Update

Well, it has been quite a while since I have updated this thread, so here is my attempt to do so.

A lot has happened since the last update, and a lot has not happened. Unfortunately, my work schedule is never consistent and I never know when I will be spending hours in town or at the school, or staring blankly at the walls in my house. Such is life in Peace Corps.

I’m closing in on my 21 months in country mark, meaning I only have about five months left (six if I decide to leave in April instead of March). PCVs are given one month to COS, complete their service and formally leave. Since my group swore in on April 19^th, 2012, our official COS date is April 19^th, 2014, so March 19^th would be the first day we are allowed to leave. I’m hoping to snag a date in March and be home in time for my birthday, my brother’s spring training and conference matches, and springtime in America! It’s hard to believe that I have been in Ghana for so long. The other day I was discussing with my friend how crazy this feels. What have I been doing for the past almost two years? When I think of how much free time I have during the day, I wonder what I used to do to fill the time. Now here I am, with five months left to go. Thankfully I still have some projects to work on and my harddrive is loaded up with movies and tv shows.

The construction of my additional school block is coming along quite nicely. The foundation has been built and the cement blocks for the walls have been built. However, we are now in cocoa season and as everyone has started telling me, “the cocoa has come.” This is great for the farmers in my town; however, many of the farmers are also artisans working on the school. Right now, cocoa is taking precedence over the school. The artisans are coming to work once a week, if that, and progress is slow. I can’t blame them too much…they are not being paid for this work, as this is the community contribution. Hopefully the cocoa harvest will pass quickly and the workers can get back to construction. I’m hoping that the new classroom block will be finished before the start of winter term in January. I am told that we are in the middle of the difficult part now, that is, filling the foundation with rocks and sand. Both classrooms need to be filled to the top of the foundation walls, and the sand that is used is quite expensive. My counterparts and I have been pleading with community members and especially children to collect rocks and sand in their spare time and bring them to the school. This has been slow going, if anything, so we have decided to bite the bullet and purchase the necessary remaining rocks and sand. Once the foundation is filled, the walls can go up and I have been assured that the remaining construction will pass quickly. We’ll see.

The JHS girls that I took to our regional GLOW Camp and I have been working on some small projects for the benefit of the JHS. Initially, we decided to construct and install burnable rubbish bins for the JHS. I went to my local market town and purchased about six yards of chicken wire (so that the rubbish contents can be burnt and the bin won’t melt) to use as the rubbish bins and asked the girls to meet me at my house the next morning so we could begin assembling the bins. We cut the wire into five different pieces and tied the ends to create a cylinder. We installed all five bins at the JHS and felt pretty good about our work. I went to the school the next morning only to find that all of the rubbish bins had been uprooted and left on the side of the road. Naturally, I was quite peeved. The JHS teachers informed me that several kids has been playing with them the day before and they were the ones that removed them from the ground. So the next day my girls and I reinstalled the bins, but this time dug them deeper into the ground in effort to thwart any robbery attempts. They survived the night. A few days later I had to leave my town for two weeks. When I came back, I found that all of the rubbish bins had been removed from the ground and two had been stolen. Thanks guys. I assume they were stolen because of the chicken wire so someone can use it for their garden or farm or who knows what.

Right now and in my immediate future, I am dedicating the majority of my time to grad school applications. My first is due on October 31, so I’m scrambling to finish everything on time and perfect my personal statement. I just recently found out that one of the professors at this school was part of the team that developed a set of videos called “Scenarios of Africa,” pertaining to HIV/AIDS education. I have used these videos a few times throughout my service and have been really impressed with their educational impact at the community level. Naturally, I was quite excited to stumble upon this piece of information.

November is the time for Fire Festival and Thanksgiving. Fire Festival is a festival that happens in the northern part of Ghana. I’m not quite sure the cultural significance of this festival, just that it happens every year and the moon determines the dates. I’ve heard great things about Fire Fest and I am very excited to go. Hundreds of people walking around with fire and torches…who wouldn’t be? After fire fest, I’ll come back to site for a few days and then head to Accra for Thanksgiving.

It seems that I have something scheduled for every month until I leave, which should help pass the time. December is Christmas and I’m sure I’ll be doing something with someone to celebrate. Then January comes and I have the National Volunteer Advisory Committee meeting (like student government but for Peace Corps) and my group’s COS conference. My mom is coming for basically the entire month of February, so we’ll be doing a bit of traveling and exploring Ghana before coming back to my village. And then March and I leave!

That’s all I got for now. Nothing too interesting, but have at it.

Good Things are Happening

I have been inspired to write a new post about what has been happening as of late. So here it is...

On my ride up to the STARS Conference I received a phone call from the grants coordinator for Peace Corps Ghana. He informed me that the funds needed to fill one of my projects had finally arrived and the project was now fully funded. It was wonderful news. I wrote a grant proposal to build a new JHS building next to the current JHS. There is a severe problem of overcrowding and poor educational facilities available to the students and teachers. As a result, the students are not performing well and the teachers are finding it difficult to conduct lessons. I wrote the grant proposal in the fall of 2012 and for a few months nothing seemed to be happening with the grant. The funds did not appear to be coming, at least not as fast as we would have liked. Because of this I had already begun working on a budget amendment to use the funds we had already acquired to construct white boards in the already existing JHS. This way the school would at least see some small improvements and we would be able to put the donated funds to good use. However, just as we were about to begin the white board project, Peace Corps called me to tell me that I had received all of the necessary funds for the classroom addition. Thank you to all of you who helped donate to make this project successful!

I am not waiting for the fund transfer to be completed and then I will be able to collect them at a local bank. My community has already held several community meetings to discuss the construction of the school. They have even formed an executive committee that will be in charge of mobilizing the community, especially the youth, to help with community labor and construction. The PTA has met to discuss how they will contribute the project, as well as the Chief and his elders. I am very proud of my community for taking the initiative and mobilizing themselves - none of this was done at my request; in fact, I wasn't even aware any of this was going on! They have taken charge and shown that they are dedicated to seeing this project through to the end and I couldn't be happier. On Thursday I am supposed to meet with the local artisans to discuss their project timeline and the materials they will be needing first. I am hoping that by next week we will be able to begin the initial steps of construction. When this project is completed it will be one of the most amazing parts of my Peace Corps career. I never thought I would actually be able to help build a school in a rural African village. My Peace Corps dreams are coming true!

In regards to other projects, several other female PCVs and myself will be hosting and facilitating a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp this coming August. The camp is girls leadership and empowerment camp. We will all select about three form 2 going on form 3 girls from our local JHSs and bring them to the camp. They will learn about leadership skills, women's empowerment, higher education, health issues, goal setting, and much more. We want to bring them out of their community and allow them to meet other girls from neighboring towns and let them step out of their comfort zone for a week. I will be calling on my female STARS student to help with the camp. She will act a peer educator and role model for the younger girls. All day today I have been working on different lesson plans for the camp. Each PCV is going to be responsible for a different topic, but we will all help each other, this is just for planning's sake. I am working on nutrition lessons, so today I wrote a lesson plan about the essential vitamins and minerals for women and the basics of nutrition. I am also working on other potential session ideas, just not as in depth as the nutrition lessons. 

Rainy season is finally back and I am ecstatic. I love the rain, contrary to what many of you may think. This rain is quite different than Eugene rain, so maybe I should clarify and say that I love "tropical" rain. The trees are becoming greener and everything is starting to thicken. The dirt in the air is not as intense as it used to be and I don't constantly feel the need to take a wet wipe to my face to remove my "au natural" face makeup. The forest looks absolutely stunning...especially early in the morning when the sun is rising. I love waking up and seeing the mist on the trees in the distance. This is truly a beautiful place to live and I am grateful for that. We all complain and talk about the negative things that happen to us here in Ghana and in Peace Corps, but when I take a moment to look around me and see the natural beauty and the generosity of the people I am living with, I forget about what is worrying me and think about how amazing this experience has been and will continue to be. I say it all the time, but I have met the most amazing people here in Ghana...both Ghanaian and American. It is hard to articulate without sounding too emotional and sappy. Unfortunately some of my best friends will be leaving Ghana in the next few weeks, as their service is finally coming to a close. It will be hard to see them leave, but I am sure I will see some of them in the future. It will be weird to continue my service without them, but luckily new volunteers are always coming and I know I will meet more amazing people soon. 

