6.23.08

Pics from the bike market in Accra-

About two weeks worth of updates – here goes.

I’ll conveniently split this into three categories – the container and shops, the physically challenged trainees, and the development of project management.

Currently I’m in Accra, drinking good coffee, about to head into Accra Central to the VAT (value added tax) office to follow the progression of the container paperwork through the government offices. Last week, we went to Social Welfare to get a letter endorsing EEFSA for exemption of tax and duties from the container. The letter from Social Welfare then went to Finance for approval, with Finance sending an approval letter to VAT. This seems pretty simple, right – a challenge of perseverance and patience to be brief, but a relative success. This week, we grab the bull by the inter-modal container corners and bring it up to Koforidua. Next after VAT is CEPS and then Customs, the port. This will probably take the rest of the week. I’ll be in and out of Accra and Tema to do the deed with the support of Hilda, EEFSA secretary, who has previous experience clearing containers. I’ll be crashing with my old friends who rent a room in Tema – about 5 of us sprawled over 2-inch foam pads, packed like sardines in the tiny room. Personal space is public – I think this makes for good mental health – standard in communal societies.

Back in Koforidua, we’ve got Alex and Frank, the EEFSA guys, preparing the stores for the container arrival and getting some folks together to help unpack. We secured the 3 storerooms with a partial deposit, and we’ve got a lot more to pay, but this will come in time – thankfully the landlord is a great guy and supportive of our venture. The way we want to set things up is like this: one store on the street-side in the absolute center of town – awesome location, two stores in the back that will make up the workshops, parts storage and temporary bike storage for build-up candidates and repairs. We will also lay a concrete patio with a canopy out back, to bring some of our daily operation outside. We are still working on securing a location for a 20 ft container on-site, and possibly a 40 ft container very close-by for extra storage. For the time-being, we are going to use the front store as bike storage while we set-up the workshop and begin the training.

Regarding the trainees, I’m in love, but love is blind, so I’ll be tough and critical. They are awesome though. A formal selection has not yet been made, but we’ve got about 15 people seriously interested – 1/3 women. We will conduct interviews next week to assess motivations, skills, and commitment. There are so many income-generating projects that come through Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled (GSPD), and many of them never come to fruition, or don’t last due to many complex reasons including lack of continuous funding, lack of market for products and lack of commitment and effective leadership. Many physically challenged people have found small niches in the local commerce market in which to generate a modest living such as running a small store or selling food, crafts or services. Others have paid employment as teachers or IT technicians, while still others are in school furthering their education for better job opportunities. Many don’t have any work, sometimes due to the extent of their disabilities, and many are in the street begging – less so in Koforidua, more so in the bigger cities. This project has generated a lot of interest, but if we are going to stick to it, make it happen, make it sustainable, who will be the ones with the long-haul commitment? –definitely a collaboration of EEFSA and the physically challenged stakeholders.

I see the success of the project from two angles – the measurable and the un-measurable. The measurable are the physical workshop set-up, the location related to market demand, the ability to get bikes, fix them well and sell them, the quality of the training and the level of skill and knowledge the trainees acquire, the structure and strategy of effective business management and marketing. The un-measurable are the relationships, the extent to which people are committed to the project and have a direct stake in its success, the extent to which people trust each other and the management, the level of effective communication between interest groups within the project, the balance between independence and cooperation, the amount of responsibility people are willing and able to take-on, which relates to their skill development and self-empowerment, among other things.

Both the measurable and the un-measurable are critical to the success of the project. If the measurable is in place, this does not guarantee that the un-measurable will be, and vice-versa. This project for me is a balance between the two – making sure things get done and employing participatory methods wherever possible in order to accomplish the measurable, but being continually aware of the quality of relationships being established, the dynamics between the project stakeholders and interest groups, and assessing the human component of what this project means to people, and guiding it to become something that all stakeholders will be willing to sacrifice for in order to see succeed, grow and develop. The un-measurable cannot be directed, but it can be facilitated, stimulated to grow.

