NEW SITE!!

The site it up! It's still in the works, so bear with us, but check it out! 
projectdarmang.org

Why No Blogging?

Why no recent blogging?

We're too busy building a new website! It's still in the works, so bear with us. I won't tell the address yet, as it's not done, but keep posted for the exciting release!

With love,
Project:Darmang

What are we doing here?

 

Join Project:Darmang founder along with other scholars and activists in a discussion on foreign aid and it's implications for Africa.  

501(c)3

We're a 501 (c)3. Yes, but we're different than most (that's what they all say, right?). But we are. We have an exit strategy. We have a plan to dismantle our non-profit. We're not looking for a ten-year plan or a plan of action for 2020.


We're looking for an exit strategy.


So, why? Because we're committed to sustainability.


The idea of sustainability in development is centered around the idea of meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. That means enabling and supporting the community's ability to empower themselves, becoming agents of their own reality. That means that, if done correctly, our role as a non-profit becomes obsolete. And the sooner we become obsolete, the better.


It means we did it right.


So that's our plan- to not exist as soon as possible. But the end to our existence does not mean an end to Project:Darmang, it simply means an end to our 501(c)3 status and my title as President. It means that the agency is in the hands of the people of Darmang, to carry out the project in any way they see fit. It means that Julie or Nancy or even Michael can carry on the legacy of positive and progressive change. 


And Darmang will not be left without support. We will be supporting and loving towards the community of Darmang indefinitely because we are connected to them on the most intimate level. We will forever be in each others lives. 


But that's our plan, that's our commitment, and that's the way it should be. 

Who are the people of Darmang (continued)?

The people of Darmang are people like Nancy. They are also people like Michael. 


This picture embodies everything I came to love about Michael. Every, single day Michael appeared outside my house in his blue speedo, his neon pink 1990's shirt unbuttoned to expose his swollen stomach, and his rusting machete. 


He would look up at me with a furrowed brow and asked the only words he knew in English,


 "Obruni, where are you going?" 


His scowl complimented the angry tone that accompanied his question. I couldn't help but smile as this little boy stood dressed in the attire of a middle-aged man vacationing in Hawaii, angrily uttering words that meant nothing to him. 


It was an irony, really. 


Here was a boy who reminded me of an over-indulgent American as his stomach swelled with the pains of starvation. And here was a boy questioning me with absolute self-assurance, mumbling the only four words he knew in English, the official language of his country. 


But it was incredible, too. 


It was incredible because this boy faced adversity I had, and probably will, never know and yet he carried on with absolute normalcy. He came to me everyday to try to connect by saying the only thing he knew I would understand, hoping to play. 


And what's more is that Michael is orphaned. 


He came to my house everyday because he had no where else to go. He wandered the village with his machete, nourished by the love and meager remains of the people in the community, hoping to simply find someone to read, to talk with, to touch. 


When I returned Darmang in 2010, I looked for Michael but he was no where to be found. He had all but disappeared from the streets. And then I went to an orphanage nearby... 


and there was Michael sitting in a neatly pressed school uniform, smiling. He looked up when he saw me without a hint of recognition and asked, 


"Obruni where are you going?"

Who are the people of Darmang?

You read this blog and you hear all about how this project is the project of the 'people of Darmang,' 'by the 'people of Darmang,' 'for the people of Darmang'.


But who exactly are the people of Darmang?


I don't think there is really any simple answer to that question, or any question of that sort. But it is nonetheless crucially important as it is the very foundation of Project:Darmang. It gets at the very heart of everything beautiful in this project- why these wonderful people are so deserving of a better reality, why we are so inspired by them.


It gets at why this project is profoundly impacting lives around the world- from the city of Seattle, to the beaches of Flordia, to the hills of Fullerton, the streets of Colorado Springs, to the mountains of Boulder, to Hillsdale and Decorah, to the snow of Sweden and the sun of New Mexico, to the chaos of Maryland, and to the very heart of the village of Darmang.

The people of Darmang are people like Nancy...


Nancy is a student, a scholar, and an inspiration to me. At the age of sixteen, Nancy is one of the only youth in Darmang that passed the exams out of the JSS, or middle school. She did not do this because of the great education she received or the quality of the school- in fact she did it in spite of that.


The schools of Darmang do not produce scholars, scholars, like Nancy, produce themselves. She did so by always feeding her hunger for knowledge in any way she could, conventional or not. Her family, all four of them, chose to live in one small bedroom so they could afford to pay school fees for Nancy and her sister.


