It's been a while since you heard from me, but I'm now back from Aponoapono, Ghana. And I have to be honest: that takes some getting used to! My three-month stay there was incredibly fun, educational and challenging. Yet I am also happy to be back with my family and to complete this project.
Progress has been made
Together with ABOCFA, I have been investigating how this organization can become more professional and production can grow. The collaboration with Tony's Chocolonely seems to be bearing fruit: for the first time, ABOCFA now has a higher production than they have ever had before. So this means there is hope!
And there are more areas for improvement. I have already mentioned in my previous blogs that the farmers work very hard. They get up at five o'clock, sometimes have to walk for miles before they reach their land and then they work very hard until sunset. During my research I heard from farmers that they do not have enough money to hire staff, and they have come up with a solution: a rotation system in which a number of farmers help one farmer and then another to ultimately help yourself. This way they encourage each other and do not have to pay personnel costs.
Another important progress is that three additional Purchasing Centers (places where farmers can sell their cocoa beans to ABOCFA) have been created, namely in Kokotesua, Safrosa and Anwiam, so that farmers do not have to walk as far. The intention is to have more of these PCs in the future.
And even more has happened: the first toilets at the school are ready, mainly thanks to the active contribution of the students from the Maartens College in Haren. Four additional toilets are now being built for four other schools.
Ghanaian Farewell
So a lot has happened, and that made saying goodbye quite difficult, first from my Ghanaian host family - Madam Esther and her family are wonderful and they have taken good care of me taken care of. Every day I got delicious Ghanaian food such as fufu, jollof rice, rice balls and much more. It was three years ago that I had tasted that, and I have to say: I already miss having to eat such a dry brown sandwich again! The farewell to the ABOCFA people was very emotional, they asked me if I could stay longer. I was deeply touched, firstly because they had apparently found what we had done together during those three months useful, and secondly because I felt that I had become part of them – we ate together, traveled together, laughed together but talked together. also about very serious things.
On the last day, the board invited me to make a peace offering to the gods by sprinkling some alcohol on the ground. They wanted to thank me for my efforts and wish me a good trip back to Amsterdam. A very beautiful farewell ritual!
I would like to end my blog by saying that I am extremely grateful that I was able to do this job for Tony's Chocolonley and I would like to express my appreciation for the great work they do in Aponoapono. I also really enjoyed the collaboration with Ghanaian partner organizations, so many thanks to them too!
I have seen firsthand how Tony's work benefits the entire community. Tony's motto is really true: crazy about chocolate and serious about people!!!
Now I am back in the gray Netherlands. My adventures have given me the energy to complete my business plan for ABOCFA in the coming days. I am already working hard and it is expected that it will be ready and handed over by mid-May.
Thank you everyone for reading my blog, I really enjoyed sharing my adventures with you and who knows, maybe we will meet again one day, or as the Ghanaians say: Nyame ye adom aa, yen besan ashia beeum , which means: God willing, we will meet again!