What does "Engineering" have to do with it?

A constant question that comes up within EWB is “How can we make the best use of our skills and assets as Engineers in development work”. When EWB started, the idea was to design and implement technical projects overseas that would benefit those living in under-developed communities. In the early days of EWB, volunteers were sent overseas with very little direction and expectations of implementing a new technology in very little time. Through experimentation, we realized that it is not as easy to do this as we thought. We crossed the line when one group of volunteers actually snuck into a community to take water samples. I can not give a concrete answer on what engineers can bring to development work but I can share the “engineering” I saw in my experience.

As a Civil Engineering student in Canada, I have been learning how to design infrastructure based on Canadian building codes and standards. If you are designing a structure, you use the building code which has information on the strength properties and dimensions of standardized building materials. Then you place an order, the materials are inspected, and heavy equipment is used for the construction. On a construction site, all workers must wear steel toe boots and a hard hat and there is always someone in charge of quality control – making sure everything is carried out under the proper standards. To design the foundation, you use specialized equipment to take soil samples which are then sent into a lab to be thoroughly analyzed. I am leaving out many details, but I am just giving some context so that I can make a comparison.

At ITFC, I was fortunate enough to witness the construction of a few small dams that are being used for irrigation. Engineering in Ghana is a whole different story. There are no building codes, no labs to test soil samples, and no standardized building materials. I once went with one of my managers to pick up some steel re-bar. You basically point to a pile and say “that one”. When I looked at the steel I saw that it was covered in rust, which decreases its strength. In Ghana, you have to take what you can get. The aggregates for concrete are not the proper size or shape because the workers have to crush up the stones by hand. Never mind steel-toed boots and hardhats, construction workers here don’t even wear shoes. Another big issue is quality control. I once walked onto a site with the general manager at ITFC where they had just finished pouring the concrete for a dam, and we saw that there was almost no cement in the mixture. Most likely, the workers stole it so that they could sell it or use it for their homes. There is almost no construction equipment available. If you need to excavate, you hire a bunch of farmers and tell them to bring their hoes. These are just a few of the barriers I saw from the short amount of time I had in Ghana.





When attempting to implement a technology in a developing country, you can not simply take something that works well in Canada and apply it overseas. In my opinion, you need to invest time in a community to gain a better understanding of how things work and what might actually be useful to the people. I believe that the community should be heavily involved in the idea and implementation of the project in order for it to be successful. At EWB, we believe that we should focus on building the capacity (buzz word – sorry) of the communities and partner organizations we work with so that they have the skills and resources to implement their own projects. Many of our volunteers overseas are not engineers, and many of our projects have almost nothing to do with engineering. One thing that I can be sure of is that we are reaching out to the engineering community in Canada. I serve as an example; I probably would not have participated in this program had I not been attracted to the name “Engineers Without Borders”

The implementation of technology in developing countries has always been interesting to me and I would like to explore the idea further. While I was working with ITFC I kept my eyes open for any opportunities to become involved with the technical aspects of their work. As I mentioned earlier, the company has been building small dams (or weirs really). The wet season is only about half-way over and already some of the dams have failed due to seepage and erosion. Because I am in my final year of studies, I have to complete a technical paper where I can choose the topic. I have spoken with some of the McGill faculty as well as the general manager at ITFC and decided that I will write my paper on small-scale irrigation for farming and perform a case study on the company. ITFC will be constructing more dams in the future, so I can give them advice on how to build new dams as well as determine ways they can improve the existing ones.

And that’s not all… I have another idea which is a bit more far-fetched. I have spent some time with the General Manager, discussing a potential project where a hydro-electric dam would be constructed on the White Volta. There is a small waterfall along the river where the head should be high enough to power a turbine and generate electricity. The dam would impede the flow of water but not stop it completely. The idea is that the dam will force some of the water back upstream and into a canal. This canal would run eastward, up through the Janga area, and then back down through the Gushie area. This hydro-electric dam would provide electricity to communities in the northern region, and would create a clean water source that can be used for irrigation by both ITFC and subsistence farmers.



I am going to meet with members of the Civil Engineering faculty and see if it would be feasible for this hydro-electric dam be my final semester design project. In order to complete a degree at McGill, students are required to work in groups of three of four alongside professors and professional engineers and perform an actual design. In the past, many design projects have been derived from actual civil engineering jobs. If the faculty were to agree with this idea, I would be able to directly contribute my engineering skills to the development field, and I would be showing the Canadian engineering community how we can play a bigger part in development.

