Life is Good

I really love my site. Affere is great. There are about 7,000 people living in town, according to Ambrose. There was a census in 2010 and they are expecting it to report close to 7,000 people, and I can believe it because the town is pretty large.

On Sunday, I went to meet the village chief and elders. The Assembly Man and my counterpart both explained why I was in Affere and what I would be doing for the next two years. You are not allowed to talk directly to the chief so anything that was said had to be “refined” by the linguist. Out of tradition and respect, when you want to talk to the chief you must do it through he linguist. The linguist will then tell the chief what you have said, but he might choose better words and make it sound more refined. We were there for about 20 minutes and in that time the chief gave me a new mother and father in the town. I live with my mother, and she is a wonderful cook, and my father lives about 10 minutes away from me. I think my father is one of the elders, but I’m not sure. The chief also gave me a new name. I am named after one of the Queen Mothers – Akua Nyarko. I prefer my old name from Anyinasin, which is Dokua, but I guess I have to accept Nyarko. Maybe Dokua will catch on.

On Monday, Alisa and I went into Juaboso to meet two other PCVs that live fairly close to us. Their names are Cameron and Sean and both are Health/WATSAN volunteers like us. Cameron is actually from West Linn, Oregon! Weird. I think he was more surprised that I knew where West Linn is! We met them at a spot around 9am and hung out there until around 1030 when my counterpart called me. Apparently Amakye and Ose (Alisa’s CP) wanted to take us around Juaboso to various places like the hospital, district assembly, and police station, and we had no idea this was their intention. It was so hot outside and we didn’t have that much water, so I literally felt like my skin was melting off me. At least water is easy to find around here, but bathrooms are not. So its always a case of dehydrate yourself and you won’t have to pee in the street or drink lots of water and try to find somewhere decent to urinate...the dilemma of a PCV. Finally, after walking around for a couple hours we came back home and Alisa at lunch at my house. My mother gave us fried plantains and beans, also known as red red. It’s sooooooo good but probably pretty fattening, which is probably why it is so good. Then she brought us chilled apple juice in wine glasses. It was pretty nice. We tried to watch television, yes, I have satellite television in my room, but the power went out. I’m not going to lie my house is pretty sweet. I was preparing myself for living in really bad conditions, but my house is like Little America. I think I can handle that for 2 years!

Affere!

Well this morning started off rather early – 3 am early. Today we all departed for our various sites across Ghana. Luckily my site and a few other peoples’ were fairly close to Kumasi so we didn’t have to travel very far. My site, Affere, is about 3 ½ hours from Kumasi. I probably could have arrived in a shorter amount of time but I had bags and they had to be loaded into various vehicles. All but a few of us left Kumasi at 430 this morning. 19 of the PCTs and their respective counterparts, plus all of our bags, were crammed into the PC bus that normally holds about 25 people, so we were tucked in their pretty good. The bus dropped us off at the Metro Mass Transit station around 445am. We unloaded our bags and proceeded to find our respective buses. Alisa and Gayle will be living really close to me (Alisa is about 6km away and Gayle is about 20km away) so we planned on traveling together for most of the trip. Unfortunately, Gayle was really sick this morning so she and her counterpart stayed in Kumasi until she was well enough to travel. So it was just four us: Alisa and I and both our counterparts. We boarded the bus after haggling the price of our bags. We were glad our counterparts were there to help us slash translate everything that was being said. We probably would have been charged more for our bags just for being oburoni but because we were with our counterparts, who are Ghanaian, we probably got a better price.  Our bus took us as far as Sefwi-Wiawso, which is about 30-40 minutes from my town. From Wiawso, we crammed 2 suitcases, 2 travelers’ backpacks, 2 Ghana Gucci’s, 2 backpacks and 4 people into one taxi.  The driver had to tie the trunk closed with an old t-shirt and it didn’t instill much confidence in Alisa or me. We were sure one of our bags would fall out the back, but fortunately none of them. But my Ghana Gucci did rip down the side…thank goodness for Duct Tape! The taxi took us to our district capital, Juaboso, and it’s also our big market town. If we ever need to buy any big-ticket items, like a fridge or new mattress, we would probably go into Juaboso. Juaboso’s market day is Thursday, which works out nicely because in Affere and in Alisa’s village Thursday is a taboo day so no one works. 

