All the profits from the sales go to the ongoing work of Lift Ghana and our partners. Payments are processed using Paypal. Come and have a look by browsing the links on the right!

There are a few items that have already been shipped to the UK and are ready for delivery. Other one-off items can be sent through the postal system. The next arranged shipment date will be posted on here when it has been confirmed. Please feel free to order in advance!

Making a difference with flip-flops!

A family member of mine decorated a pair of flipflops with beads and gave it to me as a Christmas present years ago and I still wear them so we have used this design as a template for the women and are planning to sell the flipflops locally and through our online shop so the women can make a small profit. We have recently also started making sets of button coasters with them so look out for these too!

While we are busy creating things with our hands, we talk, build community and encourage the women in relation to their physical and sexual health, referring them to clinics and doctors as appropriate. We talk about motivation for life, life skills and topics like how to handle anger. We discuss issues like substance abuse. We encourage them in money matters and talk about how and where to save. If appropriate, we also encourage them in their spiritual journey and if they would value prayer, we pray with them for healing.

Life is challenging for these women who gradually become hardened by their surroundings and their work and often rely on substances like drugs and alcohol to carry them through the day. It is not easy to break the cycle of poverty but we have to start somewhere. And we will continue to motivate these women with the message that there is hope for change, and there is a different way of life that’s available to them if they have the desire to seek it.

Agbogbloshie in the rainy season

[Taken from wikipedia article] Agbogbloshie is just northwest of the central business district of Accra and is situated on the banks of the Korle Lagoon, once intended to be an ecological project. Traffic flows in and out of the area daily as thousands of people visit the large food and goods markets situated near the main road. Extending back from the road and covering an area of approximately four acres is one of the largest slums in the city; home to over 40,000 inhabitants who are mostly migrants from rural areas and growing daily.

The slum area was once a wetland and became a place of shelter for refugees fleeing an inter-tribal war in the North of Ghana during the 1980s. Now the population consists of economic migrants from northern and rural parts of Ghana. Adequate living standards in the north and rural areas are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, causing people to move to urban settings. Conditions may not be significantly better, but making a living is easier. Inhabitants of Agbogbloshie live, eat, work and relieve themselves on the land and amongst the waste that’s dumped in the area.

Agbogbloshie has become a destination for legal and illegal exportation and environmental dumping of electronic waste (e-waste) from industrialised nations. Millions of tons of e-waste are processed each year in Agbogbloshie.  Unprotected workers, adults and children alike, search for metals to sell, usually by burning the electronics and dismantling them with their bare hands. In the process, they may earn upwards of eight to ten Ghana cedis per day (£3.30-£4.10). The waste processing emits toxic chemicals into the air, land and water. Exposure is especially hazardous to children, as these toxins are known to inhibit the development of the reproductive system, the nervous system and the brain. Concerns about human health and the environment of Agbogbloshie continue to be raised as the area remains heavily polluted.

Dwellings in the slum are wooden shacks and the whole area lacks water and sanitation. During the rainy season, the pathways become bogs or pools of dirty standing water that have no drain. The area is also home to armed robbers, sex-workers, drug dealers and others involved in underground markets. Crime and disease are rampant throughout Agbogbloshie, creating an almost uninhabitable environment for humans. The area was once nicknamed “Sodom & Gomorrah” by a local politician and the area is certainly living up to the reputation of the two condemned Biblical Cities.

The Ghanaian government has made an effort to restore the area through the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project which aims to dredge the lagoon, restore the surroundings, improve the water quality and the general sanitary conditions. The project would require the inhabitants to leave the area, which is the only home for a majority of squatters. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has continually tried to evict the people, but have only been met with much resistance. The matter is still in dispute.