Another Volunteer’s View (by Tomas Prochazka)

It has been exactly 3 months since I arrived at Kotoka airport in Accra – overwhelmed and full of expectations. Looking at it now, I certainly see my time in Ghana as an eye opening experience that was more than just about living, working and traveling in West Africa. I had the opportunity to live and breath as a member of the Trashy Bags family – greet the guards every morning; chat with the cut-and-wash crew; eat fufu with the workers at the Paparazzi bistro; play with the Trashy Bags toddlers; watch the design team give amazing shapes to what used to be trash or sell Trashy Bags to the Accra expats…

While all those memories will always stay with me, my time in Trashy Bags was also marked by a significant transition of the company itself. After 4 years, and millions and millions of recycled water and Fan Milk sachets, Trashy Bagsaccepted a new challenge. A challenge of introducing products made of large billboards, banners and pull ups – Trashy Ad Bags. Once used, the vinyl flexi material that they are made of is only very scarcely disposed in an environmentally friendly way. By introducing this whole new range of products, Trashy Bags follows the footsteps of the well-known producers of premium ‘billboard bags’ such as Freitag (www.freitag.ch) or Gorilla Sacks (www.gorillasacks.com) and aims to address its products to an entirely new market.

Trashy Bags will still keep on making the ever popular pencil cases or pink colored hats made of Fan Yogo sachets. However, the Ad Bags open up a whole new range of opportunities and will hopefully direct the company into becoming more economically sustainable. While the sachet products appealed mainly to environmentally aware customers, the Ad Bags are also fashionably attractive.

From its website, over the product designs and layout of the showroom all the way to the workers’ skills, Trashy Bags is now undergoing a great transition. However, the message that the company has always been sending with its products around the world remains unchanged. I am glad that I had the opportunity to not only witness Trashy Bags operations, but also to be a part of them.

All the best to Trashy Bags and its future endeavors.

…cleaning up Africa, one sachet and one billboard at a time.

Uncle Tom Tom

Urgent help needed

Our good friends in Bolga who supply us with wonderful baskets made from recycled water sachets and fabric have a serious problem. Godwin’s brother fell out of a tree and is now paralyzed from the neck down. He needs urgent medical attention. For more info see http://apps.facebook.com/fundrazr/activity/f314906b8db147d7a0a180e9940d5853?ref=nf

Medical attention in the North of Ghana is difficult to get at the best of times.  Donations would be most welcome!

Late blog, but it’s here!

The month of June was an exciting month for us interns. Janet, Keenan, Mike, and I were lucky enough to have arrived at Trashy Bags just in time for the start of the 7^th Annual Environmental Film Festival of Accra! We attended the first event held at the British Council where the “Trashy workers” participated in the Recycled Clothes Show. Our team of interns set up a display with trashy products in an effort not only to sell, but to spread awareness about the issues concerning plastic water sachets in Ghana.  This was our first task at Trashy Bags and it was definitely an experience! We were already networking with not only the general public, but also journalists and those from the media. Towards the end of the event, the Trashy models, who were also the employees and designers, finally came out to showcase their designs made from 100% recycled plastic water sachets and FanMilk products. Although Mike, Florence and I were unable to get seats inside and were required to peer through the window instead, we could still sense everyone’s excitement when the Trashy models showcased their products and crazy dance moves! Elvis’ wedding skit was also a big hit amongst the crowd (if you don’t know what we’re talking about, watch Trashy Bag’s ‘Fantastic in Plastic’ video). Students and adults alike were standing from their seats trying to get a glimpse of the ‘ceremony’.  Trashy Bag’s Fashion Show and ‘Fantastic in Plastic’ film were also well received at the Golden Tulip Hotel and the Alliance Francaise.  The crowd definitely felt the models’ enthusiasm as they danced down the runway in their plastic garb and Trashy products. Their performances definitely stole the crowds at these events! Then again, I could have been just a tad bit biased. Between model runways and fake weddings – I think we watched Elvis get married about three times  – the week was full of successful walks down the aisle.