I met with the potential trainees at Jackson Park, their wheelchair basketball training grounds. I sat-in while they conducted their regular meeting, hashing-out the relationship between the basketball team leadership and the leadership of GSPD, and making plans toward the July 1st competition between Eastern Region (our team) and Asante Region. We discussed details of the project with many questions about how the training will be organized. The interest and motivation seems strong and genuine now. We will work with it and see how it evolves. We expect the training to begin mid-July, and will have a succession of meetings and preparatory workshops leading up to that time.

The development of the project management is complicated. I’m caught-up in the day-to-day impressions and need to step back and see the project from the broad perspective – a balancing act of emotion and reason. I am doing my best to work effectively with EEFSA folks, and we are making progress in terms of sharing responsibility, establishing work-roles and project leadership. We are organizing a project task force that will be composed of Martin, Alex and Frank from EEFSA (Emmanuel when he is available), myself from BNB, and two representatives from the trainees. This will be a temporary leadership committee that has upon it the task of organizing the project efficiently and effectively. At the end of the training, more management power will be granted the physically challenged mechanics, the primary stakeholder of this project.

6.8.08

I met more of the potential trainees, one in Accra outside Kwameh Nkrumah Circle – a major center of informal commerce – and the others at the regional meeting for the Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled in Koforidua. I can say that the entire project has taken on a new dimension, a group of real people that have something tangible to gain. The threads holding my devotion to the goal of the project have now become ropes pulling me closer to people, their lives and situations.

Adarkwah, a change-maker, literally (quite possibly in more ways than one), sits in a plastic chair behind a weathered wooden table bearing short stacks of coins amounting to just less than 1 Ghana Cedi. Adarkwah profits from the need for informal transportation vehicles to provide change to their passengers. Vehicle “mates” jump from slowly moving vehicles to offer Adarkwah a cedi for a stack, reuniting with their minivans through its side door as they yell “away!” Adarkwah strategically positions himself in the belly of the beast – at the roadside of one of the most traffic congested locations in the city. He sits amid other sellers – oranges, bananas, used shoes, notebooks – his working family.

I sat with Adarkwah for a few hours to discuss the project with him, to get a good sense of his situation and interest. After 30 minutes I was coughing from the exhaust, wiping my watering eyes, a novice. Adarkwah sits there by Circle for about 12 hours a day, making very small but steady profit. At night, since he is an adult, he does not need to stay in his family house, so he sleeps under the veranda of an urban family’s compound house – sympathizers and friends. Adarkwah is a really talented and brilliant person, with an extremely strong upper body from years of crutches and possibly wheelchairs, hand-trikes. He asked me many questions, all rooting out the source of this project’s intention so that he can form his vision. We talked about the project, about each other, about business. Adarkwah is an extremely industrious person – he fixed a mirror seller’s sandal as we discussed with his small array of shoe-repair tools, a new trade he is learning to supplement his income. A secondary school graduate, why wasn’t he given a chance to live better? Why was he brushed aside by the job market, unable to compete with the hordes of unemployed able-bodied people? (Many of my old friends, just finishing secondary school in their mid-twenties, are contemplating their futures as they spend mornings visiting different industrial sites and factories looking to be picked up by these companies for 3-4 dollars a day, consistently being turned away. There’s a Japanese company that hires for 12 hr days and no break, but my friends would prefer village poverty to what they term “slavery for 3 cedis a day.”) The job market in Ghana is not easy. Especially for people that look different.

Adarkwah will come to stay in Koforidua for the duration of the training, and if selected as a mechanic, will generate a good salary to rent his own room, with a bed.

