Final thoughts on Ho, Wa and getting things done

You may wonder what I'm doing in Ho relating to the child support program.  The frustrating answer is "nothing."  And tomorrow will be the last road of this journey. The road back to Accra.

Bea and I will take the Metro Mass bus at Noon (that's the plan anyway).

George and I planned to arrange photos of the children and get color copies made, but his "day job" took priority today and so I'm not sure that will happen before I leave. I had time to write up some additional notes today, so I felt some accomplishment there. I have tried to get George to give me some written information - cost estimates for various projects, etc. - but his mind is in many places at once and he clearly doesn't multitask well.  Or at all.

African people readily admit that they have a hard time planning in advance. No one calls before they visit, and when they visit you are expected to drop everything and be a good host/hostess. Plans are not made more than 24 hours in advance and THAT'S if you've got an obruni like me breathing down your neck wanting answers. Since George was gone from here for 2 weeks, everyone is clamoring for his attention now that he's back.  Me too! I'm trying to be nice while reminding him that tomorrow is my last morning in Ho and that things will happen quicker if I take this information with me.

Dry desolation and desperation of Segyere, just south of Wa

George asked me tonight if I saw differences in the "environments" of Wa and Ho.  While the people of Ho are clearly not wealthy, everyone here seems not-quite-so desperate as the people of the Upper West. Children are better dressed here. Children look healthier, and actually play here. Children smile easily here. Fathers openly hold and hug their children. Families go places together.

Lush countryside just outside Ho

Some of the differences are cultural. The Upper West has more Muslims and they have different views of women than some other things.  Christian or Muslim, the people of the Upper West and Upper East regions are different from most Ghanaians. They historically come from the Chad area. They look different, eat different, act different. Not making a judgment -- just reporting. Just different.

Some of the differences are environmental.  The sad fact is that the Sahara is advancing on the Upper West and Upper East regions of Ghana. Perhaps this is part of natural climate change, and perhaps because of global warming.  But I can tell you that the people of the Upper West are making the Sahara's march a lot easier and a lot quicker. Deforestation is a problem. Rampant deforestation done to clear farmland that people can't farm because they don't have enough water, or the right machines or the knowledge. Or sometimes because children are running the household. Deep problems causing other deep problems.

In Ho, deforestation is a problem too, but so far the rains have been plentiful and everything stays green. Corn that is barely 6 wilted inches high around Wa is already 6 FEET high and feeding people in Ho. When parents abandon their children, when husbands abandon their families to come south to find work, places like Ho are where they're landing.  At least there's food.

George and Bea both complain bitterly that Africans don't take care of each other and that is evident in the Upper West.  It's very man and woman for him/herself there.  I'm sure it seems to them that it has to be that way.  And areas such a Volta, where food is more plentiful, don't help to support their brothers and sisters in the Upper West.  Whether it is a practical issue of poor distribution channels or a subtle form of  discrimination against an ethnically different people, I don't know.  Whether the government is helping the schools and children of the Upper West last because they are the farthest or because they are different, I don't know. As I said, the problems are deep.

Doesn't make any of it right, though.