In Juaboso Alisa and I split up, and she headed off to her town with her counterpart. Ambrose, one of the men living in my compound actually came to Juaboso to meet us. Ambrose is the accountant for the district Water and Sanitation Committee located in Juaboso, so I will be collaborating with him a lot during my time here. It was a really short drive from Juaboso to Affere – probably about 5 minutes down a dirt road. The road out of Juaboso forks and one path takes to you Affere and the other takes you to Cote d’Ivoire. It’s about 3km from Affere to Juaboso so I will probably be riding my bike there once I get one. I better have a basket!

When we reached the edge of town, the taxi stopped and my counterpart and I got out. I saw there was a band standing on the side of the road and as soon as I stepped out of the car they started playing. You can guess what happened next…my counterpart made me walk in front of the band and they paraded me through town for about 10 minutes. On the way I met the Assembly Man and a couple other of the village elders. Walking through town was like trawling for children. Pretty soon I had a swarm of children dancing and walking around me. Currently in Ghana there is a dance that is pretty popular…the Azonto…and they were all doing that as they walked alongside me. It made me homesick for my family in Anyinasin! All my brothers and sisters and friends always do the Azonto in Anyinasin. Even my 4-year-old brother, Richard, and he’s pretty good. Maybe I’ll be able to do it after 2 years here, though I doubt it, I am oburoni after all.

The band followed me all the way to my house, which is just off the main road about a minutes walk. We sat around in the courtyard/garden area and I greeted everyone that I will be living with. There are 2 couples and their children. They all speak English pretty well so that will be helpful until I can speak Twi better.

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…my living conditions…I have 2 rooms facing the courtyard/garden and they have a connecting door on the inside, which is really nice. Both rooms are considerably bigger than my room in Anyinasin. I have a full sized bed, which is awesome. My bed in Anyinasin was a twin, so now I can sprawl out. The walls are painted neon green…or Duck green as I will start calling them. One room will be my living/dining room and possibly kitchen. I have a desk with some drawers and 2 plastic chairs in there. I have windows on both sides, both fully screened so I’m protected from those darn mosquitoes). My bedroom has my bed, shocker I know and another plastic chair and 2 windows on the back wall. Now the best parts…I have a ceiling light in both rooms and even better…a ceiling fan in both rooms. It makes Anyinasin look like prison! I even get fully reception in my room, which I didn’t in Anyinasin. I also have an outlet in each room. I’m so glad I had mentally prepared myself to have no electricity and a small room, so when I saw I had all this it was like Christmas morning in Africa. I’ve had the fan on since I got here this morning and the electricity went out twice already and I realized how much I’m going to love these fans! But the good news isn’t finished yet. On one side of my rooms is the bathhouse and on the other is my toilet. My bathhouse has a light and is fully tiled…and it’s actually a shower. Yup, I have a shower head on the wall, so that is pretty sweet. Am I in Africa? I do have a bucket in my room so I’m hoping that is just to collect water for other purposes and that my bath is actually a shower…fingers crossed for this evening when I find out. My toilet is actually a latrine, but it’s clean and does not smell like poop. The floor is tiled and toilet is actually porcelain toilet with a seat but it drops down into a hole, so it’s still technically a latrine but a pretty nice one at that! I’ll take it. And there is also a t-roll holder. In Ghana t-roll=toilet paper. The best part about the toilet is that there is that tree shaped air freshener you find in America…but the tree is the American flag. I guess it’s supposed to smell like America? I’ll think of America every time I poop.

So its 323pm and I’ve been here since about 1030. My family gave me some Jolof rice and chicken for lunch and then they brought me some fresh pineapple. They also brought me a tray of deliciousness. I have a carton of apple juice, a bottle of water, and some sort of wonderful cake. Am I doing Peace Corps? I forget. One of my mothers just came into my room with a tray of ice-cold pure water (pure water is water that comes in plastic baggies…it has been filtered purified so it’s ok to buy it off the street…there are all kinds of different brands…one bag is between 5 and 10 pesewas). She told me not to drink my bottled water because it was warm and she would go put it in the FRIDGE for me. Cold water?! Snap out of it!

The only bad thing about my room is that I have hook centered above my bed for my mosquito net but I don’t have a hook in the middle of my net. This isn’t even a real problem! My mosquito net has hooks on the corners…it’s shaped like a box so you can hook it on multiple walls instead of just hanging it from the middle. I got creative though and sewed a piece of yarn to the middle of my net and hung it up that way.

When I move back here permanently (for PC not my life, don’t worry parents), I’m going to get some shelves and bookcases made for me room so I have somewhere to put my clothes and 8 million books PC gave me.

