Day 9: Ghana Teams

After so many adventures together, we felt as if we needed a day to collect our thoughts and put pen to paper. Therefore, we spent the day together reviewing the research that was conducted and writing up our reports for our presentations tomorrow. But first, we spent the morning reminiscing over our favorite moments from the trip. For some it was the canopy bridge walk, for others it was meeting such kind and friendly members of the community. One thing was for, nobody missed the driving! Tomorrow our meeting was moved up to 8 a.m. and with our flights taking off at 10 p.m. at the earliest we dedicated to make it an early night and hit the sack after dinner.

Day 1: South-South Dialogue

We all arrived to the hotel today, where we have been preparing for our meetings at the IFC tomorrow. Before dinner, the team convened to research the eight individuals that we will be meeting and prepare questions for them. We are also preparing short presentations to explain our research to each other. 

At dinner, we met our other team leader, Professor Iwan Azis, and two delegates from Indonesia, Alvin and Rizal. We discussed our hopes for the next day and our thoughts on the project thus far. It was interesting to hear about Professor Azis's inspiring career and experience with the Asian Development Bank. We are happy to have them join us because they add valuable experience to our project. 

Overall, it has been a tiring travel day with lots of team bonding. We are all excited for the long day of meetings tomorrow.

Day 7: Ghana Teams

Today we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed for a day of key informant interviews! First we traveled to the Kumasi Teaching Hospital and had the fortune of being guided through the triage room, examination rooms, emergency department, and the record keeping spaces. Following this experience, we traveled to Afrancho to speak to a midwife at the Darso Health Center about her experiences working at the facility and what type of care her patients receive at this center versus other health facilities in the region. After this key informant interview, we traveled to the Pastor’s house to talk with him and his wife. We learned about the roles they play in their communities related to healthcare behaviors and what gaps they notice in healthcare accessibility in the region. 

After these interviews, we reflected on the day as we traveled back to Kumasi and enjoyed the sunset! 

Day 6: Ghana Teams

Today we rested in the morning before taking the bus to a kente cloth center. There, we learned about the history of kente cloth, observed the process of creating a kente strip and bought souvenirs from the gift store. Then we drove to Lake Bosumtwi, which is the only natural lake in Ghana and was formed by a crater. We then ate dinner at the Kumasi Mall and then rested for the day ahead of us tomorrow.

Day 5: Ethical Beekeeping Team, Rwanda

Today, we spent our day getting to know the Rwandan Organic Beekeeping Company (ROBEEC LLC), who centers their approaches around the wellbeing of African bees, the significance of knowledge, and community empowerment through social enterprise and local investment. Alongside the Hive Mind Team, we met ROBEEC’s beekeepers and learned about the architecture of the hives that they use. Roch Domerago, one of the founders and Vice President, had designed the beehives around the natural environment and preferences of African bees, which he observed were smaller than European bees. We also received a tour of the site, where we learned about how the hives are made in the carpentry and how the honey their honey house operates to get the honey safely from the hive to jars. After the tour, we (Rhealynn and Grace) stayed behind at ROBEEC while the other beekeeping team travelled to meet with cooperatives. There, we heard stories about the beginnings of ROBEEC from Roch, Eve, Jean Baptiste, and Amata as well as the early work of Roch after sharing a lovely lunch at their home and company site in Huye.