This week we had our training for the PD/Hearth program in Nkwanta District. Hearth is a community-based approach to nutritional rehabilitation and behavior change. ‘PD’ stands for Positive Deviance, and the concept is to identify ‘positive deviant’ mothers in the community, that despite shortages in money and resources, are still able to raise healthy, well-nourished children. These mothers are trained as leaders and role models for food preparation and healthy practices to educate other mothers within the community. From our community it was myself, our clinic nurse and two community volunteers that participated in the Hearth training, and will implement the program back in the village.

Our pre-Hearth consisted of recording the weights of all under five children at the monthly clinic baby weighing, and then out of those, selecting the most under-weigh or malnourished children. Those children and their mothers participate in a two-week program where we learn to prepare highly nutritious foods, making slight alterations using locally available ingredients such as soya bean powder, ground nuts, eggs and leafy greens. At the end of the two weeks we again weigh the children and see how much they have gained/improved in the two weeks of high-protein feeding.

In addition, every day of the program we focus a different topic of healthy practices in things such as breast-feeding, immunizations, milestones in childhood development, household and environmental hygiene. For us, an important component of the Hearth program will be involving our Mothers Support Group...using the group as a source of information in traditional and cultural healthy practices and how non-healthy cultural practices can be re-shaped to in the best way for the mothers and children.

So...being a new year, I have made the resolution to...blog MORE. And there is a recent addition to my computer status that will greatly help this -> a Vodaphone USB Internet Modem, which allows more reliable Internet. So, hooray, hopefully more blogging :)

A nice recap of the last three months is that I was able to share them with my brother, which was an amazing opportunity for us both. Thomas was able to get a great idea of what Ghana is like and what it means to live in Ghana, even at the village level. He also was able to see a great deal of the country. We traveled to the Upper East region, down through the Northern region, Ashanti, Cape Coast and Central region, and then of course we covered most of the Volta region. From beaches to bush, Thomas saw the full array of what Ghana has to offer.

In the village we spent time working with the school and with our evening reading group that comes to the house. We tackled the World Map project, which consists of painting a detailed map of the world using a grid system. Impressive, yes. This is now a permanent addition to the primary school wall, and is a huge hit at the school. Being able to look at a map of the world and locate Africa, then locate Ghana, and even know what part of Ghana we live in...that's a pretty big deal. I'm excited about integrating the World Map into this next school term, doing small projects with the classes. Geography and a basic geographic knowledge is something a lot of us take for granted...except I guess, what is that they had on Jay Leno's show?...Jay walking?? where people on the street are quizzed on basic geography...and it’s appalling, hah, thats an exception. But the basic idea of developing an idea of the world, a broader worldview, where you live in the world, that is important.

Soap! Yes, more soap. And we made it. Two different women's groups learned to make soap beginning to end. It was a fun, and started a bit of conversation about possibilities in selling soap in the village and also Nkwanta market. And actually from some Togo Peace Corps Volunteers in the health sector, I learned about citronella soap and lotion making. We're going to try it in February. A soap or lotion that can also help prevent malaria-causing mosquito bites, that would be even better.

And now...it's almost the end of January, which means six months until the end of my Peace Corps service. It’s surprising and shocking. At times I feel like there are so many things I thought could be accomplished, and am now looking at the coming six months, knowing its not all possible. Judging our projects on the American or Western standard of time and work has been a constant battle, a constant effort to not become disappointed or cynical about the process. Even now I still want to build our library, implement a nutrition and hygiene program at our clinic, build the girls after school reading group to a consistent number of students, establish the Kue JHS scholarship program for students leaving primary school…so much. And I know it’s not realistic, and that I’ll have to find a place in the middle of it all where I can make a peace with leaving my site, but more and more I am realizing how difficult that time will be when it comes. So small, small, until that time, we’ll keep ‘moving forward’ as any good Ghanaian would say.

Several weeks ago, one of our friends who is an Art Education PCV in the Volta Region, was given one of the highest honors possible by her community. She became a Queen Mother and had the full ‘enstoolment’ ceremony.

When a person becomes either a Chief or a Queen Mother, the process is called ‘enstooling’ referring to the royal stool that a Chief or Queen Mother sits on to conduct official business, or during ceremonies and celebrations. The actual stool can vary in size, design and color, but all are of the highest craftsmanship and quite beautiful. Included here is a photo of Jennifer’s official stool. In the northern parts of Ghana, this ceremony is called ‘enskinning’, as the royal person sits on the hide (…or ‘skin’) of an animal, such as a deer or goat.

A group of current PCVs, our Country Director (Mike) and our Programming & Training Officer (Rob) attended the Enstoolment Ceremony. It was pretty amazing seeing one of our fellow PCVs go through the ceremony of becoming a Queen Mother. And it’s for life! Once a Queen Mother, always a Queen Mother. When someone receives an honor like this from their community, the responsibilities of serving that community will remain, even while living back in the US.

