SavingGhana

BornAgain! Funding our projects from within ... will it work?

2011-12-03T20:10:00.001Z

Our eco label ... "BornAgain!" ... of old tyres (Line1)

You may all know by now that I have spent the past 5 to 6 months trying to raise funds for a Biogas plant for a little village in the Upper West Region, called Tuori. If you don't know about it yet (*giving you a strange look*), then click here and have a gander: Energy for Tuori (and all the others)!

Well, being a busy person who does many other things, and the NGO being a self-funded one, you can imagine how difficult it's been keeping the momentum going in the face of the general suspicions and financial hardships of most Ghanaians ... N O T G O O D.
Haha. Okay, so now I can laugh about it.
But only because I spent the last 2 months of the past 6 months of the fundraiser building up a careful structure for internal funding for the NGO's projects, so we don't have to keep worrying y'all with our beggar's aluminium cup ... yeah, the noisy one. And no, I don't sing and roll my eyes when go begging.

Aaaannnnd, after weeks of thinking and careful planning, I came up with "Born Again!", an entity within the NGO which recycles and re-uses old and 'wasted' stuff, and makes them trendy-useful and affordable for people.
We then market it like every other usual service/product, sell it at competitive prices, and put ALL the profits after expenditure into the NGO's projects!
To start with, I looked at the huge numbers of tyres all over the city (and the country), and how difficult it is to find uses for them after car-owners discard them ... and I came up against two 'walls'.

I had decided previously to have them stripped and shredded, the strips to use in addition to wood and metal, or by itself ... for furniture. But soon after gathering a number of tyres, and purchasing some from vulcanisers (if you want it, they sell it ... cus they figure if you have a use for it, thing got value! Sigh ... I love my peoples), my shredder expert told me that there are 2 types of tyres: the wire-mesh (more common) and the nylon thread. The nylon thread is what CAN be stripped, NOT the wire-mesh.

Oh Lord. So I went back into town to get the nylon thread types. Then whilst he went to work shredding em up for my wood/metal combinations and the eco-friendly footwear line, sat down with my sketch pad to design things that can use the wire-mesh tyres whole .... WHOLE, I say.

I came up eventually with 2 trendy designs : one for a seating facility, and one for a funky, eye-catching table design (which has a lot of oomph!).
So over the next 12 weeks, we will launch our first 3 eco-products for raising funds for our projects (very very crucial projects): an eco-seat made out of whole wire-mesh tyre .... an eco-table with wood-glass-rope combination also made out of whole wre-mesh tyre ... and 2 or 3 footwear designs made out of nylon-thread tyre with fabric-rope combination.

We hope (and intend) it to sell well to you, my supportive peoples on here, and your social circles and business associates ... as well as the general public not just in Ghana, but internationally. We hope to make good sales not only because our clients will want to support a good cause, but also because these eco-friendly products REALLY DO make your mouth drool, and make you feel real proud to own them.
We guarantee you, they WILL BE quality, all through and through.

To show you how, follow this link to see some of our first few pictures of the TYRED.UP! an eco-seat under the BornAgain! label. Click The TyreSeater - BornAgain!
Give me all the feedback you want to ... but more practically, give me all the orders you can make! Haha!

.... oh, and a Merry Christmas in advance. Make the rest of 2011 count. ;)

Golda.

P.S: the link also opens up other albums for you on trips and work done so far, so feel free to browse through all the albums and pictures.
And if you want to keep updates or follow discussions, join us on Facebook by just clicking here. :)

WITHIN THESE MOMENTS OF SILENCE ...

2011-11-02T10:22:00.000Z

… grows a monumental project for the people.

Within these moments of silence, grows a monumental project for the people.
I am aware that many are the eyes watching the tasks I have began, red markers in hand, ready to grade the conclusion.
My priority is not to them, though they be yet a consideration.

My priority is to they who stretched out a hand of support to mine and said, “Here. Have my strength.”
To them who leaned over and dropped a coin, a note, a bundle, an item for direct support into my project-coffers and said, “My widow’s mite, but still with all my heart.”
To them who have come forward to collaborate, publicise, and shout from the rooftops that which I do, telling people, “Look here. Look this way! Here’s something that needs your attention and support.”
To them who have quietly spread my work to others and created a path ahead of me, so that sometimes when I mention my name in a circle, I am known before I make myself known.

I owe you the successful completion of this work I have began. I will complete it.

It may take more weeks or months than you or I would like. But I have learnt … through several cycles of experiences … that it is not about swiftness, nor flashiness when dealing with lives.
It is about roots. Deep, strong, wide-spread roots.

I will be transparent, accountable, and open to questions all through. And I will be right here. Working.

I thank you.

Wait, You Can't Do That. It's Not Your Turn.

2011-09-05T09:54:00.000Z

“[There are] voices that say, “Wait. You can’t do that. It’s not your turn. The timing isn’t right. You see, the country just isn’t ready. You know you can’t do it, you’re not experienced. You’re not ready.”

Voices that focus on what might go wrong rather than what’s possible. And I understand it, I do. I know where it comes from, this sense of doubt and fear about what the future holds.

I call it like that veil of impossibility that just keeps us down and keeps our children down – keeps us waiting and hoping for a turn that may never come.

It’s the bitter legacy of … discrimination and oppression in this country. A legacy that hurts all of us.

Some people were like the aunt or grandmother who bought new furniture but put plastic on it to protect it, never fully enjoying it, out of their own misplaced fear.

Sometimes, it seems better not to try at all than to try and fail. Sometimes, that’s how it feels. But we have to remember that these complicated emotions are … what we’re going to have to overcome as a community if we want to lift ourselves up.”

Michelle Obama, “Renegade: The Making of a President”.

“For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity, this ‘Wait!’, which has almost always meant ‘Never’.”

Martin Luther King, April 1963. Birmingham Jail.

Michelle Obama

Martin Luther King

She will smile someday?? And her son too??

Someone asked me the other day "Why do you even do it?"

"Why do you embarrass yourself, screaming yourself hoarse atpeople who don't care? Running all over town trying to get people to help youmake this thing work?"

Don't you know? Are you new in town?

Don't you know ... they don't care? Just waiting for you to falloff the wagon so they can shake their heads and say, 'See, we knew the heiferwould come to this!'?

"Don't you know," he said, "this thing's nevergonna catch up?

Even government predicts it's not gonna happen now, then you this youngfemale thing ...?"

My head was hung whilst he was saying these ... my ears drinkingthem all in. My eyes were wet, and my heart was beating fast.

"Golda?" he said. “Save the energy, money, and effort... and put it into creating a future for your son. At least that's a futureyou'll be more sure off. Save yourself the embarrassment of going aroundcup in hand all the time, begging and singing to yourself."

"You think I don't know all this?" I asked him. "I'lltell you something ... I’m here to show just how deeply we’ve all as a people,been traumatised by a system and a society that abuses us, misuses ourresources, and forces us to suspect everything around us, to the point that weare now on the edge of the cliff of our existence, about to fall off into theraging sea below, and we’re certain it’s just a trick to cause us to turn backand go the other way.

We’re so used to being conned, we can’t distinguish genuine fromfalse anymore. We play games when we should be organized, and when we should beplaying games, we’re rather thinking strategy and tricks. We’re confused, we’relost, we’re mean, and we’re at the end of our tether.

Something’s gotta bring a fresh new un-selfish perspective back toour way of thinking; a perspective that spells “c-o-m-m-u-n-i-t-y” once more.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the one certain thing that will dothis (communal harmony and development) for us, enrich us, improve ourstandards of living, make the nation wealthier, and safeguard the country’sfuture ALL IN ONE … is our natural resources, and the renewable energy it givesdirectly to the people.

Horribly enough, it is the one thing that people still think isthe last possible thing ever to happen for us! It’s crazy.

We are sitting with the gold beneath our noses, and we can’t seethe forest for the trees.

I’m doing this insane thing I’m doing, instead of just shutting upand funding everything myself in small steps as I used to do, because it hit methe other day … we have not, as a people, invested our faith in this sectoryet, and that is what is holding everything back. Indeed, that is what Ibelieve holds government back from passing that RE Bill.

The people ARE the government. The voice of the people is oftenthe voice of government.

If more Ghanaians had more faith and were willing to dig intoRenergy as they are the crude oil, we would have more schools and courses inRenergy, more jobs in Renergy, more Renergy projects, and government would havejumped to it as well.

Why am I doing this alone, and making all the noise alone when myultimate aim is to transform the entire country?

I had to backtrack. But I knew I’d have to get my Beyonce’sdancehall moves ready for this.

(See? I knew that’d get your attention, crazy misaligned people.)

Sadly, we are turning our noses up at the very thing (and perhapsthe ONLY thing) that may well be our answer to employment, better standards ofliving, a wealthier nation, and independent of foreign financial aids, andneo-colonialism.

We are turning our noses up at the one thing that ensures that ourfuture is safe, in our own hands, spread equally out amongst the people, givesendless jobs, and safeguards the natural resources as well.

This country has got vast potential in renewable energy, and renewableenergy gives direct income to the community and the people who wield it and useit. Which in turn empowers many, and grows the nation faster than most othernational programmes on nation-building and empowerment.

For that little girl who will someday grow up to become theleading expert in Ghana seawater energy because of the change that I’m workingon now in our energy industry.

For that insanely tired woman walking bare-foot in the hot sunwith a load of wood on her back almost half her body-weight, walking kilometres,so her family can eat and live … who will someday simply step out into hercompound and switch on her biogas facility and cook with it, and whose childrenwill stay in school instead of going down south to do crime and menial jobs.

For that man somewhere who can now sit in his compound and cook uphis own biodiesel and pour it into his motor bike or car, or generator, or foodprocessor, because we discovered how to produce bio-diesel from our local oils.

That little girl might be your grandchild, that woman, yourgrandmother, that man your father, and the chain goes on.

How many times have you watched a land ravaged by war, famine,drought, rape, tyranny, and silently thanked the Powers that Be … that you wereborn a Ghanaian? I do it everytime I see such scenes on the television.

Well, this is you now. This is your Ghana now.

What are you gonna do about it?

Do I really think I can create a better Ghana, silly girl … youthink of me as I exit your office, streaming in sweat, spittles at the cornersof my mouth, legs crumbling beneath me as I totter out to my next begging gig,cup in hand; you think of me as you read my status and link updates onFacebook, Twitter, and Blogspot; you think of me as you see me walking down thestreet.

What you don’t get is, this isn’t about me.

Have you donated to ourfundraiser yet? Read about it.

Find us on Facebook as well.

Send me a message on anythingat esfghana@gmail.com

They're sitting pretty ... hands folded and placed in-between their legs. They're sitting pretty.

2011-08-28T07:24:00.001Z

People!! Wharrup? Eh? Kilode? What's good? Que pasa? Comment ca va? And all o' that ... and all o' that!

Mehn, I've got pictures on the 1st ever National (Ghana) Congress on Environment, Water, Sanitation, Science to show y'all ... now where that folder at?
I'll set it up in a bit soon as I settle, okay? Ha!

Okay! So have you donated to our TUORI Biogas Facility Fundraiser yet?
Why not? Oh.

Please .... my eyes are closed. Before I open them, swivel your lovely eyes up to the top right-hand corner of this page ... yes, this very page ... and softly CLICK on the "Donate" button there ... and D O N A T E.

Donate something people. It takes little effort and time, but impacts these people in Tuori in a big way. If you (still) don't know what I'm talking about, see HERE to read all about this Biogas facility for this struggling little farmstead + cattle ranch up north of my country.
We raising only $3500, and the team to build it donating their own logistics in support (about $3000) ... but we need your donations to make it happen!

Now, have you finished reading the "HERE" link?
Have you clicked the "Donate" button?
Have you donated?

Now, please tell another body...
.....
I'll wait for you. Please go tell another body.
............................................
(2 hours later)
All done?

Good. Great. Now .... Ghana has gotten REAL PROGRESS in the bio-diesel direction.
A fabulous guy who has also, like me, fought against the odds for almost 5 years to make it happen, has ACTUALLY produced bio-diesel out of normal palmoil, waste vegetable oil, and is working on a 2500-litre capacity for anyone who wants to/feels like using bio-diesel (available right here in Ghana).
There is also a brilliant Ghanaian from up North with success in sunflower bio-diesel, though not on the same scale as my friend's palmoil and waste vegetable oil AND any other fat source set-up. (Tell you more in next post). And these two people have met ... and I have met one of them, and we are going to meet together ... and you get the idea.

The side products - glycerin - will be used in creating job opportunities for the people in soap making and body lotion too (I use glycerin often when I'm in Europe 'cus my skin gets very dry) and the palm chaff, palm kernels, palmkernel-nuts - will be used for animal meal AND briquettes!!!!
More jobs. More sustainability!

The bio-diesel from the palm and the waste vegetable oils and the other sources of fat (I have seen the team and the equipment, people!) CAN be used in diesel generators, diesel cars, diesel motors, diesel commercial processors, diesel everything .... and my engineer partner in Aburi is ready to develop more appropriate technology to meet the bio-diesel team of S. Tawiah for more innovative machines for power, cooking, burning,lighting that can utilise this.

Side intentions are ... to use the steam produced from the esterification and other processes ... to also power equipment ... on-site and near-site and off-site!

Oh God! I see the future coming, and it looks so good people! And it looks good Ghana style!
You cannot imagine how happy, hopeful, and high I have been these past few days, just meeting S. Tawiah, seeing his progress, seeing how my plans, works, and his are dove-tailing ... and the vast opportunities and possibilities.

And y'all know I don't write about just anything ... I write about what I am SURE of, whether that thing is good, or bad ... I am often sure about my facts.
And THIS development I am sure about!

I shall be writing more about this, introducing S.T to you all, and making you part of this incredible journey that is now looking very good.

Now .... back to my TUORI Biogas Fundraiser ...
I am auctioning an awesome picture from RQV (Rodney Quarcoo Visuals), a popular excellent photographer here in Ghana.
He donated it in support of the fundraiser! I am so grateful! (visit www.ayigbeboy.com to see some of his work).

I am AUCTIONING it, and the funds will go into the Biogas Fundraiser for Tuori. Please join in the auction too ... see the image of Rodney and the picture in question below:

Rodney Quarcoo with image he donated to Tuori Biogas Facility Fundraiser ... for auction!

Rodney autographing the picture ... at his studios in Accra.

He calls it "No Parking" and it is the first-ever printout of the image.
He shot it at dawn at one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Accra called Jamestown, and captured the fishermen about to set off in what looked like an impromptu convoy of fishing boats ... the rising sun ahead, on the horizon.
I will pay $500 for this in a heartbeat.
It will come framed, can be FedExed to you, and it is autographed by Rodney himself.

I am also going to try and put it up on e-bay, but if not, email me or comment on here, or GooglePlus me about the auction.

Current offer is GH200cd for the image. It is still going higher.
Someone out here can do better, and get this actual AUTOGRAPHED Rodney Quarcoo image original that tells people you SUPPORTED a Ghanaian village get a biogas facility!
How cool is that?! Let's do this, people!!
Donate too!

MAKSI, the FashionHouse supporting us also handed over their 1st cheque from a percentage of their clothing line sales that they designed to support everything we're doing here at Energy Solutions Foundation.

They initially intended to support till August, but they fell in love with what this one woman (me, yes me!) is doing here and decided to extend it indefinitely ... so every 3 months, they intend to donate percentage of their sales.

