Things are moving along quite nicely here in Afere. I
actually slept until about 7 this morning…quite a feat. I made myself a nice
omelet for breakfast and Pineapple (my cat) tried to eat more than her share of
the omelet – little piglet. Today is a holiday because it African Union Day, so
most things are closed. Most people were in town but a few still went to farm. I
went to the tailor with my sister this morning to try on my new funeral dress.
My family and I are going to a funeral tomorrow so I needed something to wear.
It’s a two-piece outfit and it’s actually not bad looking. I decided to go with
spaghetti straps as opposed to some of the ¾ sleeve styles as its usually 200
degrees outside. The skirt is floor length though, so I’m sure I’ll get a decent
amount of sweat going with all the dancing and the sun’s vendetta against
everyone in Ghana. It is kind of a mermaid style skirt so I’m not really sure
how I’m going to be able to bust my movies without ripping anything. I guess
I’ll find out tomorrow.
Ambrose took me around town this morning to meet the
different heads of various community groups. We visited the heads of the
Seamstress Association, Hairdressers Association, and the Chemical Sellers. We
tried to visit the head of the Farmers Association, but he had already left for
farm…weird! Ambrose and I explained why we had come and that I wanted to meet
with their respective groups to discuss health and sanitation in Afere. Each
head is going to call their members together and on Monday we will go around
and talk with each group. I think this will be a good way to break up the
community and hear what different groups think about health and sanitation
here. I want it to be like an open forum, where the members can talk freely
about what they have observed and any challenges they have faced (health,
water, and sanitation related). As we were walking around town, Ambrose and I
had some good discussions about the education system in Afere and he shared
some personal anecdotes about growing up in the Volta Region. He is quite an
interesting person to talk to and he is very knowledgably. It is nice to know
that there is at least one person here who is genuinely invested in making a
difference and helping his town. Unfortunately, for me, Ambrose will be leaving
for about two months in the next few days. He is currently working on finishing
his master’s degree from a university down in Cape Coast (Central Region), and
he’ll be back towards the end of July or beginning of August.
I came home and made the best lunch I’ve made yet. Since I
just went to market yesterday I have a lot of fresh, delicious veggies so I
decided to make some stir-fry. I sautéed some garlic, ginger, and onions and
then threw in some bell peppers, green onions, carrots, and to top it off I
mixed in some curry powder, groundnut paste (the local peanut butter), and some
pineapple. The pineapple was a great addition! It was so delicious. I want
more!
Luckily I finished my cooking in time because as soon as I
was done a torrential downpour started. This is the hardest and longest I’ve
seen it rain since I’ve been in Ghana. It lasted a couple hours and I was
confined to my room with the electricity going in and out. I actually felt cold
a couple times…never thought that would happen in Ghana. I’ve actually been
heating my water in the morning so I can bath…the shower water is too cold!
While it was storming outside I did some more reading in the GYD manual. It’s
about 200 pages long but it is so interesting to read so I don’t mind. I jotted
down some notes, which I’ll post at the end of this…the statistics are quite
interesting. It makes me realize the importance of Peace Corps and I’m so glad
that I’m a part of it. While I may not see great changes during my time here, I
know it’s happening.
To finish off the day, I figured out that I can plug my
hard-drive into my cable box and watch all my movies and television shows on my
television! I have opened Pandora’s Box. I may never leave my room right now.
I’m definitely going to watch the best movie ever later…Wedding Crashers.
- ~113 million children aged 6-11 are not in school, of which about 2/3 are girls (not Ghana specific)
- ~12% of girls aged 15-19 give birth each year
- 25% of teenage mothers will give birth to a second child within two years
- Of 317 Ghanaian women surveyed, 60% were under 30 when they had an abortion
- 12% received the abortion from a physician
- 38% from a pharmacist
- 11% from self-medication
- 16% from a “quack” doctor
- 3% from other means
- ~1.2 million youth are trafficked per year
- ~14 million kids under 15 have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS
- There are more than 300,000 child soldiers in the world
- An additional year of schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal deaths
- ~5,000 women are in “Witch Camps” in four districts of the Northern Region, Ghana
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