Ode to Humanity

In my first blog entry, 'First Things First' I began my journey acknowledging the friends and family who supported me and wished me luck. It only feels right to finish similarly - with thank you's. In efforts to give you an idea of all the people I'm thankful for meeting in the last two-and-a-half months, here's the 'quick and dirty version' (as my Professor Gershman would say) of the lovely people I've had the pleasure of meeting:

• Kingsley - a friend and life line who had my back the entire time in Ghana, always there when I needed him the most
• Nabil and Ganeemos - entertaining Azonto kings and commanders on the dance floor
• Major and Rhythm - a young rap duo aspiring to be the next big thing out of Ghana
• Banky - the Nigerian who bought me breakfast
• Porsha - the 10 year old vendor from whom I bought my morning egg sandwich from each day at the market outside my dorm at University of Ghana
• T.S. - the Econ masters student who always stopped by my room to say hello
• Gift - one of the many kind ladies who worked in the kitchen at U of G. She always complimented me on my eyeliner and asked me to show her how to do it
• Aunty Peggy - One of the most eclectic people I've ever met at 7am. Worked at the reception at U of G and greeted me every morning, and noticed when I didn't come home the night before. She never forgot to remind me to 'Like' her daughter on Facebook who was running for Miss Teen Ghana 2012 and to tell all my friends. Her name is Udel and find her on FB here: Udel for Miss Teen Ghana - FB or vote for her here: Miss Teen Ghana 2012.
• Davyd - met him on the bus from the Cape Town airport to Zebra Crossing. He invited me to meet his friends and I hung out with them on Long Street my first night in Cape Town.
• Carlos, Michael, and Steven at Zebra Crossing. Steven gave me a Taro card reading and I spent many late nights up with the gang drinking coffee and making pasta
• Erin - worked for Monkeybiz and shared our views on nonprofits
• Kate, Louise, Courtney and the Dutch girls - Volunteers with African Impact. Explored Long Street with them and they taught me about laws surrounding townships and education in South Africa.
• Stacy and Susan - the kind and hospitable staff at Zebra Crossing
• Tyron - A high school Capetonian I met on the Metrorail coming back from Simon's Town. He has a twin brother named Myron and wants to go to college and study art.
• Matt, Ashley, T.S. and the Ikhaya family - Nearly bent over backwards assisting me where they could. From saving me R180 by picking me up at Koopmanskloof winery to dropping me off at the train station at the end of my stay, they saved my life more than once.
• Becky and Francis - two entertaining ladies from the Virgin Islands I met on a wine tour. They were 5 days into their year-long trip traveling the world.
• Chantal - Graciously asked her friend to give me a lift to Koopmanskloof winery
• Coen and Michael - Enjoyed nightlife around Stellenbosch
• 2 German guys from Ikhaya (crap, forgot their names) - Dragged me out to Bohemia for a second time when they rainy weather had me down and I didn't feel like going out.
• Rydel - probably the most knowledgeable people about fair trade wine in South Africa. Definitely felt honored for him to take the time to speak with me and share his wisdom.
• Mario - Kindly toured me around Koopmanskloof and shared his vision and ideas for making the winery a better place for its workers.
• Linda and Kevin - owners of Robertson Backpackers, which felt more like a home than a hostel. From home cooked meals to an 'honesty bar' to giving me an awesome rate on a single room when the dorms were full, they made this place feel like home when the weather was crap.
• Eric and Michael - local Capetonians who shared their 'hubbly bubbly' and bought me a few Savannas
• Gerrit, Lenka, and ALG Boerdery family - hosted me for two nights in their guesthouse on the Citrusdal farm. From driving 2 hours to collect me from Cape Town, arranging a 2-night guesthouse in town, giving me a tour of their lovely citrus estate, and finally arranging me a ride back from Citrusdal to Cape Town - their hospitality was more than I could have ever expected. 
• Edwina, Nyasha, Mandi, Howard and the Green Elephant staff - seriously, the staff that never sleeps. With the reception running 24/7 I'm not sure how they manage to be so helpful, entertaining, and friendly each day.
• Emily, Jenna, Marilyn, Marlon, 'Rasta guy' and the rest of the Green Elephant family - staying at the Green Elephant felt like home and was welcoming from day 1. I enjoyed my stay here so much that I left to Citrusdal for 2 nights and came right back to the 'Green Elle'.
• Nee - the boxing matchmaker I met at the Namibia airport and invited me to meet some of Ghana's most well-known professional boxers.
• Chen, Jill, Hannah, Jenny and the FTUSA family - provided professional guidance from San Francisco. They provided me with contacts in South Africa which laid out my itinerary. I knew they were never more than a Skype call or email away.

