Weather

Since arriving here in Ghana one of the topics on our minds the most has been the weather.  Even though we left the US during a pleasantly warm Wisconsin May, the almost-permanent heat and humidity in the south of Ghana was debilitatingly intense.  I don’t think the temperature ever dropped below 70F throughout training.  It would usually start out in the upper 70’s at dawn and ratchet up into the 90’s by about four or five in the afternoon, when the sun started to make its hasty retreat toward the horizon (on the equator the period of “twilight” is shorter).  So, if you are getting up at 6am to take advantage of the cooler time of day (and if you are serious about getting sleep), that means you are going to bed between 9 and 10pm, when it is just a shade cooler than the hottest time of the day.  In a word, it is miserable.  I have adapted by using the warm-weather clothing I stocked up on before leaving the US: nylon khaki pants, thin cotton polos, poly performance shirts. I could count on my fingers the number of days I have worn close-toed shoes here.  Why no shorts?  Well, teachers are encouraged to look professional, as appearance counts for quite a bit (most days my counterpart wears pants and a long-sleeve dress shirt, and dress shoes).  Here in northern Volta we are outside the “southern sauna,” but relief is fleeting.  Kpassa is on the border between forest and savanna.  Just ten miles to the south you will see tall trees blanketing the slopes of the Togolese mountains.  Around here the mountains are a bluish mirage on the horizon, and trees are only sparsely scattered across the land.  Even in the wet season, which just ended in November, the humidity is generally lower than in the south.  The sun, though, feels more intense, maybe because there is less moisture in the atmosphere through which to penetrate.  On a completely clear day, it is like you were shoved into an oven.  By mid-day, the few people that don’t have work to do (read: men) are sitting under mango trees, waiting for the sun to take a more bearable angle.  On school days I have at least two fifteen minute sessions with the sun on my bike ride to and from.  Market days take an extra dose of gumption, as the ride is 30 minutes one way (I skipped market yesterday for lack of gumption).  In the states I loved biking, for the exercise and the pleasant feeling of air rushing past my face.  Here I loath it, mainly because the air that rushes past doesn’t rush at all, but feels like hot, sticky, tasteless jello.  After a heavy rain there is some relief, as the sun’s work of burning the earth has been doused by water.  Some evenings, when I bathed I could see steam coming off my arms and chest, a combination of the lower temperature and high humidity.  How much lower?  Still solidly in the 70’s.

Now that the rains have stopped the new meteorological feature is a phenomenon called “harmattan.”  I think it will make me wish for the heat and humidity to return.  Supposedly it is much cooler at night, though I’m not sure what that means (60’s maybe?  Ghanaians don’t have thermometers and their definition of cold is anything below 80).  In the day it is still scorching, though the lack of humidity provides some relief.  Oh, and there is dust.  Winds come down from the Sahel (maybe even the Sahara?) and blow dust across the land until everything is a shade of ruddy earth.  The grasses dry up quickly, and people here like to catch bush meat by burning large swaths of bush and wait for the animals to escape fire only to be trapped or shot (sounds fair, right?), and the fires get stoked by wind and get out of control quickly.  They can burn for months until the rains come again.  Even at the beginning of the season, I have seen my share of plumes on the horizon, and the horizon itself is hazier even than in the cloud-heavy wet season.

After harmattan, in February and March, they tell me it gets hot.  How hot?  Well, hotter than any other season.  I personally don’t think it’s possible that it could get any hotter.  The only thing you can do, apparently, is drink plenty of water (Gatorade, even) and sleep outside (the heat is too unbearable to sleep inside).  So I have made hammock anchors for the courtyard wall for when the time comes.

Finally, in June, the rains come again to cool things down a bit, and the cycle repeats.  At least in a normal year.  I have already heard of anomalies to these seasons, the most stark one being that the wet season lasted at least a full month longer than expected.  Will it compensate for this with a wet season that starts one month later?  I have heard weather in West Africa can vary significantly from the norm.  On top of that, if I ask five people about the seasons I will usually get five different answers.  So I guess I’ll just find out when it happens. That last realization is especially tough for me, being that I was addicted to weather and forecasting (I checked the temperature and radar ten times a day). I will probably seem strange when I come back to the states because when someone asks me about the weather I will probably just look up and guess at what will happen next.

For those already affected...

And for those already affected by HIV/AIDS, i.e. infected, here's an article from Doctors Without Borders with some bad news regarding treatment of HIV in developing areas of the world (i.e. those areas in which people cannot afford the $10,000 a year cost for antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), not to mention the millions of dollars (billions?) to find a cure for HIV).

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=4887&cat=press-release

World AIDS Day

How did you celebrate World AIDS Day?

I decided that instead of teaching mathematics to my students I would instead talk about and have an informal question and answer session on HIV and AIDS.  I was pleasantly surprised with their knowledge of the disease; they were able to identify the three major ways it is transmitted, how it affects the body (one student answered “it takes away your body’s ‘soldiers’” – he was speaking of antibodies), and how to prevent transmission.  However, they were overly fascinated with transmission by blood (i.e. blood to blood contact), and asked a million questions about it.  Everything from, “If I use sandals that an infected person has used if they have a wound on their toe” to “if a barber is cutting hair with a razor blade and accidentally cuts your scalp.”  I had to keep reminding them that only a small fraction of people get HIV this way, and that the majority get it from unprotected sex.  I also asked how they would treat a person they knew was infected with HIV, and their answers were terrifying.  One told me he would kill the infected person, so that they could not spread the disease further.  Another said he would try to convince the person to commit suicide, for the same reason.  A more compassionate student said they would encourage the person to seek help from the hospital to get the ARV medicines so they can live better.  In general they were afraid of the thought of being around someone with HIV.  I suggested that because it is so hard to know if a person has HIV, and there are so many activities you can do with that person and not be at risk of getting HIV, why not just treat them normally, as you would any other person?  I also emphasized that because the only way to know if you have HIV is to get tested, they should be proud of getting a test done, instead of embarrassed.  HIV is increasingly more prevalent in Ghana by the day, so why not brag that you have been tested and you’re negative?  And for the girls, I told them to not believe a man when he says he is negative but “lost the test results.”  No results, no sex.  The boys laughed at this, but I think the girls for a moment saw their opportunity to assert themselves and control their destiny (which doesn’t happen often in this culture).

