Storytelling - OVF's specialty but for what purpose?

Ever since the news about the intention of the Attorney General’s office in the state of California to rebuke the registration of OneVillage Foundation (OVF) to operate as a charitable trust, the key OVF people in Taiwan, Ghana and the U.S. have been keeping a very low profile, as if they are hoping to discourage any accusations of fraud by their mere silence. Or as if they are demonstrating yet again their remarkable resilience by preparing to shed the OVF skin in order to resurface under a new label – as they did before with the Aids Relief Foundation. Though this time, the OVF people are making it quite clear that they have nothing to spare for charity, preferring henceforth to refer to their work as a “social enterprise” or a “private initiative”. However, no matter how many layers of skin are shed, no amount of creative labeling will change the true nature of the core. The key question for OVF and its people still remains; what about the giving?  You have been taking money under the pretext of making lives better – lives of people in Africa, lives of the most destitute like the orphans and the AIDS afflicted – but what have you been giving?

 

http://www.onevillagefoundation.org/

Storytelling, OVF's core capability

Like so many others, we – the editors of this site – have been struggling to make sense of what it is that OVF actually brings to the table. We see promises and expectations that are not fulfilled. We see the way they use “charity” in order to promote their own networking interests. But what is in fact their core capability? Recently, it was brought to our attention by one of our readers that the OneVillage Initiative is mentioned in the book “Wake me up when the data is over” edited by Lori Silverman, where contributor Michael J. Margulis, a professional in the field of brand storytelling, promotes OVF and Joy Tang’s story as an example of an organization that uses storytelling as a key strategic instrument for its operations. (It is reasonable to assume this example would not have been included in the book had the editor been aware of the strong concerns regarding OVF beforehand.) 

OVF's founder Joy Tang at
TED x Youth Day in Taipei in 2010

Indeed, as OVF founder Joy Tang herself writes in a proposal to the Dharma Drum University in Taipei, storytelling is a key activity for OVF in order to implement "Community Development & Organizational Change". What this means in practice is that storytelling is used aggressively as a tool to diffuse the image of OVF as dedicated to a greater cause of the common good. This image contrasts sharply with  examples published here showing work that is dubious in nature (see the orphanage case), not about any greater cause at all than creating profitable business opportunities for the OVF people themselves (see the Jukwa farm case), or in fact mere fiction. Besides actively networking and holding workshops and seminars to promote the image of OVF, the OVF people have literally spammed the Internet with their own wikis and a massive amount of blogs in order to create and maintain the illusion that they are a social movement dedicated to real-life betterment, when indeed they can at best be called a network of people looking to promote themselves as social agents for change and sharing some common interests, notably in drumming and in the belief in the power of Internet communication. Most of the wikis, as well as video presentations published on the internet, have been created by student volunteers from the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan upon the request of OVF's founder as part of their voluntary service assignment. The students themselves seem unaware of the true nature of what they are writing about, dazzled by the opportunity of an international experience in a country that is to them exotic.

Storytelling as a powerful tool

Storytelling can be a beautiful thing, and is a part of most cultural traditions. Stories are powerful tools that add color and texture to our lives and in many parts of the world, the ability to tell a good story - especially orally – is highly valued by most communities. By activating our imagination, stories make history come alive, serve as instruments for socializing people into what is politically correct and socially acceptable, and promote local values and traditions amidst a world of mass culture. Children in particular are very open and thus it is a tool that is being increasingly used as a way of educating the youngest in our society. By targeting the intuitive rather than the logical part of the brain, storytelling is a way of communication that does not activate people’s evaluative capacity but seeks to interact with an “open state of mind”, i.e. to encourage receptiveness rather than critical thinking. The intentions of the storytellers with what is being communicated are thus of utmost importance, in order to ensure that the quality of what is communicated in terms of ethics and trustworthiness is maintained – especially when the stories are directed toward those groups in the global community who are particularly receptive to what is communicated by a storytelling authority simply because they lack their own frames of reference that will allow them to assess and evaluate what is told. 

