PAGSUNG : ON A JOURNEY TO EMPOWER

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". These were the exact thoughts running through our minds during the first week on the project to empower women and progressively improve their livelihood. The PagSung Shea Nut Pickers and Shea Butter Processors Association was founded and incorporated in October 2008. Today, "Pagsung" http://bit.ly/2yCwfwk is a network of 40 shea butter processing groups, with over 1,500 members. It is owned and managed by the shea nut and shea butter producers themselves, which makes it unique from its competitors.

Our team is comprised of four Ghanaian volunteers, three UK volunteers, and two team leaders – one from Ghana and one from the UK (Lateefa Alhassan Sulemana and Emilio Dellanzo).

Abdulla Rahima

Age: 23 years

Where am I from: The Ashanti region, Ghana

One interesting fact about myself: I enjoy working in a team and this week was also the week of my birthday.

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I decided to do ICS so that I could improve my English skills

Adam Nanna Salaatu

Age: 25 years

Where am I from: Bole, in the North of Ghana but for the majority of my life I have lived in the South.

One interesting fact about myself: I can speak four languages fluently and I am also able to express myself slightly in two other ones. I also like to laugh a lot and I surround myself with people that have a good sense of humour

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I was motivated by my desire to give back to the community. I have had the privilege for my education to have been sponsored by an NGO, and so I wish to be able to make a positive impact in return

Chloe Rose-Brown

Age: 18 years old

Where am I from: Manchester, United Kingdom

One interesting fact about myself: I am everyone’s token hippie friend

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I was questioning why a fellow girl, who’s the same age as me, could lead such a different life and face a differing future based off of the place where she was born. I also feel that it is anyone’s duty who has been privileged to help those who have not had that same blessing. The only way that we can achieve a fairer, brighter, and more equal world is through cooperation. These are the reasons that I chose ICS

Dunstan Guba

Age: 23 years

Where am I from: Felmuo-Leuro, the Upper Eastern region of Ghana

One interesting fact about myself: I am not good at swimming, I love science, I enjoy blogging, and I can play the piano and the violin.

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I would label myself as a humanitarian, and I feel that ICS offers me the biggest platform in which to impact on the lives of others

Jessica Ginnelly

Age: 21 years

Where am I from: Nottingham, United Kingdom

One interesting fact about myself: I did jury service in the UK for six weeks

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I want to better my understanding of how international development works and I feel like ICS is the perfect way to experience that. You get the incredible opportunity to live in host homes so we can truly immerse ourselves into the local culture, whilst working on a very worthwhile project

Nat Dilling

Age: 21 years

Where am I from: Brighton, United Kingdom

One interesting fact about myself: I can cut some pretty mad shapes

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I wanted to take part in ICS because I feel that I have lived a very privileged life and in recognising my privilege I feel that I should seize this opportunity to help those that have not been given the same choices in life as myself and aim to improve their situation in any way that I can

Richard Danaa

Age: 25 years

Where am I from: Yendi, Ghana

One interesting fact about myself: I like having fun with people from all parts of the world

Why did I choose to do ICS?: I joined ICS to make a difference by pushing myself in order to help in the best way possible to improve the living standards of the local people. I also hope to improve some of my pre-existing skills whilst also acquiring new skills through working with different people. I look forward to the opportunity to be able to make new friends and build connections both locally and internationally. Finally, ICS can bring a competitive edge to your CV.

So that is the PAGSUNG team #TeamPAGS. Our first week on our project has already been an extremely busy one and we look forward to the challenges that our future work will bring.