One of the things I love most about travelling is experiencing a culture that has grown up with a totally different set of standards and beliefs. It forces you to realize that so many of the things you hold (often unconsciously) to be true are mostly just a product of where you grew up.
In Ghana, my favorite cultural difference is that the country has never been taught the word “politically correct.” This clearly leads to more fun for all involved. For someone that has grown up in a politically correct culture, say the U.S., we take it for granted that you do not discuss your new co-worker’s body parts in public. Meanwhile, on day two of the job in Ghana I was told that I’m not “fleshy enough and don’t have enough butt” to ever catch a Ghanaian husband. (For the record, I hadn’t asked). While this was crushing, I found that the cards were really stacked against me when I learned that all western women “just smoke and drink a lot and then refuse to cook.” This one was a bit harder to argue with, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the blatant stereotyping.
But the best comments came during my field visits. As a part of my work in Ghana, I was visiting projects that my NGO client had done in conjunction with the private sector. The projects highlight some great examples and opportunities for private sector engagement in poverty alleviation and some very positive unintended consequences:
1. Shea Butter Stops Adultery: A Women’s Cooperative in Northern Ghana began a Shea butter production facility with the initial capital and business training from the NGO. They now sell 3.5 tons of Shea butter a month to a top UK body products company (Lush). During my videotaped interview with the head of the cooperative, I asked her about the benefits of the cooperative. I’m pretty sure the Christian NGO I am working for is going to LOVE reason number two: “It has given us a lot of change in the women. It has helped that the women don’t migrate down south to look for other jobs making them fall sick or go to other men… They can even do their house chores in addition to the Shea butter. They pay their children’s school fees and health insurance… It has come to be a great help to us”
Women in the Shea Women's Cooperative:
2. Solar Lanterns Solve Marital Disputes: Philips and the NGO created a project whereby the NGO identified community sales agents who would sell a new Philips solar lantern to communities without electricity. This gave sales agents an income-generating opportunity and the communities would have access to light which can improve economic opportunities, healthcare, and education. In an interview, one of my clients noted an additional benefit: “When women had to use kerosene lanterns for light while cooking, there was a risk that the lamp would fall into the soup and ruin it, making their husbands mad and causing them to beat their wives. That can’t happen anymore so the solar lanterns have cut down marital trouble.”
3. Everyone Knows Men Can’t Carry Things on Their Heads: Amway was working on a project to sell health, beauty, and kitchen products in rural Ghana using a “microfranchise” model whereby the NGO and Amway identified female sales agents who would carry baskets of products around their communities to sell the products in these rural areas that don’t have stores. When I asked the head of the program why he only employed women he looked at me like I was a moron and said “everyone knows men can’t carry things on their heads.”
Picture of women showing their superior ability to carry things on their heads:
4. And while nothing hilarious was said over at the Cadbury project, I think it is still worth noting. Cadbury recognized that their cocoa supply chain was threatened by decreasing production levels caused by impoverished communities that could not retain farmers or efficiently produce cocoa. Cadbury began a program, being implemented by three Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), to improve technical cocoa growing capabilities and community welfare (e.g., health, education) to improve incomes and standards of living to help people remain in communities and continue to grow cocoa.
In case you were wondering where that Cadbury cream egg started:
The other joy of travelling is when a little cross-cultural germination occurs. On my last day on the job my client told me: “You know, I thought at first that it was very weird that you do not cook or clean. But after I saw the work you did, and how much work you did, I am very impressed. I think it might be ok if some women like you don’t cook and clean because you are very good at other things instead. Like making power point slides.”
Me, fighting for women's lib one power point slide at a time:
