FUN TIME: Ashley Ranck, a Slippery Rock University English major from Lancaster, enjoys the company of Ghanaian children. Ranck visited Ghana in August as part of an undergraduate research project.
Student researchers visit Ghana
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - They stayed in a village that lacked electricity until a year ago. They ate goat soup and taught in a classroom without a roof. But the insight three Slippery Rock University students gained into the lives of women in the Republic of Ghana far out weighed the lack of modern conveniences during a recent research trip there.
Students said they also learned a lot about themselves.
"I knew it would be the experience of a lifetime and something I would most likely not get the chance to do again," said Ashley Ranck, an English major from Lancaster. "I am really passionate about women's studies and felt the need to help others help themselves. The opportunity to do this in Ghana was perfect."
Ranck, Kara Cooke Robeson, a social work major from Slippery Rock, and Nita Shippy, an English major from Hyndman, spent two weeks researching the daily lives and economic status of women in Ghana. Cindy LaCom, SRU professor of English and coordinator of the University's Women's Studies Program, led the once-in-a lifetime endeavor.
Students said the purpose of their research was to learn more about the dynamics of Ghanaian women within their families, villages and country. Students are also researching how small loans help women build businesses and, ultimately, improve the national economy.
Ghana, in West Africa, has a population of 24 million people and is home to more than 100 ethic groups with more than 40 languages. The official language is English, but most Ghanaians speak at least one local language.
SRU students conducted dozens of interviews with young and older women and read four books about micro financing, including "Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty" by Muhammad Yunus.
"We really went over there to see how these women can help themselves, which is the most powerful thing you can do for someone," Ranck said. "We wanted to see the roles of men versus women and the roles women hold in their society. To give women power that can't be torn down by a natural disaster or taken by the government and that will continue once we step off African soil was very important to us."
Students are writing papers about their observations this semester and plan to present their ethnographic findings during SRU's annual research symposium in the spring and at the 2011 National Women's Studies Association Conference, LaCom said. The Ghana women are clients of Joy 2 the World, a non-profit organization that provides microloans for women entrepreneurs in Ghana. Translators were provided for the interviews.
"We asked what a typical day is like for them, what their financial contribution to the household was, the children's education and how often they ate," Ranck said. "We really wanted to make these women into humans and not just a 'client' or simply a far-away story."
Ranck said they learned Ghanaian women don't expect anything to be handed to them. Many work 15 hours a day for as little as a $1.
"It surprised me how hard they work," Ranck said. "They work from sunrise to sunset while taking care of children and the home. It also surprised me how strong these women are and how smart. They know exactly what needs to get done on a daily basis and to improve their business and lives. They are extremely smart and face their situation every day with optimism. They have extreme love for their children."
Cooke Robeson said they asked the women where their husbands work, how many children they have and whether children help their business. The information collected will help students compare published information about microfinance in developing countries to actual borrowers' stories. They observed social interaction as well.
"Interviewing the women was both challenging and fascinating," Cooke Robeson said. "I was astounded by their hospitality. In one particular case we met Mary, a loan group leader who knew us only a few minutes before she called for a seamstress to take our measurements. Mary wanted to give us Ghanaian dresses, and that type of overwhelming hospitality became a trend amount the women we interviewed."
Cooke Robeson said she was inclined to decline the gift because she wanted the women to spend the money on their own families. "However, we quickly learned that Ghanaian culture dictates that it is impolite to refuse gifts, and we should instead say 'thank you.'"
Some of the women operated provision stores, where they sell food stables and other day-to-day goods. Two women cook and sold rice, beans and eggs at a nearby school and from a wooden stand in her village. Another made and sold scarves, traveling a circuit of five villages. One sold a variation of beef jerky and another sewed dresses and scarves.
Cooke Robeson said she was surprised by the women's positive attitude, despite hardship, and their lack of inhibition.
"On several occasions, while we were interviewing a Ghanaian woman, she would very casually remove her breast from her top and begin breastfeeding her child," she said. "Unfortunately for American women, breasts are taboo outside the porn industry, and the exposure of a woman's breasts in public is considered shameful and inappropriate even when breast feeding. I found that women in Ghana were completely comfortable in their skin."
Cooke Robeson said she did identify parallels with American women. "Some Ghanaian and American women are united in their desires to be both mother and businesswoman, despite the challenges both roles may bring about," she said.
Despite the lower standard of living, Cooke Robeson said she came to see that many of the Ghanaian women are happier than their American counterparts.
"I remember talking to a young Ghanaian woman about the cultural differences between the U.S. and Ghana, and her reaction when we told her that there are college students with more than 15 pairs of shoes, she thought we were joking. She really could not believe it," she said. "My time in Ghana has helped me to foster a new perspective on material belongings."
The group traveled to Ghana, which required shots for typhoid, yellow fever and polio, in late August. The flight from New York to Accra lasted 11 hours. The weather averaged 80s degrees, with sun high humidity. Students stayed at the Joy Family Lodge, which had air conditioning, a private bath and hot showers.
Students said they sampled several meals that they had never heard of before the trip, such as fufu. Fufu is a thick paste of potatoes made by boiling root vegetables in water and pounding it with a mortar and pestle to the desired consistency.
"Fufu is typically served with a soup, and the idea is that you grab a bit of fufu and dip it into the soup," Cooke Robeson said. "I tried fufu with a light goat soup, which reminded me of tomato soup plus goat meat. It was not my favorite meal, but I am glad I tried it. My favorite thing to eat was fried plantains. I could have eaten them every day."
Shippy said her research paper would focus on the issue of "voice" in post-colonial Ghana. "I am interested in the way language affects Ghanaians' daily lives," she said. "In this paper, I'll discuss the ways in which they recount history via the museums we visited and their oral traditions; some of the generational and modernization issues that go along with some citizens speaking English and others not."
LaCom said one of the important lessons about experiencing another culture is it helps one eliminate biases against less prosperous nations. Ghana didn't achieve political independence from England until 1957.
"Despite our best efforts to deconstruct and dismantle our colonizing impulses, I think that being there and letting us vividly see that these are not at all people above whom we should place ourselves," LaCom said. "In fact, there is much to be envied and admired in Ghanaian culture that we wish we could replicate in the United States."
The research corresponds with many off the topics SRU's women's studies curriculum covers. Students are examining body image, gender politics, domestic violence, family and community.
"It was life changing because I think we came home with a very different sense of how little could change women and children's lives," she said. "It has given our students incredible insights into working with different populations and learning how to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Even for me, there was an epiphanic quality to this experience. For students, that was more fully felt. Not only will they have research opportunities in terms of publishing and presenting at both local and national levels, and it is really useful to do an interdisciplinary project. We pulled from economics. We pulled from business. We pulled from women studies, anthropology and sociology. We studied the history of Ghana at the museums."
LaCom said she was impressed by how little age matters.
"We were interviewing a woman, and she gave us her age. And one of us, said, 'Wow, you don't look at old.'" In the U.S., that would be a compliment. She looked at us like what difference does it make? Age is venerated much more fully in Ghana. Growing old is just not an issue. Growing old is not something that you have to try to hide or be embarrassed by."
Ranck said the women had little preoccupation with trying to impress other people.
"It was a really good experience because the women in Ghana didn't understand why we were asking them all these questions about their lives," Ranck said. "They didn't see their lives as anything different. Yet for us, their lives were so incredible different, they didn't seem to understand. It was awesome to see their hard work, hospitality and good nature in person."
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