So the question stands: what have you done for World AIDS Day today?  Now I know you could go out and buy a new Project Red iPod, and that would fund AIDS relief…somehow (I’m not sure about the details).  You could even give money more directly to aid organizations working on AIDS relief and prevention of HIV.  Honestly the most important thing I think you can do is educate.  Otherwise HIV will continue to spread like wildfire.  In the states everybody knows about AIDS and HIV.  Here, I would venture a guess that people get it before they have even heard about it. Not all get it because they are promiscuous.  Some even thought they were being smart and asked their partner, but were lied to; still others simply don’t know how to use a condom properly.  If everyone were equipped with this knowledge, HIV wouldn’t stand a chance.

On Coartem: 24 pills in 3 days

From the WHO website, “Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells.” Common symptoms include fever, headache, and vomiting. Additional symptoms may include muscle aches and fatigue. I was easy to diagnose as I displayed all of the typical and moderately typical symptoms. Also, I had taken my malaria prophylaxis 2 days late. Why did I forget? Well, unfortunately one of the side effects of the malaria prophylaxis is forgetfulness… go figure. The symptoms usually appear about 2 weeks following the bite of a mosquito. Again from the WHO, “If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.” My symptoms started Monday the 8^th of November in the evening. By 0130 early Tuesday morning I was pretty certain I had malaria. I called the PC physician to describe my symptoms and was diagnosed in less than 4 minutes. I prepared slides with some of my blood to have examined at a later date in a lab, and then took my first 4 pills of Coartem. “Coartem is a highly effective and well-tolerated malaria treatment, providing cure rates of up to 97%, even in areas of multi-drug resistance.” (Wikipedia)

I had a fever up to 103.4 at its max. The fever stayed around 101.4 for 3 days against my attempts to control it with Tylenol and ibuprofen. Aside from that I was quite nauseous and developed a viral infection. I have learned that it is normal to develop viral infections while having malaria. Malaria suppresses your immune system so you’re more susceptible to additional illness. My throat is still sore and tonsils are still enlarged, but visibly improving. I’m no longer nauseous, but am back to having no appetite. The lack of appetite is likely from the malaria prophylaxis; I hope to get on something else soon.

So, day one of malaria was supposed to be a girl’s night J. I didn’t feel that malaria could stop that, so I had 2 PCVs that live near me over for the night. Kris was gone at PCV training for the week, so I felt like I needed some company. We cooked a minestrone soup and ate pineapple and salsa on tortillas! We also walked a bit around the community. I probably exerted myself a little too much, so decided to make it a one-day affair. The next 2 days I spent in bed, trying to stay hydrated and resting in between villagers stopping by to make sure I was still okay. Their concern was appreciated. I’ve now finished the treatment and am just waiting to feel better. I no longer have a fever (yay!) but feel as though it may take awhile until I feel back to 100%.

Lesson learned? Yes. Malaria is not something I’d like to try again. Luckily for me I had access to the best medication within seconds of diagnosis. I already sleep under an insecticidal treated mosquito net, don’t go outside once it’s dark and I wear long sleeves and pants as much as possible. I’m lucky, I really am.

“In 2008, there were 247 million cases of malaria and nearly one million deaths –

the majority (85%) were in children under five years of age. In Africa a child dies

every 45 seconds of Malaria, the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood

deaths. An African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria

fever each year.” (WHO)

I guess this is one of the reasons I am here. There isn’t a malaria vaccine, but there are many ways to prevent malaria. I know at some point in my time spent here I will educate about mosquito nets. Their use alone has shown to decrease mortality by 20%! I will also educate about what causes malaria. Many people in my village have told me that malaria comes from working in the sun. In addition I will educate about the signs and symptoms of malaria. If more children took medication soon after displaying the symptoms of malaria they would be fine, just like me.

I know a lot of people were praying for me this week (thank you). I won’t give all of the credit of my feeling better to the Coartem, I know that the prayers played a large role. Kris comes back from training tomorrow evening. I know he wishes he would have been able to be home with me this week, but I managed all right. He’s brining back a lot of packages from home that have been sitting in Accra for far too long. I miss you all but am realizing more and more that I am needed here, so look forward to another 21 months of updates from Ghana!

Hanging out in bed, the backdrop is my lovely avocado green mosquito net!

Just another day...

What to do on day ~61 at site? I’m taking a stay-cation, which here translates as shutting the main door and all the windows as to appear not here. I’ll be inside drying and making powder out of thousands of moringa leaves and watching Mission Impossible one, two, and three. It is now 3 days later, I’ve watched MI1 and am sad to report that most of my moringa leaves managed to mold. Deep breath. It will grow again (and soon).

Yesterday I traveled to the district capital, Nkwanta, which is only about 30km from our village of Jumbo. I woke up, saw Kris off to school, ate some breakfast and went outside to pick our bunny, Luna, some grass. I was already mostly dressed and ready to begin my journey to Nkwanta, so I was casually dressed in Jeans and a nicer t-shirt. I walked passed the borehole and greeted the small girls pumping and fetching water. I found a nice spot of healthy looking wide grass (Luna’s favorite) and began pulling. Not 3 minutes into the process I felt a sharp pain on the inside of my right foot. Mostly normal, there are a million things here that bite… mosquitoes, flies, bees, other flying insects and oh yeah, ants. I carelessly had stepped directly onto the path of some driver ants. I don’t particularly like ants. I also don’t fear them, like I do spiders, but one step in the path of some driver ants is enough to give you nightmares. They can sting, but they don’t have to because they’d rather rely on their powerful cutting jaws. Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia, “Such is the strength of the ant's jaws, in East Africa they are used as natural, emergency sutures. Various East African indigenous tribal peoples, e.g. Maasai moran), when they suffer a gash in the bush, will use the soldiers to stitch the wound, by getting the ants to bite on both sides of the gash, then breaking off the body. This seal can hold for days at a time, and if necessary, the procedure repeated - allowing sufficient time for natural healing to commence.” So I was being attacked by natural, emergency sutures; too bad I wasn’t injured. I think the girls at the borehole already knew the English S swearword, but maybe hadn’t heard it used quite so many times by a white lady hopping around with tall grass in one hand and the other hand trying to pull up her pant legs to swat at something (maybe that’s why they don’t wear pants here?). It didn’t take them long to realize my predicament, so they came over to assist me. I was now surrounded by ants and six Ghanaian girls pulling at my pants and slapping my legs and feet. Eventually I had to make a run for it; the ants were too fast, and my jeans were too confining for me to catch the ones making their way above my knees. I made it into the house and depantsed myself. Luckily there were only about ten of them left at this point, mandible deep into my legs. Some of the others had been confused by the blue jean material and decided to sink into that instead.

