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.

OVF responds: "We are merely delinquent!" OVF 回應:「我們僅僅只是拖欠！」

Last week a letter was submitted to us by way of one of our readers from Jeff Buderer of oneVillage Foundation, wishing to respond to the statements made on this website that the OVF is not legally registered in California.

上個禮拜我們收到一封信，它是從 One Village Foundation  的 Jeff Buderer 寄出的。這封信想要回應我們網站之前陳述過的一件事:OVF並沒有在美國加州合法註冊。     

We have decided to publish this official document issued by the District Attorney's office in California on this website in accordance with OVF's wishes, as we welcome any clarifying information regarding the OVF's failure to meet the standards adhered to by any serious NGO engaging in charity.
我們已經決定在網站上公佈，這份由加州檢察官辦公室發出的公文。同時，也歡迎提供任何有助於澄清OVF沒有達到「慈善募款性質」非政府組織(NGO, Non-Government-Organization)應有標準的資訊

The letter dated March 16th, 2011 advises the OVF that its license to operate as a charitable trust will be suspended or revoked on April 16th, 2011 based on several violations, including (1) the failure to file the registration renewal fee (years 2004, 2006-2009), and (2) the failure to file IRS form reports as required by a charitable trust (years 2004, 2006-2009).
這封日期為2011年3月16日的信，提醒OVF合法授權來執行公益信託的 執照，即將在2011年4月16日被暫停或撤銷。這基於好幾項違規，包括(1) 2004年、2006年到2009年，沒有繳交續期費用；(2) 沒有繳交公益信託所必備的IRS form report(IRS 是Internal Revenue Service, 見http://www.irs.gov/ )。    

1. For five years, the OVF has failed to submit the reporting form that is required by every public benefit organization in order to renew their registration with the Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts;
http://ag.ca.gov/charities/forms/charitable/rrf1_form.pdf
OVF有五年之久沒交報告，而這份報告是所有公益團體向檢察官辦公室延長合 法註冊所必需的。   

2. The right to the status of charitable trust is based on OVF being able to show that its operations qualify to such a status according to one of the following three forms;

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990ez.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990pf.pdf

OVF做為合法慈善信託團體的權益，乃是基於以下三張表格所填寫的資料。   

As the letter further specifies;

"The above violations are not exhaustive and are limited to the information currently available to our office."

Appeals can be made before April 16th, 2011.
這封信上也寫了;

"以下 違規部份並非基於全面而徹底的資訊，而受限於本辦公室目前所得之資訊"  

2011年4月16日前可以申訴。 

Failing to fulfill one's legal obligations with the DA's registry for charitable trusts for at least five of its years of operation does not indicate that the OVF takes its charitable commitment nor US regulations very seriously. Whether the OVF will in fact appeal the revocation of its license and what grounds there are to justify these delinquencies in an appeal remain to be seen.
5年沒有盡到慈善信託機構對檢察官辦公室的法定義務，OVF不像很重視美國 法規。OVF是否會申訴，以及申訴的理由，仍待觀察。    

See below to read the letter in its entirety: 
以下聯結可以讀整封信。   

Scandal within Aid: OVF Jukwa Farm Coop is Private Property!

Despite having no agricultural background and having originally been founded to answer the needs arising from AIDS affliction, the oneVillage Foundation now prides itself with its "agricultural achievements" in a small farming community in Ghana called Jukwa. The program, entitled the Jukwa Farmers Coop, is supposedly providing "a livelihood for local farmers using the land sustainably" and the OVF claims to be teaching the local farmers how to promote their crops as organic and how to comply with the requirements for organic certification. It is a program that the OVF wishes to expand to other communities "in the oneVillage Foundation network". However, as of today, its only achievement is the farm located in Jukwa.

According to the OVF, the Jukwa Farmers Coop project has been in implementation for several years, leading to the establishment of a palm oil processing facility, which (according to the NTHU students visiting in 2008) was to 90% subsidized by the Ghana government providing funds by way of the OVF to promote the economic development of what the authorities believe to be a farming cooperative.

