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WHOLE FOODS MARKET®
TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM2014 GHANA SUMMARY & IMPACT REPORT
Whole Planet Foundation® (WPF) funds microlending
programs in Ghana through Grameen Ghana in the
community where The Blessing Basket Project sources
baskets which are sold in Whole Foods Market®
(WFM) stores. WPF is a WFM non-profit whose
mission is to alleviate poverty by funding microlending
programs where WFM sources products as a way to
alleviate poverty and give back to our global
communities.
Through the WFMTeam Member Volunteer Program,
WFM gives Team Members the unique opportunity to
travel abroad with WPF to learn about WPF and meet
microcredit clients, see where and how WFM products
are grown, provide community service, experience and
learn from other cultures, and challenge themselves by
exploring exciting countries around the globe.
WHOLE FOODS MARKET®TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
WFM TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM GHANA
Community service project and WFM supplier partner
The Blessing Basket Project in Nyariga
Arrival, departure, batik lessons and sightseeing
in Accra
11 WFM Team Member Volunteers traveled to Ghana to volunteer in Nyariga where The Blessing Basket Project sources baskets. The Team Members were truly immersed in the community, dancing, working,
eating and learning to weave and make shea butter with members of the community. They helped to build a KVIP (bathrooms with 6 toilets), mixing cement, hauling water, mortaring and painting. They also spent one night with a family in Nyariga and spent the next day tending their chores with them,
hoeing, grinding millet, helping vaccinate cows - whatever the family required. They visited with microcredit clients of Grameen Ghana in Nyariga, attending a center meeting and having clothes made by a client who is a tailor. Team Members learned about Ghanaian culture, food, traditions and dance.
TEAM - 2 WEEKS
June 7- 20, 2014
Amanda Whitmire (Global Office)
Bobby Covington (Global Office)
Mona Nafziger (Global Office)
Morgan Peretti (Global Office)
Jason Haack (Midwest, Hennepin store)
Patricia Turner-Massey (North-Atlantic, Bishop’s Corner store)
Sherri Elliott (Northern California, Folsom store)
Ed Zachary (Pacific Northwest, Bend store)
Mindy Jahn (Pacific Northwest, Lynnwood store)
Sarah Beecher (Rocky Mountain, Highlands Ranch store)
Nadia du Toit (United Kingdom, Piccadilly store)
2014 GHANA SUMMARY
GROUP COORDINATORS
Theresa Carrington
Jeremy Bookman
GHANA GUIDES
Abdulai Asuah
Ibrahim Salifu
Larmi Shafia
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Abdulai Asuah
WFM TEAM MEMBER
VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
MANAGER
Genie Bolduc
ITINERARY- 2 WEEKS
Saturday, June 7 - Depart home
Sunday, June 8 - Arrive in Accra
Monday, June 9 - Make beautiful batik at Aunty Grace's
Tuesday, June 10 - Fly to Tamale, village of Nyariga, lunch and learn - history of the Nyariga Chiefs, meet the chiefs - visit both Nyariga chiefs
Wednesday June 11 - Nyariga Doone Girl’s School, visit WPF microlending partner Grameen Ghana, lunch and learn - learn history of TBBP, meet program graduates, intro to KVIP (Kumasi Ventilated-Improved Pit)
Thursday, June 12 - Bolga Basket Market, Grameen client tailor visit, KVIP, Lunch and Learn - eat locally prepared dish under the dowa dowa tree at the school and learn history of the school from the Mothers Club, 1 Team Member to 4 students teach computer skills, welcome to Kofi's Bar (a TBBP graduate)
Friday, June 13 - Weaving class, KVIP, Lunch and Learn - Q&A with the three class prefects from the school, 1 Team Member to 4 students teach computer skills, spend night at homestay
Saturday, June 14 - Work with homestay family all day, lunch and learn- with family
Sunday, June 15 - Make shea butter, Lunch and Learn - history of the Tindana, weaving, La Nature tree tour: learn the food, health, and environmental uses of Boabab, Dowa Dowa, Kapock and Neem trees
Monday, June 16 - KVIP, lunch and learn - with the girls and teachers, local craft fair - handicraft from local artisans
Tuesday, June 17 - KVIP, lunch and play - with the girls, play soccer / sack race, egg race and KVIP, finish weaving baskets
Wednesday June 18 - Meet today’s graduates and visit their homes, KVIP dedication, graduation and closing ceremony
Thursday, June 19 - Leave for Tamale and Accra, visit craft store, pick up batik
Friday, June 20 - Tour National Museum and depart Accra for home
2014 GHANA ITINERARY JUNE 7 - JUNE 20
THE EXPERIENCEMicrocredit client center meeting
FarmingMorgan with microcredit client tailor Learning basket weaving
Mixing cement Helping build and paint sanitary facilities Making shea butter
A typical meal prepared by
locals for the Team
Members included
plantains, red-red, guinea
hen, rice and veggies and
bambara beans. They also
ate jollof rice and fufu with
palavi sauce. Picture on
the right is red-red with
plantains.
