Inshallah!

In a country where the Mosques summon the believers to their prayers 5 times a day. Where our Muslim brothers from the bicycle repair spot lightheartedly quarrel over their place in the prayer line before kneeling down again for their umpteenth “Allah w Akbahr”.
In a country where you buy your jeans in the “Jesus never fails”-boutique. Ride through the dodgy trafic in the “Put your trust in God”caps. Or eat a meal out of a plastic bag in the “There is no power above the power of God”-snackbar.
In such a country, religious expressions are seeping into my own vocabulary without notice. I caught myself saying “may God bless you” and “thanks to God” on more than one occasion already. And sighing an Inshallah… when I hope that the car will come to take us back to town.

They say that the African is a deeply religious being. And this goes way longer back that the monotheist religions that trade and conquest brought them. Traditional shrines and rituals are still the parch-and-parcel of African everyday life.
Divine fate rules life. This gives unexpected answers to interview questions. When asked about future decisions and plans, it is not unusual to reply “How can I know what God has in mind for me?”, as if will and own choice have no place…
I asked an 18 year old what training would he choose if he was given the opportunity to learn on any aspect of farming (animal rearing, soil fertility, a cash crop etc.). He replied: “Okay, all those different aspects are ways to make your farm successful. May God give me success if it is his wish and guide me on my path.. That is my answer to your question.”

Among these steadfast believers, I started sighing myself “Oh Lord teach me humbleness…” and I think the Lord is well answering my prayer… although his lessons are hard ;-)
As you have followed my black ponderings above, I am going through a struggle to get to terms with my so-called “uselessness”. A lot of pretentions had to be left in the first weeks as a result of the constant heat-induced sleepiness. Then other pretentions are being taken away by the diarrhea, some important backlashes in the research project, the not all that positive reaction of Ghanaian researchers and farmers to our research….
At first, my idea was that by linking up to the Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP) I would have something concrete to deliver recommendations to. And through SNV (a Dutch development organization) as a research partner, we would make sure our research would benefit local organizations and partners to the GSFP. So even though I could not do action-research myself, it would at least not be doing some “stand-alone”research.
Soon upon arrival these two “anchors” turned out not to be very “stead fast”. The Dutch government decided to withdraw her support from the GSFP for several reasons: financial management is not performed the way it should by the Ghanaian government and 70% of the money goes to the 3 richest districts. Is this about fighting poverty or winning votes in the presidential elections this autumn?
Secondly, SNV announced that they did not want to be partners in our research. Reason: According to SNV they offered mr. Eenhoorn (the former Unilever guy now the associate professor in charge of our research programme) to link us up with local partner organizations, which would mean open up our research agenda to their input. Eenhoorn refused this as he wanted to stick to his own brilliant research plan…without even discussing the option with us, the researchers. And failing to report back the subsequent withdrawal of SNV to the project.
I was very angry with mr. Eenhoorn for two days and was determined to tell him what I thought of his depreciation of us as researchers by taking such an important step in research strategy and by spoiling our chances to contribute anything to local knowledge development. But on Monday morning, when I managed to reach him…. Well, intercontinental phone calls are just not the best for disagreements and besides he has this way with charms and words that made me decide not to spill my energy any further.
I sigh… even though we both are Dutch, we seem to come from other planets… so talking louder will not open ears that are full of other music. I only hope he understands that developing a happy society, is not the same as running a company… that subsistence farming is a different kind of trade than selling Magnum icecream… and that Africa is not a market to be conquered but the home to many who want to live life in all its aspects, not just the productive ones. And that since it is their home and not ours, we should have a whole lot of respect and a lot more patience!!
But oh well, it might just as well be me who does not understand. And in the end, can anyone pretend that he fully does??


So humbleness, Lord, humbleness ;-)