Yesterday morning, I came back from the previous day’s laboring in Accra consisting of traffic jams, banks, money, urgency and lateness – not my favorite combination of things, but I happily pulled back into Koforidua an hour before the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled regional meeting – for representatives of all district branches in the Eastern Region, at least for those who could afford the transport. I went to the house, bathed, stretched, put on my BNB shirt and was off to the meeting. I arrived and was filled with such an ecstasy brought on by the amazing strength, joy, inclusiveness and solidarity shared by the people that surrounded me. People who came in all different shapes and sizes, but who were united through their care and discretion for each other. One beautiful young woman with tiny legs tucked under her body was engaged in discussion with another member over her dependence on wheelchairs. The man was advising her to see a specialist, because she may be able to walk with crutches, thus improving her mobility on the uneven terrain of urban landscapes and increasing her personal independence.

I settled into a seat and the meeting started – previous minutes, additions, agenda items, other matters, my time had come. I was brought up to the front with an interpreter (who graciously interpreted the entire meeting held in Twi for me) and I spoke about the project. Many of those in attendance had already heard of the project, and were waiting for verification that it will indeed happen, how it will be, and if it will match their individual needs. Many good questions were asked, and I did my best to explain the nature of the project as a training opportunity, as an employment opportunity in a potentially profitable business, as another voice for physically challenged people in society and as a source of environmentally and economically sustainable intermediate transport for the Greater Koforidua Area. Everybody supported the idea, many expressed serious interest in the training while asking practical questions about stipends and residence for those not living in Koforidua.

I realized that many people have never been introduced to modern professional bicycle mechanics as it exists in the US. I realized that no one has probably ever seen a bicycle stand or a well-organized toolboard. I tried to explain the ways that this workshop will differ from most bicycle workshops in Ghana, and certain individuals had blazing eyes as they told me that want to be part of the movement to bring new and effective technology to Ghana. They want to be recognized as part of something that is benefiting their society.
After the meeting I stayed back and talked with some folks who had more questions. One entrepreneurial man named Eric talked to me about being a distributor for his rural district, an interest that may in fact contribute to achieving the goals of the project to get bicycles to people who need them while supporting microenterprise for physically challenged people. This individual is interested in receiving the training and bringing the skills back to his district. In time, he would want to purchase tools and set-up his own workshop there, as a purchaser / distributer of the Koforidua Workshop bikes.
Next to Eric sat a young woman named Miriam. I asked her if she was interested in taking part in the project and becoming a mechanic, and she gladly told me she was. Yes. There are about 3 young women with genuine interest, in addition to about 7 young men. Miriam is very awesome and I liked her immediately – young, dignified, with this disarming honesty in her eyes, and radiant smile.

Then, young Eric (a different Eric) the athlete, the wheelchair basketball striker. He came to me asking if the workshop could also repair wheelchairs. Eric mentioned that many of the wheelchairs used by the basketball team have spoiled (Ghana English for wrecked), and have fallen into disuse. I told him, yes, probably, we will have a lot of really good tools, and could probably repair wheelchairs. Eric’s next question: can we build a wheelchair with gears? Since Eric is a wheelchair athlete, he would like to use a wheelchair as transportation that could handle hills. Wow, design challenge, do these already exist? Ideas anyone? I told Eric that we could work together on various projects, and that with a welding machine and a lot of raw bike parts and frames, we could get creative. Eric then told me that he is a teacher in a private school – math and science – and that he is so interested to become a mechanic and to be a part of the project. Based on Eric’s tremendous energy and enthusiasm, I think that we can accommodate his schedule. He can maybe work nights – 4 to 7, and all day Saturdays.

6.5.08

Wow, backtrack a few days… arc welding. I conceived-up a project for myself to weld a frame with a bar so I can build upper body strength with pull-ups etc. On the way toward the main road in Koforidua are a number of small metal-working shops. Mostly welding gates, security grates for windows and small shop containers for local sellers to sell and lock their goods at night. I had been passing this particular shop since my first day in Koforidua and making friends with the workers. The way the shop is organized is with a master at the top and then a hierarchy of apprentices successively below, ranging in age from 28 to 16. The more experienced apprentices do most of the skilled work, with the others observing and doing more of the brunt work. One of the young guys was making a chain out of iron rod-

At first, the workers didn’t entirely trust me. We were friendly and joking, but there was a tension. This tension is normal when your carrying more money in your pocket than people make in a month with all of their hard and sometimes dangerous work. I tried to let go of these differences entirely, but the workers wouldn’t entirely let them go. A typical case of the privileged wanting peace and ignoring justice. I accept.

