GlobalResolve in Ghana, Africa

GlobalResolve in Ghana May 2010
Assembled by Kim Pearson & Heather Hazzan

Forward
David Metoyer

GlobalResolve at Arizona State University traveled to Ghana in May 2010. Each student
brought their unique focus along for the trip.

The trip intended to give GlobalResolve researchers the opportunity to interact, ask
questions, and build relationships with Ghanaian villagers in hopes of identifying their needs
and desires. It was a unique approach to addressing the most serious challenges facing the
developing country, which was far more collaborative than the scope of other aid efforts.

“Global Resolve Returns to Africa”
ASU website

Nine students and five faculty from ASU are traveling to Kenya and Ghana between May
14 and May 31 to visit five villages, two K-12 schools, a research NGO, a water filter factory and
a university (KNUST).
The goals include the use of rural village appraisal in order to identify villager needs for
future projects, deliver prototypes of the Twig Lights and Solar Cell Phone Chargers for village
evaluation, continue to develop two village ventures (Gel Fuel and Twig Lights) and explore
partnerships with KNUST.
This is GlobalResolve's seventh trip to Africa since the program began in 2006, and it has
involved more than 20 faculty and 180 students working on products to help solve problems in
the developing world and that can be the basis of village business ventures.

9 students

Brian McCollow | Sustainability & Global Studies ’12

Michael Pugliese | Mechanical Engineering Technology ’08

Kim Pearson | Sustainability & Spanish Literature ’12

David Metoyer | Finance, Sustainable International Development & Entrepreneurship ’11

Heather Hazzan | Sustainability ’11

Veekas Shrivastava | Economics & Political Science ’13

Briar Schoon | Sustainability ’10

Melissa Silva | Business (Sustainability) & Economics ’11

Aaron Smith | Design (New Product Innovation) ’11

GlobalResolve
globalresolve.asu.edu

GlobalResolve works together with a range
of partners to develop sustainable technologies
and programs in the areas of energy, clean
water, and local economic development for rural
communities in the developing world.

GlobalResolve was established at ASU in
2006 as a social entrepreneurship program
designed to enhance the educational experience
for interested and qualified ASU students by
involving them in semester-long projects that
directly improve the lives of underprivileged
people, and/or those in under-developed nations
throughout the world.

Through GlobalResolve, ASU students and
faculty collaborate with international universities,
residents of rural villages, local governments,
ﬁnancial institutions, and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to develop and disseminate
no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech solutions that
address pressing public health or environmental
needs of a developing-world population.

Because solutions developed by
GlobalResolve are designed to be replicable
locally, regionally, and internationally, the
solutions also create the potential for proﬁtable
new business ventures that generate sustainable
income streams for impacted populations.

Global Impact Entrepreneurship
Heather Hazzan

ASU students across various disciplines
applied to be a part of this hands-on, three
sequence class -- Global Impact
Entrepreneurship.

During the Spring 2010 semester, students
studied the needs assessments from
GlobalResolve’s last Ghana trip the past summer.
Students were then assigned to small groups
consisting of different majors. Each group was to
work together to create new products and ideas
for a business plan, attempting to solve some of
the problems that remained in the villages.

At first, some groups struggled, because
each student was only looking at the problem
from their unique major’s point of view. The
Business major was baffled by that fact that the
Sustainability major did not know where to start
on writing a business plan. The Architect major
did not understand how the Business student
forgot to take into account the structure of the
design. However, this struggle turned out to be a
great asset. Problems were not solved linearly,
like they would have been if only students from
one major tackled it. It was a way for each
student to gain another perspective. And as a
result, the business plans were stronger and took
into account many factors.

Social Businesses
Heather Hazzan

Muhammad Yunus’s book Creating a
World Without Poverty played a large role in
the foundation of the business plans. The
book’s main concept goes back to the old
adage: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him
for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed
him for life.”

It all starts with the idea of a social
business.

According to Yunus’s website: “In a
social business, the investors/owners can
gradually recoup the money invested, but
cannot take any dividend beyond that point.
Purpose of the investment is purely to
achieve one or more social objectives
through the operation of the company, no
personal gain is desired by the investors. The
company must cover all costs and make
proﬁt, at the same time achieve the social
objective, such as, healthcare for the poor,
housing for the poor, ﬁnancial services for the
poor, nutrition for malnourished children,
providing safe drinking water, introducing
renewable energy, etc. in a business way.”

Business plan topics ranged from water sanitation, to lighting devices, to pineapple drying processes

Mike Pugliese (pictured top right) developed the Twig Light, which consists of twigs, water, a thermoelectric
generator, and an LED array. The temperature difference between the two sides produces energy for light.

