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| Nuhu Abubakari and Clodagh Ryan, volunteering with WOSAG |
Hi! My name is Abubakari Nuhu from Tamale in the Northern
Region of Ghana. I am volunteering with International Service in partnership
with Women Support and Activist Group (WOSAG). My team with WOSAG consists of
volunteers from Ghana (ICVs) and the United Kingdom (UKVs). During the training
process with ICS I met a lot of people from different parts of the country, I made
new friends and it was very nice being with them. I learnt a lot in the
training process about what ICS is all about, what they do and what they want
to achieve in the short and long term. After the training with the ICVs, our UKVs
joined us for more training and it was very interesting for me because they
were foreigners. We learnt a lot from one another about our different cultures,
the way we do things here, our languages and so much more.
WOSAG’s main aims
and objectives are to support women and girls on issues such as domestic violence,
sexual reproductive health rights and teenage pregnancy. Their aim is to go to
the communities and schools to sensitise them about these topics in order to educate
them about these issues and find possible solutions. During this process they
will establish peer educators and girls groups which will help them achieve the
aim of the project. Currently, WOSAG is working in two communities, which are
Kanvili and Banvim, and in each community they work with a women’s group and Junior
High Schools.
We are the first volunteers to work with WOSAG and as a
result we are to do baseline research so that the next cohort can use the
research to continue WOSAG’s work. This
is our fourth week on the program and on our first and second week we were
organising ourselves with the WOSAG staff, introducing ourselves to one another
and discussing how to work with the communities. On our third week we drew our
budget plan on how we were going to enter the communities; we programmed our
research tools and the methods of data collection. In our fourth week we went
to Banvim to meet the women’s group, we introduced ourselves and ICS to them,
we told them who we are, what we need from them and what they will gain from
this program. We also met with the Banvim Presbyterian Junior High School, where
we did our first research of the program. It was very interesting because the
students co-operated with us and their teachers also helped us to organise them
very well. We had a little difficulty because it was our first activity, but in
the end I think everything went well.
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| Hard working ICS volunteers in the WOSAG office |
We, International Service volunteers and WOSAG staff, will
work as a team to gather the best information possible for the next cohort during
the three months of the project. We will research the topics given to us, collect
findings and report and feedback to International Service and WOSAG so that
they can achieve their aim.
Personally, I have already achieved a lot during this
program, I now know a lot about foreign cultures and other local cultures which
I did not know about before. I would like to tell potential future volunteers
that being with International Service would be one of the best experiences of
their life. After this program I would like to continue my education and go to university
because I have completed polytechnic where I did HND Accountancy. When I
finish, I would like to join any organisation that aims to empower women and girls
by continuing the fight for sexual and reproductive health rights and against
domestic violence and teenage pregnancy.
Author: Nuhu Abubakari
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