Debrief

After finishing up our work, the volunteers in Ghana all met up in Tamale for an in-country debrief with the long-term volunteers. Then we headed down to Accra where I managed to spend a day at the beach with some friends before flying back to Toronto. After finally making it to Toronto we spent 3 days at the National office discussing the work we accomplished overseas, bringing our experiences back to Canada, and spending some quality time with each other before being released and re-adjusting back into our old lives.

I am glad we had time together to reflect on our experiences this summer. I have learned a tremendous amount, but I still have many questions on development work and can not give any concrete answers. When I tell people about my trip, I think I will describe it more as an internship than a volunteer placement. I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity to live and work in a new environment. I have definitely taken more out of this than I have given. When I tell people about Ghana, I don’t want them to visualize people who are completely helpless and need someone to come in and rescue them. I want to open people’s minds up to a different way of life.

When you look at all the statistics and numbers, Ghana is much worse off than Canada and the U.S. But when you look at the poverty and challenges that each of us are facing on the ground, it is not so black and white. I don’t think I would ever go to a poor neighborhood in the US or a native reserve in Canada to do “development work”; it is not safe and the communities probably wouldn’t be too welcoming. I am having a difficult time defining poverty, and I don’t think I will ever be able to. I am not prepared to “explain” development work or poverty to anyone. My goal in communicating my experience back home is to get people to think about these issues and come up with their own ideas and questions and strive to explore them further.

I have grown very close with the other volunteers in Ghana. We all came to the realization that we are going through this together early on and created a strong support network for each other. As I listened to everyone stories and experiences from their placements, I felt extremely lucky that I am a part of this group.


Group photo of all the Ghana volunteers - midway through our placements when we met up we bought enough fabric so that we could each get a shirt made.


We had a layover in Amsterdam before getting back to Toronto. A few of us went to a pub (around 8 AM Amsterdam time)- best beer ever


At the beach in Accra with Andrea and Meghan

Wrapping up with Friends and Family

I did not have any expectations of my friends and family upon my farewell, but I was pleasantly surprised by the generosity and kindness I was shown. A few of my friends who are field assistants at ITFC organized a farewell soccer match for me!



As you can see, we had matching jerseys, and they even gave me #8 because it’s Michael Essien’s number. The match was between the ITFC staff and the local team in Diare. Unfortunately, we lost 3 – 2 but it was a pretty incredible farewell. It seemed like the entire town was out watching and cheering. Whenever Diare scored all the kids would come running out onto the field celebrating. It started to rain half-way through but we kept playing anyway. At the end of the match, each of the field assistants chipped in 1 Ghana Cedis (about $1) to pay for minerals (soda). This may not seem like a lot of money, but the field assistants only make about 70 Ghana Cedis a month so I was pretty flattered.

In my final week of work, some of my co-workers at the office arranged for everyone to have drinks outside of the pack-house as a farewell. My counterpart said a few nice words and I had the chance to thank everyone for being so helpful and patient towards me. One of my co-workers who is a field assistant gave me 2 traditional African smocks; one is for me and one is for my boyfriend. I’m thinking they will make some pretty sweet Halloween costumes. This person has helped me a tremendous amount this summer: he helped me gather photos for the user manuals I developed, he translated at the farmer meeting I held, and he helped me adjust to Ghanaian culture in many ways. I wanted to thank him so I took him to a restaurant when we were in Tamale. I asked him where he wanted to go and he said he did not know because he had never been to a restaurant before. I’m a little worried that he spent an entire pay-check on the smocks he gave me.

One of my host mother’s sons (Zidane) lives in Tamale and studied art when he was in school. He came up one weekend to help out on the family's farms and I told him I wanted to buy a few paintings from him before I leave Ghana. On my last night in Diare, his older brother showed up at the house with 2 beautiful paintings that he prepared just for me, and he would not let me pay for them. I was in Tamale for a few days before I left so I called Zidane and bought him lunch to thank him for the paintings. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know him better and he shared some of his goals for the future with me. Zidane is currently working as a gas station attendant, saving up the little money he can. He explained to me that “my mother is my world”. She has worked hard her whole life and supported her children so that they could receive an education and have more opportunities than she ever had. Zidane wants to move back to Diare when he has saved enough money and make farming easier for his family by buying a tractor and investing in more advanced farming technology. I am very grateful for people like Zidane who are self-motivated and willing to try something new.

