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As a result of this role play and the discussion that followed, a local mason
volunteered to be trained in the construction of toilet bowls. Cement was donated
by the People’s Educational Association (a private Ghanaian agency). Soon a
profitable local industry was started, making water-sealed bowls for Okorase and
surrounding villages.
In the second role play, a concerned group
of villagers approaches the chief for help in
starting a clinic. But the chief is not interested.
He argues that medical attention is available in
Koforidua, only four miles away.
During this discussion, a messenger bursts
in and throws himself at the chief’s feet. The
chief’s son has just been bitten by a poisonous
snake! Everyone rushes to find a way to get the
boy to the hospital in Koforidua, but before a
vehicle can be located, the boy dies.
In his grief, the chief sees the error of his
ways. He gathers the townspeople together
and begs them to contribute money and labor
to build a clinic so that no other parent will have
to suffer as he has. He also appoints some
villagers to negotiate with the regional medical
officers for drugs and personnel.
As it happened, the real village chief of Okorase had recently lost a very wel liked
relative. This made the role play extra powerful. The people of Okorase determined
to build their own clinic and to collect some money for medicines.
The new clinic was soon built. For the ceremony to celebrate its opening, officials
from the regional government and a foreign agency, as well as newspaper and
television reporters, were invited. On this occasion, the village cultural group put
on another, more carefully planned skit telling the story of a young girl who died of
snakebite because the clinic had no electricity and so could not refrigerate antitoxin.
The skit was presented as a community request to the authorities and development
agencies to introduce electricity into their town. As a result, negotiations are
presently taking place between the village and the Ministry. There is a possibility
that electricity may actually come to Okorase.
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This example from Ghana shows how role plays were used to motivate villagers
to take action to meet their health needs. Finally, role plays {or skits) were even
used to activate the government in the village’s behalf.
The use of more organized role plays or skits in the form of ‘Village Theater’ is
explored in Chapter 27.