The situation is complicated. There are many stakeholders and many perspectives on the issue of how to deal with Old Fadama.
The government wants to wipe out the settlement, erase it from the map. Human rights watchers, mainly the People’s Dialogue and COHRE have stated that they believe there should be an alternative to putting the people on the streets. A relocation was discussed, but never implemented. Over time, the neighborhood has been stigmatized to the point that nobody wants the relocation near them, making the matter even more difficult to solve.
In the meantime the settlement has continued to grow, and grow.
There are two emergencies occurring at once. One is the massive migration of rural dwellers to the city in search of a better economy due to prolonged droughts in the and unpredictable flooding in the North. The other is the constant presence of unsanitary flooding, pest infestation, and fires.
The settlement is unstable, changing every day. Houses are built; the presence of a micro-economy drives the movement of goods, and construction of structures like a sophisticated group of ants. Inhabitants pay rent, somehow. Water and electricity are purchased and distributed within the community legitimately through Ghana water and electrical companies.
The conditions are not healthy, to be honest, but as always, despite the suffering people continue with their daily lives.
An area of houses burn down and people begin building in blocks. Fear of government whistle blowers versus fear of fire. Built- with- least structures too delicate to withstand fire are replaced with permanent or built-to- last structures.
We had a workshop at the Tenteye office of Old Fadama with the Homeless Association. Just as we were thinking to bring in other stakeholders or professionals into the conversation, a group of students stepped into the meeting, visiting from the University of London. The discussion of empowerment via micro-loans and savings was brought up and details are discussed regarding the implementation and accountability of the system. We listened a lot, and exchanged contact information. Although we were not able to steer the conversation, we plan to follow up with this group in the near future.
The People’s Dialogue seems to suggest that an upgrade would be dependent on land ownership, or at least protecting investments, so as not to scare away international and outside funding. Safi Sana, an organization has already located a site in the settlement and would like to begin construction of toilets, but the company would not like to see their efforts demolished. I hope it works out because the sanitation problem would be greatly improved if people could organize the waste within the settlement, and recycling would be ideal in my opinion.
Father Arcadio, a catholic priest, operating a school in the neighborhood suggests that giving the land to the people directly could be disastrous. It would be an all out war about land rights!
My fear is that if the settlement was cleaned up and upgraded, it would quickly be gentrified. It is strategically located in the center of the city, and the property values would be tremendous, pushing out the inhabitants it was originally meant to protect.
When asking Mohammed from the Kayayei (porters) Youth Association, what he believed the solution to the problem is he gave an interesting answer, and that was honesty. This is true for many sides. The inhabitants of the slum need to ask for help and set up a support network. Governments and NGO’s need to stop taking money for themselves and begin to take actions to make real changes. Time and time again, people walk in, talking to him, interviewing people, filling their questionnaires and surveys, and yet all they do in the end is write reports. It does nothing to help. He has also organized a proposal to help many of the most vulnerable Kayayei by creating jobs in Kumasi via a wholesale warehouse, set up to train and produce products, which can then be distributed throughout the country or even abroad. If China does it, why can’t Ghana? He’s basically suggesting the creation of industry and a stepping up of the value of Ghana’s natural resources, which it tends to sell unprocessed at very low prices.
When asked about what he felt was the source of problems in Old Fadama, he gave another interesting answer, which was conflict. People in the North are fighting over large and small issues, and it kills productivity. Curfews are enacted. When people waste all of their time fighting, their farms suffer, and the youth move south.
We have only begun to brainstorm these ideas… We hope to follow up soon with more details as we begin to explore these in more depth.
We have arrived to Accra in search of a better economy, and have moved into the largest slum of the city. Now that our bulk luggages being stored around the city with our friends, we are free to live with the city as our living room, the market our source of daily bread. We only come home to sleep. It rained heavily the day before last, and we began perfecting our skills of gutter-jumping. Pants rolled up and ready to go, we are living in the heart of Accra. The rainy season is intensifying and there are malaria mosquitos everywhere. In the next few days Gabriela will attempt to get a job with the market queens of Agbogbloshi, while the boys focus on the more "manly" activities of bulk-breaking.