The Twig Light
Brad Rogers - blog post

The Twig Light is just two pieces of
three inch aluminum box beam, each about
four inches long, separated by a
thermoelectric generator. The upper piece
serves as a small combustion chamber, while
the lower piece sits in a few inches of water
for cooling. The temperature difference drives
the generator, which produces enough power
to light a bank of 25 LEDs brightly enough to
light for a small room. The combustion
occurs safely outside of the house, with wires
running through a window to the LEDs inside.
Any source of heat is fine – in the village, we
went out to a cooking fire and gathered a few
hot coals, which kept the lights illuminated
for more than an hour until we put out the
heat. The women told us it was perfect for
them because as they finished dinner, they
would throw a few coals in and have light for
a few hours into the evening.

“Multidisciplinary capstone brings light - and more - to developing
countries”
Kari Stallcop

Students in the new GlobalResolve social entrepreneurship capstone course are completing initial business
plans in preparation for a two-week trip to Ghana in May to study local resources and needs.

The entrepreneurs – students in the ﬁelds of engineering, business, design and more – are making plans for the
production and sale of inventions, including an award-winning generator and clean-burning stoves.

“We’re shooting for affordability – we want to keep the price for our product under $20,” said Raphael Hyde
[pictured right], the leader of a project team that is making plans to manufacture and market the generator known as
Aura (Twig) Light. “The challenge will be ﬁnding ways to produce enough units to meet local demand.”

“In the next year, through this team, we hope to bring some light into developing areas of Ghana.”

Hyde and his team – Nisha Patel, Lisa Regets and Michael Pugliese – recently won ASU’s top Challenges
Innovator award for $5,000 in venture funding and have applied for the Edson Venture Creator grant, which offers an
opportunity for student entrepreneurs to win up to $20,000.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Hyde said enthusiastically.

“It’s a great learning opportunity. Among
everything I’ve seen and everywhere I’ve
traveled, this program offers the greatest
opportunity for growth.”

Hyde said that he has a passion for
innovative energy solutions, with experience
working for one of Asia’s biggest lighting
companies. He hopes to use this experience to
start another company and continue developing
energy solutions after his graduation.

“There’s so much happening in the world,”
said Hyde, now in his third year in ASU’s
industrial design and business program. “If you
bring together students who are the best in their
ﬁeld, who care, and give us a chance, we can
make a huge impact.”

To follow the group’s trip to Ghana, Africa,
visit http://globalresolve.asu.edu and click on the
blog, starting May 17. You may also follow them
on Linked In.

Before the trip to Ghana, the faculty and students had several meetings to prepare for the trip. They discussed
everything from how to talk to the villagers to even what kind of socks to bring!

Pre-trip Meetings
The team met for a 4-hour Pre-Ghana Bootcamp at
ASU SkySong to create and break into investigative teams.
Each traveler was asked to create a list of interests to explore
and goals to achieve while in Ghana. Then, each item was
written up on a sticky note and posted on the large windows
in the classroom. Everyone converged at the windows and
began to group similar goals until around ten distinct groups
had been created. These groups would later work together in
Ghana to explore their interests in each village during the
interviews.

Kumasi Ashanti Region

Greater Accra Region

Central Region Gulf Of Guinea

Kumasi
Ashanti Region

Greater Accra Region
Gulf Of Guinea
Central Region

The Journey to Ghana
It took traveling through many states and many
hours of flight to finally arrive in Accra.

“Ghana is located on the west coast of Africa,
bordering the Gulf of Guinea and surrounded by Cote
D’voire, Burkina Faso, and Togo. The landscape ranges
from sandy beaches to jungle to desert. Lake Volta, the
largest artiﬁcial lake in the world, resides here.
Environmental issues include deforestation, drought,
overgrazing, poaching and habitat destruction, and
more.” - Wikipedia

Arriving in Ghana
David Metoyer - journal post

Stepping off the airplane onto the tarmac was an instant
reminder of just how far I was from home. The sweltering air
was thick with moisture, and the smell was unique. Urban
Ghana presented scenes completely unfamiliar to my Western
eyes. Though contrary to what might be assumed, the strong
presence of technology was also unavoidable. Cellular
providers plastered advertisements everywhere. Companies
like Vodafone, MTN, and Zain covered billboards, filled
magazine pages, stitched into shirts, and painted over dirt
walls disguised as houses. I was shocked by the influences of
telecom providers -- it was unlike anything I had ever seen in
America.

