A little more than a month to go. I think it’s time to start reflecting on my journey so far and assess what I have achieved. I focused my micro finance activity on waste management. The project team selected the Zugu community for the initiative. I began by meeting with elders of Zugu to introduce myself and gather their feedback on the type intervention I was planning. In the second meeting, we conducted an assessment using three main focus groups to identify their waste management practices, the types  of waste they dispose of, and their level of awareness of the impact of poor waste disposal on human and animal health, as well as the environment.  In our third visit, we carried out the main activity, which included a sensitisation campaign with images illustrating the impact of garbage, followed by a cleanup and the placement of dustbins and gallons. Dustbins are primarily intended for plastic, which will be collected by a plastic recycling company.  We plan to...

More than a month has passed since my first day here and I can now say that the initial culture shock has slowly faded away.   First, I somehow sorted out the transportation issue, or let’s say I got used. At the beginning, I was so determined to learn how to ride motorbike and get one for myself. The idea of not being able to move around independently, always relying on others or an unstructured taxi system, really bothered me. In the end, I figured out how to make the daily commute work. Every morning, I hail at some yellow yellow (a tricycle taxi)  for part of the way to the office and enjoy walking the rest. For longer trips I call my go-to yellow yellow driver, and sometimes I‘m lucky enough to get a lift from either my colleagues or friends. Plus, I realized that even though riding a motorbike is not that difficult, I’ll only be here for a short time, and navigating this chaotic traffic with a vehicle I’ve just broken in might not be the wisest choice.  Sp...

The travel day has been a roller coaster of emotions. In the morning, I was super excited to start this new adventure; I couldn’t wait to embark on this experience. But at the airport, when the moment came to say goodbye to my loved ones, I cried, letting out all my subconscious worries.  On the flight, paranoid thoughts and regrets briefly took over. But it was just a passing moment. Overall, the journey went smoothly—the real shock was yet to come. As soon as we drove into the city, I felt disoriented. I started stressing out about how I would buy basic necessities, as all the shops looked so unfamiliar. I quickly realized that for almost any activity, I’d need to take a taxi because the distances are huge, and there are only a few useful stores near my house. At the same time, I had the chance to meet almost all the HO members, and they were incredibly kind to me. My mentor was especially supportive and always available, driving me around the city to help me recognize landmarks ...

 It's 2am and I'm in the international airport in Accra waiting to board into my first flight towards Italy.  I can't even describe all the emotions that I'm feeling right now, I feel very sad of leaving my Ghanian family but also excited to meet my family and friends again.  What I know for sure is that Ghana has a special place in my heart, and all the memories and all the people will always be with me wherever I'll be. Ghana leaves me with a lot of professional and personal skills, in this 9 months I explored a new culture, embracing any aspect of it, and I have pulled my self out of my confort zone, looking for opportunities to learn, especially at work.  What I know for sure is that Ghana made me realize how strong my values are and how much I want to advocate for them and keep them as engine for my future choices.  I think this collage represents my experience the best. Same pictures but a bit different, that's exactly how feel. The same Maria Andrea, but ...

I cannot believe I am saying this, but my time in Kongo village and Ghana in general is almost over. When I first came here, I thought 3 months and a half was plenty of time, but I could not have been more wrong. These months have passed by so quickly that it feels like I came here a week ago. I guess this just proves how amazing my life has been here, because time flies by so quickly when you are engaged in activities that are interesting and fun for you. And as much as I miss my country and my loved ones, I would love to stay in the village longer. I want to start my final blog by saying a huge thanks to a Kongo based NGO CoDA, that has been hosting me all this time. Their dedication to make me feel great in this village was incredible. Since the day I arrived in the village they treated me like a family member and helped me in every step of the way. Taking me around for sightseeing, teaching me the local language, cooking me delicious vegetarian meals, greeting me with a smile eve...

The 16th of July, I celebrate Fire Festival, a local festivity that symbolize resilience, strength and unity. It is celebrated at night and Dagombas gathered together to celebrate, showcase and honor their ancestors. The legend tales that many years ago the king's son got missed in the forest, the king then ordered people to go around to look for him. There was no electricity so people used grass torches. After hours of searching the king's son was found sleeping under a tree. The community used then the fire from the torches to fire the tree as they considered it as having stolen the kid.  Since then, every year, the local community commemorate this event. The day of the fire festival changes every year since it follows the lunar calendar and it marks the beginning of the Dagomba's year. It falls on the ninth day of the first month of the Dagomba lunar year, the Bugum Goli (the month of fire). The festival normally begins at night, on hour or two after the muslim evening p...