I wrapped a two-yard of cloth around my waist and chucked my jeans outside. Someone came to greet me at that moment (typical). The person’s uncle had died (kinda puts getting bit by ants in perspective). He had come to see how my health was, and to let me know that there would be a funeral for the next few days. I gave him my condolences and told him I would try to attend the funeral. I managed to leave the house shortly after, finally starting my journey to Nkwanta. I waited to hitch a ride on a vehicle for a few hours, hoping to get lucky. It was not to be. I then walked to the police checkpoint, where one of the officers was very kind and rode his moto to the station, bought a ticket, and told the lorry driver to save a seat for me. Soon I was on the road, and finally arrived in Nkwanta around 12:30pm. 30km in 1.5 hours… did I mention our roads are really, really bad? I went to the market and bought some things I can’t get in Kpassa (cabbage, carrots, cucumber, honey bread and wheat bread). It started to rain, which is normal for this time of year and seemingly typical for when I have to walk a significant distance. I was about 1.5 miles into my walk when it really started pouring, so I took refuge under someone’s roof overhang. The residents noticed me and told me to come in out of the rain, they gave up their only un-broken chair for me to sit (this is known as the white person treatment – I experience it often).

After sitting for about 40 minutes I decided the rain was just going to have its way and get me wet. I was already about an hour late from I had informed the District Health Team I would arrive. I finally arrived, moderately soaked, but welcomed warmly. My business was to discuss progress in preparing a main building and nurse’s residence for a small clinic in Jumbo. I had been recently promised funding from the District Assembly (general funding pool not specific to health, agriculture, etc.), so I had some good news to share.

After the meeting I walked the 2 miles back to the lorry station, bought the last ticket on the lorry back to Kpassa and took my seat… in the back row wedged between two Ghanaians on one side and two on the other. By no means do average Ghanaians travel in luxury. Personal space is foreign, as is common sense like leaving the last seat in the very back of the vehicle, which to access requires that an entire aisle of people in “jump seats” get up and exit, let you in, then file back in. Luckily for me I was sharing this coveted back seat with a student from the University of Ghana, in Accra. He is from Kpassa, and is going for his degree in Psychology. So, in-between being launched by craters the driver was not taking care to avoid, we discussed Sigmund Freud, Piaget and Miller. It was one of those pleasant, “I never thought I’d be…” moments. I can’t recall a more enjoyable trip from Kpasa to Nkwanta.

The student’s story was impressive. This 20-something-year-old’s parents are farmers. They have 11 children. All of them have gone or are going to at least secondary school (high school), with many going on to teaching college or even university. Unheard of! I had found the exception to the norm here (at least in my neck of the woods): illiterate farmers keeping their kids illiterate by having them help at farm. We discussed the problems Ghana has and that we thought education would help the most with those problems. He told me that even for a poor farming family it was possible to send all of their children to school, they just had to make it a priority. Even though (per typical) I arrived back in Jumbo bruised at the knees and migraine fogged, I felt refreshed. Sometimes when you’re working in development your efforts can seem futile. Progress is slow if you can see any at all, and desperate situations somehow manage to get even worse. Meeting a young person from my greater community who is pursuing higher education in Ghana is a breath of fresh air. I had been given enough motivation to keep trying, even if at times it seems as though I’m beating my head against a wall. Somehow I will help the people in my village understand that it has the resources it needs to succeed. Maybe those resources should be in a classroom instead of fetching water and assisting some careless foreigner who stepped in the path of some driver ants.

The latest

My day planner tells me September is over. I’m not sure I believe it, but when I accessed the internet (which is never wrong), it agrees. It feels like it was August only days ago. But I have at least one hypothesis for explaining this seeming contradiction. For one, the weather is not changing. Back home in Wisconsin, the weather is turning cooler, the leaves are turning, and there is football. Here, the heat remains, the rains come almost every day (average of 0.5 to 1 inch per day), and our garden here is in its juvenile stage (cucumber blossoms, sweet corn thigh-high, tomato and green beans knee-high). There are no cool evenings where we have to think about how cold it is and whether to throw on a sweater or (gasp!) turn on the heat just a little.

Another reason that September flew by is due to “waiting” for school to start through most of the month. There is a nationwide census in Ghana right now, and out of the various government service sectors the education service chose the short straw, and so teachers are the ones that have to conduct the census. But wait, what about school and teaching classes? Turns out actual education is fairly low on the priority list. So at my school, a junior high, we were supposed to start September 13th. But they delayed one week and one day to September 21st so that teachers could attend a workshop to learn how to do the census, which will take place during the next two weeks or so (I’ve gotten as many answers as the number of times I’ve asked this question). September 21st is a government holiday, so we finally started on the 22nd. The first two days there were no classes, just weeding and sweeping the school grounds (with minimal supervision from teachers, due to the ongoing census). On Friday Sept 24th, I taught my first class. The other math teacher is MIA because he was in a minor motorcycle accident (he’s ok, just needs to rest and keep his road rash clean so it doesn’t get infected), so while I only prepared a lesson plan for Form 1 (7th grade), I had to teach Form 2 and Form 3 on the fly. It was the same story this week – two to four teachers attending, with students getting only two classes a day, (compared to five or six). I was looking forward to the school term as a good source of structure for my daily life here, but I’ve been having to create my own amongst the chaos. So while I was dealing with these recent events, September has escaped.

As for the earlier portion of September, we have kept ourselves busy by becoming full-time chefs. For any of you that are worried that we are not eating well, behold Figure 1 through Figure 4:

Bean burgers with fresh tomato slice, lettuce, HEINZ KETCHUP, and mayonnaise (with a side of seasoned yam fries)

Close-up of bean burger (seasoned with Weber burger seasoning – thanks Mom & Dad!)

Chicken thigh and leg (from rooster gifted by a chief and freshly butchered by yours truly), with tomato sauce and mashed yam (both made by Tricia)

Tuna and avocado pie (courtesy of Tricia), with biscuit topping

Additional dishes we have made include spaghetti sauce from scratch (with corned beef added), guacamole and homemade tortilla chips, potato salad (made with yam instead), peanut sauce over yam, chicken and rice soup and various other hodgepodge sauces served with noodles, rice or yam.  

We’ve also  made some desserts, including cornbread, banana crisp, and M&M cookie bars.  And for afternoon refreshment we have made plenty of limeaid (lime trees are everywhere).

