Reviving The Spirit Of Communal Labour:Case Study Of Canteen Youth

The bandwagon(campaign) which was led on radio saw the Canteen Wura,Nyeribe Wura (youth chief),and several elderly members of the community actively participating in the cleanup campaign.

The community responded promptly to the radio campaign bearing in mind,the cost of treating diarrheal diseases such as Cholera,and other illness in the range of Typhoid and Dysentery borne out of drinking contaminated water.

There is joy in communal toil, yes!The youth were there in their numbers and within a matter of two (2) hours,it was a done deal and the vicinity of the machanized borehole was as tidy and plain as a white garment.The grasses were cleared and sprayed,the waterside litters were picked and burnt.What else?

"The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital,"Mark Herman once remarked.

Indeed,I personally hold the conviction that the impetus for creating change may just be to act locally and take compassionate actions in our communities....

The power of community mobilization and the seemingly lost days of communal labour...

I hearken back to a poem I wrote months ago and a wave of nostalgia swept over me strongly.

The repeated rhymes of the poem were driven by a drunk desire to see a return of the good old days.see: https://mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Tales-of-the-good-old-days-635397... http://ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com/2018/03/tales-of-good-old-days.html?m=1.

When I talk about the good old days in this written account, I mean to say the days of communal labour.And probably,the days sanitation officers(they were called 'Samasama') use to effectively enforce sanitation laws.

I write of communal labour in a personal coinage as a joint action of community members accomplishing a task to the benefit of the entirety of society.Such labour leads to the achievement of a common goal, thus improving the quality and standard of living of community members and the provision of social amenities.

Today,instead communal labour,we would curse the wind and flood the airwaves with cacophonous chaos if what we call Zoomlion fail to sweep the street and desilt the gutters.Diminishing marginal returns seem to have set in on the ability of the women to carry water,whilst the men mix mortar and put up the buildings.The politics of coloring development and clothing same in partisan politics is the order of the day.

Individualism has fast substituted communism and communal spirit.

Let's revisit and renew the spirit of communal labour.Canteen youth is clearly showing the way.

Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable and a little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing.I end with a quote from Jeff Bridges,"The way to change the world is through individual responsibility and taking local action in your own community."

I am a proud Canteen Yaaro!
Shalom!
Ananpansah B Abraham (AB)//Village writer