Mike in Ghana with VSO

Mike's assignment with VSO working in Organisational Development (OD)

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Communicating with Wa - low long does it take to send a fax?

The Organisational Development Forum is approaching. My allotted part in this is to arrange some presentations on "Organisational Development in Practice", by Mar and Mark from Rumnet, Charlotte Letty and Seidu from Walewale, Jemimah & Njeri from Widows and Orphans' Movement, and also two people from GES Wa where Haydn and Linda were working (their placement as Short-Term Volunteers has just completed).
Somewhere back in this blog you may find a reference to 'OD Success Stories' - well, that work is now bearing fruit.
I have had a few conversations with Wa trying to arrange for some people to attend the forum and tell the story. While on the phone I see another scorpion and, I have to admit it, deal the scorpion a fatal blow.  After the phone call the scorpion has disappeared. The ants are arranging a cover-up job and removing the body. What an undertaking!

Anyway I've identified  the people to be invited from Wa (substitutes - I was talking earlier in the week to the original nominees). They're not on email so a fax needs to go to them. I make copies for Seidu and for Letty in Walewale.

There may be some Internet solution for faxing - maybe some blog reader knows a good system - but part of the message is hand-written, so I'm looking for a fax machine. Seidu tells me there's no fax at the GES - try the Community Info Centre.
Mashood (seen here with his sister) says there's no fax at the CIC and none in town - try the District Assembly.
Good grief there's a good-condition Toyota Previa just pulling out from the track that leads from Zangum.  That's a strange sight for Walewale.

At the District Assembly I can admire the mango tree while I wait. Fatima (left) and Juliana are the people who can help. The fax machine is in the DCE's (District Chief Executive's) office. Between mini-meetings Fatima ushers me in to ask permission, Granted.  .

Now she needs to get in to send the fax. After the next mini-meeting she does so. No fax tone.

I phone Wa to ask them to turn the fax machine on. Ah - it now turns out that machine, in GES Wa Municipal Office, is faulty. I'm given another number - this is GES Wa Regional Office. Fatima will try this when she can next get into the DCE Office
Lights-out.
i.e. Power cut
No idea how long this will last .
I suggest leaving my fax with her, but Fatima doesn't want to do that. so "I'll go and come" I say. Chanka Channa.
It's lights-out back home as well, so I don't return to the DCE Office until the power comes back on at home.
Now the DCE and Fatima and Juliana are nowhere to be seen.
Eventually first Fatima and Juliana, and then the DCE return. We have to wait fir a meeting to finish, then Fatima sends the fax. Success - apparently! I phone my contact at Wa who will pick up the fax and deliver it to our invitees. What I hadn't realised till now is that he's a 45-minute walk away from the Regional office where the second fax machine is.
Around 5pm he confirms that the fax has been passed on to Imoro and Sylvester who will be attending from Wa. I started trying to send this fax around 11 am, and getting it sent to Wa is my main achievement in the time since then (apart from the scorpion, that is).

Charlotte returns from overseas and we have some serious blogging to do (see her blog for "Overseas")
On Saturday Charlotte is taking the opportunity to have her hair cut by Janet before Janet leaves.

A group of children call on us and are in luck - Murray mints and mouth-organs
If you see some nonsense typed in this blog, please bear in mind I'm typing in semi-darkness!
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The different paths to our VSO placements

THE PATH TO CHARLOTTES PLACEMENT

Jan 2009 - With 2 younger children still at university, Charlotte & I apply for short-term work with VSO. Both turned down - I think they aren't taking people short-term unless they have development experience.
(For more insights, see MORE INSIGHTS below).

Feb 2009 - Charlotte offers to go long-term and her application is reconsidered. I will be able to be more flexible (e.g. travel back to UK) if I am her Accompanying Partner (i.e. not volunteering).

April 2009 - Assessment Day, and Charlotte is accepted.

May 2009 - I start to wind down client work, because there is much to be done before we can go overseas.

June 2009 - Preparing to Volunteer course, for both of us.

Charlotte accepts placement in Northern Ghana. We have decided that I will go out with Charlotte to begin with before returning to UK after some weeks abroad.

July 2009 - Skills for Working in Development course for Charlotte.

August 2009 - Family holiday for 9 (Mike, Charlotte, Tom, Sarah, Peter, Abi, Anna, Daniel and Kate) in Normandy.