When I was leaving my house for the last time, I presented everyone in my family with gifts and said my farewells. Amina gave me some cloth to wear when I take a bath and a head wrap with the specific instructions of giving it to my mother. Up until this point I never really felt sad about leaving Ghana. I felt like I had been working towards “the end” the entire time. But when I was saying goodbye to these people that have been nothing but kind and generous towards me, a complete stranger, I began to realize that I will miss many things about the culture and people in Ghana. Although I am a little sad it is all over, I have so many things to look forward to when I go home and I am grateful to be leaving on a good note.


I took a day off of work my final week so that I could spend some time with my family in Diare and go to the farm one last time. This is Amina, we had just taken a break to eat some TZ and Ayuyo soup. I hope I never forget her smile, it is still a vivid picture in my head


These are the three teenage girls that live at my house. The one in the middle is the only one who is actually Amina's daughter. The girl on the right was an orphan and the other girl was given to Amina to help with the farming and household duties (Im still a little unclear on this)


I saw this man every day on my bike ride to and from work. You can't tell from this photo, but he had the biggest smile. He would greet me as we passed by each other and it would always put me in a better mood. Once day I passed by him and he had stopped to help someone whose bag of maize had spilled all over the road. I decided to stop and help them gather the kernals and took the opportunity to take his photograph. I eventually realized that I had met him on my first day of work; he is a watchman at the ITFC guesthouse. He was the first Ghanaian to propose to me but did so with a huge innocent grin on his face.

Wrapping up at Work

There was so much I wanted to do in my last few weeks at work, and the time seemed to fly by. In an earlier post, I discussed how I wanted to hold a farmers’ meeting on drip irrigation, and I managed to pull it off before leaving ITFC. Just to refresh your memory, there were 2 reasons I organized this meeting:

1) To encourage more ownership and responsibility from the farmers in maintaining the equipment.
2) To build the capacity of the farmers by helping them to better understand the idea of farming as a business.

To accomplish these goals, I briefly discussed how the irrigation equipment works and then took the farmers out into the field to show them the equipment. I told them that there are 4 activities they should be doing to maintain the equipment and physically showed them what each of them were.

I then performed an activity with the farmers to help them understand how drip irrigation will save them money in the long term. I split the farmers up into 3 groups: One group watered their trees with the use of plastic water tanks that had to be transported to the mango field by trucks (the traditional irrigation system), one group had the drip irrigation system installed but never showed up to the farm to maintain the equipment, and one group had the drip irrigation system installed and always showed up to the farm to monitor the equipment. I gave each farmer group 10 rocks which symbolized money. I told the farmers that their mango trees were 15 years old and created a story about how each farmer group maintained their equipment. I would collect rocks intermittently throughout the story which symbolized the amount of money they had to pay towards their loan account. All of this was based off of actual numbers I received from the accounts office. At the end of the 15 years, the farming group with the traditional irrigation system did not have any rocks left and the farmer group with drip irrigation who took care of their equipment had the most rocks left. From this activity I was hoping that the farmers would understand how the drip irrigation system is an advanced farming technology that will save them money and increase their yields. In addition, I wanted to enforce that they must take care of the equipment in order for it to be successful.

At the end of the meeting, I asked the farmers to repeat the 4 activities they should be doing to maintain the equipment and they successfully named all 4. Throughout the meeting I really felt that they understood what I was discussing and were genuinely interested. Of course I had a few difficulties, but overall I was pleased with the way it turned out. One of the outgrower managers was present at the meeting along with a Peace Corps volunteer. They gave me positive feedback and expressed that the meeting was useful and is something they might like to perform with all the farmer groups in the future.