This first cheque came for GH150cd and I put it into the Tuori Biogas Fundraiser kitty.
We have now raised GH1200 cd with GH3300 more to go! HELP people!
See the image of handover below (forgive the quality. A better one will come.) That's Nana Darkoah Sekyiamah of MAKSI (www.maksiclothing.com) handing over the cheque to me:

Nana Sekyiamah of MAKSI handing over 1st cheque for GH150cd in support of ESF!

One of the fliers MAKSI has out for their campaign with us (ESF)

... And that's me (sans my spectacles). Hello.

People are struggling really hard with fuel, power, energy sources, comrades.
People are fighting hard to get access to what should not even have to be a problem.
When I was in Lawra, Yargpelle and Tuori, the women would leave home at dawn and go scout for twigs, grass, fallen branches (treasure!) and logs (ooh la la!) and carry them home, getting back about almost noon. Before they go fetch water, come and cook, and take care of the home.
The girls and the women do this. Where is the time to make a career or a job, or even go to school? Where is the peace of mind for developing their community, or even the time?
They come down here in droves and flocks and we wonder why. Their sons, brothers, and fathers might become criminals and attack us in our homes, and we wonder why?

Where is the parliamentarian who talks big and joins a string of big words together, and forgets people are actually dying every single one of the minutes he is spouting rhetoric nonsense right here in Ghana ... from poverty, low standards of living, poor housing, nutrition, education, unemployment??
Where is the policy-maker who has the Energy Bill and Renewable Energy Bill of Ghana sitting in his toilet as spare/emergency wipe, or on the magazine rack as comic material instead of actually working hard to pass the damn thing into law and fine-tune it for the people?
Where are the Ghanaian businessmen and wealthy "boggers" who can come together and help people like me, S. Tawiah, others out there also struggling to develop alternatives and future safeguards as we are doing ... to help us financially, network-wise, contact-wise, investment-wise ... to do this?
Where is the President of Ghana?
Where are you, you the one reading this right now?

Are you going to help? Or are you just gonna sit pretty, and clasp your hands in-between your legs ... looking at me?
ARE YOU JUST GONNA SIT PRETTY? ...

Facebook page : Facebook Page

Ghana's Chernobyl Timebomb ... or is it Ghana's own "Fukushima Daiichi"?

2011-07-31T22:22:00.002Z

It’s been a helluva quarter, these past 3 months.

I have a lot of updates (as usual), and no clear point at which to begin (as usual), since for me and my renergy experiences, every experience sort of magically tends to run into the next, so that they are all melded together in this surreal way.

Let me start with the bullet points so even if I totter off the path, we have some modicum of order, eh?

· April 2011: retrospective assessment of first briquette-training by Energy Solutions Foundation (my Renewable Energy & Sustainable Development NGO) … for better 2^nd round of trainings and modifications to upcoming briquette-makers.

Had a lot of email and phone discussions with Danny Quaynor (the NGO’s partner in appropriate technology) concerning our next few projects over the next 18 months, before we had one good Sunday working meeting to put down plans, structures, and timetable.

To come : (1) Semi-commercial production of ready-to-use briquettes of a wide range of choices (palmnut, palm-kernel, cow dung, dawadawa, shea-butter, sawdust, etc) for all households just as one would purchase charcoal and just begin using it. We will call it Green Gold Briquettes (ah, sentimental!)

(2) More production and commercial production, distribution and marketing of briquette-making equipments of all sizes and capacities for what will be a briquette-making industry in Ghana … instead of charcoal-production communities and firewood-stocking merchants in the country.

(3) Waste Oils and Vegetable Oils for use on a small scale in motors, engines, and motorized gadgets in place of fossil fuels. The target is waste vegetable oils for use as fuel (like diesel) in generators, processing machines, engines, motor-bikes, cars, etc.

(4) Appropriate, affordable (less than $500) biogas structures and facilities for the low to middle-class Ghanaians who often most lack access to energy, fuel, and power or have very little of their total needs in these met.

Yes!

To achieve over the next 18 months. Want to steal some ideas from here and run with it? PLEASE DO IT! Feel absolutely free to!

These are ideas we need in the country, and I don’t care who does it or who gets the credit.

In fact, if you want the blueprints of it, call or email me!

Make me believe you will really do it for the BENEFIT OF THE SUFFERING PEOPLE of THIS COUNTRY, I shall hand them all over to you with glee.

Yes, I will still keep working on them too … it is never enough, and there can never be too many propagators. We need renewable energy alternatives like “pure water” sells in this country. Everywhere, Cheap, and Never Lacking!!

· May 2011: Call to collaborate with a Ghanaian FashionHouse called MAKSI (www.maksiclothing.com) to increase awareness on need for clean environment and sustainable ways of living. Secondary objective to donate 10% of proceeds made from eco-focused fashion line to ESF’s “Tuori Biogas Facility” Fundraiser (see here for more about this).

Also asked by Creative Storm, Ghana (hint: Dr. Kwesi Owusu) to lead them to our Aburi workshop for coverage of our West African customized briquette-maker and other initiatives for a documentary they were doing for the EFFA (Environmental Film Festival of Accra 2011 June 2011).

Hopefully, we can make a hope-laden and impact-full documentary out of that session one of these days, when I can add the cost of that to my budget (don’t you just which you could do everything in the world by yourself sometimes? J )

In collaboration with MAKSI fashionhouse, was on The One Show with PY Addo and Jocelyn Dumas, in an interview to highlight the eco-fashion campaign and ESF’s role in it. Was able to talk about the briquette-making training session in the Upper West, and other challenges facing the NGO as well as memorable experiences and personal impressions of the larger situation in the country.

Jocelyn Dumas for MAKSI eco-fashion.

Ama Abebrese for MAKSI eco-fashion. Way nicer pics, but I chose bcus you actually see the dumptruck in the background!

My first intern (I so often shy away from interns and volunteers, but I finally made bold to try it out) for the NGO arrived, and got pulled right into the middle of the heat. Miss Akua Akyaa Nkrumah also writes on her blog whenever she has the chance and peace of mind. Internship, as at now (August 2011) is ended, but went very phenomenally. Now to get her to write me that internship report!

· June 2011: The EFFA (by Creative Storm) begins in the second week of the month. Akua and I attend one of the forums and the week after, was asked to be part of a panel (still within EFFA celebrations) addressing the issue of waste and plastic waste (disposal, management, culture surrounding, solutions) in Ghana and beyond.

Shared the panel with MAKSI FashionHouse (Nana Darkoah Sekyiamah), Trashy Bags (Stuart Gold), and we were moderated by the astute and creative Dr. Kwesi Owusu (of Creative Storm and EFFA) himself. This last forum went extremely well.

A five minute insert of our Aburi documentary was included in a 12-minute documentary made by Creative Storm for the Film Marathon aspect of the EFFA, and we felt somewhat encouraged by all events and activities that month.

· July 2011: intern and I hit Cape 3 Points, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tarkwa on research and fact-finding ecological and environment-focused learning trips. See here for an album of pictures taken on most of these trips.

We commenced working relationships, procured a lot of data, researched about particular situations in specific locations, and got more familiar with more places in our country. To come, Wa, Tuori, Yargpelle, Lawra, Cape Coast again, Benin Songhai Center, and Cape Verde.

Want me to come see something in your community or neighbourhood? Call me up or email me.

If I need to advocate for help and support, or get you in contact with experts and entities in the field, I will.

This month also saw a lot more people interacting with me about the work I do in this NGO; most of them acquaintances I don’t know so well but now do, friends who keep referring me to things and things to me, family members who encourage and support, and strangers who have been following everything since I started and I have no idea of!

Some call me now and then and mention meetings at BarCamps I have presented at, or conferences and forums I have spoken at, or sometimes just have had only my blogposts to read! Keep the encouragement coming! It really helps.

July ended with another BBC phone interview for one of Africa Have Your Say’s sessions, this one on power shortages/outages on the continent, with focus on Kenya’s new/recent power rationing announcements.

I was humbled to be called by BBC team to be the voice for renewable energy in the entire discussion, and was allowed to have the final word on the programme after all the excuses and annual explanations by the political leaders of the energy institutions. I felt like I needed much more time than that though! Where the boxing ring at?! Lemme at them!

Last year, was called by BBC on similar issues and the Energy Ministry of Ghana promised on the live set discussion to PASS THE RENEWABLE ENERGY BILL into law before the year ended, after I had posed a question to them. We still wait for that to happen. See: WTF has the Ministry of Energy Ghana, done for us so far? and The BBC debate & a promise by the Energy Minister of Ghana.

Finally, pressure has been put on me by a friend who is with me on a Ghanaian social network group to do something about the embarrassing elephant in our midst here in Ghana … the e-waste situation of Sodom and Gomorrah (S & G itself being a problem worth of its very own blogpost!).

Since 2008, it has garnered a lot of HIGHLY-CONCERNED and VERY DISTURBING articles, revelations, and campaigns about the high levels of toxins seeping into the ground, the water-tables, the air, the systems of the young men and the animals and cattle of the area.

Nothing impact-full has happened to cause a change in the situation. Instead, it gets worse.

I sometimes think every European and American journalist, journalist ‘freak’ (some of them write about it with glee), and journalist wannabe who wants to get some attention, or cut their teeth on the job in the fastest possible way comes to Ghana and takes pictures and videos, interviews of this situation, and goes back to make it their promotional or hey-look-at-me-I’m –a-genius ace-in-hand or trump card.

And year after year, they keep coming … to find the situation not even the same, but worse!

WTF Ghana.

WTF all these big electronic companies like Philips, Canon, Dell, Sony, and the bloody Japanese, Chinese, Korean ones.

WTF all phone companies, and WTF Environmental Protection Agency, Accra Metropolitan Assemby, and the Government of Ghana!

W …T …F!

I went to see Kojo Oppong Nkrumah last week, and I asked him for help brainstorming what to do about this situation. He has suggested a first joint step, and I hope he will honour it. What? He’s very busy? We all are, darling.

I will go to Otabil … his wonderful bastion of sense, discipline, and morality/religion ICGC, stands right next to the e-waste aisle of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Toxins and depraved lunatics, deformed babies and malfunctioning young men and women, anybody? (Please don’t scream Amen to that.)

Yes, the toxins from these electronic waste heaps lead to brain malfunctions, lead poisoning, nerve problems, sexual reproduction issues, cancer, and mutants like you see on X-men. Okay, maybe not the last, but you get the idea.

Then I’m going to hit up on Wanlov Kubolor, Mantse Aryeequaye, Kwesi Owusu, Bibie Brew, did I mention Otabil already, and all my radical brothers and sisters … and we’re gonna go see the President.

Because something’s gotta give.

P.S.: Have you donated to our fundraiser yet? See here. This is very close to my heart.

We also have a page on Facebook, where you can interact, get more real-time updates, and ask questions. Click here.

Privada Eau Minerale Naturale ... Aggressive Business, Flaccid Community Value. Rod it up, Mr. Baron!

2011-07-25T18:12:00.002Z

Today, I bought “some” of the latest satchet-water sensation in town … Privada.

Privada Eau Naturale Minerale.

I say … does it sound better and more impressive and intimidating in French? ‘Cus most of the water companies have a thing for writing Natural Mineral Water in French. (See image accompanying).

Privada is produced by Baron Distilleries, Ghana … a serious, aggressive business with the most in-your-face marketing campaigns in town, known mostly for its range of send-your-mamma-home alcoholic beverages.

They are unforgettable for a number of reasons, but it is names and slogans like: Pusher. Shaa lai pushwaa (or whatever that Chinese man says) … Playboy Dry Gin, and Captain’s Whisky etc which guarantee a hallucinogenic effect and gleeful aftermath that’ll make you slap your mamma.

The distillery is also known for its innovative and ingenius ways of plastic packaging of these alcoholic beverages … from the tot-a-pack types (where a little tightly-sealed plastic packet the size of two thumbs contains alcohol that fits in your pocket or little purse … and everywhere else and sells very economically too) to the interestingly shaped plastic bottles of gin, brandy, schnapps, bitters, etc.

And now … the sexy, sleek, super-cool tough plastic (PET/PE) satchet with a screw-top (similar to a bottle) containing 500ml of great-looking mineral water.

This design was actually practiced on their Playboy Gin Bitters (?) a short while ago, and must have garnered a good number of hearty cheers from the pubs, chop-bars, VIP suites and the numerous ‘blue kiosks’ littering our neighbourhoods to have prompted an appearance in the more “holy” water industry.
Which is why I believe Mr. Baron is real smart and sleek. The guy nor dey waste time kwraa (he doesn’t waste time at all).

The plastic is tougher than the usual satchet water plastics, and it says PET/PE on the package itself. It shows that they are paying attention to the global standards of labeling plastics used for packaging one’s good, to enable efficient recycling.

BUT they do not have “Please Recycle” or even “Recycle!” Or “Can be Recycled” on it.

And I doubt even 10% of the Ghanaians drinking Privada will diligently search for those 2 or 3 rotating arrows which symbolize “recyclable” and say “Ahhhh! Can be recycled. Then plod over to a recycling plant and hand it over with honour and pride bubbling in their hearts.”

Privada c/o Mr. Baron, please note: Ghanaians must be told to recycle, then battered over the heads with it until they cannot breath. Then, they will pay attention.

Lesson: two rotating arrows plus “PET/PE” in random positions on your fancy water satchet (which I like and they all like) does not mean shyte to us.

Baron also does not seem to have any website (I looked and searched, I assure you) that provides contacts, because I really want (and I intend to) to notify Mr. Baron about the importance of adding an aggressive recycling initiative to his aggressive marketing and packaging business model.

It is a successful business model.
I respect him for it, and will be undoubtedly star-struck should I ever meet him, because I saw Baron Distilleries boomerang from little to mega in no time at all, and they keep getting more popular, better at what they do (making people feel “wheeee”), and now … actually making us feel “wheeee” even when drinking water.

Where did you say I can meet this man?

Anyway, off the drunken spiel and back to the main issue at hand.

Privada and the other Baron initiatives MUST begin a recycling initiative to lend a more humane and sustainable focus to their existence; call it a sort of CSV, if you will.

They must, like Nestle and some other big beverage companies are doing (or attempting to do well), set up a system which enables them to collect all the plastics put out there by the purchase of their alcoholic beverages, and now water (Privada … Privada) for bulk recycling, either by an entity like BlowPlast or Zoomlion or Trashy Bags etc they can partner with OR for bulk recycling by Baron Distilleries itself.

It must not simply put these plastic packages out there, and call it a done deal.

Who should collect those discarded Privada satchets? And those discarded alcoholic plastic bottles? Who should be responsible for them, even if it means educating the public on where to send these bottles after use? Baron must spear-head this responsibility.

Hence, Privada for example, must have on it, in addition to the plastic grade … “Can be Recycled” Or “Please Recycle”.

Privada must set up collection points at vantage locations in all areas where Privada is/can be sold.

And Privada must ensure that this wonderful business innovation that has aggressively and successfully catapulted it into the spotlight of the satchet water-drinking public in Ghana (safe to peg this public majority at 99% of the population, no?) will impress us even more with these measures being adopted to keep the environment safe from it.

We love Privada, Mr. Baron … but not enough to forget the environment. Neither should you.

Recycle. Reuse. Sustain.

