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.
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