‘The Greenhouse’ Documentary: Produced by Stephanie Roggekamp & Eline Teunissen.

Story; Zakaria Abdul Hakim Cisse || Sanatu Zambang SDGs Live Report

While the karimenga ‘friends of the greenhouse’ story is tearing through waves, communication students from Hodgeschool Journalistiek in the Netherlands are using communication tools to document their experience in Karimenga and the story of the ‘greenhouse’.

The two; Stephanie Roggekamp and Eline Teunissen who have been staying at ‘the greenhouse’ in Karimenga for the past three weeks are volunteers from ‘Meet Africa’ who are on a volunteer trip to the community to learn diverse cultures and inter-continental relations.

The two have done a minor course on Global Development Issues which is centered on the SDGs and are therefore using their communication skills to produce a video about ‘the greenhouse’ and the karimenga experience.

Click Watch ‘The Greenhouse’ Video Documentary Video

Speaking to Sanatu Zambang’s Zakaria Abdul-Hakim, Eline recommended the hospitality of the community and how they interact with them.

“We are part of a family. It feels more of a home as compared to the Netherlands, where people are more keeping to their individual lives…” she remarked.

Stephanie said one thing she has learned includes the wise sayings of the people which is not always the case back home. “… Don’t judge people. Coming to Karimenga has taught me that we don’t need luxury (the phones, cars, etc.) to live.

While the rest of us are busy embracing modern technologies, one man is maintaining the olden cultural practices of pure organic agriculture. Living in a small community of Karimenga in the Northeast Region, Ibrahim comes from Bongo in the Upper East Region of Ghana, where his ancestral heritage is traced.

His great grandfather who was captured as a slave just a few moments before the slave trade was abolished, is believed to have been the first man to bring the British to Bongo.

In 2007, Ibrahim decided to start his greenhouse project called ‘friends of the Greenhouse’, which was later registered in 2010 with the Ghana Tourism Authority. His love for art and tourism saw him think of a way he could sell his small community to the rest of the world.

As a philanthropist in his community, it was easy to get land from the chief to start his dream was an easy one. The project began with initial tree plantation around the land using communal labor and subsequently, putting up the proposed structure for ‘friends of the greenhouse’.

For him, the hub is a home where people can freely come and feel home outside home and almost all those who have been to the place, have a story to tell. The place has seen several recommendations by some of the Dutch who visit to feel the experience.

The place is uniquely beautiful with lots of experience, especially that of nature. ‘Friends of the greenhouse’ free rooms each having two single beds covered with mosquito nets. The rooms are huts with clay plastering.

Each room has a bucket and calabash, with which guest bath and a woven basket as a waste bin. ‘Friends of the greenhouse’ has a resting hut with layback stick couches and a dining table, where guests eat. However, guests are only considered a guest at their arrival, where the entry is done. Afterward, they are no more guests, but family.

The tourist home has a green farm where vegetables and other crops are cultivated under strict organic processes to feed the family. Everything that is eaten in the home is from the farm, to be sure they don’t eat stuff on which chemicals are applied.

Click Watch ‘The Greenhouse’ Video Documentary Video on youtube

Serving not just as a tourist site, Ibrahim has been able to build a library with reading books and has also built a computer room for the youth in the community to have space for studies and has supported a number of the children through Senior High School. Ibrahim has also with the helped of the community, dug a dam which serves as a source of water for the people.

Ibrahim believes in growing together and therefore always want the rest of the community to move along. He tries to share whatever he has with them whether material or knowledge-based. He wants to bring back the spirit of the community.

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