You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2012.
Lisa in the office of our partner in Zanzibar (ZANGOC). Lisa was an Ambassador in Ghana before becoming an IYIP in Tanzania. She is currently in Ghana as an Innovator.
In 2010, I travel to West Africa for the first time to work with YCI in Ghana. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be chosen by YCI to work for 7 months in Zanzibar, Tanzania and spent some time in Kenya. Having spent time on both sides of the continent I feel it is time for a comparison list; East vs. West.
1. YCI East vs. West:
In Ghana YCI works with the YMCA in Takoradi and Koforidua where YCI Volunteers facilitate capacity building workshops to the students of the YMCA Vocational school in Takoradi and YCI/YMCA Mentors in Koforidua. YCI programming looks different in Tanzania as we work with different partners in all three cities (Zanzibar, Morogoro and Arusha). While the partners are different, the main goal of YCI programming remains the same; to improve youth livelihoods.
2. Food East vs. West:
Food in Ghana is very different than in Kenya and Tanzania; East Africans tend to not like spicy food whereas in Ghana shito (hot sauce) is everywhere, in everything and is very delicious! I found food in East Africa to be dull. For instance, rice and beans in Tanzania is simply plain rice with a small side of beans, whereas in Ghana rice and beans is called “waakye” and is a spicy mix of rice, beans, sauce and hot sauce.
3. Migration East vs. West:
In West Africa people tend to move around a lot from country to country. I think this is due to the fact countries are smaller and closer together andECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), which allows West Africans to work in a surrounding country for up to 3 months at a time. I feel Kenyan’s and Tanzanian’s have a very rich sense of pride for their countries because even the wealthy East African’s I have met do not enjoy traveling.
4. Swahili vs. Twi:
In Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania the official government language is English. However, in East Africa, especially in Tanzania, most people speak Swahili over English. In Tanzania, children are taught in Swahili until they reach secondary school and taught English as a second language (comparable to how Canadian are taught French as a second language). Whereas in Ghana and Kenya, all levels of schooling are taught in English.
5. Muzungu vs. Obruni:
Everywhere you go on the African continent there is a local word for “foreigner”, or quite literally, “white person.” In Tanzania this word was “Muzungu” and in Ghana this word is “Obruni.” I think I heard muzugnu more frequently in Zanzibar because it was a very touristy place and there was a constant stream of foreigners coming and going.
6. Handshakes vs. Greetings:
In both West and East African culture, greetings are a huge part of cultural norms; you would never walk into your office in Africa without personally greeting everyone who is there. With Swahili greetings in Tanzania, there are so many different phrases you can say to greet someone and in Ghana you never greet someone without an accompanying handshake with a snap at the end!
7. Public Transportation East vs. West:
My last comparison is an easy one; in East and Southern Africa, people drive on the left side of the road (like the UK) and in Ghana people drive on the right side of the road (like North America). Everywhere I have been in Africa mini buses are used as public transportation and in every country there is a different word to describe these buses. In Kenya they are called “matatu’s” in Tanzania they are called “daladala’s” and in Ghana they are called “trotro’s”
-Lisa D’Alimonte, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012
Matt trading hats with a friend in Arusha.
It’s been about 6 months since I finished my 6 week volunteer placement in Arusha, Tanzania and every day I think about my experience. My time in Arusha was fantastic and definitely changed my life. I challenged myself to try something completely new, I made friends in a foreign country and I changed as a person. I experienced so many things that I am still processing the events of my placement.
Throughout the six weeks I experienced culture shock and homesickness and by the end of the placement I was excited to return home. I missed my friends and my family and all the modern conveniences that come with living in Canada. I packed up my souvenirs and all the gear I was returning home with, I said many goodbyes, and throughout all of that I was still more excited to go home.
It wasn’t until I was in the airport in Dar es Salaam that it really hit me. I was leaving Tanzania, and I was going to really miss it.
Getting home was great, I was surrounded by family and friends, could have hot showers whenever I wanted and had reliable electricity ALL day. It was difficult at first to adapt. I had so many stories to tell and wanted to spend all of my time talking about Arusha, but my friends and family also had summers of their own with many stories that they also wanted to share. For a couple of weeks I went through a small disconnect (reverse culture shock), and felt like I didn’t fit in any more at home.
