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.