Grant Dobbe

4 Comments

1. Peter G. (UM YA YA) wrote:

   Congrats again, Grant. I wonder: What do your students think about problems such as climate change/global warming. I ask, because it strikes me that if people are dealing with everyday questions about employment, teen pregnancy, poverty, then perhaps environmental concerns kind of take a back seat. What makes a question *important* to them, or really, to any of us? And, what makes some questions more pressing than others? Put simply, how do we decide what the most important questions are–then work to answer those first?

   Take care, and I’m excited to meet your bride someday soon

   Peter G.

   Monday, March 8, 2010 at 9:42 pm | Permalink
2. Joe Charakupa wrote:

   Congratulations Grant! I wish you all the happiness in the world.

   Peter, growing up in Africa, climate change was talked about in schools and in the curriculum, though not as much as in the Western World.

   However a huge part of the every day problems you mention is the environment. I believe Grant’s students mentioned deforestation and bush fires. Those are just 2 topics that we received much educating on in Zimbabwe along with water pollution, soil polution, erosion and all the other types of pollution. As you can imagine the outdoors are a big part of African life and I noticed a big effort to educate people on how to take care of their environment. So I think the difference with the West is more on the personal emphasis. Rightly so, because a lot of people still rely on subsistence farming, the industry (though it does pollute) is relatively not as widespread.

   The nice thing about industry in developing countries is that we’re skipping whole generations of ‘bad’ technology and inadvertently doing our bit.

   Grant, I will post some answers and questions in a follow up comment.

   Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 3:10 am | Permalink
3. Siward de Groot wrote:

   Congratulations on your engagement, mr Dobbe.
   I hope you will have a happy marriage,
   and that there would soon be little replicas of you running around on this world.

