IDDS 2011 - New Longoro

Most of our fieldwork was done in the village of New Longoro about 5 hours north of Kumasi. When we first arrived, we attended a community meeting under a huge mango tree. It was a great way to meet the community and explain what we were hoping to accomplish with the visit (and mercifully, no one commented on the fact that I had spilled water down the front of my trousers--I always have a way with first impressions).

Our host was named Pastor George and he managed to accommodate all of us (about thirty people) and provide food for us. We had most of our meals in a little gazebo in front of his house which was a great place to interact as a smaller group and we would often stay there late into the night singing* and having a wonderful time. We also enjoyed walking to the river** on the other side of town (about 2 kilometers) and grab some kosi (deep fried batter made with cowpeas and some spices) and ballfloat (huge spherical fried dough) for breakfast. Since we were quite a strain on the house, we tried to help out by carrying some water from the pump a kilometer up the road (though we certainly brought much less water than we ended up using).

I was pretty good at carrying the water without spilling much. However, pouring it into the tank was an area where I needed more practice. Photo credit: Ben Chapman

We met lots of interesting people walking around the village and just asking questions. They gave us lots of information about all sorts of oilseeds available in their community. Most of the villagers are farmers, so they were really excited about our project and had lots of input. The women were interested in the possibility of a new way of earning some extra income. The men took one look at our machine and asked us why it wasn't hooked up to a motor. The women were eager to show that they could crank the machine themselves.

We also visited the nearby communities of Bamboi, Gomboi and Dwere (dw makes a j sound) to collect more information. Bamboi is a larger village on the other side of the river which provided some useful information on markets, but we didn't spend much time there. Gomboi and Dwere are much smaller and quite a way from the road. We would cram seven people into a taxi which was tiny and practically dragging on the ground with all of us as it wended its way down nearly washed away roads (at one point we had to reassemble a mini-bridge and guide the wheels onto the planks so it wouldn't tip over--we contemplated carrying the taxi, which probably would have been easier). The people of Gomboi and Dwere were very friendly and really helped us gain perspective of the challenges in more remote settings. I have to say that one of my favorite experiences during IDDS was riding bikes back about 20 km to New Longoro.

Photo Credit: Ben Chapman

There was one weekend during IDDS where we didn't have anything scheduled, so a few of us drove up to New Longoro and went canoeing on the river. It was a really great group and we had an amazing time on the water. Several of us were a bit the workaholic type so New Longoro proved an invaluable escape. It really is breathtaking.

Photo credit: Joseph Kisyoky

* Amy brought her guitar and we sang lots of folk music. Also, there was a keyboard there and Sophia from Ghana was very eager to set us up as a gospel choir.
** This is the Volta river, which is absolutely beautiful.

Introduction
My Project (Part 1)
My Project (Part 2)
Other Work
Delivering Content
My Team
Language
Where We Stayed
Suame Magazine
New Longoro
Maker Faire
Food
Potluck
Ramadan
Transportation
Accra