Deja Vu

Last Thursday, 13 (Plus one who will be arriving soon) high-energy and very talented students arrived in Ghana to create opportunities and change people’s lives for the summer. They are part of the Junior Fellowship (JF) program that EWB has, which allows individuals from various chapters around Canada to join the frontlines in the battle against poverty and witness the realities for themselves. Upon their return they will play an integral part in their universities and communities; sharing their experiences and learning from their 4 months overseas.

The adventure began from day one with this group as their 12 hour bus ride from Accra to Tamale, turned into a 16 hour expedition, with their bus breaking down half way through, and a new one arriving 4 hours later. They arrived at 2am in Tamale where they were met by some fellow OVS and escorted to the Catholic Guesthouse, where they would begin their in-country weekend training the next day. With a long night and probably still suffering jet lag, our OVS team decided not to put them through the punishing regime we had planned… although I’m sure most of them would of preferred not having to listen to the 10am wake up call!

The morning training session was very general, where we answered any concerns they had as well reviewed some basic health and safety issues and cultural differences they would soon encounter. The second half of the day was my personal favourite, as we sent the JFs off on an ‘Amazing Race’ around Tamale. I felt like Phil from the actual show as I assigned random points to the basic necessities they should find/buy, as well as a few extra ‘chores’, as one volunteer put it, we got them to do for our weekend deprived OVS group.

I always though I stood out as a ‘white’ person walking around Tamale, but nothing compares to 16 white people walking the streets! We got looks of disbelief as we ventured over to for some traditional Ghanaian food, Bawnku and Fufu. After a quick stop at the bank the race was on with the JFs in groups of 3 exploring the streets and markets of Tamale. That night we had a great dinner at Sarah and Wayne’s new house in Tamale.

The next day we held sector team presentations where we introduced the groups to our sector strategies (i.e. AAB for team MoFA) as well as the roles they would be playing. The Governance and Rural Infrastructure sector had similar placements for all their volunteers, while team MoFA decided to experiment with a few different placements. One of our volunteers will be working at an agriculture veterinary in Pong-Tamale; another will be doing market research here in the Upper East; a couple will be joining Suzanne’s Innovation Challenges in the Upper West; and the rest implementing the AAB curriculum throughout various districts in the Northern and Upper East regions. The day ended with a final group dinner before everyone heading off to their new homes (old for some) on Monday.

It was incredible to think that just six months ago I was in their shoes as I ventured off into, what at first, a world unknown. What were all once different sights, smells, and tastes, have now become nothing out of the ordinary. There I was giving the group a tour of the same place I felt uncomfortable and out of place in half a year earlier. What was all once radically new, had now simply become a case of Deja Vu!