Surprises mark U.N. visit

Darla Slipke

A series of unexpected events changed the nature of a trip to the United Nations for one local mushroom farmer and created an outcome greater than she had expected.

It would have been easy for Sandra Williams of Lost Creek Mushrooms in Perkins and Bernard Bempah, founder and director of BemCom in Ghana, to remain invisible at the U.N. Commission for Sustainable Development in New York City. Organizations and delegates from around the world — each with their own problems or solutions involving issues like poverty, hunger and malnutrition — gathered to discuss those issues for a week and a half.

But Williams and Bempah made some noise, using Williams’ can-do attitude and Bempah’s sincere, unflappable character to make their message heard.

Bempah is the founder of BemCom Youth Enterprise and Association, a non-profit organization that trains between 500 and 700 West Africans to grow oyster mushrooms and raise certain small, protein-rich animals each year with hopes that they can use their skills and knowledge to escape poverty.

Bempah came to the United States this summer thanks to the Mushrooms in Ghana Program established by Williams and her husband, Douglass, after a trip to Ghana in 2007. Part of his visit was a trip to the United Nations for the convention.

Williams said they were hoping to ask for money for the Mushrooms in Ghana project, but once they arrived, leaders of the conference told them there wasn’t time or space for them to give a presentation. One leader was later called out of town, however, and he gave Williams and Bempah his spot so they could present.

Williams said she commandeered a table from the hall to set up T-shirts and posters for their cause, and she plastered walls and bathroom stalls with advertisements for their presentation.

At first she was terrified, she said.

“I’m such a small person from such a small part of the world with a small project,” she said.

But she was strengthened along the way by Bempah’s unwavering determination and by camaraderie and support from others they met.

“I surprised myself by how strong and committed I was,” Williams said. “When people said it couldn’t be done and it happened anyway, that was an affirming kind of experience.”

She and Bempah gave their presentation to a group of about 25 people from around the world. Bempah maintained his composure despite frequent interruptions from a group that was trying to take over their presentation room, Williams said.

They were able to meet with the Ghanaian minister of agriculture, and Williams received invitations from other people to visit their countries. She said a number of people approached them about how they could use mushrooms to fight poverty in their own countries.

“Our purpose turned out to be much different than we had thought,” she said. “I felt that we had been lifted into something much bigger than we were, and it was much bigger than our intention. We were actually showing people the way.”