Should you volunteer in Africa? (the answer may surprise you)

Rice trials with the regional minister of Ag

I spent last year in rural Ghana working on women's economic development projects with a Canadian NGO. In the beginning I was a little naive in thinking that I had found an organisation apart from the rest, above the issues typical in development orgs and that it would allow me to fulfil a lifelong dream of building a career in Africa. But what I learned was that there are some serious issues with traditional development, something I thought I knew but failed to acknowledge. There are also amazing people doing really meaningful and effective work. It is up to us to dig through the noise and find the gems doing the good, honest work that will affect change.

The question remains, should you volunteer in Africa or the developing world in similar roles/ agencies. No, I would not recommend it. But do I have any regrets and would I do it all over again if I could? Probably, because I didn't know any better until I had experienced it for myself. It comes down to, do you want to support a system of ineffective projects based on colonial models of development?

These big agencies peddling volunteer positions do have a great sales pitch to pray on those of us wanting to share out skills and time for good. They also lead us into thinking we are somehow capable of achieving feats the previous volunteers were unable to. They get their funding from governments and large corporate grant programs that enable them to continue the cycle of raising funds to perpetuate their ability to raise more funds. Unfortunately, a very limited amount of this money actually reaches the beneficiaries of the projects and the bulk of work is lost in over inflated reports amplifying little success and sweeping major issues under the rug.  There are smaller grassroots groups that I interacted with that created projects by locals that supported locals, if I could do it all over again I would align myself with them.

Women's group showing their first harvest

My role was as a women's empowerment adviser but I found that the organisations we were partnered with were furthering the problems of gender inequality with widely tolerated and accepted patriarchal structures and little in the way of training or understanding to counter this. They heavily relied on funding from our positions to pay salaries and apart from this it didn't seem like they were interested in the projects success. This was a big issue for me. Since leaving Ghana the women I worked with have had little to no contact with the organisations, and no more support. We were doing development for developments sake and not apart of a sustainable structure to promote actual change.

So if you too are interested in going abroad and spending your time volunteering, please do it. Thank you for your dedication to others and for sharing your time with the world. Here are some helpful tips to get you heading in the direction of a truly meaningful experience for you and those you endeavour to support.

• Shop around, find out if other organisations are doing similar work in the area, is that good or bad? 
• Learn about sustainable development research and projects happening around the world. Does your organising follow those practises? Do you share similar values? 
• Ask hard questions, like how many volunteers have left early, issues with the locals or organisation? Have past projects been effective, is there any proof of this? DO THEY NEED YOU?
• If you need to pay to volunteer it is potentially a voluntourism scheme in disguise, however grassroots groups with limited funding expect you to pay your way. Be critical in your research, where does the money go, where do they obtain funding? 



Peace and Love Women's Group

• Can a local do this job better than you? In the village next to me there were four 18 year old German's teaching English at a school. They receive a modest 100 Euro allowance a month and have no experience and basic English themselves.  Couldn't sponsoring a qualified local teacher be more appropriate? Are you needed? 

• The difference between a volunteer and an employee are often blurred. As a volunteer I was paid a monthly stipend of up to 10 times my local colleagues. Yet, I was still considered a volunteer and by Canadian standards I made less than minimum wage. This difference however has the effect of de-legitimising work that a paid professional might have and furthering the pay inequity of locals and expats. 
• Is your organisation present. Are they accessible to you, are their other staff/ volunteers on the ground? My NGO had other volunteers in Accra and a support staff but unfortunately I was the only one in a remote location. 
• Talk to previous volunteers. I read blog posts from previous volunteers but didn't reach out until after I was in the country. Some of the issues they described helped me legitimise my own personal struggles with local conditions and staff and was not something you could easily pick out from social media pictures of smiling folks. 
• Does your organisation share information, is it transparent? I had little to no idea about other projects they were involved with nor about previous projects in my area. I felt like they were hiding the amount of failures in order to maintain positive image and recruit new funders and volunteers. Ask, ask ask! 
• Research your org! Use sites like Charity Navigator to find out how much money is going into projects and how much is paying for over inflated salaries. Be proud of the organisation you give your time to.  