   . “How would you answer these questions ?”
   . See below.
   .
   . “What questions would you ask my students ?”
   . What do they learn in school,
   . ie what topics do they study
   . and what is the most advanced knowledge/skill of that topic that they gain ?
   . For example if they learn math, do they learn differentiation,
   . if they study biology, do they learn krebbs cycle,
   . if they learn business administration, can they handle double-entry bookkeeping,
   . if they learn ict, can they use a database/spreadsheet, etc.
   . Do they think that these topics will be beneficial to their career,
   . and are there topics that they are not taught that they think they should be taught ?
   . To what extent do people have access to electricity in rural areas like yours ?
   . do only large towns have electricity ?
   . if a town has electricity, do all people have electricity ?
   . if a town has electricity, is average inhabitant rich enough to pay for electricity ?
   . I hear that average female spends two hours a day fetching water on foot ;
   . is this true ?,
   . and if so, why doesnt someone make a business out of supplying that more efficiently ?
   . Do the students feel responsible for the development of the less educated people ?
   .
   . “What questions do you have for me ?”
   . How can you take a taxi from Bui to Nsawkaw without passing through Wenchi ?
   . Why did you not go take a look at Bui dam works while you were there ?
   .
   . And some questions for whoever happens to know the answers :
   . How accessible are modern building materials in rural areas (such as Seikwa),
   . for example glass for windows, mosquito netting for screen doors ?
   . Are there hardware stores in places like Sunyani that sell steel bars and the like ?
   . Is it possible to have metal machining done that is more advanced than sliping and welding ?
   . Are good paints and glues available, for example epoxy- or polyurethane-based ?
   . Is bamboo grown locally ?
   .
   . My answers to your questions :
   . (i do not know all answers, but i have an opinion about everything
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Street Children
   .
   . 3Arts1:3 How can we deal with the problem of street children ?
   .
   . Street children are poor, that is their main problem.
   . Often they still have relatives, but these can not care for them.
   . As a general measure, you should therefore reduce poverty in Ghana.
   . Possibly a more targeted measure could be found for this group
   . (for example moving them to a rural area where they could be taught to farm,
   . which is currently a growth sector)
   . but it depends on how urgent this problem is compared to all other problems.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Football
   .
   . 2Agric:2 Why do we put so much money into football ?
   .
   . You don’t.
   . Compared to more than 10 billion dollar gross domestic product
   . expenses on football are negligibly small.
   . Expenses on football stadia (and luxury cars and houses)
   . may seem like obvious wastes of money
   . but they are probably even small compared to money that disappears due to corruption.
   . Football is important because it shows that africans are not lesser people than others ;
   . Many african children have opportunity to play football,
   . and so, when they grow up,
   . the best footballers of them can be compared to those of other countries,
   . and then it is clear that Africa’s best are equally good as people from other continents.
   .
   . —
   . 2Arts1:4 Will there be enough security at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa ?
   .
   . Probably, yes.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Teenage Pregnancy
   .
   . 3Arts2:4 What can we do to control teenage pregnancy ?
   . 3Agric:1 How can we avoid teenage pregnancy ?
   . 3Agric:2 How can we bring teenage pregnancy under control ?
   . 3Arts1:5 How can we avoid teenage pregnancy ?
   .
   . One thing you can do is to educate both teenagers and parents
   . about sexuality and how babies are made.
   . It should be their decision,
   . and they can not make a good decision if they do not have good information.
   .
   . —
   . 3Arts2:5 Why is teenage pregnancy such a big problem ?
   .
   . Because a girl that has a child is less likely to find a good husband,
   . and a household with two incomes is much more viable.
   . Teenage girsl also often do not make enough money to feed that child,
   . and children benefit from having a father for love and care and as role-model.
   . (if they are lucky to have a reasonably good father).
   .
   . —
   . 3Agric:4 Is teenage pregnancy only an African problem ?
   .
   . No, it happens all over the world.
   .
   . —
   . 3Business:1 What are the causes of increased teenage pregnancy in Ghana ?
   .
   . I don’t know really.
   . Some factors are :
   . * there are more teenagers
   . * population becomes less rural and more urban, so less social cohesion
   . * there is more knowledge that the traditional lifestyle is not the only possibility
   . * womanhood rituals have been abandoned in many places
   . Continued rural poverty would tend to make more girls engage in professional sex
