my take

Two days ago a PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) came down to Anyinasin to help train us. Her name is Katie, and she lives up in the Northern Region I think, and speaks Dagbani. She came to my house for dinner last night, so it was nice to chat with her one-on-one about Peace Corps life and the projects she has participated during her service. She was telling me about a widespread HIV/AIDs testing and education campaign she started with some other volunteers. It was really interesting to listen to. They took a year to test 37 villages and educate the people on HIV/AIDs. I think she said they ended up testing around 4,000 people…maybe more. Everything was voluntary and confidential. Apparently the HIV/AIDs prevalence rate in Ghana is less than 2%, which is pretty good compared to other African countries, but when you move down towards the capital, Accra, the number is a little higher. Listening to her has made me more excited for my service. Training has been stressful because we are all trying to learn a new language in 4 weeks and a lot of information is being thrown at us – it just didn’t seem to be what I thought Peace Corps was, but that comes when we actually start our service.

After dinner last night, the majority of us went to Leahy’s mom’s “spot” (a local bar) for some “American Time.” Once a week or so a bunch of us will gather like this and just talk, in English, and distress. It helps a lot and it’s always a lot of fun. We have some pretty funny people in our group, so we are always entertained. Apparently there is a Ghanaian alcohol called Apeteshie (not sure how to spell it) but it is pretty much like moonshine or firewater. Katie thought we all needed to taste it at least once while in Ghana so she bought everyone a little taste of it. I could smell it from my seat when she sat it down in front me. Imagine really strong smelling tequila. I can’t imagine myself drinking too much of that. It has a nice burn as it goes down!

Today we have some more census training – we have been learning how to take a census and how to ask questions regarding certain topics etc. After that, this afternoon we are driving up to Kuku (Kukurantumi) for our drumming and dancing lesson. We have to learn an African dance for our swearing-in ceremony on April 19^th. All the PCTs dance in front of our trainers and host families and I’m sure it will be quite embarrassing, but entertaining for the Ghanaians. My brother was telling me that I get to pick some material (fabric) and my mom will make me a dress and then matching outfits for the rest of my family for the ceremony. Most families do that for the ceremony so we can tell who belongs to whom and so they can show their support. It’s pretty cute.