We have discovered some unlikely sources for some of the foods we have been craving since arriving in Ghana.  One of these is meat.  Meat is butchered and sold much differently here.  Where you go depends on what type of meat you want.  There are “cold stores” (small shops with a chest refrigerator) in town that sell chicken and fish (mostly smoked, not fresh), albeit for a steep price (out of reach for most Ghanaians in this area except on special occasions).  You can also get plenty of smoked fish in the market (fear not - they don’t charge extra for the diseases left by flies).  Though we have heard about it, we have not yet found a source for fresh fish. Stay tuned.  Or, if you are welcomed into the community like we were, by being given two live roosters, you can butcher chicken yourself.  This can be the more sanitary option, as you know how it has been butchered and that the carcass hasn’t been sitting outside for hours.  For goat meat, the easiest source is your neighbor, when they are butchering one.  It’s not very sanitary…but we don’t really like goat meat anyway.  There is also some bush meat (grass cutter, rabbit, etc.), but it is being depleted rapidly, and some of the hunting methods are wasteful (i.e. burning bush to force animals out and then shoot them), so we won’t be eating any of it.  In fact, we will probably do a rabbit project where we sell babies from our rabbit and teach people to raise domestic rabbits.  We have also seen domestic turkeys and pigs running around our village – we hope to get more information on that (turkey for Thanksgiving???). Then there’s beef.  There is plenty of it in northern Volta, but you don’t go to the cold store to get it.  You instead go directly to a butcher shop.  Keep in mind that none of said butcher shops are protected from flies.  Sometimes they even take a hock and hang it outside so that people know the butcher has it.  So not sanitary at all.  Did I mention I have bought beef once so far from a butcher?  The trick is to go there very early in the morning, just as they are doing the slaughtering.  Then you point to an area on the carcass where you want meat from.  In my case I pointed to the tenderloin/sirloin area (couldn’t tell which).  The way I found out the price was by saying I wanted 4 cedi of meat, and then later finding out that I was given about 2 pounds.  So the price isn’t bad.  I don’t think they butcher the cows until they are old (read: chewy), so the best thing to do with the meat is grind it.  Unfortunately the meat grinder I bought is missing some pieces, so I’m going back to the store in Hohoe to hopefully get them.  So instead I cubed the beef and sautéed it, and combined it with brown gravy and mashed yam.  It was delicious.

Another exciting source is for milk.  Yes, that’s right, milk.  Fresh from the source – so fresh, in fact, it’s still warm from being inside the cow’s udder.  There is a tribe of nomadic people in the area called the Fulani that have a settlement nearby.  Apparently the previous volunteer at our site had been buying milk from them, because one day they stopped by with a warm bowl of milk.  We could tell they were different, from the elaborate and beautiful clothing and facial tattoos, and from the fact that they did not speak a lick of English, Twi, Konkomba, or any other language we knew.  They are apparently originally from Nigeria and have migrated here with their bovine in search of better land (i.e. land where rain falls more consistently).  So through hand gestures and other non-verbal, we were able to negotiate a price for 5 cups of milk.  Since then they have been delivering milk about twice a week.  We do pasteurize it, just to make sure it is safe.  It’s an amazing feeling to drink a cold glass of milk in the hot afternoon, or even spread a bit of real butter (not the 2-year shelf-life margarine) on some bread (shake a cup of milk in a jar for 20 minutes and you’ve got about one tablespoon).  One fascinating aspect of the Fulanis is their appearance.  Literally straight out of a National Geographic magazine.  We hope to get some decent pictures soon, because attempting to put it into words is more than I am capable of.

And, just in case we don’t cover all of the essential nutrients, we are taking a multi-vitamin every day. Tricia’s taking a calcium supplement; no need for the combo calcium + vitamin D, there’s sun to be had.

One more shout out to fall, and those enjoying it; we miss it terribly. But we may not miss what follows fall nearly as much.

Fat guy in a little coat - the Ghanaian version

Ok, this will be a brief post, but I just have to share this story.  I biked into Kpasa this afternoon to buy some things from the "evening market" which sets up every day except Sunday and includes the basics (produce, grains, etc.).  After I had bought everything on the list, I stopped by another, smaller market at the bottom of the hill, also known as the "yam market," just to check it out (you never know when you might see an avocado...even though I haven't found one in Kpasa yet).  I was walking my bike through the market fairly briskly (I had hot dinner - "chop" - in the basket so I knew not to dawdle) when a man I had just passed by exclaimed, "White man...in the yam market."  Like most Ghanaians that call out to me using terms like "white man, fada, obroni," I ignored him.  But I immediately thought of the movie Tommy Boy, and the "fat guy in a little coat" scene.  The Ghanaian even said it slowly, almost melodically, like in the film.  So I thought to myself, "I guess this is the Ghanaian version."  I had to chuckle.

On the subject of Ghanaians yelling at me as I walk/bike/ride by (this is a blog post in and of itself, but I'll let it tag along), in Kpasa it is starting to change.  When you are white in Ghana, it is like you are a light and Ghanaians are moths.  But unlike moths, they are not quiet.  I'm not sure what it is, but they feel compelled to say something.  Anything.  In any language.  Usually English, but not always relevant.  For example, in Kpasa this afternoon I heard, "obroni" about 8 times, mostly from children (they haven't learned concepts such as politeness and sensitivity just yet...).  I also hear, "white man" a lot, in case I can't do the translation from Twi to English myself.  Or, in Likpakpaln, the local dialect of Konkomba, their word for white man is "fada."  Why "fada?"  Because the first white people to be seen by Konkomba were missionaries.  Not that they think I'm a missionary, it's just that they don't have a word in their language to distinguish "Peace Corps Volunteer" from "pastor." So when I took the LPI (language test) during training, I had to say, "N ye PCV la" - that's "I am a PCV."  In addition, sometimes they are quick-tongued enough to blurt out something else.  I have heard, "white man, where are you going?" many times when traveling on tro-tros.  Not that I have time to respond with the speed of the vehicle.  Seriously, sometimes I can hear the Doppler effect in their voice as I pass by.  Sometimes I ponder, "what will they do even if I do tell them where I am going?"  That's why I think it is less calculating and more compulsion.  They just have to say something.