I think this evening I am going to meet the chief and the village elders. I think I am also doing it again tomorrow. My counterpart will introduce me and explain why I am here and what I will be doing for the next two years. Every PCV has to do this when they come to their village. If you don’t you will probably have problems getting anything done and no one will like you. It just a sign of respect and it’s also a really fun cultural experience. I’ll probably wear one of my Ghanaian dresses…maybe score some brownie points.

That’s all for now folks. I’m going to watch some Modern Family and enjoy this fan blowing on me!

Mek⊃bra (prounounced maykwaba). It means you’re coming and going…you say it when you leave and plan to return. 

Wild Wild West

So after our LPIs on Monday, on Tuesday we all traveled up to Kumasi, the regional capital of the Ashanti Region. We came up here to find out our sites and to meet our counterparts and do some training with them.

After 6 weeks of waiting to find out our sites, the day had finally arrived. PC didn’t let us find out until 11am on Wednesday, of course, so PC of them – always making you wait.

A couple of people already knew what regions they would be going to because only their language is spoken in that region. So 10 people out of 23 already knew what region they would be going to. All the Twi speakers still had no idea. Ernest, one of the PC drivers, drew a very large map of Ghana on the cement at our training facility here in Kumasi. The trainers labeled each region accordingly and then started placing dots to represent the villages of where we would be going. No one is going to the Ashanti Region, Brong-Ahafo Region, or Greater Accra. The breakdown is as follows…Upper West: 3, Upper East: 2, Northern: 3, Volta: 2, Eastern: 1, Central: 3, and Western: 9….DRUM ROLL.

I’M GOING TO WESTERN REGION. I am SUPER excited about my site. I haven’t heard one thing that makes me nervous! Here are my site and project details thus far…

Region: Western

Site: Affere

District: Juaboso

Partner Organization or Agency: Johns Hopkins University/Behavior Change Support Project

New or Replacement Site: New

Language: Sefwi, Twi

Population: 4800

Major Ethnic Group: Sefwis

Major religion: Christianity

Major Occupation in Community: Farming

Type of Settlement Pattern: Concentrated

Major Source of Water Supply: Pipe Borne Water

Communal Working Days: Tuesdays

Taboo Days: Thursdays

What Community Members Cannot Do on Taboo Days: No Farming Activities

Market Days in Community: Thursdays

Major Disease in Community: Malaria and Bilharzias (AKA Schistosomiasis)

Major Health Hazard in Community: Latrines not well maintained, indiscriminate defecation and insect bites

The district capital, Juaboso, is 6km from Affere so if I need any of the following I will have to travel to Juaboso: Hospital/Clinic, Post Office, Police Station, Market, Bank, Radio Communication, Senior High School, District Assembly. The Lorry Park, Primary School, and Junior High School are all located at my site.

Brief History of Affere: ancestors of inhabitants migrated to the place in the 19^th century for farming purposes, mainly for cocoa and rice farming.

I will be living in a compound, like my housing in Anyinasin, except I have two rooms to myself, a private bathhouse, but I have to share a latrine with three other tenants. My counterpart (I will explain who this is in a minute) told me that I will be living in the same compound as my landlord, and a married couple with children (ages ranging from young kids to high schoolers I think). I am happy with my housing situation, however, I am wondering how clean my latrine will be. In Anyinasin, I share a latrine with quite a few people and it really isn’t that bad, so I’m sure I’ll be able to manage in Affere. I am really glad I have my own bathhouse though. On Saturday we all travel to our sites so I will be able to see what my rooms look like and decide how I want to organize and decorate them. I will be a brand new volunteer at my site. They have not had a PCV before so I will be their first one!

My main project will be working with behavior change focused on health issues, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health runs it. I should also point out that the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health is the best in the nation. We met with someone from BCS (Behavior Change Support) today and she talked about our projects more specifically, although we won’t know what we will be doing exactly until we get to site.

We will be working closely with the BCS Project, which is the Behavior Change Support Project. The little blurb we were given says this: “The Ghana Behavior Change Support (BCS) Project is a 4 year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported project managed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS).” (BCS, 2012).

Basically, with this program, we are trying to make Ghana achieve the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). BCS works in with health related issues, so my projects will revolve around one or several of these them…Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning, Malaria Prevention and Treatment, Nutrition, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. They also work with HIV/AIDs but it is not as big a sector in BCS. We will be doing a variation of educational and entertaining programs, health specific campaigns (large and small scale), and community mobilization activities. BCS works to change people attitudes towards diseases and educate them on how to live a healthy and better life. Right now they have a campaign running that is called “Good Life.” It’s kind of funny because all the time in Anyinasin I have been hearing “Good Life, Good Life, Good Life…” on the radio with various health advertisements and it turns out I am working for that campaign now! I’m very, very excited about this project. It has many issues to work with so I am not limited in what I will be able to do.

