Democracy at work

I visited a tiny village near the Volta River (south of the dam) for a story on irrigation a couple of weeks ago.

The village's major problem is a lack of water. It used to depend on a stream that ran nearby, but when the Akosombo Dam was built, the chief told us, the river dried up. The villagers now depend on one communal well for their water.

Without the nearby water, the villagers were left without any way to earn a living. There was no river to fish. They had no water to raise their crops. Without food, the farm animals could not survive. Without income from fishing, farming or animal rearing, most people could not afford to educate their children, or even feed themselves or their families.

And it IS very dry:



So people began leaving to find work elsewhere. The chief said the village's population could be around 5,000, but currently only about 450 remain, mostly young mothers and the elderly, who are supported by people farming and fishing in other regions. Within a decade, the chief predicted, no one would be left.

Our story was about what could save the town. Everyone we spoke to (the chief, the local government's representative, the regional minister) seemed to agree that education and irrigation was needed. Everyone also agreed that an NGO would have to step up to provide the funds, because the governments were either unable or unwilling to do so.

I asked the chief what the villagers would do if an NGO offered them start-up money. Once they had water, what would they do? Farm plantains, mangos? Raise goats, chickens, pigs?

The chief

The chief said he couldn't say. He'd have to ask the villagers what they wanted to do. I was satisfied with that, but then he got up and proceeded to call together everyone in the village to hold a meeting to ask them what they'd do with the money.

They had quite an animated discussion for about half an hour before deciding they'd raise chickens. And grow crops, possibly plantains and maize.

Here's a shot of the village meeting:



I was trying to be discreet with my camera, taking pictures with it on my lap. I got this interesting shot of the feet of several old women in the village:



After they had their discussion, I asked if the village would like me to take a photo of everyone. They agreed, and several people found items to indicate their particular job (fishing nets, weaving, etc), then everyone ran around arranging themselves for five minutes ... and here's the amazing photo of the residents of Avegome, South Tongu District, Volta Region, Ghana:



Now that's what I call democracy.

I just hope they're not now waiting for the phantom NGO to show up and provide the money for the projects they got all excited about. While, as I said, everyone agreed an NGO would have to fund the project ... no one seemed to think one was actually going to do so anytime soon. Sad.