Even
though the process seemed like a rigorous one to begin with, one couldn’t help
but realise it was an equipping process for a journey I would never have
imagined. From ‘slides’ in a hall to
an almost four hour journey to Sirigu never seemed easy but ended up to be the
best journey ever embarked on.
It
was an already achieved mission of PEACE
I assert. Arriving in the same compound with people from many different
backgrounds and starting a training session with everybody immediately even
without getting to know one another better, only required peaceful coexistence
to make it a success. Nothing can be
considered a peaceful course than getting along with people from different backgrounds
in groups throughout the orientation sessions and finally travelling together
to a new destination with understanding prevailing.
As
a team leader, I have gone through these processes more than two times. It can
be quite frustrating to have been part of the Team Leader ICO (In Country
Training), going through ICO with two teams of two different cohorts and as
well travelling to placement (Sirigu) to begin work in a completely new
environment where everyone is expected to get along with people of the
community irrespective of educational background, wealth and or status. Fortunately,
no body fell for the frustration but focused on the mission to be achieved thanks
to peaceful coexistence.
Madam
Melani Kasise ; founder of Sirigu Women’s Organisation for Pottery and Art
(SWOPA) couldn’t have found PEACE
any better than given back to society what society gave to her. Coming up with
SWOPA especially with her retirement benefit in 1997 is an issue worth
detailing another time as she used SWOPA to empower the women of Sirigu and
beyond. This helped bring women of Sirigu together day in day out to exhibit
their art and craft skill in order to make a living.
But
if it wasn’t for SWOPA, I wouldn’t find myself in a community as serene as
Sirigu; 40 km north of the Upper East Regional capital (Bolgatanga). A
community where I find hospitality a habit and not an act besides the
indigenous art and craft designs as well as basket weaving and pottery making skills
possessed by its people.
‘Bilika’
(morning greetings) to ‘Zaanori’ (evening greetings), you would always find
somebody saying ‘wuntenga’ (afternoon greetings) or ‘tomaa’ (because your work
is appreciated). Made up of 5 sub communities, they see one another as one
people. Where else could one seek ‘PEACE’ but from the love of your own people?
They knew none of us from anywhere but
treated us equally with love and acceptance everywhere.
‘Challenge yourself to
change the world’ a slogan of International
Citizen Service has changed many lives towards finding peace. Appreciating the
lives and situation of people so new to you and doing your best to change their
situation for the better is a bold step towards the PEACE we seek with each day passing.
International
Service provided an avenue for us to use understanding to achieve PEACE. A
JOURNEY OF PEACE AND FOR PEACE couldn’t have been achieved any better than
volunteering with International Service Ghana. There couldn’t have been a
better way to tell our people how possible peace is than the noble act of
bringing people from different parts of the world to work together towards
achieving a common goal. People see the flow of cooperation among us volunteers
irrespective of our individual differences and can’t think further than
realising its only PEACE that can make it possible. Volunteering with
International Service Ghana is a pure manifestation of Martin Luther King’s saying
“if we are to have peace on earth…our
loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class and our nation; and
this means we must develop a world perspective”.
As
far as our work with International Service Ghana is concerned, we cannot be
oblivious of the fact that Ghana is going to the polls come December 2016 and
it becomes a part of every ones responsibility to preach peace for it would
have been impossible to stay and or work in Ghana without PEACE.
It is for this reason we must remember that even though WE MET IN DIFFERENT WAYS, WE ACCEPTED ONE ANOTHER THE SAME WAY thanks to International Service. This I hope will guide us throughout our journey in preaching peace.
I CHOOSE PEACE, HOPE YOU
DO TOO!!!
Yussif Andani Alhassan
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