I should say that in Kpasa this behavior is slowly changing.  More and more, as I introduce myself, and as rumor spreads, people are addressing me as "teacher" and "Kofi," and are saying more welcoming things like "you are welcome here."  Even one student that remembered me from my brief site visit in July approached me on the main road and declared that he would come over to my house the next day to formally introduce himself.  The children are still incessant in their catcalls, "obroni" or "fada," repeatedly, even after I acknowledge them.  But the adults are starting to recognize me as part of their community (plus some even tell the kids to stop bothering me).  I am trying to keep my responses subdued - there's no sense in getting upset about it or yelling back, or even acknowledging it.  Plus, for some reason it is really easy for me to ignore.  Especially in the market, when I am on a mission to find avocado, good tomatoes, or fresh wagashi (cheese made by the Fulani nomads that is fried in oil - not the same as cheese curds, but still good!).  It's not even derogatory, "obroni" or "fada;" it's only a word they use to describe me, because they do not know me.  Soon it will be "Kofi" or "teacher," though with the kids it will remain incessant and might make me wish I could go back to being called "obroni/fada" to feel more anonymous. 

Ok, not so short a blog post, but I thought it would be useful to describe this aspect of Ghana and my corner here in northern Volta.  It is true that here I am no longer anonymous - I cannot blend in and be a local.  But over the next two years I will be getting close, if only in my community.  And because integration is hardest at the beginning and gets easier each day, I am confident that it won't be a major problem for me.

Better'er Homes and Gardens

Painting the rooms! (bedroom) ----------(living room)

Moringa Trees --------------Zucchini


"Knee High" :) ------------Super Protected Green Beans!

The house is coming along, we now have lights in the bedroom which will make putting in my contacts a breeze in the mornings when it’s not quite light out. Two of the three rooms are fully re-painted, including some spiffy white ceilings. We have some patching up to do from the electrical work that was completed yesterday; turns out most of the wall will crumble if you try to puncture a small hole through it. Hopefully when the carpenter and mason come to fix the crumbling front door, the mason will have some extra concrete and a big heart to help us patch up a few spots, either in the walls or the floors. We have a dining room table now that almost fits our chairs under it, the dimensions are off by about 1/8” so, we have to squeeze the plastic chair arms together to wedge it under the table and out of the way (we’re hoping the carpenter will be kind and shave a little off with his plane when he comes by to assist with the door). The kitchen has been left mostly untouched, but will soon succumb to the same burnt peach walls and white ceiling that we’ve painted the other rooms. We’re just trying to figure out patch a large gap between the kitchen ceiling and one wall. Once it’s all sealed, the painting can commence. We’re also planning on having two closet things made (to house clothing) which will go in the bedroom, as well as a couple of nightstands, a coffee table, and a couch to finish up the living room. I also think we’ll add another large bookshelf or two (though I think Peace Corps should pay for this because all of the books on the shelves will be Peace Corps books). All of these additional furniture items may take some time to acquire, but soon we’ll be set up for visitors J. We’ve also purchased enough linoleum/carpet to put in the bedroom over the concrete floors, so soon I’ll have very fake, but real looking wood floors! Kris reversed the latrine door hinges last week, so now the door swings out rather than in, and I have a little more room to… adjust myself. The door still needs some mending though, to make it up to my health watsan standards (light floods the latrine even with the door closed, so flies can unfortunately find their way in and out, though we’ve been really lucky so far with very few flies). The bathing room door fell or shall I say rotted off its hinges the other day, so now that’s just propped open with a rock. You can’t quite see the person bathing from the courtyard wall, so it still maintains a decent level of privacy. Our 65 gallon rain barrel was looking bleak yesterday. Luckily we received yet another round of torrential rain last night. The rain came in such a fashion that it came in through the not quite sealed windows to the southish end of our home. At least now we now know precisely the lowest area of each uneven room. Kris will probably try to fix those leaky windows too.

Kris has been testing out his green thumb with fervor. So far he’s replanted some green beans and more sweet corn in addition to the initial planting when we got here in late August. He’s devised some sort of chicken proofing over the beans, I’m sure we’ll get plenty of Ghanaian interest and commentary related to the newest strange thing we’ve done. Everything with exception of some of the herbs I’ve planted and cantaloupe and watermelon has made a showing through the rocky dirt. The sweet corn is about knee high, and it’s been in the ground 20 days! Amazing! My zucchini is probably doing about second best, and I love zucchini; I hope it bears fruit for us! Sometime soon I will need to prune back the moringa trees and dry the leaves to make into all sorts of useful stuff. I will write a blog entry on moringa once I’m more knowledgeable on the subject. If you’re really curious, here’s some good websites to peruse:

http://www.moringa.com/

http://www.treesforlife.org/our-work/our-initiatives/moringa

Until next time… Miss you all, love you too!

Here's a link to some additional photos!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031757&id=185900425&l=51b8678127

Go Badgers! ("watching" on ESPNs Gamecast)

Shoutout to Mom!

What’s new? Kris starts school tomorrow or Tuesday, I hope he finds out which soon, so he’s making some last minute adjustments to the garden, i.e. adding more sweet corn and making the hills hillier. I just got off the phone with my parents, seems as though everything back home is going well. It’s nice to find out what your missing out on back home, but also bittersweet. I didn’t share with my mom my almost meltdown the other day while trying baking here for the first time. We found a pretty good toaster oven for a decent price in Ho Hoe on our last trip so we brought it home with us. I was going to make M&M cookies while Kris biked into Kpasa to get some things at the market. I decided since the oven was so small and I didn’t have a proper baking sheet that I instead would make M&M cookie bars. I had most of the ingredients, M&Ms sent by mom (thanks!) except for vanilla. Not to worry, Ill figure that out later, so I set out mixing the cookie ingredients. Then I remembered that there’s probably some sort of temperature and length of cooking conversion I should be doing since I was making bars and not cookies. Never fear I thought, I can just call Mom and ask what a good substitute for vanilla is and what changes I should make to my temperature and cooking time to make them turn out perfect. Then it hit me, I’m in Ghana, not nearly in the same time zone or a nice and easy free call away from my cooking/baking consult of choice. I was pretty sad about it, luckily Kris was still getting his bike ready and his shoulder was readily available to shed a few homesick tears on. Then I consulted the Internet; turns out that really strong black tea can make an okay substitute (though some snob on the website commented that there really isn’t a substitute for real vanilla, thanks) and I still managed to burn the outsides of the bars while having a very doughy center. Best cookies in Ghana yet… well, besides the ones our moms have mailed us. Anyone who tells you they don’t miss home, or wake up from a dream thinking they’re at their home in their bed (one that’s actually comfortable), is lying. Sorry to all of you empathetic Moms reading this, and especially sorry Mom for probably making you cry and miss me all the more. We miss home and some days are better than others, but we’re also really enjoying this experience and opportunity to share some knowledge and skills with the people of Ghana.