The obvious appeals of stories should not allow us to forget, however, that they have been used effectively throughout history for instigating racism between different ethnic groups or religions, by transmitting prejudices and myths based on the fears or aversions of one particular ethnic group toward another. Storytelling can have an impact far beyond our imagination. The Nazi regime in Germany encouraged the propagation of stories that defined Jews as vermin rather than human beings, and it is no secret that the bloody conflicts between the Hutu and the Tutsi people in Rwanda were fueled by radio stories aimed at making people believe that they had to be the first to slaughter lest they be slaughtered themselves. What is supposed to contain stories within the realm of what we deem to be civilized are hence the moral and ethical codes and values that we adhere to.

When story-telling masks the truth

In 2007-2008, as the country of Kenya was undergoing a difficult crisis, many organizations initiated various efforts to help the Kenyan people. The OVF joined an effort for peace called the "Pyramid of Peace" through Joy Tang, who quickly became an active promoter. Her roll call was "Please join us in any way you can. We need the stories to be told and people connected."" 

Joy Tang promoting the Pyramid of Peace on the Global Voices Online website

Though this initiative remained very visible at the time, little has been said of it since, and with cause. Despite fund-raising efforts, it never actually did contribute to peace in Kenya in any way on the ground and in many instances, it brought out the worst in people who saw a quick opportunity to gain support for their own interests. So much for the value of story-telling, once the hype was gone. However, a self-critical assessment of this story-telling effort has yet to be found. 

It is interesting to see the amount of effort that is being put into writing history by the OVF people. One notable example is the Doug Bontempy story called "Doug Bontempi's life on earth", with its own dedicated Flickr album on the internet.

Doug Bontempi in the home of OVF's founder Joy Tang,
a framed picture of the two of them in the background

Doug Bontempi was Joy Tang’s cohabitant whom she claimed after his death was not her lover but her best friend. Interestingly, as his "best friend" she inherited quite a bit of his money after his death although he himself was still married to another woman at the time. For some reason, accounts of how OVF’s founder transformed this out-of-prison, former head of the local Hells Angels chapter in California into an African drum lover found their way onto the Internet after he passed away in the summer of 2009. The accounts were written by Joy Tang herself with help of her good friend and the brother of Doug Bontempi, Art Goodtimes, and make no mention of the money. Was such post mortem storytelling indeed a tribute or a necessity, i.e. a proactive attempt to direct people's attention towards that part of the story that might be to one's favor, as a way of getting around and making people forget a truth that was far from glorious? 

Thanks to the early sensibility of the OVF network in the U.S. to the potential of Internet as a marketing tool, the OVF people have long enjoyed a privileged position on the Internet where the number of promotional stories diffused through various blogs and wikis as well as other web sites is huge. The voices of those for whom OVF collaboration has left a bitter aftertaste remain mostly silent, but for a few exceptions. For the most part,  the victims of OVF and its founder Joy Tang have been most reluctant to express their concerns and tell their stories for fear that their names would be smeared in the networks where they wish to remain active. And sadly where former collaborators have voiced concerns, retaliation has indeed occurred more than once. Hence the need for an arena for discussion that would stand on its own, welcoming any response by the OVF people regarding the disclosed information, while showing those who have been used and exploited by OVF that they are not alone. 

Joy Tang of OVF promoted as a storytelling authority

On May 27th-29th 2011, Joy Tang will be the moderator for the annual storytellers' meeting organized by the center for storytelling in Yunlin, Taiwan (run by her friend and collaborator LiFang Tang), with the OVF experience being part of the program.