Sept 2009 - Anna's 21st party - we couldn't go abroad until after this.
The most common question in September is "Mike, how long are you going out for?" The answer is "I don't know - will decide that when we're out there". Final preparations and off to Ghana. Very busy getting ready to go, but when I'm out there I expect to have plenty of free time for a few weeks...
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THE PATH TO MY PLACEMENT

Sept 2009 Day 2 of In-Country Training - I volunteer to assist VSO Ghana with Organisation Development. For more details, see blog over Oct-Nov 2009. I can't claim any expenses, but volunteers are very gracious at inviting me to stay overnight.

Dec 2009-Jan 2010 Back home, collect Anna and Daniel from university, back out to Ghana for 2 weeks over Christmas (see Charlotte's blog), take them back to university.

Jan 2010. Skills for Working in Development course for me.
Start official placement as Organisational Development Adviser.

So one irony is that I have ended up with exactly what I applied for - a short-term volunteer placement that doesn't clash with university holidays. (Business and Trustee commitments would also have prevented me coming out for 12 months).

The other irony is that I thought it unlikely that Charlotte & I would find work in the same place - she was likely to be in a remote deprived area like Northern Ghana, and I was likely to have a national role given my skills. But now I have a national role, based in the deprived North where most of the volunteers are, which is much better for supporting them than back in Accra, the capital city down South on the coast.
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MORE INSIGHTS - are available here (from our church website in Jan 2010)

What’s In, What’s Out.

The Shenley Christian Fellowship blog gives the opportunity for people in the fellowship to share what’s on their mind with a wider audience. This blog entry comes from Mike Cashman who is an SCF Trustee as Head of Finance.

I’ve just seen a burnt area of semi-forest in the Mole National Park in Ghana. The park ranger explained that fresh grass grows a few weeks later, strong and nutritious, and attracts the wild animals.

What does this have to do with the New Year, the call of Abraham, and being a husband, father, Christian, church member, and professional roles as well? Well, let’s see….

In September 2008 our Church Leader Chris Doig preached on Genesis 12:1, the call of Abraham which came when Abraham was comfortable and settled in Haran – Abraham heard God’s call and left his comfort zone. Later Abraham made a move to Egypt which appears to have been his own idea, and that didn’t work out too well. So - sometimes God calls us to move, and sometimes he calls us to stay, and it’s good to discern which way he is calling. In September 2009, after reflecting on this message, Charlotte (my wife) and I found ourselves in Ghana with Voluntary Service Overseas. Definitely out of the comfort zone.

We can apply this message about God’s call beyond physical movement. Sometimes we need to keep on doing what we’re doing – using the gifts he gave us in our various roles, e.g. Christian, husband, father, church member, professional roles, and indeed our roles in social, community and leisure activities (e.g. gardener, goal-keeper, unofficial agony aunt, devotee of our favourite TV series or soap opera). It may be a juggling act or a plate-spinning exercise, but we feel we are just about managing to fulfil each role. But sometimes there are things that just need to be removed from our lives – not to say they’re wrong, but they just need to go to make space for new growth. I’m not referring to temporary disciplines like giving up chocolate or TV for a while – I mean cutting something right out of your life. Sometimes a friendship is one that no longer benefits either party. (I hasten to add that I have no-one in mind personally as I write this!) Maybe that solo sporting hobby which dates from your unmarried life needs to make way for hobbies which involve the family more.

Our change was a little radical. We both removed many professional and community roles from our lives, trying to do this in an orderly fashion. For Charlotte this included teacher, parish councillor, magistrate, chair of Loughton Residents’ Association, school governor, school governor trainer. What Charlotte found hardest to give up was home and face-to-face contact with friends and family. What else had to go, at least for a while? TV, sweet things in general, newspapers, car-driving, on-tap hot water, to name a few. (Not as many as we feared – we’re glad that much of the time we have running water, internet, email and phone contact). But in working out how we would follow a call to Ghana, some things were the rocks of certainty – for example I would still be a Christian, still a husband, still a dad, still a Church member, but no longer do I swell the viewing figures for ‘Match of the Day’.

January – the month which for the Romans was the month that looked forwards and backwards – is not the only time we can assess this question, but it’s a good time to do it. What is in your life? What perhaps is worth taking right out, even if that is painful, to make space for fresh growth? What might God be calling you to do which is completely new? What fresh growth could occur when there is space for it? Or – as you look at how you are fulfilling the various roles God called you to, do you feel his pleasure and encouragement to continue on the same path?

Mike Cashman is an independent programme management consultant based in Milton Keynes, currently assisting with organizational development in Ghana on a short-term basis. He is married to Charlotte, who is the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) Teacher Support Officer in Walewale, Northern Ghana. Mike and Charlotte have four children and two daughters-in-law, aged between 19-26.