Pounding Fufu Pt. 2

I know I’ve already written a post on my attempts at pounding fufu, so I didn’t want to post again on the same topic. But honestly, I just can’t get over the process of making this delicious starch! In Kpandai, there was a chop bar (small restaurant serving fufu and soup) that I would pass on my way to work in the morning, and each morning the women would be pounding fufu to prepare for the lunch rush. It was a sound and a sight that I came to love in my morning routine. On one of my last few days in Kpandai, I was able to snap this video of the magic and coordination involved in pounding fufu.

In Tamale (where I live now) fufu is usually made with a mixture of yam and cassava (or sometimes even plantain – as the south of Ghana prefers). I can’t say it is anywhere near as delicious as the 100% yam fufu I grew accustomed to in Kpandai. I’ll just have to go back sometime soon!

Do you think you could be one of the four to pound? I feel sorry for the yams.

Pounding fufu in Kpandai

Ingredients of Good Governance

I was asked by Rebecca, a student at the University of Alberta who is part of the Engineers Without Borders student chapter there to put together a quick video on the ingredients of good governance and thought I should share!

I honestly had a bit of hard time. Governance is such a wide-ranging concept, and I always feel that I need to look up the definition whenever anyone is talking about it. Probably not the best thing to admit considering my team name begins with the word ‘governance’ (Governance and Rural Infrastructure), but I think it is because there are so many concepts, approaches, initiatives, etc. that could fall under the heading. Where to begin when talking about governance? Or good governance?

Ingredients of Good Goveranance

What do you guys think? Any thoughts on governance? Do you agree with the five pillars? I am most excited by the concept of Performance as it relates to my role here working with Ghanaian government. I find it interesting that the UN Development Program throws in Responsiveness as a key indicator of performance. Gah, enough of my opinions! Any thoughts?

Another Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday! I absolutely love birthdays. I don’t really know why – presents make me awkward, I don’t usually throw big bashes… but maybe it is something around the fact that you can’t help but reflect on how far you’ve come in a year and to celebrate it. After all, when one ‘turns’ 24, you’re actually concluding your 24th year of life, it only makes sense to celebrate it. But, it is also exciting to think about how much could change in the coming year and to imagine where I might be when I have my next birthday. Right now, all possibilities seem little more than a few flicks of the wrist to make a reality by February 6, 2013. I’m unbelievably excited for what my 25th year will bring.

I love birthdays, but honestly was a bit sad leading up to this one. I was really sad that many of the people that have been such an important part of my last year were not here to celebrate it with me. But… both snail and electronic mail can do wonders in reducing the size of the Atlantic and was so happy to receive gifts and well wishes from afar – thank you so much to all that sent me some long distance love! It was really, really appreciated.

This was not my first birthday far from family and friends, in fact, this was my second birthday on the African continent: in 2009, I spent my 21st birthday in Botswana. I don’t know if I might have imagined then that I could be spending another birthday in Africa, but now, after my second birthday here, I can’t imagine that I won’t be spending at least another one alongside giraffes and lions (there aren’t actually giraffes or lions in Ghana… but you get what I’m saying) sometime in my life. I just celebrated my six-month anniversary in Ghana, making my total time on this continent that I love almost up to a year. There are times when that feels like a lot of time, and others when I am extremely conscious that I haven’t seen or experienced even a quantifiable fraction of ‘AFRICA’ and when my time here feels immeasurably short.

My amazing friends here in Tamale somehow prepared my favourite meal in the world (steak, caesar salad, fried onions and potatoes) against all odds (plus a cake baked in a rice cooker!) and I had a really fun evening surrounded by the community I have made here and come to love in Ghana. I don’t know where I’ll be to celebrate my 25th, but you can be sure I’ll be living each day until then to make sure I have lots to celebrate!

The Northern Region is burning

It’s the dry season here in the North. I don’t remember what rain feels like on my skin or what it sounds like on the roof. The ground is parched. All vegetation is dead and brown. Sheep and goats wander aimlessly bah-ing in hunger. Dust clouds out the sun and covers every surface. It is dry, dry, dry.

