell out “Fulani Fulani”. I first assumed he was calling someone else, but after he got louder and began pointing I realized it was me he was trying to address. I nicely asked him not to yell as it was drawing the attention of my neighbors. Whether it was a language barrier or he really just enjoyed calling me it- I finally just asked one of the neighborhood children to come with me and translate. It seems he wanted to find out my name- and addressed me as Fulani as he assumed I was from that tribe. The little girl translating responded “oh he thinks your Fulani- that’s not good because they are not good people” Story of my life here, as everyone seems to assume I’m from that tribe.
Fulanis in Ghana
So who are the Fulani’s here in Ghana- well here in Ghana I haven’t found many Ghanaians who have had nice or kind gestures to say about them. Most will say they are street people, thieves, poor and criminal herders (I always laugh at the last one lol). I was recently at a workshop with community members disusing the challenges of their livelihood projects, one of the participants began ranting and raving about Fulani’s and it started a fairly heated discussion on them- with none of the participants having anything nice to say.
It has been fairly clear since I arrived here in Ghana that Fulani’s in many of the urban cities are seen as second class citizens, and although I don’t agree much with the 5 year old children begging on the streets I do feel for many of the Fulani’s here in Ghana.
I recently went to Burkina Faso and saw many Fulani’s successfully integrated into the communities- owning shops and business, these groups are generally called ‘Town Fulani’s’ as they do not necessarily rely in farming but rather other means of living. I started getting really interested in Fulani’s and did a bit of research.

So who are they?
They are considered the largest nomadic group in the world. They have the largest concentration in countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and Guinea (where they are the majority). There are apparently over 6 million Fulani's .The Fulani tribes have an incredible history, drawing back to 3500 BC as a pastoral group in the upper Nile. According to a little research I did “Traditionally most Fulani are shepherds or cattle herders, but over time some settled down and, by the nineteenth century, had established a series of kingdoms between Sénégal and Cameroon.”

They are also said to have brought Islam into much of W. Africa noted as being the ‘missionaries of Isalm’. The Fulani ( Fula) are spread throughout W.Africa although they can be found in many other parts of Africa and for the most part are minorities in every country they are represented other than the ones I mentioned earlier. As I read into this tribe it was apparent they were much more than what they were described to me by many here. The tribe has strong influence both politically and economically throughout W. Africa. They have been noted for linking many isolated ethic groups through their trading and hearding. In fact their begging and cattle stealing (although I don’t condone it) can be explained due to their complete dependence historically on herding. Due to drought – and lack of adequate water supply, herding becomes difficult; disease has spread among their livestock, leaving some to move into urban cities. In the case of many in Ghana they just havent integrated, and keep to themselves.
If many of those here who disregard the rich history took the time to ask questions, and find out why many of the Funali people here in Ghana did what they did- they would learn that many of their people have become influential people in W.Africa- some presidents, some influential scholars etc. That their traditions and ways of living- challenge their integration but that many Fulani’s in other nations such as Burkina Faso or Guinea are successful as heads of government etc. They have really rich traditional norms- which include the number of cattle they own to signify which class they belong to, or the importance of beauty to largely be a part of their customs.

Back to the man, I do wish I spoke Dagbani we may be able to get into a really interesting discussion on the Fulani’s in Ghana…who knows maybe deep down in history I may find I am a Fulani!

I could literally go on for pages on this interesting tribe but I’ll leave that to you if interested- http://www.jamtan.com
http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/fulani
Or just google it!

Facilitation Skills Tested!

It really wasn’t my first time facilitating a training or workshop; I’ve facilitated many trainings/meetings through my past job. I’ve even done so with an audience were English is limited and translators were needed. My experience a few weeks ago though was much different and challenging. Not only was it for a group who didn’t speak or understand English but it was a group in which more than 50% of the participants had never sat listening and contributing for more than 30mins all their lives. The majority of the participants were illiterate women- who learned much different then I would likely have been able to comprehend!
Not only was language a barrier but you really had to think on your feet on how to drive in the information without putting the participants to sleep! Thankfully, my director was there to help me by jumping in when she knew the women were not on the same track as me. We then decided to do the rest of the workshop through role playing exercises which was really interesting. I had to shut off the PowerPoint and toss my notes away; acting out the information is really hard when you’re not prepared! It was apparent the women learned best using practical measures, after all sitting and listening was never a tool they used to learn. These were women who learned all their life lessons in practical manner- learning through doing!


Creative Facilitation:
Instead of the women reciting back what they learned, they put it into a song and sang it.
When the women didn’t understand the information, they role played what they understood- we clarified through another role play.
To keep the women energized and alert we sang riddles.
At the end of the eight hour session one of the women stood up and said “I will never punish my son for his bad grades because sitting and learning is hard”.

What did I learn- creativity and thinking outside the box is not as simple as it sounds!



Oh I also learned never again to agree to take notes- these flip chart papers went around the whole room!