As you can see although for most of my trip I traveled 'alone' I wasn't really alone. I met so many amazing people during my trip and considering I wrote this all from memory, each person made an effect on me in some shape or form. Funny enough, as I step further outside of my comfort zone the more grounded I become. It's because I'm reminded of the human qualities that connect us all... no matter who you are, where you are, where you came from, or where you are going we are all the same, connected by the human spirit that runs through all of us.

One Love.

Adventures in Bukom - the (Boxing) Heart of Accra

Have you ever heard of Bukom? Nope, me neither until I met my friend Cephas at the airport in Nambia during my layover from Cape town to Accra. He's a boxing matchmaker in Accra and convinced me that you haven't been to Bukom, you haven't seen the heart of Accra. Although I may have never heard of the small area in Usher Town, ask any local and they'll tell you Bukom is well-known for breeding Ghana's best boxers, including those lucky enough to gain international recognition such as Joshua Clottey and Azumah Nelson. Considering I previously spent 6 weeks in Accra and had never heard of Bukom, I was game to see what its all about.

Bukom is a small community nestled in the  historic colonial districts of Jamestown and Ushertown in Accra. It's quite evident you've reached Bukom when you begin to see billboards advertising upcoming matches and faces of local boxers. There were several of Joshua Clottey including the one in the photo at the beginning of this post. The pride in Bukom's boxing legacy is undeniable, as my friend eagerly pointed out the house Joshua Clottey grew up in as we strolled through the community. Maybe more so because it was a national holiday (I don't remember what the holiday celebrated), but the streets were vibrant with kids playing football, people cooking, and just hanging out with friends and family as local Ghanaians tend to do best. I walked hesitantly into the middle of the commotion - definitely the only 'white lady' in sight. Always slightly guarded to whip out my camera and snap ignorant photos without approval, I just hung out and tried to blend in... if at all possible. However, Cephas encouraged me to 'snap a photo' of the kids playing football, and then wanted to take a photo of me. Whoops - I was instantly swarmed!

 Locals love 'white ladies'. Locals love cameras. hence this photo.

Scenes from around Bukom -  

Excited to tour me around his hometown, Cephas guided me through the Usher Fort slave castle. While I had already visited the Elmina slave castle in Cape Coast, the Usher Fort castle is apparently older. However, its unfortunate that the Usher Fort castle isn't well kept nor officially operated to give  official tours. Luckily I had a friend to show me around. While we still gave a 'donation' to someone monitoring the door, it would be nice to see Usher Fort operated as a tourist site, not only because it would be a great source of income and jobs for the local economy, but its important for Accra visitors to learn about the slave castle's history. 

Scenes from the Usher Town fort - 

Behind bars...

Eerie symmetry

I am so thankful for a genuine tour of the Jamestown/Usher Town area of old Accra. If there's one trait I pride myself on, its the fact to absorb without judgement. Rather than compare and/or judge the people I was lucky enough to meet, I thank them endlessly for opening me into their home, exposing me to their everyday life, and welcoming me into their family.

Bukom Banku, one of Ghana's well-known local boxers.

They made me. Hilarious, isn't it?

My friend Cephas and I. Thanks for showing me around your hometown!

One of the many boxing gyms located in Bukom. I forget the name of the gym, but it was located to the right of the Usher Town fort entrance. With no roof, it was a lovely outdoor space. I just sat and watched them train for a while. 

The Wonderful World of South African Wine

If I could choose my dream career, I'd travel the world learning about all the origins, varieties, and blends of wine in the world. Okay, so I guess in short I'd be a wine connoisseur, but one who travels and maintains close connections with the producers themselves to understand exactly how each glass was crafted, and how one origin differs from another. Think the cross between a wine connoisseur and anthropologist. Anyways, back to reality... Yes I've always been a fan of wine (I mean, who isn't?) but after traveling to South Africa and learning about the world of wine in their perspective, I can't get over how intrigued I am by the complexity of the wine industry. Not only are there several single varietals uniquely harvested in South Africa - muscadel, pinotage, voigener - but in a historical sense the wine industry in SA is crucial to studying and improving SA's historical land right and racial inequality issues.