Ghanaians believe in a
grand welcome. At every
event, singing and
dancing ensued and
Team Members were
encouraged to
participate. The Team
Members also learned
how to make batik, the
beautiful fabric from
which clothes in Ghana
are made.Since the
volunteers were in
Ghana during the World
Cup, there was a friendly
match or two of soccer.
Team Members took
advantage of the lovely
local batik to have
clothes made by
microcredit clients.They
got to see Guy One, a
local traditional musician,
perform.
FOOD
LOCAL TRADITION
CULTURE
WHOLE PLANET FOUNDATION MICROCREDIT PARTNER
GRAMEEN GHANA
FEMALE CLIENTS
99% 100%
REPAYMENT RATE
5,193
WPF SUPPORTED CLIENTS AS OF 11/01/2014
History:
Grameen Ghana was created in 2001 as a not for profit to
provide trainings in business and entrepreneurial skills to
communities. Having worked with women groups and building
their capacities in business for two years, the need to
establish a loan product became evident. The local Ghanaian
founders decided to change the name to Grameen Ghana to
reflect its new status. Grameen Ghana started its
microfinance activities in March 2003 with grant support from
UNICEF and has followed the Grameen model of group loans
to rural community members, mostly women.
WPF Partnership:
Whole Planet Foundation began funding Grameen Ghana in
2010 with a grant of $300,000 to reach 1,500 new clients.
In 2012, WPF agreed to fund Grameen Ghana’s expansion
into further remote areas of Northern Ghana and authorized a
grant of $500,000 to reach a total of 6,093 new clients.
Grameen Ghana’s Approach:
Grameen Ghana forms Savings and Credit Association (SCA)
of 30 to 40 women organized into smaller groups.
Each small group has a group leader, and the SCA will have
an elected leadership consisting of a President, Secretary
and Treasurer. The SCA is led through a month long
orientation process explaining the loan process and
expectations of borrowers.
Nearly 95% of Grameen Ghana borrowers carry out activities
in small enterprise, agricultural processing and agricultural
marketing loans with an average first loan size of about $75.
Payments are broken into either weekly or bi-weekly
payments for each group, which are made to the Credit
Officer in the rural communities. Credit Officer will typically
manage 22 SCA groups of 30-40 members each, and will be
expected to attend all disbursement and payment collection
meetings.
During these meetings the Credit Officers will ensure proper
record keeping in a register maintained by the SCA group, fill
out individual borrower passbooks and fill-out Grameen
Ghana accounting forms to be taken back to the main office
for record keeping within Grameen Ghana. Borrowers will
sign with a signature or fingerprint for all funds received and
all payments made until completion of the loan.
Grameen Ghana
Microcredit client center meeting
Grameen Ghana staff collecting repayments of
microloans at center meeting under a tree
Grameen Ghana clients repaying their loans
Microcredit client Gladys
Microcredit client at her shop
THE BLESSING BASKET PROJECT HAS HOSTED
WFM TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEERS SINCE 2013
Information from The Blessing Basket Project:
The Blessing Basket Project® is different. The
organization seeks to empower artisans to become
entrepreneurs and leave the organization’s program.
Using a unique Prosperity Wages® model, which the
organization developed, artisans are carefully selected
and remain in the program for approximately three
years. While in the program, participants are required to
start businesses. Once those businesses become
successful, the artisan then graduates out of the
organization’s program. The Blessing Basket Project’s
exclusive Artisan and You® program enables
purchasers to meet the very artisan who created their
hand crafted product. They can see a photo of their
artisan, learn about their family, write them a letter, and
be informed every time they are paid. The Blessing
Basket Project is an innovator and continues to set new
standards in global poverty reduction.
The Blessing Basket Project’s goal is to graduate its
artisans out of poverty in about three years’ time.
Artisans enter the program, accumulate sufficient
wealth, become entrepreneurs and leave the program
through a formal graduation process.
The Blessing Basket Project
Team Members learned weaving from
The Blessing Basket weavers in order
to understand the hard work and
artisanal talent it takes to make such
beautiful and useful products. The
weavers who taught them are the very
weavers who create the baskets that
are sold in Whole Foods Market stores.
Team Member volunteers helped to
haul water and mix cement for the new
bathrooms that they and community
members built together. They mortared,
painted and completed the construction
of a six stall bathroom for the Nyariga
Doone Girls’ School that was the first in
the entire village.
