Women’s Ghana/II: Discovering one’s own rights before knowing how to write

Hunger is the first battle to win. Whoever succeeds can also send their children to school. Second and last part of the news report on Ghana. 

by Lorenzo Robustelli

From Gnani  the trip take us even further north to Bolgatanga, near the border with Burkina-Faso where there are “rich” widows, who risk lynching for what they do. They take care of the “Widows network” directed by Betty,

one of themwho seems to use the collaboration of ActionAid wisely and the local Christian churches, not to mention the police and Ghanaian government who created a special unit to sustain victims of family violence. There are about 8,000 widows surveyed who were chased away from their community in this area. The phenomenon is simple: 6 women and 6 targets – therefore when you become a widow everything will be taken away, sometimes corporal punishment will also be inflicted, painful and humiliating, just to scare you more and then you are kicked out and we take whatever you had. “The government helps us – explains Betty – and also the police and courts. When we are able to get there we always win.” The problem is we don’t always get there; the women aren’t always courageous enough to do it. Christians who do not accept polygamy rebel more often than others. Even here practice calls for tradition: they say the woman must be shaved and completely naked because the spirit of the dead husband cannot recognize her and take her away with him. De facto they risk being stripped forever, unless they agree to marry a brother or a relative of the husband, in other words some male that allows keeping the family money intact.

These widows who run away are taken care of by the Network and are helped in finding a new job when they need it- almost always. Some make colored baskets, others like Viola Nsol, a splendid young widow with 4 children (who presents herself elegantly at the ActionAid delegation) dare more: they learn to weave on generation old looms and then they teach the younger ones and in the meantime produce several meters of fabric that they sell and with this they support the family and are able to send their children to school, an extreme luxury in a country of where 500,000 children out of a population of 22,000,000 are not in the educational system.

Hunger remains the first battle to win. It is calculated that in the world at least a billion people – 1 out of 7 suffers. In “rich” Ghana there are still those who suffer in the rural areas and maybe even more in the cities that grew too fast but not well, where it is easy to see people roasting sewer rats to fill their bellies. And ActionAid spends the majority of its energy on this just to earn trust and communicative partnership from the EC. The project has a simple name, which nonetheless explains everything: “Right to Food.” And here too the women play the role of the lion. In Bawku, in the extreme corner of North Eastern Ghana at the border of Burkina-Faso and Togo, Pitta Hassan explains what the 4 priorities for a population where at least 60% depend on farming are: training farmers; the quality of seeds in poor soil; access to water; organization to sell the little that is produced in excess. These four priorities are taken on with courage and determination every day by men and women of ActionAid together with local volunteers in the “Farmers network.” A network with 1,675 women and only 665 men, to which, explains Andrews Bukari, President of the network, donned with a black cowboy hat and Jonny Depp style sunglasses, “seeds, fertilizer and small animals are distributed.”

The baby goats own the place. The project delivers 2 to each associate, and after 2 years that member must give 2 to another associate. “Sometimes there are only 5 in all at one time but there are always 3 instead of 2 the ones that remain, in other situations though – says Andrews – in 2 years 2 kids become 15 and that is true wealth.” The goats roam freely, “we recognize all of them and know whose they are. Sometimes, if necessary, we make a little mark in their ear.” The asses and cows, also donated to the associates, roam freely. Solema has goats, “I raise them and am also able to send my children to school,” she says. Larabeth on the other hand received seeds “which grew and allowed us to greatly increase crop production: first we made 12 sacks at harvest, now I make 21. Yes, I work my land, inherited from my grandfather,” she stresses.

And Diego admits: “there are more women than men because they are taking more and more space, and not only because they needed more help than the men.” The problem with water however is more difficult to resolve also these farmers note because: “rainfall is changing their timing; it recedes but fortunately we have strong seeds.” But even this won’t be enough, if there is not enough water, if they cannot regenerate the land where the seeds must grow, all the reinforcements of this world will not be enough. Women however are growing, better than “bursting” seeds. Lidya – beautiful and determined – explains, she still signs with a thumbprint: “Now we know what human rights are, and we know they apply to us women as well. We know we have the right to ask the government for help, for ourselves as women. And if help does not come, we will not vote for them anymore.” END/