OVF Founder Joy Tang and fellow storyteller LinFang Tang

It is most telling that the OVF key people - including Joy Tang, Mark Roest and the latest addition Emmanuel Richardson - all refer to themselves as "storytellers". But however powerful a tool stories may be for diffusing an image of what one does not want people to see, an illusion can only be maintained as long as people actually believe in it. As one famous story goes, it only took the words of a small boy to break the charms as the people awoke to find that their emperor was, in fact, stark naked! Sooner or later, people do break free of the illusion, and when that happens, no story in the world can shield an ugly reality from the truth.

What happened to the 2010 Giant Bike Donation?

Presentation of the main "service and learning activities" for the NTHU/OVF Ghana Service Program 2010

One of the things that the oneVillage Foundation (OVF) refers to as its 2010 accomplishments is the Bike Ghana Project, where 102 used bicycles of the Giant brand were donated by the Cycling Life Style Foundation in Taiwan through the fundraising efforts of the students of the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU):

07.13.10 | Taipei Taiwan – OVF and 10 National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) International Volunteer students secured a donation of 102 used Giant bicycles. Giant is a leading global manufacturer of high quality mountain and conventional street bikes.

OVF Ghana Receives 102 Bikes from Giant Bike Taiwan

In July 2010, the OVF announced that the bikes were to be shipped to Ghana, where they would assist workers engaged in "agricultural production" with limited options for transportation. According to the OVF, these 102 donated bicycles would have a considerable impact on Ghana society, helping not only farmers with transportation but also strengthening Taiwan's reputation as a producer of reliable and useful products:

"The bikes deployed through the Bike Ghana effort initiated by OVF and with the help of the students will be used to assist workers many of whom are engaged in agricultural production in Ghana and have limited transport options. We believe that the introduction of bicycles will help residents improve the efficiency of agricultural transport, while also promoting Taiwan’s reputation to make and distribute reliable and useful products."
http://www.onevillagefoundation.org/giant-bike-donation

 

In September 20th 2010, the OVF posted on its blog that the bikes had arrived in Ghana and would be used in a new project entitled the Taiwan Bike Bike Ghana Project (TBBG):

"oneVillage Foundation Ghana has taken delivery of 102 slightly used bicycles, 51 pairs of brand new bicycle tires, and some maintenance tools, from Giant Bikes Taiwan. The bikes and components are to be used to implement OVF’s Taiwan Bike Bike Ghana (TBBG) Project."

OVF Ghana Receives 102 Bikes from Giant Bike Taiwan

Although the OVF announced that its sponsor was the Giant corporation, the real donor was in fact the NGO sprung out of Giant named the Cycling Life Style Foundation, which has a habit of yearly donating those bicycles being retired from its bike rental services.

The TBBG program was according to OVF aimed at addressing "world urgent issues" and would "encourage a culture of biking in Ghana as means of healthy living" (inspired perhaps by the aims of the Cycling Life Style Foundation?), reduce "manual labour" by farmers and cultural groups through rental bike stations, as well as "reduce carbon dioxide emissions".

It should be noted, however, that whilst many people in Africa cannot afford a car, a bicycle is traditionally the poor man's way of getting around even in farming communities, as long as there is at least a dirt road to use.

The OVF obviously had high hopes and ambitions for these donated bicycles, as expressed by OVF co-worker in Ghana Nii Tete Saashi Koi, who reported in September that:

"We are also going to use the Bikes (Sponsored by GIANT) to help create the awareness, by donating to religious bodies and also use them as a contact point to households and individuals who have the capacity to help to support the Home." Together by Destiny: Holistic ICT for Ecoliving

Although what is meant by a "contact point to households and individuals who have the capacity to help to support the Home..." is left unexplained, it gives the strong impression that bicycles were donated to certain influential members of the Jukwa society to enlist their benevolence vis-a-vis the OVF-supported Stoughton Horizon Orphanage home in Jukwa. This might indeed explain why one of the bikes was given to the Chief of Jukwa himself. However, as one of the earlier posts on this website has shown, there are serious concerns regarding the Stoughton Home and whether it is in fact operating as a legitimate orphanage at all.