Nancy is remarkable in that her brilliance comes from the ragged streets of Darmang, the hustle of the streets of Accra, and the markets of Tema. It comes from questioning everything in pursuit of knowledge and refusing to be limited by circumstance.


Nancy is now attending Secondary School, or high school, one of the very few who have made it out of Darmang to pursue education. I told her once she graduates and applies for the university, I'll be waiting at the airport in America to pick her up and take her to Harvard because she deserves nothing less. And while she has no idea what an airplane feels like, or even what Harvard is, she understands her own potential and the potential I see in her and I know that she will one day realize it in remarkable ways.

What the #@*% is a pungler?

What the @#$% is a pungler?


That's exactly what I said. That's what I said when Ben Andrews started talking about how he had pins with unicorns instead of business cards.


Hmmm... 
I was intrigued (to say the least).  


The answer, it turned out, is actually simple: a pungler is a person who supports movements to do social good through the power of online retail. In other words, it is the perfect marriage of savvy shopping and social good.


So you shop online at your favorite stores (amazon, tom's, itunes) through pungle (it's a website p.s.) and the power of your online shopping is tranformed into clean water, education, large scale disease prevention, and the realization of fundamental human rights. And Project:Darmang is now a part of that movement.


We have joined the pungle community to help create global change. We want you to join with us.


It's simple, it's profound, and it's going to be powerful in changing the lives of not only the people of Darmang, but of people like you and me, and people all accross the globe.


Be a pungler.

The Demise.

Daunting title.


We considered changing it before posting, but we thought that it was fitting. 


The project is not in demise. The community is not in demise. This blog is in demise. 


Every single blog entry has less and less hits. And I have to admit, if that's the worst problem Project:Darmang is facing then we're in pretty good shape. But, really. Why not hits? 


The problem of engagement is more than just this blog's problem. It is the problem of Project:Darmang and of projects just like it. How do we get people interested in this community thousands of miles away? A people who, to them, are no more than iconic images. How do we appeal to the human conscience without painting the people of Darmang as weak, suffering, or dire people? A people they are not. 


How do we inspire people to be a part of this change, to invest this community, to engage in a mutual partnership for the betterment of the human person? 


Well, we don't. People inspire themselves to join this movement- they are moved by the prospect of doing good, of supporting their fellow human beings, of becoming a part of a community like ours. Whatever it is, we want people to know that we appreciate it. We also want people to know it's okay to expect something in return. We all engage in this project because we want something. 


It is not in the spirit of altruism. 


The basis of all human relationships is reciprocity. The basis of our interactions is reciprocity.  We do, and should , expect to be enriched, inspired, and moved as a part of our dedication to this movement. 


So join us. Join us for whatever reason you find within your heart. And join us to get something out of it. There is potential for Project:Darmang to forever change your reality and rattle your existence. For me, it has. For you, only time will tell. 

Why Water?

"So why water?"

I sat there pondering how to answer her question, Why water? Why not books, why not school supplies, why not bed nets? 

"Well," I said, "that's what they asked for." 

The people of Darmang did not ask us to support them in buying books, or bed nets, or school supplies. They asked for support in getting water. Clean, safe, and stable sources of water.  They asked us to use our wealth of resources and networks to reach in directions they cannot. They asked not for a crutch or a handout, they asked for capital to invest in their own human development. 

This kind of capital is not the material capital many economists discuss, is does not take the form of money or property. It is not the kind of capital business men discuss, it does not accurue wealth or material value. This kind of capital cannot be quantified or materialized. This kind of capital rears a high quality of life. It translates into possiblity, opportunity.


During the dry season the people of Darmang walk upwards of three hours a day to fetch water. For farmers that means three hours less on the farm per day. That means three hours less productivity. That means that the cycle of poverty deepens.


For most families it is the children that fetch the water. That means three hours less in school each day. That means years lost over the course of a child's education. That means that the cycle of poverty continues.


So this capital translates into something far greater than material wealth or property value, this capital is an investment in the human development and potential of the people of Darmang.


That is why they want water. And that is why I am supporting them, every step of the way.

Oh Julie.

Meet Julie. Auntie Julie, some call her.


I sat talking with her on the telephone last week, cutting in and out as she babbled abut how bad the 'network' is. The shotty MTN cell service is a trait characteristic of all of my phone calls to Darmang. They usually last about one-two minutes before the service goes bad and we have to call back again. This conversation was the same.