Yesterday we broke up into groups based on what our projects would be. For BCS there are six of us: Alisa, Tristan, Gayle, Heather, Adam M, and me. It’s really exciting because everyone, except Adam, is in the Western Region and we are all very close. I am only about 4km from Alisa and about 20 minutes from Gayle. Alisa and I have the same market town and we will probably be riding our bikes to visit each other all the time. Tristan and Heather a more north than Alis and I, but probably about an hour away. There are also two other PCVs working with BCS that are a year ahead of us, and they are really close to us as well, and we were told they are pretty awesome people. I couldn’t be happier about my assignment. I haven’t heard one bad thing about it.

All PCVs have a counterpart (CP), which is someone your village elects to come meet you and help you throughout your service. You are allowed to change counterparts or have several that you use for different purposes. My counterpart is named Akemye (I think that’s how you spell it) and he lives in Affere as well. He is an integrated science teacher at the local JHS and lives about 200 meters from my house in Affere. Tomorrow, Saturday, he will travel with me to my site and take me to my house. He also gets to help me with all my bags, which is awesome. I have my traveler’s backpack, regular backpack, suitcase, and then my Ghana Gucci. Basically a Ghana Gucci is a reinforced plastic bag with handles and a zipper top. PC gave us a lot of books so I threw all them in there along with my water filter. There is no way I would be able to travel alone with all this junk! When I get to site I will repack my bags and leave most of my stuff in my room. We only have to bring back three weeks worth of clothing and training tools for when we go up to Tamale for Technical Training. I plan on only using my traveler’s backpack for those three weeks.

My CP told me that to get to our village we can pick a tro or a bus from here in Kumasi to Juaboso and then transfer cars in Juaboso to get to Affere. It seems like it won’t be that complicated but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. I think he said its only two to three hours travel. We are all scheduled to leave between 4 and 6 am tomorrow. I’m assuming people in Upper West and Upper East will be leaving at 4 am and the people staying in the south can probably leave closer to 6. I’m assuming everyone in Western will be traveling together, at least the couple of people right next to me. It seems like it would make the most sense. On the way back, when we have to travel to Tamale, we will all travel together. Alisa will come to my house and then we’ll move to Gayles and head to Kumasi together. We actually have to overnight in Kumasi at the Kumasi Sub-Office (KSO) and then travel to Tamale the next day because it would be too far to travel in one day and PC does not allow us to travel at night. But this means that we’ll all be together on my birthday – most of us at least!

LPI (Language Proficiency Interview or Lost Phone Incident)

After four weeks of language training, Peace Corps administers a Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) to assess your speaking ability. Most of what we will be doing with our local languages will be spoken so we were not tested on our writing abilities. Each of the PCTs had a 30-minute meeting with one of the LCFs (Language and Culture Facilitators) this past Monday, March 19. Naturally, we were all nervous about the LPI as we have only been learning our language for four weeks. We were expected to talk about ourselves, family members in America and in Ghana, our daily routines in both Ghana and America (but using the past tense for our routines in America), a family member’s daily routine, a mock market exchange where we had to ask for four different items and bargain down the price, what have we seen while we’ve been in Ghana, and finally we had to ask our LCF a question (which took us all by surprise as we had not really practiced this).

The day of my LPI didn’t start off so well. I had already procrastinated the day before figuring I would just study Monday morning because my test wasn’t until 930am and I wake up at 6am. Obviously my plan failed. Around 730am, after finishing breakfast, I went to use my phone and what do you know…it’s gone. Yep. After 6 weeks in Ghana I have already lost my phone. I am pretty sure it was stolen from me though. I was walking down the street talking with one of the Dagaari LCFs and I slipped on some mud and I’m pretty sure my phone fell out of my pocket during that moment. A kid probably picked up my phone and kept it because it wasn’t in my room or anywhere else I would have put it. So instead of doing so last minute cramming, my host sister and I were turning my room upside down looking for my phone. She kept calling it from her phone but there was an automated message saying my phone had been switched off, so it makes me believe even more that it was actually stolen and not lost because otherwise my phone would have rang. So by 845am I was extremely annoyed and sad that my phone was gone and stressed about the LPI that I figured I could just wing it. I had practiced enough the few days before.