To add to it all: the Northern Region is burning. Fires are rampaging fields and forests and savannahs. The smell of smoke and burning fills the air. Cattle egrets have a field day as insects stampede away from fire fronts. Fields and forests are quickly blackened and leave the landscape bare. Fires (mostly) intentionally set by people. Bush burning, as its called, is common across the Region. People will set fires to the bushes and grasses around their house for a variety of reasons: to smoke (fire?) out bush meat – for example, grasscutters (large cane rats), a delicacy in Ghana (pretty good!); to control pests, insects and snakes (Ghanaians are terrified of snakes); and, to clear slash and trees for fields and regenerate vegetation for grazing.

On the drive home from a remote district, I couldn’t believe the fires that lined the entire roadside for the whole four hour trip. We stopped at a particularly large fire, where a group of farmers were trying to beat back the large flames to protect their burning fields. The farmers were helpless against the ravenous fire fueled by dry vegetation. They said they had been told by a fellow villager that the fires were approaching their fields, had bicycled there and had been tackling the flames for a few hours. There was a sense of despair in their voice. It broke my heart.

  

 

Bush burning has a lot of negative effects, which are luckily coming to the attention of the government and at the latest Farmer’s Day – awareness of the issues around bush burning was a major theme of all the speeches. Obviously there is the danger of unmanaged fires and potential for damaged property and equipment. There is also the damage (and sometimes complete destruction) to fields and crops, destruction of economically important trees (such as shea nut trees), reduction in soil fertility, destruction of wildlife habitat (and many other local ecosystem effects) and the fragile savannah ecosystem, negative health effects from aerosols, and contribution to climate change. There have been some efforts at various districts to police bush burning (it is, in fact, illegal), but fires are often set at night and it is hard to trace who the culprits are to enforce the law.

Bush fires are also destroying infrastructure. We passed by what used to be an electrical pole. The wooden support reduced to ashes, and the metal frame and insulators left hanging attached to the transmission wires, affecting electricity provision.

 

So the dry season is the season of burning. Catching cane rats yes, but is it really worth it? How can you police such a widespread culturally acceptable, but illegal, behaviour? Bush burning must be brought under control for the sake of farmers, and inhabitants of the Northern Region (it is actually also becoming more of a problem across the rest of Ghana as well). It will be interesting to see if bush burning comes up as an issue in the election talks this year (parliamentary and presidential elections in Ghana will be held this December).

On Privilege

December 2nd was National Farmer’s Day in Ghana. You’re thinking “well that can’t be a very big holiday… farmers?!”, and you’d be wrong. The whole country gets Farmer’s Day off of work, there are celebrations in every district, along with Regional and National celebrations. Farmers constitute almost 60% of the Ghanaian workforce and a significant portion of the GDP, and in the Northern Region where I live, the percentage is even higher. Agriculture is a huge part of life here, and so, there is a national holiday to celebrate farmers across Ghana.

I really wanted to attend one of the district celebrations of farmers – they give awards for Best Farmer (and for all different crops and husbandry) and best extension agents (government agricultural workers that support farmers), there are cultural dances and music, and you can’t forget the official speeches. Working at the Regional Office in Tamale now, I was lucky enough to find out that there was an extra spot in the vehicle going to Chereponi for the Regional Farmer’s Day celebration in the morning. I jumped at the chance!

I arrived early the next morning at the designated pick-up spot outside the Regional Minister’s house. (Aside: The Regional Minister is the top politician in the region… Perhaps equivalent to a provincial Premier in Canada). I was put into the back of a giant SUV with white interior leather seats and wood paneling (eyebrows raised, I would be travelling in serious comfort – this wasn’t like a bus ride at ttaaallll) and found out I would be travelling with the Public Relations Officer for the region, definitely a big man. Also in the car were the journalists covering the event from the local radio and TV stations. The four hour drive was entertaining; the journalists definitely had strong and interesting opinions on many issues in the Northern Region.

I arrived and was rushed quickly to the VIP Press Breakfast – amazing eggs and tea while I mingled with the guys from Ghana TV. I was then escorted to a seat under a tent on the celebration ground just next to the VIP tent. The ceremony was great and attended by hundreds of people and media. Speeches from the top district politicians, Agricultural Director and the Regional Minister all spoke to the importance of Farmers in the Northern Region and some of the issues that were currently being faced (climate change, bush burning). Tens of farmers were given awards and prizes and recognized for excelling in agriculture. Cultural music and dancing in between speeches broke the monotony.

