Donations

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Today Ben and I drove around Kumasi in Julianna’s car visiting computer stores to get to the bottom of this all-in-one printer dilemma. It turns out, after meeting and speaking to many of Ben’s friends in the IT world, and to shopkeepers or sales people, that inkjets, being short-tem cheaper are easy to come by, but lasers less so and laser all-in-ones, yet again much more rare to find. Hence, we ended up back with our original 2 options, plus a third (we were told about a superstore type place which happened to sell, along with homeware and hardware, fridges, food, toiletries and door mats, computers, cameras, phones and yes, printers and one all-in-one laser. Ron did some early morning research comparing the 3 models we had as options and we made a decision based on that. Phew! So this is paid, along with a replacement cartridge, so we know we are leaving the school set up for a while (they do refilling where we bought it too at a fraction of the price too) and we pick it up Friday.

Ben is a cool guy and such fun to hang out with. He and I, while waiting for Ron to call us back with “the word” on which model to go for, went out for a late lunch, the first time I have eaten out, roadside grilled plantain and the rotary dinner notwithstanding. It was an open air diner type place kind of tucked behind the offices of Fei’s Presbyterian Church (the neck of the woods of Kumasi I know well now, where the money exchange bureau, the internet café, the post office and my peanut, peanut butter, and plantain chip suppliers are. I basically followed Ben’s lead and we had vanilla yoghurt drink to start, followed by Buku (noted on many of my French student compositions as being their favourite food) with fish. Banku is basically milled boiled corn (like Italian polenta) in a ball, served with a dish with 2 sauces- a red hot pepper one and a black, almost thick soya sauce one, (which you dip the Banku into), along with a whole grilled or smoked (couldn’t tell) fish, head and all. Try eating with just one hand, especially trying to debone a fish, without using your left hand at all! It’s a challenge and I failed. The meal is prefaced by a bowl of water, dish soap and towels, to clean your hands before and after eating. Ben and I had planned to go for a beer (unlike young Samuel, Ben is a Christian who does not see alcohol as “of the devil”- excellent! By the way, I relished telling Samuel that the coke he was drinking was also not good for him, so that he might have to consider it “of the devil” too…a straight and narrow puritanical road is a tough one to travel) after our successful conclusion to the day, but it was late and he had church to get to. We drove to the turn off to Adumasa, just on the outskirts of where he lives, and I took over and drove home alone which felt so liberating. It was interesting to see the reactions of the Bebini (Ben told me that I could respond  this, meaning “black person”,  to the Abruni “white person” being called out to me; I felt empowered!) as I drove by.

I have an uncomfortable observation to make. After visiting Bedaase, which seemed so well organized despite its meager resources (see the pictures of the library on the webalbum), I have realized that the school(s) here at Adumasa seem to be much less so. I have observed the lack of accountability on the teachers to show up on time or at all, but, as well, I have noticed that, especially at the junior level, their spaces are unkempt, and in disarray. Many of the posters I donated have been put up, while others, still yet to be distributed, remain lying scattered on the headmistress’ desk, with books and such piled on top of them, as are those, having been quickly removed off the walls for exam week, on the staff room desks. It will make me a little cautious with what and how I donate in future, to be sure, but I also know that this is none of my business really and that I gave the resources and they are to be used as they will be used. I just feel a little disappointed knowing that in a disorganized system, it doesn’t matter what resources are available, with a lack of accountability, responsibility and respect, things will fall into disrepair, be quickly destroyed, arriving back to a place of lack again… it is a vicious cycle. I was also a little perturbed to see the empty pack of children’s educational elastics (in the shape of letters) I had given as reward prizes to the preschool and primary school, in Julianna’s car, along with one of the elastics on the floor. This really is an interesting lesson for me… to be clear when donating to an organization the intended recipients and ensuring there is a system for effective allocation and use of the resources before they are given out and then having to let go of the outcome completely. It might be suggested in future that a list be given to a coordinator (i.e. Fei) who oversees the distribution and records it, and does a follow-up, in an ideal world, to ensure the resources (all, not just those being donated), are being well taken care of and what spaces and items the school does have are effectively organized. 

OK- off my soapbox and into bed.  Science exam tomorrow. Apparently the primary students had been told that the unit I did with them might not be on the exam; that’s news to me, considering I created and submitted the questions early last week.  I will see tomorrow.