5.27.08-1

Last Thursday, I traveled out of Koforidua and down to Accra, in order to meet with Emmanuel and Alberta to discuss the next day’s interview on a Ghana TV news program. I found my way down into Kwame Nkrumah Circle (a busy part of town named after the first president of independent Ghana who led the Pan-African movement), and saw many people with disabilities begging on the sidewalk, although some had joined the ranks of the other young people selling small things on mats to earn their daily profit. After a few hours of hurried internet use, I was off to University of Ghana for the meeting.

We find each other on the large campus easily through the help of a student who walks me where I needed to go – the performing arts complex. I arrive and for some minutes observe the theater students doing exercises to loosen their bodies and voices for free expression. Alberta meets me and we go to meet Emmanuel at the restaurant. We discuss the outline of the interview, and the details – 5:30 am. The next morning, we head to the Ghana TV studio, watch members of the two main political parties debate trade and tax policy, and then we were up. A very short and sweet interview – I had the chance to say what I needed to say: the Bikes Not Bombs mission (abbreviated), a description of the project and the fact that the funding for this project is still incomplete – that the EEFSA is currently working to raise the funds in order to secure successful implementation.

We then went to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission to discuss details of Emmanuel’s 6-week bicycle tour for peaceful elections, and then to the office of the Former President Rawlings to also seek his endorsement and support for the tour.

My chance to break away had come, and my eyes lay on the near future with my memories in the past – I was going back to my old village, where I had lived for 3 ½ years. I arrived in the night, and it was magic to see the place that I knew so well, and to feel the longing subside into a deep happiness. The space, the drone of frogs in the marsh, the sky so big and close you can touch it. I saw my old family and friends. We had two full days of visiting with each other and going around to join the various events going on – local football tournament, HIV/AIDS candle-lighting ceremony, and funeral with late night dance party. I spoke my old language, Dangme, to old women, played with the children and joked with my friends. I saw the effects of the community’s hard work since the time I left – the community now had pipe-water, organized by the local water and sanitation committees, and there was a group of highly active adults and youth working on HIV/AIDS sensitization and advocacy.
I also got the chance to meet with the Board Members of Equal Chance, an NGO that I helped found before leaving Ghana that focuses on supporting financially disadvantaged youth to get education and skills training and which has provided 15 full and partial scholarships to secondary school and vocational training programs over the last 3 years. A new initiative of Equal Chance is the development of a computer training center that is up and running, but still small-scale. In time, the center will offer a faster internet service and subsidized training fees to qualified rural youth. Equal Chance may also support the projects of a youth-run HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health Theater Troupe to travel throughout the district performing dramas while founding local branches of the troupe in the villages visited.

Monday, I traveled back to Koforidua with Owosua after visiting friends in Tema – the local port city, where Owosua and I will be in about 2 weeks to clear the container through customs.

This morning I’m with Emmanuel, about to head into town to see the storefronts again, and to make our decision: the hectic one in the market center, or the peaceful one on the city’s edge. Do we compromise peace and beautiful space for more business? Will the customers seek us out from the market center (about a 5 minute taxi ride) based on the quality of our bikes and repair service? The storefront with the beautiful space will be more ideal for wheelchairs and for finding land in close proximity for extra storage containers. It is also a bit more expensive. We could always get a small stall in the market to sell some of the bikes each day, with signboards and personal referrals to our main space on the edge of the city… Bikes Not Bombs draws customers from all over the Greater Boston area, so why couldn’t we do the same here in Koforidua?