Also, the newest group of Peace Corps Trainees just completed their Pre Service Training and 'Swore-In' as official Peace Corps Volunteers. I was involved in helping to train this new group of Small Enterprise Development (SED) trainees, and had a great time meeting them all. It was also great to spend some time with our SED Technical Trainer - Nana. He’s an inspiration in developing the small business world of Ghana. ‘No danger!’

So as you can imagine, the World Cup was a very very big deal here. Futbol is the number one sport, adored by every man, woman and child. At least all that I have met. I have been converted and am now a wholehearted futbol fan. I'm still learning the exact rules and penalties that go with professional futbol, but Ghanaians love to discuss (and argue) about futbol, and are more than happy to explain any questions you might have regarding the sport.

It was a wonderful experience watching the games in my village. How?...you ask, because there is no electricity in said village. True. However, my chief has (a) a generator (b) a tv, and (c) a giant bamboo pole that reaches high up in the air with an antennae attached. These things all equal cramming as many people as possible onto the porch of my chief's house to cheer on Ghana. The games looked like this...

and this is how the games were advertised in the village....

Ghana was the only African team to advance to the Semi-Finals; the other African teams competing included Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa. Initially Ghanaians were depressed to hear that Michael Essien, the all-star player, was injured and wouldn't be competing in the World Cup. However Ghana played impressively well throughout the tournament and everyone was so proud! There were Ghana flags on storefronts, moto's and tro-tro's everywhere you went. Sodiq, the son of my chief, and I gave Ghana a thumbs up.

and the songs we've all been singing since then....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoSi1tV_tHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M3Q54rPjQw

So several weeks ago a bunch of us attended a soap making workshop in the Upper West Region, organized by a current PCV. It was a great week-long workshop where we learned the entire soap making process, and also walked away from the workshop with most of the physical materials and tools needed to make the soap. The particular soap that this volunteer and their organization make is called Moringa Soap. Moringa is known in some circles as the 'miracle plant'.

Moringa is currently being promoted as a means to combat poverty and malnutrition. It grows quickly in many types of environments, and much of the plant is edible, including by livestock. The leaves contain all essential amino acids and are rich in protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin C, and minerals. Feeding the high protein leaves to cattle has been shown to increase weight gain by up to 32% and milk production by 43 to 65%. According to Dr. K. Shaine Tyson of Rocky Mountain Biodiesel Consulting, the defatted meal contains 60% protein, 40% more than soybean meal. The defatted meal can also be used to purify water, settling out sediments and undesirable organisms.

-wikipedia-

As volunteers we brought local counterparts to the workshop, and together we learned the entire process of soapmaking. It was actually really fun to be making something with our hands. I feel like a lot of the work we do here is fairly intangible, and it was refreshing to be making something with a physical result.

Our main ingredients were *shea butter *palm oil *palm kernel oil *caustic soda *perfume *dye/coloring *moringa powder (dried leaves of the moringa plant)

and since mangoes, oranges and pineapples are all grown locally in my village, I'm hoping to use those for natural perfume/coloring - perhaps we'll start making edible soap....

It's a pretty intensive process - the caustic soda must be mixed with water and sit for 3 days before it is ready for use, the palm oil and kernel oils must be boiled and then cooled for 24 hours, one of the steps is testing the pH balance with a hydrometer....very scientific - And acquiring all the necessary ingredients is a pretty hefty task, but its definitely worth the effort if there is an interested group in your community.

That group in my community is a women's SUSU group. Basically a group of women who meet, typically, once a week to contribute their 1 Ghana Cedi, then all the money is pooled together and given to one group member. The next week, the pool of money will go to the next woman. This money can be used as purchasing capital for small businesses (a majority of the woman are small food sellers/traders), or for things like children's school fees or household purchases. When discussing their interests, needs and hopes for the future of the SUSU group, most of the women stated that they needed a more long term type of savings plan. Most said that when it was their week to collect the money, the money was spent within the next day or two and their families knew when it was their week to collect, and would simultaneously voice needs for the money.

So after the soap making workshop, I was talking with one of the women in the group about how we would plan our own soap making workshop in our village, to transfer the information and hopefully set up a functioning soap making group within the SUSU group. We settled on the idea of making the soap all together as a group, dividing up the different bars for the women to sell in various markets, around the village, etc, and then collecting each womans profits and placing it in savings for a specified amount of time - 6 to 12 mos. We could deduct the necessary costs for making the next batch of soap and allow the remaining funds to remain in savings. This way there is a more effective lump sum of money for each woman, and it is not a 1 Ghana Cedi contribution weekly, but simply the small profits from the soap sales. In addition, I'm hoping to recieve funds from a small grant to cover the costs of the initial start up raw materials for our first soap making adventure. Stay tuned :)

I've been urged to include some pictures of my house, so hopefully this gives a good idea of the inside and out...

My direct neighbor is the major mosque in my village. It is the one used on Fridays, for the main afternoon prayers, but only used by a handful of people throughout the week. There are four other mosques (much smaller) throughout the village, that are used daily by several households each. It's quite a lovely way to end the day, sitting outside my house in the evenings, when the Imam comes to our mosque and begins his call to prayer.