Over the last 6 months, I told all of the important stories with all of the important people in my life, I sorted my photo albums and I reflected on what that experience meant to me and how I will use it in my life. It was a long and slow process, and even now I still find myself randomly remembering the minute details of the trip.
This past weekend, I met up with the three other volunteers who I spent my summer with in Arusha. We spent 6 weeks with each other, and after returning home our lives caught up with us and while we kept in touch we spoke a lot less frequently. That mini reunion was fantastic. Almost immediately we fell right back into step and refreshed each other’s memories about Arusha.
I know that I will continue to reflect on Arusha, share my experience and plan my return trip. Spending a summer in Arusha was a fantastic experience that allowed for a lot of personal growth and will continue to impact my life for a long time to come.
-Matt Leslie, Youth Ambassador, Tanzania 2011
To see more of what our Alumni have been up to, check out the Alumni Update section of blog.
The deadline to donate Aeroplan Miles to YCI is fast approaching. If you have not already donated you have until March 4th to send in your pledge form. So far we have gotten a lot of support from out Board Members, both through personal donations and through their networks, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them. YCI volunteers and Board Members Stephen Brown and Daniel Abichandani were able to raise over 200,000 Aeroplan Miles at Deloitte on Friday February 17th. We hope to be just as successful when we visit KPMG on March 1st with the support of our Board Member, Paritosh Gambhir. This past week, Paritosh was able to raise 100,000 miles in 24 hours!
Please take some time this weekend to Help YCI Go the Extra MIle!
Why Donate?
- You feel like spreading some goodwill
- You want to use your Aeroplan Miles to fund meaningful travel to support youth development projects
- You want to help youth
- You believe that young people have a meaning contribution to make to international development
What are you going to do with my Miles?
Donated Aeroplan Miles will be used for staff travel to partner locations in order to implement ongoing monitoring and evaluation activities. YCI will also use Aeroplan Miles to enable outstanding young volunteers to travel overseas to donate their time to help build communities and leaders through global youth development.
Click HERE to get your Charitable Pooling Pledge Form now!
Current students at the YMCA Vocational Training Institute
Greetings from the Ghana YMCA, where I’ve happily been working for the past three weeks as Marketing and Communications Innovator with Youth Challenge International. The core business of the Ghana YMCA is empowerment; its core aim to develop the potential of young Ghanaians by helping them become productive citizens in their communities, their country and more largely, their continent.
With branches across eight of Ghana’s ten administrative regions, the Ghana YMCA serves approximately one million people in 75+ communities across the country, with its presence particarly strong in the greater Accra region, as well as the Eastern and Western regions. Its facilities range from early childhood development and care centres and community clinics to vocational training institutes — one of which I was lucky to visit this past week.
What I find most interesting about the YMCA Vocational Training Centre in Sekondi-Takoradi is the fact that management, operation and student enrolment is almost 100% female. What this means is that despite Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) branding it is very nearly an all-girls place of empowerment — speaking volumes, I think, about the reach and breadth of diversity of the Ghana YMCA’s programs and services.
A dress making student, hard at work on her latest design
Established in 1989, and set to celebrate its 22nd anniversay next month, Takoradi’s YMCA Vocational Training Institute aims to improve the quality of life for young Ghanaian girls by helping them become self-sufficient through the development of employeable skills. It predominantly serves girls aged 16-24 from the Shama Metropolitan Assembly with the opportunity to gain employable skills such as catering and dressmaking.
According to Kwabena Nketia Addae, Ghana YMCA National General Secretary, the Ghana YMCA established vocational and technical training centres like the one in Takoradi in response to a high number of young people who were unable to further their education after completing basic education. This was either because of financial constraints — their parents’ inability to pay for their education at a higher level — or their inability to meet the academic grades for the next level. The large number of unemployed young girls was of particular concern, he says; hence, through the support of CVJM, one of Ghana YMCA’s international partners, the Takoradi YMCA Vocational Training Institute.
A first year catering team explains how they've prepared their practical to Vocational Training Institute Principal Emelia Boafo
Principal of the institute is the formidable Emelia Boafo, an alumnus of Canada’s Coady International Institute, as well as the Institute of Education, Winneba (Kumasi campus). Under her tutelage, demand for places is high; student enrolment is double what it was 20 years ago, largely due to reputation. 85% of graduates are currently employed, with many others self-employed in and around the Sekondi-Takoradi area. After tasting the practicals of the first year catering class this past Friday, a menu which consisted of French rolls, “Russian” salad, beef stew, butter braised cabbage and fruit salad, I can personally vouch that the proof in the pudding is in the eating.