Just for personal kicks, I attempted to photograph my favorite bottles of wine I met while in SA. Here's my photo recap. Some photos are recycled from previous blog posts, while others are new.

I was lucky enough to go on several private wine tours while in South Africa, in addition to a handful of organized wine tours. Some of my personal wine highlights:

• At Citrusdal wines in particular, I was given a private tour by the head winemaker, Jacko, and had the opportunity to ask as many questions as possible. The wines we tasted were bottled right in front of my eyes, pulled straight from the steel holding tanks which is why the bottles below have no labels. 

• Another highlight was at Springfield in Robertson. I don't have photos for this place but wine tasting here felt like a science experiment. We tasted one grape varietal, merlot I believe, but was processed using two different storing methods. One was stored in your traditional oak barrel while the other was stored in a steel tank, with the later considered to be more modern and appreciated among American palates. Needless to say the difference between the two was boldly evident, with the traditional method carrying a lingering bold oak body.
• There were several single wine varieties in South Africa that I had never tasted nor heard of before. Viognier, which falls somewhere in between a Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc was one of my favorites. I bought this actual bottle from Kransklop, a winery we visited in Robertson.

Other notable favorites:

I didn't try this exact bottle, but I noticed a popular trend of fusing pinotage with coffee and/or mocha. There was another one that was sold at most large retailers called 'Cappupino Ccinotage', or a Capuccino Pinotage... get it? Anyways, I wanted to try that one as well but didn't get a chance to. Most of them have a coffee or mocha scent, although it may not necessarily carry a coffee or mocha taste.

The Cape Jazz Shiraz, a sparkling shiraz was AMAZING. I was lucky enough to find it at the Cape Town airport and yes you guessed it, purchased it. 

Gifts are always an immediate favorite.

Couldn't resist the temptation of purchasing this unique blend. Muscadel + Pinotage - two varietals native to South Africa.

 My South African souvenirs of choice: 

Steller Organics FT Certified shiraz

Van Loveren's FT certified Pinotage

Who knows - maybe I'll get into the wine business, or become a professional wine taster. 

Citrusdal Wines - 'Home of Six Hats Fairtrade'

I was particularly excited for my visit to Citrusdal Winery. They are the producer of Six Hats wine, a brand I can say that I've had the pleasure of drinking many times in New York. Whenever IPSA serves wine at its organized events, we do our best to support Fairtrade wine if our budget permits. Quite often our Fairtrade wine of choice is Six Hats, so it was a great pleasure to meet the wine grape producers and see the winemaking facilities. It was an honor to have Jaco, the head winemaker at Citrusdal Wines, collect me from my B&B and drive me to Bergendal Boerdery, the FT certified farm from where he gets his wine grapes from.

Marc, JB Chairperson,  in front of the community projector funded 

with FT premium. Marc was particularly proud of this project because he

played a huge role 

We visited Bergendal Boerdery, the wine grape producer for Citrusdal Wines. I was a bit confused at first, but Bergendal Bordery is one of 3 FT certified producers farms from where Citrusdal Wines sources its grapes from. Citrusdal Wines has a contract with Bergendal Boerdery and pays them a FT premium of $0.05/kilo of grapes purchased. In addition to wine grapes Bergendal Boerdery also produces FT certified citrus and rooibos tea. 

I got to speak with Marc, who is the Bergendal Boerdery's JB Chairperson. One aspect I respected about Bergendal's JB was that hold elections every 2 years. By doing so they maximize the number of workers who gain leadership experience in a JB position. Marc has been the JB Chairperson for about 9 months. He spoke about the most recent premium funded project - a projector installed in their community center. Marc takes particular pride in the completion of this project because he was the person who initially suggested the idea at an annual meeting and was pleased to know that everyone in the community agreed. Not only did he also take the lead on pricing and ordering logistics, but even helped with the final installation. The projector is used by seasonal workers on the weekend, children after school, celebratory community events, and training sessions.