Saying goodbye

Bottom line is this: I have come across some amazing volunteer opportunities at home and abroad. There is real potential to help drive impact and with the right skills and the right organisation you can probably help in some measured capacity. So be realistic with what you can achieve in a 2 week, summer or 1 year contract in the developing world and do the research to find the right organisation for you. Volunteering really does change your life for the better, get out there and be the change you want to see in the world.

If you are looking for volunteer projects in Ghana here are some cool ones to get you started:

• Dunk-Providing after school and athletic programming to kids and youths 
• Global Mama's - Fair trade, women powered goods that take volunteers and interns
• Hipsters of Nature- "Greening Ghana in style"
• Humanist Association of Ghana- Secular support to protect human rights and promote critical thinking. 
• Farm Radio- Supporting broadcasters in developing countries to strengthen small-scale farming and rural communities. 

More about my recent volunteer project in Greece with refugees soon!

Love,


Melanie XX

"Volunteers are paid in six figures...S.M.I.L.E.S" - Gayla LeMaire 

A Bitter, Sweet, Chocolate Forest

Cocoa Pods

Ghana's main export is cocoa, the bean that we know and love as the foundation of chocolate! My work with women farmers took me into the jungle of the Eastern Volta Region to meet farmers and learn about the cash crop that had taken over much of Western Africa's agricultural landscape. Most of the farmers I met had never even seen a chocolate bar, let alone tasted one, a product of the bitter sweet tale of cocoa in Africa.

As we drove along the red dirt road my colleague pointed out the window "that's all cocoa." I stared into the forest not understanding, it didn't smell like the sweet scent of the Hershey factory I remembered as a kid driving through Smith Falls, Ontario. An unassuming farm appeared through the trees, we parked along the piles of ripening cocoa pods, remnants of the days harvest. We walked past the plywood bins where beans were fermented and the bamboo boards used for drying them afterwards and walked on to the nursery. A worker handed me an opened pod she was taking beans from to plant into plastic bags of soil, "eat it" she told me. I popped the fresh bean, coated in thick, creamy-white membrane into my mouth. It also tasted nothing like chocolate and I spat it out after a few chews, the purple contents sour and definitely an acquired taste.

Ripe Cocoa Pod

You always hear about special Belgian chocolates or quality Swiss chocolates... but these European companies that have grown famous for their chocolate production don't actually grow the beans that get transformed into the worlds famous treat. In fact, 16 out of the top 20 chocolate consuming countries are European. The Swiss alone consume up to 22lbs of the sweet stuff per person per year. It turns out cocoa is pretty good for you too, flavonoids found in cocoa lower cholesterol it was even touted as a medicine for TB and cholera in the 19th century but we now know that was mainly because it helped people gain weight quickly. If you look further at the prolific-ness of European chocolate companies however, you can trace their success to colonial rule and further to the exploitation of indentured workers and children.

The Spanish first discovered a hot cocoa beverage mixed with local herbs and spices being drunk by the Inca and Aztecs in South America. Chiefs and Kings drank the liquid drink as a tonic, an aphrodisiac and supposed male enhancement tool.  When they brought cocoa to Europe it was an instant sensation and the popularity of chocolate has been ever increasing. Since Cocoa trees were introduced to Africa in the 17th century, production exploded and rich European land owners were the main benefactors. The plantations they ran were worked by minimally paid and enslaved workers, a bitter taste in the history or a sweet treat. Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana are now the worlds largest producers together growing more than half of all the cocoa the world consumes.

Cocoa Tree's

Unfortunately labour exploitation and chocolate go hand in hand. If you are eating a $2 nestle chocolate bar it is likely the farmer who grew that cocoa is making less than .10 cents of that. Not only are farmers often underpaid but the industry is ripe with forced labour and even child slaves. If you need another reason to stop patronising business' like Nestle check out The Dark Side of Chocolate for free on Youtube to delve further into corruption in the cocoa industry.  Though we did see children amongst the farmers, it was difficult to assess their employment status. Could they be helping a parent after school or was this a full time job I knew not, but their hands were involved in the cocoa's cultivation and harvesting.