Yes, you can.

Snapple is trying it out … and so far, well …. not so bad. (Google 'em up if you want to know more. Hint : Snapple ... Dr. Pepper Snapple ... ~~Sustainability.)

Snapple: all natural. Made from the best stuff on earth.

Privada Eau Naturale Minerale: Natural Mineral Water. Made in Ghana by Baron Water House. Erm … and that’s all.

P.S:

By the way …. Have you read about our $3500 biogas facility fundraiser for a little farmstead cattle ranch village in the Upper West Region yet? See here, and donate. Looking for 100 people to donate $35 each. 85 people to go!

Of Ken Saro Wiwa, Earth Day, and hope for the future of environmentalism. Onwards!!

2011-04-22T20:40:00.000Z

Poster speaks for itself, innit?

The/ An Ogoni demonstration

Saro Wiwa in trial

A poster commemorating his 10 year anniversary

Ken Saro Wiwa

Kenule “Ken” Beeson Saro Wiwa was hanged on 10^th November, 1995.

Like a dog, he was hanged. See here.

Let the bloody finger be pointed at Shell (Royal Dutch Petroleum). Let the bloody finger be pointed at the Nigerian traitors who sold over their own kith and kin to foreigners for the love of money.

Let the bloody finger be pointed at those Nigerians and Africans who sat back unconcerned or too self-loving to be involved in the struggle to preserve a legacy that never belonged to individuals and was the right and responsibility of the entire land – the environment and natural resources. See here for the story of dirty dealings.

Shell, since striking oil in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, has extracted millions of dollars worth of oil, and planted in its place ravaged environment, laid waste by oil spillages and the negative effects of crude oil drilling. The battered community at the heart of this destruction was Ogoniland, a community of almost 600,000 people back then, who farmed and fished.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was the son of Ogoni, who decided to lead the fight for his people to save and preserve the only heritage they had. But he was messing up the financial plans of President Sani Abacha and his blood-sucking, greedy cohorts in the military then. He was causing serious setbacks in the corrupt deals they had cut with Shell for the oil. The destruction of the lives and environment of Ogoniland was nothing to pay for the millions they were getting … the millions that made a one-way journey into their private pockets.

When Ken led half the people of Ogoni to a non-violent march for their share of the monies coming from the oil, to set up an environmental fund and to compensate them for the past years of damage, the response he got was imprisonment and death by hanging.

His crime? Murdering 4 Ogoni chiefs. The proof? None. The Accuser? Sani Abacha and the military.

He was hanged.

Hanged like a dog.

Those who had sat twiddling their thumbs in nonchalance … those who helped implicate him falsely … those who gave false testimony in court … the lawyers who gave up on him … those who connived to make that false case against him … the petroleum companies who would kill entire tribes and whole nations to get at this liquid … the governments who will sell their own mother, much less their entire country for some large bags of money … GUILTY!

Today, on Earth Day 22^nd April, I bow my head in a moment of silence for the main and only environmentalist I have ever known in West Africa (and Africa) who made a selfless decision to stand for his environment, and lost his life in the process.

I respect you, Ken Saro Wiwa.

I respect that your family also never stopped the fight for the truth to be shown the whole world. See here and here.

I am glad that your efforts were greatly recognized, though saddened that it has to be by a foreign award body (Goldman), and not an African, nay … Nigerian … even more befitting, … a Dutch body.

I am glad to see young Nigerian icons like Nneka adding their voices to the fight to ensure that your sacrifice does not go to waste, nor go unnoticed.

Today on Earth Day, I add my own voice to this fight for an environmentally-conscious and sustainability-focused Africa … and Ghana …and I share with the world your memorable quote:

“In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41:"All those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor. Come the day."

… Come the day.

That day is near.

Long live Ken Saro Wiwa! Long live Renewable Energy development for Ghana!!

Yours in persistence,

And she said "Lo and Behold! On bounty do they sit, yet of hunger do they daily eat."

2011-04-22T19:50:00.000Z

Explaining how briquettes leave no waste behind, and demonstrating it ... Yargpelle

Women of Tuori making sheabutter briquettes from our donated 20-pellet briquette-maker

I have been absent from this page for almost 3 months.

Unable to find my muse for the past few months … groping around and around in the ‘darkness’, I simply could not find it within me to write and update this blog. I had lost something ever since I came back from the Wa training … the desire to put a wealth of emotions into the ill-fitting clothes of words. Nothing I attempted writing could capture the feelings and experiences that I went through on that trip, nor the things I felt when I was there.

I was angry at the world of WORDS … disgusted at their inadequacy to allow me the flexibility and efficiency of expression, and in frustration, I boycotted the blog post about my training session in Wa. That trip had a deep impact on me. Period.

I’ve gone over the entire experience several times, and I have finally agreed with myself that it will take one general overview to sum it up, and 3 sequels to share the memorable details of the entire event.

It’s taken me all this time to come to this, and I’m still angry … but it’d a good king of anger now, and I apologise that you’ve had to wait 3 months for this.

The Wa Firewood-Alternative training did go very well, make no mistake.

But, before you go on any further, I urge you to read this blog post and here too (another blog post)

for a fuller understanding of all I’m going to talk about in the next few lines; this post is a general overview of the actual (Wa Firewood-Alternative) training, and there are going to be things that will only be alluded to.

Done reading those posts? Good. Let’s go on then.

Though the training itself was concentrated into 3 days, I was in the Wa district on and off from 3^rd March through to 13^th March. This was to enable me run complementary preparatory trips, make treks to the villages to ensure they were ready, get sources for the biodegradeable and plant waste we would use for making the briquettes in the training practicals, sorting out transportation to and from, accommodation, etc.

At the end of it all, the most poignant moments were their faces and their hands … the feel of their hands in mine as they came one after the other to, it seems, caress my hand in a show of one-ness.

They certainly felt more than just handshakes.

And I loved that they smiled at me so hard their eyes were all crinkled up and their ears twitched up and down. They smiled deeply, and I just stood there grinning right back.

Then they began speaking in Wale, and asking me questions … and I couldn’t understand a single thing apart from the “Good Morning” greeting and the response.

So I said “Ansuma” (Good morning in Wale) and they burst out in loud, amused cackles and guffaws of laughter, clapping their hands and covering their mouths, as I also stood there shaking with laughter.

My ‘students’ consisted of some very old women, who still walked around with all the strength of youth - not surprising since most of the indigenous people of the upper portions of the country have a wiry, tough build; also, their women do most of the manual labour, so they often keep physically strong even into old age.

The rest were women in their mid 20s to late 30s or early 40’s, and there were a few men, especially in the second village (Yargpelle) and a fair number of little children.

I loved that they interacted so much with me, and did not simply stare at me like an alien. I loved that they promised to use the briquette-makers I left behind. I loved that they opened up enough to share some songs and dances with me, during and after the training.

Now, these people live in very harsh, unforgiving environments. By way of hard luck as well as neglect by government in not giving them more facilities and infrastructure for development, they are forced to live on very little fuel/energy sources. Consequently, most of the time, they chop down and collect every little scrap of wood … make charcoal out of every available tree standing. This is what their lives revolve around everyday – how to gather enough fuel to take them through the day … every day.

But in spite of these challenging conditions, these two villages-in-training – Lawra and Yargpelle – were not at all hostile people. They welcomed, related morally and ethically with familiar people and strangers alike, and were very enthusiastic about the notion of creating this novel type of coal from things they could get for free or very cheap; things they would often dispose off, and also enthusiastic about the idea of being able to sell extras from the production at rates fairly competitive to charcoal prices. This meant income.

Now for a people who lived on very very little money and resources, and who had nothing else/much to do once the farming season was over in December, this is something to look forward to – an income source that can last all year round, and is very sustainable.

Unbelievable? Well, they did not believe it either.

All the time I was in Accra preparing, I would get several calls from the heads of the villages, passing on to me the opinions and questions of the people: could I really create green charcoal out of things like weeds, plantain waste, dawadawa waste, sheanut waste, cow dung, agricultural produce waste, etc etc? And can I really get it to burn and produce fire … fire … and heat just like charcoal or firewood? They laughed at the thought of it, feeling it was just another “city scam”.

By the time I arrived at the village with sawdust, sheabutter waste, and dried quantity of pre-made briquettes of cowdung-palmnut (the actual nut in the kernel) from Accra (Danny, the engineer and I had made these and tested them in the first few trials, and these were left over), the women and young children (and a few men) who flocked to the training site were jittery, I became nervous.

Most of them, first off, were very disappointed at the size of the Green Gold briquette-maker. To them, anything that can produce something as ‘magnificent’ as briquettes (green charcoal) ought to have been an imposing, impressive machine which run on electricity and had shiny clean plastic parts etc etc.

They were not amused at all when I pulled out a very simple metal contraption with 20 “shortbread biscuit”-like moulds in its belly; not at all amused to see that in keeping with its ‘green-ness’, it was worked by hand, not on electricity. Hehehe!

But curiosity still got the better of them, and when I asked for a coal-pot to be brought, they clustered closely around me; watched with open eyes and wonder as I poured in a few dried briquettes (cow-dung and crushed palmnut proper) and tossed in a few dried twigs, and struck a match. The locked-away smiles began popping out openly on their faces, as they watched the briquettes gently and unassumingly catch fire, burn up wildly, then smoulder down into a heat which could be fanned into large flames again, or left to smoulder for gentle heat … and they watched as it all burned and left nothing but white ash and the lingering but faint whiff of palm-nut.

They were now eager for the training, all but perched on the edge of their seats, anxious to see how this could be formulated – this ‘magic, magnificent’ charcoal. The rest was easy … and a lot of fun. See this youtube video of raw footage clip of part of one of the several training session that went on here. In it, you see me running the training and also see some of the villagers of Yargpelle trying their hands out on the process. And over here, you can have a gander at pictures of the trip and training sessions … and there are lots more where that came from!

Throughout the training in both villages, they freely asked questions - questions which showed that they were truly processing this and asking the necessary things.

Can smooth sawdust be used instead of the rough?

Can the final briquettes withstand the pressure of cooking tuo zaafi? Or will they crumble too easily?

How much briquettes must they produce to cook enough for the family everyday?

Can they use palm kernel (chaff)? Must they always crack the kernel open and use the nuts inside too, like I did?

Can they do only one mix, eg. Only dawadawa / sheabutter waste / palmkernel etc?

What other combinations would I advise?

Would the smoke be as black as firewood and charcoal smoke, and stain their ‘silver’ (aluminium pans)?

How long must it dry before being used?

How much would I advise that they sold it, compared to firewood and charcoal prices?

Why am I teaching them this?

Where did I learn it from, and who taught me?

Will I come back with a bigger machine (briquette-maker)? And can it not use electricity?

Can a small factory be made to produce it on a more commercial scale for them, the factory being located in that same community?

I loved that they asked me those, that they pushed and prodded, that they tried their hands on mixing it themselves … over and over till they got it right.

I have SO MANY clips of videos and several pictures of the entire trip, but I will have to upload gradually.

And knowing that it will be absolutely absurd to blog everything in one post, I have decided to provide sequels to this post:

1. The people and the reception (the Wa-Firewood Alternative Project by ESF)

2. My personal experiences and memories: the trip and the training

3. The follow-up trips back to the 2 first villages (to see how well they have sustained the briquettes, the challenges, the hopes, the demands, and what next).

This particular post is simply a general overview, to share the sum total of everything that occurred, and to let you dear reader know that it went very well indeed.

In fact, the trip had its very own sequel to it: Halfway through my time there, I was fascinated to hear from one of the natives of the Tumu area, brother to the Assembly member there (as he told me) that he will avail himself the next time I am in the Wa district, to escort me to the Sisala area to see for myself the havoc wreaked there by large scale charcoal production.

He told of how several efforts were being made to curtail the activity, but to very little success, and his strong belief that if I were to take the training to the leaders of the charcoal production in that area, and proposed a good concept, there could soon be something sustainable happening there in place of charcoal production.

Hint: briquette-production on a commercial scale, run by the same charcoal producers IN STEAD OF caharcoal, and deriving just as much income or even more for them.

I have taken this offer up, and when we go there next trip, I shall share the progress report with you on that project.

By no means does this mean that the briquette-training is over.

Far from that, it is actually the beginning. I have to follow up every couple of months and work with those villages to ensure that they don’t stop producing and personally using the briquettes; have to work with them to produce more till they can better handle a bigger machine; have to work with them till they can now masterfully run and maintain a mini-factory that actually produces enough briquettes for the entire sub-district, and not just the village, or a few families within the village. And I fully INTEND to see these through.

Yours in persistence,

Green Golda. :)

P.S.: At the 2^nd village, they left me with the lingering memory of a dance of welcome and appreciation. I can’t help but share it with you. Have a gander here!!

The train for the Wa Fire-wood Alternative Project TAKES OFF!!

2011-01-23T07:41:00.000Z

The 4-unit Briq-a-lizer ... our first model

Danny & I working on our first briquette pellet with our first briquette-maker

One of the various briquette types we did that day with the machine

En route to Aburi

It’s 4:00am … Sunday.

I’m sitting on the floor by my bed, peering through my glasses at the pictures and notes scattered in front of me containing the details and progress markers of the Wa firewood-alternative project I have been working on since last year… thinking through the rudiments, necessities, costs to be covered, and the time limitations.

My 3-year old son lies muttering to himself on the bed, deep in sleep … I wish that was me. He laughs in his sleep … I frown darkly at him … is he laughing at me? Did he read my thoughts by some surreal, supernatural means through his dreams?

It’s 4:00am … I can’t sleep. My little project of 5 to 10 women to start with, just swelled into 3 communities … COMMUNITIES, two of them more than 500 kilometres apart. What to do? How to handle? I can’t help but feel overwhelmed at the sudden growth of this project. I tell myself, perhaps it’s all the usual Ghanaian noise-making … I will get there and meet only 5 – 10 women actually willing to walk the walk and not just talk. But what it that is not the case, the other me asks …

The last phone call from Yargpelle carried all the excitement of this upcoming training with it … I peeked at myself in the mirror facing the bed. The room was dusky, and in the light of the bed-side reading lamp, all that showed prominently in the mirror were my glasses … reflecting what? Hope? Determination? Resilience and Persistence? Sigh …

This past week, I have been to Aburi a few times, keeping track of the design for the briquette-maker(s). Time is short, I have little to spare with the vacation over … Danny Quaynor (of Design Niche, engineer-creative designer with a passion for appropriate technology as much as metal-work designing) has been very patient and understanding with me, of me. He has turned up ideas and produced them in actual, working designs quicker than I could have hoped … but as quick as I needed. He understands, miraculously … how well and yet quickly we need to work on this.

Our focus – designing AND producing briquette-makers for use in Ghana; with affordable, available, accessible, rudimentary, durable materials, looking out for ease and flow of design, good end-result of product (briquette pellets), etc.

On my first trip, I accessed the local ‘materials’ available in Wa, and our preparations are therefore utilizing animal poop, household biodegradeable waste, plant waste (leaves, weeds, post-harvest residues, etc) … which is mostly what the women will find easily and in large quantities to use for this green charcoal.

They are skeptical about how these overly common, disregarded things can actually be turned into coal/fuel for them … cannot believe it is true that will very little, so much can be gained by them … I can imagine them saying “You lying … what!” to the propagators of the training in their communities.