One of the first things the group did was visit a local market

Partners and Translators
GlobalResolve could not have done it
without you, Edward, Julius, Frimpong,
Emmanuel, Mary Kay Jackson, Nana Afia D,
and George.

Students hope to keep in contact over
email, phone, and facebook.

Swame Magazine
Brian McCollow - blog post

Talk about entrepreneurship; the men in
this picture are working in one of the most
entrepreneurial districts in Africa: Suame
Magazine. There are over 5,000 businesses in
this quarter-mile by half-mile section of
Accra! There are so many people doing so
many things here like welding, ﬁxing
mechanical parts, forging metal, etc. There
was so much grease and oil on the ground,
that I couldn't even see the dirt when I dug
into the ground with my shoes. The smell
seemed like it came straight out of a factory
during the US's industrialization phase. On
one hand, there was severe pollution which
I'm sure leeches into the ground water; but
on the other hand, they are recycling almost
all of the metal they currently have, which is
an interesting lesson for already developed
countries.

Swame Magazine
Anything and everything can be made in Swame
Magazine. The raw skills, intelligence, and teamwork are
fully alive in Ghana.

Swame Magazine, cont.
Nalini Chhetri - blog post

The team went to a unique workshop
marketplace called Swame Magazine where a
cacophony of metal work, carpentry, welding,
and machinery work is carried in what can
only be termed as a complete organized
chaos by scores of local artisans,
apprentices, entrepreneurs, and mechanics.
It has to be seen to be believed. This quarter
of a mile long avenue of chaotic shops that
puts together and recycles machinery is a
hub of constant activity.

Gel Fuel Production in Domeabra
GlobalResolve.org

GlobalResolve is undertaking an innovative project to produce and sell ethanol gel fuel in the village of
Domeabra and the surrounding area of Kumasi, Ghana. Gel fuel has many benefits when compared to other
common fuel sources in Ghana: wood, charcoal or dung. These a reduction in indoor air pollution and the
accompanied health effects, the stimulation of local economic activity through the production of feedstock to
produce the fuel, and the creation of an alternative energy product that can be marketed throughout the
region.

GlobalResolve is partnering with the paramount chief of Domeabra, Nana Frimpong Afoakwa, to
establish a production facility in the village, provide loans to local farmers, and to market and sell the fuel in
the surrounding regions. This pilot project will also produce information and training opportunities that will
allow for the establishment of similar village-scale production centers throughout central Ghana.

Progress
In September 2008 engineering students and faculty at Arizona State University (ASU) installed an
ethanol production system in Domeabra. The equipment was designed and manufactured at ASU with
support from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Association (NCIIA). The system incorporates
all the necessary equipment to produce ethanol from corn, sugar cane, or rice and to gel the ethanol to make
it an effective cooking fuel.

Domeabra

On the second day in Ghana, GlobalResolve visited Domeabra, a rural village of roughly 5,000 people. Domeabra was
GlobalResolve’s partner for the gelled-ethanol project, a cleaner burning cooking fuel alternative to charcoal and firewood. It was
also the preferred manufacturing location for GlobalResolve’s Twig Light project. The Twig Light was envisioned to provide light for
villagers when access to electricity was unreliable and lighting alternatives were terribly expensive.

The time spent in Domeabra was the first chance to speak with locals and discuss village needs. The team split into groups
of five and spread out; some met with schoolchildren, some spoke with farmers, and my group visited homes. Our visits were
accompanied by a fellow Ghanaian named, Edward, who recently launched an organization to promote the country’s need for
sustainable development. Edward was able to clearly articulate our questions in the native language, Twi. Villagers responded with
one insightful response after another; I needed to record them all. It was a terrific task for the iPad, since it could simultaneously
record audio.

Elders in the village were eager to share their stories and suggestions for future improvement. The presence of the iPad
seemed to be no more of a distraction than the digital cameras, which only resulted in a few curious smiles. I first noticed one child
trailing us… moments later, the size of our group had grown by twenty children as we trekked from home to home. Our group was
being followed by a sense of amazement and wonder; was I a crazy foreigner, or actually doing something meaningful as my
fingers danced over the glass screen I held in my hands? A few children stared and just giggled with one another. I was certain to
be the crazy foreigner until I provided support to justify any claims otherwise.

I paused my conversations with elders and sat down outside the next home, iPad in hand. Even the youngest children
hurried to circle around me for a closer peek [opposite page: bottom left]. I used my finger to swipe across a few menu screens,
flick through saved photos, and play a few songs in iTunes. Like a magician’s audience, they stared in disbelief. Some of them
started poking at the screen for themselves, asking how it worked. I struggled to articulate an answer. I was stumped.

