Timotina Boakye: Transforming the Environment, Transforming lives
Every now and then, I look through photos of global protests to discover some of the deep and witty captions that protesters have on their placards. Last September’s Global Climate strike was no exception; people didn’t fail to hit the streets with their creative messages to leaders on the need for climate action.
There was one caption that run through and struck me the most - it read there is no planet b. After a bit more research I realized it is a common phrase that environmentalists use in relation to protecting the earth. There’s only one earth and no other planet for us to live on. There has been lots of talk about colonizing Mars when Earth becomes uninhabitable. But why put so much work into colonizing another smaller planet and starting a whole new life when we can just take care of the one we have now? With all the inequality in the world today, would we all be able to even afford to go to Mars?
I spoke with Timotina Boakye, a young banking professional who is extremely passionate about ensuring environmental sustainability for us and future generations, and is working hard to make this happen. Her project “Transforming the environment, transforming lives” teaches residents of Asikabew (a village in the Eastern Region of Ghana)to upcycle plastic into various artifacts for sale to provide them extra income.
What inspired you to start this project?
In 2018, I attended Greenheart International’s Global Leaders Conference in Washington DC along with 40 representatives from 22 different countries. At the conference, some Greenheart Alumni who had been given grants for projects shared their stories on how they used them. I was so impressed at how young people just like me were taking advantage of opportunities to impact their communities.
How long have you been working on this project?
The project is still relatively new, I’ve been at it for 6 months now. I went for the Greenheart Alumni Council in 2019, returned to Ghana in December 2019 and began in January 2020. I have been sourcing crowd funding through GoFundMe and working on getting publicity for this project.
What products does your cohort make and who patronizes your products?
The community I adopted for this project is a peasant farming community. They are mostly into cassava farming from which they make cassava dough for sale. We try to re-purpose the waste they create in the community to create artifacts such as jewelry, laptop bags, pencil cases and baskets out of plastic bottles and empty plastic sachets. Currently, we are looking for sales outlets. Ophelia Asare Bediako, another Greenheart alumna, has been willing to host our products on her e- commerce website- Ophebee Cosmetics and Costumes. We are however still working on getting more outlets. At the moment, we use our Instagram page as well as any other e-commerce sites we can leverage on to sell these artifacts.
What demographic does your project reach and what compelled you to choose this demographic?
My project targets women between ages 35- 60 and youth between 14- 25. I chose this demographic because I believe that women need to be empowered beyond the stereotypes that exist in our community and be exposed to opportunities to reach their full potential. I selected youth simply because there is a growing trend of entrepreneurship among us and equipping them with a skill to generate their own source of income would be a step in the right direction.
In what ways does this project protect the environment?
The first time we toured and officially met the chief of Asikabew, I saw something that shocked me. During our rounds, we saw a goat busily munching on something- I looked closely and realized it was a polythene bag! I thought; “Even the animals that are being reared to feed them are not being protected from plastic pollution!” Aside that, there was so much plastic waste in the soil. I find that to be the most basic form of harm we cause to the environment; littering and not properly recycling waste. I am working to inculcate a new culture where people are conscious of the waste they create, dispose of it properly and also to learn to upcycle this waste into something they can sell. As Asikabew is a largely a farming community, plastic pollution in the soil harms their livelihood. My project helps to curb this.
What organizations do you work with?
Greenheart International has been the main sponsor; they gave me a grant to kick start the project. I also work with Theovision, a not-for-profit Christian mission that translates the Bible into various dialects and evangelizes in villages across Ghana. I partnered with them because I also share in the Christian Faith and mission, and wanted to equip the community I adopted with skills, thus empowering them the both spiritually and economically. I also work with Waste or Create- an environmental sustainability organisation which educates individuals to and recycle and re-purpose the waste they create, as well as the negative impact of this waste on the environment.
What are some of the challenges you face?
Asikabew is very far from where I live so commuting with my team and dealing with logistics can be difficult. COVID-19 has also been a major setback for me. We were supposed to have finished training participants in July and start aggressive sales towards the end of the summer. Unfortunately, increasing cases of the virus has made it risky to visit regularly. We are trying to make readjustments and exploring our options as to the safest way to continue with our project.
Have you had any push back from the target community? If yes, could you share some of your experiences?
Not at all-they are very enthusiastic about the project and happy anytime we come around. The challenge is, we do not get there as early as we intend to and at times the women are in hurry to go back to the farm, harvest cassava and prepare the dough for sale. There hasn’t been explicit push back- it’s mostly in the little things like participants not showing up for training because of a funeral and things like that. The chief has been very supportive, and the leaders we elected among them to ensure accountability have been very responsible, ensuring that the classroom we use for training is always clean and the tools we use are properly kept and stored.
Where do you expect this project to reach in the next 10 years?
I envision us scaling up this project by moving into different communities to impact more individuals. We also hope that the sales of products from upcycled waste increases so that we train more people. I also hope to see an improvement in recycling and upcycling culture among Ghanaians- where it becomes the norm to separate plastic, metal, and paper waste and present it to the appropriate bodies or agencies to recycle or upcycle it.
Is this a fixed term project? Would you want to continue after you are done- what kind of resources will you need to continue if you choose to?
Greenheart International initially provided a time frame of 4 months to pull it off. This was quite a stretch for me because I felt my project could be self- sustaining if done properly so I needed enough time to do it right. When COVID-19 happened, Greenheart international had to make a very difficult decision to cancel all their alumni programs and left us the decision to either quit or keep going on our own. I decided to go on with mine because of the relationship I had already formed with the community. Since I’m practically on my own now, I’m left with the responsibility of financing and figuring out the direction of the project. I would like to get a proper room for activities as we are using an uncompleted classroom block with no doors or windows, a projector for presentations on Climate Change and other environmental related education and also give visual representations on what their finished products should look like. I would also like to fix up a creative or a production room for the women. Recycle bins in the community would also be great, in order to help them inculcate the habit of separating their waste.
Could you share a couple of your success stories with us?
The biggest milestone was making our first set of products- we made jewelry, purses, coasters, baskets out of plastic bottles- It was such a great day and we felt so fulfilled. We also had a massive cleanup in the village and I was overwhelmed with the involvement of the members of the village. I found that incredibly beautiful.
How do you think the average Ghanaian can become more environmentally conscious?
I think this comes down to attitude. Attitude is mostly shaped by the environment you have grown up in. During my time at Achimota School, our headmistress had a zero tolerance policy for litter. She would see a piece of paper on the floor and we would all get punished for it. These experiences made me more conscious of my environment — I can carry litter in my bag till I find a bin to dispose of it. Ghanaians need to develop more discipline towards sanitation- a habit that should also be enforced by local government authorities. We need to be more involved in activities and initiatives that help to preserve the environment and it starts from the very basic level of socialization- the home, schools, churches and the like. Everybody must be involved in this process of attitudinal change. It took four years in boarding school to change my attitude from not caring at all to being environmentally conscious. It is through a change in attitude, creating awareness, developing discipline and enforcing punitive measures that we can curb our environmentally harmful attitudes. We need to hear more on Climate Change as well. Agencies such as the media, schools and churches could increase environmental education to ensure that it is properly engraved in our culture.
We have only one planet, and we must make sure it’s safe for the generations that come after us.
