[su_tabs][su_tab title=”Ghana Project & Aid Distribution Trip“]Our chairman Molana Ebrahim Patel, our projects coordinator Molana Sameer Ismail and a volunteer are in Ghana. They will be overseeing all our projects in the country. They will also be carrying out a distribution of aid in northern Ghana.
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
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Hard Work, Sweat and Tears (Day 3) – 07 March 2015
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If I could describe today in a few words it would be “hard work, sweat and tears”
Today we had a very early start as we were flying to Tamale which is in Northern Ghana. We arrived at Tamale about an hour late as the flight was delayed. The flight being delayed gave us a chance to plan the SSP further. Brother Ibrahim had arranged a driver with 2 helpers to pick us up from the airport and spend the whole day with us. We first went and found a hotel so we could leave our luggage there. After dropping our stuff at the hotel we spent the whole day going to different shops, wholesalers, market places etc. We wanted to find the best prices so that we could purchase more things to make the donations go further. We placed an order for sewing machines, fridges and freezers (women can sell water and cold drinks).
When finalising the order for the fridge, freezer etc me, Molana Ebrahim and brother Ibrahim went into another room so the money and paperwork was done correctly. I realised that Molana Ebrahim was very particular about checking all the figure’s, MashaAllah I feel he negotiated the best price possible, with free delivery. Alhamdolillah got to learn and watch Molana Ebrahim negotiating etc.
By the time we had finished from the purchasing it was Magrib time, we were all tired, sweaty and very hungry as we hadn’t eaten since last night. We went and had some local Ghanian food before heading back to the hotel. In the hotel we had a lot of work to do, we had to finalise how much and what needs to be distributed in certain villages. While we were doing the work in the office brother Ibrahim and a local brother by the name of Yahya told us many stories of the condition of the Muslims in Northern Ghana, especially for the women.
In most families women have to earn and run the house, we realised this as we saw many women in the market place. We were also informed that many women have moved to Accra and are forced to do jobs that only earn them 3 cedis a day (less then a pound). Brother Ibrahim Alhamdolillah managed to send 3 northern women back to Tamaleh from Accra. Many women are even forced to resort to prostitution. A very sad state of affairs which bought tears to my eyes.
In the hotel we are staying in their is a Muslim wedding taking place and Wallahi it is exactly like a Christian wedding with a best man, bridesmaid, champagne, singing, dancing etc. A lot of work and effort really needs to be done as the Muslims here in Ghana are very far from deen. Brother Ibrahim informed me that Abdullahi’s (the contractor) wife 2 weeks a ago became murtad and left him, she has also abandoned her children, she told Abdullahi “I can no longer practice Islam”.
Today has been by far the hardest day so far but I probably absorbed the most amount of things today too.
On a final note brother Ibrahim mentioned a project about providing water sachets to Masjids in the month of Ramadhan, the sachets will have the Caravan of Mercy logo on it. (We made a good contact for this today) InshaAllah he will send a project proposal for this.
Sameer Ismail
Projects Coordinator