Biemso
We arrived in Biemso hoping to do another village
assessment. However, as we pulled up to the chief’s house,
we noticed that everyone was wearing black or red and that
the atmosphere was solemn and quiet. In fact, Nana’s niece
had passed away and the funeral was to take place in hours
to come. To respect the citizens, most of whom were
attending the funeral, we quickly showed Nana the Twig
Light, but did not perform the interviews. Nana recommended
adding a handle and color-coordinated cup, which were
suggestions that had been echoed in Domeabra.

Biemso, cont.
Kim Pearson

Afterward we were directed to see
the jatropha ﬁelds, which could be potential
biofuel sources and thus a business venture
for the people of Biemso. After making our
way back to the chief’s house, we were given
the opportunity to attend the funeral, which
we were not expecting. The people directed
us to shake hands with seemingly hundreds
of people underneath three large red tents in
the town square, while upbeat music played
from speakers in the center. To our surprise,
they sat us down directly behind the central
tent, for everyone to see us (a place of
honor). Shortly after we did, just about
everyone whom we had just shook hands
with got up to shake our hands -- one by
one. Meanwhile, we were given water bags to
keep us cool in the excessive heat while an
elderly woman announced who we were over
the loudspeakers.

TIA - This is Africa

All of the taxis and vans in Ghana have some sort of saying, and last year we saw one that said, “KEEP
ON.” We are doing just that, as the internet has been out for the past three days or so, but life – it goes on,
and we have been busy!
Today we set out for Biemso, but we dropped Dan off at the airport on the way. He had to get back to
the U.S. because, apparently, he has a job, or something like that…? :) Regardless, after a very long drive
through some rainforest and multiple little villages, and after getting lost again and again (apparently there are
TWO Biemsos, now we know), we ﬁnally arrived at the chief’s house. He and his elders greeted us and we sat
under the very short tree next to his house. We went through the formal process of introducing ourselves and
then announcing what we were there for. He actually remembered me from last year, which was crazy.
Through conversation, we quickly found out that the chief’s nephew had just passed away, and
Saturdays are the days for funerals. Deaths are taken very seriously, and the funerals are huge cultural events.
We later found out that we were expected to attend the funeral as visitors, but as the conversation continued
with the chief, we showed him the newest twig light prototype. He and his elders were extremely surprised
with what happened, and even provided some feedback, like to combine the canisters into one unit instead of
two separate ones.
After showing the chief and his elders the light, we went off to the jatropha ﬁelds, as those are part of
one of our projects and we didn’t want to disturb anyone during the funeral. On our way back we learned that
we had to go to the ceremony on our way out, and we soon embarked on one of the most amazing cultural
experiences we could ever have imagined.

We walked up to ﬁnd a huge outdoor funeral, where there were six huge tents with people sitting
underneath them and very loud music. We had to go around to every single person sitting down in the front
row and shake his or her hand. After we were lead around the event, we were sat just behind the speakers
and then a woman came out and offered each of us water. In Ghana, it is customary to offer your guests
water, as it is assumed they have traveled a long way and are thirsty. Water is served before anything is said
(traditionally). Edward and Julius guided us through the whole process, and we gathered some money to offer
as a gift, to follow customs. The gift, roughly $35, was announced along with the fact that we were from ASU,
and the announcer said lots of other stuff that we didn’t understand. But, as we left, they dedicated a song to
us, and we are pretty sure they were expecting us to dance, but we escaped with lots of laughter.
One of the crazy things in Ghana is that everywhere we go, we are a spectacle. Not only are we white,
but we are a whole group of white people! It goes both ways; we can get out of staying for multiple hour
funerals, for instance, but we also get swamped by salesmen everywhere we go. But hey, TIA. This Is Africa.
Oh, a cockroach or something just crawled up my wall; I’m going to go take care of that. Tomorrow we
drive to Accra, goodnight!

Funeral Traditions
Heather Hazzan

Coming from America, we had no idea
how to act respectfully at the funeral. We
were all used to funerals being sad and
somber. Most people wear black in the
United States. But in Ghana, we were
shocked to find loud music playing, bright
red colors, and people dancing and laughing.
For many of us, it was an awkward situation
to be put into because of the cultural norms
we had been brought up with.

However, the next year we found an
article in the New York Times titled, “Dance,
Laugh, Drink. Save the Date: It’s a Ghanaian
Funeral.” It was about how Ghanaian funerals
are celebrations of life. It is also customary
for family and friends to greet one another in
a line, just as we had.

