Background
The idea to hold the agricultural exhibition was mooted after a study of
the Ghanaian farming population showed a staggering 60-70% of the aged
performed this important activity in our economic life. The involvement
of young people was therefore negligible. With this realization and the
knowledge Shalom Club members have gained from Israel, the Club decided
to embark on a series of exhibitions for some selected senior secondary
schools, other agriculture-related institutions and the general public.
The choice of Accra Academy was intended to justify the Club's policy to
encourage youth to take an interest in agriculture. The exhibition was
also intended to draw public attention to the activities of Shalom Club as
an agricultural NGO and through such activities help strengthen
Ghana-Israel relations.
The Club and the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, resident in Abidjan, capital
of the Ivory Coast, arranged to hold the exhibition on June 5, 1997, the
first meeting of its kind in Ghana to serve the dual purpose of inculcating
the much needed interest in agriculture among Ghanaian youth through the
Israeli experience and also to revive the once vibrant bond of friendship
and cooperation between the Jewish State of Israel and Ghana through the
envisaged joint agricultural ventures and program exchanges.
Club members were thus briefed on the roles expected of them to ensure a
successful exhibition. Invitations were sent out to a lot of personalities,
particularly the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture and Head of
Administration of the Trade Union Congress (TUC). The Embassy of Israel
made exhibition materials available.
The two secondary schools were to benefit from this exhibition: Accra
Academy and Wesley Grammar School. Three media houses were invited to
cover the event: Daily Graphic (Ghana's largest selling newspaper), the
Ghanaian Times and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
The Day
Thursday, June 5, finally arrived for the Shalom Club to transform the
image that people hold of Ghana-Israel relations into an immense array of
opportunities for effective exchange of knowledge, build up interest in
each others' affairs, exchange programs, and also create awareness which
can be an excellent prelude to better cooperation for mutual benefit.
In an introductory speech Club Program Director Mr. Henry B. Baiden stated
that the exhibition was first stimulated by history and second by the need
to reactivate and encourage Israeli involvement in the Ghanaian economy,
particularly agriculture. To Shalom Club members, he stated, the exhibition
was a point of contact and a way to inculcate into our youth in Ghana the
need to take to agriculture.
Shalom Club - Ghana has been converted to an NGO focusing on agriculture
and also on environment, rural health and sanitation. The Club believes in
agriculture as a formidable impetus for a sustained approach to rural
development, alleviation of poverty and, finally, peace. He prayed that the
exhibition would benefit the students and the general public by winning
converts to an agricultural way of life.
The stage was then set for the Chairman, Mr. George Baiden, Director of the
Adventist Relief Organization (ADRA) to speak.
Speeches
The Executive Director of the Shalom Club, Mrs. Docia Adjei Sasu, gave the
welcome address. She gave a brief account of how the Shalom Club came to
Ghana, its intensions and preparedness to court Israeli expertise for
improved agricultural production in Ghana, and called on all to apply
themselves.
Next to address the gathering was Mr. H. J. Mbiah, Head of Administration,
Trade Union Congress (TUC). He expanded on a proposed TUC investment
program in Ghana. He explained why he had chosen the Shalom platform to
address the topic and stated that the Ghana TUC took its original idea from
the Israeli concept. He went on to explain to the youthful gathering the
historic bond of cooperation that had existed between Ghana and Israel,
spearheaded by the late President Osegyefor Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He mentioned
the considerable number of Ghanaians who trained in Israel to help
construct independent Ghana, and afterward.
Mr. Mbiah treated the gathering to a deep insight into Israeli attempts at
economic emancipation and statehood. He made special mention of the role of
the Histadrut (Israel's General Federation of Labour) and gave a detailed
account of its role in the economic life of Israel. Cooperative
agricultural processing and marketing, banking, insurance, transportation
cooperatives and health service delivery are some of the areas of
participation of the Histadrut. Mr. Mbiah ended his talk stating that the
Histadrut was the type of TUC that Ghana needs in her Economic Recovery
Program and prayed that the Shalom Club would enter into negotiations with
Israel to realize these goals.
The topic "Participation of Schools and Colleges in Agriculture" was
handled by Mr. Owiredu Dwamena, lecturer in agricultural science. He
entreated students to take their agricultural studies seriously. He
expressed his fears about the future of Ghana's agriculture in the years
ahead considering the fact that 70% of the presentday farming population is
comprised of old men and women. He thanked the Shalom Club for taking steps
to redress the situation by engaging in programs to entice students into
agriculture. He drew government attention to the need to include practical
agriculture in the final year examination for agricultural science studies.