After the film festival, we had the opportunity to visit the Smart Teams – teams of 10 young adults hired to make Trashy Smartbags. We were able to speak to the workers and supervisors and observe the current conditions of each smart team workshop. Visiting each smart team made me realize that the workers at the original Trashy Bags location are not the only ones involved in the process of making bags. It is a project that spans far beyond the Dzorwulu scene.

The month of June was definitely an experience. The best part would have to be getting to know the employees. It’s great to be around a group of people that are so welcoming and accepting. It makes being this far away from home much easier. Whenever we leave for the weekend, we realize how much we genuinely miss everyone back at work. I also think I’ve grown a strong attachment to Gifty (and I’m thinking I may not be the first volunteer to do so, either). She’s one of the Trashy babies and boy, is she precious! I know it’s going to be very difficult for me to leave her, and everyone else at Trashy Bags for that matter, at the end of July. It’s almost impossible to be in a bad mood when you’re around the people here. C’mon, how can anyone stay upset when you have those Trashy babies trying to play with you?

Of course, living where we’re working may be difficult. Unexpected, late meetings are normal and we always have to be ready for when we’re needed. You always have to think “expect the unexpected” with Trashy Bags. Nevertheless, it never gets boring! Whether it’s just randomly laughing about everything with Janet, almost getting smacked in the face with a stick that Keenan was swinging around to try and get a lizard, going on random walks around the junction with Mike, waiting for the coconut man with George (one of the supervisors), or sitting with the girls in the workshop helping them to dry sachets, it’s those little things that I think I’ll always look back on when I think about Trashy Bags.

Unfortunately, the end of June also called for Mike’s departure from Trashy Bags (tears). However, he won’t be too far from us – he’s just around the corner! We wish Mike the best of luck wherever he decides to intern and we’re still hoping to see him around here once in a while! On a more positive note, the end of June also brought us a new intern – Leah! She already fits right into Trashy Bags and me and Janet’s pillow talks. Did I also mention she’ll be our new blogger? Click on our Trashy Interns link under Blogroll for more updates and blogs!

Trashy Art

Trashy Bags goes beyond its factory at Dworzulu, and this time it has a new project: Trashy Art. I spent the morning at Kisseman, Accra, under a mango tree in a muddy school compound with a couple of teachers and too many kids, painting. Or, rather, teaching kids to paint.

Prince, from Kisseman, puts his painting in the sun to dry.

It’s easy for 7 and 10 year-olds who haven’t had the chance to use paints or brushes before to get really, really excited (“Prince, don’t smash the paint brush, now, use it gently…”), and the challenge of teaching is even bigger because some of the students’ understanding of English is rudimentary. (“What color is this?…no, not yellow, blue, and this? yes! yellow! Now, if you mix yellow, here, and blue, here, what color does it make…?”) Luckily, their teacher, Sylvester, and another volunteer are helping me doll out paint and give the kids the material to paint on: reclaimed water sachets.

Esther, a grade three student in Accra carefully paints a water sachet. The money raised from sales of painted change purses goes to create, in her case, a breakfast program for the volunteer school.

Trashy Bags is coordinating with a dozen Ghanaian elementary schools (with the help of local after school arts and creativity organization, Child’s Cry Foundation International) to bring art, environmental education, and funding to kids across the Greater Accra and Akosombo regions. Trashy Bags sews the student artwork into change purses, which are then sold to benefit the schools. In the case of the school in Kisseman (the Global Ghana Youth Network), proceeds go to fund a breakfast program for the kids; in others, it goes to pay for children’s school fees. For more information, please see www.africanartstands.wordpress.com.

Painting a butterfly. The student is able to have fun doing art, learn about the environment, and recycle!

The project is a lot of fun—for the kids, the volunteers, and especially me. Children love the chance to create art, and art supplies are usually too expensive for local schools to buy. It also teaches the kids about the environment, and makes them active participants in recycling–crucial for expanding the tiny little environmental movement that is slowly blossoming in Africa.

Kofi proudly displays his "Ghana Flag" painting.

Meet the latest Trashy Bags volunteers!

Meet the latest Trashy Bags volunteers: Emiel, Pieter, and Mei!

