Goodbye Speech To Todome

Greetings,

For the last two years, we have shared our lives in Todome.  You welcomed me into your village and your homes, and I am very grateful.  I want to thank Nana and the elders for allowing me to be a part of this community; Headmaster George and the teachers for letting me work at the school.  I’d like to especially thank Fo Nicho and Mawuli for helping me in every capacity: work, life, and friendship.  Without them, my two years here would not have been possible.

I want to thank all of you for sharing your lives with me.  We have worked, cooked, eaten, danced, prayed, mourned, and laughed together.  I have taught and played with your children, and on days when I wanted to cry and leave Ghana, it was the children who made me laugh and your kindness that made me stay.  So, thank you.

The purpose of my living in Todome was community development.  Some people think that development means new buildings-that’s not true-real development occurs in people.  In my time here, I have worked closely with two groups in Todome: The Watersachet Group and the Batik Group.  Both of these groups started working without any money from the outside.  In Ghana, many people think the answer to development is foreign aid and NGO’s. They say “give me.”  This is not the answer.  The sustainable answer is working hard and honestly as a group.  Both the Watersachet Group and Batik Group worked for a long time without being paid.  They were dedicated.  They learned business skills, bookkeeping, transparency, working honestly with each other and honesty with money.  Now, both groups are successful.  The members of each group have made a good profit.  I am very proud of them and we can all learn from them that it is possible to work hard and honestly and be rewarded.  Please congratulate them.

 With some difficulty, the TMT has also moved forward.  We added safety ropes and a seating area to the cave site.  We worked with Ghana Tourism Board to advertise the caves at Volta Region events and to add our caves to their website.  I now charge this community to get involved with their TMT.  Organize, train guides, and above all elect good committee members and hold them accountable every month.  It is the community’s responsibility.

In my time in Todome, you have taught me many things: generosity, kindness, a sense of community, patience, and persistence.  Through you, I have learned many things about myself-some of these things I like, and some of them I don’t, but I am a better person for knowing them..  You have taught me to cook light soup and groundnut soup and I will greatly miss fufu and palm wine.  I can’t imagine not being called, “Sister Boala” anymore.  All these things I have learned and I will miss.  So thank you for all these memories.  I will treasure them forever.

 Boala.