The past few weeks have been somewhat of a rollercoaster. My days shifted from being packed with a variety of activities to spending extended periods at home, grappling with how to occupy my time. This transition was intriguing and certainly taught me to be resourceful in finding ways to spend my time. As I mentioned in my first blog, Kongo village is not very large. This doesn’t mean there is nothing to do; it simply requires a bit of creativity to discover ways to spend time. It made me appreciate the small things so much more. For example, playing baseball with the kids after their ICT lesson or watching the sunset at the beautiful Pitanga rocks. As part of my role as a women's empowerment officer in Kongo village, I have been gathering information about the various groups of women in Kongo. I have been collecting details about the products they make, their backgrounds, and their biggest challenges. Over the past few days, I have been interviewing women from the basket weavers g...

Cuatro meses han pasado desde que llegué a Ghana, tengo que contaros como ha evolucionado mi trabajo y mi estancia, pero sobre todo como ha cambiado el paisaje. Uno de los aspectos más fascinantes de vivir aquí ha sido ver cómo cambia el entorno natural entre la estación seca y la temporada de lluvias. Durante la estación seca, los paisajes se tiñen de un tono dorado y ocre, con una belleza austera que resalta la resistencia de la flora y fauna local. Sin embargo, con la llegada de las lluvias, todo se transforma: el paisaje se vuelve verde y exuberante, los ríos se llenan de vida, y el aire se siente más fresco y revitalizante. Este contraste es realmente algo que hay que vivir para comprender en su totalidad. Este cambio también ha marcado el inicio de la cosecha, donde se puede ver a personas de todas las edades, azada en mano, piernas firmes y espalda curvada, labrando la tierra para sembrar desde mijo hasta arroz. Mientras los paisajes cambian con las estaciones, la minería de oro...

 Bela Bela  For some months I have been taking Dagbani lessons. I found Dagbani very fascinating, one of the most beautiful thing for me is that is has no gender, words have no feminine neither masculine.  Learning Dagbani is immersing me in the Dagomba culture, both because my teacher tells me a lot about it and because words in Dagbani are also related to traditions/events. All the words have special meaning and their sentences, most of the time, do not make any sense when translated literally, they gain sense and meaning when put into the Dagomba context.  For example, to say "how are you?" they say "Ti gbihira?" that translated literally means "how did you sleep?", this is because in the Dagomba culture being able to sleep well is synonym of health and wealth.  Even though understanding conversations in Dagbani is still far  from my abilities, I'm very grateful because this lessons are giving me the basic knowledge to greet and have small conversat...

  400 hands, 200 women  From the 19th to the 21st of March 2024, I implemented my project in empowering women through soap making training. Three days, three communities, 200 women. A project that exceeded my expectations before, during and after it.  The preparatory period has been rather stressful, an endless list of things to worry about:  Budget  Monitoring  Materials  Contacts with the communities  Facilitators  Transports and so on And the funniest and craziest thing is that when the project starts there are some many unforeseen events that most the things need to be re-designed.  But then, when you are there, surrounded by happy, grateful and enthusiastic women, even the things that are not working start working.  What did we do?  The training consisted in showing these groups women all the steps needed to produce liquid soap. The training started with a " theorical part " where the facilitator was explaining all the ste...

A month has passed since my arrival in Ghana. So many things have happened. I have learned some Nabit language, which means I can communicate with locals in the village better. It is absolutely mandatory here in Kongo to greet everyone as you pass by them, as well as ask questions like how are you, how is work. I love it. Talking to locals makes me feel like I am a local myself. It is different in my country. We do not greet strangers. In fact we do not even look at each other while passing by, and smiling to a stranger is pretty much a crime in our unwritten rules book. I think I will experience a reversed culture shock once I get back home, because I will want to say hi to everyone and ask if they are married or not. And yes, some people ask this question right after greeting you, but this is just a funny joke to break the ice, which always makes me laugh. The temperature is still super hot, but I think my body has used to it quite a lot. I still struggle with heat exhaustion some da...

During my first meeting with the board of my host organization, CoDA, someone asked about my experiences so far and whether my expectations were being met. From previous experiences, I have learned that it is best to approach projects like this with minimal expectations. Despite this, I can only say that the first month has exceeded my imagination. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, making me feel at home in a new country almost immediately. The first month was all about adaptation and observation for me. I had to adjust to a new culture, new foods, and lots of new people. We also delved into the local culture and history, emphasizing the importance of introductions. Consequently, we spent the first two weeks traveling around Kongo and its surrounding areas, meeting key figures in the community.  Engaging in conversations with everyone I meet is something my Dutch self is not used to. At first, I struggled with the language, not only Nabt but also English. However, like everyt...

