Visiting my friend, John Adamnor

In a recent post, I wrote about the very beginning of my journey as a cocoa field researcher in Africa. It was not a promising start, or at least didn't feel like one at the time. But I persevered, and, today, things are very different.

Now, I have years of cocoa field experience behind me. I've met many women and men who farm cocoa, across Africa and especially in Ghana. I have been able to revisit some of them over the years and forge a lasting connection. Only a few, however, have become my true friends. One of them is John Adamnor.

John farms cocoa in Ghana's Eastern region. He was the first person I interviewed for my 'I am a cocoa farmer' series for ConfectioneryNews , back in 2018. Since then, I have visited John many times, and we have worked together on a number of projects in his community.

Recently, I was in Ghana progressing work for African Cocoa Marketplace. As my team and I traveled back to Accra from working in Central and Ashanti regions, we were able to make a half-day stop near Suhum to visit John.

By now, John's farm is a familiar place. It's home to many memories for me, and I have watched it grow and change.

But familiarity is not knowledge, and it certainly brings no sense that I've crossed any finish line. If anything, it's the opposite.

Because I know the basics - where John's farm is, how we get there, where we park the car, certain landmarks as we walk around - I can now begin to understand there are many, many layers that are beyond my awareness, outside the scope of my knowledge.

On this most recent visit, I walked with John and started to discover some of those layers. I'll be sharing what I learned very soon in a new series of posts about our work at ACM.

You are, of course, invited to come along with me. Together we can start to see John's cocoa farm as he himself sees it, and take another step on the long journey of discovery.

Thanks to Benjamin Setor Gbadago for being 'interviewer' behind the camera and James Cofie for continuing #cocoafarm explorations with his usual enthusiasm! #Africa #Ghana #lifelonglearning