But is the Jukwa Farm really a cooperative, jointly owned by a number of local farmers in the community?

Known for its crafts, Jukwa is a small community neighboring the Kakum National Park in Southern Ghana.


Since 2008, when OVF founder Joy Tang was named "Development Mother" in this community due to her personal connections with the royal family of the Denkyira Kingdom, the OVF has been bringing students from the NTHU in Taiwan as part of the volunteer service partnership to visit the "Jukwa Farm Site" (as the farm is referred to in pictures posted on the Internet).

"Farmer Mus" presenting the palm oil press to the students from NTHU which is financed by the Ghana government

Once at the farming site, the NTHU students are introduced to "Farmer Mus" and "Farmer Stephen" alledgely of the cooperative. These two men are in fact not farmers at all but are in reality  OVF staff from Winneba posing as Jukwa farmers (to read more, see Farmer Mus & the OVF Farming Bluff). The students are later also introduced to Agnes Ampong, a personal friend of Ms Joy Tang, who is running a non-registered "orphanage" that OVF is endorsing, whilst working full time at the Kakum National Park (to read more, see the orphanage story).

For three years in a row, NTHU students have been taken to the same site in Jukwa which is introduced to them as a local farmers' cooperative. It is here that OVF prides itself on having established a local palm oil factory, which they are now seeking to launch through fair trade and other venues.

Another picture from the students' visit with the Prebbie brothers at the Jukwa farming site

What the students are not told however is that the land on which all OVF's "charity" investments are taking place is actually the private property owned by OVF head of Ghana Kafui Prebbie and his older brother Godfred Prebbie. In fact, the Jukwa Farm Site - referred to as a farming cooperative - is therefore referred to occasionally as "Kafui's Farm Home" on informal flickr pictures (see example above). Kafui's brother Godfred Prebbie has a long background with the oneVillage Foundation in his previous positions as accountant as well as ecology and agricultural coordinator for the OVF. The latter role raises serious concerns as to what private affairs have been dealt with in this position and why public funds raised from the Ghana government in OVF's name have been used for investment on the private property of the Prebbie brothers, which their family describes as "a very huge acreage of land for commercial farming" belonging to the brothers.

However, until now, the question of why a government-sponsored investment for the benefit of struggling farmers in a small community in Ghana would end up on the private property of an affluent family working with consultancy, teaching at the university and claiming to be engaged in charity work does not seem to have been raised!

In want of any questions, the OVF shamelessly present their "accomplishments" at this large, privately-owned commercial farm posing as a farmers' cooperative (below referred to as the Srowie Mixed Farmers Cooperative Society), whilst soliciting more funds based on the deception;

"The Srowie Mixed Farmers’ Cooperative Society (SMFCS) Project is one of the initiatives under the Ecology Pillar of the oneVillage Initiative of the oneVillage Foundation. It specifically focuses on a bottom-up grassroots approach for helping locals to support themselves. This idea led to the materialization of a farmer’s cooperative known as the Srowie Mixed Farmers Cooperative Society in Jukwa near Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. The SMFCS received support from the oneVillage Foundation in the USA in 2005 to support its application to the Government of Ghana for a 20,000 US Dollar grant. Consequently, the cooperative was awarded the grant and have since benefited from a series of capacity building sessions and palm oil processing equipment for the collective growth of members. The grant has generated a series of mixed or blend of processes and activities that have been outlined in the following sessions.

...The enormous economic, social, financial and ecological benefits to be derived from the implementation of this project in the life of the project beneficiaries – Jukwa farmers, cannot be underestimated. The grant administrators therefore included capacity building and managerial skills training for a selected number of the farmers. 