Coming to Ghana has been on my mind for a long time. Interesting culture and beautiful traditions, scenic nature, friendly people and tasty local cuisine were some of the things that would pop up on Google every time I was researching the country. When an Estonian NGO called Mondo provided me with an opportunity to come to Ghana as a climate change advisor volunteer for Kongo Community Development Association (KOCDA) under the European Solidarity Corps program, I was so incredibly excited and began reading about the country even more. I wanted to be prepared for every possible situation so that I would know what to say and how to react and would not offend anyone or get overwhelmed after seeing something that may not be so common in my home country. Mondo had also arranged trainings about the country and it's culture and advised of the things that should and should not be done in the country, so I felt absolutely prepared for this exciting adventure. However even after preparing so...

5:30 de la mañana, entre-abres los ojos y puedes ver que ya entran los primeros rayos de sol por la ventana, al poco tiempo los gallos ya actúan como despertador natural. Te levantas de la cama y curiosamente te asomas por la ventana, y ese gallo que te despertó parece no estar solo, le acompañan un par de cerdos bebés del tamaño de una caja de zapatos y un toro rebuscando algo de comida entre unos arbustos. En este mismo momento es cuando se te abren del todo los ojos y te das cuenta que todo era verdad; los días anteriores estuviste preparando la maleta, peleándote con la embajada, en videoconferencias de formación... Pero no es hasta días después, que te despiertas y realmente asimilas que si, efectivamente y contra todo pronostico... Estas en África. Aeropuerto de Accra, un jet privado te está esperando para llevarte a Tamale, aunque curiosamente otras 40 personas se suben contigo... curioso. Una vez en Tamale te acercas a un señor gritando "BOLGAAA", al ser tu destino de...

 A messy amazing evening.  Driven from my friends' requests, I decided to organize a pizza workshop to teach my local friend how to cook pizza. Since we organized on a sunday, the plan was to meet at 2pm to have the time to get everything ready without finishing too late. But here is something you have to know about ghanians, they are always late. So what happened in reality?  We started very late, we were 15 and we only had a small gas oven. To be honest, I can still feel the stress I felt when I realized what was happening, but as soon as people came, having them there, and being all together calmed me down. I realized that everything would have worked out even if the original plan changed.  I settled ingredients for everybody, each of us was having it is own bowls and it is own instruction sheet. I was so happy to see all my friends very interesting in getting to know my culture. Baking pizza is a main thing in my family, we use to bake every saturday night and be...

  Yes, he survived! I mean the rooster... Nevertheless, I broke my vegetarian diet for my last dinner in Kongo. Everybody told me I should try guinea fowl before I leave as it is local and special. It was tasty. But it tasted very similar to chicken... So I could also have eaten the rooster instead, as revenge :) However, living in cities for my whole life I'm not used to see an animal alive before eating it. Hiding in the house while the animal was being prepared for cooking I felt a little bit like a coward. I think it's good I stick with my vegetarian diet. As I'm leaving Kongo I feel excited to see my family and friends but I'm also feeling sad because I'm leaving those people behind who welcomed me heartily in Kongo and who made me feel comfortable during my stay. I'm finishing my deployment earlier than planned because my body is not able to cope with the heat in Northern Ghana. I didn't expect it to be that challenging for me but unfortunately I felt ...

Since I am a kid I have always loved drawing. It is my go to activity when I need time by myself, when I need to break from reality. It is something I have always preserved with care and attention, knowing that wherever I was, whatever happened, drawing would realign everything.  However, one thing I realised over the years was that while drawing fascinated me, painting scared me. I still do not know why, maybe I just love the idea that people can imagine the colors they want when looking at my drawings, or maybe I am just scared to ruin something I care so much about.  Tamale has been life changing in this regard. I love to think that is something that was planned for me. Next to my place, just beside the forest, a guy is providing free paiting sessions during the whole week. After a full month in the city I had the courage to step there and join one of these sessions, already knowing that It would have leave my confort zone and face my "colour fear".  I found it a ...

    Nearly 4 months have passed… the bad news are, the confused rooster is still alive! And also all the other roosters which are roaming around the neighbourhood at night and keeping me from sleeping peacefully. The good news are, I’m still vegetarian... Other good news are, that I was able to start three interesting and hopefully useful projects after my month-long needs assessment period. The puzzle I was trying to solve to get a better picture of the community is still not complete, even after my time of observation, needs assessment meetings and months of working. It is natural, because it takes more time to solve such a complex puzzle completely. However, at least the puzzle pieces I was able to put together give a hint of the beauty as well as the challenges of this unique place and its’ inhabitants.   The tree and his shade are functioning as a school staff room and assembly hall     Project no. 1: During the needs assessment meetings teenage pr...