That's all I have for now. Take care.

STARS Youth Leadership Conference

Last week was the annual STARS Youth Leadership Conference (Students Taking Action Reaching for Success). I have mentioned this conference before, and for good reason – it was/is an amazing time. I had been hearing about STARS since my arrival in Ghana last year, and the time finally came to participate. It is held every May in Kumasi (at least to my knowledge) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

STARS is a five day conference that focuses on youth leadership, empowerment, and capacity building in regards to issues faced by youths in Ghana.  Each day is organized into a basic theme: youth leadership, health and HIV/AIDS, goal setting and tertiary education, individual interests, and community service. PCVs submit an application to two bring students, a boy and a girl, from their local senior high school, and the conference ends up hosting about 60 SHS students from all over Ghana. To qualify the students must be in Form 2, which is equivalent to sophomore year, and demonstrate an eagerness to improve and strengthen their academic and personal skill sets. One of the many goals of the conference is to help shape these students into peer educators and role models for their respective schools. They are the future leaders of Ghana and STARS aims to help them on their way.

Once at the conference, the students are split into six groups of about ten students. Students from the same school are not in the same group, which allows the students to meet students from different areas of Ghana and step out of their comfort zone. For each group of students, there are two group leaders, a Junior Group Leader, and a Mentor. PCVs are Group Leaders and are chosen through an application process. I was lucky enough to be one! More on that subject soon. Junior Group Leaders are students who have previously attended the conference and can act as a role model and a liason for Group Leaders. Mentors are students attending KNUST and represent different educational departments.

Like I said, I was a Group Leader, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was partnered with another PCV from my training group, and many other leaders were actually part of my training group. So in addition to fulfilling our duties as Group Leaders it was nice to see some friends and colleagues I have not seen in a while. Group Leaders are responsible for the students in their respective groups to make sure sessions run smoothly and there is no confusion about anything. It is like what I imagine a camp counselor would be. When sessions broke out into smaller groups, we stayed with our group and helped facilitate. It was a very rewarding experience. I really got to know my students and had a wonderful time with them. We ate all our meals together and they even helped to improve my Azonto skills during free time (Azonto is a new hip dance sweeping the nation…youtube it. Each team has a team name and our students chose “LOT: Leaders of Tomorrow.”

The first day was arrival, getting to know our groups, and dinner, followed by a welcome ceremony and cultural dance from the PCVs. We showed the students how to dance the Macarena and it proved to be quite a success. Lots of cheering and clapping, so I guess we did a good job.

The second day we got down to business. The theme of the day was “Learning to be a Leader.” We focused on team building exercises, filled out a personal contract and created a set of rules, discussed different African leaders, leadership and life skills, habits of effective leaders, study skills, and peer pressure. It was a very busy day to say the least. Before sessions ended we played a Jeopardy style quiz game, which turned out to be a lot of fun. I even found some of the questions difficult to answer, but I suppose if I was in school still learning about those subjects I might know the answer. The students really enjoyed themselves though, and that’s what counts. After dinner we showed them an episode of Planet Earth, however I think the PCVs enjoyed it more than the students did. Some of the were passed out on tables, so I guess they were exhausted!

Day three focused on health issues such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. A lady who is HIV positive came to speak to the students about her experience living with HIV, as well as the stigma involved. It was a very powerful session, and I learned a lot from listening to her. She was so strong and positive, which is not always the case here in Ghana for someone living with HIV/AIDS. The students asked her a lot of questions and I think the session was a success and I hope it happens next year. Some PCVs not participating in the conference came to talk about malaria in the afternoon. This is always a good idea because malaria is so prevalent in Ghana that people need to learn about it so they can learn how to better protect themselves and their family.