Interestingly enough, Citrusdal Winery is the only winemaking company located in Citrusdal, while most others are located in the Stellenbosch/Robertson area that I visited earlier in the trip. I asked Jaco what advantage the location of Citrusdal has in winemaking, over its more popular competitors Stellenbosch and Robertson. Apparently wine grapes are best when picked in cool weather. Bergendal Boerdery is located on a mountaintop in Citrusdal where the weather is much cooler. While wineries in Stellenbosch benefit from better soil, grapes must be picked around 3 or 4am when the weather is cool. For this reason many wineries are reverting to machinery for picking wine grapes since its difficult to find employees who will work in the middle of the night. However in Citrusdal the weather is much cooler on average so employees don't have to wake up so early to pick grapes, and also get a higher quality from relying on hand-picked product.

After our visit to Bergendal Boerdery, Jaco led me through the winemaking facilities. When asked what the greatest challenge was in producing wine for the Fairtrade market, his response was being audited so many times per year. Since Jaco sources grapes about 10 farms, of which 3 are FT certified, auditors are interested in traceability - making sure that FT wine grapes don't mix with the non-FT wine grapes. Below the tank is clearly labeled FLO WYN - obviously 'Fairtrade certified wine'.

We tasted wine straight from the steel tanks so there weren't even labels on the bottle yet. He said he was prepping some shipments for a client in the US anyway, so I decided to jump in. I tasted wine alongside Jaco and his official wine taster. Pretty neat. Typically a red wine drinker, I have become a fan of the whites. Among the three reds (pinotage, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz) and 3 whites sampled (chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and chenin blanc), my favorite was the sauvignon blanc.

You can find out more about Citrusdal Wines by visiting them at their website: http://www.citrusdalwines.co.za/

Citrusdal Hospitality - ALG Boerdery

I apologize in advance for a lengthy post. Here we go...

Citrusdal - South Africa's citrus haven

Since I've arrived in South Africa, there have been several moments where I had to check myself, stop, and think -

'Where am I, and what the hell am I doing here?'

The two days I spent in Citrusdal easily finds itself at the top of my list of unreal life experiences.

Morning breakfast at Aan d'Oewer

I traveled from Cape Town to Citrusdal, the heart of South Africa's citrus industry. Located about a 2 hours drive north from Cape Town, most local Capetonians have never heard of this tiny, lush, green, mountainside, agricultural, rural town. Continue about an hour further north and you'll hit Clanswilliam, where a majority of rooibos tea estates are located. My mission in the Citrusdal area included site visits to ALG Boerdery, Mouton Citrus, Citrusdal Wines, Bergendal Boerdery and rooibos tea producers Heiveld and Wuppertal. Of the five I had confirmed visits with ALG Boerdery, Bergendal Boerdery, and Citrusdal Wines.

Views from my room at Aan d'Oewer

Let me just say that I was impressed and humbled by ALG Boerdery's hospitality. Not only did they send someone to drive 2 hours and collect me from my Cape Town hostel at 10am, they arranged 2 nights in a beautiful bed and breakfast in town, organized an entire 2-day agenda including a site tour and opportunities to speak with workers and gather whatever impact information I needed, and lastly organized a lift for me back to Cape Town. Seriously, their generosity was beyond expected but of course I am forever thankful.

Accommodations at Aan d'Oewer (which translates to On/Next to the Water in Afrikaans) B&B You can read my review here: TripAdvisor Review or visit their website here: http://www.aandeoever.com/.

Had it not rained, ALG would have organized on-site accommodations in their very cute treehouse bungalows. But as you can see, the living room area opens to gorgeous view overlooking a river and endless citrus trees, but it would not been a fun place to stay in the rainstorm. (And if anyone remembers the game Myst, walking from tree house to tree house reminded me of one level from the computer game. If you didn't play Myst as a child please ignore this sentence...)

Riverside Base Camp which can be rented for camping

ALG Boerdery is family-owned estate currently run by Gerrit and his son, Gerrit jr. Their estate is quite expansive, encompassing 5 farms, a packhouse, a small juicing facility, a growing game reserve, a guesthouse, 5 chalets, a base camp, 3 creches, and not mention about 400,000 citrus trees. They produce red ruby grapefruits, limes, lemons, and more varieties of oranges than I've ever heard of.

ALG Boerdery has approximately 400,000 trees

From ALG I learned quite a lot about the Joint Body and exactly how premium funds are allocated. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with Tekkie - JB Chairperson, Lenka – FT Officer and CEO liaison, and Heidi - previous secretary.