Emiel and Pieter are both third-year students studying Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.  They are currently spending two months volunteering with Trashy Bags as part of their minor degree program in International Entrepreneurship and Development.

Originally from Ermelo, north of Utrecht, in The Netherlands, Emiel spent two years in the Air Mobile Infantry division of the Dutch army prior to university.  At school, he is the chair of the Civil Engineering Company Days Planning Committee and hopes to pursue a career in consulting after graduation.  At Trashy Bags, Emiel has been predominantly involved with the Smart Ghana Initiative and the Housing Project.  After trying the local food during his first day here in Ghana, Emiel has sworn off Ghanaian food forever and instead eats almost every meal at ChocoPain, a European style café near the Trashy Bags factory.

Pieter is originally from Meppel in The Netherlands, and has a younger brother as well as a dog named Mini.  At Trashy Bags, he has been collaborating with the management to streamline day-to-day business operations, and has already implemented a number of strategic improvements. In the long run, he intends to pursue a career in business, but is open to any types of opportunities that come his way.  His favorite local Ghanaian food is roasted plantains (with groundnuts, of course).

Mei graduated in May from Harvard College with a degree in Economics and Psychology.  She is currently on a yearlong post-graduate fellowship to Ghana and New Zealand, where she is pursuing a project on social entrepreneurship and dance.  At Trashy Bags, she has been helping evaluate and structure financing options for the Housing Project, as well as working on marketing efforts to expand sales in the U.S.  Mei plans to pursue a career in finance and is interested in how private corporations can partner with social enterprises to facilitate sustainable development in emerging economies.  Here in Ghana, Mei indulges daily in the delicious tropical fruits that are rare back home: pineapple, papaya, and mango.

Volunteers!

Each morning when I come into Trashy Bags, I spend at least a half hour greeting everyone downstairs. Last week I complimented Gladys on her earrings. This morning she surprised me with a matching pair she had gotten from the market. Compliments lead to surprising generosity—I told Mariama I liked her FC Barcelona wristbands, but that since coming to Ghana I have become an adamant Chelsea fan. Britian’s Chelsea team has a very good Ghanaian footballer, Essien, playing for it so many Ghanaians support the team—including many at Trashy Bags. She promised to get me some Chelsea bracelets next Monday. I shall wear them proudly.

The other night, Mei, Emiele, Pieter, and I stayed late, working on various projects for Trashy Bags. It is a lot of fun to have volunteers around, especially since Emiele and Pieter live at Trashy Bags and are there literally all the time. Mei was working on an impressive spreadsheet showing projected payments for the Trashy Housing Project, and Emiele and Pieter were creating an extremely detailed three-dimensional view of the plans that Jan had drawn up while he was here. I was painting the insides of water sachets to see if we could make Trashy products as works of art. Francis and Grace surprised us by cooking us yams and stew. It was festive, especially as Stuart, Lydia, Francis, and Grace were all upstairs laughing, eating and joking with us. It was well after dark when Mei and I finally departed for our homes.

Trashy Bags has been attracting impromptu volunteers like Mei, Stella, and me. All of us came into the factory without planning to become involved but the project inspired us. And everyone has found different ways of contributing to the organization. For example, Stella goes to the University of Ghana, Legon with me for this semester; she is working on adult education. She tutors some of the workers in English during their lunch break.

My line of painted sachets may work out well; we made 36 change purses as an experiment and have sold all of them quite quickly. Yesterday, I spoke with a street artist about painting on some. He was very enthusiastic. The label “starving artist” takes on a different meaning in Ghana than it does in the United States or Europe. This country abounds with talented artisans, including people who paint, cast brass figures, make drums, create wood carvings, and build furniture, and many of them sell their products for next to nothing from shacks or tables along the road. Many of them target tourists, of which there are too few to support everyone. If painting on sachets can create successful products, it would be a wonderful way to display Ghanaian painting and support struggling artists. The painted sachets may also benefit local education. Global Ghana Youth Network runs an elementary school and youth group program in Kissehman, a poor suburb of Accra. The school provides education for children who cannot afford their regular fees, as well as breakfast and lunch, since most children do not receive regular meals at home. They will be painting sachets for purses as well, to raise funds for food.