The fourth day was more interactive. Students branched into different groups and went on tours of the different academic departments at KNUST. They could choose between Math, Engineering, Art, Medical, Agriculture, and I don’t remember the last few. After lunch they worked on more goal setting.

Day five started off with some basic CPR demonstration and was followed by hodge-podge learning. For this session the students broke into small groups and were able to learn a new skill presented by the PCVS. They could choose from things like self-defense, juggling, paper airplane making, drama club, and computer lab skills. In the evening we had the talent show, which is always a fun event. We had some rappers, singers, dancers, joke telling, and much more.

The last day was community service day. Students broke into three groups depending on what community service activity they would be doing. They could choose from Green Up Ghana, peer education, or a living billboard. The first choice dealt with trash pickup and recycling around KNUST campus. The peer education group went to a neighboring PCVs site to teach about HIV/AIDs to some of the JHS students. The living billboard was what is sounds like. Each student had a poster that on one side was part of a long group message, and the other side was a personal note. When the students all stood together their signs spelled out “We are the Future, We are Ghana.” On the back students were supposed to write something personal about themselves or about Ghana or anything, so when they flipped the signs passers by could read different messages from students. For example, some said, “together we build Ghana,” “I will change for the better,” “I like running,” and “Learning well to become a pharmacist.” It was a great event. I was part of the living billboard group so that’s why I have more to say. Regardless though, all three activities were great choices.

That brought the conference to an end and the next day everyone traveled home. It was truly an amazing and rewarding experience. I am so glad that I participated in it and my students seemed to really enjoy themselves. I am excited to meet with my SHS students who attended so that we can plan out sessions and activities for our local SHS.

That’s all for now folks!

A Difficult Time

I have been delaying writing and posting this entry as it comes as quite a challenge, and that is because it is about the death of a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer. I have been thinking about it a lot for the past few weeks, but anything I say doesn't seem to capture the emotions and hardships we have all been dealing with. 

As I may have told some of you, a few weeks ago, in the beginning of May, we got a call from Peace Corps Staff and it was not good news. A few other PCVs and I were traveling back from a World Malaria Day event and we were in the heart of Western Region. Staff called one of the PCVs I was traveling and told him she had some sad news...Danielle "Danni" Dunlap had just passed away from an illness, and it is believed to have been cerebral malaria. I was a few rows back and when I saw my friend coming back towards us I could tell it wasn't good news due to the look on his face. My heart was racing. He told us everything he knew and then we just stood/sat there for a few minutes in silence. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could someone I had just seen less than a week ago have passed away? The rest of the bus ride was probably one of the worst rides I've been on in Ghana. Phone reception was cutting in and out so it was difficult to get a hold of other people to figure out what was going on. 

I was supposed to be going back to site that night, but instead the PCVs I was traveling with and I decided that as soon as we reached the station we would turn around and take the overnight bus to Accra. A memorial service was being planned for Danni and we wanted, needed to be there. There was no questioning whether we'd go to Accra. A member of our family passed and we were going to be there no matter what. 

No matter what I say about Danni it won't do her justice. In one word, Danni was incredible. She was one of the kindest souls I have ever met. There is not one negative thing I could say about her. She was the kind of person others strive to be. At 25 she already had impressive academic and professional accomplishments. She graduated from Brown University and had already taught English in South Korea and volunteered in Haiti before coming to Peace Corps. And her work ethic didn't stop upon arriving in Ghana. She did everything under the sun - HIV/AIDS education and testing campaigns, trained new Peace Corps Volunteers, hosted In-Service Trainings, brought latrines to her village, and so much more. She was what we call a Super Volunteer. No task was impossible for Danni. If she wanted to do something, she got it done. Inspirational would be putting it mildly. And one of the many great things about Danni was that she never bragged or gloated about her service. I never felt intimidated around her when we talked about work.