The Accra Mall

I visited the Accra Mall, an upscale mall
located in the capital city, Accra. Rather than
the Apple Store, there was The iShop, which
was also an Internet cafe. The iPhone was
available for sale, so was the iPad. After
adjusting the prices into dollars, each device
was marked up almost 300 percent
compared to prices in the States. For
reference, the average annual wage in Ghana
is below $500. Using simple math, the
cheapest iPad was triple the average annual
salary.

Talking Apple in Accra

Ghana’s capital city, Accra, most resembled the United States. There were tall buildings, shopping centers, restaurants, and
streets congested with cars, vendors, and bicyclist. GlobalResolve was staying at the Punta Hotel, an upscale hotel in the heart
of the city. We were told Internet access would be available. And it was, but not all the time. When available, the connection was
often weak and sluggish. Convinced the hotel staff simply needed to reset the wireless router to fix the issue, I walked down to
the hotel lobby one night to share my thoughts. It turned out, my hotel room was just too far from the router. The iPad’s
connection was strong in the lobby.
I sat in the lobby for about an hour, emailing status updates and pictures to family and friends. I finished up and started
walking towards my room when the hotel receptionists asked: “Is that an iPad? Will you show me, please?!” It was late, and
GlobalResolve had a full schedule planned for the next day. Still, I figured I had a few moments to spare. I turned away from my
room, shrugged my shoulders and replied, “Sure.”
I handed the iPad to the receptionist; his name was Kennedy. His eyes lit up. He said it was the first one he had ever seen in
person. We chatted for a moment about Apple products and what made them so fascinating. Kennedy clearly kept himself well
informed about the company. He knew all about Apple’s product line and pricing -- at least what was available in Ghana. He was
flabbergasted after hearing prices in the United States. He navigated through the iPad very well; checked my iTunes library for
recently added songs, browsed through photo albums, even logged into Facebook to share pictures of his family and friends. I
noticed he knew special shortcut commands beyond the basic intuition of the device. When I questioned him, he smiled and
slipped an iPhone from his shirt pocket.
Kennedy explained that Apple products were luxury items in Ghana -- very cool but extremely expensive. The iPhone and
iPad were symbols of status more than communication devices. The devices’ abilities were limited by the telecommunications
network and their small market share in Ghana. To him, it was the wifi Internet connectivity that justified owning one. His only
iPhone complaint was the small screen.
While Kennedy and I spoke, hotel guests passed by and glanced at the iPad. Some recognized it and others had never
heard of it before, or Apple. Some stopped to ask questions and others did not want to be around it. An older man knew exactly
what it was and described the iPad as, “The toy of demons”.
The hotel manager came from his office to see the cause of the commotion. He was clearly irritated. Kennedy passed him
the iPad, he smirked then asked to see more. I pointed to the sketching app. A curious woman poked her head through the small
crowd that had gathered in the lobby. The manager spoke of his earlier days as an artist and politely asked if she would be his
subject for a portrait. She agreed and stood still for fifteen minutes as he frantically swiped away on the screen.
All together, what I intended to be a quick five minute chat with Kennedy, evolved into a three-hour iPad demonstration for
over 40 hotel guests. Many of them were captivated by the mythical device and insisted to know where they could get their own.
On the last day of the trip, Kennedy offered $800 to buy the iPad from me. After consideration, I declined his offer. The
inconsistent Internet connection prevented me from backing up my saved data via email. My documented experiences with
GlobalResolve, alone, were arguably worth well over $800.

Drive to Accra, Akawali Village

Yesterday we drove down from Kumasi to Accra in our 25-person bus we hired for the trip. As it was
last year, it was a very beautiful drive. You go through some very cool rainforest and see some small
mountains and vast farmland. It rained again on us about half way to Accra, so that was cool.
After a five and a half hour drive, we finally got the the guest house in Kumasi. Surprise, since no one
showed up for the reservation we had for the original group of nine to stay there the first night before catching
their flight the next day to Kumasi, all the rooms had been canceled. It took about two and a half hours, and
visits to four other hotels to finally find the one we’re at right now. It’s most definitely the weirdest hotel room
I’ve ever been in! The sink is in the shower… along with the water heater. No, I’m serious. The sink is
physically inside the shower, and this morning, Mike got shocked as he used the hot water!! :/ But, TIA – this
Is Africa! At least it has free breakfast? On par with the rest of the crew’s travel faux pas, all the hallways are
at odd angles, and our room, 502, is kinda on the second level, after about four sets up and down stairs.
Anyways, today we made it out to Akawali (still not sure on the exact spelling, it’s pronounced Akwali),
where we met up with Edward and Julius (the two KNUST grads who now teach at Kumasi Polytechnic and
started CEESD, which is kind of a spin-off of GlobalResolve but in Ghana; they’re a great partner). This was
the first time we had ever been to that village, and it was one of our favorites (probably because it was new).
It’s interesting to see the variety of problems, and how each village has their own set that are more prominent
than the others. Akawali has absolutely no light at night and makes for a great potential place for the Twig
Light.