When the ceremony was over, a line of SUVs pulled up in front of the VIP tent to begin the Regional Minister motorcade. I was hustled back into my wood-paneled vehicle and we drove off, leaving all the farmers literally in the dust (it is very dusty this season). The motorcade stopped at the district chief politician’s (DCE) home for a late lunch. Among all these important officials, officers and politicians, I was served my meal (“Auntie, serve the white woman!” – DCE) while everyone else lined up for their own. The Regional Minister (remember: premier) stood up from his chair as soon as he saw me standing with my plate and insisted I take his seat, alone at a table to eat. I tried profusely and politely to refuse only to be told off by the Regional Director of Agriculture that I “had to do what the Regional Minister asks”. So I sat and ate by myself, in the seat of honour, embarrassed, confused and undeserving. I ate as quickly as I could to vacate the seat and mingled until it was time to go back to Tamale. I thanked the DCE for having me to his house, and for hosting a fabulous Regional Farmer’s Day celebration and was put back into my fancy SUV for a comfortable ride back to Tamale.

On the way home, I reflected on the day. How was it possible that on the one day I was supposed to be dedicating all my appreciation and thanks towards the group of people that is likely the least privileged in Ghana, could I have felt so privileged? I was absolutely undeservedly given privileged treatment all day. It blew my mind. Why? Because I’m foreign? Because I’m seen as a guest? Because of my skin colour? Because I work at the Regional Office? Because I work for an NGO? Do I inadvertently ask for privilege or special treatment through my actions or words? How can I be more aware? What privilege do I receive that I don’t even know about? I don’t have answers to any of these questions, but I can’t help but be angry at a system that gives or allows such a disparity in opportunity and privilege: on Farmer’s Day, the best farmers in the region, for their career of unbelievable manual labour and effort, received a bicycle, rubber boots and some rain pants and I, a young, inexperienced nobody, was given the seat of the Regional Minister and travelled in high style.

It isn’t fair. What am I doing here?

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having an excellent start to 2012. I have to apologize for the long delay in writing this post. December flew by too fast with work, an EWB country meeting and then an unfortunate and drawn out battle with malaria that took me right up until Christmas.

It was a holiday season of firsts for me. There were a lot of things I was missing: it was my first Christmas away from home, family and friends in Canada, my first winter holiday away from the cold and away from skiing,  my first holiday without a Christmas tree or candy canes. But also a lot of firsts I was thankful for: it was my first Christmas in Ghana (or in any other country, for that matter!), my first Thai food Christmas dinner, my first Christmas spent on a beach and wandering markets, my first African print stocking, my first holiday with a partner, my first New Years spent beside a bonfire dancing to Ghanaian drums, my first New Years spent laughing and reflecting with amazing EWB friends, my first opportunity to be a tourist and explore more of Ghana.

I dearly missed my family and the traditions of home, but had a blast here in Ghana. My partner, Sean, courageously joined me from Canada and we go to explore some of the southern regions of Ghana. We first travelled to the Volta Region – full of jungle-covered mountains, hidden waterfalls, banana trees and monkeys. It reminded me of Vancouver and its mountains that I miss so much. For the second half of the holidays, we travelled back west, through Accra and on to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is home to white-sand beaches, fishing villages, fifteenth century forts (later used for the slave trade) and canopy walks. We were joined by the rest of the EWB staff that were still in Ghana for the holidays to celebrate the beginning of 2012 together on the beach.

 

Wli Falls in the Volta Region – highest waterfall in West Africa

At the mona monkey sanctuary in the Volta Region 

Sean and I on New Years Eve

At Kakum National Park on the canopy walk

 

Playing tour guide to someone new to Ghana was amazing: it was amazing to see Ghana through new eyes again, and it was the first time I realized that I’m no longer new in Ghana. Ya! I can get around in the hectic city of Accra, figure out what tro-tro station I need to be at to get to another region, I know what delicious food to eat on the street and how much it should cost, I know how to bargain with taxi drivers like nobody’s business, I can small-talk with strangers in my Ghanaian accent endlessly, I can stand waiting for transport tirelessly and I can swap money for treats out the bus window with lightning speed. I hadn’t realized these small parts of everyday life are now second nature to me in my new home of Ghana.

I can’t believe how much happened in 2011 – I finished up my last term of university, travelled to San Francisco with my best friends, received my Iron Ring, went to graduation, did some skiing, had a few months at home, went to Hawaii on a whim, started working for EWB, moved to Ghana(!), moved from the district to regional level here, been challenged on every skill and comfort level and here we are – 2012. 2011 was a year of change, I hope 2012 becomes a year of making it. 