...Additional Funding Needed: We still need funding to complete the project. This includes completing the building, installing the hardware and paying for staff and fuel to operate the facility. If you can help please email us at info@onevillagefoundation.org"
Progress Report on Srowie Mixed Farmers Cooperative in Jukwa-Cape Coast, Ghana

As for the NTHU students, who have little time at the site and who are under the constant supervision of OVF staff, they are being instructed by OVF's founder Joy Tang as part of the "Ecotour and Service Learning" program to write reports about the project that are then published on the web, thereby authenticating a fraud in which they initially have no part:

"Zoe and Peter of NTHU were among village children in Jukwa, Ghana, a farming community. oneVillage Foundation Ghana has set up a farming project with the rural farmers co-ops with the goal of yielding healthy production of the palm oil and bi-products as well as increasing its marketing and sales through ICT as the investigation direction."
OVF EcoTour & Learning for NTHU Volunteers, Summer 2008


"After Kakum forest journey this morning, we were heading to palm oil processing factory continually. 2 days ago we had visited Jukwa farmers' farms of palm tree, corns, oranges and vegetables. Today, we were going to realize their processing steps of palm oil.
Ghana farmers have organized a co-up to promote their palm oils. In 2005, they had set up a new automation factory which was subsidized 90% by the government. But it doesn't start using yet till now."
http://ghanaeco.blogspot.com/2008/08/080806-farmers.html

"In Taiwan, we have explored and planned to post a complete project to Kiva site to help the Jukwa farming problems. With the effort the OVF, Ghana and Joy Tang, and many people including 2008 NTHU volunteers team, we have a very good contact and communication with the local farming. We collected the data we need and discovered the problems of the rural village. It is the process of trust-building between farmers in Jukwa and us. On the other hand, we happened to attend the maker-faire Africa in Accra, the capital of Ghana. We also believe it is a process of innovation dissemination which maker-faire has always been challenged. So I proposed the documentary of Jukwa farming and palm oil production to make the world know the Jukwa story and to raise the attention of these issues."
http://iyouth.youthhub.tw/iblog/main.jsp?act=view&id=ghanaeco&did=BDC000001940&month=200908

Furthermore, what is just as worrisome is the fact that the students are also asked to send in applications for more funding:

The students of 2009 made a proposal for the Jukwa Farm Coop... Mentioned in slide 3: http://www.slideshare.net/jefbuder/nthu-students-ecotou09-ppt

How can it be that the OVF is allowed to continue such fraudulent practices, not only deceiving its volunteers but also making them accomplices in a larger deception of the general public, by relying on prestigious institutions in Taiwan such as the NTHU, and by using public funds provided by the Ghana government? We strongly urge the Ghana authorities to open an investigation of all activities in Ghana revolving around the oneVillage Foundation and its network, including Ghanian nationals Kafui A. Prebbie and Godfred Prebbie.

Farmer Mus and the OVF Farming Bluff

According to the oneVillage Foundation (OVF), the Jukwa Farmers Coop in Ghana is a successful farming cooperative established, run and promoted by the OVF. Its only online reference to this co-op, however, is from the onevillage wiki, which is run by the OVF itself.

According to this wiki, the Jukwa Farmers Coop was founded in 2004 based on the vision of a "a thriving market in Africa to produce healthy food sustainably". Also refered to as the Srowi Mixed Farmers Cooperative Society (SMFCS) in Jukwa, the goals of the co-op were "providing a livelihood for local farmers", to expand to other communities (!) and to teach villagers and farmers "how to market traditionally-produced crops as organic". This is a project that the OVF has been raising funds for, as stated on its blog:

Additional Funding Needed: We still need funding to complete the project. This includes completing the building, installing the hardware and paying for staff and fuel to operate the facility. If you can help please email us at info@onevillagefoundation.org
http://blog.onevillage.tv/?p=1437 (September 2009)

Throughout OVF's numerous websites, there is a lot of talk about the impact that OVF is having on the Ghana agricultural society, but nothing specific. These facts do not seem to disturb the OVF in any way, who, glorify their impact amongst local farmers in the following terms:

The enormous economic, social, financial and ecological benefits to be derived from the implementation of this project in the life of the project beneficiaries – Jukwa farmers, cannot be underestimated. Progress Report on Srowie Mixed Farmers Cooperative in Jukwa-Cape Coast, Ghana