Climate change is a also a threat to future cocoa production as the beans can only grow in a narrow corridor around the equator. The crop remains vulnerable to the expected effects of global warming and the increase of drought and pests. If temperatures continue to rise and vary, the crop may become inviable which means, no more chocolate for anyone. As it is mainly exported (for little return to the farmer) if the market were to crash a farmer could live off of the cash crop and instead would need to supplement with other crops and income streams to survive.

Cocoa Nursery

Working with women farmers we must also consider the gendered component of cocoa farming. Most of Ghana's farmers are women, while most farm and land owners are men and traders and government continue to be male dominated. Women's work continues to be underpaid and undervalued and unconsidered in policy making, which was true in the cocoa forests I visited. Women will continue to play an important role in Ghana's development and through empowering them economically and socially they will continue to improve their lives and their families.

As I continue my work in introducing female empowerment, bookkeeping and marketing strategies to women farmers I will also be researching with by-products that can be sold locally or even wider to supplement their incomes. The take away for you the reader is hopefully that you might consider the source of your chocolate the next time you go for a cocoa fix. With so many of us concerned about sourcing and labelling, Chocolate should not be exempted from this trend. Consider Fair Trade, Slave Free Chocolate and ethically sourced chocolate companies. Those extra few dollars you could be spending might be the difference between an enslaved child and a fairly paid household income.

8 Ways Your Diet Can Reduce Climate Change

Global Climate March- Prince George, Nov 29

With the world's attention on climate change at the recent COP21 conference in Paris, I thought it may be interesting to look at how climate change and food are related issues. A lot of attention has been spent on the big, bad fossil fuel industry but did you know meat production burns more fossil fuels than all the cars on the road combined? Agriculture itself is responsible for up to 30% of all emissions, so changing the way we eat and think about food can help fight global warming!

But what can you do? Making simple changes as a consumer and eater (which we all are) can go a long way if we act together!

1. The first thing you can do to reduce greenhouse gases and slow climate change? Lose the meat! I am not saying everyone needs to become a vegetarian or vegan, (but that would be great) but even cutting back to one meal a day with meat can make a big difference! Why not try Meatless Mondays?
2. Go Local!!! As this blog title advertises, shopping local is the best! Buying local products will reduce transportation and processing associated with imported foods. Check the local section in your grocery store, read labels, or shop at the Farmers' Market! 
3. Buy Whole foods. They will be less packaged, have fewer additives, be less processed...less can be more and it is overall healthier for you! 
4. Grow your own food! Why not cut out all those middle people, transportation, and waste and go straight to the source by growing your own veggies? Just $1 in green bean seeds can yield $75 worth of produce! How's that for a money saver and planet saver?!
5. Eat in Season! Eating in season goes hand-in-hand with shopping locally and growing your own food, and will reduce energy and transportation normally expended on your meals. 



Food Waste is not sexy!

6. Choose Organic. Organic food is produced with fewer chemicals, no artificial hormones, healthier soils and supports a better agriculture system that can feed the world.
7. Don't waste it! Throwing out food that has already gone through so much to get to your plate is a travesty.  If after all that production, transportation and manufacturing occurs, food is wasted, we might as well leave our cars running all night long for the rest of our lives, too! Don't throw out the energy, time and resources by buying only what you need and taking leftovers home.
8. Compost veggie scraps and leftovers. Instead of scraps going to the landfill, they will break down in your home composter and make organic fertilizer to grow your own food! Win-win! 

Vote with your dollars and show how we, the consumers, are the ones in control of the demand and will ultimately fix the broken food system we have created!

In good food,

Melanie

"Getting the whole food system to change is a seriously big challenge. But one thing is clear: no change in food means no gain in climate change prevention."- Rebecca Wells & Tim Lang