I have a ton of ideas for new blog posts and promise to get them up soon. I hope you all had an amazing holiday!

Lots of love,

- Joyce

P.S. Thank you to everyone who donated to my Perspectives campaign this holiday season. I was blown away by the support and kind words. Thank you all for helping meet my goal.

I like banku

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share two quick videos from Kpandai with you! These are my two host brothers, Harrison (6) and Collins (9). They are both really amazing kids and I’m going to miss them dearly, although will get to see them often whenever I go back. I’m sure Harrison won’t miss my constant letter and number testing; he has his ABCs perfected now! Hope you enjoy them! Harrison’s really reminds me of this video!

Translator:

• fufu  = pounded yam startch
• banku = fermented maize starch, taken for many meals at our house
• popo = papaya

Moving to the big city

I’m moving. This week.

I should be happy about moving, right? Almost consistently for the past five years, I’ve moved every 3.5 months, thanks to the transient nature of the Waterloo co-op program. So now, after 3.5 months in the small district capital of Kpandai, I should be happy that I have to get up and move, check-out, move-on, explore a new place and set up a new life in the Northern Region capital of Tamale… right?

Somehow my body doesn’t think so. I am really, really just downright sad about leaving.

Maybe it is because Kpandai has become my comfort zone in a place that is so very different from home. I know where to eat, where to buy things and I recognize and know many, many faces and the stories attached with them. I know who is going to greet me as I walk by, I know local government representatives, I know when market day is, I know the typical Kpandai sounds, I know where to get credit when credit is scarce, I know my favourite goat kids and their mums, I know the school bus driver and the barber, I know where the colony of weavers like the roost, I know how to complain about the roads in/out of Kpandai like a local and I know what time the rice water lady will come by the office. Honestly, in many ways I know Kpandai better than some of the Canadian places I have stayed. I’ve started to feel a part of, rather than just an observer.

Maybe its because I think my work contribution  to the District Assembly here has been small… I’ve hardly been able to consistently meet with my counterparts, let alone change any behaviours or attitudes that would improve government functioning in Kpandai. I know that many things were not in my control, and that is part of the reason that I’m headed to Tamale – embedding someone in a district is possibly not the most effective way to create district change – but I still can’t help but feel that I haven’t provided enough value back to the district I’ve come to care so much about. I’ve been completely alone in my office for the last few workdays, unable to even transfer any of the things I have been working on.

Maybe its because my host mum was shocked when I told her that my remaining time in Kpandai was small. She was really sad and said that I mustn’t go, as everyone in town really liked me. I absolutely love my host mum, Ama, and will miss our amazing conversations, and her amazing ability to understand Canadian culture when I try and explain. I will miss her exclamations of pride regarding my increasing fatness in Kpandai.

Maybe its because I haven’t had a good ole hug in a long, long time-oh. Ghanaian culture does not include any forms of public affection. At ttaalllll. The two hugs I’ve had with Ghanaian lady-friends were very awkward. I’m usually not a hug-gy person, but man, sometimes you just need one, you know?

Maybe Tamale will be great, (after all, you can get pineapples, cheese and ice cream in Tamale!) but I’m skeptical about finding the same community feel that I’ve become so attached to here. Tamale has over 450,000 people, it is full of obrunis (foreigners) like me and it is absolutely huge.

I am glad that, in my new role as a consultant for the region, I’ll get to come back to Kpandai regularly. I’ll be able to continue to support my coworkers here (it may even work better, as they seem to be in Tamale more than they are in Kpandai!) and continue to see old friends and familiar faces. I am grateful that I was placed in Kpandai for my immersion into Ghanaian life; I have come to really love Ghanaians and Ghana and am looking forward to calling this country home for at least nine more months.

From Doing to Thinking and Back Again

I would say that in general life, I’m a doer. I prefer taking the stance ‘just giv’r and see what happens’. Sometimes it works out well, other times it doesn’t – I can think of more than a few fried circuit components that were victim to my methodology. Maybe that’s why I like programming so much, you try and do and there is hardly anything that can’t be undone; there are few consequences to just doing and not thinking.

In development, in Ghana, and in EWB, much of the emphasis is on thinking. I was worried that it would be a huge challenge for me; “being more comfortable in the ‘thinking-space’” is number one on my personal development plan (things I want to work on) that I made before I came to Ghana. I was worried that the thinking would be overwhelming. But, to my amaze, and against all odds, I’ve loved it. Freaking LOVED it.