I got to start my LPI a little earlier than 930, which was nice because that meant it was over sooner. It was less stressful than I thought it would be but I still felt nervous. I understood all the questions Taj (the LCF) was asking me but I think I spoke a little faster than I should have. I managed to talk about everything I had prepared in my notes, but I’m sure I left a couple details out. I successfully bargained down the price of rice and he even dashed me some extra (in Ghana, at the market, you can ask for a “dash,” which means the vendor gives you a little extra of whatever you are buying – some things like bars of soap, silverware, or clothing can’t be dashed though). I felt good when we had finished but I still felt nervous because he wasn’t allowed to give me any feedback at that time – we would all be finding out later that night if we passed or not.

To keep my occupied with something other than thinking about my LPI results, I located one of our trainers, Tony, to inform him of my phone situation. Luckily he was going into Koforidua and said he would go to MTN (one of the telephone companies here, like Verizon or AT&T) and buy me a new chip (sim card) for 1 Ghana Cedi. If you give the MTN people your phone number they can cancel your old chip and just push all your information and units (talking and text credits) to the new chip and you can keep your same number. Fortunately I brought a spare phone that I used when I studied abroad in France, so it was already unlocked and all I had to do was put the new chip in. Still, my old Razor phone from high school got terrible reception in Anyinasin so I asked him to buy me the same phone I had before.

I am glad to announce that I am back in business and my new phone is as good as ever. The only downside to losing my phone was paying for a new one and I didn’t get to play snake for a few days. I’ll be more careful this time!

Child Welfare Day in Tafo

This week as part of Technical Training we all went to New Tafo Government Hospital. We were divided into 3 groups and we each went to different event. My group got to participate in the most hands on event of the 3. We went to a child welfare day outside of the hospital. The other 2 groups went to see the hospital administration and disease control/family planning. Our event wasn’t at the hospital so we had to drive to a smaller clinic just a few minutes away. At 830am there were already a lot of mothers waiting with their babies. The head nurse spoke with us for a few minutes to explain what Child Welfare Day is and what would be happening throughout the event. Basically, Child Welfare Day is a day where mothers, and preferably fathers as well, bring their babies (at this particular clinic, up to 5 years old) to be weighed and vaccinated. Each child had a booklet with their name and basic information, as well as a growth chart to record their weights. As the mothers came in, they handed the booklet to the nurse at the weighing station so they could be called up for their turn. We all gathered around to watch as the nurse explained the booklets and how to chart a baby’s weight. The babies were weighed with a scale that hung from the roof. Each child had a potato sack looking thing that they wore to get weighed. All of their clothes were removed (except their waist beads of course) and then they were placed in this little cloth bag with leg holes. The bag has a handle that is hung on the hook of the scale. So basically the babies are hanging from the scale in cloth bags. It is entertaining to watch because the babies always make funny faces as they try to understand why they are swinging around. Some don’t mind it but others cry a lot. The nurses were careful to point out to us babies that were healthy and babies that were underweight. It didn’t happen here, but apparently at some of these events whenever there is an underweight baby a nurse has no problem making the mother feel bad about not having a healthy baby. Usually they will speak loud enough so that the other mothers can hear the one particular mother being reprimanded. In Ghana appearances are everything, so no one wants to be publicly embarrassed about anything, which is why the nurses use this tactic to try to get the mothers to feed their children better. If every time they come to the clinic a fuss is made about their underweight baby they will eventually make changes to improve the health of that child – at least that is the idea, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The nurses also stress exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first 6 months after birth. Some mothers, apparently, will breastfeed at events like this or when they are not at home, but when they are home and there is other food present, they will give young babies pretty much anything around and those tend to be the underweight babies. Throughout the weighing we started to notice that whenever both the mother and father came, they went to the front of the weighing line. When we asked the nurse she said they did this to encourage the other mothers to bring their baby daddy. A lot of women come on their own because in Ghana it is usually the mother that takes care of the children – more so than the father because they are working or at farm. So the nurses really try to stress that parenting is a two-person job.

The parents were pretty open about passing off their babies to us oburonis. They would give us the children and let us hang them from the scale and afterwards we got to hold a couple of them while the parents were occupied with something. So we all got our fill of cute baby holding. One of the fathers passed me his little girl, Geraldine, and she was so tiny! I was surprised he didn’t mind me holding her. I can’t imagine many parents in America letting a stranger hold their brand new baby and then walk away! But she was the most well behaved baby there. She never cried and was always smiling. She eventually fell asleep in my arms and I think I about died. I wanted to put her in my backpack and bring her home but I decided against it. 

