First Impressions of Morocco

May 24, 2012

Before going to Morocco, I had the romantic notion that it would be a feast for the senses, an exotic blend of Islamic and European worlds. I tried to shelve this thought, reasoning that it was probably naïve, overly romanticized, based on some distorted pop culture impression. But so far, everything I've seen has exceeded those expectations. From cheap street fare to rooftop terrace restaurants, the quality of the food is surreal. Tajines, earthen dishes with piping hot, flavorful stews inside, are the stars of the cuisine. Moroccan mint tea, poured from a teapot a foot or two above the glass, is an essential part of every meal. The tea is alarmingly sweet – “Would you like some tea with your sugar?” we joke – but we love the mint and green tea flavor of the national drink. The music, the orange blossom water poured on our hands after dinner our first night, the winding maze of shops in the Medina, richness from all directions for all the senses. And from the dynamic Moroccan seatmates on the plane who taught me Arabic phrases to people who offer to show us around without asking anything in return, the level of warmth and generosity here is unlike anything I've seen in my travels. In Arab countries, the premier mark of hospitality is making sure that no guest leaves the table hungry – and this food makes that easy. We've all had minor stomachaches, not from food poisoning, but from overeating – and don't regret one second of it.

My initial impression is that the country is thriving, not only in monetary but in social capital, the level of goodwill and trust within a society. During these two days, we've all questioned ADE's role in development here. But of course, poverty and need rarely present themselves loudly - especially in the shiny government district of Rabat where we've been staying, where a sleek new light rail line snakes through whitewashed buildings and small parks. At the free government-sponsored World Music Festival featuring Mariah Carey, it was impossible to tell which revelers were well-off and which weren't. As with cities in the U.S., a tourist in the city center of Rabat wouldn't see the illiteracy and lack of access to infrastructure and resources that beset many people living on the periphery of society. I wonder if development work can be just as important, perhaps more, in places where poverty is still present but more hidden from view.

We haven't found the answer to that question yet – perhaps, it doesn't exist - but we've been hard at work on our projects. We've all been charmed by this country, yes – but far from making us complacent about the need for development work here, we're even more motivated to leave this beautiful country changed for the better in our own small ways. Team Mobile has been hard at work on a cycle of interviewing illiterate people in the Medina, getting feedback on their notebook designs, and making revisions. Team Oil has been...well, chasing after apparently nonexistent animal feed stores and dealing with overzealous would-be translators...but also preparing materials to visit the cooperative tomorrow. We've all been bonding with our partner students at the School of Industry and Mining (ENIM), both over social dinners and at work in the classroom. One lesson I've learned already from this class is that face-to-face time with our partners, cultivating trusting relationships with partners is one of the most critical parts of a development project's success. The warm and generous Moroccans we've met are making that part easy.

Food Processing: Greetings from Ghana!

Tuesday 05/15/2012

            We excitedly departed for Ghana late Tuesday night – we got a good laugh from drunken old ladies and surprisingly decent food on the plane to Amsterdam.  After a 10 hour layover spent napping and chatting, we got on the second leg of our flight to Accra, Ghana. 

Laura shares her wisdom

Wednesday 05/16/2012

Our first stop was the IDE Ghana headquarters, run by Ben’s friend Bob.  Unfortunately, Bob was back in the US, but we were able to meet an Olin Alum, Laura Stuppen!   Rather than catching up on sleep, many of us stayed up to hear about Laura’s affordable design experience.  Needless to say, we’re inspired!

Thursday 05/15/2012

 After a decent night’s sleep we departed via VIP bus for Kumasi.  We had our first true Ghanaian travel experience – weaving between cars coming from both directions, only centimeters to spare between then.  Driving in Ghana is NUTS!

Bus depot in Accra

               Following a crazy drive to the bus station, we were pleasantly surprised by a luxurious bus.  Here’s Elizabeth, Liz, and MK lounging in style!   This is by far the most comfortable ride we have and will have in Ghana….that is, if you ignore 5 hours of continuous potholes and literally bouncing out of your seat!  No sleep for us!  But the bus ride was definitely an experience worth having…

Elizabeth, Liz and MK on the way to Kumasi

              Now that we’re in Kumasi we’re staying and the Tek Credit Hostel on the KNUST campus in Kumasi.  We have a pretty sweet view….

View from our Hostel

 Liz Threlkeld

Friday 05/19/2012

We began our first full day in Kumasi by meeting Dr. George Obeng for breakfast at the Engineering Guest House restaurant. He is the director of the Technical Consultancy Center (TCC) and is the main contact between ADE and KNUST.  As we munched on our Spanish Omelets we listened to him further explain the relationship between all of the schools and how he is actively helping our two projects.  Seeing as he is a very important and busy man, it was great to have the opportunity to meet him.

After breakfast, we all jumped into the tro-tro and took our first visit to Suame Magazine to visit the Information Transfer Technology Unit (ITTU).  Frankly speaking as a business student, I am not frequently around metal parts or gadgets.  And at Suame Magazine, I definitely got my fill!  There are broken cars abandoned along the road, vendors selling food and mountains of metal.  Each store has its own specialty and will serve a specific purpose.  Unfortunately I was unable to identify everything that I saw, but I have never seen as many bolts, hubcabs and other car parts in my life.  After a lunch of fried rice with the ITTU staff, we split up and checked out different parts of the magazine.  My group was led by Ana, (a MIT alum,) who took us through a complicated maze of shops.   She has only been in Kumasi for two months and she already knows her way around!  And more importantly, we purchased coconuts so we could have a tasty snack as we walked.

