Story; Zakaria Abdul Hakim Cisse || Sanatu Zambang SDGs Live Report
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.
After completing secondary school, Ibrahim was obsessed with farming which was his father’s occupation. He always tried new cultural practices on the plants to see their response and told his father how they could do things differently from the normal practices. Ibrahim has a long track record of volunteering and has been a site guide as well, which explains his passion for ecotourism – and has traveled a lot, including to the Netherlands.
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.
Ibrahim amazingly was honored with an award by the Ghana Tourism Authority in 2016 as the ‘best site guide’ in which other competitors did not understand why. As a special guest speaker, he shared his life’s journey and the ‘greenhouse’ experience with the audience, which marveled at the whole auditorium.
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.
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.