My most successful project at site is actually in thanks to Danni. A couple of months ago we sat and talked for a few hours about life, boys, jobs, Peace Corps, and probably 100 more things. She began talking about doing English tutouring for some of her local JHS students. I have done quite a bit of English tutuoring before Peace Corps so naturally I was very intrigued by this project. She gave me tips and advice on how to start the group and told me if I ever needed anything I could go to her. I started this project at my site and it has been amazing. I only wish I could have told her that. 

Besides Peace Corps work though, Danni was an amazing human being. She never excluded anyone and always had a smile on her face. She was a delight to be around and instantly put you in a better mood. And she was an excellent hugger. Danni and I weren't in the same Peace Corps training group but I got to know her really well during her time here and I still can't believe she is gone. It doesn't feel right being at site and continuing to do work and knowing that she is no longer with us, but she wouldn't want us to feel that way. Wherever she is I know she is smiling down and telling us all to get to work and be happy, so that is what I am going to do. 

The memorial was wonderful. It was beautiful, powerful, and it really showed me that Peace Corps truly is a family. It was one of the most amazing things to see...PCVs and Staff working together in Accra throughout the week to plan Danni's service. We were all working hard and supporting each other through this dark time and I have never seen anything like it. Our Country Director opened up his house for the memorial and we are very grateful for that. Throughout the week, PCVs were coming together to write personal stories, compile photos and videos, memories of Danni's service, and much much more. We even designed funeral cloth with a Dr. Pepper stamp (goodness knows she was addicted to Dr. Pepper). We even had a Dr. Pepper toast for her at the end of the service. 

It was truly one of the hardest weeks I've had to endure and I couldn't have done it without my friends and family, especially my Peace Corps family. This truly showed me how powerful the relationships that we build in Peace Corps are. We love and support each other like I have never seen. I always say that I have met some of the greatest, most amazing people here in Peace Corps, and that is beyond true. I wish everyone had a chance to meet my friends here and see how incredible they are. They make me a better person and I can count on them for anything. I love them more than they know and I can't imagine my service without them. Unfortunately many of them are starting to leave soon as they came in groups before me, but it will all be OK in the end.

Tomorrow I will leave for the STARS (Students Taking Action Reaching for Success) Conference in Kumasi. It is a leadership conference for high school students around Ghana. There will be over 60 Form 2 (sophomore) students and quite a few PCVs. I am one of 12 Group Leaders this year, so that means I will have a partner and we will be in charge of six students. Throughout the week we were learn about different leadership and goal setting skills, health issues, academic and career prospects, and much more. My students that I am bringing are beyond excited and I can't wait for them to experience this conference. I am hoping that it truly inspires them to be better students and lead by example when they return home. So thank you to everyone that donated, big or small, we couldn't have done it without you. 

And some more good news...In about 65 days I will be on a plane to Orlando! I will be home this summer for a few weeks and I couldn't be more excited. I have quite a list planned out...The Pig Stand, Snack Jacks, Hurricane Patty's (notice how I started with places to eat), Universal Studios, Allison's wedding, the beach, my pool, shopping (sorry, Dad. Mom told me about Millennium Mall). And not only that I get to see my wonderful parents and my brother (who I haven't seen in over a year!) Summer can't come soon enough!

