Mike in Ghana with VSO

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

Monday, April 12, 2010

Crimimal Record fingerprint check in Accra

This is a very functional entry, for the benefit of anyone else wanting a criminal record check in Ghana, e.g. to cover time volunteering in Ghana when seeking a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) certificate in UK on return. If that's not you, please skip this.
Who knows whether it would be the same for you - but this was our experience:
1. Go to Police Headquarters (CID), near Danquah Circle in Accra
2. Ask where to go - told room 22 on second floor.
3. In room 22. told to go to room 5 on ground floor
4. In Room 5, told to go to end room on ground floor.
5. Shown into very crowded end-room where most of the rest of the action happens
6. After being in wrong queue, discover we need to fill in a form first. Get 2 copies of form from man in corner desk and complete them. Interpret codes, e.g. "ED" = Expiry Date on passport.
7. Pay cashier - for each of us it's 5 cedi plus 15 cedis. I think the 5 cedi fingerprinting charge was going to be 200 cedis if we did not have Ghanain residence permit - so show passports. Wait while cashier processes various payments, then get our change and passports back.
8. Supply forms to finger-printing man.
9. Queue up to get photo taken in next door room. Unclear whether this is next thing to do, but was probably a good thing to do next, because photo printing takes a long time after the photos are taken.
Queue is very uncertain for this, various pushing past, but eventually have photos taken.
10, Queue up for finger-printing. Queuing is perhaps unnecessary because the finger-printing man is working through forms  in order, but you never know..
11. Get finger-printed. Wash hands.
12. Wait outside photo room (still in end-room) for photos to be printed. Again, much doubt re queue-jumping (and since people waiting for forms, for payment, for finger-printing, for photographing, or for photo-printing are all in the same small room, the 'queues' or scrums are all overlapping).
13 Wait more. Get involved in discussions re why people are pushing past others. Meet man from Walewale!
14. Eventually our photos are printed. (By the way it's no good taking your own). My name is called out  in the photo room. Since this is behind a closed door I'm lucky to hear it.
15. Collect photos and take them to man in corner desk (see step 6).
16 Man at corner desk unites application form, fingerprint paper and photos.
17. NOW we have to take this to Room 5. Where we find that the result can indeed be collected, but in 2 weeks time (we had been told it was one week). We are going to ask a VSO driver to do this, armed with signed receipts.

End-to-end time for this visit - 2 hours.
There's occasional criticism from officials about people not following the process. There is a lady there who is trying to be  helpful - I acknowledge this and suggest to her though that if the process was defined and posted up on the wall then people might know what to do. She says "Ah - you mean No1... No. 2...." - she sees the point.

So we needed, each:
passport with Ghana residency permit, 20 cedis, 2 hours at least.

Fingers crossed
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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.