Lessons Learned Building Latrines

Today begins the wrap-up portion of our trip.  Auntie Benedicta, the team leader of the Bolgatanga base came to see us off from the hotel and showered us with gifts to send us on our way back to Tamale.  We also met with some of the World Vision staff at the Tamale base for a debriefing meeting and had the opportunity to share with them the things we had accomplished on the trip. We will stay in Tamale tonight and fly to Accra tomorrow.

Over meals today we've been talking about what we have been learning on this trip.  Here are a few of our notes:

1.  We have been learning how important it is to work WITH the community rather than FOR the community and how difficult this is to put into practice.  We have admired Noela's and Gabriel's skilled communication, maintaining a delicate balance of persuasiveness, stubbornness, clarity and humor.

Noela using her persuasion skills when talking with the community.

2.  To do this, you have to have a LOT of patience to persevere and walk alongside a community while they consider a paradigm shift.  Noela and the ADP staff in the areas where we worked on this trip spent weeks laying a foundation of understanding before we stepped off the plane.

3.  On a service trip designed to build latrines, poo-poo becomes a perfectly acceptable topic any time of the day (car rides, construction, and even dinner.) We even got t-shirts advertising world toilet day! Additionally, we learned that poo-poo is a universal term across any cultural and language barrier (a lesson which Nate demonstrated the truth of.)

4.  We've also learned that, in order for the working-with to happen, sometimes, you need to be willing to walk away when a community is not ready for the partnership.  This happened to us on Monday.  Though Noela and Gabriel had gone ahead Sunday to arrange for a certain community to gather the materials to build a latrine, when we arrived Monday nothing had been done.  We had to tell them we were moving on to a different place. To be a truly free partnership, both parties have to be free to say no.

5.  Sometimes WE are the ones needing to have a paradigm shift too.

6.  Derick and Rodney learned that to film in this context, you have to be really proactive about equipment, resources and planning (so the car with the camera equipment doesn't drive off just when you need to use it!)

Derick capturing the moment from behind the camera.

7.  Gabriel learned (after MUCH persistent persuading from Elizabeth, who was soon thereafter given  the titles of diva and queen) that access ramps really do need to be long enough to maintain close to a 7% grade.  The ramp at the Talensi ADP was angled at close to 45 degrees (much too steep for even a physically abled person to climb!) We thought it would be great for sledding!

Gabriel hard at work (as usual!)

8. This relates to a new appreciation for how long it takes for people to adopt new ideas.  Development work is a RELATIONAL PROCESS--not just doing things people need!





9. We learned that protocol is IMPORTANT.  Taking time to meet with WV leaders at the start and end of each leg of the trip; greeting the chief of each village where we worked;  taking time for greetings among participants at each location.  These are not necessarily American instincts but are important to effective work here.

10. Photos + nice old man + Evie = team caught in a tourist trap. At our tour of the 'ancient' village, we learned that artifacts unearthed from an archeological dig had Ghanaian flags painted on them (which, interestingly enough, was not founded until 1960.) Lesson learned!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support as our trip comes to a close! We have so e final meetings with World Vision staff in Accra as well as a few additional interviews for the documentary before heading back to the states on Friday. Stayed tuned for another post outlining some of our favorite memories of the trip!