During the 2009 Service and Learning Program, the 10 visiting university students from the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) were taken to Jukwa to visit the OVF's farming activities and to interview the people at the site. As part of their assignment given by the OVF, the students' reports and findings were compiled into a short video entitled Jukwa rural farming. In the video, the students refer to the OVF agricultural interest in Jukwa as a "model of social innovation and enterprise incubation". Having observed the "farming work", the students write about their experience:

"It is a story from Taiwan to Ghana... It is also a story from the urban to the rural village... We lived in the Jukwa. In the beginning, we visited the palm oils factory, to know how to make palm oils."
Jukwa rural farming

Although the topic is farming, the students are taken to a palm oil factory site, where they are introduced to a local farmer, whom they get to know as "Farmer Mus". The NTHU student in charge of the interview asks this Ghana farmer what he thinks about the "brain drain", to which Farmer Mus replies that:

"Sometimes they don't want to enter the farm... they don't want to face the problem again... That's why some of the youth don't want to enter the farm. It's very nice as a youth, even you are educated, you have to enter farm - because farming work is the backbone of every countries. As a youth, if you don't enter it, we are grown-up, we shall go, ...even practice it, who is going to feed you they need to enter farming work."
Farmer Mus, Jukwa rural farming

In another summary, one of the students shared his impression in meeting with farmer Mus and another Ghana farmer named Stephen:

"In the process, I know the two local farmers, Mus and Stephen. They were really nice and kind. I am in charge of the Jwuka farming, so I had the chance the interact with them. I love them. They smelled just like the earth. That was the taste of living with the earth, embracing the deep life energy."
http://www.slideshare.net/joytang/nthu-international-volunteers-for-onevillage-ecotour-service-and-learning-program-2009-summary-report

From the documentary and the student's reaction, one would assume that "Farmer Mus" must be an authentic farmer living an ordinary life working the land in a small community Southern Ghana, but what story doesn't tell is that "Farmer Mus" - whose real name is Mustapha Adjepong - is a very active member of the oneVillage Foundation crew and figures in a number of different roles on web pages associated with the OVF's work in Ghana.

"Farmer Mus": part of the OVF crew in Winneba, Ghana

On the picture above taken outside the OVF's so-called Winnebar Open Digital Village (WODIV), Mustafa "Farmer Mus" Adjepong can be seen wearing an OVF t-shirt, standing between OVF country director Kafui Prebbie and OVF founder Joy Tang together with the rest of OVF staff in a group photo with the NTHU 2009 students.  

Farmer Mus: a part of Denkyira family

What the story also fails to tell is that Mustafa "Farmer Mus" Adjepong, who creatively told the students about the challenges of being a local farmer in a small community in Ghana, is also connected to the royal family of Denkyira - with whom OVF's founder Joy Tang shares several years of personal connections. 

OVF founder Joy Tang and "farmer Mus" attending a wedding

One can only assume that he is either a member of the royal family himself or part of its close entourage. 

"Farmer Mus" OVF founder Joy Tang at a Denkyira ceremony

Mustafa "Farmer Mus" Adjepong's multiple involvement in promoting OVF's agricultural profile earned him an official thank you note by the OVF crew:

Moose, a farmer from Jukwa warmly hosted NTHU students during their visit in Jukwa, a rural village in Ghana where oneVillage Foundation setup a rural farming co-ops project. Moose also is a tailor by trade and well-respected opinion leader in his community. He is a role model as a team player and selfless services. Thanks, Moose!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2913044922/in/photostream/

In an interview made by friend and fellow blogger Ulrike Reinhard during the latter's visit to Jukwa in the late summer of 2010, OVF's agricultural project and its cooperation with farmers Mus [called Moss in the video] and Stevenson are introduced.

"Joy Tang, a "true believer" in the internet for the good and founder of oneVillageFoundation on how ICT can help farmers. One of her projects on farming in Ghana is located in Jukwa, Ghana. At the end she is interviewing two of the Jukwa farmers: Moss and Stevenson."
Joy Tang on how ICT can help farmers, produced and directed by Ulrike Reinhard

Joy Tang presenting "Farmer Mus" for the camera

In this video, Joy Tang presents Farmer Mus as “one of the dear farmers in our group in the coop, his name is Mustapha.” Why would the OVF and its founder Joy Tang disguise one of its own co-workers, elsewhere referred to also as a secretary for OVF activities, as a farmer in Jukwa? The need to mislead the public in having OVF people pose as farmers in order to present the agricultural work of the OVF to the volunteer team from NTHU as well as to the broader public raises serious doubts as to whether the OVF in fact has ever engaged in any serious work with real-life farmers in Ghana at all? And why would one claim accomplishments in farming, when the professed purposes of the OVF are firstly people affected by AIDS and secondly the concern with connecting people to the Internet?