Better Homes and Gardens :)

Here are some picture updates of how the house and garden is coming along and how we're managing to not go hungry. It's amazing how quickly one can become an efficient cook when under the pressures of... well, if I don't do it, we'll starve :) Seriously though, we've been enjoying making our house a home to us, and are looking forward to the 2 years to come! Kris starts school Monday, so I'll start planning out my next few months at site. I've also included the link to pictures of our cat, Sanja, he's keeping us busy as well. That's all for now, we'll post a more substantial post soon, but for now enjoy the pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031757&id=185900425&l=51b8678127

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031771&id=185900425&l=d0aab91280

I win

So I’m going to preemptively call myself the first Ghana 2010-2012 PCV to have successfully germinated seeds that I have planted once I got to site (last week). I have not yet done research to substantiate this claim, it is true. But if anyone out there can prove they have had plants poke out of the ground before today, August 24, 2010, I will relinquish my claim. Now, for my own proof; see pics below:

Radishes...or weeds growing exactly where I planted radishes...I'll be able to confirm soon.

Sweet corn!

Green beans!

Moving "Home"

We’re beginning to get settled here in Jumbo. Kris is rapidly placing putty in the cracks between the walls and ceiling (as I type in fact). We’re hoping this will reduce the amount of bat guano and lord knows that else that falls to the concrete floors each minute of the day and night. Once the ceiling is sealed we plan to paint it white and the walls some soft colors… this may be tricky as I’m not sure how well the paint will stick to the concrete walls. Next will be adding carpet (not what you think) to cover the floors. Carpet in Ghana is more like thick plastic reminiscent of linoleum in the states. With the carpet in place hopefully there will be even less dirt that just happens on a day to day basis due to the concrete floor being chipped in numerous locations of high traffic. We also hope to put similar “carpet” on all of our cooking and eating surfaces to enhance cleaning ability. We’re also planning on adding some shelves in the kitchen and some sort of closets in the bedroom. Kris is pretty handy, and Kwame (a 15-year-old boy from the village) seems eager to help, hopefully I can stay out of the way :).

A storm has just started to roll its way through our village, I took some video and pictures, click the link to see. This afternoon we’ll plant some of the seeds that we brought/were sent in the garden. It’s a perfect time to plant after some rain. I’ll let you know if sweet corn grows here, I sure hope so. My quick trip to the latrine just now was a smart one, as the skies began to darken. I could hear distant thunder as I was squatting, I’d bet it’s been awhile since you’ve thought to yourself while peeing, “I wonder how much tin this latrine needs to have to be attractive to a bolt of lightning.” I just pondered that very thought. I’ve concluded that my latrine, though small, does have enough tin on it’s roof to encourage a lightning strike, I’ll keep out of there during a storm. Our bathing area is open to the skies, and it gets dark here around 1900 (7pm), so my last few baths have been in mostly darkness accompanied by candlelight and stars. It’s pretty surreal, last night I was privileged to listen to Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One” while poring cups full of borehole water over my head. Most Ghanaians like Shania Twain; all Ghanaians love Celine Dion. Any taxi driver is sure to have a tape full of Celine Deion to blare in your ears while astutely navigating craters in the road. The thunderstorm has ended; our barrel of water, 2 large buckets and our dishwashing bowel are full of water, thanks rain! So much for my 3 trips to the borehole yesterday to fetch water. A band of children just ran by, energized by the refreshing rain. The last child in line had a naked 2-year-old (all but 3 strands of light blue waist beads) balanced carefully on her shoulders :).

I’m getting better at killing spiders, but they still scare me into near hyperventilation. Yesterday as I was sweeping (with my new BROOM complete with handle) I thought I saw a large white marble roll across the uneven floor. It kept “rolling” until it hit my dirt pile, where it re-righted itself and started walking on it’s 8 legs to the corner of the room. The new broom handle received a pretty decent dent as it fell from my firm grasp to the floor. I ran (already lacking sufficient oxygen) to get my Ghanaian broom (a bunch of shredded palm leaves dried to a thin blade brush consistency then tied together), I closed my eyes and swung, the fat-white-bodied spider was spattered on my Birkenstocks. That spider didn’t realize it had met an arachnophobic spider killer.

Yesterday while Kris worked on the house, I went to Jumbo’s monthly baby weighing. The community health nurse (a 2 year degree) was administering scheduled vaccinations. 2 of Jumbo’s residents are “community health volunteers” they were writing down the weights I was able to gather while the squirming and sometimes screaming 4-day-old infant to 2.5 year-old toddler waited as patiently as possible to be let out of the sling. 233 babies are on the register, 121 passed through my hands yesterday. It’s hard to believe that I saw only half of Jumbo’s registered babies. Every Wednesday in Kpasa (the district capital just 3km from Jumbo, or two hills – down, up, down, and up into town) there is a baby weighing, I plan to attend as much as I am able.

The first 3 months at site we’re not supposed to start any projects or really do too much. We’re supposed instead take time to live in and get comfortable with the community. However, as I weighed and later plotted out some of the weights of the babies, it was hard for me not to act. Instead of plotting out a weight on a graph, the community volunteers just list the date and weight of the child. Unfortunately the graph plotting system is less than intuitive. Even I struggle to fill it in correctly. But when it is done you are left with a very accurate description of how well the baby is growing based on age and weight. The graph has 5 curves mapped out; if a dot (baby’s weight based upon it’s age) is below “0” they should be watched, -1 they’re malnourished, -2 they’re severely malnourished and should be referred to the hospital or nutrition clinic. You can also watch the dots for a trend, upwards or downwards. Many of the children had a full year of monthly weighings not recorded on the graph. When I plotted them out, some fell below -2. According to the community health nurse and community volunteers there is not even a nutrition clinic in the area… I hope to find out this is untrue. If it is true, I have my work cut out for me. I will start small, helping those who document the weights understand how to use and the importance of the graph. There is also a lot that can be done with educating the mothers in Jumbo about nutrition, the previous volunteer worked in this area and I hope to further it.

Kris and Kwame are just finishing up planting in the garden. The power is out from the storm and the fridge is leaking water, there’s nothing in it yet to spoil. The sun is already back out and drying the dishes I have washed and laid out. Tomorrow is market day in Kpasa, I’m really excited to get more food (yes it is the simple things). I have re-named Bunny; she will now be called Luna (Harry Potter reference for those of you HP nerds like me), and am sad to report that Kitty is no longer with us. She passed while Kris and I were away for the past month, she managed to get into our water barrel (which normally has a lid securely in place), but wasn’t able to get out. I will likely find a new kitten to bring home tomorrow. RIP Kitty. I plan to name the new one Sanja; it’s a Konkomba name given to a male child born on the road; aren’t all cats born on the road?