For people whose social status, daily lives, health, incomes are defined by how much firewood they can gain, find, sell, use … getting to know about other such fuel alternatives is like the average Accra socialite being told, “Here … for every organic product you buy at your local supermarket, we ‘dash’ you half the price of that product … free.” … It makes no sense, and you don’t see what the catch is, or how … but in both scenarios, you are probably only being given back what excess you yourself paid for without being aware of it.

You are being cajoled to go for the right thing, and you are rewarded for it by being given back what is really your right, which other services or products have been holding back from you for so long you have now absolutely no idea it was your right … until now.

So here I am, and here is Danny … and we’re preparing, preparing, preparing (See ALL the pictures of these trips, trials of the machinery, the resultant briquettes, etc at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=490726360996&set=a.432593560996.235017.561970996

Or : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=432593560996&id=561970996&aid=235017)

How did I get the poop? And how will we be getting more poop for our commercial-scale productions here in town and other locations in Ghana? I know you’re curious, because my sister sure bugged me to share it! :)

Okay, so I was due at Danny’sin Aburi on Friday morning for the testing, and I had a funeral on Thursday and other appointments to sort out … what to do? Shrug … just do it (says Nike) … so I did!

So, here I was … Thursday morning … in my sharp black pencil skirt, belted-up chic blouse, fresh shoes, hair all done up, looking like I had a meeting with Obama … looking for poop at the Jamestown beach-side slaughter-house in Accra.

I had swung by the beach right after the funeral in Adabraka, and drove up to the entrance, where two typical hard-core Ga guys sat assessing me and the car. I got out and strutted over, and let drop my best typical raw, hardcore Ga … “I want poop,” I said. “Fresh one.”

They looked at me like … “Whattthhheeefuuuccckk” … I repeated myself.

They were now sure that the lady spoke Ga, was not timid, and yes … was really looking for shit.

They said, “For real?” I said, “Like yesterday, mehn.”

They said no probs … we got goat poop … it’s all over, but not a lot cus we kill ‘em here … not rear ‘em. But if you want, we can gather up sacks and sack for you … so discussing it jovially, in nice, raw, hard Ga (I realised how much I missed my growing up days in that area at my Dad’s family house around Mamprobi, during this session) we talked business, and I joined them, bent over in my skirt, picking up … you guessed it! Glorious, fresh goat poop! Haha!

Talking to those guys was refreshing … we’ve got survivors in Ghana ooo!

So, big-ups to Nii Ankrah and his giant of a dude friend “Haggler” who helped me out … if you ever get to read this blog, you guys gon be my first first ever employees for the briquette-business, mehn! You were great, and customer service in the hoods … first-class. They didn’t ask for nothing, no money, no ID, no bitchiness, no rudeness … they helped purely and simply.

You don’t get that that nicely in those “first-class” thingies, you know.

So that’s how I got my poop!

And now, I need about 10 – 15 twenty-unit briq-alizers (the one in the pics is 4-unit … we will make the standard a 20-unit, and I need 15 of those) to train these communities …. BUT, I’m financing all this myself and it’s not easy , so I have ordered 2 to start with from Danny, might likely push it to 3.

That way I teach all of them, but leave the 3 models with a select number of them, and go back on subsequent trips to deliver the rest to other women showing promise …

I must consider cost of the machines, cost of the trip for the team (2-way trip), cost of accommodation, food, drink, cost of the vehicle renting to drive us around the communities, cost of fueling, cost of personnel helping (tips here and there) … and miscellaneous.

Give or take GH1200 to GH3000 will be spent before the project is over or halfway through.

I have some friends who have hinted at helping … may they do! But if not, once you promise to help … difficulty or no, you gotta!

I will be keeping y’all updated as usual as we set off.

I’m exhausted as heck, coordinating all this with my income-deriving jobs, school, motherhood … but as I always say … when I go to sleep at night, even when on a less-than-full tummy, I sleep peacefully. ‘Cus I know I have kept my word.

One love, people!

4:47 am

Sunday

23^rd Jan., 2011

Accra, Ghana.

A cry from the heart of Nana ... listen!

2010-12-06T14:56:00.000Z

Nana Amoako Agyeman (Mr. Rod McLaren to some people) has become a good friend of mine, as well as one of my rocks in the world of advocacy in Ghana.
He made this video in the hopes that it will make the rounds to the President's PC someday soon, or get to his ears sooner ... and cause something to be done for the fishing folks whose lives are being destroyed by the commercial trawlers. This is not just a matter of fishermen facing 'competition' (this is more like stealing candy from a baby) ... it is more about the domino effects on the entire country (from that fishermen, through to the fishmongers, to the families and cuisine industries now experiencing shortages and incredulous high prices, and on and on and on!).

Visit Youtube and view this 1 minute stunning silent video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEk9BsopIqA
and read what he says about it on his blog : http://villagerainbows.com/2010/11/24/illegal-trawlers-unchallenged/

If you have mouth, say something.
If you have a flair for writing, pen this down and put it out there.
If you have the power and luck to be well-connected, use it ... share this message and let us get something done about this .... and the other countless issues just like it!!

We must not sit and do nothing ... if we have the power to do something.

WTF has the Ministry of Energy, Ghana ... done for Ghana so far?

2010-11-16T08:23:00.002Z

Let's shake hands on this lie ...

“And what is a man without energy? Nothing - nothing at all.” Mark Twain

A few months ago in May (2010), the Minister of Energy and his Deputy, made bold (as politicians often do) to state that a Renewable Energy (RE) Bill would be passed, HOPEFULLY, before this year is over.

(Follow the links to feast your eyes.)

Did he actually mean it, that declaration?

Did they actually INTEND to make it happen?

I doubt it … and I also doubt that they have contributed to the development of Ghana’s Energy Sector in any significant, nation-beneficial, worth-noting way; nor that they even intend to do so.

What about the oil find? And all proliferation of activities, jobs, and courses attached to it since it was declared?

First of all, I do not believe that the oil will bring in more revenue and more national development THAN the Renewable Energy (RE) sector of Ghana. I don’t believe that. Yes. I said it.

Secondly, the Ministry of Energy (MoE) did not put that oil there, in the ground, beneath the ocean, abi? They were not even the ones who found the oil … duh … they did not have the rigs, equipment, technology, the know-how …

Thirdly, the proliferation of complementary activities … uh, 80% - 90% of the petroleum jobs are going to foreigners, and Ghanaians living in foreign countries (equals only a fraction of the salaries and monies paid in that entire job sector will be retained locally – in Ghana) … the courses and activities, not run by the MoE are they? Most are not even inspired and sustained by the MoE!

So, now that we are clear on those issues … back to explaining some of my points:

Why do I think that the oil find will not bring in as much revenue and national development as the RE sector?

Well, because 100% of the companies drilling, with the rigs, equipment, technology, know-how are NON-Ghanaian.

Ghana holds only 10% of the oil-stakes. Something tells me 100% less 10% equals 90% … and 90% sure seems to be a huge stake not to have, as the country in whose territory the oil-wells have been found. OR?

How many of the people employed by these foreign companies are Ghanaians? And how many of the fraction of Ghanaians employed in there, actually live in Ghana, for us to claim that their salaries and the taxes derived from those incomes, and their lifestyle expenditures will come in to add to Ghana’s revenue?

Go on … I’ll wait.
.......
..........
...........

Okay, now I have to move on! :)

Now, in RE … within which we have Solar, Wind, Biogas, Rain-Harvesting, etc … the people living in the communities, the local pockets, the people themselves, and the nation of Ghana as a whole … will benefit from a proper exploitation of these infinite, natural (re)sources of safe, green energy and fuel compared to the sketchy "direct contributions" of the oil sector, and its devastating effect on the environment.

First of all, the environment is safer, more respected, and nourished by the people. By learning how to derive energy and fuel from these RE sources, the people acquire jobs, self-worth, AND money (income).

The local people and the community benefit directly from these sources of energy and fuel, and income and are developed gradually – by better/more facilities, being able to go to/continue their education, and being able to live somewhat better standards of life.

Since the income derived is mostly retained locally (mostly), the national GDP will ultimately taste that increment, will it not? And also raise the nation’s revenue levels, the global status per standards of living, and boost other economical relationships with the world.

The nation as a whole, will have several other minor reliable sources of energy and fuel, taking the huge load off the Akosombo dam and the Aboadze Thermal plant, as well as on any other government energy facilities the government has lined up … because they people are now tapping into safe, green energy sources.

We could even get so good at this, that like Egypt and South Africa, we could make an entire commercial activity out of these RE sources, even as far as exporting some out to neighbouring countries with an energy deficit.

See the cases of Egypt and South Africa (and the amazing things SA is doing with it), who are leading the pack in Africa and doing pretty well in cooking up large quantities of the types of green energy available in their countries.
Please please NOTE how they both have Feed-in Tariffs, and note how in my blog post on the promise made by the MoE, I focused on the importance of the Feed-In Tariff, what it is, and how many people keep calling me to find out if it has been set, or whether the RE Policy, which contains that tariff has BEEN PASSED INTO LAW (the RE Bill)!!

A lot hinges on this Bill.

I could go on and on … but you get that the benefits, development of the nation, and income to the people is more direct and reliable in this scenario, right?

Not to forget that practically all this RE is 100% Ghana-owned green energy, unlike in the controversial oil finds … the same amount of monies being spent on oil drilling and petroleum technologies could have gone into RE technologies, courses, scholarships for the people of Ghana, just as is happening for the oil sector right now … and the passion and aggressiveness with which the MoE is pushing the execution and exploitation of the petroleum sector, could very well … and SHOULD very well have been applied to the Renewable Energy sector of Ghana … a long time ago.

But greed overcomes common sense and ethics, very often in the realm of politics, and the people in whose hands the people have placed their trust … squander it, and play water-bed sex-games with the people’s monies and resources … tee-hee-heeing (giggling) their way all through it.

WTF has the MoE done for us Ghanaians so far?

Well, there is the Petroleum Bill (of course) … waiting to be passed (as usual).

But wait … the RE Bill has also been lying in waiting, to be passed … about almost 2 years now (the same one the Energy Minister Oteng-Adjei and his faithful, mimetic cohorts spoke of attempting to try to try to pass into law before this year is over, remember?)

I bet you that fiver in your pocket … the Petroleum Bill might be passed first!

Okay, so Petroleum Bill has been ‘put together’ … what else has the MoE done for Ghana so far?

Oh oh! I know!
…. They increased our electricity tariffs (and water as well), then took it down a little by a fraction with 2 decimal points … oh gee!

And since the tariff increase (the reason being to provide better services), we have really seen a good increase in quality and better service, yes? (NO!)

That’s already 2 big achievements for you, Mr. Energy Minister et al. You should clap for yourselves and throw a party … I’ll come.

What other achievements? What? If you find any, lemme know … I really really want to know.

Want to know why, a crucial ministry like one for ENERGY, has not seen it fit to set targets of import and achieve them for Ghana, with Ghana, for Ghana!

It is energy which makes civilizations, nations, countries … and makes them some mightier in strength and accomplishments than others. It could be the energy of the people, being harnessed to energize actual technological advancements … it could be energy sources which drive the country forward, power industries, transform lives, and develop the nation into a powerful, successful one.

We wait for you to pass our RE bill as you promised to try, Mr. Minister … and we wait for you to train the people, educate them, prepare them for a bigger Energy Age … because you know it is coming.
And those countries who will be ready for that Age when it comes, will be the ones to survive the “mutation” of time and species …
What have you done, or are you doing for Ghana?

What else, apart from your half-baked, minor ‘achievements’, is left for you to pretend to be busy about, Mr. Minister?

What else is there for you to actually delve into, in order for you to leave a legacy behind, Mr. Minister?

If not for us as a country, perhaps for your children and grandchildren? (you know this is a trick question … don’t you dare take that last option!)

In the meantime, there are 45 days left for you to make good on your word … pass the RE Bill, or tell us why you won’t make it this year, but as I always say:

Governments come and go,

Come and go …

But the people are always here,

Always here …

Leave a legacy, Honourable Oteng Adjei, and Deputy Ministers.

Leave a legacy …

Leave a legacy.

When i went to Wa ... (Last Half of the account)

2010-10-21T09:22:00.000Z

In the canoe on the Black Volta, approaching the bank, at Lawra

Uncle Dan and the 'gondolier-boy' - on the Black Volta tributary, Lawra

So we arrived at Uncle Dan’s friend’s place. Francis.

Francis was to be our point of contact for the assessment for the firewood-alternative project.

He made a living by running a small bar and canteen in his compound, and I remember particularly liking the fact that the compound spread into a green green expanse of bushes, baobab and acacia trees which seemed to be 100 years old, and the little dirt road which connected to and from his village, Yargpelle. It was an unfenced compound which blended into an Eden-like surrounding … I felt at any moment, a waterfall would appear to my left, and butterflies would burst out on my right.

There were indeed, birds chirping and singing in the trees nearby, and every now and then, his chubby little puppies would waddle into the bushes and hide in there to gnaw a bone in peace.

It was around a small plastic table on this “compound” that we at and bared our hearts to each other.

I spoke of how all my life, I had never set foot in that part of my country, neither for work nor for pleasure, and most Ghanaians regard them as another country altogether, hardly bothering to learn about them and understand them …

… and how my NGO was often disturbed by news of firewood issues and scuffles amongst their people, knowing how it is their main source of fuel, and also the main cause of deforestation, a situation already making mince-meat of the existence of their brothers and sisters in the other Upper and Northern regions.

I and my assistant were there to lay the foundations for training the women and interested individuals in making briquettes to replace the firewood, and also to give them a source of income because it could easily become a commercial venture to anyone determined enough.

Francis, our host, thanked us, and said his friend and brother, the prince of Tuori, a neighbouring village would speak on their behalf as ‘most worthy’ … Prince Joshua, a.k.a God (indeed they know him more as God than Joshua) .

God told us how his women wake up at dawn each day, and leave home by 5am, out to look for pieces of wood, twigs, and burnable plant life and materials. If they are very very lucky, they will get a log of two.

I cut in and ask, but this place is very green and has quite a number of small trees. What has stopped them from plucking a branch here and there?

God replied, no one is allowed to simply wander onto someone else’s compound or land and pluck off branches or cut trees, no matter if it’s a vast unwalled field. The penalty is dire.

You can only pick twigs on the boundaries, or in the gutters, or on government lands, but even then no one is allowed to cut the trees on said property.

Some people have to resort to cut a tree or 2 on their own compounds or properties in the leanest periods, or for money … but any idiot can see that the trees are diminishing, and there is higher and higher demand for firewood.

So, he concluded, they leave at dawn and usually arrive late morning with whatever they found, and come and cook, farm, tend to the house.

He also told us how pito-brewing also consumed a lot of firewood, and how the wealthiest people were pito-brewers because it sold very well amongst the people. He mentioned that very often, most women sold the best finds of firewood and logs to pito-brewers, because they needed the money more … and that the situation was getting bad.

We then told him how briquettes work, and together we decided on January 2011 as the best time for the training to be given the women, because it would be just after the harvesting period, and the women would be idle and mostly jobless, there would be a lot of post-harvest leftover to use for briquette combinations with cow dung, animal droppings, food peelings, etc. and the atmosphere would be ideal for the training.

In a recent telephone conversation, he has asked me to take one more trip there in November/December to see the women in the village and ascertain the training location before January … things are not easy for them.