Left: OVF worker Mus pretending to be a farmer Right: OVF founder Joy Tang bringing the students to the "farm"

The OVF needs to come clean with these explicit deceptions of students entrusted to them as volunteers by prestigious universities such as the NTHU, as well as the greater public. There are real problems and real farmers in Africa and elsewhere which can be properly addressed by people who are actually motivated by helping them, rather than by making a name for themselves in the international community and soliciting funds based on falsehoods. Africa and all struggling farmers in the world certainly deserve better.

Joy Tang, Stephen & Mus brings the NTHU students to visit the Denkyira King

To see more of "Farmer Mus" and "farmer Stephen", see the following links:

OVF worker Mus brings the students to the palm oil production site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2880375385/
Mus the Tailor with a newly made dress for OVF founder Joy Tang: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2977177758/
Mus the Tailor and OVF founder Joy Tang discussing fabric: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2977174438/in/photostream/
OVF worker Mus accompanies the NTHU students to see the chief of Jukwa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2912277267/
OVF worker Mus with OVF founder Joy Tang and OVF worker Stephen at the beach http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2977200038/
OVF worker Mus at the beach http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2976328739/in/photostream/
Mus & with the students at a restaurant: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2922625231/
The Mus Family with the NTHU students http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2922625223/in/photostream/

Mus with members of the Royal family of Denkyira and OVF founder Joy Tang http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2977791535/in/set-72157608420084610/
Mus with members of the Royal family of Denkyira and OVF founder Joy Tang http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2977794299/in/set-72157608420084610/ 
Farmer Stephen with Joy Tang http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2976307975/in/photostream/

Farmer Stephen and Joy Tang http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2976303557/in/photostream/
OVF worker Stephen, Mus the Tailor and OVF Founder Joy Tang http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2976324279/in/photostream/
OVF worker Stephen and OVF founder Joy Tang at the beach http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2976326879/in/photostream/
Stephen the artist http://www.flickr.com/photos/1village/2958744822/in/set-72157608201069668/

Learning what and when to applaud: Students socialized by OVF through volunteer programs

In previous posts, serious concerns have been raised regarding the partnership between the Tsing Hua university (the NTHU) in Taiwan and the Joy Tang/oneVillage Foundation for a volunteer program for the university students to Ghana.

The NTHU is not the only university leaving part of its organized volunteer services for students in the hands of Joy Tang and the oneVillage Foundation. Also the Leavitt School of Business at the Santa Clara University lists the oneVillage Foundation as a partner for its Global Fellowship Program, and OVF's application for 2011 can be found online here. (However, to this day it would seem that only one volunteer from this university has visited OVF, accompanying OVF representative in the U.S. Jeffrey Buderer on a visit to Taipei in the fall of 2009.)

As any organization working with interns or volunteers would know, taking care of people with very little experience in a particular field can be both challenging and time-consuming. The upside is of course the potential benefits that can be gained through low-cost assistance and especially of future positive ambassadors for one's organization at the end of the term. It is a commitment that few organizations would enter into without a clear purpose for what they want out of the exchange.