Two weeks ago we had an EWB West Africa Retreat (WAR) where all the EWB staff from Ghana and Burkina Faso get together for a long weekend and share sessions about what all the different teams are doing, presenting individual interests, encouraging inter-team learning, discussing organisational topics and issues, getting caught up on news from EWB Canada’s operations etc.

An entire weekend of thinking, non-stop thinking. I loved it.

One of the more fascinating discussions centred around how EWB will be allocating funds moving forward. The organisation is trying out a new venture model: each of the teams will be seen separate ventures and we have to prove that they are worthy for investment of EWB funds. We are being pushed to be more rigorous and intentional in how we test, evaluate and define success. I don’t know if I’m onboard with this new model – it is certainly a shift in thinking and operations, but I was thrilled with the discussion around it. What criteria do you use for investment, in lieu of a financial bottom line? How do you measure successful impact in development? Over what time frame? How do you evaluate teams working in public and private sector fairly with the same criteria, given that the pace of change is somehow different? How do you incentivize long term decision making when your evaluation and investment decision time period is relatively short? Are you investing in the people or the theory of change? I was stunned as my entrepreneurial-centric-Waterloo education came racing back through my head, as I found my entrepreneurship classes and discussions with entrepreneur classmates  driving  my questioning (who knew school might be useful?).

You know that feeling when you know everyone around you is smarter than you, but instead of that intimidating you into silence, all you can do is ask questions, and appreciate the wise answers? You know that feeling when wise answers only lead to ever more questions? I was loving it.

The G&RI team followed that meeting with our monthly team meeting. We were trying to figure out what this new venture model meant for our team. How would that change our strategy, our approach and even what each of us would be doing one month from then. How were we going to make our team the most intentional, rigorous, change-making team out there? Plans were hatched, strategies were prioritized and narrowed, new models for impact discussed, flow charts of approaches presented, hypotheses to test brainstormed, and momentum built.

Twenty-three, two and a half months-in and helping to drive strategy and direction of my team? I was loving it.

G&RI Team at the team meeting in October

Now – the part I REALLY love – the doing, right? …. Right?

I have found the transition from thinking to doing extremely hard. Doing in development is nothing like programming. At ttaaalll. There are no obvious quick tests, seemingly no variables you can control, outputs are immeasurable or completely unknown, the system is, optimistically, 10% understood, there are no control groups, and nothing is binary or predictable. And oh ya, I have negligible experience in it. And oh ya, probably most importantly, we work with local government counterparts – their buy-in, ownership and contribution to the planning and doing is, at the end of the day, more important than ours. In a small team (we have four long-term staff plus a team lead), most of what you plan is what you’ll end up doing. I started to regret all my ‘great’ ideas in the planning and thinking stage, if I had just kept my mouth shut…  I am NOT loving it.

Design and implementation in the realm of development is hard! You can try all you like to design in failure, or acceptance of it anyway; you can try to break down steps into small, manageable ones; you can try to predict potential break points or evaluation methods; you can but it somehow doesn’t it make it any less hard. There is a huge part of me that knows our beautiful flowcharts are unbelievably idealistic. What I am excited about is that us designers are implementers, and us implementers are designers. Our team has been working for years at the district level of government, we know the challenges that exist to making change at this level.

So my next step in this journey is to become that implementer, that doer. I will be moving soon to the Regional level of government, working with the Regional Planning and Coordinating Unit to consult with districts in implementing  database tools, processes and behaviour change to encourage District technocrats make better, evidence-based decisions and priorities. The end goal is that constituents will be better served by their local government. I’ll be travelling to different districts often, working with leaders at those districts and at the Region, I’ll be presenting and mentoring, I’ll be trouble-shooting and influencing. I hope I’ll love it.

I have to embrace being a doer again. I have to dive into learning the skills that will allow me to be a doer in this field. I will have to embrace plans made in inspiring meetings of thought going oh so completely wrong. I have to realize though, that plans without doing aren’t going to help any Ghanaian at all. I have to go from thinking to doing. I’m sure, and I just have to, love it.

