By jamfanous
A lot has happened in the last month! My work with CDDF has really taken off and I recently began work on a waste management project at a grade school in Nii Boi Town. The project plans have finalized into a Solid Waste Management and Beautification Project. Thus myself and another CIEE intern are developing basic recycling and composting systems. Since most waste produced at schools consist of mostly plastics and biodegradable products such as orange peals, the best option for a school is to recycle its waste products in order to generate a small income or make use of its materials. Of course this project comes with many different variable and approaches, however: we plan on beginning with an educational seminar for the students regarding recycling, the environment etc, and why it is important to recycle and keep the earth clean, hopefully we will present to the students and teachers next week. After the initial presentation to the school, we are hoping to conduct a few more throughout the semester on a smaller scale, regarding environmental awareness and health.
The second step to the project is acquiring materials, thankfully CDDF has a several good ties with the community in Greater Accra so many of the materials necessary for the project will either be donated or come from CDDF’s pre-existing funds.
We want to create an efficient waste division system separating all forms of waste nonrenewable/reusable waste, sachets, water bottles, and compostable materials. The best way to dispose of sachets and water bottles in Ghana is to send them to factories for up-cycling. A amazing sachet up-cycling company here is called Trashy Bags(www/trashybags.org/), the company collects sachet bags and uses them to create various products such as computer cases, wallets, bags, and everything else you could imagine.
Next, the compostable materials, we plan to compost on the school grounds for gardening and beautification uses. A major challenge in Ghana is poor and dry soil, thus a garden, especially on the school grounds, would be impossible. Therefore our plant is to plant around the compost in hopes the regenerating soil will help the vegetation. We are also going to put in practical plants such as fruiting trees in order to provide some portion of food for the students. CDDF and the school are very excited about this project so hopefully with some hard work it will become a great success.
In addition to my work with CDDF I started volunteering with Future Leaders underpriviledged children’s center ( www.futureleaders-ucc.org) a center that started from nothing 20 years ago by Billa Mamoud. The program provides education to orphan or children in serious poverty. Billa began teaching in the early 90s, in the afternoons under a mango tree with just five children, a small chalkboard, and a bench. Currently he now provides education to 150 students either through his facility that holds 9 classrooms, or he provides students with funding to attend higher level education either secondary school or junior high school. A few years ago, several European organizations have stepped in and are now assisting Billa with funding. Additionally, the organization provides meals for the students around three times a week.
I first hear of the organization when Billa came to speak about the program during one of my classes so I immediately jumped at the chance to volunteer and help teach at the organization. I chose to volunteer with Future Leaders instead of Kisseman simply due to how motivated Billa was when speaking to my class, it was extremely inspiring, and I knew working with his organization was the right decision.