An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

I don’t know if that adage exists in Ghana, but I’m sure there is some variation. Monday morning we went to see a traditional medicine mad, also known as an herbalist or witchdoctor. We were split into 4 groups – 2 went to see herbalists and 2 went to see TBAs (traditional birth assistants) here in Anyinasin. The herbalist we went to see was probably in his 30s and he explained what a herbalist was and how you become one etc. We found out that his particular specialty is stroke, blood pressure, and fibrosis. When asked what actually causes stroke, he actually knew the real causes, which I think surprised some of us. Usually herbalists are men but women can also do it. His mother was the herbalist before he was and she was the one that trained him. Before you can become an herbalist you must undergo years of training and studying. You have to know which plants you can use and be able to diagnose and treat patients appropriately. A lot of his medicines come from a plant but he wouldn’t tell us which one for obvious reasons. He said depending on the needs of his patients, he’d add certain spices or plants or even tree bark. Most of these remedies are delivered by enema, but some can be boiled and drank as a tea, which I’m sure most people would prefer. One of his treatments, I forget for which illness, was a combination of 18 different tree barks. We asked if he knew about Malaria and he said that he has treated many people for Malaria, however, we did learn that most people here considered malaria to be anything with a high fever – so Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and Malaria would all be called Malaria. So if you want to talk about Malaria Malaria, you need to specify, so you could say “Mosquito Malaria” and people would know what kind of malaria you are referring to. We asked him if he ever collaborated with local clinics and hospitals when treating patients and he said he often does. He said in some instances, like breast cancer, he’ll have the patient get a mammogram at a hospital and then bring him the results and they can work out a treatment plan. We asked him to talk about his diagnostic process and treatment plan so we could get a better understanding of how he operates. A lot of herbalists use spiritual healing as a form of treatment, and he said he is one of them, but not as much as traditional herbalists. He considers himself a Christian, so any spiritual healing would be more Christian faith based as opposed to a traditional faith. He has a two-part analysis – physical and spiritual. He’ll assess the patient himself and ask questions about their condition, etc, but he will also call on the spirits to help with the diagnosis. It was really very interesting to listen to him speak. In America we kind of do the same thing but go about it in different ways. Everything is in tablet form, whereas here, the herbs and supplements are fresh from the earth. And don’t people pray for healing…? It just looks different from both perspectives but it’s pretty much the same. I’m glad we went to see him. 

Boti Falls

This past Sunday we all went to Boti Falls. It is a little lake and waterfall about an hour away from here. The Peace Corps bus picked us up at 8am and took us to the suboffice in Kuku so we could collect our lunch and some water, and then we left for Boti Falls. It’s in the mountains just outside Koforidua. We all gathered outside the entrance to the falls and ate our snack, something we always look forward to – hob nobs and an orange juice box. Our guide took us down 250 steps to the lake and falls. It was very pretty but I thought it was going to be bigger, but it was still a nice change from sitting all day. It isn’t the rainy season quite yet, but when it is the waterfall forms a long curtain down the side of the cliff. Right now there are two separate waterfalls coming down. Our guide told us that the two falls represent a male and a female and then they eventually come together when the rains are heavy. I thought that was a cute little story. We all decided to walk around the back of the falls. No one fell in the water luckily, but it was pretty slippery. We all sat on the rocks behind the falls and our trainers took our pictures from the other side of the lake.

After sitting on the other side for a while, we headed back because our guide was talking us to another area of the park. It was a 45-minute hike away from where we were, but we all survived. However, it did make us realize how much sitting we have actually been doing. We were all sucking wind pretty hard! The first part was pretty flat and the scenery reminded me of the Lion King – it looked like rural Africa, which was a nice change from village life. Our path then turned into the steepest hill ever. I’m surprised no one rolled his or her ankle. You could stand at the top of the path and look straight down to where we were going. We took a little breather under the side of a rock that many people had signed their name on at one point in time. It’s a good thing we did stop for a little bit because the next part of the hike was INTENSE. It was about 400 degrees outside and we had to walk up the side of the mountain – just straight up. There were no switchbacks, just climbing and trying to dodge all the centipedes. It was pretty brutal, but we all made it to the top and there was a very nice breeze waiting for us. At the top of this mountain was a rock called Umbrella Rock I think. You guessed it, the rock is shaped kind of like an umbrella and you can sit underneath it. So we all caught our breath and rehydrated under there and set off again. We walked for about 5 minutes and we came to a little village, and by little I mean 1 or 2 houses and some sheep. These houses were different from the ones in Anyinasin because they were made of clay and some parts had thatched roofs. There was a mini tourist attraction though – in the center of the area is a 3-headed palm tree. You can climb up and stand on it if you want to pay 50 pesewas (pesewas are the Ghanaian coins). Apparently this palm tree is a fertility tree and those who stand in it are supposed to be blessed with lots of babies…I don’t know if the married couple knew that before they climbed up! Right underneath the tree is a stump, perfect for sitting on, and our guide explained that this particular stump is supposed to make you have twins.