The question then is what motivates the OVF to take such an interest in students? In a conversation with fellow blogger Ulrike Reinhard over Skype, OVF's founder Joy Tang explains her concern with the Taiwanese students who have been received yearly by the OVF people in Ghana since 2008:

"My own experience with working with Taiwanese young people. Just in a very short period of time, less than two full years, this collective learning, the consciousness or ... space of learning for them has really expanded. From the very beginning, they would ask a question like: "Are they barbaric?" This kind of shocking language, almost to your face you want to cry for them! But you cannot really punch them in their face! And how, where is this from, where is this coming from? Is it from media, is it from your parents? Is it from your school? Is it from your peers? You ask them; in their very sincere way I think they will listen with their hearts. And then provide methods, guide them, walk with them, coach them, going through this process of investigation. So that before you even deliver this bundle of treasures ... to another group of people you know that they have already prepared themselves in the best of themselves. And they are trying to do that, I think whatever they pretend is to be applauded. And I think that is what we need to give to our young people - all over, everywhere!"

http://www.catboant.com/category/conversations/joy-tang/ (Can we learn to applaud each other? Conversation between Joy Tang and Ulrike Reinhard, Dec. 22nd 2009; 30:45-32:30)

Through the partnership with OVF, universities submit their students to the guidance of Joy Tang and her team of OVF people who present these young people with very limited experience of the international community and no prior knowledge of Africa to sites and people approved and selected by the OVF. The OVF will introduce their visitors to representatives of the real people they claim to be helping, who instead turn out to be OVF staff in disguise or personal friends. The result is such blatant "mishaps" as the report on the Stoughton Home Orphanage, where the students were fed the story of how this came to be but had no frame of reference of their own that would allow them to question whether wild elephants are in fact to be found trampling around the fields in Ghana...

Another word for what Joy Tang and the OVF are doing with the students is making them undergo a process of socialization - though the OVF terminology for this would be undergoing a transformation with the aim of freeing oneself from what the OVF considers is standing in the way of effective learning and development. Socialization is a process by which individuals learn to conform to the norms and roles that are required for integration into a particular community and network, based both on adhering to certain explicit rules but also on striving to meet the perceived expectations of the group in question. Though some degree of socialization is always to be expected and also desired, to the OVF this is more than the natural process of learning to function in a new environment. As Joy Tang explains in her interview, this is an objective in itself of the volunteer program: "And then provide methods, guide them, walk with them, coach them, going through this process of investigation. So that before you even deliver this bundle of treasures ... to another group of people you know that they have already prepared themselves in the best of themselves." In other words, by providing the methods, guidance, a continuous presence ("walking with the") and coaching, the students are made to see the OVF version of the world and how it should be interpreted.

When such a process explicitly targets people who lack the tools of critically understanding what they are experiencing because they are introduced to an environment far away from their own, then it comes dangerously close to brainwashing.

In her conversation with Ulrike Reinhard, Joy Tang brings up the issue of learning to applaud each other, of expressing and showing gratitude for the contribution of others. Though the idea of applauding as if working towards a better world would be best described as some kind of performance seems quite out of place, it is most worrying when put in the context of the kind of socialization bordering on brainwashing that is practiced by the OVF. Then it has to do with taking away the tools that people are naturally endowed with for thinking for themselves and making up their own minds about something by discouraging questions and dissident opinions, and creating a contained environment of people loyal to OVF with whom to interact.

Teaching what and when to applaud is a most useful way to disguise a fraud and make others see what you want them to see. It only takes one simple question, though, to come free of the illusion: why? True learning can only come from understanding the purpose.

Does the Bertelsmann Foundation condone international fraud?

In February 2010, OVF's founder Joy Tang joined the blogging team at the then newly created Future Challenges internet-platform that was established and is moderated by a team of people from the Bertelsmann Foundation, including economist Ole Wintermann. This platform provides a virtual space where subscribing members are able to suggest ideas as well as share the opinions of a handpicked group of bloggers with diverse background expressing their views on various topics, all under the somewhat lofty heading of "global megatrends". The discussion is moderated by the Bertelsmann team, and introductory video clips have been made of each Future Challenges blogger by fellow blogger Ulrike Reinhard. According to the futurechallenges.org website, its mission is:

"...to foster the dialogue between experts and non-experts. Our aim is to empower people and institutions to discuss future challenges. For the very first time in the history of mankind we truly have the chance to understand our future as a common global one and to shape it by using the power of networks and the wide range of online collaboration tools." http://futurechallenges.org/web/guest/about

Behind the idea of an enclosed virtual space for circulating ideas that are related to the opinions of futurechallenges-endorsed experts lies the underlying belief that such dynamics will enable the addressing of "world urgent issues" in a focused and time-efficient manner. In other words, it is an arena that seeks to steer creativity in a certain direction, depending on the agenda of its opionion-makers and that of its moderating team.

