Saturday, September 10, 2005
Twifo Praso, Ghana
We pulled into World Visions Twifo Praso office just before two. Nate and I left Accra on the coastal road four hours before, dashing past Cape Coast and Kakum Park in order to save enough time to visit a cluster of HIV/AIDS related projects in the field. World Vision, a faith based development organization, has been operating for eight years in the division. We previously met with the Country Director and his associates in Accra a week before and we were anxious to see their work at the ground level. After being briefed by World Visions Kwame Prempeh and Action for Rural Educations Philip Essel, we were informed about two significant projects in the nearby vicinity that would be worthwhile for us to explore: the Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Caregiver projects.
In a World Vision land cruiser, our first stop was the village of Abodom, where two World Vision Vulnerable Children were sponsored. A fair distance off any main road, the village was relatively small. Except for a handful of cement and corrugate buildings constructed by World Vision, the houses were all mud with grass roofs. Once there, we quickly learned that the term orphan was a bit ambiguous, as a child with one or more parents still living who is identified as vulnerable can also qualify. These children continue to live in their traditional family structure, where much of the work burden shifts to women and the elderly. When we arrived, the village was obviously unprepared for us; they initially thought Nate and I were the sponsors of a new corrugate house that was built for the mother of the orphan we were there to visit.
Philip described the program and said that once a month he would usually visit the 27 children World Vision was supporting. A normal visit would last around 15 minutes and the assistance provided was primarily financial. There was no doubt that the people chosen by World Vision needed the money. There were no adult males in the compound of the orphan we visited, leaving a handful of elderly women with an unmanageable amount of work. However, Kwame and Philip shared some of our concerns about the sustainability of the program.
The entire project was going to be completely phased out of the division in a few years and only recently had they begun to look at capacity building. I was a bit concerned about the recipients of their aid who have become dependant on World Vision's financial support and what a sudden pull-out would mean to them. The orphan we spoke to was also worried and shared this concern. She hoped to study nursing and studied for years with this in mind, but if the expected support was withdrawn, this would be impossible to achieve. Kwame and Philip, recognizing this problem, said that their office was currently trying to find a way to resolve it.
The second site we visited was in many ways more depressing, but ultimately inspiring and very encouraging. We visited Abna Mensah*, an HIV positive woman who was working as a local caregiver for World Vision. She spoke to us about her initial fears of death and the stigma associated with those afflicted by AIDS. Before linking up with World Vision, who now pay for her anti-retrovirals, she was very sick and had little hope that she would live beyond a few months. Now, Abna is healthy again and is optimistic for her future. Abna very candidly shared her worries about revealing her status within the community and the impossibility of her speaking out there. This clashed with her great desire to give people hope by informing them that there are drugs that will dramatically prolong life. She reconciled this by working with World Vision, through which she speaks with people from outside her own community.
We briefly interviewed a second woman from the same village who was also suffering from AIDS. This woman was in the later stages of the disease and had no hope for her future. In a tiny voice, she related how she felt that her case was hopeless; then she broke down into tears. She got up, left the compound and wandered without direction back and forth down the main street. Abna told us that this woman didn't yet believe that people could help her and had given up on life. Yet, they had made progress and felt that they were slowly breaking through and giving her something to live for. Despite my misgivings about the long term sustainability of previous projects that we had seen, as well as my great concern about Abna's future and her ability to pay for the necessary drugs if World Vision pulls out, observing first hand the hope that this project had given Abna and those that she has helped in the capacity of a caregiver is indisputable and must be commended.
*name changed
We pulled into World Visions Twifo Praso office just before two. Nate and I left Accra on the coastal road four hours before, dashing past Cape Coast and Kakum Park in order to save enough time to visit a cluster of HIV/AIDS related projects in the field. World Vision, a faith based development organization, has been operating for eight years in the division. We previously met with the Country Director and his associates in Accra a week before and we were anxious to see their work at the ground level. After being briefed by World Visions Kwame Prempeh and Action for Rural Educations Philip Essel, we were informed about two significant projects in the nearby vicinity that would be worthwhile for us to explore: the Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Caregiver projects.
In a World Vision land cruiser, our first stop was the village of Abodom, where two World Vision Vulnerable Children were sponsored. A fair distance off any main road, the village was relatively small. Except for a handful of cement and corrugate buildings constructed by World Vision, the houses were all mud with grass roofs. Once there, we quickly learned that the term orphan was a bit ambiguous, as a child with one or more parents still living who is identified as vulnerable can also qualify. These children continue to live in their traditional family structure, where much of the work burden shifts to women and the elderly. When we arrived, the village was obviously unprepared for us; they initially thought Nate and I were the sponsors of a new corrugate house that was built for the mother of the orphan we were there to visit.
Philip described the program and said that once a month he would usually visit the 27 children World Vision was supporting. A normal visit would last around 15 minutes and the assistance provided was primarily financial. There was no doubt that the people chosen by World Vision needed the money. There were no adult males in the compound of the orphan we visited, leaving a handful of elderly women with an unmanageable amount of work. However, Kwame and Philip shared some of our concerns about the sustainability of the program.
The entire project was going to be completely phased out of the division in a few years and only recently had they begun to look at capacity building. I was a bit concerned about the recipients of their aid who have become dependant on World Vision's financial support and what a sudden pull-out would mean to them. The orphan we spoke to was also worried and shared this concern. She hoped to study nursing and studied for years with this in mind, but if the expected support was withdrawn, this would be impossible to achieve. Kwame and Philip, recognizing this problem, said that their office was currently trying to find a way to resolve it.
The second site we visited was in many ways more depressing, but ultimately inspiring and very encouraging. We visited Abna Mensah*, an HIV positive woman who was working as a local caregiver for World Vision. She spoke to us about her initial fears of death and the stigma associated with those afflicted by AIDS. Before linking up with World Vision, who now pay for her anti-retrovirals, she was very sick and had little hope that she would live beyond a few months. Now, Abna is healthy again and is optimistic for her future. Abna very candidly shared her worries about revealing her status within the community and the impossibility of her speaking out there. This clashed with her great desire to give people hope by informing them that there are drugs that will dramatically prolong life. She reconciled this by working with World Vision, through which she speaks with people from outside her own community.
We briefly interviewed a second woman from the same village who was also suffering from AIDS. This woman was in the later stages of the disease and had no hope for her future. In a tiny voice, she related how she felt that her case was hopeless; then she broke down into tears. She got up, left the compound and wandered without direction back and forth down the main street. Abna told us that this woman didn't yet believe that people could help her and had given up on life. Yet, they had made progress and felt that they were slowly breaking through and giving her something to live for. Despite my misgivings about the long term sustainability of previous projects that we had seen, as well as my great concern about Abna's future and her ability to pay for the necessary drugs if World Vision pulls out, observing first hand the hope that this project had given Abna and those that she has helped in the capacity of a caregiver is indisputable and must be commended.
*name changed
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