Talking with George today, he explained how he has just completed the third year of high school and had never seen a computer before meeting Stuart. “Stuart is someone who wants to teach people something they don’t know, so one day he called me in to show me something on the computer. The first time I used the mouse I was shaking. But gradually, I made it through and he gave me access to learn more on the computer. So now I’m getting somewhere.” Trashy Bags continues to teach and inspire. It especially shows through the addition of volunteers who offer a range of skills and ongoing enthusiasm for a project that, as George explains, “Is doing good. So it should keep doing it and we will keep learning.”

Trashy Housing Project, continued

Jan, a retired architect from the Netherlands that specializes in low-cost housing for tropical countries, came to Trashy Bags for two weeks, drawing up blueprints for the Trashy Housing Project. It is a massive effort in problem solving– how do we create decent and comfortable housing for thirty families on four acres of land? What building materials should we use? How does one provide adequate ventilation in such a sweaty, hot climate? Jan cheerfully worked long hours trying to sort everything out. Creating the blueprints is an important first step, and a huge one, which will make it much easier to approach banks and nonprofits for loans and grants.

Last week, Jan and I took a break from our work to see a little bit of Accra. He was curious about how people lived, and many of the Trashy Bags’ workers are from Madina, a market and suburb of the city. As we bounced along in our trotro, Jan commented on the strips of fallow land, acres of grass and trees. I told him they weren’t unused at all; tiny trails run through them to thin, hard men hoeing plots of cassava and cocoyam, and dirt-color shanties made of scraps of wood. People have a talent for making a living from next to nothing. My vision has been dulled by the months here, but Jan’s view was fresh. He commented on the houses, mostly wood or cement block with tin roofs, often with poor sanitation and too many families crammed in one place. As soon as the sun comes, the house turns into an oven; everyone tumbles outside to begin cooking, washing, and working on the porch or in the street. Many have migrated from rural areas, and work in the city during the seasons that aren’t suitable for fishing or farming. They may come to stay setting up a home and having a family in Accra. These settlements are often chaotic. One of Accra’s largest markets, Agbogbloshie, is home to between 40 and 80 thousand squatters in a sea of shanties– tiny wooden boxes, really set on a marsh with Ghana’s (and maybe Africa’s) largest e-waste dumping site. Most individuals work as scrap dealers, porters, or vendors at the market.  Although most Ghanaians’ living situation isn’t as precarious as those in Agbogbloshie, it illustrates the difficulties in housing and employment across Accra.

Trashy Bags is working to transform that. The land is a gently sloping plot in a refreshingly cool, green area. During a meeting last Friday, Jan presented his diagrams for the housing: thirty homes, aligned so there would be a courtyard in the middle where, they joked, the football team will practice.  While the football team is a detail that may or may not come about, it shows the community that Trashy Bags has, and how exciting this project is to the workers. All of whom have huge dreams for themselves and their children, and having a decent place to live is central. In this way, Trashy Bags is more than just a workplace, it is a community. The work room is always lively with chatter and greetings. Stella summed it up well when she told me she liked working at Trashy Bags because if you get there and you are not happy, “you will become happy.”

Entrepreneurship and stories

People here amaze me. Everyone in Ghana is an entrepreneur in both a humble and grand sense. At each street light and junction, sellers stroll past the idling cars with wares piled on their heads, offering gum, papaya, matches, board games, and anything else you might imagine. In nearly every house, there is a sewing machine, dyes for batik, a pot to fry doughnuts in, or a nearby stall with drinks or food. Cottage industries abound. The ingenuity is partially a result of necessity, and party from a culture of creative livelihoods. The workers are similarly impressive. Stella is a hairdresser on the side, and offered to braid my slippery hair. Many of the members of the youth employment scheme are planning to save and return to school for computing; one of the trainees, Cynthia, gave me an impressive lecture on Twi literature and Asanti history. Elvis, who, I was terribly impressed to find out, is an archeologist, spent last weekend finishing up a project with a PhD student from Britain. They were studying traditional medicines in Ghana, taking plant samples and talking to healers and local residents. The local remedies exemplify much of what is untapped about Ghana: they are local, inexpensive and treat many illnesses which Western medicine is unable yet they are largely unknown and unused.