Here are some pictures of swearing in, the house, storm, and garden:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029276&id=185900425&l=1b415bf762

Pictures!

Here's some more of the latest! Included: Baby weighing photos, gifts from a chief and Kofi and Ama go to church :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029114&id=185900425&l=98a7491913

WE PASSED!!!

Just a quick update, we passed the LPI! Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers, they were felt from afar! Today we're in Koforidua for the bead market, seriously an unbelievable sight. I bought far too many (no surprise there), but there were too many to choose from! In one week we'll cross the threshold from PCT to PCV! We're so excited to get started. Another recent purchase: the entire 5 seasons of Lost (for something like $9.00). Neither of us have ever seen an episode, so there's no time like Ghana to start, right? Peace and Love.

Almost PCV

My mosquito bites are killing me today. Okay, maybe not killing, I’m being pretty dramatic. I’ve been taking Benadryl at night to not only to help me not scratch my feet to pieces but also to help me sleep. I long for the day that I’m not itchy. In other news Kris and I are preparing to take our LPI (language proficiency … something) on Wednesday. We had our mock exam today and probably would have passed, but still have some studying to do. Things we’ll talk about in Likpalnpaln/Konkomba: ourselves (introduce yourself), how to get to our site/home in Ghana (directions), daily routine (what we do when we get up), and market vocabulary (what’s in the market). I’m rather impressed with how much I’ve been able to learn in a short ~4 weeks of intensive language training. Our language instructor is very good at what he does and tries very hard to help us do well. I plan on getting a tutor when I move to site to help me become more functional in the language, also to get more instruction in the other language spoken in/around my village (Twi). With any luck when we leave in 2 years we’ll take the exam (LPI) again and achieve a higher and government official status in the language.

We swear in next Thursday, it’s going to be a very exciting day! I’ve become pretty comfortable in this little town. My home-stay mother is great, she cooks our meals and does our dishes so what free time we have can be spent studying or relaxing. She even did a little laundry for me when I got back from technical training, I must have looked pretty dirty because she didn’t ask to wash my clothes she said, “Ama, give me those shirts you were wearing and I will clean them.” I had just washed them, but admittedly did not get them Ghanaian clean. I’m actually looking forward to moving into our own home. We have big plans for the place to spiff it up, and can’t wait to get into the garden. Kris will have about a month off before he starts teaching, so most of the renovations will be taking place the 1^st month. I also need to learn how to cook here; I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

Yesterday Kris and I went into Koforidua (a bigger city) and went shopping! It was their clothing market day, so I got some clothes J 2 pairs of jeans for 12 cedis ($9), and 2 shirts for 2 cedis ($1.50). I bargained pretty hard for the jeans and was able to get them down about 10 cedis from asking price, I love bargaining. Most Ghanaian sellers like a good challenge so we share in the fun.

I hear it’s been pretty hot back home. I actually have no idea how hot it is here; I think not knowing makes it easier. When we arrived it was in the 90s and very humid, I took 3 bucket baths a day to make it through. Vision quest was in the north for me, and it was even hotter though less humid, I had some mild heat exhaustion from that trip. Now it’s probably just as hot as when we came, but it feels much cooler. I can wear jeans and a t-shirt all day and not suffer; I am an anomaly amongst most of my colleagues. It will get hotter, I hear February and March are obscenely hot and that not much work of any kind gets accomplished then, bring it on. I’m probably going to regret that cocky statement.

At any rate, maybe the next time I get a chance to write will be after I've passed the LPI, maybe I'll even be a PCV, no longer a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee)

Stay Cool as best you can! :)

Love you all.

New Photos!!!

Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028887&id=185900425&l=23f1e9b397

780 Births

There’s a good chance I won’t get a free moment for a while, so here’s taking advantage of it. I’m sitting in the “computer room” in Accra at the Peace Corps HQ (headquarters). The room is air-conditioned and I’m a little chilly even in my jeans and t-shirt. I have a free moment because of the wonderful health care that I’m receiving here in Ghana. Last night I had a twingy eye pain and thought it was maybe just some dust/dirt in my contacts. After a night of not sleeping too much due to eye pain I awoke in much more pain. It felt like something was in my eye, but couldn’t see anything with much probing. Eventually I called the PCMO (peace corps medical officer) who wanted me to come to the capital if I couldn’t find the supposed foreign object. I, along with others, could not see/find anything, so down I came, most fortunately with some Peace Corps staff who were already planning a trip down. The PCMO looked in my eye, didn’t see anything so I went to an optometrist. I was driven there and within 5 minutes of entering the office was getting an eye exam. They were as startled as any optometrist I’ve ever been to, to see how badly near-sighted I am. After putting some numbing drops in my eyes and a stain it was obvious that I had a corneal abrasion upon inspection. It looks “okay” to him, but just to be safe I’m staying in Accra at the medical unit overnight. I’ll be taking some eye drops for the next week and all should heal on its own. I’ve probably been a little too careless with my contacts these past few weeks while traveling and living out of bags, so lesson learned. I’ll probably stick to glasses for the rest of training.

It was really good to be back in my home stay community and to see Momma Rose and Kris. We’ve had our favorite meal the last two evenings as well as pineapple, it seems as though we were also missed. Yesterday I painted my toenails, red. It was perhaps the most normal I’ve felt since arriving in Ghana. I had packed away the nail polish and left it at site for when we get there in the middle of August, Kris was nice enough to dig through my stuff and bring it down for me. What a good husband I have.

