Ghana
Answering the Call to Collective Effort
By Milana McLead

Emmanuel Takyii (left) and his son, Edward Botwe, work many "sweat equity" hours preparing their land for construction.

The sound of the gong pierces the quiet morning, ringing out over the dusty, rust-hued landscape. It brings a message to the villages of Ghana in West Africa: "Today we will work." It calls people from their individual duties to a collective one: working in community together for the greater good.

On this day, against the verdant backdrop that is the 98-house community of Baanuase HFH in centrally located Nkenkasu, neighbors and friends stride eagerly toward their destination, a nearby plot of land designated for crops and future income generation. They will work -- machetes in hand, backs bent to their labor in sweltering heat -- for many hours. Today's task is to clear this rough and tumble plot where "cow peas" (small red beans) will soon be planted. The harvest, in three months time, will yield a crop to be stored for the lean season, and sold then for a profit -- a portion of the funds designated to the affiliate's revolving fund.

Working together is an ancient custom in Ghana. The drums and gongs have called people to collective effort for centuries in this land of tribes and traditions. Habitat's presence has enhanced, and in some cases, even renewed, the spirit of susu and nnoboa -- "coming together to work."

Homeowner children at the Mansen affiliate in central Ghana unite in "Habitat Babies" program of neighborhood activities.

"By giving of our labor, we also support other things," says Augustina Dufie, chairperson of the women's association of Baanuase HFH. "Habitat has taught togetherness. Whatever we want to do, we are united and can do anything."

The Baanuase women farm in order to support themselves, to help those who are ill, and to teach the children.

"One cannot work single-handedly to be successful in life," says Dufie. "Working individually wasn't as rewarding as working as a team. ...Without Habitat, the initiative wasn't there. With Habitat, we are able to take the initiative." And so it is, across this equatorial West African nation where Habitat for Humanity affiliates have built more than 1,600 houses -- in itself a feat that demonstrates strength in community.

"We want people to live together as a community so they can share things in common," says Joseph Abugri, project coordinator with Bawku HFH in the remote northern reaches of Ghana. "This also helps bring amenities, like electricity, improved sanitation and good drinking water. With 'family' houses (traditional mud and thatch huts) here in the north, it is difficult to get [these things] because [the houses] are so spread out."

The women's assication of Bawku East in northern Ghana works together for community improvement.

While many such Habitat villages have sprung up from northern to southern Ghana, so also have a spirit of community and a sense of empowerment taken root. Together, families find strength and unity, joining forces because of their overwhelming need. Village chiefs cite shelter, food, education, health care, clean water, income generation and electricity as top priorities in their areas. Most see that with Habitat has come positive change for their people.

"Habitat is bringing community together," says Chief Nana Kumah Saah in the Gomoa East district. "Without Habitat, it would be weak, development would go down, people would have no money. Now, development will come."

In Habitat communities throughout Ghana, income generation plans and/or projects are in varying stages of development. To wit: A grain mill, onion farming, various crops and a community market in Bawku; a 500-tree teak plantation, onion and cow pea farming and soap-making in Baanuase; a burnt-brick factory and community shop in Mansen; oil palm seedlings in Assinman; pepper farming and a market in Gomoa East. While each affiliate and community group decides on its own plan for distribution of the profits, typically, a portion goes to the homeowners (which they may then put toward their mortgage payments), a portion into the capital required for the project, and a portion into the revolving fund.

In Bawku, the women's group contributes weekly to a common fund, which helps families, children and the infirm, as well as assists with house payments in times of need.

"When homeowners see themselves as partners, it helps the community protect the revolving fund, and works toward the sustainability of the project," says international partner Victor Buabeng Baidoo.

Habitat house building in Ghana is typically done in groups, with three to five families working together to build each other's houses. In most cases, the homeowners-to-be are required to work as many as 140 days to earn their sweat equity. In the end, susu and nnoboa are firmly rooted.

"I will keep helping others, because people have helped me," says Mansen HFH homeowner George Asamoah. "I want to do the same for others. This unity makes it easy for the project to continue."

And the calling of the gong continues to ring ever farther across the land. Affiliated in 1987, HFH Ghana now has 23 affiliates working in more than 70 communities.

"If you've worked together, you realize what you can achieve," says Nana Prah, longtime HFHI board member and a native of this country. "In Ghana, volunteerism per se is not common, but working together as a community is what we are used to. Habitat is strengthening the extended family and the community...[It is] making people realize that you have to be your brother's keeper."





Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, June/July 2000.
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©2000 Habitat for Humanity International