As Marketing and Communications Innovator my role during my six weeks in Ghana is to promote all the good work being done by the Ghana YMCA. In an effort to grow its profile, I’ll be visiting various YMCA branches and highlighting the diversity of their services — including perhaps surprisingly to some, women empowerment programs. Next up: a visit to the Koforidua and Kumasi branches, to interview some of the YMCA staff and supporters involved in early childcare and youth development.
I’m also hightlighting the strength of the YMCA Ghana’s international partnerships, one of which is Youth Challenge International. I’m doing this partly through the use of social media — so don’t forget to “like” us on our new Facebook page!
-Veronica Lasanowski, Marketing and Communications Innovator, Ghana 2012
Here is a short video from a recent group of Youth Discovery Project volunteers in Costa Rica. They were in Costa Rica in December 2011. As you can see, they had quite a diverse experience.
For upcoming Youth Discovery Project dates, please click on our Program Calendar.
While the work we are doing here in Arusha consists of a variety of different projects, they all centre around the students at the Umoja Centre. We spend every week day with these students – acting as both teachers and partners. For 10 hours each week (split between intermediate and beginner students), we teach a course entitled “Key Skills”. This is a full year course in the Umoja Curriculum which includes units on citizenship, African History, Careers and Health. Our focus during this phase is on Personal Development, with classes on goal setting, overcoming challenges, self-esteem, values and confidence. We spend a lot of time discussing our subject matter as a group and students are encouraged to support each other with advice and input for all assignments – and do they ever! It is obvious that genuinely want each other to succeed. Their feedback and questions for each other are well thought out and often provoke their own discussion time.
There are 43 students in total – 19 boys and 24 girls. They are between 14 and 24 years old with a range of education, from some secondary school to only primary. They are all incredibly motivated, and it is understandable why – hundreds of youth applied to the Centre. I wouldn’t call these students lucky – they have worked hard to get where they are, and continue to do so. The curriculum is intense and many travel an hour or more to get to and from school every day.
Many students have overcome things I could not even imagine experiencing. What is most inspiring is that students choose to look at these challenges as experiences that have made them stronger. All of them are eager to finish school and go on to find jobs so that they may support their families and communities in ways they have never experienced themselves.
I think we, as Arusha volunteers, are some of the most fortunate for getting to work with these amazing young women and men. We get to spend time with 43 youth who have a genuine desire to become leaders in their communities every single day. Given the growth I have seen in these students in only three weeks, I cannot wait to see where the rest of their school year and beyond will take them.
-Erin Sunstrum, Youth Ambassador, Tanzania 2012
For more on Erin’s progress, check out her personal blog Erin Says Habari to Tanzania. For more information on our upcoming Youth Ambassador opportunities in Tanzania, check out the Program Calender section on our website.
YCI Youth Ambassadors and the YMCA Mentors
My name is Anne Bouvier and I am a Youth Ambassador placed in Koforidua, Ghana. Before arriving to Koforidua I thought our project would be straight-forward; plan a workshop, present it to a group of students, hand out a pre-test and a post test, write-up a report and bam, done. Little did I realize this could not be accomplished without the Mentors from our partner organization, the YMCA. These ladies and gentlemen have been our support line, our co-organizers, co-planners, our co-presenters, our interpreters, our tour guides, our entertainment, our guru’s and most importantly our new found friends. Today I want to share with you how wonderful they have been to us thus far into our stay at the YMCA.
On my first day here in Koforidua, the five of us volunteers were amazed by the bustling city, I had a perma-stunned look on my face, trying to take in all the information as we were guided to all the different places in the city we needed to know about. I was walking with one of the mentors while he excitedly explained to me how to say different words in Twi. I was mixing up the words and I told him I will keep trying. He stopped in his tracks and said, “No, you will not try, you will do it.” Now reflecting on that moment I understand why they have such a wonderful outlook on life; they are insightful, reflective and state things as they are. No fakeness, just the honest truth. Despite how thrown off I was, I loved it, it left me thinking about what I only put “half my heart into”.