I feel that my work with the irrigation system has now been completed. I will keep in touch with my co-workers and I am looking forward to seeing how everything turns out (and a bit worried). In my final week of work, I focused on writing reports for both ITFC and EWB. If you would like me to send you a copy of my report, please let me know (camiller86@hotmail.com). I decided to give a presentation on my work to anyone at the company who was interested. I wanted to make sure that my co-workers knew what I was doing these past 3 months as well as pass on my ideas for the future. I posted a notice at the office, inviting anyone who was interested to attend and said the meeting would start at 7:30 AM. By the time 8:00 rolled around only 3 people showed up, but I began my presentation anyway. By the time I had finished there were about 10 people and we had some pretty good discussions going. Normally, I would be very hurt if people showed up late or not at all to one of my presentations, but I have learned to be a little more light-hearted and go with the flow of things here. I feel as if I have adjusted to the pace of Ghanaian life, but I’m worried about re-adjusting to the pace to life back home and having to balance school, EWB, and then of course the things I like to do in my "free time".



This is a pic of the office from the main road

These past few weeks I have been starting to feel more comfortable here and have been allowing myself to have a bit more fun and enjoy myself. It would have been nice if I felt this way throughout this whole experience, but I am content that I have at least reached this point and am continuing to learn and understand more and more as time goes by. I am not sure what has caused this shift, (probably a combination of many things) and I think that it has been pretty gradual. I have noticed that I am becoming less frustrated by the things that typically bother me and have been embracing more of the great things about life here in Ghana.

I’ll try to explain with an example of something that happened this past week: I decided to make certificates for all of the field assistants that I trained – I thought it would be a nice little gift. I did not have time to do it at work so I went to an internet café over the weekend in Tamale and printed them off with my own money. After my first training, I handed out the certificates to each Field Assistant; I had hand-written everyone’s name. I received a few “thank you’s” but mostly “Why are our certificates not laminated or in color?” or “Why didn’t you take our photographs and put them in the certificates and type out our names?” Of course these comments bothered me a little, but I am more able to laugh it off because I know that this is just how Ghanaians are and I should not take it personally.

I also feel like I have more going on in my life here; things have started to pick up at work and I have developed more (and stronger) relationships with people. One of the wives in the compound I lived in while I stayed in Bagarugu (my 2nd village stay) gave birth to a baby boy and I was invited to the baby naming ceremony. Just a little background info: Traditionally, the newborn child is kept in one room and does not receive a name until one full week has passed. After a week, the family is confident that the child will survive and is here to stay so they will bring it out for everyone to see and give it a name. Usually for the ceremony – at least for the Dagomba’s here in the northern region – the family will prepare HUGE bowls of TZ and soup in the morning so they can feed anyone who stops by and the new mother and her friends all have outfits made from the same cloth for the occasion. In the evening they use a generator to power a stereo and dance through the night. Those who are good dancers get candy (or a soda if they are really good). I missed most of the festivities because of work but I was able to stop by and greet everyone. Everyone was so excited to see me when I arrived. I brought a large bar of key soap for the new mother which I have learned is a proper gift, and then a small amount of money for the husband. They fed me a ton of food and then I was able to meet Haruna, the newborn. I snapped some photos of the boy and his mother and promised to get them printed before I leave.

I feel like I have been getting to know some of the people in Diare a little better. I still hear “Salaminga” (white person) as I ride my bike through town but people refer to me by my Dagbani name, “Pagnaa”, more and more. I have made friends with some of the field assistants here and one of them said he will organize a farewell soccer match for me before I leave, I’ll let you know if it actually happens. My time here is running out and I am beginning to think about how I will wrap everything up and make sure I say farewell to all the friends I have made. Here are some pics Ive taken recently...




Haruna and his mother



This is me and Haruna at the baby naming ceremony



I made french toast one morning for the whole fam! They have eggs, bread, and canned milk here and I brought maple syrup with me from Canada to share. They all loved it. If I get around to it I might make it again and try selling it at the market... just as a little experiment



This was at an NPP rally in Diare for the presidential election coming up. The next day just about everyone I ran into said "I saw you dancing yesterday". The election is not until december. I am glad that I will not be around for it, but every Ghanaian I have talked to is confident that it will run smoothly and without any violence



Here is Amina and I, and her brother who also lives at the compound



This is my friend/host sister Kande

Update on my work with ITFC

Things have really been moving along lately and I have almost completed my work with the drip irrigation system. This past week I held 5 trainings. I facilitated a training with all of the outgrower managers, and then a training with all of the field assistants in each of the four zones. This all adds up to about 60 people. Each of the managers and field assistants received a manual on drip irrigation (in color and laminated) that I have been working on throughout the summer and a certificate upon completing the training. I have also compiled a manual on how to operate and maintain the pumps and generators in our pump-houses and will be holding a training with all of the pump-house attendants next week. I have come up with a reporting system and sat down with the managers to discuss some of the challenges and threats that are likely to come up and what we can do to avoid them. I am feeling pretty good about how everything has been going so far. I have received positive feedback from many of my co-workers and feel that I have been gaining their respect. There is so much going on with the ITFC; they are in the process of expanding the outgrower scheme and trying to get the new drying facility up and running. The company would not have had the time to compile all the information that I’ve gathered and produce documents for reference. I feel like I have made a positive contribution and am hopeful that my work will have an impact on the farmers.