Indeed, if the donated bikes were initially supposed to address "urgent world issues", reality would turn out less grand. According to the OVF, part of the Giant bikes were distributed to the Chief, the Mayor, the Education Director and the Police Commander of Winneba (where the OVF office in Ghana is located), members of a local musical group in Jukwa (The Ompeh Group), university and high school teachers, OVF staff, the Chief of Jukwa, local "opinion leaders", an unspecified number of "young girls who walk long distances to school", as well as "selected students" from the Jukwa Senior High School (a prestigious school known for its national sports achievements). Though it is hard to picture the police commander of Winneba cycling to work, could none of these recipients have afforded to purchase a bicycle themselves, if they were keen to be cycling? In any case, none of these recipients were farmers who would use the bicycles as claimed for more efficient transportation of their agricultural produce.

In the end, according to OVF's own report, 20 out of the 102 bicycles were awarded to children from deprived schools. The names of these deprived schools, however, remain known only to the OVF staff themselves.

Of the 102 bikes, another 20 (along with maintenance tools, a mechanized foot pump and 30 extra tires) were given to the Unity Drum Cultural Group (run by Emmanuel Richardson, an employee of the oneVillage Foundation and a close friend of Joy Tang) to set up a bike rental station that would, according to OVF's own account, be able to create employment for the group members and help finance the group.

In its own statements, the OVF has promised that all receivers of the 102 bicycles will fill out questionnaires in view of planning future bike programs. As one can easily imagine, the bike distribution was very popular with those who received free bicycles, and has generated a large interest as well as expectations in the circles surrounding the UnityDrum people for a new distribution in the future.

However generous a sponsor the Cycling Life Style Foundation may be, they will be concerned with the good use of the name of GIANT and how sponsored activities reflect on the brand. The OVF has promised to produce a report about the use of the bicycles in the hope of establishing a long-term partnership with the Cycling Life Style Foundation, which it refers to as Giant. Such a report has yet to surface.

Joy Tang handing over bike donation to members of the Ghana police force

One is left to wonder why OVF will claim such high aims and ambitions in order to secure donations in kind when the reality is that these are used to generate goodwill amongst both the people working for and with OVF in Winneba and Jukwa, as well as securing a favourable attitude towards OVF by local officials.

OVF and UnityDrum: Incubating business through drumming?

The latest addition to the oneVillage Foundation Team is Emmanuel Charlse Richardson, a young Ghanese who has been part of the OVF Ghana welcoming committee for the NTHU volunteers from Taiwan since 2008.

Emmanuel Richardson's role is presented on the OVF website as:

"Emmanuel Richardson – Program manager of Unity Drum – is passionate about his culture and tradition. Growing up in Cape Coast, Ghana, he lives and breathes the stories and rhythms of his elders’ life experiences. His dream is to share his culture with the world through dancing, drumming, singing and storytelling. He is a modern-day ‘GRIOT’ – the traditions carrier to create civilization and community life. He has been an instrumental goodwill ambassador of Ghana to the Taiwanese Youth during oneVillage’s EcoTour Service and Learning Program in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, Richardson will lead a group of young Ghaha performing artists to participate in OVF  ’digital archive’ program to form collaborative networked improved community with Taiwan NTHU Youth in art for development." http://www.onevillagefoundation.org/team

Whilst the connection between drumming performances and community development even through ICT seems at best far-fetched, it is better explained by the strong interest taken by OVF's founder Joy Tang in African drumming and in particular in the ancient spiritual traditions of Voodooland. Emmanuel Richardson, a close personal friend of Joy Tang, performs with a group in Ghana called Unitydrum, which coincides with the name Joy Tang has been using for her African drumming circles outside of Africa. (Emmanuel Richardson features in the 04/2011 edition of We Magazine which is run by Joy Tang's friend and associate Ulrike Reinhard). Now, however, the name Unitydrum is being used as an umbrella name for Joy Tang's blog, twitter profile and various activities, blurring any distinctions between what is carried out with funds obtained through the oneVillage Foundation and any hobby or cultural activities seeking to initiate people in the West in griot traditions. As Joy Tang writes herself:

"... the GRIOT tradition of West Africa which has been the core of my motivation in designing oneVillage Initiative: the working process and guides for the ICT4D in Africa and beyond." (Learning African Culture from Puppetry, UnityDrum Times)

It is no secret that the decade-long activities of the oneVillage Foundation are an expression of the personal interests of OVF founder Joy Tang. "...the last ten years which I have felt is my passion, it is my life - I would not really say it is my work, but I'm making one of my passions my work in my life." is how she chooses to describe what she has been doing for the last ten years (i.e. the time that OVF has been in operation) in a conversation with friend and fellow blogger Ulrike Reinhard published online. But how does the personal study of African Griot traditions, rooted in the spiritual beliefs and practices of the voodoo religion, by OVF's founder apply to the mission of a charity foundation that is raising funds for the development of poor rural communities in Africa?

In a presentation of the oneVillage Foundation "bike project" in Ghana, the OVF refers to Unity Drum as its "Social enterprise Incubation Program". Now the purpose of a business incubator - be it for so-called social enterprises that are committed to non-profit activities or for for-profit businesses - is to provide and assist with initial resources for start-up such as low-rent office facilities at the incubator center, access to networks and to various kinds of business expertise. Such incubators often spring from an academic institution and tend to be located in science parks or near university campuses.

As any business incubator facility knows, business incubation is a serious commitment. The start-up process for any business idea and entrepreneurial team is time-consuming and advice on managerial, financial and strategic issues will be heavily solicited. It is also a concept that is based on the geographical concentration of start-ups to the same physical location in order to create an inspiring and helpful environment for the founding teams. Furthermore, depending on the academic institution of their affiliation, these incubators are able to specialize in certain technologies thus providing access to in-depth expertise within specific fields and enabling recruitment of key people among alumni or academics.

OVF's social enterprise incubation program is presented as one of six tracks for a service and learning tour program (i.e. the volunteer program that is a partnership between OVF and the NTHU). This in itself raises questions about whether it is a commitment that the OVF takes seriously - provided that the OVF people understand the meaning of the term - or merely rhetoric? On its website, the link provided for further information about this program leads to the webpage of 1village, a consultancy business in Winneba run by OVF's head of Ghana Kafui A. Prebbie. Again, any distinctions between what is in fact the oneVillage Foundation's operations in Ghana and what is actually a consultancy firm with a most similar name run by one of OVF's main people is most confusing.

On another page of the OVF website, business incubation is included as one of the goals of its so-called Taiwan Bike Bike Ghana (TBBG) project:

"Set up a bike rental station in Cape Coast to be managed by the Unity Drum Cultural Group (OVF Social enterprise Incubation Program),  to create employment for some unemployed members and create a income stream to fund the group’s operations"

It is most interesting to learn that OVF equates the provision of business incubation services with creating employment for members of a group of dancers and musicians/griots including its own staff and the close personal friend of OVF's founder, with the aim of providing them with a steady stream of income. This must imply that the group is not able to finance itself by performing. Whyever the financial support from funds raised by OVF to its own people would be called business incubation is very hard to understand, and raises serious doubts as to whether the OVF people are actually aware of the meaning of the numerous concepts that they profess to be implementing on their website.

But even more seriously, it raises the question of who is in fact benefiting from the funds of this charity foundation? We strongly encourage the OVF to submit financial reports and official documentation from its more than ten years of operations that will allow for a transparent evaluation of its activities. This should be done for all geographical areas of operations, including Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Taiwan and the U.S.. We also recommend that the OVF clear its paperwork issues with all relevant authorities in the countries in which it operates.