#kayayei

Yesterday, 600 Kayayeis celebrated a major milestone as they graduated from a month-long skill training programme in Madina. The initiative, aimed at empowering these young women, equipped them with skills in makeup artistry, pedicure and manicure, decoration, soaps and detergents, baking, and beading. The graduation ceremony was a testament to the success of the programme, as the beaming…

Time for A Fashion Revolution in Ghana’s Secondhand Clothing Industry

Today we end a very important date in the ethical fashion and general fashion calendar.

24th April marks Fashion Revolution Day and with 22nd April being Earth Day the timing could not have been more apt.

On 24th April each year, Fashion Revolution Day brings everyone in the fashion value chain together to raise awareness of the true cost of fashion, show the world that change is possible, and…

Gov’t to set aside GHc2m as seed capital for Kayayei – John Kumah

Date: May 2, 2019 5:58am

The Chief Executive of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), John Kumah, says his outfit is set to give head porters in the country seed capital to help them set up their own businesses.

According to him, the President had directed that an amount of GHc 2 million to be given to head porters popularly known as ‘Kayayei’.

The Chief…

It's Harmattan, that time of the year when the winds from the Sahara blow into West Africa and bring with it plenty dust, congestion, and upper respiratory tract infections. It's hot and dry, but because there's so much dust, the sun gets blocked out sometimes, creating a quasi-muggy day.

This time of the year also celebrates two other events:

The first: it's house-building time! Zero chance of rain translates to the best opportunity to  break down crumbling mud brick houses and UPGRADE! Or, rebuild. Because there's a lot of that happening too (due to last season's rains). The buildings will dry and harden in the sun, and folks will coat the mud walls in cement to ensure durability during the rains. Meanwhile, other family members of the same household are going into the bush to collect straw for the traditional roofing. Houses typically have at least one zinc roof, if they could afford it, to help out with water collection and drainage during the rainy season.

The second: It's almost been a year since I and my team have been in Ghana! WOO-HOO!! We've only had one Early Termination (ET), and that happened recently. The incoming group arrives in the beginning of February. It feels like I just got off that plane a few months ago, not almost a year ago! Time sure flies... when you're busy pooping in a hole and living without a fridge! Jokinggg. I'm excited to meet the new people, but it's kind of... the beginning of the end. AND I JUST GOT HERE. I'm starting to get into the groove of that PCV-life, y'know what I mean? Where I start projects and actually kindasortanotreally do shit?

Time has flown though. The borehole project is slowly coming along. World Vision, the NGO that I thought would be the savior to all my health volunteerism problems, did not pan out. We found out that the Karaga branch of World Vision were “chopping” (embezzling) money. The reality that they were attempting to scam me was tough to swallow since they actually came to my community and examined the state of our boreholes. They gave me a ridiculous high price for a borehole-- $9000 USD, I would only need to find some way to raise $4500 though. And y'know, part of me was like, “fuck it. Imma find some way to find that dough. Call me the baker because I'M READY TO GET SHIT DONE!!” It turned out that quote was bogus. Their headquarters in Accra were all, “WUT?! Gurl, that subsidy program does not exist. They playin' yo ass,” so... now I'm back to square one. I'm trying to find other organizations to help me out here with a borehole (Unicef, is that you? It's me, Diana), but we shall see. It just sucks (but is also so typical, to be completely honest) that a Ghanian organization is trying to capitalize on poor communities in desperate need of resources like water.

Other than boreholing, I'm trying to make batik dye workshops and soap-making workshops a reality at site, but it's tough since the batik teacher will be out of town for a while. In the mean time, I'm just being a lump... which is very typical of my life as a health volunteer in Ghana, for the most part. I feel like I'm unemployed but get paid a small stipend to hang out, bum around, and try to socialize. BUT, I'm hoping that my female counterpart Rosemary comes back and is ready to start doing Grassroots Soccer Intervention!! GRS is an HIV-education tool using football (soccer). It's awesome and fun and a great way to teach nuggets about loftier topics that may evade them in every day life like HIV, female empowerment, gender equality, and the damaging affects of malaria. It's a cool program, and it was started by an RPCV (heyyy). I talked to Mr. Paul, my favorite teacher, about being more of an active presence at the all-girls reading club this term. Mr. Paul is finishing up his degree, so he will be really busy these next two terms, and the other teacher (never remembered his name. Sorry-o bruh. You were not as cool as Mr. Paul) was transferred to a neighboring community, so Mr. Paul has no support in helping JHS female students learn English after school hours.