Establishing a Sustainable Business Model for the Tree Nurseries of the Dutch-Ghanaian Social Enterprise Vitara
Week 1
Upon arrival at the company housing I am staying in during my time in Wa, Ghana, it was interesting to experience how differently everyday tasks are done. There are far fewer electrical appliances available, which means much more manual labour. Washing my clothes by hand or making a sauce that would be done in seconds with an immersion blender both become time consuming tasks. Perhaps the newness of the experience overromanticizes these everyday tasks, but so far I’ve enjoyed spending time doing them.
That wasn’t so much the case when we had to empty our trash can, which meant dumping it outside and burning it. Seeing the thick smoke coming from the pile, I felt powerless to prevent these toxic gasses from polluting the air. It made me realize the extent to which I take Dutch infrastructure for granted and on how many levels development is needed to solve problems like these in such places.
I had a similar realization during a brief visit to a local hospital for a small accident I had. The run-down state of the place, the paint flaking from the walls, the broken beds with torn mattrasses and the lack of privacy curtains was a sobering sight. While my roommate and I were sitting outside waiting for the rain to stop so we could go home, a man wandered out of the hospital and collapsed in front of us. He was rolling around on the floor in excruciating pain murmuring that he both wanted to die and was afraid he actually was going to die. The doctors didn’t know what was going on with him and his family couldn’t afford the pain killers to relieve him. It was very confronting to see how different my reality was from the pain, uncertainty and helplessness people like this are going through.
My roommate and I discussed this, and he explained that many people in Africa view life mainly as a long process of suffering until you die. While this is heartbreaking to hear, it does help explain the kindness, empathy and willingness to help others that I have experienced on my trip so far. When my roommate and I ran out of fuel on our motorbike and were stranded in the rain, a kind stranger drove my roommate to the nearest gas station to get fuel.
Another example that stood out to me was the invitation I got from a colleague to join her to her church, where I received a special welcome during mass where half the church goers came to shake my hand to welcome me to their church. I was invited to come on stage and take part in a father’s day ceremony alongside the pastor and all the kids.
Walking through town, many people come up for a chat just to ask how I’m doing and if I am enjoying Ghana, proud to share their culture.
None more than my roommates, who have taken extensive time to show me and guide me through everything I have done this first week in Ghana.