Still Alive

Well Harmattan is over and the rains have started, though not enough for my taste. The amount of dust and dirt that covers my body has diminished, although not by much. The dirt and dust will never fully escape us over here. No one wants to see what a baby wipe looks like after wiping my face after a car ride. I’ll settle for the natural and sandy earth tone “makeup” on my face if it means I can stick my head out the window in hopes of lowering my body temperature. We had a wonderful storm last night. Fork lightening started in the distance in the early afternoon as the dark clouds rolled in. We can always tell when we’re due for a storm because the big tree in the center of my housing compound starts blowing and creaking – a signal to the rest of my family to start frantically running around, covering their cocoa and wood burning stoves. It’s quite a sight to see. As much as I love thunderstorms, I don’t love that the electricity usually goes out…and no one knows when it will return. The waiting game begins. The past week probably holds the Afere record for non-interrupted electricity. It would go off but come back immediately. Apparently it was too much a good thing, and the electricity finally went out for over 12 hours.  When you’re living in “Posh Corps,” 12 hours is a long longggg time – especially when your kindle decides to break on you and your phone and laptop are dead. After dealing with the ups and downs of the Electricity Company of Ghana, it is safe to say I am very familiar with the ceiling of my bedroom.

At the end of the month I will have officially been at site for one year. I can’t believe how fast it has come. I can still perfectly remember receiving my Peace Corps invitation back in November of 2010 and now I’m a year into my service. That’s cray. I would like to say that I have accomplished everything I had planned or my first year, but sadly that is not the case. Instead of doing projects I had envisioned, I ended up doing ones I have never thought of, but it all works out in the end. You learn to roll with the punches in Peace Corps. Flexibility, patience, and a sense of humuor are three things every Peace Corps Volunteer learns…say that to a PCV and you’re guaranteed and eye-roll.

I’ve worked on a lot of projects but I won’t bore you with the details of each and every one of them. I will, however, tell you what I am most proud of….my English tutouring group. I’ve said it many times before, and I will continue to say it…the education system in Ghana is very worrisome and discouraging. I have done a fair amount of English teaching and tutuoring, so it is rather upsetting to me to see these students struggling with simple English. At the end of the year, the Form Threes take their BECE (Basic Education Certification Exam – I believe that’s correct). One component of the BECE is English, so I am really hoping to help the students with their English skills before the term comes to an end. I have been meeting with about 15 students, sometimes less if some decide to skip out, once to twice a week. The English teacher at the JHS has loaned me the current English textbook and I have been using that to help the students. Each chapter in the book has a reading comprehension section, so our group focuses on that, as their overall reading comprehension is pretty appalling. The students take turn reading paragraphs from the story and at the end I have them answer questions about the reading. None of them can fully answer the questions without looking back at their books. Their ability to read isn’t much of a concern; they do it quite well, they just don’t understand what they are reading. Ideally, this will stop and they will be able to understand what they’ve read without cheating. I am just very glad that this group has managed to make it past several meetings and the future outlook is promising. The students seem really dedicated and I believe they truly want to improve their English. Some of them even showed up on time today. Either way, I am really proud of my students and it’s such joy to watch and teach them.

Well my birthday was last week – I am officially in my mid-twenties…uhhh…where has my life gone? Don’t worry mom, you don’t look nearly old enough to have a 24 year old! I spent my birthday with some PCV friend up in Kumasi at one of our sub-offices. It was a wonderful birthday. A close friend of mine celebrated her birthday a few days after mine, so we had a joint weekend party. We brought back the fanny pack!

Next week is our All Volunteer Conference in Eastern Region. Once a year, every volunteer in Ghana is required to attend this conference so we can discuss extremely important Peace Corps issues, like grant writing and project ideas. I’m looking forward to “All-Vol,” as I’ve heard it’s quite a good time. All the volunteers in my area, about seven of us, bought matching batik fabric and we have all had outfits made so that we can match on the first day of All-Vol. It will be rather cute.

That’s all for now. I’ll try and be better about updating this.

Take care

Werkin

Well I hope everyone had a happy and festive Christmas and New Years. This was my first Christmas and New Years without my family, which gave this holiday season quite a different feel. Nonetheless, I spent it with some wonderful friends and colleagues and we did what we could to celebrate in style! Several of us traveled up to Kumasi to stay at one of our sub-offices. We had a traditional Christmas BBQ, which was delicious. 