It was nearing lunchtime so we were getting kind of antsy as we heard that we might be getting something really yummy to eat. Luckily we didn’t have far to walk to where the PC bus was meeting us. There was a little open-air school that we sat in as we took our lunches. It was wonderful when I opened up our little box…pizza. It was like a little taste of America. It was so great! There was actual cheese and sausage and vegetables! Needless to say, we were all very happy.

There was one last waterfall that we went to see before we set off. The PC bus drove us to the entrance about 10 minutes away. We had to walk down some more stairs but it wasn’t too terrible. This waterfall was more forceful than the first two, so I didn’t try to walk behind it like before. Some people did but it made me nervous because it looked really slippery and I was afraid for their cameras.

On the way home, as my body temperature began to normalize, I realized I got my first sunburn in Ghana. So I have a nice little tank top and bra tan line on my shoulders. Beats a farmers tan though. Good thing I brought some Aloe Vera gel from America. My host family was giggling at me because they said it was my skins process of becoming African. Luckily it started raining when we got home because my shoulders felt like they were on fire and I stood in the middle of the courtyard to cool down, while my entire family sat around the courtyard watching me. Ghanaians don’t really like water!

Live from Ghana it’s Saturday Night!

Well it’s not nighttime yet but it is Saturday and I am supposed to be studying my Twi verbs but I wanted to write on my blog instead. Procrastination? What? I miss SNL.

The days seem to go by slow but then before you know it the week is already over. I can’t believe we have been in Ghana for almost one month now. It seems like forever ago we were in Philadelphia but it also feels like yesterday.

Well what has happened since last time…a bunch of us went to Koforidua, a town about 1 hour away from here, to go to Vodaphone, an internet café. When we got to Vodaphone, it was overrun by us oburonis (white people). We won’t be able to go back for another week because this Sunday we are going to Boti Falls. Usually Sundays are our “free” days, but this week we have a little excursion planned. I’m really looking forward to going. Everyone keeps telling us how beautiful it is there. My host family wants me to take a lot of pictures so I can show them when I get back. Boti Falls is about one hour away from here, just past Koforidua. We have to hike a little ways to actually get to the waterfall but apparently it’s a really beautiful area. We were told to wear our closed toe shoes so we can prevent snake bites, so I’m really hoping I don’t see a snake anywhere near me. That would really put a damper on the day.

Speaking of snakes…the other day I was walking to Twi class and I saw this chicken running away with something in its mouth. Taj, one of the Twi teachers told us it was a snake that he had just killed but the chicken picked it up and ran away. Apparently it was a Green Mamba and those little suckers are poisonous. I’m glad I was not there to see it alive. I hope that is the last time I see a snake in Africa, but I don’t think that will be the case. My brothers keep assuring me that they will kill any snakes they see, so they better be telling me the truth.

It has been raining a lot recently. We are heading into the rainy season, but it is not supposed to start raining a lot until April or May, I think, so this weather has been a little abnormal. Usually it gets really hot around noon and then around 3pm it starts getting dark and grey and the rains come. It comes down pretty hard for a couple hours and finally stops late in the evening. I don’t mind it because it’s not cold rain like Oregon, it’s pretty warm, but my family disagrees! There is always a lightening storm a little ways away, which is really pretty. My family always laughs at me because I’ll go stand in the middle of the courtyard when it’s raining and they are all sitting under the roof. They keep saying how cold they are and keep putting on pants and long sleeves, yet I still feel warm! It’s probably around 65 degrees maybe 68 so really not that cold for us, so it’s always fun to laugh with my family about that. We actually lost power for about 4 days so no one had electricity, so I was going to sleep pretty early on those nights. There isn’t much to do when it’s pitch black out and you don’t understand what anyone is saying, let alone see anyone. However, the electricity has come back and all is good.

