SO MUCH TO SAY

I think about writing to you all everyday, but the past few days have not permitted me to put the many ideas and experiences on paper. Writing as much as I have while I am here has made it so that I often thinking about how I would word what I am seeing.

I don’t have more than a half hour to check my emails and to write this and get it posted before my first appointment of the day, so let me get right into it.

Once I leave from here, I will be meeting Samed at the Goil Station Restaurant just down the street. He is an attachee at the station, which means he is getting experience, but not getting paid. He is one of the hardest working people at the station, and shows great promise. He has passion and is very articulate. He wants to be a journalist, but he did not study journalism.

I told him my own personal story, which is that I didn’t study journalism either, which was motiviating to him. I am working with him on a few informal workshops, and we will be going on to work on a story today, and we will begin another one tomorrow.

The story today will be about the Canadian Governor General visiting the Northern Region. We will be joining a convoy that will meet Ms. Michaelle Jean at the airport later this morning.

For me, that is a nice surprise, as I was unable to attend the meeting that she had with Canadians down in Accra, and the special meeting that she had with JHR. I still have not heard how that meeting went this past Tuesday, but I am glad that I was up here.

As I have mentioned, I will be moving to a placement in Accra shortly. My last days in Tamale (though I plan to visit again), will be somewhere between December 15th-20th. With that said, there is a great deal that I want to accomplish before my time here is finished.

If I had of been in Accra this week, my workshop, the meetings I held, and the stories we are working on would have been delayed. In addition, there has been a great deal happening with the young girl that I mentioned.

Her name is Rahina. She says that she has no last name. We have been spending more and more time together, as I have been bringing her to the Commission on Human Rights, to the Department of Women and Children, and to the Police Station. Simultaneously, I have been pushing to get her uncle arrested, to file a human rights complaint, and to ensure that she gets the support she needs for school fees, food, clothing and shelter. The diplomacy has sent me in circles, but we are making real progress.

A number of the right people have been made aware of her situation and are aiding in the ways that they can.

As for the police, we are still waiting to see what they do. The only action they have taken was to go and question the uncle. This was not successful, as young men from the aware assaulted the three police officers that entered their neighborhood. They have not done much more than paper work so far, but apparently, they are planning a strike on the area quite soon. I wonder how long they would delay if they didn’t have the added motivation of catching the men that assaulted their partners.

A sense of revenge is definitely in the air. As I sat with a top police official in the region discussing the issue, he hinted strongly that they would let those men have it. He then posed the question to me, whether they deserve their human rights after violating the rights of others. After quoting the police protocol on arrest which I have been studying recently, he had this grin in his mouth, that he was trying to swallow, that seemed to say, “yeah, right”. He is a very reasonable senior officer in a sensitive department for women and children. If that is his mentality, you can imagine the officers without any sensitivity training who seem to have a strong distinction between procedure and reality.

While with Rahina, her strength has been deeply touching. One moment showed me how hard this really is for her though. We were sitting with the Human Rights Regional Director, and he asked about her father’s awareness of her circumstance. Upon hearing that her father knew and was doing nothing he said, “he is a worse criminal than your uncle”. I saw something seem to snap inside. She composed herself, but that seemed to really hurt. She has been able to deal with a lot and overcome a lot. However, the neglect of her father seems to be beyond understanding for her, and seems to cut worse than any blade.

She wants to go to university though. She said she wants to study home economics, but asked if she should do accounting. I asked her if she liked words or numbers. She said words. I suggested business, but I am still trying to see what direction she will really take to.

With all that said, there is so much unsaid. We are in the dry season, and I am feeling it. The air is very dry, and cool in the evenings and mornings, while it is hot in the day. I have so much more to share, and plan to do that soon.

For now, my love goes out to everyone.

God willing, I will write again tomorrow.