TPRF Blog

First Steps

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Bobby Hendry

Bobby Hendry is today’s guest blogger. Bobby is on a first-name basis with food. He is an accomplished chef with a long career in the profession and has played a key role in the development of TPRF’s model Food for People program.
He recently returned from a trip to Ghana to pull together the threads of a project that will help the villagers in the Ga East Municipal District of Ghana get back on their feet, literally and figuratively.
Bobby’s activities during his one-week stay in Ghana included:
* Working with architects to draw up plans
* Helping to facilitate the process of transferring the ownership of the land for the center
* Planning menus
* Interviewing prospective staff members
* Meeting with the construction company and other key project members to create the development schedule
The following excerpt from one of Bobby’s initial reports from Ghana offers a glimpse of the work underway and the conditions in the area.
Otinibi is the main village in a cluster of four about 60 kilometers from Accra and is technically within Greater Accra.
At a special meeting (called a Durbar) at the village school of Otinibi in late July, the chief, who chaired the occasion, expressed his gratitude to the representatives of TPRF for choosing Otinibi for the Food for People (FFP) project. He pledged his support and that of the elders and the entire populace of Otinibi for the success of the project. The headmistress, teachers and some pupils of Otinibi School; Ghana Government Officials; and representatives of TPRF also attended the meeting.
I later learned that the first settlement on the land of Otinibi was around 1840. The current chief, Nii Kweidza Mansa III, has been the chief of the town and surrounding land and villages for the past 30 years.
I met the headmistress, Ms. Grace Ninsa, who profusely thanked TPRF for choosing her school. Accompanying Grace on the school board was a member of the Ghana assembly  and a representative of the chief. (I found out later that this is a common set-up across Ghana for the administration of the villages and schools.)
After the opening speeches, I asked the board members, “How poor are the local people?” They told me that the changing weather patterns are playing havoc with local farming. The farming does not sustain them. The fittest village people walk five kilometers early every morning to the mountains and break rocks for government roads.
I then asked, “What do they have for lunch?” I was answered with sustained chuckling, presumably because only a well-fed foreigner would ask such a silly question. “Nothing,” they replied. The villagers have to repeat the five-kilometer walk home in the evening.

Otinibi School Headmistress (Blue Dress) Addressing Villagers

Posted in Food for People | 1 Comment

Food for People: Ghana

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Linda Pascotto

Welcome to the TPRF blog.
I’ve never tried blogging before, but it sounds like fun! This is a good way to give TPRF supporters a ringside seat to follow the development of the next Food for People (FFP) program in Ghana.
It is especially heartwarming to launch this campaign on World Food Day, October 16. This is the day set aside to raise awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger and strengthen the international resolve to find workable solutions.
Prem Rawat, who has often held speaking engagements in Côte D’Ivoire and Ghana, expressed an interest in developing a Food for People program in West Africa. After much research and many considerations, the village Otinibi emerged as the leading candidate.
There are several important criteria that the Foundation needs to consider when choosing a location for a Food for People facility:

• The need for this type of program is great
• Regional or local government assistance programs are lacking
• International aid organizations have not been effective in helping local children with their nutritional needs
• A local school exists, but attendance is low
• TPRF supporters are available locally to participate in the program
• There is a local charitable organization with similar goals, whose reputation is impeccable and is both fiscally responsible and compliant with local government regulations

Otinibi is a rural village of 1,500 residents. It is located in the Ga East municipal district, near the southern coast of Ghana, north of Accra in the greater Accra region.
Ghana’s dry climate makes farming a risky business. Otinibi villagers grow food for themselves and their families, but usually not enough to sell. Many village women create handcrafted items to trade in the city.
In 1962, the government established a school for the Otinibi village children. With aid from several charities, textbooks and qualified teachers are now available. However, because of the general poverty, school attendance is low and intermittent. Those who decide to attend school usually begin the day without a morning meal. Many of the older children drop out because there is not enough food and they need to work.
We are at the very beginning of an exciting journey that will lead to benefits similar to those enjoyed by the communities served by the FFP programs in India and Nepal. Through this blog, you can travel with TPRF through the entire process of creating a Food for People facility.
Stay posted for ongoing news.
Linda Pascotto
President, TPRF