Landing in Ghana

September 20th, 2012

"For the last ten days I have been acclimatizing myself to Ghanaian weather, Ghanaian culture and Ghanaian food. The last week has been pretty crazy with starting a new job in a new city, in a new country, on a new continent.

There were four of us travelling together out of Ottawa, through Toronto and Amsterdam to Ghana. We arrived at the Accra airport at about 8pm and waited in line at the security gate for about an hour. After picking up our luggage and jumping through all the hoops, we went to the exit and were greeted by representatives of the two organizations that we’re working with, CUA and SEND. The two interns that are going to be working in the northern part of Ghana left us to stay in a hotel for the week. My colleague and I were picked up by two employees of CUA (Ernest and Clara) and a driver (George).

They took us to our apartment and talked to the landlord for a bit on our behalf making sure we had the proper accommodations. The rooms are modest, but they have air conditioning and an electrical outlet and somewhere to rest my head.

Joel's Apartment in Accra, Ghana

The next day we were picked up by one of the drivers from the Credit Union Association of Ghana. Ernest, the project officer for Youth Savings who I will be working with, gave us a tour of the office and we had the chance to meet everybody. For lunch, Ernest took us to a local restaurant where I had chicken and rice which was fairly similar to food back home. During the afternoon Ernest took us out to get cell phones.

On Tuesday I met with Ernest for a while and talked about what the Youth Savings Program is and what we’re going to be doing. The Youth Savings Program at CUA is a very interesting program that has been running for over a decade now. The program helps and promotes existing and new Youth Savings Clubs that operate in schools and credit unions all over Ghana. Youth Savings Clubs are groups of young people who band together to pool their modest resources and develop savings which they put towards their post-secondary education, starting their own business or opening an account with a credit union. The youth savings program is teaching the next generation leadership skills, financial literacy skills and self-management skills.

Credit unions’ membership in Ghana is aging and young people don’t currently know about credit unions. So the Youth Savings program is a way to both teach them about proper savings as well as introducing them to the credit union. We’re going to be travelling to schools, churches and credit unions all over Ghana working with youth and credit unions.

View from Joel's Office, Accra

On Thursday my colleague and I had the privilege of meeting with all of the department heads and managers to discuss their part of the organization. At CUA, there are many different moving parts that benefit the Ghanaian credit unions and the Ghanaian people in many different ways.

Ernest, the project officer for Youth Savings, and I are currently working on a one-day workshop for high school students who are interested in entrepreneurship. We will be speaking with a group of ambitious young Ghanaians who have an interest in business. We will be teaching them about how to start a business, financial responsibility, and how to draft a business plan.

I’m very anxious to start working in the field and travelling the country. The adventure has just begun."

-Joel