Placement (Day 8)
I was on time today…YAY but the driver was not. We had watermelon for breakfast instead of pineapples but I was served my daily dose at lunch. Lunch we had fried rice and fried chicken, I believe the remainder of the meals will be a repeat of what was made within this previous week so I will not discuss that unless it’s unpleasing. Pineapples every day!
Remember sis from Day 4? Well they came back into the office today. She was in a good mood (smiling and laughing) so you already know what I am about to say…they decided to work it out and stay together due to their long history. I never got the concept of why individuals decide to stay with someone when they are being misused, abused, or cheated on just because of history! But they agreed to cease the actions that one another did not like and the woman said she would stop by if they had any other issues. The man claims he will stop emotionally and physically abusing her. I am all about actions and not words; It’s definitely easier to say something than to follow through but only time will tell. Her drinking did not come up in today’s session and they did not make a decision on whether or not they would get married but they will continue to cohabitate.
In Ghana, there are no consistent therapy sessions, they typically do not come back weekly nor biweekly. Instead, they seek assistance when there is a major issue. In their perspective, the issue has been resolved. If she decided she wanted to leave him then he would have to compensate her with a lump sum of money because she has spent six years with him cooking and cleaning (cohabitating) even though they are not married. Social workers typically call the client to check in but they do not have the funding and time to actually follow-up in person. Often when they are doing community outreach it is on their own time.
There are no qualifications for receiving services from the Social Welfare office and they provide free services. The government pays social workers 1500 Cedi/salary. A salary in Ghana means per month and that is equivalent to $338.60 per month!
There is a program called Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, which is a social cash transfer program that provides cash grant to the extremely poor households across the country. Its main aim is to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long-term human capital development. One person house receives 32 Cedi, two persons: 76 Cedi, three persons 88 Cedi, and the maximum is 106 Cedi for four or more people in the home.
I also learned that the homeless population is very low in Ghana because they are dependent on their family. If there is a person in need of assistance whether it is shelter, food, money, etc. Social Services investigate whether or not they have family alive because if they do then they should welcome them with open arms in order to get them back onto their feet. This country has a sense of togetherness opposed to America’s concept of every man for themselves.
Another informative day down…now time for my relaxing weekend of nothingness!