Village People

It was a field day today. That's when we go out to the field with our agents and visit some of their customers. On this trip we were helping them have some of their first renewal conversations.

I've been told my explanation of our business was good, but how it really works was a bit muddy, so I'll clarify. A customer essentially rents the use of a rechargable battery for one month. They can have as many re-freshes of that battery as they want in that one month. Meaning that when the battery loses power they give it back to their agent who gives them a freshly charged one in its place. Twice a week, we travel a route to visit and reconcile with each agent. At that time, the agent exchanges the used batteries they have collected for fresh batteries. We take the used batteries back to the branch office and recharge them. NOTE: about 70% of Ghanaians do not have electricity.

After one month then customers have to renew for another month in order to continue in the program. Unfortunately, we are moving into the lean part of the year and people don't have a lot of money. While disposable batteries are more expensive over the course of a month, they require a smaller outlay at any one time. So, people really want to stay in our program because once they sign on, they can use the batteries as much as they want, but they just don't have the money to renew.

That will seem strange from a western point of view, because the rental is about the equivalent of $0.62 per battery per month. But renting even two batteries requires an individual to put what is a fair amount of cash together at one time. We are getting creative about how people can pay a little at a time so that by renewal time they are all paid up - or allowing them to pay ahead during major harvest periods. You know how it is, when you have money, you spend it - not necessarily on things you need or will need down the road. This way, they can use the money for something they will need - and have one less thing to worry about when the lean months come, as they do twice a year for most people.

So, anyway, people do a lot of things to get by and make a little money. These photos are all of one family, that sells some things along the roadside (first picture), operates a still (second), making the Ghanaian equivalent of white lightning, and gathers what they can find for their own use (fourth). The little girl was pounding something (third), maize I think. I should have looked. The boys were watching as is fairly typical around the home compound.

But I know the men work hard, too, you can see the musculature from farm labor on men of every age.

The woman on the left put her shirt on in honor of our arrival and as you can see, the children spend most of the time in their underwear. It was blistering hot and I will admit to being exceedingly jealous!

Oh, and for those, like me, who don't (didn't) know how a homemade still works: In the barrel behind the men is Palm Wine, which is made from sap tapped from Palm trees that has been allowed to "harden" like a cider would. It is then heated in the sealed barrel until it changes to a gaseous form. At this point, the pressure forces the gas into the copper tube running out of the top of the first barrel and into the top of the second barrel. The second barrel is full of water to cool the alcohol gas back to a liquid. The tube actually passes through the second barrel and is attached to the spigot at the bottom, from which drips distilled alcohol, the local gin called Akpeshie. I'm told it's about 78% alcohol, which is 156 proof. Yikes!
XO