Perhaps I should take a step back and explain what the Joint Body is, who its comprised of, and what they do. Spending so much time in the Fairtrade world I forget that other people probably have no idea what I'm talking about. The Joint Body decides how the premium money is spent. The ALG Joint Body, for example has 9 JB members - 5 men and 4 female. Each of the five farms has a JB representative in addition to a JB representative specifically for seasonal workers. Other roles in the JB include positions similar to any democratic organization - a Chairperson, FT liaison with the CEO, Secretary, Treasurer, etc. The JB meets every other month and is responsible for holding an annual General Meeting with all workers, both seasonal and permanent. During the AGM all workers submit suggestions and prioritize what projects should be financed that year.

Some of their greatest challenges with fair trade? Training workers on fair trade standards. When workers lack basic reading and writing skills, getting each and every worker on board with the technicalities of fair trade standards is difficult. Even for myself, Fairtrade standards are complicated, not to mention complying with standards from multiple certifications.Further, in a country such as South Africa where there are multiple official languages, communication across language barriers pose another challenging element to the training situation. At ALG the majority of permanent workers speak Afrikaans, while most seasonal workers speak Xhosa. When speaking across languages, some intermediary level of English is usually preferred.

My suggestion? FLO translated training materials that can help facilitate the communication between management and workers. If FLO or any other certification body wants to enforce standards, they should help alleviate the burden on organizations where multiple languages are spoken. Oftentimes I hear the criticism that FLO-cert auditors are picky, and standards have become increasingly demanding over the years. Auditors come to a site, point out whats wrong, leaving the farm responsible for investing the costs to meet FT standards. In short, meeting FT standards are expensive and costly, contributing to many organization's hesitation to become FT certified in the first place and leaving many to wonder is it worth it?

Views from inside the packhouse. Oranges, conveyor belts, boxes, and workers galore.

The nifty box mechanism flies boxes all throughout the packhouse.

Naartjties - most popular variety among locals because its
easy to peel. However it isn't considered the highest quality
because it has plenty of seeds and is on the tart, sour side.

Another noteworthy comment was the need to distinguish between what FLO wants to hear versus what is practical for the workers. Sure, certain Fairtrade premium projects would be great for FLO to report, projects which can be exemplified as having ideal impact within a community, but these projects may not necessarily be a localized solution in the respective local context. For example, FLO may suggest the need to construct and install portable toilets with Fairtrade premium, however whats the point of spending money on such toilets when farm workers prefer to use nature as its toilet? Sure, portable toilets would be great for FLO marketing, but projects that are favorable among key stakeholders may not be what beneficiaries of the fair trade premium need. Instead, most farm workers prefer to invest their fair trade premium on every day necessities – their children's education via school and hostel fees, holiday food baskets, solar panels for hot water and electricity. Part of the Joint Body's responsibility is to decide on projects that will benefit as many people in the community as possible, not to please FLO or auditors. 

Venturing on catwalks looking down at machinery
extracting the citrus into 3 parts: skin, juice, oil

And good news for Whole Food fans - you'll be happy to know that ALG's highest quality FT certified products are shipped to Whole Foods. Other US distributers that receive ALG citrus products include Costco and Sams Club.

 So now, the fun part. I got to drive around the estate, see various projects funded by the fair trade premium, snap some photos and speak with the workers about fair trade impact, BEE, and questions in general. 

Changing rooms on the side of the recreational football field were funded by fair trade premium.

Such a cute photo with the little boy's head in the window. The Swartvlei creche and everything inside was funded by fair trade premium.

Swartvlei teachers and children.

They sang me a song in English that recites all the days of the week and then wanted to show me their work.

One of four bus stops located throughout the very large estate. The bus stops were funded with fair trade premium money. They provide shelter for children as they wait for the bus to collect them and take them to school. They are especially useful during the rainy season.

Anyways, in real time updates, in case you were wondering (but I'm guessing you weren't) - I'm back in Ghana and am sadly leaving back for New York this coming Tuesday. However, with a huge backlog of photos and blog rants to make before I put this project to an end, I will continue to post until I've captured everything I wanted to say. It's sunny in Accra today, so I'll probably head to Labadi beach. I have lots of interview notes to clean up, follow ups with the generous people I met in Cape Town, resumes to submit, a fall class schedule to solidify, and IPSA events to plan within the next few days. But, might as well do it while on a beach.