Of course, not everything is running perfectly here. There are many difficult, complex challenges with the work we are trying to do. One of the overarching challenges that I see is that the farmers themselves are lacking ownership and responsibility in this project. There are probably many causes for why this is, and they all overlap, but I have come up with some hypothesis that I would like to test out before I leave.

Most of the projects that are carried out in this region are run by NGO’s (non-governmental organizations). Often with NGO’s, the stakeholders are constantly changing and the projects have a short life-span because there are so many funders involved and they all want things to be done their way. Many development projects in this region have eventually collapsed and the people are left with half-finished equipment and facilities that are never used. I don’t want to generalize NGO’s or give them a bad name, I am just trying to share one of the challenges I see to illustrate my point.

With ITFC there is someone who has invested millions of dollars in the project and he will not see a profit for at least another 10 years. He wants to make money in the end, but he wants Ghanaians to make money with him. In order for this project to become economically viable, there are certain targets that we have to reach and we are in it for the long-haul. I think that ITFC addresses some of the challenges I see with NGOs; the stakeholders in this company have a long-term investment and demands and expectations are not coming from too many outside investors. I think that this set-up also brings additional challenges. Because the company must meet certain targets and demands to make this project viable, they must find a way to meet them even if it is not the best way for the farmers.

Here is an example: When the field assistants are to prune the mango trees, they are supposed to be working side by side with the farmers who own that acre of trees and teaching the farmers how to do it themselves. Often the farmers never show up to the field and the field assistants prune the trees for them. It would be best (in my opinion) if the field assistants refused to prune the trees if the farmer does not show up. But in reality, the trees have to be pruned because we are trying to reach a certain yield at the end of the season. If we never reach the desired yields, then this project will never be profitable.

I have noticed that the farmers do not really have an understanding of the business aspect behind this entire project. We have an accounts office that keeps records and handles all of the farmers’ finances, and the managers are responsible for making the big business decisions. From what I have read about development work, the most successful projects are those where the idea originates from the community and the people carry everything out themselves. But sometimes, I think the obstacles are too large and the people need a little help to get started. ITFC provides the farmers with an interest free loan account, organic certification, access to the international market, and technical service. It would be almost impossible for a farming group to accomplish all this on their own. The downside to ITFC providing all this for them is that the farmers don’t have to figure it out on their own; they can rely on the company.

As I said earlier, I want to test this hypothesis and give the company an idea of how they can begin to address this challenge. I want to hold a meeting with one of the farmer groups and explain to them in terms they understand (hopefully) the financial benefits of using drip irrigation. I hope that the farmers will benefit from understanding the business aspect behind the company’s decision to switch to drip irrigation, and that they will be more excited about this new technology and want to take more responsibility in maintaining it. Luckily, this idea fits in with my original work-stream and keeps the focus on drip irrigation.

The meeting will be held Friday, August 8th right after the farmers go for prayers. Some of the managers will be present so I can test out how receptive they are to this idea and if it is something they would like to pursue further. Ill let you know how it goes in my next post. Wish me luck!

So this all makes sense in my head, but please let me know if it is unclear or if you have any questions. Other than finishing up the trainings and holding this farmer’s meeting, I am pretty much wrapping up my work here. I only have 2 weeks left! I will write a final report to both EWB and ITFC on what I have done these past 3 and half months. I also want to do a good job wrapping up my personal relations with everyone here at the office, and of course with those in my host community. If you are still with me, thanks for reading! Here are some pics from the trainings I held this past week.

I took this at the end of one of my trainings; I think it'll be a nice pic for the EWB office at McGill - those are mango trees in the background

This is me demonstrating how to clean out the filter on the control valve

For the beginning of the training I gave an overview of the irrigation system and discussed the content of the user manuals I developed