WFM Team Member volunteers stayed
overnight in the community of Nyariga
with families and the next day got up
with the sun and helped their homestay
family with daily chores including
farming, vaccinating cows, grinding
Guinea corn and hauling water.
WEAVING BUILDING HOMESTAY
The Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program in
Ghana was created with Theresa Carrington of The Blessing
Basket Project with total immersion in mind - immersion into the
culture, the handicraft and the people of Nyariga. Team Members
learned to weave baskets, helped the community build
bathrooms for the Nyariga Doone Girl’s School, had an overnight
homestay with community members and helped their hosts with
daily chores the next day. They danced, sang, played, hoed,
fetched water and were truly a part of the community.
IMMERSION
Volunteers were hosted by The Blessing Basket
Project in Nyariga where they:
Pumped and hauled water
Built a 6 stall bathroom
Mixed and poured cement
Mortared the walls
Sanded and painted the bathroom
Helped vaccinate cows
Ground Guinea corn into flour
Danced and danced and danced
Slept under the stars in the community
Taught school girls computer skills
Taught school girls how to play red rover
Wove baskets
Made shea butter
Hoed fields with homestay families
THE BLESSING BASKET PROJECTSleeping under the stars (and mosquito net) during homestay, weaving baskets, working in the field
Pumping and hauling water to build the KVIP
Mortaring, painting and grinding Guinea corn
BOLGA BASKET MARKET Volunteers visited the Bolga Basket Market to see the
difference between The Blessing Basket Project
sourcing and baskets sourced by other vendors.
TREE TOUR The volunteers went on a tree tour where they were
taught food, health and environmental uses of the
baobab, dowa dowa, kapock and neem trees.
MEDICINE MAN Team Members met the village Medicine Man.
THE NYARIGA MARKET Team Members learned what a market in a small village is like by visiting the Nyariga market.
SHEA BUTTER Shea butter is used for a lot of things in Ghana. It is
eaten, it is used for moisturizing skin and the waste
from it is used for fuel. Team Members got to make
shea butter with women in the community.
“I loved the homestay. I don't know when I would ever have a chance to
experience something like that again and get such an intimate look into the
lives of the people living in that community.”
ANONYMOUS
“Thank you so much for the opportunity, it opened my eyes, and I am so grateful I
got to go!”
MONA
“That trip changed my life and I am just
forever grateful to have been given
the opportunity to grow the way I did.”
LINDA
“Thank you Whole Foods Market for enabling Team Members to
experience relationships with our friends and partners around the globe.”
ANONYMOUS
ANONYMOUS
“Amazing experience, would love to
do it again.
Blessing Basket is so amazing and
informative, I enjoyed every minute
of the trip! My favorite part was
sleeping with the family in their
compound, such an inspiring night!”
“Longer trip would have been amazing!
My favorite part of the trip was the cultural immersion / overnight with the
families because it really opened my eyes to how the people of Ghana
live and what they do day to day.”
ANONYMOUS
BOBBY
“This was an incredible experience. I
met some of the most wonderful
people and created relationships that
will last a lifetime. I was in awe of the
spirit of empowerment and how it can
impact an entire community.”
SHERRI
SHERRI
“The people of Nyargia are
remarkably resourceful and grateful
for everything that they have. They
appreciate friends and family above
all else. They gave us a heart-
warming welcome and treated us as
special guests. Ever since returning
from Ghana, I wake each morning
and spend a moment being grateful
for at least one thing in my life. The
impact of the trip to Ghana will have
ripple effects for the rest of my life.”
PATRICIA
“The trip was incredibly meaning full to me. People keep saying to me,
‘life changing experience.’ Yes it was, but that does not truly capture how
I have changed and how connected I feel to the people of Nyariga and
all the people of Africa. Seeing first hand the amazing difference the BBP
has had on the village and meeting some of the people whose lives have
opened up because of the prosperity BBP has brought helped me truly
understand the great change WFM can make. Staying overnight with a
family and spending a day with them was wonderful. I got a small sense
of what their daily life is like and I feel very close to the women of the
family.
The trip has affected me greatly. I am strongly encouraging TMs to apply
to the program because seeing makes such a difference. I want to
volunteer again! Thank you for the incredible experience!”
2014 GHANA WFM TMVP IMPACT
11 TEAM MEMBERS
2 VILLAGE CHIEFS MET
1 BATHROOM BUILT FOR A
GIRL’S SCHOOL
6 LUNCH AND LEARNS WITH COMMUNITY
LEADERS
6 FAMILIES ASSISTED WITH DAILY CHORES
20 GIRLS TAUGHT
COMPUTER
44 MICROCREDIT CLIENTS MET
1 GRADUATION & 1 BATHROOM
DEDICATION