This sense of untapped opportunity and dynamic resources was especially apparent at Thursday’s TEDxHarambe talk, where Stuart presented the Smart Bag. The talk was themed New Capitalism, and most of the speakers had begun lively enterprises in West Africa with a focus on social returns, including building a technological park in Legon, Ghana and environmentally friendly housing in Liberia. Stuart demonstrated the need for the Smart Bag wonderfully with his dry British wit and a small heap of used water sachets littering the stage. It was fascinating to see how individuals with different backgrounds—West African, European, and American—are creating alternative industries focused on social returns. Despite a host of problems—the turnout was weak, whether because of bad timing or advertising, and they had some technological glitches, there was still a lot of optimism. All the companies and their social projects are expanding. Ghana itself is growing. One of the presenters explained that in Europe there is only so much you can do—“Well,” he mocked, “let’s make that one just a little more purple,”—while in Ghana, whole markets are untapped. It’s not just non-profit organizations that can be visionaries, and, indeed, most organizations need a lot of business sense to thrive. These companies are visionaries, and Trashy Bags is among them.

The idea of social businesses is spreading. One of the speakers defined it as a business which used private sector mechanisms to serve other bottom lines—that is, they act like a for-profit company except that they care about things other than profit. I like that idea. He went on to explain that many things everyone wants and benefits from, such as clean air, national defense, and sanitation often go unprovided in developing countries. Everyone will benefit even if they don’t pay, but the problem is when no one pays and no one benefits, even when the good is worth more than it would cost to provide. Trash is the same way. Last Friday, Elvis brought in a new bright orange package by FanMilk, FanDango, which I suppose is replacing Tampico. He said that there would be enough trash from this package on the streets within two weeks to make a purse out of. I said would take one month, and Mustafa bet that it would take a couple of months. This Monday, Elvis brought in eight FanDango wrappers from Madina, enough to make a medium-sized change purse. It is sad to be able to depend on people to litter so consistently. And a trash-free city is a social good: everyone benefits from the lack of garbage, but no one cares to take the responsibility to pick it up. The benefits provided by reusing plastic are many—the gutters will remain unclogged and prevent floods and dank pools for mosquitoes to breed in, for one—and they are Trashy Bag’s other bottom line.

Trashy Housing Project – Introduction

One of the major problems in Africa is that most people have no way to improve their living standards and find it hard to build wealth into their lives. In Europe and elsewhere we have sophisticated systems in place for borrowing and home ownership which, along with the expectation of long term employment allow first-time home buyers onto the first rung of the property ladder and to move up the ladder thereafter.

We know that the system is not perfect and is quite difficult for young people, but in this part of the world (Ghana) it has not just been difficult to achieve but almost impossible.  Until very recently interest rates have been over 30% and employment is generally sporadic and cannot be relied upon and for most people their salaries are not enough to pay back large loans. We have 60 workers at Trashy Bags and because of the nature of the work they do they are not on very high salaries and accommodation is a problem for most of them. They don’t own their own homes and have to pay rent of two years in advance so the accommodation they can afford is very minimal.

I believe that the majority of people in this country are in a similar situation and cannot move ahead because they are not able to borrow the money and would not be confident of long term employment in order to be in a position to pay back the loans. Having identified this as a problem we felt that if we could purchase land in an area that was likely to increase in value on behalf of the employees then that would overcome the first hurdle.  The second would be to build low-cost housing which could be afforded by the employees without them having to borrow money over a very long period.

We have now purchased land in an area outside Accra which will very likely increase in value over the years because there is a new road being constructed and is a main trunk route to Kumasi. The land area will support up to 30 families. Unfortunately we still have not worked out how the workers can finance the scheme or indeed if we as a company can do that or we need outside help. I am working on that problem! One improvement in the overall financial climate here is that interest rates have dropped considerably.