The Bertelsmann Foudation is a foundation that was established in order to further the social commitment of its founder and long-time leader of the Bertelsmann media corporation Reinhard Mohn (who passed away in October 2009). As part of the generation born in the 1920s, Reinhard Mohn strongly valued the right of individuals to an education and focused particularly on providing access to meaningful educational opportunities. Today, the Bertelsmann Foundation defines itself as a think tank and a catalyst for social change, striving to implement a commitment credited to its founder: "We are committed to "helpfully improving the way things are"." http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-C5DA762E-2E208DE0/bst_engl/hs.xsl/2085.htm

Priding itself on being an actor with strong integrity that is pointing the way to the future, the Bertelsmann Foundation professes also bold aspirations of clearing the ground of any obstacles that might come in the way of such social improvements;

"The Bertelsmann Stiftung is independent and nonpartisan. We design, launch and run our own projects. As a learning organization, we aspire to excellence. As an independent force for reform, we aim to break down barriers that stand in the way of social progress." http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-C5DA762E-2E208DE0/bst_engl/hs.xsl/2086.htm

Does this mean that Bertelsmann values truthfulness and objectivity in what it advocates for, realising that the responsibility that comes with actively partaking in shaping the future may at times be both costly and inconvenient?

In her introductory interview for futurechallenges.org, OVF founder Joy Tang applauds the Bertelsmann Foundation's initiative. In what looks more like an informal rehearsal, OVF's founder is found practising the five key words that will best describe her to the forum; including Africa, drummer or drumming, ICT4D, NICs and ecoliving. All of these interviews follow a concise format with the ambition of making people summarize their interests and what they are looking to achieve in a few chosen words. It seems that the futurechallenges platform allows space for the circulation of many a big word, but no real time for (critical) reflection.

"The second question besides money why would I want to get involved with FutureChallenges? I responded to the ad that I would do it anyway, without money. (...) I think it's exciting that Bertelsmann Foundation is sponsoring and working with us on this one, because I think that the social networking perspective, coming together, the convergent views of the world and linking that with so-called organizational view, I think that is one of the challenges, one of the missing links in the world, and I think it needs to be actively connected, and actively dialogued. In between the organizations that we have seen around us and also the emerging social networks of the social networking system." Joy Tang of OVF in introductory video for futurechallenges.org, February 2010

Though much can be said about what it means to be shaping the future by propagating convergent views of the world and under the illusion of real reflection, the endorsement of OVF founder's blogging activites by Bertelsmann raises much more serious questions about what kind of activities they condone and what motives are driving the ideas they seek to promote:

1. What is Bertelsmann's position on the oneVillage Foundation and its so-called charity activities?

2. What guidelines are applied in the selection process of the official bloggers of futurechallenges.org?

3. How does Bertelsmann ensure that its values of integrity and of "helpfully improving the way things are" are maintained within a forum consisting of actors belonging to the same network? And in particular, when many of the official bloggers are personal friends and acquaintances of the people running and moderating the platform?

4. Is Bertelsmann concerned at all with the information that has surfaced indicating that the oneVillage Foundation headed by futurechallenges blogger Joy Tang is in fact a case of international fraud?

5. Does Bertelsmann through its trendsetting organ futurechallenges.org seek to legitimize the kind of fraudulent practices that are implemented by such NGOs who are taking advantage of funding opportunities of the international community in order to indulge in activities that seek to benefit their own network, such as the OVF?

All of the above questions raises serious doubt as to whether the Bertelsmann Foundation through its trendsetting organ futurechallenges.org that is especially targeting the new generation does indeed take its commitment of "helpfully improving the way things are" seriously. Or if this is merely a soft disguise for other motives behind its agenda to foster the future of society which remain undisclosed.

The future will tell?

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.