Workers and working taboos
The workers on our site made our projects come to fruition. Although they had very little, it was evident they had heart. They’re dedicated and are willing to do what’s it takes to have the job done. Interestingly, you have to know many things when hiring workers in rural areas. For example, taboo days. Taboo days are when you can’t work on your farm. In fact, you can be reprimanded from the community if you pick a cutlass to do any work on taboo days. They are the days that the ancestors of the land are honored. These days are for mother earth to rest so you cannot disturb the spirits of the land. Such days are any days of the week. Therefore, a seller should reveal all these things to the buyer when selling any property. Unfortunately, our seller didn’t. the taboo day for our site is Friday. In addition, you have to know the local workers' “workday.” On the workday the community surrounding our farm work only half-day for reasons best known to them. So, we may have to find workers from outside the community to do a lot of jobs.
Clothing
Most of the workers that we met lacked proper work attire. They would come to work in shots, slippers, without hand gloves, buttonless shirts, etc.
On the contrary, we were fully armed with high boots, work pants, bug repellant, hat sweat cloth, and so forth. As stated in an earlier episode, women bring their children to work. This is because didn’t have nannies or anyone to take care of the babies. For instance, the woman in the picture below had an infant on site.
See this video of women coming to work with babies on the back. Also, they do a lot of hard work because there aren’t many if any locally available jobs for them. So, they do whatever is available to make them earn and feed their children.
Standard of living
Most people in the rural areas of Ghana live below 5 USD a day. This is unimaginable for most of you. But without jobs, people have to figure out ways of surviving. The houses in these communities were either passed down or slowly build as they get money. Also, the locals grew food for consumption and selling. In the picture below, the boys caught bush meat on the site that will be their dinner in soup for free.
That said, people in these areas are friendly. Indeed, they wholeheartedly welcomed us when we went to meet the worker’s family. Interestingly, when we give jobs out, workers will bring their entire family and even other locals.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) emphasizes the importance of achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all men and women including young people and persons with disabilities and equal pay for work of equal value by 2030.
Findings show that the role of women in different dimensions of sustainable development is less in the capita Essiase-Kokofu and the surrounding areas. As a result, the utilization of women’s labor in the economic development of Bekwei and the surrounding Ashanti kingdom is minimal. This finding is a reflection of the political sphere of the country, where to a large extent most works are exclusively reserved for men and the participation of women in the decision-making process is less. The position of women in the Essiae and Kokofu environs is also limited to a minimal contribution to the social development of the entire Bekwai area as men took the stage in most interactions. Others refuse to participate and express their concerns. In addition, women's rights are not adequately protected and as a result, they are unable to participate in the affairs of societal development.
Furthermore, environmental issues have a strong impact on women, and less attention is paid to their participation in environmental protection. The study concludes that unless women's empowerment and gender equality are achieved so that women can play their part in the economic, social, and environmental spheres, the impact of the project will not achieve sustainable development if only male participation is recognized in all these areas. Women makeup half of the Esiase-Kokofu and the entire Bekwai population and must therefore be enabled to participate actively in all development initiatives. This study, therefore, calls ProFarms investors to commit to empowering women to fully utilize their skills and potential to achieve sustainable development of the project.
Our plans
We will need to provide uniforms and proper clothing for our workers, not because of employee protection laws or anything, but because it’s the right thing to do. When it comes to workplace injuries, there isn’t an OSHA body and the defense of the employer, known to buy each employee is, “Is this your first time doing this job? Did you know what was entailed when you took the job? If you didn’t protect yourself, then it’s your fault basically….a lot different than the US.