"Hello. Akosua? Hello."
"Hello. Julie? Julie? Hello? Are you there? What?"
"Oh the network is no good."
"What?"


After the service improved we began to talk about how life was, reminiscing about our go-fish games, the goats, and my deep fear of chickens and toilets.


Julie is my Ghanaian mother as she calls herself, the woman that I lived with, cooked with, and endlessly laughed with. She is over sixty years old and a day does not pass when she ceases to amaze me as she stands with a giant ax cutting down a tree while chasing the chickens around the yard. If anyone has found the fountain of youth, it is her. 


When I was there last summer, Evan and I decided to teach her go-fish. Despite her vivaciousness, go-fish was not a game she easily picked up. It generally went like this...


"Akosua (my Ghanaian name), do you have six?"
"No, go fish."
"Oh bone (meaning bad)"

The next turn, "Akosua, do you have six?" And the next. And the next. For five rounds she asked only me, and she asked only for six. After a few more times we encouraged her to ask someone else. "Okay" she agreed finally seeming to understand. We waited for her turn to arrive and when it did she asked,


"Akosua, do you have six?"


"Daabi (no in twi), go fish"


"Oh bone!"


As I laughed at her unyielding persistence, I couldn't help but feel silly myself as I reflected on what had just gone on minutes before the game of go-fish had begun.


Right before our game had commenced, I had went into the outhouse, a place I had come to dread in every way. It was a hole in the ground, filled with small black gnats that flew up and mosquitoes that circled your head. As I walked in, a few new creatures had joined the crowd- three large lizards. With that I ran out screaming, white with fear (whiter than usual).


Julie ran over, desperately trying to help my panicked self. Once my breathing began to slow I explained to her that there were lizards in the outhouse and I couldn't use it. She stopped dead in her tracks, look to Diana (her daughter), said something in twi, and broke out into hysterical and infectious laughter. She repeated whatever it was she said in twi, crippled over in hysteria. She then proceeded to go into the outhouse, batting away the lizards with a giant stick, shaking her head.

"Oh obruni."

As ridiculous as it was, after that point Julie would not let me use the outhouse without first making sure there were no lizards. I still don't know if she did this to mock me (I hope so) but I'm pretty sure it's because she is a mother, always worried about her weak, little American, and always loving in every, single way.

The Dilemma

I am using this blog as a means to connect our donors, our supporters, our people of interest. I am using it as a means of engagement. I am using it maybe even as a means of persuasion. Because of that it is expected that I reflect our project in a positive light. I tell about our successes, our progress, our triumphs. I fuel optimism.


But I feel that every single person engaged in this project needs to be a part of the processes and progress, not just those parts that are positive. We all are all a part of making this project a reality and sometimes it becomes necessary to face the struggles inherent within its reality.


So here it is. Here is the dilemma.


I, like many of you, want to be an agent of change. I want to make a difference. I want to use my privilege to the advantage of those that lack such privilege. But it is not always that simple. Who asked me to use my privilege for change? Who gave me the right to impose my privilege, my resources, my reality on others? And even if it was invited, who is to say it will make any difference? Maybe change must come from within. Maybe change is more than just the transfer of resources and the equalization of privilege.


In the case of Darmang, we were invited. We told the community that we wanted to support them in any way that they needed. If they named the game, we would play. So they named it. They asked for three things: a clean, stable water source, a public toilet, and a vocational training center. We, with the idea of water already in mind, agreed to engage in a project in pursuit of clean and stable water. And we ran. We ran to American organizations for support, we ran to our professors for guidance, we ran to Seattle NGO's for grants. We ran and left Darmang completely disengaged. We ran back to America to solve the problems of Africa. We played the game in our own court, with our own people, and our own vision.


To be fair, we had a plane ticket out of Ghana before we even began on this project. We had registered for classes, rented houses, and made plans for our return long before we even stepped foot in the houses of the Darmang elders. And because we left, communication is inevitably limited. Shotty cell phone service is the only medium of communication which is further limited by the language barrier. So when we ran, we ran for reasons. We were playing the game that way because of circumstances not because of mal-intent.


But does that make it right?


When we show up a year and a half after leaving with the money for the well in our pocket, ready to be handed to the local contractor so construction can begin, will we really have empowered the community? Will we really have taken them one more step out of poverty?


Maybe.


