What a culture shock

UK volunteer Sarah Chebrolu describes her journey from fear of change to confidence in responsibility

Frank and Sarah with community members in Jana,  south of Savelugu

Before my ICS journey, I wrestled a lot with my fear of change and I made it one of my personal goals to go beyond my comfort zone. After just a few days in Savelugu adjusting to the new tastes of food and hearing words in a different tongue, I realised I am 4,000 miles away from my comfort zone and now coming to a successful end of week 10.

In one of my many conversations with my counterpart, Mariam, she mentioned that “cooking is just like handwriting… we all may be presented with the same book and pen but each of our handwritings differ. In the same way we may all have the same ingredients but the way we cook is also very different.” I took this view on board, and not only have I been able to appreciate and enjoy Ghanaian culture, but I have also been able to work better in a team and appreciate everyone’s individual way of doing things. This also encouraged me see the project in a new light and recognise how different all the six cooperative groups are.

Over the past few weeks, after successful sessions of soap-making training for the women in our communities, sustainability became our main focus – we decided that creating an English/Dagbani soap manual would be the best way to ensure the women in our communities have benefited from the training.

I was given the task of creating and completing the soap manual and well… facilitating all things soap. This became my new ‘mini project’. I expected to finish the soap manual much earlier but trying to piece it together involved learning about soap production, gaining awareness on the health and safety aspects, calculating the feasibility costs, carrying out market research and, most importantly, recording the exciting intricacies in the soap-making process while soap training.

Throughout this process, I have learnt about the challenges in development, issues that arise while introducing a new income-generating activity (IGA) which are not always immediately apparent.

However, I am eager to complete this soap manual in the coming week with the help of our amazing Dagbani translators (Thank you, Ayisha and Alhassan) and I am hopeful to see the long-term benefits these women in our cooperative groups will reap. I felt a massive responsibility being assigned to this task, but with the support of my lovely team I can confidently say that my journey here has been much more fulfilling.

There are innumerable memories, new springs of motivation to continue volunteering at home and not to forget the super skill of making soap that I will be taking home with me and also to new places. I now feel my fear of change disappearing.