The arc-welding machine is homemade, wild. Metal plates wrapped with bundles of wire in a crate, connected to the electricity line with exposed copper wire. The cables – short pieces with exposed tips twisted together to provide length. The electrode a metal stick coated in flux held in the electrode clamp. No regulating electricity, just scratching the electrode to get a current and then welding down a quarter inch at a time.

I went with one of the guys, Malek, a natural friend of mine, to the market to buy square stock and pipe for the horizontal bar. We select the materials, cut them down to fit them into the taxi, and then back to the workshop. We mark, cut, tack weld, square and then weld. I’m doing my best to use the #10 lens while observing and welding. Its tricky – the other guys I’m welding with have no eye protection. They told me they know how to protect their eyes. This included blinking strategically when the weld light is greatest. One of the other welders working on a different project has 80’s wrap-around sunglasses – hardly protection. I’m feeling the effect of the light on my own eyes, and I’m sadly wondering how many of these guys are going to have eyesight in 20 years. Is it something that they just accept or ignore for survival – the fact that they are damaging their eyes? I get home a bit tired, my own eyes feeling dry and deep, I bath and sleep.

6.2.08

Back and forth, back and forth we’ve gone on the storefront, weighing the pros and cons of each, and as a matter of financial prudence, and a bit of advice and inspiration from Torsutsey, we’ve chosen the less expensive location in the center of town. Our reasons for this are primarily financial – the other storefront ended up costing much more than we expected – but also the result of a visit to the site with Torsutsey, the Secretary of the Eastern Region Ghana Association of the Physically Disabled (GAPD), and local Koforidua leader. Torsutsey is responsible for identifying physically challenged people in the Koforidua area who are interested in becoming mechanics with the shop, and Torsutsey himself will be trained as one of the mechanics. Emmanuel and I will attend the regional meeting of GAPD next Saturday to meet with those interested and to discuss details of the project and business.

The day I met Torsutsey, my vision of the project opened up to include the reality of the people who will be its heart. Torsutsey, a natural leader and incredible person, came to meet me at the EEFSA office to discuss the project, and this was when we were all pasted with indecision regarding the storefronts. One was less beautiful, less expensive, more urban. The other was too beautiful, too expensive, and less urban. I wanted to see the urban storefront from Torsutsey’s eyes, so I invited him to visit me there. We joined a taxi, and in 5 minutes we got down at the junction and walked to the location. As we crossed the street, Torsutsey expertly navigated the curbs and open sewers with his crutches. I asked him if it hurt his shoulders and arm pits to move so fast with crutches, and he told me that at first it did, but now it doesn’t. Torsutsey has a similar physical condition as Emmanuel, with one very strong leg, and the other severely underdeveloped.

We got to the store and Torsustey’s face was bright as he told me that this was an excellent location, right in the center of town, there will be so many customers, and it will be easy for the physically challenged employees to get to – they will only have to join one taxi and not two (I hadn’t thought of that before, but it was a critical point). I tried to criticize the storefront and to highlight its negative aspects, and was continually convinced by Torsutsey that it was workable, and that we can make an awesome wheelchair accessible workshop here. I realize that the storage is minimal, and that there will be challenges getting a container on site (I think the best we can do is a 20ft container on site and at least one 40ft container off-site). It was settled in my mind – the urban storefront. To be discussed later with Emmanuel and the EEFSA executives…

I asked Torsutsey where he was headed, and he told me he’s going home – a taxi I asked, and he said I’ll walk. I then joined Torsustey on the way to his home, we literally passed 10 ft at a time before someone would greet Torsutsey from across the road, and someone else would slap his hand and joke with him, or talk to him about local matters. Torsutsey knew everybody, and everyone knew him, and he was loved, but he also loved.

