I’ve just arrived back in the city of Accra from a 3 week adventure in the small, Eastern town of Prampram. Prampram is home to the newest Global Mama production site that just recently opened in January. I went there with Maria, one of the Global Mama employees, to temporarily fill in for the site managers who were away on holiday. It was a truly memorable experience!
I was awe-struck upon arrival when I saw where I would living for the next several weeks - an adorable, ocean front chalet! I woke each morning there to the delightful sounds of dogs playing and waves crashing on the beach.
From there, I walked 100 yards to the workshop for our morning meeting with the Global Mama workers (8 sewers and 3 batikers). With the new location came a new local dialect, and a limitless source of entertainment for the workers who found our attempts at pronouncing local phrases rather amusing. In addition to learning how to say good morning (Morning HA), thank you (Mochuuum or Opaaayno), and see you tomorrow (Hwoah), I learned a ton about what’s involved in running a textile production site. Even on a small scale, there was a lot to look after - we had to keep a close eye on the precious supply of calico fabric and zippers, monitor fabric dying consistencies, inspect seam allowances and measure the bust, bodice and waist of dresses to ensure quality, manage efficiency, and prepare orders for shipping.
Then there was the infrastructure to look after. Infrastructure is not one of Ghana’s strong points. While we were there we ran out of water, gas, AND electricity. The explanation for any shortage in Ghana is always the same and stated matter-of-factly.. ‘It is finished’. Most of the time we were able to make do - river water replaced clean water, charcoal and firewood replaced gas, and when TT (our lone male worker) was on-site, we had someone strong enough to start the back-up electricity generator.
Of course, we managed to find some time to have a little fun amongst the chaos. Some of the Global Mama employees from other sites joined us for a weekend party. The small party turned into a multi-cultural bash, as friends invited friends and before we knew it we had guests from all over the world showing up to our humble paradise. As a result, we got to enjoy Brazilian BBQ and caipirinhas, Cuban mojitos, Spanish jamón, Ghanaian banana cake, French style, Swedish talent and live music!
By far, the most rewarding part of my experience was the time I spent working with the sewers on quality control training. After rejecting dress after dress the first couple of days at work, it dawned on us that the workers were incredibly talented and could copy any pattern, but couldn’t identify the ¼” mark on a measuring tape. That began our routine of exercises and games where the sewers had to identify specific measurements on a tape measure and determine whether a particular dress met the specification or not (dress ‘In’ or ‘Out’). By the time we left, they were starting to catch on and we could overhear the sewers debating amongst themselves as they worked… In, Out, In, Out.
This weekend, I’ll be heading to Elmina to celebrate a Catholic holiday, the feast of the Assumption, with a large children’s group gathered from around the central region of Ghana. Then back to Accra to help prepare a new production database that will be used to streamline the production process at each of the Global Mama sites.