Akawali

Akawali was a sugarcane farming village; and sugarcane was the ideal feed crop for ethanol production. Seeing
potential in the opportunity, the GlobalResolve team made the 2-hour trip to Akawali on their seventh day in Ghana.
The village was rural, with dirt roads, rammed earth homes, no electricity and an unfinished communal meeting
place made of cinder blocks and tin roofing. The team was given a tour of the village and its small-scale ethanol
production operation. Afterwards, the team met with villagers in the community center to explain GlobalResolve’s
mission and conduct a village needs assessment through open discussion and village mapping. Village mapping was a
technique that served to engage the entire community in a discussion. Using local materials, such as leaves, sticks,
stones, and seeds, the village was asked to collectively map the entire village on the floor. The finished map included
roads, rivers, fields, water wells, schools, churches, and homes.
John Takamura, GlobalResolve team member and assistant professor at the School of Architecture and
Landscape Architecture at Arizona State University, pulled an iPad from his bag. He knelt down, peering at the ground
and began to swipe his finger up and down then left to right, repeatedly. The iPad helped John recreate the village
map in digital form. The team took photographs but the iPad made it easy to quickly draw and label the map,
minimizing the ambiguity in things like the small rock that represented the school or the leaf that represented the
sugarcane field.
Villagers were intrigued, slowly stepping around to get a better look over his shoulder without catching his
attention or distracting him from what appeared very serious. I reached into my backpack, pulled out a small black
case, and handed it to an older child from the village; he was no more than 14-years-old [opposite page: pictured
bottom in a yellow shirt]. I explained the basics of the iPad, “Just use your finger,” and then stood back and
observed. The young teenager took to the iPad instantly and followed John’s lead. Moments later, the teen replicated
the map on the iPad. He had no prior experience with Apple products. His schooling provided some experience with
computers, but the technology was near-ancient in comparison. The intuitiveness of the iPad required no learning
curve, only my one-sentence tutorial, “Just use your finger.”

Akawli
Upon arrival, it was obvious that it was extremely
rural. There were no toilets or electricity, and their huts
were made from local materials.

Village Mapping in Akawali Kim Pearson
Village mapping consists of allowing villagers to
describe their community and thus allow us to familiarize
ourselves with their town and also understand possible
problems. We drew a map of the village with important
indicators such as churches and roads using local items like
sticks, rocks, leaves, and ﬂowers. Once everyone was in the
community meeting center, a tin-roofed structure held up with
beams and only one brick wall, with wooden church pews for
seating, GlobalResolve introduced itself. As usual, one person
is chosen to draw the boundaries of the village, and also
typically, there is some disagreement from other citizens as to
whether they drew correctly.

First, the direction from which the sun rises is depicted. Rivers and physical structures are mapped out. Next,
schools and churches are also placed. Lastly, houses are indicated, with the number of females and males represented by
small items on top of each one.

Education Technology
Access in Ghana alti.asu.edu
This year we provided the
GlobalResolve team with Apple iPad
technology to enhance their work in Ghana.
Presently, the cell phone is the predominant
communications technology in Ghana as it is
in many similar areas throughout the world.
There are relatively few desktop computers in
use in Ghana, and Internet access is even
more scarce. Though even with limited
experience using traditional computer
technology, village teenagers quickly took to
the the iPad’s touch screen interface and
were easily able to draw illustrative maps
using graphics programs on the iPad,
recreating what the GlobalResolve team had
laid out on the dirt ﬂoor. In short order the
tablet engaged the students and provided
them with an effective means of
collaboration, communication, and forms of
expression… all with little or no technical
training required.

This simple instance is a powerful statement about the applied use of technology for teaching and learning,
and more importantly to the potential and possibilities available when the barriers to access are overcome in
terms of prior technical knowledge.