   . and that would increase pregnancies,
   . but i don’t think poverty is worse now than it was 10 years ago.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Education
   .
   . 2Arts2:4 What can we do to improve the standard of education world-wide ?
   .
   . Depends what you think they should be taught.
   . Generally they lack money, and education is not profitable.
   .
   . —
   . 2Business:5 How can we improve education ?
   .
   . Depends what you want education to achieve.
   .
   . —
   . 3Arts2:3 Can the government of Ghana provide enough infrastructure for a 4 year SHS system ?
   .
   . Yes, but if they spend money on that, then they can not spend it on something else.
   .
   . —
   . 2Agric:5 Why can’t university graduates in Ghana find jobs ?
   .
   . Because the skills they are taught are not needed, or can not be used profitably,
   . or cronyism causes available jobs to go to unqualified people.
   . It may however be possible for graduates to start their own business
   . and with that create an environment where their skills are used profitably.
   .
   . —
   . 2Arts1:1 Why is it important to educate our children ?
   .
   . Whether that is important to you depends on whether you love them.
   . Learning to read and write and add and subtract
   . can seriously increase a person’s ability to get a good life,
   . and in general a lot can be learned from more experienced people.
   . Sending children to kindergarten also makes parents have more time to do profitable work.
   . Education is not necessarily the same as formal education.
   . Education should be usefull for the life that the child will have in future.
   .
   . —
   . 3Business:4 Why should students have access to the internet ?
   .
   . It is not necessary for students to have net access, but it is beneficial.
   . It is beneficial because
   . * wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that contains a gigantic amount of knowledge
   . that you are unlikely to find anywhere in Ghana
   . * it is an important means of international trade,
   . for example you can find tractor manufacturers in india and china
   . and contact them to inquire about the prices.
   . * it provides free news about every country and topic
   . * the environment you live in is limited, in knowledge, wisdom, experience, richness,
   . lovingness, compassion, togetherness, musical culture, original thought, etc,
   . and through the internet you can see (at least some of) what more there is in the world,
   . and also that there are many people who are worse off than Ghanaians.
   .
   . —
   . 3Arts1:2 How can we make sure that the schools provide adequate ICT education ?
   .
   . You can not, and they will not.
   . ICT can importantly increase effectiveness of administration and reduce costs,
   . but the number of ICT professionals that Ghana currently needs
   . is much smaller than the number of SSS students,
   . so it is not government’s topmost priority, and other needs are very important,
   . so the average Ghanaian will not yet receive optimal ICT education
   . (except for a few lucky ones who got a peace corps volunteer .
   . If you have access to the net, you can teach yourselves a whole lot.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Hiv
   .
   . 2Arts2:5 How can we prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading ?
   .
   . HIV is a relatively weak virus ; it dies soon after it leaves body fluids,
   . so spread of HIV is nearly entirely a blood-to-blood transmission ;
   . It can be caused by
   . * unsafe blood transfusion
   . * sharing of objects that make contact with blood, eg razors and injection needles
   . * unprotected sexual intercourse between an infected and a non-infected person
   . (if a small wound is present or caused)
   . So what you can do is : do not do any of things listed above,
   . and educate others about what is dangerous and what is not.
   .
   . —
   . 2Business:4 Why did HIV/AIDS spread so quickly ?
   .
   . I don’t know ; i wondered about that myself.
   . Most likely explanation that i thought of is that
   . before HIV was recognized as a disease, blood transfusions were not screened for it,
   . but how likely that explanation is i don’t know,
   . because i don’t know total rate of administration of bloodtransfusions.
   .
   . —
   . 3Business:2 What can we do to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS ?
   . 3Agric:3 As future leaders, what can we do to stop HIV/AIDS ?
   .
   . Whether you will be future leaders will depend on how usefull you are guiding others.
   . Some measures that might be taken to stop HIV :
   . * educate people about the risks,
   . * know your status,
   . * print certificates that prove your status,
   . (sexual intercourse between two people who both already have HIV is not dangerous),
   . * never have sexual intercourse with people who can not prove they do not have HIV,
   . * demand a HIV test before you marry someone,
   . * identify high-risk groups such as international truck drivers and businessmen
   . and require them to have a recent no-HIV-certificate,
   . * regulate the prostitution sector,
   . * reduce poverty,
