Episode Four: Bansim Buobi / Seeking Knowledge

The bright rays from the sun on Monday morning created a sensation among the WOSAG team that the week was going to be fulfilling. Mark turned up to the office about an hour and a half late and Mary and Shahema, who apparently had forgotten that he was sent to finalise negotiations with two radio stations, interrogated him because he was late. However, after a reminder from Mark, all was clear.

We were saddened and felt a chill of shock down our spines when our team leader informed us that Ellie had been hit by a motorbike the previous day, but fortunately she only sustained minor bruises and a sprain on her left arm. Minutes after that, Madam Rabi walked in with two beautiful and smartly dressed girls. She introduced them to us as Rashida and Mariam; Rashida being a newly employed staff member and Mariam an intern.

After lunch, Mary and Shahema went to the offices of Marie Stopes and The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit to remind them of the training sessions we had previously requested. They also passed by the Cultural Center to further negotiate on the price for the hall we wanted for our walk-in workshop and they managed to beat the price down a further 20 cedis.

The office was filled with joy and delight when Ellie walked into the office on Tuesday morning. Her sprains were healing and she was feeling better. We continued our normal office work happily for the rest of the day.

Wednesday was a designated group learning day, where Mo and Al Hassan led us to the central mosque of Tamale. Mark could not go because he was to help the RAINS group with a peer education session in Langa. The visit was informative and the aid work the mosque does with regards to helping people furthered our zealous spirits for this volunteering experience. We were taken round the mosque by one of the mosque guides and he told the history of the mosque and how it was managed. We were also allowed to take pictures and videos.

Listening to information at the Mosque

After days of sampling and recording of the questionnaires administered during our school and community visits, the final report on the findings was ready. Maintenance Mo presented the report to us and the findings also helped to revitalize our motivation since they proved we still had a lot to do.

The officers from DOVVSU arrived in the office on Friday morning earlier than we expected. The two gentlemen took us through the various types of domestic violence, why people don’t report cases to them, examples of domestic violence cases, how cases are handled and  what we could do as volunteers to help curb the situation. The session lasted for two hours and by the time it was over, all of us were filled with the knowledge we needed to train peer educators on domestic violence.

We concluded the day with a meeting with Rashida. She re-introduced herself to us and gave us the chance to ask questions about WOSAG and how she could help us as a team. In less than 45 minutes, all floating questions were answered and every member of the team went home with one thing in mind: we should be the change we want to see and take responsibility.

Written by Maaniku Mark
Edited by Ellie Gibbs

Episode Three: BamVilli

Group photo with Banvim Women's Group

The morning was bright with the sun beaming down. Monday was another important and busy day as we had to prepare for the school and women’s group in Bamvim. The questionnaires that we edited last week needed another revision as we found that we had to make it more accessible to everyone. Mohammed wanted to role play the situation for Tuesday’s trip to acclimatise to the new questionnaire. As he presented, the rest of the group acted as the students who would ask potential questions that may come up during the questionnaire. We felt we were prepared for the challenge to come.

The following morning we all met at the taxi rank in town as we were  going to the community via minibus. We gathered into a shelter attached to their meeting place which had a wheelbarrow, sand, cement and two benches with the women in the next room. We already knew from the previous cohort that English was not widely spoken amongst the group so the previous day Alhassan was appointed as “Mr Translator” from English into Dagbani, he ran the show, keeping the women entertained and enthusiastic about our project whilst they awaited their turn to answer the questionnaire. We also had Mark and Hannah on hand as the translators who would conduct one-to-ones with the women and go through the questionnaires privately. From Sheila’s translations, it became clear that the women had strong reservations about our approach to tackling domestic violence and that we were not addressing the underlying root of the problem. However, we later discussed measures to rectify this and to redesign our strategy.

Al Hassan, Ben and Mary explaining questionnaires to women

After speaking to the women, we headed to meet the chief who was sat at the centre of a large three walled space. We greeted him customarily by clapping in sync once we sat down. Sheila informed the chief of WOSAG’s mission and asked permission if we could continue to operate in the community. The chief spoke softly with a chewing stick in his mouth, and welcomed us into his community, offering any help should we need it; provided we leave one of the girls behind. We took this last part as a joke, though not without uncertainty. 

Next was the children’s group, who we were all excited to meet us. We split the group of girls into two class rooms so that each girl had a desk of her own; this was to reduce copying of answers on the questionnaires.  We split up the volunteers into each classroom. In one of the classrooms Ellie introduced them to the interactive game of “head, shoulders, knees and toes” and all seemed to respond enthusiastically. Our introduction and presentation of the questionnaire to the students went well, however in practice, many of the girls found the questionnaires difficult to understand. We then maximised our time in helping the students to first help them understand the questionnaires. After some time and efficient teamwork all the questionnaires had been done and we all felt better inside as we were very productive throughout the day. It was time to say goodbye to the school for now until our next visit for sensitization

Mark explaining questionnaires to pupils

The next day Manuel was brought into work which kept us occupied, especially Al Hassan. We received a call from the women’s group in Kanvilli informing us that they were ready for the questionnaires. Half the team then patrolled out to conduct the questionnaires which proved more emotional than anticipated. The others stayed in the office to organise and collate the existing results, for which Mohammed and Ellie created a template on excel. 

Mark speaking Dagbani to woman and filling in questionnaire

The following day the team had a long discussion on the aim of WOSAG and how best to go about tackling domestic violence within the communities. This prompted us to draw up a list of priorities to target the issues that were becoming most prevalent. Mark and Mary went to Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, DOVVSU and Marie Stopes to ask if they would be willing to educate us on domestic violence and sexual health which will be beneficial when we train the peer educators in days to come. There was hope in partnering with another charity organisation called ‘Mama to Angel’ as Perpetua, the Executive Director, came to meet Mary, who had met her on a previous occasion. The discussion was positive as we suggested ways in which to help each other. 