In some chit-chat which followed later, we asked him if there was anything else they needed, so we could see if we could help, and he said, “Clay-mining. It’s killing the people. It’s so dangerous, and I lost one of my mothers (his father, the king, has several wives) to it.”

How?

Well, he said. There was a part of the Black Volta tributary which runs through Lawra nearby, where the people extract clay and use for pottery and pito-containers, gourds for chilling water and drinks, keeping food cool, etc. Selling the clay and/or the pottery also brings good income, so most of the women take to it as well.

The thing about it though, was that the clay layer was several feet underneath the top sandy layer, so the miners often dug little rabbit-like holes into the earth to extract the clay.

These rabbit-holes often lead further and further under the superficial loose layer of soil, and many a time, it comes crashing down for lack of support and stability –which would be impossible in that kind of situation. And because the miner is often a woman, and often jammed into the narrow tunnel with no turning space, much more enough air to breathe, if the weight of soil which comes crashing down is very heavy, they suffocate to death or are crushed and choked to death, especially if unable to be pulled out in time.

It was such a crash which killed his ‘mother’, and he is always worried about the fatality of the job.

But due to the amount of money it brings them, they will never stop.

Can we get a machine which will be able to do the drilling beneath the top layer to the clay and get it out for the women?

Sure, there are machines like that, and if not, one can always be fashioned in some of the ingenious metal workshops in Ghana, we say … but how do you power it there at the bank of the tributary, and how reliable is the power (electricity) supply to that part, we ask.

Power it? He asked. And shook his head with a smile.

Do you have good supply of power in Tuori?

Well, things are normal there … we have no electricity, he says easily.

And as our jaws hung wide open, he rested his case with a swig of his Guiness. Drowning his frustrations in drink? No, he’s being Michael Power – strong.dark.powerful.

Gooodammmit! Politics is something, ain’t it?

Whatever happened to honour, keeping your word, seeing to the priorities of your people?

Why were there not factories, processing industries, lively tourist industry, service providers offices, culture and heritage vending supermarkets, several ventures scattered throughout the region?

The people I met in Wa, Jirakpa, Lambussie, Lawra, Tomblibli, Bebli, etc … are very hardworking people. They do not even see themselves to be poor … all they know is that life is hard, and they are suffering with inadequate/complete absence of transportation, insufficient meals, enough money to cater to their health and physical needs, etc.

They are beautiful people, and astonishingly very honest – I have been told of how if you leave something lying somewhere, you are most likely to come back and see it still there, how the Fulanis often infiltrate them, rape their girls and women, steal their livestock and agric, mess up things, and create a bad environment for them.

They speak very very good English, and speak it with a fascinating lilt.

They are fluent in more than 2 other local Ghanaian languages, and are very resilient.

When our crew drove down to Lawra, after our meeting with God, Joshua and co, we passed by the Black Volta tributary (Lawra), and met a canoe returning a woman and her baby to shore.

She had gone over to the “French” (Burkina Faso) side of the tributary for firewood, as most of the women did too, and had returned empty-handed.

The first thing she did when the canoe struck land, was hop down into the water, scoop some up with the calabash she held in hand, and give it tenderly to her months-old baby … who drank it, and she tipped the rest into her own mouth.

The water was brown, very very unclean!

But that was and is their life … is this a great divide or what?

Especially to think that I would stand in some fancy supermarket back in Accra, and bitch about a bottle of sparkling water not being cold enough, giving the shop attendant stress about it, especially since the 0.30p markup on the price out to account for well-chilled water, innit?

I was ashamed and disgusted with myself … ashamed and disgusted that this beautiful district and town, with its surrounding villages was so neglected, its large potential for tourism (it is soooo beautiful) is also ignored.

I still wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad … and when I go back to train them in January 2011, it is with the hope and intention that I would contribute more than a widow’s mite to their development and betterment.

The Okyeame network of Ghana has donated GH800 cedis so far to the project, and some of their members have pledged a bit more … if you wish to donate something, anything for this training, you’ll be much appreciated.

If you wish to volunteer physically to this project and come along with me to train the women, send me a message or call me … and I will give you the terms and conditions.

Either ways … I’m doing this.

When i went to Wa ...

2010-10-18T10:54:00.004Z

On the Black Volta tributary at Lawra (Wa)

A pregnant woman, carrying her firewood find of the day

This has been a long time coming ... the report about what i saw, felt, went through when my not-for-profit took a tip to Wa.
Darn right, it's 3 weeks late! I'm not sorry about that ... i cherished the memories, and held on to it for as long as possible, unwilling to share it with y'all ... for fear the magic and potency will be watered down, then slowly vanish into nothingness.

Am i wacko? Sometimes. So what? I'm liberated. Hehe!!

I had been pining to go up there for a long time, but I was unsure where to start from ... i mean aren't they another country all together? Aren't they so neglected, their foreign aid so squandered and misused by their own political reps, their way of life so retro and impoverished, compared to the rest of the country?

They flock into town, and all we do is make sure the rift which left them hapless, abandoned, frustrated, stuck in a rut ... is still maintained ... so they resort to being porters and 'watchmen', stone-hearted criminals and walking time-bombs riding on motorbikes, with matchets in hand ... blood boiling red-hot in their hearts.

I went up there to see where they come from, and how they come ... where did i start?
From Wa.

Wa ... a green patch in a dustbowl.
Mehn, their shit is tight!

The place is gorgeous ... we went in September (16 - 18th) and it was in the wet season, so it was even more green and gorgeous.
See the pictures here : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235017&id=561970996

It is more beautiful than Accra, it has vast swathes of land, has beautiful people, and some amazing tourist spots like the Hippo Sanctuary (a little out of Wa) and the Black Volta tributary at Lawra.
It is full of green places, vast parks and unused lands, good roads linking up everywhere, and trees.

I left town with an OA bus at 10pm from the Circle station, and we travelled through the night, stopping 4 times for passengers to see to their needs. We got to Wa at about 7 am next day, and the arrival spot was right around the Wa-Na's palace.

Unfortunately, that palace is also prey to a terrible chieftaincy dispute, so there are 2 factions fighting over it, and at the time we were in town, the palace had been shut down and declared off-limits, patrolled 24/7 by soldiers, and no photographs allowed to be taken. (we managed to take long-distance ones from the bus though ... what? It's our heritage too!)
We were surprised to hear that apart from the Yaa-Na's brutal murder and consequent chieftaincy dispute, the Wa-Na also had one raging, its public limelight stolen by the Yaa'Na's.
It's unfortunate, and i hope these both are resolved very soon, and very well.

We made our way by taxi to our host's office, Mr. T, and he sent us off promptly to our gest house, just 10 minutes away. We bathed, took a light meal, then hopped into the loaned 4-Wheeler our host lent us ... filled it with fuel, and headed off.

Uncle Dan was our older brother, guide and chauffeur through our 2 day assessment stay in Wa.
He made a few calls and told us he was sending us to see a friend near Yargpelle near WA, for us to talk to him about the real situation on the ground for fuel sources for the people in that district.

Mind you, we were there to assess and prepare for a firewood alternative programme for the people ... since this was one of the major problems they faced ... hiking several kilometres a day for firewood, having little or no electricity in some locations, living hard, impoverished lives, and having no jobs and sources of employment.

So off he cruises, and shortly slows to a halt.
"I have to call a police friend of mine," he says.
"Why?"
"Well, we need a police escort or two, because the route we are about to use is notorious for angry attacks by soime irate youth, and they can brutalize, vandalise, and kill us ...so let me just pass by the market and buy some yams for him, and he'll escort us to Yargpelle."
He says this calmly ... and we can only nod ... our mouths were too dry. With fear and excitement!
Here in Ghana, we're about to see a live movie? Idiot! This is dangerous, you know. Eeeek! But still .... wow!

Okay, adrenaline down ... Uncle Dan, isn't there a way their woes can be addressed?
He shrugs ... they stripped a policeman guarding a Metro Mass bus naked and ordered him to walk 15 kilometres to the nearest town as their nicest gesture ... you care to try it? I don't, he says.

Ooooo boy! Excited!
So we head on, and he makes a few more calls, and whaddayaknow? ... he says the friend we are going to see has just alerted him to another route to use which is safer, so ... whew! ... no more need for police escorts.
Aaaaaawww, shucks! Hehehe.

We got on the highway, and I wished we'd never stop driving ... small dams, little lakes, green stretch upon green stretch, a small airstrip, a large stadium, miles and miles of millet, wheat, corn, and groundnuts ... it was mind-boggling.

So. why.do.the.people.all.migrate.down.bloody.choked.South. to Accra and its hell?
I would stay here anyday ... scrreeech to a halt the swinging music in my head. ... aaaah, if I get a job that can cover my life's expenses.
So that was godammn it!
The only reason these people leave their homes (in Wa, I'm yet to travel to other districts in the Upper and Northern Regions which are more dry and un-green that Wa and find out their problems) and come and endure street life, rape, murder, hunger, teenage pregnancy, and all sorts of hell in Accra ... is because there are not hardly enough sources of employment and income for them.

All the foreign aid, the donors ... all that junk about the North and Upper regions being fed money to develop them ... and all the popular ministers in parliament ... and this ... THIS is still a problem?!

I was choking .... Uncle Dan, this is outrageous!
I was very quiet for the rest of our journey, mulling the senselessness of the whole thing in my Einstein head ... solutions? Solutions? Solutions?
"I wanna be a billionare, sooo freaking bad ... buy all of the things I never had" kept playing in my head ... only this time, I did not want to be on the cover of Forbes magazine, or be by Oprah or other gunk.
I wanted to be a billionare so freaking bad to help this people ... swoom into town and change things overnight for thebetter ... train the people, chage mindsets ... generate a new generation of people to run and propagate this change ... actualise the top-notch potentials glaringly residual in most of our people who are still romantics in a world of canker and gracelessness.

I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad ... i sang as i watched the magnificent baobabs swing by through the car window, watched the fields of agric, saw several groups of women nd children shuffling along the ears of the road with precious finds of firewood, tattered clothes, lean faces, dead eyes, and ... crushed my heart.

We finally got to Uncle Dan's friend's place.
He was called Francis, one of the heads of Yargpelle, and sitting with him was his best friend, Prince Joshua of Tuori, another village close by ... soon they were joined by another friend, a lecturer at Univ of Development Studies in Wa.

Their story was memorable ... I shall share it in Part 2.
Stay tuned.

But the ruling generation, the one before them, and the generation about to come into power has a lot to pay for, to explain, to make right.
Someone's got to pay for this mess ... and someone's got to turn the tides.

Or we're toast.

Earth Words how did it go? & Paper bags back in town?

2010-10-13T11:39:00.002Z

I'm sitting here at Busyinternet, Circle, typing up this update with gusto! My internet's not happened for near one week now ... don't ask. This is Ghana.

Kiss my teeth. Aren't we sick and tired of hearing that now? This is Ghana, where heroes and heroines abound, but shit happens every day. What do you know? I'm sitting in one at the moment!

My internet is out. Lecturers are on strike though our full fees are paid. I'm having to live on a very stict budget all of a sudden. My best friends are still out of the country. My big sister and muse, Bibie is also outta town ... I'm not having a very good phase right now. I love it.

EARTH WORDS!
It went beautifully! I thank Maame Aba of Daixy's blog and her lovely friends for coming on time, and staying through ... they couldn't have left, they enjoyed it too much. :)
I thank all my friends who came out of the will and desire to be part of an enviromental difference of an artistic event, and came to share the afternoon and evening with me.
I thank the people who promised to come, and ACTUALLY did.
Some people promised and did a fantastic no-show ... some simply could not be bothered to come and see it, I understand ... they're not freaks, they're real.
Ok, ok, so i can't help being sarcastic ... i just wish more of you would actually come have fun at these gatehreings which happen for free, or cost as little ad GH5 cedis, but which cost us an arm and a leg in cash to put together, and so much more in energy, passion, and emotion.

Some pictures of the event at this link (not many, but you'll get the pro ones soon!) will be linked here soon ... forgive me, i just can't find the link at the moment.
Perhaps you'd like to visit Bibie's (Bibie Brew) page on Facebook and see the pictures there ... no, don't ask to be her friend and expect a yes if she doesn't know you, you baby! But if you do locate her page, simply look out for Earth Words stuff and have fun in there .... looking through. :)

But quite a number of people did make it, and I'm grteful ... I went home and cried tears of joy. It was such a profound moment for me, and the energy and adrenaline, then the fatigue of the past few weeks totally crushed no me, and I cried for hours, curled up in bed.

My family didn't come as well, which made it more painful ... though my brother's girlfriend did and gave me one good moment. She didn't have to, especially since my brother ws sleeping it off at home, but she DID. Thanks, Jacque. You're a queen.

Bibie was a monument of bliss for me ...!
I thought I was the crazy free spirit who still run her days like a battle-plan, focused on each and every detail of her work schedules, lived on strict personal philosophies, spoke bluntly and freely, and loved with all her heart (and also told every idiot off with all her heart) ... I just found out that Bibie is actually me a few years down the line.
It's like i visited the future and saw myself ... and dang! I like it!
I love the woman who started out as my collaborator for Earth Words, and grew into my soul sister, my sister, and myself out of myself.
If you're in France over the next 2 months, ask anyone about BB Brew and where next she's performing on her 2010 Tour, and they'll gush all over till you beg them to stop.
She's a siren, a diva, a warm angel ... and they adore her in France!For good reason.
She made Earth Words possible too!

For now, I am working on my Wa firewood-alternative project ... due back there for the training in 2 months.
Oh eeek! I haven't put up the update on that trip yet, have i? Oh nooo! Even our close call with a police escort and alll? Hell, no ... Ididn't just have a senior (forgetful) moment on you!
Ok, will pt it up tomorrow, how about that? Never too late ... :-)

And another thing, during the lively, intersting forum we had on Earth Words, a colleague blogger suggested insisting on paper bags everytime we shop, as he is doing personally.
Several of us wondered how many people have paper bags to pack customer's stuff in after shopping ... and I was too. Surprise surprise!!

I was at the Mayan Book shop in East Legon (my favourite book shop for good books, classicals, etc) last 2 weeks, and the Kingdom Books and Stationaery Swan Lake Osu branch (the new one) ... and was SO HAPPY when they packed all my purchases in BEAUTIFUL paper bags for me!!!

Yes, people ... demnding and demanding does bring ears up. I was so happy I couldnt stop grinning ... the sales lady must have thought I have never been to Accra before, seeing as I was smiling so much about her putting my stuff in a paper bag!
If she only knew how happy it made me feel, seeing how mny less plastic bags would be let free in the environment with ALL THOSE BEAUTIFUL PAPER BAAAAAAGS!!!

Well, so pass by those places sometime, and buy something and ... lets encourage the other service providers to do same ... even encourage clients to have cloth bags, so we dont go back to cutting down all the trees for paper!

Well, lovies, I'm out, enjoy the pictures, and I'll be back soon with the Wa update.
Stay green and happy!

EARTH WORDS 2010 & Pictures of Our Firewood-Alternative Programme (Wa Chapter)

2010-09-26T17:00:00.000Z

Time is flying by like the wind!
Next thing I know, I'm burping my 10th grandbaby on my shoulder!