   . * treat deliberately spreading HIV like murder,
   . * treat willingly and avoidably risking that other people get infected as criminal negligence,
   . * treat actually infecting someone as causing harm,
   . * put infected people on ARVs (reduces chance of transmission, though increases lifetime)
   . Nobody wants to get HIV, so empowering them to not need to take a risk will be good.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Malaria
   .
   . 2Arts1:2 What can we do to eliminate malaria in Ghana and the rest of Africa ?
   .
   . Eliminating malaria from Ghana (and Africa) is currently not possible.
   . The reason for this is that
   . the countermeasures that are currently known and effective
   . are still more expensive to use than the cost of having malaria
   . and governments can not afford to
   . spend the very large amounts of money that would be needed for eradication
   . if they can not do that profitably
   . because it would put the entire country in poverty.
   . Also, even if a government of one country could do that,
   . if it’s neighbour countries do not also do that,
   . then malaria mosquitoes would fly in from neighbour countries
   . so eradication would not last.
   . To be able to eradicate malaria from highly endemic areas like Ghana in future
   . i think it is necessary to
   . * not privatize national health service
   . (because this will be profit centre when eradication becomes possible)
   . * find new, cheap, effective ways to combat malaria
   . * quantify all anti-malaria measures’ effectiveness and cost
   . (to find most cost-effective mix of measures)
   . * improve existing mathematical models of malaria transmission
   . and use quantified data in them
   . (because effect of combined measures can be larger than
   . sum of effects of individual measures)
   . * create a new, less invasive, rapid diagnostic test
   . that is suitable for regularly administring to healthy populations
   . without reducing their willingness to engage in that
   . (because when in some area malaria can be eradicated,
   . you need continuous surveillance to keep it eradicated).
   . In short, you should use what countermeasures you can already afford,
   . and keep studying malaria (and mosquitoes).
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Climate
   .
   . 3Agric:5 What is the world doing to curb the effects of global warming ?
   .
   . I think you really mean to ask about climate change.
   . Global warming is an important part of that,
   . but it is predicted that rains will be more intense and fall nearer to the oceans,
   . and i can not explain it falling nearer to ocean from global warming ;
   . i think this may also be related to deforestation.
   . Global warming is slowed down by measures (mainly in developed countries)
   . to prevent and reduce emissions of gasses that can, in upper atmosphere,
   . increase temperature of earth as a whole.
   . They have also instituted ‘carbon credits’,
   . but that doesnt seem to be too effective internationally yet.
   . Deforestation is counteracted by implementing traceability in timber trade,
   . so if you buy timber you can see whether it is from a bona-fide source
   . and not from some illegal chainsaw operators ;
   . this is challenged by corruption, ofcourse.
   . And, ofcourse, studying climate continues,
   . so more accurate models will be created to give better predictions
   . and to more accurately identify exact causes.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Deforestation
   .
   . 2Arts2:1 How can we prevent deforestation ?
   . 3Arts1:4 How can we prevent deforestation ?
   .
   . Deforestation is caused by
   . * illegal timber felling,
   . * legal timber felling in an unsustainable way,
   . * clearing forest areas for farming
   . * forest fires
   . * it can also be caused by reduction of amount of rain
   . but that was not reported about Ghana yet.
   . To prevent deforestation, you need to prevent all of these.
   . As it is not possible to completely prevent them,
   . and it is not desirable to prevent all timber felling
   . (because timber is an important product)
   . new forest must be planted at atleast same rate as old forest disappears.
   . Planting new trees costs money,
   . so legal timber firms must only be given felling permits if they also replant.
   . Illegal timber fellers never replant, so they must be stopped.
   . Clearing areas for farming is currently addressd by Taungya system,
   . but need for more farmland must also be reduced,
   . by increasing productivity of other farmlands.
   . Forest fires are apparently rare in Ghana, because Ghana is relatively humid.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Bushfires
   .
   . 2Arts2:3 How can we prevent bush burning ?
   . 3Arts2:1 How can we prevent bush fires ?
   .
   . Bush burning is caused by
   . * clearing land for farming
   . * burning stubble of previous harvest on existing farmland
   . * burning grasslands allegedly to increase fertility
   . (a cultural practice of some tribes, such as Fulani, that is completely wrong)
   . * hunters setting fire to bush to drive animals out of their lairs