We might very well save the lives of numbers of children otherwise destined to cholera or typhoid. We might very well allow children to truly benefit from their education since they no longer have to walk three hours a day to fetch water. We might very well have a profound impact.


But we will make an impact our way. Doing it on our turf, completely apart from anything the community had been a part of. This project was a consequence of our action and not a direct result of the people of Darmang's desire to create change in their lives.


If they had done it themselves, would they have chosen water? Would they have built four sealed, hand-pump boreholes? Is that the change they really wanted to see, or was it just because we offered to make change?


The dilemma, then, is not the change itself. Clean water is good. Clean water is necessary. Clean water will save lives. The problem is what is behind the change. The problem is that again and again we come in and make change without considering that such change is a consequence of the action of the other, and not of the community.


Where do we do from here? I cannot say. I, to be honest, do not know. I think that from here we sit, we think, we reflect. We step back and analyze our position. But I think we cannot  stop working towards our goal. We keep seeking support for clean water on our turf, but we engage more fully in dialogue with the people of Darmang. We bring them in. We bring this back to them. We play the game with their rules, on their field, with the support of both teams- ours and theirs. Maybe that is the solution.


Whatever the solution is, we have not found it yet.


Poverty is deepening, equality is becoming more rampant, and injustice is the plague of our generation. So this project needs to be more about a means to an end. It needs to be more about than just getting four boreholes. This project needs to be an exploration of what works. What has been tried on the global-scale has largely failed. We need to change something.


With that- let it be our goal to find out that something. Let it be our goal to produce more than water, but to produce a revolution of thought. A revolution developed by the insight of the people of Darmang and fostered by the strengthening of our relationship. It need not be anything that will revolutionize the world, but something that will simply creating lasting change in Darmang because that is where we must begin, locally. In the field of Darmang.

Where it all began...

Who are we? Who is Project:Darmang? What are we about? Why do we exist? And what exactly are we trying to change? 

This is where we begin. With these questions. To me, the words passion, justice, and change are thrown around so much that they have lost their meaning. So when you read our first post and look into our mission I think that you may very well miss what we are truly about. 


We are not about using buzz words and rhetoric, but sometimes we cannot find the words to describe what moves us, what drives us, and what we are committed to. It is so deeply interwoven within our consciousness, our hearts, and our minds that it cannot manifest itself in any other way but action. Words are not enough for us. 
So that is where we begin, I suppose. 


Project:Darmang began when I, an eighteen-year old recent high school graduate, hopped on a plane to Ghana in 2008. I found myself in a small, rural village- Darmang- surrounded by 2,000 of the most loving, generous, and joyous people I have ever encountered. I found myself surrounded by poverty, sickness, and dire conditions. 


In a way,  I had expected the poverty, the crises of illness, and the deplorable conditions, but I had not expected to see the resiliency, joy, passion, and unfaltering love and generosity of every person in Darmang. I had expected them to be angry, to be sad, to be defeated or desperate. I would be, they are not. 


I came there to help them, to teach their children, to be a person who really did change their lives. I left having learned far more than I taught. I left having not 'helped' them, but having them help me. They helped me realize the power of the human spirit in overcoming adversity. I left a changed person. And this, I think, is what happens when any obruni (white man) walks into Darmang. They leave an obibini (black man or African) at heart not because of the African sun, but because for the first time they see the beauty that transcends our daily reality- the beauty of community, of faith, of altruistic kindness. They see the beauty of sisterhood and brotherhood in its truest form. Or so I believe. 


So that is where the inspiration for Project:Darmang began. Since 2008, my heart has been filled with the love of Darmang and I was inspired to return this last summer, in 2010 with my best friend. This time, though, I wanted to give more than receive. This desire is what birthed this project. This is what created the question, 'What is Project:Darmang?'


The answer is simple- it is the pursuit of clean and stable water. Project:Darmang seeks to build four boreholes built of all local materials. The contractor of the well is a local man in the village of Darmang who has been trained by a NGO to build simple, hand-pump wells. We are working with Engineers without Borders, Rotary International, and Volunteer Partnerships for West Africa (a Ghanaian NGO) to build these four boreholes, as well as a vocational training center for the youth of the community. 


What started as the simple pursuit of the most basic need has flowered into something more. It has become a lesson and an inspiration for me. It has showed me how many wonderful people there are in this world, willing to be a part of great change. 


And so here we are. This is who we are. This is what we stand for. 


We are Project:Darmang. Join us.