Yesterday afternoon I was able to work on my PPP (Personal Project Presentation) which included interviewing a local TBA (Traditional Birth Attendant)—Since I’m part of the government I’ve decided to use acronyms as much as they do (this is not actually possible), though I’ll give you the spelled out explanation of what I’m talking about. She’s an 88-year-old woman who in the last 40 years has assisted/birthed 780 babies (she's had 7 infants die/still born and one mother, pretty good stats). So far this month she’s had 10, and I hope I’ll be around for the next one. When I first met her she used the only English she knew to thank me profusely for coming, she was given no warning. She also had a small boy translate to me that she wanted me to stay for 3 months so that I could replace her/learn everything she knows. Upon interviewing her yesterday I learned that she was serious about this proposition, as she has no one to replace her; everyone in her family is scared about the idea. There is no TBA like her in the community… what’s going to happen to all of the babies to come? This lady melts my heart and boggles my mind when I think about all of the lives she’s touched. She’s delivered 3 generations now, grandchildren of babies she’s delivered. She’s extremely religious; the first thing she does for the mother and unborn baby when they enter her humble “clinic” is to pray for them. “I ask God to protect the mother while she brings his creation into the world.” “I ask him to help his child to enter the world safely.” When I was thanking her for sharing her life and work with me for my presentation she stated that the next time I came I should bring a gift (of course I forgot). I told her I would go bring her a mineral right now, so I brought her back her requested Guinness Malta (non-alcoholic), she prayed over it before pouring it and offering to share it with me. I hope to work with similar people in the community I will come to call home for the next 2 years. (the above photo is one I took of Veronica-the TBA)

I just got back from eating pizza in DT Accra with some current PCVs. I’m spending the night in the sick bay in my own bed complete with SHEETS(!!) and mosquito net. The room has electricity and it’s own air conditioner (!!). After I finish this post I’m going to take a HOT (!!) SHOWER (!!) in the sick bay’s private bathroom. Getting a corneal abrasion has more perks than I thought! Just kidding, I won’t be throwing sand into my eyes and rubbing them vigorously anytime soon.

I have a request to ask of those who are reading along. Do you have any questions for me/us? I feel as though there’s a good chance I’m boring you all to tears while you have questions and wonders about something specific that we’re encountering. Please feel free to comment with questions and/or topic suggestions.

Love and miss you all.

Short Break From Technical Training

Hi! I'm so thrilled to update with a post! Usually I'm able to write a post ahead of time, but Kris has the laptop (since I wouldn't be in a laptop safe environment for three weeks), so bear with me. I've been in Gushie (north of Tamale) for the past 2 weeks for "intensive technical training." We've helped construct a pit latrine, mozambique latrine and a soak away pit. I've also been able to help out at a community baby weighing... pictures to come... I've taught an hour lesson to 4th graders about Malaria and a similar length lesson to Mango farmers about HIV/AIDS. Tomorrow I'll be teaching a lesson to Junior High kids about HIV/AIDS. Once back in my home-stay community I'll be teaching a lesson to 6th graders about hand washing. Besides prepping for all of these sessions, we've been having learning sessions ourselves on how to teach and facilitate. Kris got to our site yesterday afternoon, I talked with him briefly and he seems pretty happy with it :) It has 4 rooms and a pretty large outdoor cemented-in area. The bedroom has a bed in it (wow!), the living/sitting area has several tables and a book shelf and the kitchen has 2 tables and a storage area/cabinet. I will post pictures soon so this all makes more sense. Our bathe-room is attached in our outdoor cemented-in area; it's open to the sky with high enough cement wall. We have a cat named kitty (female) and a rabbit (female) named bunny. I welcome more creative name suggestions. I slept outside 1.5 nights of my stay at sight. Night 2 was interrupted by a pretty dramatic rain storm. We have a huge garden including a bunch of Moringa trees (which I will be making into soap and protein rich powder)! To buy anything to eat or cook with I have to walk/bike 3KM into Kpassa. Unfortunately there is a pretty big hill in the middle of this commute and the road is dirt with some gravel and craters mixed throughout. I will have very large calves when I get back :) We have a latrine, very simple I believe it to be a V.I.P. (no, not very important person: ventilated improved pit). It's just a hole, so I'll be getting in some quality squatting time. The main road in the Volta Region is the worst in Ghana. I can even say this around Ghanaians or experienced PCVs without getting contradicted, it truly is.

My health: Had a malaria scare the other day, so I took a rapid test, which was negative. About 30 minutes after taking the test I had my first experience of thinking I was urinating when it was really from another source... you get the picture. So now I'm on Cipro along with at least half of the other WATSAN volunteers who also had fever + diarrhea. We're all feeling much better though now. Prior to getting sick I was trying to tend to those with high fevers (good nurse Tricia), I also made an antibiotic run on which I had my first car accident... well, more goat vs. car accident. The goat did not stand a chance, but unfortunately left the van leaking coolant all over the road. Poor PC vehicle. I sleep in a mosquito net... even in a screened in porch, I just really don't want malaria. My latest issue has been getting a mosquito in the net with me. Try as I might I usually manage to have one sneak in and miss my flashlight beam as I do the sweep... maybe I have poor technique. Nonetheless I am taking mefloquine which kills malaria in my blood so I don't get the symptoms as long as I take it regularly, which I have been doing.

I'm pretty excited to be heading back to home-stay on Sunday, Kris will be getting back around the same time, it'll be nice to see him after 3 weeks! We'll be stopping at a waterfall on our way back... I can't wait. I had the chance to sit on a crocodile the other day and see/hike some beautiful rock formations. Although there aren't many "wild animals" Ghana is truly a beautiful place filled with even more beautiful people. I'm missing Madison right now as summer is in full swing... concerts on the square, farmers market, terrace, but am really enjoying the work I am doing. Most of the people I've been able to talk with have thanked me profusely for sharing my knowledge with them. I'm convinced this is where I need to be right now and I can't wait to swear in and really get to know my community. Miss you all.

Random Update

Ok, can't think of a good title here, so let's call this post "random update." I'm at an internet cafe so I'll take advantage and give an update and a road map for the rest of training.

First off, if you are reading this, go to the comments page and give some feedback! I don't see any comments, and this is a good way for us to get feedback on the blog. Positive or negative, seriously, let us know what you think!

Training is still going well (I probably say that a lot). I feel well-prepared on the basic teaching aspects, but we still have some more to learn with regards to dealing with other teachers in the schools and district education offices, etc. They will also give us basic training on potential secondary projects. While these are not as fundamental to our jobs as teaching, there is great potential to make a positive difference through these secondary projects, so I'm excited for this.

From here to the end of training it will be pretty busy, so Tricia and I may not be able to update as often. Here's a rough road map for you:

Tricia is up north doing technical training - she will be there the next two weeks. She says there is no electricity and no cell reception, much less internet, so it may be hard to reach her by cell phone during this time. But I just talked to her and she's doing fine :) I think they're excited to learn some of the technical aspects of health/watsan; up until now it has been all talk.

This week I am focusing heavy on language training. On Sunday I will be meeting my counterpart (another teacher at my school at site) and doing the "counterpart workshop," during which we will get to know them and vice versa. Then I will travel to my site in Volta with my counterpart and check it out. The next Sunday I will come back to Kukurantumi. Tricia will also come back Saturday/Sunday. Then we will wrap up the last two weeks of training, which include a language test, some presentations, and...some other stuff (can't remember the schedule right now).

Ok, bye!