The training house

Well I have arrived at the EWB training house. 12 Treford Street in Toronto is a cozy three bedroom duplex with three floors of bedding for the dozens of overseas volunteers who will sleep under this roof over the next several weeks.

Genevieve will be meeting them all, and will be lucky enough to live and learn with two full week JF training sessions, a President's Conference, and a 4-week long-term volunteer session, all of which will take place right here in this house.

I am on a stopover on my way to Pickering for the weekend, but I will return Sunday morning to the training house for six days of intense workshops and sessions to prepare myself for the May 7th departure to Tamale.

I am going to try to take some pictures of the house when all the JFs get here, but my camera is giving me problems. This is very dangerous because it may stop working during my placement. As of right now it has no photo-taking ability, but I will do my best to get it working before I leave.

Unfortunately I do not have the funds to buy a new camera at this point, so all the pictures on this blog for the next few months may be of an inferior quality. I apologize, and be assured that there are 41 other JFs who will have awesome cameras and I will regularly post links to their photos. Until then, enjoy these shots of the training house that Danny (UofA EWB Canada intern) took.

The placement

More information has been provided regarding EWB's involvement in OICI.

Myself, along with Marka Jansen, of McMaster University, and Kristy Minor, of the University of Waterloo will be working on a vast array of projects throughout northern Ghana, including, but not limited to agriculture, water & sanitation, HIV/AIDS awareness and education, micro-entreprise development, etc.

While Marka and myself will only be in Tamale until August, Kristy, who will be joining us in early July, will be involved in the project until June 2007.

Specifically, here are some of the projects we might get involved in:

Kyle: Micro-entreprise and general agricultural development

Marka: Sanitation and hygiene promotion

Kristy: Micro-irrigation promotion, micro-credit, post harvest technologies,
marketing, etc.

Stay tuned! I will continue to give everyone updates as we approach final pre-departure training in Toronto. I arrive in Tamale on May 9th, 2006.

Kyle

The interview

Good evening,

As promised, here is a link to the CBC Story about EWB-Windsor. It is about 13 minutes into this clip. Enjoy, and let us know what you think (Comments can be posted at the end of each update).

The CBC

In a continuing series of EWB in the media, we have a special Broadcast Alert for everyone:

Monday Night, CBC Windsor will be showing a story regarding our new EWB chapter at the University of Windsor, and the progress we have made over the last year. They will feature our HSO & JF programs.

The story will be shown on CBC-TV Windsor at 6PM ET on Canada Now Windsor.

We will have a link to the story in the days after it is aired.

Thank you, and good night.

The partner

Overseas, I will be working with OICI,

"OICI is a self-help movement; a collaboration between grass roots community leaders in Africa and committed individuals in the United States and from around the world. OIC International has been fostering economic self-reliance in Africa, Poland and The Philippines for 35 years."

You can read more about the organization here...

Blog Start

The blog has been established. The blog. This is the blog. The BLOG. BLLLLLLLAAAAUUUUGGGGHH. This should be an interesting four months. You're in for a treat.

Some sites to visit:
My chapter: uwindsor.ewb.ca
My job: www.peppersbarandgrill.com
My time: www.cbc.ca
My friends: www.filmage.ca

People Profile

A look at the people on the ground in Ghana who have made a difference in my placement. By providing details and info about them, I hope to bring you closer to the day to day interactions I encounter with the people of Ghana.

Luke Brown
Luke is a Long-term volunteer from the University of Western Ontario, in London. He is on a working Partnership with EWB Canada, and works for the CWSA (Community Water and Sanitation Agency) based out of Tamale, Ghana. He greeted us at the airport along with LTOV's Monica, Eli, and Robyn. For the first few days Luke showed us the ropes in everything from finding a cab to buying mangoes (which by the way are awesome). He also was our guide to Accra, and accompanied us back to his Ghanaian home of Tamale.

James
A teacher from Jamestown, at the southernmost tip of Accra on the coast. He lives in the village area and commutes into town each day to teach. He spent several hours with us discussing Ghana and the various aspects of the region. You can read about our full encounters with him in the Day One Indepth.

Monica, Robyn & Eli
LTOVs from across Canada, who greeted us at the airport and successfully managed to get 23 stunned volunteers to their rooms in under an hour. From arguing for cabs to venturing out into the market with us, it is these LTOVs which made our first few hours on a new continent less overwhelming. Each accompanied a different group of volunteers across Ghana to their placements.

