76 days

Welcome to 2014! 

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years have all come and gone, and I am still here in Ghana. I haven't felt the urge to update in a while, but I'll try my best to encapsulate what has happened these past few months. 

My school construction is still underway, thankfully. Over the past few months I have had a few problems regarding the actual construction of the building. As part of Peace Corps grants, the respective communities are supposed to contribute 25% of the overall budget. This can be a monetary donation or cash-in-kind (donation of supplies, labor, etc). My community agreed to donate a few supplies, like wood and paint, as well as the necessary labor to build the structure. However, over the past few months, the project has been at a stand still. For the life of me I could not understand why no one was coming to work. I asked community members and my counterparts and they all told me, "Don't worry, the project will come on." So alright, but why is it not "coming on" now  I wondered. I begged and pleaded with people to come to work, but to no avail. Finally, I demanded my counterpart tell me what was happening. Apparently the problem was a lot bigger than I had imagined. I won't go into all the details but local politics were involved, which was a main reason why no one was working. One of the local politicians was not happy with the structure being built because he believes it does not give him a good image, as he has not brought any "development" to my town. And, as you can imagine, rumours were started and spread, coupled with incessant gossip. There were accusations of child labour, chopping money (stealing money), illegal contracts between workers, etc. Needless to say, I was appalled with the behavior of my town. I couldn't believe people would act such a way. Especially when I am here to work with them and help them. I just couldn't understand it. I have never felt so low, so beat down and worn out. I questioned what I was doing here and why did I give up 27 months of my life only to deal with things like this. It was hard to be here and hard to be in my town for a while. I was tired of the gossip and tired of the childish behavior. However, one day I went to my local market town, and by chance met a man who works for a local organization. We got to talking and eventually I vented to him about my troubles in town. Turns out it was the best chance meeting to ever happen. He called a man he works with, who happens to be from my town, and asked him to listen to my story. Naturally, he was shocked at the way his people were acting. Long story short...these two men saved my project and have helped me get it going again. People have now been coming to work, slowly but surely, and progress is finally being made. The foundation has been laid and now they are working on the walls. They have poured cement around the walls' foundation so that they can begin to lay the bricks and build the walls up. I was informed that they have used all the materials and require more bags of cement, sand, etc. so that they can continue. Naturally, I was very pleased to hear that they need more materials so that they can continue working. It was a rough few months, but I am glad to say that it appears we are back in business and I can only hope that the structure is complete before I complete my service (in March!). 

What else. In about 3 weeks, the one and only Lynne Robinett will be gracing Ghana with her presence. That's right. THE BRITISH ARE COMING. My mom arrives in Ghana on February 1 and departs the 25, so we have 25 fun, dirty, smelly, crazy filled days ahead of us. I will bring her back to my site for a few days, just so she can get the feel of village living...which I am sure she will absolutely LOVE...not. After a few days of Peace Corping it up, we will head down to the beach for some much needed R&R. Of course we will do a bunch of tourist things like buying overpriced trinkets in local markets, visiting the slave castles, perhaps a walk in the rainforest canopy, night time turtle walks, etc. I'm more excited for the breakfast buffet at the hotel we will be staying at, but that's just me. My first round went really well when we visited South Africa (I had to run back to the hotel room and throw up due to overindulgence, but it was well worth it). I can't say it won't happen again, sorry, Mom. After about a week on beach, soaking up those sun rays like true Brits, we will head up to Northern Region and go to Mole National Park and try to catch a glimpse of some elephants and other wild animals. I can say I will be quite upset if I see a chicken or a goat on the reserve and will demand a partial refund. I know she is getting excited to come - she sent me a picture of her backpack she bought, which appears to be the same size as her, but it looks like it can hold a few packets of beef jerky and some Sweet Baby Rays. As any good child would do, I have been preparing my mother for what she is about to experience. Every few days I will send her a picture of the food I am eating, if she is lucky it is a video. So far she has seen kontomire stew with plantain, waakye, red red, and my favorite picture/video combo to send...fufu. The latest edition was a photo of the untouched fufu (light soup and chicken) followed by a 15 second video of me "chopping" fufu (chopping means eating). I am pretty sure my dad has played in on repeat for my mom - I can see him smirking and laughing from here. I know she will take it like a champ though...and I will be right there with the camera recording every second. So I get 25 days with Mom-o and my dad gets 25 days of peace and quiet, golf, and cribbage...I'm beginning to think he planned this all along.

So after my mom leaves wonderful Ghana, I will be following in a few short weeks! In about 11 days my group has our COS Conference, where we will meet to discuss completing service, life after PC, and philosophizing on other important life issues. We have received the approved COS dates and if everything goes according to plan, I will be home on March 27...just in time for my 25th birthday (March 28, so feel free to send a combo birthday present of "Welcome Back to America/Happy 25th Birthday). What better way to celebrate the big 2-5 than to wake up in America? NO BETTER WAY!

Nothing much else is happening right now. My harddrives are loaded up with all the great TV shows and movies. I am currently starting the second season of West Wing...and yes, Mom and Dad, you were right, I do like it. All of my graduate school applications have been filled out and submitted. I won't find anything out until mid-march. So it will either be the best welcome home news, or the most depressing welcome home news and the job search will begin. Fingers crossed that is not the latter.

It's about the time of the afternoon, where my bed calls to me, and I must go and take a nap...or watch more TV. Either way, I'm outta here!

76 days...'Merica...here I come!