Fawomanye
Kim Pearson

Fawomanye is an agricultural village specializing in pineapple production. Upon arrival, we gathered
around the village tree across the circle from women, babies, children, men, and elders (sitting in a special
place in the circle), while goats roamed all around us. Meanwhile, most everyone noticed that several children
were playing with toy cars pulled along by sticks. We quickly realized that the cars were made out of
materials like shampoo bottles, wooden boxes, and other used items. This ingenuity intrigued us and would
become an important point of inspiration. Edward, Mike, Mark, and Brad demonstrated the Twig Light, much
to everyone’s delight. After shaking everyone’s hands, we took a tour of a small pineapple field with some of
our newfound friends. Some young girls gave us a taste of sugar cane and then showed us the field. A few of
us lent our cameras to the girls who instantly started snapping away.

Shortly after, we split into interview groups along with one or two student interpreters. The various topics
of discussion included the education system, agricultural practices (such as use of pesticides and fertilizers,
process of selling), and water cleanliness and access. In terms of education, villagers were struggling with
rising tuition prices and the external costs of school, such as clothing and shoes. The health care is similarly
expensive, and many were unsure as to how they could pay. Regarding agriculture, the pesticides in use hurt
their skin and burned their eyes. When asked whether they would consider organic agricultural practices such
as intercropping to naturally prevent bugs, farmers said they would be interested. In addition, when described
the practice of forming a cooperative, there was interest in joining if there were benefits.

The explained benefits would be
pooling resources to buy better tools and
undertake practices that would be more
profitable at economies of scale, in addition to
the possibility of having more bargaining
power with the middlemen, or to eliminate the
middlemen more directly by transporting the
crops to market themselves.

Several villagers wanted to discuss
their water source, which had become even
more dangerously low since the last year and
thus too muddy to drink. The monsoon rains
were coming later and later every year.

During the trip the year before,
GlobalResolve and Mary Kay Jackson
distributed 250 water filters, but by now the
filters were not enough and villagers had to
buy water that was trucked in.

FuFu Anecdote
Briar Schoon

I remember watching the women pound the cassava with the mortar and long pestle made from wood. While one girl
pounded the cassava, another flipped the doughy substance in a constant motion. They were so efficient, pounding the dough
without even looking. I recall being terrified that one of them would slip, resulting in a mangled hand. This of course never
happened, as the women were so accustomed to this procedure it came naturally, as if the pestle were simply an extension of
their hand. As I stood watching in amazement, the mother called to me and gestured towards the cassava dough. It was obvious
that she wanted me to try.

Cautiously I walked up to the mortar and grabbed the long wooden pestle. I became even more nervous when I realized
that the girl sitting down remained in her seat. I pounded down on the dough, which I instantly discovered to be far more difficult
than I imagined. The cassava was very sticky and coarse. It required a lot of energy to pound down the long pole. It required even
more energy to pound the cassava at the right speed. Despite finding the task far harder than I thought and being scared to death
about accidentally mashing the young girl’s hand, I found myself capable of laughing along with the other women. To the
Ghanaian women, it was quite comical watching my pathetic attempt at pounding the cassava. I was quite relieved when one of
the girls came to relive me from the chore.

At the next house, we found another woman engaged in the next stage of preparing FuFu. She was sitting by the fire stirring
a large pot of cassava dough. I didn’t immediately notice, but two metal rods that she was holding in place with her feet propped
up the stove while she stirred the dough. To top it off, she had her daughter wrapped up on her back.

Apparently the women in Domeabra got some pleasure out of watching me try to cook, because the women instantly
invited me to sit and try. I discovered that this process was far more difficult than pounding the cassava dough. The dough was
so tough and sticky, that it required a lot of muscle power to stir. To top it off, I had to keep my feet steady on the rods to keep
the pot from tipping over. After about a minute, the woman took back over to prevent the dough from burning. I left amazed at
the amount of work put in to preparing the family’s meal every single day, and grateful for the convenience of my refrigerator and
microwave.

Cocoa Beans
Kim Pearson

The cocoa bean, one of Ghana's principal exports, does
not look nor taste remotely close to the chocolate bar we know.
The bean grows in large pods that are cracked open to reveal a
gelatinous mash of seeds which are then cleaned from the
cocoa fruit and dried in the blistering sun. The work is
painstakingly done, yet often does not lend itself to economic
well-being for farmers and their families. Meanwhile, many
children work with their parents harvesting the cocoa, and there
have even been reported cases of child slavery in West African

Villagers in Fawomanye were interested in creating co-ops for their pineapple fields.