Address by the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture
Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture Mr. Mike Acheampong, Patron of the
Shalom Club and Guest Speaker, was full of praise for the choice of
agriculture to help the country's Economic Recovery Program so that Ghana
can become a middle level income country by the year 2020. He added his
confidence in the Shalom Club to help achieve this, considering its links
with Israel which is a country known for its success in agriculture. The
Minister enumerated the following sectors of agriculture for the attention
of the Shalom Club: animal nutrition, veterinary services, breed
improvement, irrigation, large-scale cash crop projects. He further
expanded on some of the constraints on the country's efforts to develop the
agricultural sector: erratic rainfall, inadequate technical transfer and
research capacity, degraded land resources, post-harvest losses, etc.
He advised the Club to take its activities seriously as the first NGO to
focus mainly on agriculture. It was his ardent desire that the Club help
draw on the immense agricultural expertise and know-how of Israel to make
Ghana self-sufficient in agricultural production. He concluded with a firm
promise that his Ministry is ever prepared to cooperate with the Club in
whatever way possible to make its presence felt in the Ghanaian economy. He
then invited the Club's executives to meet at his office on the following
Monday.
Presentation
The Club presented two video cassettes on irrigation in Israel to the
Minister for broadcast on Ghana television. Mr. Acheampong noted that he
would watch the videos with the Vice President of Ghana since the two of
them had that week discussed the country's irrigation problems. The
presentation thus could not have come at a better time.
Opening of the Exhibition
The Club's Program Director explained why the Club was distributing
booklets on Israel:
- It was the conviction of the Club that Ghanaians, especially the youth,
would be better informed about Israel, its people and economy to enable
them to draw on their experience and be inspired in their various fields of
endeavour;
- the booklets would inculcate in the reader a renewed interest in
agriculture, drawing on the Israeli experience, leading him/her to practice
it more seriously to make it result-oriented;
- the contents of the booklets would rekindle Ghanaian intertest in Israel
so that the historic bond of friendship and cooperation between the two
countries would be strengthened;
The function reached its climax when a good will message from Israeli
Ambassador Coast Yaacov Revah was read to a standing ovation.
It was a delight to watch the participants outdo one another to lay hands
on copies of booklets on display. The leadership of the Shalom Club later
at a reception for invited guests expressed their profound appreciation for
the cooperation received from the Embassy of Israel and especially for the
Ambassador's personal interest in seeing the Shalom Club - Ghana grow. For
our part we thank God it happened at long last and that the successful
exhibition would represent a giant leap towards a more fruitful cooperation
between Ghana and Israel.
Shalom Club - Ghana
POB 5082
Accra North
Ghana
N.B. This report was personally delivered by Mrs. Docia Adjei Sasu and Mr.
Henry Baiden who toured Israel with a group of young Shalom Club members in
July and visited with a MASHAV representative and your Editor. Mrs. Sasu
was a participant in the very first International Seminar on the Role of
Women in a Developing Society held in Haifa, April-May, 1961. That seminar
proposed the establishment of the Golda Meir Mt. Carmel International
Training Centre, MCTC (see article in this issue of Shalom).
 |
Letter from Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, to Kwame
Nkrumah, first Prime Minister of Independent Ghana:
January 11, 1957
Jerusalem
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
It gave me great pleasure to receive your letter of 3rd January. I consider
achievement of independence by the Gold Coast to be not only an important
event for your country, but a great human event of universal significance.
This is one of the most dramatic steps in the growth of human freedom and
the consolidation of equality among men. I rejoice at it as a man and a
Jew. Our scriptures say that man was created in the image of God, which
means that it is inconceivable that any man should be enslaved by his
fellow-man, or suffer discrimination in respect of his rights and status on
account of religion, colour, nationality, sex or any other reason
whatsoever. The achievement of the independence of Ghana is one of the most
magnificent examples of the advancement of man and human equality.
I should like at the same time to convey to you my personal greetings on
this great occasion. I have read much about you, and although we have not
met, I feel as if I know you personally. It is eminently fitting that you
should be the central figure in the great event which is to take place on
the 6th of March.
....[W]e Jews have suffered for centuries.... Nevertheless, we did not give
way to despair, and our faith in our future and in the conscience of
humanity was not shaken. And nine years ago, after two thousand years of
exile and subjection, we succeeded in renewing our independence, which we
lost in the year 100 A.D. I am grateful for your prior notification, and if
my work permits at the beginning of March, I will personally attend the
celebration, for I consider it to be the celebration of human justice and
equality. But whether I shall be able to come or not, please accept my
sincerest good wishes for your success in leading your people, now that it
has gained its independence, towards a future of prosperity, peace,
internal equality, and moral, economic and social progress.
Yours very sincerely,
David Ben-Gurion