Seeing Ghana through Ghanaian eyes

Yesterday was my two month anniversary in Ghana. I can’t believe how fast time is flying by. I’ve taken some time over the past few days to journal a lot, and reflect on how I’m feeling about living in Ghana, what I’ve learned, what assumptions I’ve had that have been completely wrong (too many!), in what areas I’ve grown (patience!) and what I’m doing really poorly at (my language learning!).

One moment that struck me in the last little while happened as I was travelling from Kpandai to Tamale on the bus. I was just watching out my window as we passed through a large town called Yendi; suddenly a white person passed by on a moto. I was shocked, and immediately thought “OBRUNI (translation: white person)! What the heck are YOU doing here?”. I laughed to myself as I realized that that thought had gone through my head, after all, I’m an obruni and what the heck am I doing here? What struck me though, is that it was an instance of me seeing Ghana through Ghanaian eyes. It is an unusual sight, and certainly Ghanaians would notice an obruni on the street and wonder what they were doing here.

Ultimately all my Ghanaian experiences have been seen through my Canadian lens. Consciously and unconsciously  I am constantly comparing to Canada, comparing Ghana to what is familiar to me. No matter where we go, we bring and see through our own lens based on our previous experience. How has this been affecting my experience and the way I view Ghana?

I really wish I could see Ghana through Ghanaian eyes.

We talk a lot about this in our predeparture training, making it something to be aware of and trying to be explicit about the assumptions and norms that we have, and then testing them. Even still, I remember first moving to Kpandai and thinking I could be a really successful business owner – what if I had a restaurant with ACTUAL customer service? Meals and drinks would come quickly… people would be welcome and asked what they want to order , there would be lights etc. etc. I had a lot of ideas. But thinking about it now, would it really be that successful? That was me seeing the opportunity through Canadian eyes, with what Canadians value, but customer service is not something that is important in Ghanaian culture, so why would Ghanaians choose my restaurant for this ‘value-add’ when it is something they don’t see has a value add? Sure, it might do great with all the obrunis that live in Kpandai… all of me and Don – great customer base, Joyce.

Maybe if I could see Ghana through Ghanaian eyes, I wouldn’t be so frustrated by the things that sometimes frustrate me in Ghana. Maybe having meetings start 2 hours late would be okay, maybe I wouldn’t feel so awkward when people are yelling at each other over the smallest disagreement because that’s just how Ghanaians communicate, maybe I would be okay with fact that reporting to donors is a huge part of a government employee’s role, maybe I would be okay with the concept of having multiple wives, or understanding that women are officially ‘expired’ once they reach 25 and aren’t married, and maybe I would be able to better influence change in my office environment if I really understood the importance of hierarchy and formality that exists in Ghanaian workplaces.

Another story that comes to mind has to do with laundry. I was being (my usual) stubborn and insisting on doing my own laundry by myself (done in large metal bowls by hand) – I want to live as Ghanaians do! My host mother took me aside and told me quite sternly and said that my small sisters could not stand by and watch doing nothing while I did my laundry, that was not Ghanaian. Here I was trying to be Ghanaian by doing my own laundry, and in actual fact I was being non-Ghanaian by not letting my host sisters help. So now we do it together (all my knuckles still end up bleeding… I don’t have the technique quite right yet, but I’m learning small).

Having my host sisters help me with laundry

Then again, seeing Ghana through my Canadian eyesis also great sometimes. No Ghanaians get so excited over baby animals; or the antics of goats; or the fact that ice cream is wheeled around in bicycles for purchase (awesome right?! Unfortunately not in Kpandai); or that bananas grow in your backyard; or that there are so many opportunities for business; or that there is so much room for  improvement in government services, for revenue collection and for donor collaboration; or that you can buy produce straight from the farmers that grow it; or that cell phone services are so much more competitive and flexible than in Canada. A lot of the things that make me happy here are things that are different to me, that are new for my eyes. My Canadian lens is especially useful in my job at the Kpandai District Assembly, my value is that I can see things to improve or change because I am seeing them as an outsider and as someone with experience in North American office environments.

I have a long way to go before I can claim having anything close to a Ghanaian lens, and likely I never will, but it is a good reminder to always be asking questions, asking why, to try to build that understanding and point of view. And maybe more than wishing I could see Ghana through Ghanaian eyes, is wishing I had the ability to switch between the two sets of lenses. Being conscious about when I am seeing through my Ghana eyes and my Canada eyes, and taking advantage of both.

This gets me wondering what it will be like to return to Canada… how will my changed lens affect how I see Canada and my life there?