   . * accidental fires, such as sloppy cooking fires.
   . All of these are really bad ideas,
   . and if they are cultural practices they should be considered outmoded.
   . What you can do is : find better ways to achieve same effect without use of fire.
   . If a person sets a fire that damages an other person’s property
   . then (s)he should pay compensation.
   . If a tribe refuses to adopt sensible customs, so that it keeps harming other tribes,
   . it should not be allowed in that area.
   . Additionally, it is sometimes possible to stop a bushfire :
   . * ‘fire strips’ are strips of land where nothing grows,
   . so if a bushfire approaches, it finds nothing to burn there, and stops there.
   . * wind may blow sparks over a fire strip,
   . so a fire brigade is then needed to put out any sparks.
   . * a fire strip can sometimes be improvised by setting a small bushfire
   . and keeping it small enough to be able to put it out (by fire brigade) ;
   . then area that is burnt acts like a fire strip.
   .
   . —
   . 3Arts2:2 What punishment should be given to those who start bush fires ?
   .
   . Whether a punishment should be given depends on
   . whether it was bad to start that fire,
   . whether they could have avoided to start that fire,
   . whether other measures can be taken to dissuade people from setting bushfires,
   . whether that person’s culture accepts punishment for such things.
   . If a punishment is given, amount of punishment usually varies with
   . whether that person set that fire deliberately or accidentally,
   . how much damage that fire caused,
   . whether that person can compensate for that damage,
   . whether that person intended that damage to be caused.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Africa
   .
   . 2Business:2 How can we prevent serious accidents in our countries ?
   .
   . Accidents will always happen, you could at best reduce number of accidents.
   . How to do that is different for each type of accident.
   .
   . —
   . 2Arts2:2 Why is Africa the “poverty continent” ?
   .
   . It is not. Most poor people live in Asia.
   . The poorest countries in the world are in Africa
   . (Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Niger, …)
   . and this is caused by several factors :
   . * Political instability, caused by lack of self-government history.
   . * Very large continent, so diseases can not be eradicated
   . (asian/pacific/caribbean island countries have an advantage in that respect)
   . * Semi-desert, so there are areas where people can live but can not really make a living.
   . (australia is similarly large and deserty,
   . and it’s natives had lower development than their neighbour countries too)
   .
   . —
   . 2Business:3 Why don’t Europeans like Africans ?
   .
   . I don’t believe that.
   . At the last world cup the Ghanaians were the best merry-makers of the world
   . and everybody liked that.
   . Perhaps you mean that there are some europeans that don’t like africans ?
   . There are unpleasant people in every country, unfortunately.
   .
   . —
   . 3Business:5 Why are foreign industries developing faster than local industries in Ghana ?
   . Not all foreign industries develop faster than Ghanaian industries,
   . but they have some important advantages :
   . * they usually can more easily get larger credits at better interest rates
   . * their directors are usually more thoroughly educated, and have better business plans
   . * many of them are parts of large international organizations
   . and that means they can get a lot of expert help from within their companies
   . * foreigners often do not come from a culture where
   . any means is good if it gets you out of poverty,
   . and foreign companies often have very effective personnel-selection,
   . so there is less corruption
   . Compared to that, Ghanaian businesses can be amateurish,
   . eg i heard say that
   . an international company had engaged a Ghanaian to represent their brand in Ghana,
   . but the man did nothing himself, not make publicity, not actively seek new customers,
   . and expected the foreing company to do everything for him,
   . out of a pure lack of knowledge of what he was supposed to do.
   .
   . —
   . 3Business:3 Why do African countries find it difficult to develop ?
   .
   . Developing is always difficult,
   . eg developing from a youth to an adult is not so easy sometimes
   . Main problem for African countries is that they do not have wise leaders,
   . and because a bad leader can destroy in a week what a good leader built in 10 years.
   . Greed, ignorance, corruption, tribalism, war, they are not good for development.
   . Ghana is relatively well off ; you would not like to live in Zimbabwe or Darfur.
   . Country borders that white men drew on their maps
   . are also not a natural part of African culture,
   . so finding a better way to run such entities better than colonial exploitation
   . takes every country a while to figure out.
   . Making a country profitable is also more difficult than
   . running a country that is already profitable.
   . Also, terms of global trade are set in such way that
   . economically powerfull nations derive maximum benefit.