You all know the coming weekend is the day of my NGO's annual Green (Renewable & Sustainability) event - for publicising to and mass educating the general public here in Ghana on Renewable Energy and Sustainable alternatives for energy, fuel, income, employment ... and also ways to protect the environment and harness a bright future for the little ones for whom we are working so hard (and building large egg-nests)!

So it's this weekend, 2nd October ... 3pm - 8pm, at the New Morning Arts Cafe Theatre in Tesano, Accra.
Here's the flier:

And here is the poster:

Please do spread the word ... we need as many eager and interested phenomenal people there, as can be possible.

We're going to have stage drama about our relationship with the earth, Spoken Word (poetry) by one of our best poets - DK Osei-Yaw, a pantomime on Sustainability & the Earth, live music of all genres, interactive moments with the audience whereby they ask anything and everything and get answered by the visiting Resource person on Environmental and Renewable Energy issues, and of course, lively moments where I and Bibie talk with the audience about issues as well!!

Tell your people in town ... they better book the date, mehn!

And for the whole story on my Wa trip, stay tuned ... but because I know y'all can't wait for the pictures, here it is! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=235017&id=561970996&l=d7ba7e380e

And this one is for Earth Words pictures :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205418&id=561970996&l=27c25430a9

See the number on the flier and poster?
Ring it up if you want to get tickets or reserve seats, or want make enquiries concerning the programme.

Spread the word, and enjoy the pictures!

xxx

World Habitat Day! How can we let you know how important it is?

2010-09-26T16:32:00.001Z

A child in the slum of Kibera

Kibera

I'd like you all - readers and fellow bloggers - to note this day down in your books, to blog about this in advance or on the day in solidarity, to think about the deepness of this problem, and to spread the word to others via your conversations, blogs, and writings ...

October 4th, 2010 ... World Habitat Day ...

... tell the world that people need access to affordable housing; to basic amenities; to hope ...

Yes, it's none of your business.
But what if a freak of circumstances, of genes, of nature, had placed you within your parents arms, and they lived in such locations of stark poverty; and you were born into it and know no other?
What if your child got lost in that situation after you had died early? Or you had happened to be a victim of war, devastated in the aftermath.
Or a natural disaster had crushed and shattered your luxurious world and left you on the verge of madness, thinking "this is a dream. I still have my home and my money ... living a good life", and you're still not waking up from that dream?

What if ... what if ... what if ....?

You'll never know, will you? Never know when this nasty situation of homelessness/deprivation will strike at your gut, and rip out a chunk of it, leaving you as just another statistic.
Strike a loved one, or the relatives of someone you love deeply, and you cannot help but feel the pain rub off on you ... strike the people you rely on so that your world comes crumbling down ...

So, reach out and help. Talk about it, and ask questions. Find solutions or recommend some.
Be a propagator and a helper ... help us bring adequate and affordable housing to the people who really need it ... today. Now.

Please.
Visit http://worldhabitatdaynews.org/ lend a hand.

Miss me? This girl's been busy! Our 2nd year Green Night ... 1st update.

2010-09-13T21:22:00.001Z

Peopleeeeeee!!
Girl's been busy as heck! Trying to be everything, do everything! Heck, this sh*t is hard. I love it!! Yes!!

I've not been quiet for lack of something to holler about, noooooo.
Been working towards our 2nd year Annual Green day event.

Last year, ESF (my foundation for Renewable Energy Development & Sustainable issues in Ghana) held its first ever Green Energy event, in the form of a fair.
If you've been regular to my blog, you'd know about it ... it's still in the archives.
Gave me a heart attack, stroke, hernia, epilepsy, ulcer all rolled into one, it did! Lordy!
What a heartbreaker ... but what a miracle!

Yes! It broke my heart that it didn't manifest the way I dreamed it, but the roads it opened up to me publicly, with crucial individuals; the partners I made from that initiative, the lessons I learned about life and friends and love ... it gave me so much more than I thought I had lost.

I don't regret the bloody event one bit! It hurts, but I'd do it again if I had to ... made me better!

Now this year, all of a sudden ... whoa! ... October is here again? Well, nearly ... and we haven't even gotten started on planning our 2nd annual event yet. So swoop! I was up and talking ... running around, picking vibes with my invisible antenna ... and I found the most marvellous partners I could ever have thought of for this year's event!

Bibie Brew and her New Morning Artistic Centre, Beating Tracks of the UK (Asabaako fame), and The Okyeame Network of Ghana!
They've been phenomenal!!! Peopleeeeeeee, I love you!!

So I've been working on this event, it's coming on at the New Morning Cafe in Tesano, near Abeka Junction on 2ND OCTOBER ... save the lovely date, people!! Save it!
3pm to 8pm, and only GH5 cedis at the gate or buy a ticket at same price to guarantee your seat.
It's called "EARTH WORDS : Touching you, touching me - creatively up close and personal with our environment" (will upload the flier soon!)

We're gonna see some phenomenal youth in action with a Global Warming piece of stage drama that will have you rocking on your heels; more youth in a short powerful pantomime on humans and their relationship with Mother Earth; Bibie Brew's New Morning band tying your guts up with live jazz, blues, good highlife, and groovy boogy; and some good crowd interaction where I jump on the stage and scream obscenities at y'all till you kick my butt offa the stage.

No, of course not ... more along the lines of a guest expert interacting with you about Green Energy alternatives and how to do it, make it a business, Recycling creatively - having you throw questions, opinions, suggestions, everything at me concerning Recycling, Energy options, Environmental Protection, all the things we'll do on this artistic night, and all that lovely muck!

It'll be talking Green ... artistically, enjoyably, unforgettably.
If you'll be in town (Accra/Ghana) on the 2nd of October, or currently residing here, or know friends and family who do ... tell them about it, and let them save the bloody date. I mean, lovely date!

Peopleeeeeee!

Will tell you more about it, but in the meantime, I'm about to upload a few pictures of some of the moments of this planning, so far ... and THERE'S MORE TO COME, so check back here often. You won't believe what I'm going to show you next ... and no, it's not a marketing hype.

Love you, enjoy, and call me or hook up with me anywhere and let's be green lovers. Get me? ;-)
See you soon!

Bibie Brew & Golda

At New Morning Artistic center with some of the Ghanaian youth working towards
2nd October night - EARTH WORDS

Me and the guys of the youth artistic group, under New Morning tutelage and
grooming (Bibie's Artistic Centre) towards Renewable Energy &
Environmental Education via the arts.

Rehearsals at New Morning

Bibie taking the drama cast through some directives: working on the
Environmental play for EARTH WORDS

Rehearsals

Caught in action!

STX-Ghana sucks, Habitat for Humanity hushes up, and Emerging Ghana affordable Housing still emerging ... what the hell?!

2010-08-05T13:00:00.000Z

Kai! Now I'm here ... we shall rise to the top.

I mean, riiiise to the top ... Us, then Others. Separate and Distinguish is the mantra!

Omama ... this way please. All the others seem somewhat not your style, don't you think?

Ghana is not a poor country, nor is it destined to be.
Neither are we third-world crap (even if you spell it with a capital T), or developing (we've been promoted from 'under').

It is the governments. The Bullshyte governments which have been running the people of, and the land mass Ghana, who are all these labels - they are poor, developing, and third-world ... crap.

Yes, some people in there are striving to show their excellence, but the stink of the majority is quick to dampen their fragrances ... so do accept this lumping categorization, for now, wontcha?

We are not poor.
We are a land blessed with minerals, water-bodies, fertile lands for agriculture, beautiful lush green landscapes, semi-desserts of stunning sunsets and scenes (yes, the Northern part of our country IS beautiful, despite what most think), and a mix of people with such strengths of mind and ambitions, that should we ever err into commencing a civil war, there'll never be a victor!
If Ghanaians seem to be lazy, criminal, corrupt, lacking motivation, intelligence, and a yearning to rise above their poor situations, it is because we mostly lack jobs, schools, national (rural and urban) development, and leaders to walk their talk, and live their belief. Period.

We are not under-developed or developing.
Point anywhere on the map of the world, and I bet I can find someone in the top echelons of career and reputation there. From a top scientist in NASA, a top politician and knight of Britain, super-wealthy in the USA, to right here in Ghana, and rich enough to buy this entire country if they so determine ... we Ghanaians are of the most intelligent, wise, influential, successful in the world.
We are also very modest about flaunting it, superstitious that making it public knowledge will lead to an early demise or untimely death, and most times, just gracious enough not to openly abuse it.
We are premium species, I tell you!

We aren't third-world neither. What the hell is that anyway?!

But since all that the world sees is the government of a country, the state of their economy, their levels of inflation ... not the people; and all that the national media feeds on are the sorry scandals, malicious celeb gossip, the politics and gory details of people's wrecked lives ... never the singular efforts and activities of hard-working, honest, nobodies who talk sense; advocates like myself who are constantly ranting and raving about the sustainable aspects of the country that REALLY CAN turn things around for the better for us ... we continue to fail to realize that what we are, is a rich, united, 1st-class nation, blazing its own trail in a world of utter nonsense.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
If I hear this phrase one more time, tagged to something in the opposite direction from what it means ... I'll puke all over the person's shoes.

STX-Ghana has finally won the $USD 10 billion deal for 200,000 "affordable" houses.
Let's hear it for them!
The sex between them and gov't must have been multiply-orgasmic ... they stayed up several hours to vote it through, despite all the holes and flaws it contained.
But why not? They rule for only 4 years at a time, 8 if lucky. Another gov't will come and take the heat for any bad decisions they make, meanwhile, THEY in power would have made some serious money off the whole deal, and no amount of imprisonment would bring it back, abi?

Don't mistake it. It's a good idea, that STX-Ghana be given the deal ... but not under these conditions!
Who bears the risk if all 200,000 homes are not delivered, or not delivered well?
$USD 10 billion divided by 200,000 homes equals how much per unit (home)?
Does this still qualify for affordable housing?? Who can afford a home ranging from $14,000 (1 bedroom) to $50,000 (3 bedroom) under the title affordable housing?
The deal sucks, I say!
6-8 million people are looking for housing desperately, and you bring this crap in?

Emerging Ghana affordable housing concept.
Now let's really hear it for them! No, really.
Blaanc, Lisbon-based group and Joao Careiro teamed up to design this model for an Open Source Housing Competition, and present at the ceremony were Ms. Anaa Enin (a Ghanaian ambassador) and 2 chiefs from Cape Coast, the municipality for which this design is intended.

Emerging Ghana AH is a FAMILY home which can be built at a cost of $USD12,500.
Note - family home. Which translates into, most likely, a 3-bedroomer.
Not just that, but it is designed to support solar panelling for optimum results, biogas setup for home cooking via a septic tank within the premises, to harvest rain-water to complement any other water source, plus is designed to take most advantage of natural ventilation and lighting (sun).

Compare this combination of features to the 1 bedroom ($14,000) and other units of the STX-Ghana deal, where no such sustainable features have been touted.
Furthermore, if the Emerging Ghana concept would be adopted for 1 and 2 bedroomers, it would mean a unit cost of $4000 to $8000 ... briiiiill!

Now the lovely thing is that, in spite of the involvement of Ghanaians in this fab design, and in spite of the fact that it was announced in June, government, the media, and GREDA have made zilch noise about it, and to try to pull that in during the STX debate! Nothing .... at ... all! No noise.
Maybe we don't like cheap stuff ...

Habitat for Humanity.
Guys ... why?
After 21 years?
People refusing to pay their mortgage on $1500-4000 homes? Whaaaatf?!!!
Can't you clear them out and put in people under monthly rent and recoup your losses, or at least, most of them?
Or lobby government for a sovereign mandate to go about damage-controlling? I mean, everything sovereign is good now, right ... we just gave STX a sovereign guarantee for the cost of their work. So lobby them for something sovereign and get on with it.
Or have you been STX-ed and we're just unaware??
21 years and you give in? C'mon!
Anyway, where were you guys when IMANI, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, minority in parliament, and half of Ghana were charging against this STX palava? I don't get it.
If I were you, I would have ridden that affordable housing wave like a leech in blood-thirst, and gotten some well-deserved publicity out of it too ... if anyone deserved it you guys did!
I mean, look at the Limann family ... when Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings went with her sob-story on Joy FM about nights spent apart from her darling JJ because gov't had still not given them a place to stay, the Limanns also came quickly on air to demand that the former late President's wife (also our former First lady) be given first priority then, since she had been out of state accommodation plans for decades,
Quickly, gov't and the Rawlings femme fatale quipping about accommodation went underground!
Take a cue, will ya?

So, I'm waiting to see the day when affordable housing with SUSTAINABLE designs will be debated on so passionately and passed by a gov't majority AGAINST the wishes of the Ghanaian majority, because it IS the best thing to do for out national development, and NOT because it is a means of ripping the nation off, while people continue to die, drop out of school, starve, steal, and get corrupt in order to survive.

It is the Government-Ghana that ought to be labelled third-world, HIPC, developing, poor, and mismanaged, not this good country and its good people - Ghana.

That said, I henceforth direct all thieves, looters, criminals and forgers to target all the properties and savings of persons in gov't who are "willfully causing financial loss" to the rest of Ghanaians, and bring "fear and panic" into their lives, even as they have imprisoned us in fear and panic for ours and that of our children!

Rob the criminals, my dear thieves!
Rip into them proper-proper.

Robin Hood ain't got nothing on you fellaz!

Sustainable Living: That stranger over there? He might just be your ticket, so get to know and love people!!

2010-07-21T10:44:00.000Z

Togetherness

Community

In all my fight for Sustainable Development via Renewable Energy, I’ve come to learn that I can never ignore the other aspects of Sustainability – Environmental Protection, Climate Change campaigns, Water Bodies Preservation, etc.

I also came to learn that Sustainable Development goes hand in hand with Sustainable Living.

And I learnt that Sustainable Living is not some new-fangled, awesome invention or philosophy that some modern-day scientist or analyst founded or wrought in a stunning bout of Eureka-ism.

Sustainable Living (and Development) was how the world began, how our fore-parents lived centuries ago, right down to the recent 20^th century, when a drastic change overtook everything as they knew it.

A drastic change called Industrialization – and its brood of children : Computerization, Modernization, Global Categorization (1^st – 3^rd Worlds), and Economization.

Sustainable Development has now been shoved over for Individualism, Non-Progressive Competitiveness (also known as Lethal Greediness), and Soul-less Living in a Graceless Age.

It was in the belief of Sustainable Development, that our fore-parents took only enough from the environment and no more, gave back to Mother Earth as much as possible, grew enough crops to feed themselves and take them through the lean seasons, and bore a keen sense of Nature’s needs.

They knew how to make several things from just one item/plant. Rarely was anything wasted.

Even recently, local people were still using dried cattle-droppings and other dried dung in lieu of firewood, for cooking. We would laugh at them. We said it was unhygienic, so they stopped and went in for the firewood. Now, we’re crying in the heat and mini-deserts, and ordering them to stop, when they just got in the flow of it.

Lo and behold, the white man says, “See, I bring you biogas!”

Lo and behold, we had it before you did, just not so aesthetically designed. But whose fault?

When my grandma used to wrap bread dough in banana leaves and bake it over a fire fueled with dried cassava, orange, plantain, yam, etc peelings with generous doses of dried palmnut husks and wood-shavings, the bread came out baked with a perfume of a majority of these components, but damn tasty.