Visiting Fawomanye on Africa Unity Day

Sorry for the superbly long delay! No, nothing bad happened to us, we just didn’t have internet for three
straight days and then it has been quite intermittent since it came back; apparently is only works well
between 5 am and 8 am – the times I am not awake!
Today we went back to the village of Fawomanye, where they immediately recognized Mark, Brad, and
me, which was really cool. I remember taking pictures of half of them as we all sat around that same
community tree and we went through the process of welcoming each other. Last year, we only focused on the
water ﬁlters, but this year we brought the latest prototype of the Twig Light. There were issues communicating
that we needed hot coals from the stove in the charcoal chamber, so it took a few attempts and almost half
an hour before we were able to turn the light on, but they liked the idea, and were even more interested in the
cell phone charging component. A few of the villagers have ﬂashlight-type contraptions that they can take out
and walk around with at night, and they told us they would like a mobile version.
This was the last village of four on our schedule, and everyone expressed that they liked Fawomanye
the best, and felt the most comfortable there. It seems that it takes about a week in Ghana to become familiar
enough with the culture and talking with villagers. Briar and Heather attracted two shy little girls who also
became comfortable sitting in their laps; in fact, the girl who decided she liked Briar eventually fell asleep in
her arms! Briar was very, very happy with that and smiled the whole way home!
After showing the twig light at the tree, everyone broke into small groups and went around to talk with
villagers and ask questions. We didn’t have much of a plan for Fawomanye, so it was only slightly chaotic.

We went and saw the pineapple fields, which I hadn’t seen last year, and they were building a new
mosque, which was also definitely not there last year. David noted it was fascinating that there could be
multiple religions in Ghana, even within very small villages, and that there wasn’t any conflict between them.
Studying that lack of conflict could easily be someone’s thesis, and the concepts could be applied in various
regions throughout the world… [This is my official challenge to you, reader: find someone interested in
religious conflict, peace studies, etc., and send them our way. GlobalResolve has quite an integrated
approach in its mission.]
By the end of the (short) day, we started to naturally gather outside someone’s home, and then another
woman was stirring banku for that night’s meal. Because we are very interested in the cooking habits and
what it takes to make a meal (specifically in regards to the stove design), Nalini asked if she could try stirring
the banku. She quickly became the center of attention, and then made me, Heather, and Briar try it, too!
Within minutes, there were 20-30 villagers watching us, and it was just a big funny show! There were no
translators with us, but it proved that humans can communicate without words; through laughter and
embarrassment, we proved we weren’t above them, and showed our genuine interest in what they were
doing. It was quite hilarious and something either group probably won’t forget!
What made today even more special was that it was Africa Unity Day, an international holiday (called
other things in other countries, such as Africa Liberty Day, etc.). Compounding that with the fact that we were
actually in Africa made the day even better.

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Heather Hazzan

Cell Phone Companies
Believe it or not, but cell phones can be more prevalent in
Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) countries than clean water. Their
importance cannot be dismissed. Having cell phones allows
villagers to communicate with other sellers and buyers about
prices, etc, from far distances.

It was hard to miss the cell phone companies’s
advertisements on various homes and buildings. The company
pays the owner money in return for ad space.

President Obama
President Obama has definitely changed the perception
of America overseas. Ghana had everything from Obama water
packaging to Obama pencils. They seemed to be very proud
of his success in America.

“Where are you from?” - a Ghanaian
“America” - one of our students
“Ohhhh, OBAMA COUNTRY!!??” - a Ghanaian

Debrief in Guest House
In a 4-hour-long debriefing session at
the guest house, each of us rehashed on our
experiences and what we had learned. Brian
typed the entire conversation to help us
understand what GlobalResolve should focus
on in the next semesters. It was really neat to
put all of our ideas out on the table in hopes
of making it into something greater.

Welcome to Kakum National Park
We hiked the longest and highest canopy walk in
the world! The view of above the rainforest is something
that many of us will never forget.

We enjoyed dinner on the beach.

Ghanaian Kids Brian McCollow - blog post
The children in Ghana seemed like any other
children in the US. The kids here are literally playing in
the dirt. They poured water in the dirt and are stirring it
around with sticks and then play with the mud; and they
are having the grandest time! I think this creates an
interesting argument on happiness; it enforces the
viewpoint that you don't need very much to make
yourself happy. It also reminds me of that golden rule of
'making do' with what you have.

No matter how little or how much they had, the Ghanian children embodied authentic, relentless joy. They lived it
each day.

Various pictures from the trip!

What an amazing adventure in Ghana! The people we met and the experiences we shared will stay with us
forever.

“Each of us has much more hidden inside us than we have had a chance to explore. Unless we create an
environment that enables us to discover the limits of our potential, we will never know what we have inside of us.”
- Muhammad Yunus

GlobalResolve in Ghana, Africa

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