Eating coconut at Suame magazine

                 Midafternoon we left ITTU to go to Tek Junction, which is a mini market place right outside of KNUST.  We had previously scheduled a time to meet Mr. George Ansah, who is a project manager at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture.  He was a great help since he is how we were able to find coconut oil for the Bee Natural lip balm project.  Beeswax, shea butter and coconut oil are the three main ingredients in the lip balm, but we were having trouble sourcing the oil.  However with George, we were able to finally close the gap since he personally knows of many small producers who sell high quality oil.  In addition, he took us through Tek Junction to find oil and explain to us the common traits of coconut oil.

                Overall, it was a very fulfilling day.  We meet two Georges who both taught us all and gave the program even more support.  Also, I had the opportunity to walk through the most metal I have ever seen and experience the more industrial side of Ghana. 

Elise Drake

Saturday 5/19/2012

               On Saturday, the team headed east to visit some villages around the market town of Konongo. The first village, Adumkrom, is where the original grater prototype was placed a year ago. A few weeks ago, they had contacted us to say the grater was not working, so we had two reasons to visit: to pick up the grater and bring it back to Kumasi for repairs, and also to get a better idea of how it has been used and some user feedback about the system. Unfortunately, the gari producers who are our primary users were not around, but we were able to pick up the grater and get second-hand feedback – we were able to hear what other people had heard or seen about the grater and its use.

              With the help of Jerry, a local politician and our main village liaison, we also made contact with a second village, PKK. PKK is much larger than Adumkrom, and has had grid power for approximately the last 20 years. In PKK we talked with two entrepreneurs who run multiple-crop processing businesses: cassava grating, corn milling and palm nut crushing. Both processors had two machines they ran cassava in: one for producing the right texture for gari, and one for cassava dough, a finer mush used in dishes like banku (cassava dough + fermented corn mush). Gari is processed primarily in large amounts during the rainy season, while cassava dough is processed in small amounts nightly (for dinner) year round. Past ADE teams have suspected a dual grating business model (cassava dough every night; gari in season) would be more financially stable and would spread the social benefit of mechanized grating to more users, but this was the first time we had seen proof of concept of it actually happening. This was excellent information! Both processers in PKK told us they had 10-15 people coming to grate cassava dough for dinner each night.

              On the way back to Kumasi, we stopped to meet Jerry’s family – and then his brother Joe’s family bakery. They made us feel so welcome and let us snap video and pepper them with questions about every step of the baking life – we were also doing a little scoping out of areas of opportunity for future ADE projects. And fresh, sweet, hot bread for dinner on the ride home? Hard to do better.

Caroline Condon 

Sunday 5/20/2012

              

              On Sunday morning, Bee Natural team decided to head to Techiman to meet Paul Yeboah, an entrepreneur Laura from IDE recommended to us earlier when we were in Accra. Techiman is placed in north of Kumasi and it takes 2 hours to 4 hours from Kumasi by car depending on the traffic situation. We got on a trotro around 10:30am and started our journey to Techiman. The weather was great and ambiguity of where our journey is going to take us to made us feel more excited about the trip. We met up with Paul in Techiman and he kindly invited us to his house to show us his products that he is producing from moringa and to guide us through the process of registering as a business and the process to pass the Food and Drug Board regulation. Paul is the founder of Ghana Permaculture Institute where he aims to create stable productive system that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with the people not only for today but also the future. He has created a network of 5,000 farmers who have joined this initiative. It was truly fascinating to find an entrepreneur who holds similar core values as our team does.

Ben meets a Michael, a local beekeeper

             We asked Paul earlier that we would like to meet with few beekeepers around his region so that we can learn from their perspectives. After spending some time in Paul’s house, we reloaded ourselves into trotro to head to Nkoranza, where we got to meet two beekeepers, Yaw Amankwa and Michael Sarpong. Yaw was the owner of 70 bee hives and Michael was the owner of 20 bee hives. We all gathered around in the shade to talk about our project and heard Yaw and Michael’s story on beekeeping. It was really a fascinating experience. We learned so much from just talking to them about their everyday life as a beekeeper. We all became friends really fast and we exchanged our contacts so that we can keep in touch even back in the United States. We purchased some high quality beeswax from Michael. Michael and Yaw both gave us their honey as presents. We were so thankful for their hospitality. 

Car troubles

               On the way back to Techiman from Nkoranza, our trotro was having a trouble with overheated engine, so we had to stop in the middle of the road to give it a little break. While waiting, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Ghana and again were fascinated by the beauty of nature.  Although it was hectic, today was an awesome day with great learning experiences and adventures!  

So Yoon Jun

Monday 5/21/2012-Thursday 5/24/2012

              Cassava team planned on spending this week in the ITTU shop, building our prototype. However, since the village visit gave us so much information and new ideas, we decided to completely redesign the cassava grater. After lots of design sessions and late nights we are finally in the shop and getting our hands dirty building. The guys who work in the ITTU shop are the best! Their skill, technique, and demeanor are more than we could have ever imagined.

Sulliman cuts sheet metal with a chisel

              On Wednesday, we asked Sulliman, one of the men of the shop (pictured above) to help us cut some sheet metal. He whipped out a chisel! On 3.5mm sheet metal! That’s hard core. We were all very impressed and very grateful for the help we have received from the ITTU. Below is a picture of the team working on building the cassava grater with the majority of the men at the shop. We hope to finish building two machines by Thursday.

Hanging out with the ITTU staff

 Elizabeth Poindexter

Tuesday 5/22/2012

Today some of us visited Central Market, the largest market in west Africa with over 10,000 stores and stalls. An estimated 1,000,000 people visit the market daily. This video was shot walking around. Enjoy!

Alex Place