This past Tuesday my host mother bought me some fabric at the local market. It is dark green with some golden-orange and cream in it. There is a pattern on it that looks kind of like a coffee beans but it is really pretty. I call it my coffee bean dress. There is a seamstress that lives right next to our compound so my sister and I went over and I picked out a dress design. Its just below my knees, empire waist, and sleeveless. I really like it a lot so I’m getting another one made! The seamstress added some satin to match the colors of the fabric. The other dress I am having made is going to be two different shades of red (it’s a batik) and there is a turtle like design on it. I really love the fabric so I am very excited about this dress. It’s pretty cheap to get things made here…my dress cost me 7 Ghana Cedis, so about 5 or 6 dollars (dad check my math). Either way, it’s not a bad price for a nice dress. They can make anything here so I need to get some JCrew catalogues and figure out what I want made!

On Wednesday we went to the Distric Assembly in a town called Kibi. The 24 of us were divided into group of 3 and fate brought my Accra Quest group back together! So Adam, Leahy, and I all had to meet with the Water and Sanitation Team. I’m glad we got to meet with them because it was very relevant to what we will be doing with Peace Corps. They talked about the different programs they work with and the kinds of projects they do. They do a lot of work with boreholes and latrines and they talked about the Ghana WASH program, which is a project centered on building latrines. We were even told that this team has requested a PCV, so one of us from the Twi group will be staying in this area, so it will be interesting to find out who that is.

I don’t remember if I already spoke about this, but there are 10 regions in Ghana – Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Central, Greater Accra, and Volta. We will be going to all of them except Ashanti and each region generally has a different language. I will be going to Brong-Ahafo, Western, Eastern, Central, Greater Accra, or possibly Northern Volta. We all find out around March 20.

On Thursday, America Day, we were in Kukurantumi for our seminar day but around 4 we went to the bead market in Koforidua. It as a market that sold only beads – earrings, bracelets, waist beads, rings, everything you can imagine that can be made from beads. Here in Ghana, they have this type of accessory called waist beads. Every girl wears them, even newborn babies. It is a long piece of string with beads and you tie them around your waist. One of our trainers was explaining to us that one of the ideas behind them is that they are supposed to give girls their curves. The beads aren’t tied tight around your waist like a corset would be. They are loose and just sit around your waist and then as you grow you can loosen them. They come in all colors and sizes. I bought two different ones…a dark blue one and then a multicolored blue one. Each one was 50 pesewas, so 1 cedi total. My sister said she would help me put them on when I want to. So all girls wear them, for their whole life I believe. Apparently there is a meaning to how many you wear. One of my sisters, Millicent, has 4, which she told me meant that love is important to her or something like that. My mother wears 5, maybe because she has 5 children…? And I think my other sister, Grace, has 3 or 4. However, no one is supposed to see your waist beads. They always stay hidden under your clothes. Only your “special someone” is allowed to see your beads. It’s a very interesting aspect of their culture. I would have never known about waist beads if it hadn’t been for our trainers telling us about them, because you’ll never see anyone’s waist beads.

Yesterday afternoon my older brother, Mark, took me to my family’s farm. It’s about 10 minutes away and as we were walking there, it started pouring down rain so our clothes got soaked but it was nice. It was refreshing after melting in the sun all day. He showed me the plantains, bananas, cocoa beans, and cassava that they were growing. I think today he is going back to help weed. On my way back I banged my shin into a little tree stump so I have nice little bruise forming. Thank goodness for our Peace Corps Medical Kit – I finally got to use my antiseptic wash for something. It’s really not that bad, I just wanted to use it.

My 19-year-old brother came back from school on Wednesday so I finally got to meet him. His name is Yow, and his English name is Shadrock (at least that’s what they keep saying to me). He goes to a boarding school in a town close to here and I think their school is on break right now, which is why he is back. He is always dancing in the courtyard so he is entertaining to watch. Everyone can dance so well. One of my first days here, Mark was telling me he wasn’t a good dancer and then I saw him doing the moonwalk! Ghanaians have an extra something in their bodies…they make it look so easy all the time! They keep asking if I can dance and I keep saying no…they are determined to make me dance but I don’t think I would want them to have to see that.

Another fun little story…I can cross off “eating snail” from my bucket list. The night before last my mother prepared some Fufu and used snail as one of the meats. I don’t mean like little garden snails. These are huge snails. About 2 or 3 inches wide maybe. They just crack the shell and cook them like that. My sister cut me off a little piece and after much debate I finally ate it. It was like chewing really hard rubber. I don’t think I’ll be eating snail again needless to say. It smelled pretty funky too. It’s all part of the cultural exchange I suppose!