In our first meeting with the mentors (five twenty year olds from Koforidua) I came to realize that they are genuine people who care about their community. After asking them why they decided to volunteer two answers stood out to me, “everyone needs someone to survive, which is why I give.” Another mentioned, “It’s my passion to give, that is why I help my community.” Not only did this inspire me to be a better person to my own community, but it made me realize how giving Ghanaians are to their own people. I understand it is one thing to say something, and another is to act upon what you say. Well their words soon proved to be true. It has been almost three weeks to that meeting and the mentors have found time despite their work schedules, to attend the meetings, put in countless hours to help us organize, meet with individuals within Koforidua and the Eastern Region, and have presented workshops with finesse.
As YCI volunteers we realized our workshops would not be the same without the mentors. Devin, a fellow Canadian, mentioned to me, “We are here to facilitate the workshops and we depend on the mentors to present, without them we are almost useless.” This is quite true, as the volunteers we have been researchers, planners and organizers for the workshops, while the mentors have taken initiative as presenters. They are able to connect with the youth due to the English-Twi language barrier and also because they have an energy, a passion, an engaging presence and a charisma that inspires the youth.
In addition to their help to us professionally, they also have become great friends. They accompanied us on a hike that began at 7am in the morning, they have attempted at giving us numerous dance lessons, they even organized a movie night on Valentine’s Day equipped with their very own personal speakers and a projector. I also have learned how to get things done without becoming stressed, how to enjoy doing work, how to be laid back and to not worry about the time.
Finally I want to take this opportunity to thank you to each and every one of them for showing me the importance in enjoying each moment in life, giving to your neighbour without expecting anything in return and for sharing the passion that that burns in each one of them. The dedication of the mentors makes me eager to reach YCI’s goals through our workshops, and I know they will, as a new friend of mine stated, “get everything they wish for out of life, sometime in the near future.”
-Anne Bouvier, Youth Ambassador, Ghana 2012
Anne is on an 8 week Youth Ambassador placement in Ghana. Check out the upcoming opportunities in Ghana by clicking on our Program Calendar.
Meredith and Jenilee with the Ahanta West youth advocates in Agona.
Akwaaba!
I can’t believe how quickly time flies! 3 weeks have already passed since I first landed in Accra, Ghana to start my placement as a gender innovator with the Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES-Ghana).
The YCI Ghana staff were there to welcome me with open arms upon my arrival and my first two days in Ghana were spent in orientation with the other YCI volunteers, settling into my new home away from home at the Obruni house and sampling the local cuisine. Thanks to the very helpful lesson I received from another restaurant patron, I survived my first fufu eating experience!
Fufu and groundnut soup with black snails and crab.
Before I knew it, we were headed to East Legon for our first day of work at YES-Ghana, tasked with the development of a gender equality policy, an implementation strategy and the organization of a workshop on gender equality to be held on International Women’s day.
This last week has been busy with consultations with YES-Ghana staff, program participants in Jamestown and youth advocates and district coordinators in the western districts of Takoradi-Sekondi, Ahanta West and Nzema East. The passion demonstrated by the youth advocates for the work that they are doing in their communities was truly inspiring. Together we were able to identify gender equality challenges and opportunities and discuss ways to address gender equality issues through the work they do as youth advocates. The time spent with them exchanging thoughts and experiences and visiting their districts has been a real highlight of my placement to date.
Armed with a wealth of information from these consultations, we now embark into the policy development process. I can’t wait to see what the next four weeks bring and I am very much looking forward to celebrating the release of YES-Ghana’s new gender equality strategy during the International Women’s Day workshop on March 8th.
A visit to Fort San Antonio in Axim, Nzema East district.
- Jenilee Ward, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012
YCI is currently recruiting for a Gender Youth Innovator in Tanzania this May. Applications are due on March 12th, 2012.
Yesterday was the 5-week mark of my arrival in Guyana!! That means
only 7 more weeks to go! I can’t believe how fast the time is going!