We walked for about 15 minutes and arrived at Torsutsey’s home, a small room shared with his aging father in a small compound packed with rented rooms. Torsutsey showed me his trade – bead jewelery-making. His materials were sprawled over a small stool, and he was weaving and tying beaded strings to make very nice local necklaces and bracelets – each with one fat bead threaded over the woven band. Torsutsey’s sole means of income is selling these beads every Thursday at the large market at Jackson Park in Koforidua. Torsutsey looked at me and said, this is all I have, I have to do it. I am a poor man.

Torsutsey has a Secondary School Education, is a regional leader for the Physically Challenged, and a local friend to his whole neighborhood, and because of his disability, he cannot get work to provide him more income. Torsutsey has serious manager potential. In fact, and in reality, this project is going to change lives. I did a rough estimate of business plan financials yesterday, and with the number of donated containers of bikes from BNB and procured from Emmanuel’s other contacts, this business could thrive, putting money in the bank and paying off the rent loan to the bank and the total start-up debt to EEFSA in five years. We’re not, however, going to overestimate the business’s potential, we are going to work our asses off to make this work.

The next day, I wake up, exercise, stroll into town, visit the office. Emmanuel is going to Accra… opportunity. Emmanuel is working on getting a US visa for his daughter to join the family on their trip to the US in late June. It’s me, young Linda, Hilda in the back, Frank and Emmanuel in front. I’m sharing reggae on my ipod with Linda, reading the welding reference book Alex gave me, and enjoying the breeze and the view. You can see all the way to the coast from the top of Aburi mountain.

My plan: visit the old boss at Peace Corps, go to the tool market and get my personal set of bike tools, visit George and Samson from Village Bicycle Project (VBP). Peace Corps went smooth, though I was struck with the oversensitive security measures they took with me. Back on the street. It’s nice to be free in Ghana. I join the car heading to Accra central – the market, oh the Accra market, time to grow some skin. Get down and walk into the sea of people, sounds, smells, obstacles and cars parting the people like water as they pass. Deeper in, a row of hundreds of people holding cheap clothes looking for eye contact so they can grab your arm and try to sell you their goods. Intense but I love it. I remember my old path to Katamanto, the building material and tool market. This is actually less hectic, and organized into storefronts lining the streets. I stop in a few places, pick up a strong hacksaw, some combination wrenches, adjustables, pliers, screwdriver and phillips. I see some arc welding machines, no migs. I call George, get the directions to his place, and head out.
La Paz, a sprawling part of town with some big highways, gas stations, and commerce, as well as the VBP base. I meet Samson on the road and then see George – good reunion. VBP has increased its productivity and storage, with George and Samson each leading workshops simultaneously at different locations. I’ve got lots of questions about the bike market, and more time to ask – since its late in the day, I asked George if I could crash at his place and he was more than hospitable. We stopped by his wife’s house for a meal of rice, stew, and local tuna, and then went to George’s house in the Central Region of Ghana (about an hour drive), George’s hometown. Due to inflation of the cedi, people usually buy building materials and build houses instead of saving money in the bank. It often takes 5 – 10 years until the house is built, but in the end it is worth more that the cash. We stayed at George’s house in progress, out of the city, in the beautiful farmland. George had a bike in every room – yeah.

The next morning, we went back to the VBP base in La Paz and got down to business. George and Samson told me their strategy of selling bikes to local sellers, of selling bikes to individuals, of buying bike parts in the Accra market, and offered their contacts if we ever need to buy parts in bulk. I now have a good sense of what the used bikes are worth on the local market, based on their varying quality, and on the amount of work we put into them. We may be able to sell some bikes that we don’t work on to other bike shops in Koforidua at reduced rates. If we build the bikes up top quality, then we’re gonna charge what the bikes and shop time are worth. One market strategy is to sell bikes that are well built, so the reputation of the shop will travel and secure our customer base. Based on the used bikes that I’ve seen in the market, we will easily be able to meet our mark of being the shop that offers the best quality used bikes in Koforidua, and in the whole region.