It is important to note that people’s approach to building in Africa is quite different to in Europe. I originally trained as an architect and although I haven’t practiced for many years I know all the procedures that have to be undertaken in the developed countries including countless regulations that have to be adhered to. Although the standard of building here in Africa is far inferior to that in Europe there is a refreshing desire to just get on and do the job. When we first purchased the land, the following weekend all the workers came to the site to start cutting the grass with machetes to prepare the ground for construction. I know that even if we had a small part of the funds available, some of the employees would use all their spare time to start building without even any drawings! My dilemma is that I want to give the employees the go-ahead to start something but I also know that we need to have enough finance in place in order to achieve a result that the company can be proud of and that won’t be to a very low standard.

Stuart Gold
Managing Director

Fare thee well (part 2)

So, it’s difficult to know where to begin in scenarios such as this, how to tie loose ends and round everything off in one. Well firstly this is not an end by any means. It is a completion of my observations on an ongoing and expanding organization. One insight of many to come, and an opportunity available to anyone who has a desire to to contribute, innovate and change Accra, Ghana, West Africa and the World.

For me these past weeks have been an insight into a business and NGO, a culture and the individuals within it. The purpose of documenting this has been to create an awareness and appreciation of the fact that trashy bags are not just a product. They are living and breathing, they were taken care of from birth, each individual sachet is touched by many hands. From collecting, cutting, cleaning, folding, stitching, sewing, every person involved has a story, a past, a family, and aspirations for the future. What we see as a cool bag is enabling someone to have a life and their children to have prospects.

The people: So on my last day there we had a party in the afternoon, played some music and boogied. I love the way Ghanaians know how to party and that they don’t need much to have a good time. Basically just someone to tell them to stop work and turn on the music. Everyone has inherent rhythmn, they can all naturally groove. Unlike the vast majority of westerners and the british club scene who awkwardly bounce up and down. I love it, I love being able to go somewhere you can dance. We had some food, meat pies and spicy chicken. One thing I won’t miss is the lack of variety in food, although it is great that Ghanaians love their food. The best part of the afternoon was the speeches. I always knew the locals were generous and gracious but this really highlighted the fact. Everyone was so pleased to have me there even though I wasn’t really doing much. They were the ones that welcomed an insider into their fold, daily shared their food with me and always greeted me with smiles. Yet they were the ones that wanted to thank me and give me gifts when I left, literally anything they had on them. Earrings were detached, bracelets slid off. Despite how annoyed and frustrated I get about the amount of Ghanaians that scam foreigners, in cabs, at the market, this group of people who have so little were very generous to me. While some of my interviews have  shown complaints and often lack of appreciation for their relatively stable situation working at TB, at the heart I believe their sole aim is just to better themselves and create opportunities. This is where development starts, with the people.

The business: Trashy Bags is described as a Social Enterprise, it is non profit and it’s aims are multifaceted. I have seen that running such a company is a daily struggle for just one main coordinator to time manage; funding and the amount of customers is often a worry. Often things get sidetracked for the wellbeing of the workers; the day Rita had to be taken to hospital was not necessarily productive from a business standpoint.  However that is Trashy Bags all over, employees first. There are also many opportunities for business to expand with partners and customers around the world. Each day several people will come into the showroom having heard about Trashy Bags by word of mouth. It is a place to see when visiting Accra. I hope and intend for the word to continue spreading.

Cultural awareness- Things Ghanaians generally won’t understand:

I have a boyfriend; I don’t intend to marry him.

I’m not sure if I want to get married or not.

I don’t know if I believe in God, or, I don’t believe in God (in Ghana atheism and agnosticism don’t really exist).

I can’t get up at 5am; 9am is too early for me.

So, there are many people’s stories I did not get to tell, but each worker has one. The day I departed, Lydia returned. Usually she oversees the workshop, so sadly I missed out a large aspect of how the company runs. I got to see it in slow motion without little Lydia’s energy. There are many aspects of business and Ghanaian culture I have not seen or grasped. But I do know that Trashy Bags deserves to flourish, so much effort has gone into making it what it is. The streets are being cleaned, albeit one sachet at a time, rubbish is being recycled into practical items, awareness is being raised, and a local communtiy is being supported. I will miss spending time here and hope that someday those reading this blog will visit TB at Dzorwulu and make this positive judgement for themselves.