I am really enjoying my time here and am learning a lot about what
life is like in Guyana every day, as well as a lot about myself! Since
my last email, I’ve been teaching the Grade 3 class at the
primary school three days a week, and helping out for parts of Monday
and Tuesday. The kids are starting to settle down a bit as they are
getting used to our presence in the school, and I am finding my job as
a teacher a bit easier with each day of practice. I’ve discovered that
being a teacher is certainly NOT an easy job – regardless of where you
come from or what country you are teaching in! It’s definitely
something I learned very quickly in this environment! Coming from a
family of teachers, I thought I understood fairly well the
difficulties that teachers face and the amount of work and effort that
goes into teaching, but coming here REALLY opened my eyes! Imagining
what it must be like was one thing, but actually living it is a
completely different story!! Not only have I found out how draining it
is to try to keep 25-30 Grade 3 students occupied for a whole day of
school, but I’ve also discovered how difficult managing a class is!! I
thought back to all the teachers I’ve had in the past who struggled to
keep some rowdy classmates under control and focused on a lesson, and
I could really sympathize with them!
In other news, I can now say that I have slept overnight in a hammock
in the jungle and survived a big rain/wind storm in the middle of the
night!! One of our Guyanese friends took us camping at the creek where
we go to bathe last weekend! It was a lot of fun! We went for a
rainforest walk before dinner and it started to pour – how fitting! In
the morning, one of the locals gave us a fish he had just caught out
on his fishing trip so we could fry it for breakfast, and it was
delicious!
The jungle scene in Guyana. Can you see any hammocks?
Last Saturday we took a road trip to another region of Guyana called
Berbice! We left St. Cuthbert’s at 5 am and didn’t get home until 7:30
pm, so it was a very long day of traveling! We probably spent at least
8-9 hours driving, but it was definitely worth it! Berbice is made up
of tons of small villages and a few towns, and most of the area is
covered in farmland, as the main industry of this region is
agriculture. We saw our fair share of donkeys, horses, goats, cows of
all kinds, and sheep roaming freely across the roads, and often had to
stop for them to cross the road in front of us! Given the speed of our
driver, this wasn’t always easy, but luckily, we didn’t have any super
close calls! There are also lots of sugarcane and rice fields here,
and we got to stop off at a rice mill and a sugar processing plant to
take some pictures. Some highlights of the day were crossing the
world’s longest floating bridge across the Berbice River (one of
Guyana’s largest rivers), and looking across the Corentyne River
(which serves as the border) to Suriname! I almost made it to another
country, but not quite!
-Allison Burney, Youth Ambassador, Guyana 2012
For details on upcoming projects in Guyana, Check out our Program Calendar.
Over the eight weeks we have here in Morogoro one of our projects is a series of educational workshops in a village about an hour away called Bamba. The people we have met in Bamba have really shown an interest in bettering their own education, as well as passing on whatever they learn to others in their village, and surrounding villages as well.
The beautiful view on our drive to Bamba.
Our first week here we made the trip out to Bamba to introduce ourselves and hear what they are interested in learning from us. We packed ourselves into a taxi and headed out on one of the most interesting drives I’ve ever been on. The red dirt road was windy and bumpy through rolling hills. It seemed like a one way road with only room for one car….apparently it wasn’t! After about fifteen minutes the view opens up and you can see green tropical trees covering mountains all around you. I’ve been out to Bamba four times now and the view still amazes me, I doubt that will change.
Our first meeting was with a few village leaders and was very productive. We learned they are interested in learning about general nutrition, governance, infectious diseases and everything that goes along with maternal and babies’ health. As a group, we decided which topics we were qualified to teach and which ones we weren’t. We are very lucky to have help from a grandmother from our partner NGO who is very knowledgeable about maternal health, birthing, and aftercare. We decided it made sense to start with general nutrition, and that was my topic! We had our first workshop yesterday and it went really well. The biggest challenge I have found is knowing where to start with the material, and what is already known. It was a great feeling planning and facilitating a workshop; and getting it right! The learning objectives I came up with for the workshop were to highlight that different foods do different things for your body and to emphasize variety in diet to obtain all essential nutrients. I talked about food groups and which foods are high in which nutrients. There was really good feedback from the participants, including one man who told us he had never heard about fibre before, and was really happy he does now. An older woman also told us how she used to make beans in the morning, and eat them with rice for every meal until they were gone, but now she sees that it is important to vary your diet and provide your body with lots of different nutrients.
I left our first week in Bamba behind looking forward to the weeks to come and being very aware of how fortunate I am to be having such a rich experience in my first international volunteering adventure.
Joanna leading a nutrition workshop.
-Joanna Mendell, Youth Ambassador, Tanzania 2012
For more information on what the Tanzania teams have been up to, please check out the Tanzania category for more posts.