Emmanuelle
the hotel-keeper at the Maacos hotel in Tamale, where we spent several nights before heading out to our more permanent rural villages. Emmanuelle was the last person to sleep everynight, and the first one up. He was incredible to talk to and always provided great insider knowledge about Tamale. He was very excited with our stay, and I am sure I will be staying at the Maacos during my frequent trips to Tamale over the next few months.

People Profile

A look at the people on the ground in Ghana who have made a difference in my placement. By providing details and info about them, I hope to bring you closer to the day to day interactions I encounter with the people of Ghana.

Luke Brown
Luke is a Long-term volunteer from the University of Western Ontario, in London. He is on a working Partnership with EWB Canada, and works for the CWSA (Community Water and Sanitation Agency) based out of Tamale, Ghana. He greeted us at the airport along with LTOV's Monica, Eli, and Robyn. For the first few days Luke showed us the ropes in everything from finding a cab to buying mangoes (which by the way are awesome). He also was our guide to Accra, and accompanied us back to his Ghanaian home of Tamale.

James
A teacher from Jamestown, at the southernmost tip of Accra on the coast. He lives in the village area and commutes into town each day to teach. He spent several hours with us discussing Ghana and the various aspects of the region. You can read about our full encounters with him in the Day One Indepth.

Monica, Robyn & Eli
LTOVs from across Canada, who greeted us at the airport and successfully managed to get 23 stunned volunteers to their rooms in under an hour. From arguing for cabs to venturing out into the market with us, it is these LTOVs which made our first few hours on a new continent less overwhelming. Each accompanied a different group of volunteers across Ghana to their placements.

Emmanuelle
the hotel-keeper at the Maacos hotel in Tamale, where we spent several nights before heading out to our more permanent rural villages. Emmanuelle was the last person to sleep everynight, and the first one up. He was incredible to talk to and always provided great insider knowledge about Tamale. He was very excited with our stay, and I am sure I will be staying at the Maacos during my frequent trips to Tamale over the next few months.

Definitions & Terminology

There have been some questions regarding the terminology I have been using. The following guide will hopefully provide some answers and insight into what I am talking about throughout this placement. Enjoy! If I am missing an explanation for anything, please let me know.

EWB - Engineers Without Borders Canada
Canada's fastest growing development organization with over 17 000 members accross the country, which strives to use appropriate technology to drive extraordinary change in the socio-economic lives of people living in extreme poverty. To date, EWB has sent over 200 volunteers overseas to work in various capacities around the world. EWB will work with OIC for the first time in 2006.

JF - Junior Fellow
A student who commits to a two year term with EWB, and participates in a four month overseas volunteer placement where they will be partnered with another organization to provide opportunities outlined in the EWB Charter.

JFID - Junior Fellowship in International Development
EWBs volunteer-sending program which will see 42 volunteers sent overseas this summer to work for various other organnzations. Also referred to as:
STOV - Short Term Overseas volunteer
OP21 - Operation 21 Placement
OV - Overseas Volunteer

LTOV - Long-term Overseas Volunteer
A long-term volunteer placement through EWB which can last from eight months to two years depending on the project. LTOV's generally focus on having greater impact, and prepare projects for the JFID program.

OIC - Opportunities Industrialization Centres
An organization catalyzed through the civil rights movement in the United States which strives to provide appropriate technology to provide people with the means necessary to lift themselves out of poverty.

Also known as
OICT - OIC Tamale
OICI-GH - OIC Ghana
OICI - OIC International

WP - Working Partnership
This program teams up an LTOV with a JF and a chapter, for which the LTOV provides resources and materials for the chapter to use, who then fundraises to send a JF overseas to work with the LTOV on their project for four months. This is a new program, and Windsor has not yet taken part.

Other acronyms I will use regularly:


AIDS - Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome
GDP - Gross Domestic Product
NGO - Non-Governmental Organization
Northern Region - The area of Ghana which sits north of Volta Lake, and spans the entire width of the country.
USAID - United States International Development Agency
CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency
DFID - Department for International Development (UK)
WATSAN - Water & Sanitation Projects
ME - Micro-Enterprise Projects

Terms I have coined:
NGOSUV or NGOBUS - Vehicles NGOs use for transportation. Usually the largest, cleanest vehicles on the road.


I hope that these explanations can explain some terms for you that I will use regularly throughout this placement weblog.