   . And even in case that a country is a democracy, it is led by politicians,
   . who specialize in getting elected,
   . and do not necessarily know anything about ruling wisely.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Democracy
   .
   . 2Arts1:3 How can we support democracy in Africa ?
   .
   . In first place you should be democratic yourselves.
   . When Nkrumah gained independence for Ghana,
   . all the other African countries saw that it was really possible, and also wanted it.
   . A good example can be very inspiring.
   . You also have some democratic rights and institutions in Ghana,
   . and you should maintain and protect them.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Freedom
   .
   . 2Arts1:5 Why do Ghanaians have freedom of speech, but other countries don’t ?
   .
   . Because criminals do not want to be exposed (whether they steel freedom or money)
   . and brutes do not let others live their own lives.
   . So in Ghana you have been comparatively lucky so far,
   . but it will not last if you do not actively protect it.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Corruption
   .
   . 2Business:1 How can we prevent corruption ?
   .
   . Depends on what causes that corruption.
   . Seems to me that greedy corrupt people will have greedy corrupt children,
   . and that the West African economic situation is ideal for breeding corruption.
   .
   . ——————————————————————————-
   . Economy
   .
   . 2Agric:1 What can the government do to create more jobs ?
   .
   . There is plenty of work that needs doing.
   . Problem is to find jobs that are profitable.
   . Government can try to teach people how to work profitable,
   . for example farming can be done much more profitably
   . with improved seeds and fertilizer and irrigation.
   . Government can provide things that
   . enable others to work more profitably and
   . are used by many people and that one person can not afford
   . such as a market or a road.
   .
   . —
   . 2Agric:3 Why are farmers poor ?
   .
   . I don’t know that average Ghanaian farmer is poor by Ghanaian standards ;
   . People living in slums in big cities are considerably poorer.
   . A farmer that has a good land and enough money to buy seeds and fertilizer for next crop
   . can earn circa 5 dollar per day, which is not bad, though it is hard work.
   . To make farmers richer, they need to produce more,
   . so they can trade what they don’t need to eat themselves
   . and exchange it for things like cloths, oil for lamps, generators, poly tanks, etc.
   . To produce more, they can use improved seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation,
   . and increase amount of land that they farm (using either mechanization or hired labour),
   . and prevent crops from getting rotten (by better storage methods)
   . and get better prices for crops by storing crops until harvest-time glut is over,
   . and organize to form sales groups (so they dont need to sell to traders that pay low prices)
   . and organize to do processing of their products (eg selling fufu instead of cassava)
   . and standardize to deliver a consistent quality and quantity
   . which may enable them to sell to larger buyers
   . (who usually buy from people that do sorting and quality-control and packaging).
   . Many of them do not know what to do (so agric extension workers are needed)
   . and do not have access to needed facilities, and do not have money and can not get credit.
   . The basic answer is however : because there are too many people ;
   . no matter how much food you produce,
   . if every husband and wife keep having more than two children in their lifetime
   . then population will keep getting larger
   . until it is so large that there is no longer enough food.
   .
   . —
   . 2Agric:4 Is HIPC a good fund, and should African countries join it ?
   .
   . HIPC is not a fund.
   . It is a cancellation of unsustainable debt, that is conditional on good governance.
   . When debts are cancelled,
   . interest and repayments on that debt no longer need to be paid,
   . so some funds (ie money) become available.
   . Debt-cancellation is good because it facilitates trade.
   . Ghana’s debts (as far as they fall under HIPC framework) have already been cancelled.
   . See wikipedia:”HIPC” for more info.
   .
   . —
   . 3Arts1:1 What can we do to limit and reduce unemployment ?
   .
   . Reduce population growth rate.
   . Increase economy growth rate if possible.
   . Make public utilities’ service level conducive for profitable business.
   . Put an extra tax on companies that employ relatively few people compared to their investment
   . (in large scale farming, automation should not be more profitable than hand labour,
   . at least not until the employment and/or minimum-wage situation has improved).

   Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 7:01 pm | Permalink
4. Krista Sheppard wrote:

   As I said to Caroline:

   OMG!”@?!?!/5@!?##!?%!#?%#?

   CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Oh, you have done well.

   <3,
   Krista

   Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:47 pm | Permalink

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