But now it's time to get back to work. Next week I'll be officially starting my malaria project with the pregnant women. Our first meeting will be held a week from tomorrow, so there is a lot of preparation to be done before then. We have a lot of ideas and materials we want to use so it's just a matter of organizing everything and making a project plan. The final number of women signed up is 120, which is amazing! I couldn't be happier. In our initial meetings I continuously stressed the importance of attendance, so I'm hoping that the women adhere to this little rule. In order to receive a net at the end of the program the women must attend the meetings...but I'm going to give them a little leeway in case someone is sick or has to travel, so if they attend 80% of the meetings then they will still qualify for a net. Ideally, I'd love everyone to receive a net but I'm sure that won't happen, but I'll try my best to keep thinking positively! 

Winter break is almost over for the students, so this coming week they will be resuming classes. Naturally I'm excited because most of my time is spent at the school with the students and teachers. This also means that I can finally start my English tutoring club. This was something I did in America so I kind of have a soft spot for these types of projects. However, in America, I was an adult tutor and it was one-on-one. But the general idea is still the same; I taught comprehension, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc. We'll be doing much of the same thing over here, except there is going to be a small language barrier, which is why some of the teachers have agreed to help me. There are about 15 students signed up, so this coming week we'll need to have a meeting with them to remind them about their choice to join and also to start preparations for our upcoming meetings. I'd like to have one-on-one meetings as well as small group meetings. Meeting with the students individually is important so that I can gauge everyone's level of English and their comfort level. Then the small groups will allow them to practice some dialogues with one another and also to learn from each other. They get the best of both worlds!

My snail club is up and running as well. Like the English club, since school is starting again, I'll be able to meet with the snail kids more regularly and officially start making snails! One of the teachers is really dedicated to this project and he has already been a huge help to me and the students. We've already met to discuss the importance and benefits of snails and how the students can learn from raising snails. The majority of them were still interested, but we'll be going back to check on interest levels and see what we can work with.

Not much else happening on the work front. I've been doing a lot of planning these past weeks so I'm anxious to actually set something in motion and actually DO the work. At least I can always go around town and do small lessons on nutrition, malaria, family planning etc. It makes me feel like I'm doing something! I'd really like to organize something where I go around and meet with the different associations in town, like the Tailors and Hairdressers for example, and talk to them about different health issues. Meeting the community members is smaller groups is a lot easier since my town is so large. It creates a better forum for question and answer sessions and discussions. Meeting and talk with over 100 people is not always a wise choice, so I rarely have community meetings. People don't pay attention all that well and not everyone even shows up anyways. Small groups is the way to go.

Next month will be my one year mark. One year in country that is, not one year of service. But still, that is quite the milestone. I can't believe how fast is has gone. I feel like I only just arrived. Although yesterday when I arrived home, I was greeted by someone saying to me, "You've been here almost one year and yet you don't hear the Twi." Well thank you. Sure made me feel like I'm making quite an impact here! But like I tell everyone...I'M A VISUAL LEARNER. And my town doesn't really speak Twi anyways, they speak Sefwi and Sefwi is not a written language, soooooo that works well for me. But I do my best, and I manage. In my defense, the person who said that from me is not from my town and is only visiting the area, so there. Come February I'll have to write a post that is filled with self-reflection and a lot of philosophizing.

Most importantly though, in 19 days I'll be leaving on a jet plane...to South Africa! I couldn't be more happier! I finally get to see my wonderful parents and eat delicious food and not live like a PCV for three weeks. I don't even know if I remember how to use a blow-dryer! Until that time I'll be hanging out at site working, cleaning, mingling. I've been reading a lot of books lately....thank goodness for Kindles. In the past few weeks I've burned through Freakonomics, Super Freakonomics, The Tipping Point, Obama's America, and now I'm starting Atlas Shrugged. Wish me luck with that one..it's looooong, but a very interesting read. I'm enjoying it so far.

Well that is all I got for you now. I hope everyone is doing well stateside. I am happy to say that I will be returning to America this coming August. One of my best friends in the whole wide world just got engaged! She and her fiancé will be having their wedding this coming August so I'm going to do my best to get back to California this summer and help them celebrate!