We bought her a gas cooker. Now white man says research indicates you can have green coal, better known as briquettes!

My grandma would have slapped me well-well, were she alive today.

We learn, improve on it, and pass it on to the next generation. That’s what we ought to be doing. We need to hold on to, and bring closer to us, the age-old notion of extended family.

That is how our children are raised in love, protected, kept an eye on, and learn how to tolerate living with others of different mindsets – you make a better adult that way!

It is where we learn that ‘Human being sweet’ … in your time of need/ill-health, then you’ll see that having someone around who loves you, beats the hell out of any medicine!

Live sustainably and live green.

I don’t need to paint the whole picture for you, do I?

You get it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah … you get it! The old folks had no idea how to live it up. Living like Amish, who wants that, right?

Who wants to live in a community where you’re close with everyone, and they’re all into your shit, and everyone’s part of a big happy family, where baby-sitters can’t even make any money, ‘cus there are so many nosy old hags ready to look after the noisy little litter-bags for free.

And you gotta share the little food you got with people who don’t have any, and try and be there for the fools and shit … I mean, do I look like your Mama to you? I got shit of my own to handle, mehn!

And hell, they don’t even know how it feels like to drive a big, powerful car, and dig into that V8 engine, and tear up the asphalt, eat up that damn road till the stupid bikers and green freaks are coughing like hell in all the exhaust fumes I leave behind.

Those green freaks need some time in my home, mehn … like they’ll come around for sure. Always bitching about stop the oil spills, your cars and way of life are killing some oh-zone shit high up in the sky - where I don’t live!, why you watering your lawn and your car with clean drinking water, aren’t I the one paying the bills, you freak?!

If they see how cool my 12-bedroom house is, all my cars, all the latest gadgets I get to buy, they’d pass out Amish-green-freak and wake up Big User-Spender-Living-the-High-lifer! Hahahaha!

Why would I want to live such a micro-life?

And what’s this Happy hour crap, anyway? Spend time with my neighbours, get to know people better, invest in local businesses by buying their shit? Something about the wealth then circulates to grow the community … what the …!

Dude! I look Amish or Stone-Age to you?!

Sigh … in several discussions I get into, when they begin running along similar lines, or I start seeing similar opinions swimming about in their eyes at this point in the discussion, I wonder how some people manage to look at themselves in the mirror every morning.

I’m not talking about illiterate, uneducated people who are living a wasteful life. I’m talking about people with degrees, Masters, Ph. Ds; people as old as my parents, and in high-level positions; people in governmental positions, who ought to know better.

People who are supposed to have reading habits, and who tend to bore you with a long list of important sounding book-titles they’ve read or bought to read.

Reading is good. I read.

Heck I consume books.

I’ve read books the like of which will make your jaw drop to the ground – on all topics and subjects, on the state of Africa, the fortunes of mavericks, the philosophies of Nietzsche, Sun Tzu, Peter Drucker and a dozen others, memoirs of famous and little-known personalities, dictionaries and scientific manuals … read them in English, French, Spanish too!

I soak up books. Have done ever since I can remember … and the result is a mass wealth of data that plops all sorts and forms of snippets of information, logic, thoughts, philosophies into my mouth, in that miraculous way only the brain works.

So when these people insist on their reading prowess to back-up their knowledge on Sustainability and come up nonchalant about the state of ‘green affairs’, I start to sweat the sweat of the outraged.

If you read, it shows in what you say and do, dude! In your lifestyle.

If we keep on living like the way we are, and we do not attempt to start picking up the good practices of our fore-bears, investing in people and the community, raising children with the right morals and philosophies and not just leaving them to the streets or school-teachers, or an immoral life … we would have destroyed the basic unit of life in more ways than one.

We would have destroyed the Individual and the Community.

And we would have lost the vision of our first and most important task as human beings – taking care of she who sustains us – the Earth.

It is said, ‘Do not bite the hand that feeds you, and you will continue to eat all the days of your life’.

Save. Renew. Sustain … the Earth. It is your future.

And that of your children.

And your children’s children.

The Oil, Mr. President ... leave it in the ground.

2010-07-04T19:23:00.004Z

Run! The Aliens are here!

30-40 years from now ... will their lives testify/negate our decision to drill the oil?

Mr. President, the Ministers in government, proponents of oil-drilling in Ghana … leave the oil in the ground.

All the potential 120,000 barrels a day, 800 million barrel-reserves, and the estimated one billion more that you have already feverishly started looking to locate.

Leave it ALL in the ground.

Already, there are fierce debates about whether the local people of Nzema and Takoradi, more specifically, the fishermen, ought to be compensated, as they are asking.

Already, the chief of the Nzema traditional area, has passionately declared that they are hiring a lawyer to aggressively pursue their interest in the case, citing as their reasons - the arrogance of government, the way they have ignored and trampled over them to get to the oil, the non-integration of his people, their youth, and the fishermen in the oil-drilling preparations being held in their waters.

Yes, their waters.

They were, before government was.

Traditional institutions – chiefs, local rulers, etc. existed before new conceptions such as presidencies and governmental veto-power. Traditional laws existed before democratic rule.

Society before government.

It was society that gave birth to the children who grow to become the proponents and representatives of democracy, to stand in government and rule the country. It is society; the people, who raise these children to fill in those shoes.

Must the Chief and his people be listened to, compensated? I say bloody yes!

Theirs is the land and the waters … they were there long before any president, and would have remained so, ignored, unassisted, unknown – if no-one had gone to discover oil there.

Why snatch what is theirs away from them, and use cold, hard law to decide what is now whose, what must be compensated, and what is perfectly alright to take it away from whom with not so much as a “How d’you do?”

I reckon no-one would go snatch their land and waters from them in such a hurry, if it were drowning under waste, filth, high mortality rates, unemployment, high levels of illiteracy, and no sense of individual self-worth.

Oh, wait … that is exactly the state they were in, before the oil was discovered. And that is exactly the state they are in now, because? … Ding!! The oil is the only focus there.

Leave the oil in the ground, I say.

The economic and social risks of its drilling are worse than those we’d face if we had no oil, and kept on with our current pace of economic and social progress.

In the case of the Niger Delta’s horrendous oil spills over the last 50 years, it’s the people of the area who have suffered harshly, not the Nigerian government.

In the case of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (USA), it’s the people of Louisiana and the the Gulf, and others nearby, who have lost much, not the government of America.

In the case of Peru, it’s the uncontacted communities, the unique diversity of the Amazon rainforest, and the people, who have suffered the very very selfish decision of the Peru presidency to open up such a paradise to oil-drillers.

In the case of Ecuador, they demand $350 million a year from those who want to save that last untouched portion of the Amazon, or threaten to open it up to oil-drillers as well. Yet again, it’s the people who will suffer.

It has, and always will, be the case.

Last I checked, the oil is not about making things better for the people. Will they directly BENEFIT? No. Government handles all revenue incomes, and only promises the people a share via better facilities.

Will they get cheaper petrol or crude oil products? No.

The Nzema indigenes at Cape Three Points are more likely to lose their homes, way of life, dignity, self-worth, and whatever semblance of a life they have left.

But what about the middle-income status they are waving about in our faces, you ask? The 10% increase in Ghana’s GDP?

Whaaa’?! (in a vivid British Cockney accent). That all they got to offer?!

Phoooey shyte-sticks and fiddlefuff! Middle-income status and 10% increase in GDP?!

I’ll take GNH anyday over these.

Gross National Happiness a.k.a. Happiness Index. Because at the end of the day, people don’t think about, don’t live on, are not helped – by the GDP of their country.

They are encouraged, inspired, motivated, kept alive – by their happiness index. By how economically, humanely, psychologically, socially WELL/HEALTHY they are. And if they have most of, or all of these, they have better stability, are happier, enjoy more family and social security, feel more appreciates and self-confident, and feel more self-worth, with or without a well-paying career; career, not job.

These are the indices of the GNH, and the most economically productive countries in the world have citizens who score high ratings on these indices, BEFORE they score equally or exponentially higher on their GDP.

What am I saying? I’m telling my addressees not to fool themselves anymore than they have. I’m telling them that it is the GNH of your people that builds up the GDP of your country.

In fact, screw the GDP! It’s all about the GNH, babe.

‘Sides, the crude oil is all about what government wants, and the money that those in government will get into their personal coffers, not about the people in the area, and not about the people of Ghana.

What about the development opportunities which come with it, you ask?

Oh, I can give you plenty that come with non-fossil fuel activities! And I won’t just stop there, but I’ll show you how high up the GNH scale THOSE are, as well!

And guess what? When I finish with that, I’ll tell you how they develop NOT JUST the people and their Happiness Index (GNH), but ALSO grow the economy, the nation, and formulate us into a better country to be proud of!

3 unselfish strikes against your puny greedy 1-sided one for promoting oil-drilling.

We start.

If I were in your shoes … what would I offer the people and the proponents of the oil-drilling, IN PLACE of the estimated revenue and high risk of devastation and civil war?

I’d give them SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVES and RENEWABLE ENERGY options:

1. One thing Ghana has, is good education. When our education is good, it’s really good, high-level, international-standards good. But our scientists, engineers, and inventors come out in the hundreds of thousands each year, and struggle for years to find jobs, and if they are lucky, careers.

I’d give the scientists, engineers, inventors, designers, illiterate artisans and blacksmiths JOB OPPORTUNITIES. They’ll improve on, build, invent technologies that will tap into these, with focus on our local capacity:

a. Solar energy

b. Wind Energy

c. Biogas

d. Liquid ammonia as fuel and energy

e. Hydrogen

f. Nuclear energy

g. Sea-waves

h. Plastic waste recycling, or into energy

i. Weeds as biomass

They would be empowered and inspired, and people encouraged and convinced – to buy these efficient, innovative, cost-cutting gizmos and gadgets they’d produce and sell.

Business people will be encouraged to purchase some of the designs, and produce the gadgets themselves for their own profit.

Better yet, I’d pull up international interests to come buy the designs for themselves at good prices.

Like I said, JOBS and INCOME for the people. Note that self-confidence and happiness is sure to come with these, as is a sense of security and stability. GNH, several indices, individual capacity building, national development!

2. I’d encourage recycling on an even more massive scale than it is (at least plastic recycling is now big in Ghana), making it easier for plastic AND other recyclable products to be:

a. Used in manufacturing things locally

b. Exported profitably to countries that require it (as is now the case)

Encourage more local processing and finishing so we make more profit when they are exported; grow the local manufacturing industries, put more affordable products on the market for the people, bring in export revenue.

The people learn more about processing and refining, more jobs are created, people can afford more items on the market, job security, individual stability. GNH, several indices, individual capacity building, national development!

3. I would also get our Renewable Energy Policy passed into law promptly, so that we can get more people onto green energy – solar, wind, hydro, etc.

With this, more investors will come into the green energy sector, there will be more service providers and better prices, (micro)finance companies will support individuals who want to go for green energy, and there will be a reasonable Feed-in Tariff rate so that any surplus energy can be sold back to the national outfits at good mutual profit.

With the surplus energy, and the intentional extra that I’d ensure the country produces, I’d have acquired strategic business deals with neighbouring countries, and export the extra green energy to them; or sell them to large internal industries, or export them to foreign countries. And the ‘items’ in question would be:

a. Solar Energy

b. Wind energy

c. Biogas

d. Briquettes (green coal)

4. I’d set in motion, several Sustainable initiatives such as:

a. Rainwater harvesting – where rainwater is diverted via rooftops and ground run-offs into large underground reservoirs for uses such as watering, car-washing, flushing of toilets, etc. It will be encouraged communally or individually, and it will cut water costs.

Also, business-savvy people in the community can purify/filter the water, and sell it at a slight profit.

b. Green architectural and Contractor services – where people will be made aware of the benefits and cost-cutting effects of designing and building homes and offices, etc which take advantage of natural lighting and natural ventilation, and less artificial lighting and air-conditioning/heating; and architects and builders encouraged to deliver such services and encourage people to actualize them.

I’d put in place certain remunerations to make such actions profitable to both parties.

c. People making more use of their community businesses, services, markets, etc, so that wealth generated goes right back into their community, and grows it; not go out of the country.

I didn’t add my 3-strike comment at the ends of 3 and 4, so that you can do it yourself! Try it, it’s fun! :)

But it’s likely never going to happen, and we’re gonna go right ahead and drill that oil.

Oh, well!

Maybe we'll get lucky and end up like the UAE, or Qatar, or Saudi Arabia, and then we'd build large, fantastical cities like Dubai, out of nothing but ocean or desert ... or we'll get grabbed by our balls by the Americans for all the money we owe them (and others), and they'll send General Petraeus in to occupy us and our oil wells, on the excuse that Prez. Mills lost his marbles and saw too many giant black stars overpowering those 50 tiny white ones.

Whatever the case, there'll be drama, and we better have the popcorn ready when the show starts.

“Governments come and go … come and go.

But the people will always, always be here.”

The Great Green Wall of Africa - african unity in a plant.

2010-06-28T10:27:00.018Z

Postscript: On 25th September, 2011, Wangari Maathai passed away after battling ovarian cancer for some time. I was deeply hurt by this loss, somewhat to my surprise. I loved her, but we had never met or talked. Yet I felt like she was my mother, and in most things I did for the cause of Renewable Energy advocacy, charity, and development in my own little corner here, I subconsciously always looked up to her. It was my "Mecca" to someday go to Kenya, meet her, and work with the Green Belt Movement for just 1 day.

Halfway through this blogpost posted on 28th August, 2010, I had written much about Prof. Wangari Maathai. I had bought most of her books and read them, and she had since inspired me ... till date.
You can read this post and reminisce about my thoughts on her then ... Ma Wangari! The last of a good, great generation is passing away!! Send to us from the spirit-land just one more like you!! And let him/her come to bear more like you! You took on the whole world, and shook it. I miss you.

Read on please ... and if you want to go directly to her bit, simply scroll down to the middle of this post and find it.

Forgive me if you were expecting my promised update on our national dumpsites-transformation ... but this topic has been tossing my salad for too many days now, and my research on it is not yet done, so I just had to talk about this!

Heard about our very own Great Wall (of Africa) ?

It's green ... and great.

I like to think of it as African unity in a plant. It's gotta be ... it cuts through from Senegal to Djibouti; 15 kilometres wide and over 7,700 km long, passing through countries like Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea ...Djibouti.

If you remember, in my March posting (Constant gas shortage in this age of RE techs (biogas)? What a load of crap!), I took a comic jab at the fact that Lake Chad was now a mud bowl, and that, the Sahara was "coming soon to a garden near you".

Turns out, I wasn't the only one thinking like that, or about those!

Yeeeeees .... Nigeria, Senegal and Chad are only a few of the countries desperately, and ambitiously spear-heading, and somewhat propagating this vision of planting a tree-belt across Sub-sahelian Africa, in a penultimate attempt at stopping the Westward migration of the Sahara, dead in its tracks.

But is this vision another african joke? Is it myth-alized, even before it has been able to grow roots (pun intended)? Or is it just a grand attempt that will drain lots of money, and then follow those notes down that bloody drain itself?

Just asking ...

The Great Green Wall of Africa was first suggested by the ex-Nigerian Prez Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2005, and put before the AU, but could not be developed due to lack of funds (surprise, surprise!)