Finally Friday was a bit more relaxing as we had worked very hard and well as a team throughout the week. The day consisted of finalising collation of results, presenting the results in the afternoon and planning for the busy forthcoming week. 

This week was the most productive and challenging week so far and the challenge now was to keep it up for next week.

Written by Mohammed Daniyaal Khan
Edited by Ellie Gibbs

Episode Two: A Lesson Learned

Created by a pupil from Kanvili R/C School

We got straight to work on Monday morning when Hannah and Mary ventured into town and visited Marie Stopes to ask if they would attend our WOSAG’s Walk-In Workshop. This is a festival-style celebration of women’s rights where we will be providing information on domestic violence, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights. However, we want it to be an event that all the family can enjoy so there will be face-painting, henna, and craft stalls. Initially, Hannah and Mary accidentally walked into the medical reception of Marie Stopes rather than the main reception. Despite the slight embarrassment that came with being stopped mid-speech and being told they were in the wrong place, it gave them the idea to invite the medical department to the workshop to give consultations. The discussion with Marie Stopes was a success and they have shown interest in our project, we just need to give them our proposal letter.

After this, Ellie gave the group a tutorial on how to use social media effectively in the hope that we will all contribute to WOSAG’s online expansion. We would also like to share WOSAG’s successes with the public and to inspire other people to become active citizens.

The next day, our team leader Sheila brought her son into the office. Despite being a single mother to her one-year-old Manuel, Sheila has challenged herself to change our world. We all fell in love with him when he visited our office this week. Most notable was Al Hassan who took a shine to Manuel with a smile we had never seen on him before. This made us better appreciate the compassionate nature of the men in our office and highlighted how men are not the enemy when it comes to women’s rights.  Each one of them conveys their passion for equality in different ways; Al Hassan is bursting with love and peace and he will share it with everyone, Ben voices his opinions and ideas with a realistic perspective, Mark is full of knowledge about Tamale and useful insights that we otherwise would not have, and Mohammed is focused and keeps us productive.

Our office work this week primarily consisted of preparing for our action research at Kanvili R/C School Complex. We did this by editing the last cohorts questionnaires for the women’s groups and school children in an attempt to ascertain their knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, and domestic violence. Friday morning was full of excitement as we met at the taxi rank and began our first action research. This was certainly the most rewarding part of our work as a group so far as we were able to integrate with a new community who WOSAG will be helping in the near future.

Ellie helping the pupils understand the questionnaires.



WOSAG volunteers participating in an energiser with the pupils

The girls and boys cooperated with us extremely well considering the excitement of finished exams. Immediately it became apparent that we hadn’t edited the questionnaires appropriately as  certain questions we had asked them in the questionnaires were much more relevant to the women’s groups rather than the school pupils. From our experience, we learnt that we needed more desks particularly with the girls who had to share a tiny desk between two people. Not only did this take away the confidentiality of the questionnaire but it altered the reliability and honesty of our results. After the group had completed the questionnaires, Sheila took everyone outside to relive a game from her childhood. This helped the UK volunteers to immerse themselves into Ghanaian school culture and allowed us to break down the professional barriers. It was such a success, particularly when everyone broke out into dancing and singing and we truly felt welcome.

Playing childhood games with the children from Kanvili School.

Once we reflected on our experience at the office, we quickly realised how drastically we needed to change our method and alter our questionnaires. We spent time as a group rigorously editing the questionnaires and we now feel they are appropriate.

Having learned our lessons the hard way this week, we are now a stronger, better-informed group. Bring on the next challenge!

Written and edited by Shahema Miah and Mary O'Driscoll

Episode One: Dagomba Street

The first day we were introduced to Madam Rabi who asked us to disclose our individual volunteering experiences. After a few contributions we were sat in silence. The term 'experience' had seemed to instill a feeling of inadequacy amongst members of the group.

'What I have done looks like nothing in comparison to the others', said Ben, before admitting to vast experience interning with the British parliament and and the Scottish Government. 'This is it', said Madam Rabi, 'our experiences are not limited to those in classrooms, official organisations and scheduled trips. Simply walking out of  your front door to work is an environment to experience.' This profound wisdom inspired us all to voice our past lives, and helped generate our new project mantra:

            Living is experiencing

            Knowledge is everywhere

WOSAG's philosophy is thus to be resourceful of the given environment, to utilize the available tools and to ensure the best is made of any situation. We took the clues left behind by the previous cohort and formulated a structure in order to pick up where they left off.

First, operation tidy-up was necessary. Mary learned how to use a broom, and the sounds of Bruno Mars and Bob Marley helped to make our work less tiresome and more tuneful. We drew up some office rules which included a lateness penalty which incurs smiling for thirty minutes if arriving any later than 8.35am, and we used energiser name games to get to know each other and break the ice, though the Ghanaian heat had already melted most of it. Our creative hands were tapped into as we made a group banner, the empty stencilled letters of WOSAG filled with colourful African patterns and designs.

With no internet access and limited power, we split into groups to absorb the lives of what battery remained on our dying laptops and devices. 'Maintenance' Mo divided the reading into groups using a highly advanced table system with flipchart and pen. Some of us explored the social media archives. Others focused on event planning and previous projects, which gave us an insight on what roles we would need to assign for own presentations in Banvim and Kanvili, the schools and women's groups we are due to make visits to.

The week of administration tested our patience, resilience as a a group, ability to organise independently and propensity to manage tasks from another team's instructions. It seemed like we had a lot to prepare, but after a sweep down and a readjustment, our surroundings were brightened and renewed; WOSAG is ready to revitalize.

Written by Ellie Gibbs
Edited by WOSAG Cohort 3