Workin' It At The Worshop

 

Today was the all important day for our trip, the day of the fabrication workshop. Today also marked the first day of our tro tro picking us up on time! (Note: This was the third one we've tried.) At 8:00 AM fabricators started arriving for the workshop. As the classroom where we were holding the workshop got its finishing touches, the 14 participants gathered around. Everyone was clearly excited. At a little after 10:30, we kicked off. Ama, who is doing her national service at TCC, blessed the workshop through a morning prayer. In Ghana, it is typical to start a meeting with a prayer. Then George, director and senior researcher at the Technology Consultancy Center of KNUST, gave a welcoming address. He expressed his hope that the following two days would be a platform that fosters innovation and creativity in the work of the fabricators and Suame as a whole. After, Ben introduced the two goals for the workshop: introducing the grater and teaching the fabricators how to use a spot welder. For a short moment, a crisis seemed imminent – the power went off (spoiler alert: the electricity came back on in time for the grater demonstration). Ben did not let this stop him and went on to explain how the grater fits in the competitive landscape of other graters in Ghana and what its edge is. Then the business team talked numbers and informed the fabricators what kind of profit they could make when building the grater. Next, the real fun began. In teams of two, the fabricators were able to test the machine. Several eyes lit up when they realized how easily and quickly a large amount of cassava can be processed with the grater. Now, we really had their attention. Irene, Rebecca, and Ben went on to walk the fabricators piece-by-piece through the various parts of the grater. At 1:00 PM we stopped for lunch. The business team took the opportunity to talk to two of the fabricators and ask them about their business. It was then, that the fabricators confessed that they do little to no bookkeeping – we bet the IRS would not be a fan of that! The fabricators were very excited about the grater – one approached Ben asking to buy the demonstration grater, another wanted an order of 1000 motors so that he could start building graters. However, the highlight still seemed to be spot welding. Rebecca showed them how the spot welder works and then each participant was able to weld two pieces of mild steel together. The fabricators did this with such enthusiasm – it was like Christmas. The tech team went on to explain exactly how to build the grater. In the meantime, the business team went to Adum (central Kumasi) to talk to three banks, Women's World Banking Ghana, First National Bank, and HFC Bank. First National has a branch in Konongo (which is close to where the gari processing women live) and provides small loans to individuals. When getting back to the hostel, the business team checked another item off their Ghana Bucket List – driving in a real tro tro. After the hectic, crazy, loud, colorful atmosphere of central Kumasi, the business team decided to walk from Tech Junction (the tro tro stop) to Tek Credit Union (about 20 minutes) and relax amongst the trees. The day ended with Debbie (a Masters student at KNUST who is researching cassava grating) bringing us chocolate ice cream – a reward for a job well done!

Pictures will follow!