It's been taken up again, with the full backing of Senegalese Prez Abdoulaye Wade (since Senegal has successfully promulgated a tree-growing, anti-desertification initiative for a number of years), who even made a presentation on it at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change.

It also has the anxious encouragement of Chad (who has seen such high levels of drought, heat, desertification, and the loss of one-third of its cattle-animal life in 2009 alone).

The estimated $100+ million funding was proving a problem, but just this month, the Global Environment Facility has pledged $119 million to the project.

Each country will receive their necessary share for the Green Wall (tree-belt) to be sucessfully planted and sustained in their territory. The focus is to plant indigenous, heat-resistance trees, and initiate green initiatives that will discourage any activities that will negatively affect the project.

I wish them well ... seriously. No joke. It will be a very very big thing to maintain, and they can ONLY do it, if they work together ... if they unite.

It will be amazing, to see these 11 African countries unite to fight the Sahara desert, and send it backwards until it is non-existent once more!

But I can not ... will not ... talk about tree-planting, and use keywords like Green, Tree, Planting ... without mentioning (with much awe and ground-kissing), my personal shero (female hero), Wangari Maathai.

Wangari Maathai is the embodiment of anything of this nature in Africa (and throughout the world).

She single-handedly started a fight to save the trees in Kenya, as far back as the 1980's- the Green Belt Movement, and she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work!

I would not know where to begin with her story, but it is an inspiring one, and one worth glancing at, so visit her website and read about her ... and visit the Nobel Peace Prize and dig into the archives for their piece on her, to find out why they felt she was worth the Nobel!

If nothing at all, you'll have something clever to talk about at some high-power function, one day!

Green Belt Movement : http://greenbeltmovement.org/index.php

Wangari's thoughts on what the G20 Summit on Economic Progress should strongly address: http://greenbeltmovement.org/a.php?id=481

Their blog (with videos and thought-provoking articles) : http://greenbeltmovement.org/blog/index.php

Read her books, especially, "Unbowed" when you get the chance!

Her recent article to the G20 summit, especially, made me realise that climate really, truly does tie into everything that holds the world up, or brings it crashing down ... I mean, look at what happened in Jos, Nigeria and the Northern part of same Nigeria - when Christians and Muslims clashed in bloody fights, and people were shot to death in broad daylight (in the early months of this year), and when the Fulani herdsmen attacked a town and killed people in a most brutal manner, the reason being that people of that town, had allegedly, earlier killed some of their Fulani people.

Na true ... say de whole tin be about Muslim people for Jos, forcin' Sharia law for place where dem have Christian neighbours for 40% - 50%.

(trans: It's true that the Muslim percentage residing in Jos, forcibly declared Sharia law over the entire region, although they had a fairly large number of Christians in said area as well).

Na true ... say de whole country be ruled by government, and e-be secular state, so nobody go fit jos gerrup say e-dey declare any particular religious law for der, by force!

(trans: It's true that being a secular state, and a federal government, no party/entity has the right to enforce any binding law of their own largess, or authority, without legal government passage, nor the backing of all the religions and persons of that community).

Na true too ... say the Fulani cow-boys no have right come disturb in sombody e-territory like dat, and expect that dem go throw nice party give dem, with big-big cow meat, and fine-fine women. Abi dem roam ... so make dem roam through the town, and go!

(trans: It's true that the Fulani herdsmen who brutally chopped up people in said Northern Nigeria community, were an uncharactersitically permanent nuisance for the people of the community they accused of killing their fellow nomads - logic declares that you not expect them to welcome you with a big party, bountiful feast, and gorgeous babes. Further logic states that nomads roam, and do not make themselves a familiar part of the local landscape).

But if you bother to take a closer look at the geo-environmental set-up (I just love it when they clump words like these together, damnit!!) of Jos, or Northern Nigeria, you will notice 2 things:

1. Jos has a fantastically temperate climate, that makes it a fave for tourists, wealthy persons, and any other John. The environment holds appeal, and makes it a territory worth fighting for ... a.k.a. kill your neighbours or line them up and shoot them in the heads.

2. Northern Nigeria has got some shares in the prestigious Saharan Stock Exchange ... with some of the dry, arid, sandy characteristics which caused the Fulani herdsmen to start moving further inland Nigeria, for food for their cattle, being established more and more each year.

And due to the steady progression of the Saharan conditions further into Nigeria, these nomads have had no choice but to stay a few steps ahead ... unfortunately, cattle-odour, the large horrific clumps of dung they leave in their wake, the strong smelly musk and droves of flies wafting about the nomads and their cattle, are usually not what you'd call 'affable'; nor are they exactly the kind of pheromones that would make drooling, lovey-eyed fools of the the people of said settlement.

The message was clear ... we are already struggling to survive in this environment, we don't need more people, especially people with hordes of cattle that will eat up all our greens! And in the case of Jos and the Muslims ... we too we like this place; you cannot use 'takashi' to just make it yours, you know!

(trans of takashi: cunning/sly means of acquiring the upper-hand in a situation - physically or conceptually).

What can I say? Really ... at the center of all these horrible, bloody conflicts, is territory. Yes, really!

The increased possessiveness of space, due to the shifting and worsening situations of our environments and plant-life - affecting food, water, land, and resources ... those things which always lead to war and civil unrests. And we all know that without the stability of these, all economies begin to crumble. And if/when all economies crumble, the world caves in.

Damn! Climate does dictate the economy after all!

Someone please dial Toronto, and tell the G20 ... they've gotten their heads up the wrong hole!

Slap me and call me Yaa Papabi! A Guest blogger speaks wise words ...

2010-06-17T11:06:00.013Z

Today's posting is a guest blogpost.

It's written by a friend, Graham Knight. (Read more of Graham's work on http://talkafricagh.wordpress.com/ ).

I first met Graham in 2006, at a fair at the Lincoln Community School at an artist friend's (Kagyah, Peter) booth, and then, got to meet him more intimately at same friend's home for a Christmas get-together.

First thing that amazed me about Graham was learning that he had moved over here permanently from his native UK (whilst some Ghanaians are desperately moving over to the UK!); but over the years, he has fascinated me more with his straight-forward opinions on life, religion, politics, and the world; his love for music, his personal philosophies, and the very unique set of characteristics which make him solely ... Graham Knight!

I went over to his blog for my once-in-a-while visit, and fell in love with this blog posting (find below). If you read it (especially as an African) ... and you do not feel the punch, you need to go back and re-examine your values.

For me, a passionate Ghanaian and zealous African who sees value in my home and my people even whilst they do not (for laziness' and ignorance's sake), I was moved to tears that Graham, a native Briton, now turned indigenous Ghanaian, by his veritable love for Ghana & Africa - had found the right words to capture what none of us has been able to capture for ourselves; moved to tears, that he had the vim, to declare specifically what we need to do for ourselves, where we were not bold enough to declare.

I'm not sorry that he did ... but I will be, if it all goes to nought.

So once again, I ask you ... PLEASE read ... and propagate. Propagate. Pass on. Practice. Be it.

Graham Knight believes there is a battle of worldviews taking place and that it’s time for Africa to stand up and fight.

"The African peasant, who for thousands of years has lived according to the seasons, whose life ideal was to be in harmony with nature, only knew the eternal renewal of time ... In this imaginary world, where everything starts over and over again, there is room neither for human endeavour, nor for the idea of progress."

Nicholas Sarkozy, Sengal 2007

In 2007, the French President, Sarkozy, made comments about Africa which were called racist. I felt the condemnation of racism missed the point and masked something far more insidious; an ideological battle to impose one worldview, one way of seeing and understanding the world and, ultimately, one culture and one market. Sarkozy’s assertion that the circular view of time is “imaginary” is but an attempt to impose his culture’s way of life on everyone else. Africans have not only failed to defend their position but they have immediately submitted to the other side.

For those who live in Africa there are things that are obviously true about life that to outsiders seem false. The limited horizons of Sarkozy’s thinking (and those like him) make it impossible for him to envision that any other world exists outside of that created by the French Enlightenment and Revolution. The failed project of the French Revolution as the exporter of ‘universal liberation’ was taken over by the USA and it is perhaps no accident that Sarkozy forged an alliance with Bush. It is now America and its allies that are attempting to impose their civilisation on the rest of the world. They want to export their version of ‘democracy’ and their ‘universal values’ and definition of ‘human rights’. The failure of Africa to realise the fundamentally different worldview of the West, with its notions of ‘progress’ and ‘development’, has allowed Africa to voluntarily accept this new form of colonialism.

The West sees time in a linear way. It believes it has a starting point and continues in a straight line for eternity. It is the same outlook that influences the idea that traditional societies are primitive and immature: that moving further down a fictitious road, from tribal societies to ‘developed’ ones, is a measure of ‘progress’. Many Africans have accepted this view, most uncritically, and so it follows that they see themselves as ‘backward’ and ‘un-advanced’. Unsurprisingly, those African cultures that have successfully avoided Western education have refused to accept that their way of life is inferior. We continue to see cases brought against African governments by nomadic tribes who simply do not want to change the way they live their lives.

The dangerous situation for Africa is that the world is being shaped by those influenced by the ideals and worldview of the French Enlightenment and Revolution. It is a world, perhaps, unsuited to Africa but demands that Africa give up is African worldview, if it is to survive in it. It is a difficult dilemma.

The first stage to finding a way forward is for Africa to regain confidence in herself. Africans have to rediscover their greatness and uniqueness not in order to feel superior but in order to meet the West as equals. They need to understand the strengths of their worldview and culture and to be more forceful about propagating its worth. They need to challenge Western notions of progress and development and the economic system that underlies it. They need to show how, amongst other things, their way of living is more sustainable and puts less strain on resources and how the extended family provides economic and emotional security. All these advantages make Africa more developed not less.

It is time for Africa to challenge and redefine the terms of the debate. If Africa is ever to take its place in the world, it is not by taking on Western concepts. Rather, it has to assert an African perspective and consciousness in order to make informed decisions about which direction it wishes to go.

*(Next blog post ... one-on-one with Dr. John Afari Idan - best Biowaste Expert in Africa, and a Ghanaian. I will be talking with him about the future and transformation of our several, unmanaged, municipal disease-breeding dumpsites into full-scale Sorting, Recycling, Biogas-generating centres. I believe this is possible, and will ask him how we can make it happen. Stay tuned for that posting.)

A Promise by the Energy Minister, BBC phone interview and live debate, and what Ghanaians say about Energy Alternatives.

2010-06-09T07:04:00.011Z

The past two months have been eventful.

Tracy from PI in the US was sharing hopes on a consultancy going through for Energy-saving lighting. I oughta hope so too, since I may be working with the team on it if it goes through.

Emmanuel for SE in the US e-mailed again to ask whether government has at yet set a Feed-in tariff for Solar Energy - they are looking to hire consultancy for a market survey for a solar energy company to come in with large capacity. I don't know, but it seems their decision to do so hinges on the ability to sell the surplus energy produced to smaller companies and individuals, and therefore the need to know what the legal tariff for such a sale will be (Feed-in Tariff).

Unfortunately, only government can set this Feed-in Tariff, and only via a Renewable Energy Legislature ... why is this unfortunate? Our Renewable Energy Policy finally got drafted and finished about a year ago.

It's still lying somewhere, waiting to be used as washroom paper, or something as memorable. No effort has been put into passing it into law; not by Parliament, not by the Energy Minister and his Ministry, and not by any CSO or advocacy body ... wait! I think my NGO is the only Renewable Energy CSO for Ghana!

Yeah, nobody sees the fuss! But livelihoods depend on this billion-dollar industry.

We have abundant sunshine, areas of high and consistent wind speeds, abundant rainfall in some parts of the country, and MORE THAN ENOUGH waste to churn biogas and the other forms of bio-energy!!

More than enough work for Ghanaians, more than enough energy to develop the rural areas and give the migrants a reason to return back home and make a living with their own folks, more than enough energy to raise standards of living and boost our average income from $600 to $1500 or more!

...Only deterrant is we are too lazy to put our shoulders to the wheel, unless that wheel is Politics!

And so, BBC (Have Your Say) called me up to find out:

1. Whether I thought Ghanaians would now look at Renewable Energy as a wise alternative to electricity, now that there is a 42%+ increase in the tariffs?

2. What I thought had kept most Ghanaians away from going in for the green alternatives, even those who could afford it?

3. What Energy Solutions Foundadtion (my NGO) was doing to get more people into opting for Renewable Energy?

4. How my advocacy for Green Energy in Ghana (Ghana Goes Green) with the support of Reggie Rockstone (popular hip-life music icon) went, and why most of the youth did not show at the event?

5. If I felt Akosombo was now redundant, especially with more Ghanaians willing to look at alternatives (which does not necessarily mean they WILL go in for it!)

And a few other questions.

I will not bore you with my answers right now, but in my next blog post, I shall!!

Though, you can listen to the live session they held after this phone interview, where I was asked to be present, with David Ampofo, Israel Laryea, Dr. Maxwell Antwi, the Minister for Energy, the MDs for GridCo and ECG, and a cross-section of the general public.

The audio link for this can be found here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/africahaveyoursay/

on the right-hand column that says (Listen here : 54 mins).

It was a most lively, grilling debate, and the Energy Minister came under fire, but perhaps, some of you might be SLIGHTLY pleased to know that he promised that due to the urgency and pressure with which I advocated for a Renewable Energy policy IMMEDIATELY, as a way forward for all Ghanaians ... he would ENSURE THAT the R.E. POLICY WAS PASSED INTO LAW BEFORE THIS YEAR ENDED.

Please, all of you help me to monitor this promise!

Several others at the live session also insisted that this be done to enable multi-national interests and private sector participation to come in and start vamping up this sector of the economy.

What almost all the people I ask opinions of, are demanding of RE in Ghana these:

1. Bring in more service providers and after-sales service assurances, because we want fair prices, not monopolized ones; and we want to know that after we invest in these alternatives, there will be numerous licensed and reliable set-ups to service, maintain, and repair, should the need arise! Otherwise, we have absolutely no confidence in going in for these alternatives now, or ever, no matter how dire the electricity or fuel situation is!

2. We want MORE, much more education on what these RE alternatives involve. We want to have data, so we know their technicalities, their capacities, their advantages and disadvantages, the entire information, so we can weigh all this against our needs and make the best choice OURSELVES, before going to the service provider for that final decision.

As at now, government has absolutely NO mass education going on for us to be aware of anything.

1 in 5 Ghanaians do not know what RE is, until you break it up into Solar, Wind, Bio, etc.

3 in 5 are only aware of solar, until you remind them of wind, and after that, they have no idea what bio-energy is or involves.

We drown in ignorance, and die of poverty, yet we sit on 'gold' of such vast, endless reserves, that it hurts to watch us struggle.

WHAT?! Ignorance paaa nie? (trans: What heights of ignorance!) I shake my head indefinitely ...

As I keep saying, in your bid to make a bright future for yourself and your loved ones (partner, children, parents), make sure THAT FUTURE WILL BE THERE, when you do get there! Save your future ...

Tthink Earth.Green.Renew.Sustain.

I feel such a weight on my shoulders, knowing that I am well the only one doing anything like this in the entire country (my father keeps reminding me, "That is why BBC and other foreign countries are interested in contacting you all the time ... cus you are the human, non-business, side of this new phenomenon in this sub-region) ... but where do I start? Who do I do it with? How do I change the landscape for the better?

One day at a time ... one advocacy at a time.

Join me.