My front door...

And then once you walk through the front door, the little hall way area is where I have set up my kitcen...

I have a camp stove with three burners (one that I like to think of as the 'simmer burner'...it makes cooking seem at little more gourmet, at times...), and a propane tank that we transport into Nkwanta to fill. And then on the end of my 'prep tables' is my super-power, Peace Corps issue water filter. This is the one that will filter dirty river water into acceptable drinking water. I give them two thumbs up.

And here's the bedroom, equipped with mosquito net. And my bookshelves. That I painted. And if anyone is under the impression that paint wards off termites...it most certainly does not. But it makes the shelves look much nicer, for sure.

Since I've been doing a fair bit of travel recently, I'd thought I'd give a little overview of the overland travel methods here in Ghana.

There are basically 3 modes of transportation I take advantage of when moving from my village to the main market town, another town or city, and Accra.

Coming in and out of my village on certain days of the week, we have taxis. Leaving the village, we fit 4 persons in the back and 3 in the front, in addition to the driver - very cozy. The cars are regular four door taxis, of various makes and models. All are used cars, a lot come from China, and certainly all are held together with various pieces of rope, tape, screwdrivers and plastic bags. To be the driver of any kind of public transportation here requires you to be not only a driver, but also repair man, firefighter and animal herder. The ability for some of the taxis that come into my village to continue to function, is truly a marvel.

The next and most common transportation is the tro-tro. This is typically a 12 or 15

person van. There are the bench-style seats (that will seat either two or three persons), and then the 'jump seat' which is a the seat on the end that folds up and back down to allow movement.

If you are traveling from one town or city to the next, you'll usually get on a direct tro-tro, and all passengers will travel the full distance together. But then there are tro's that will be constantly picking up and dropping off passengers (usually traveling shorter distances), and this is quite the circus. The person sitting all the way in the back may be the next one that needs off, so everyone piles out, over the jumpseats, bags and packages are rearranged, people climb back in to the tro, and you continue on.

And perhaps the most fascinating part of the tro-tro experience is the mate. This is the person who rides in the seat next to the sliding door (or not, he may potentially be standing in the tro, hanging out the window, or completely outside the tro - holding onto the sliding door). The job of the mate is to constantly be calling out the direction the tro is traveling, complete with intricate hand signals explaining if they're going uptown, downtown, circling the town, etc. He is also the one who shuffles people on and off the tro, and also collects fares and makes change for passengers.This is where I am really impressed. Because in this situation, passengers are getting on and off at all different places, so therefore the fare for each will be different. The mate will remember where each person gets on, what the fare would be and then will remember who has and has not paid on the tro. The mate is truly a multi-tasker, extrordinaire.

The last form of transportation that is common for me here are the Benz buses. These are buses that usually travel longer distances (between cities) and accomodate a greater number of passengers than the tro, probably double. I tend to believe also Benz bus traveling is probably twice as dangerous as tro travel. But at least its a Mercedes, and you're traveling in style :)

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Keeping in line with that 3rd goal of the Peace Corps, is the World Wise Schools Correspondence Match Program. This is where a Peace Corps Volunteer is matched with students or a classroom in the US, and they have exchanges between themselves and also the community members or students in the Volunteer's village.

This was a major reason I chose to have a blog while in Ghana, and I was lucky enough to already know three students that are home-schooled in Claremore, Oklahoma: Brenden, Ethyn and Talon. They will be my Claremore Correspondents. They drafted a list of questions for me, and this is our first official correspondence!

1. Have you been to Lake Volta?

So I have crossed Lake Volta, coming from Accra Regions & Central Regions into the Volta Region. Though I have not actually been to the Lake. However, I hear there is the option of taking ferries across/around the Lake…it is something I’ll keep in mind. Also, I learned there was a Peace Corps Volunteer that did an HIV/AIDS Awareness program in villages all along Lake Volta, traveling by boat. That’s something that sounds very interesting.

2. Have you seen the soccer team?

I have not seen any members of the Black Stars (Ghana’s professional ‘futbol’ team) or the Black Queens (women’s team) in person…that I know of. However, I was able to watch the Under 20 World Finals game (the Under 20 Team name is the Black Satellites) between Brazil and Ghana - when Ghana won, it was about 2 months ago, I believe. So there isn’t electricity in my village, but our chief has a small generator, and an even smaller television set. So myself and every other male in the village crammed onto his front porch-like area to watch the final Brazil/Ghana game. And let me tell you, it was INTENSE. Even for someone like myself, who doesn’t know a great deal about soccer/futbol, I was a nervous wreck by the end of the game. So it was tied 0-0 through the entire game, they went into the overtime sessions where each team gets 5 goal-kick chances. The first kick-off resulted in 1-1, and they had to go into a second kick-off. This time Ghana won by 1 goal. Oh the guys in my village went CRAZY. Truly, they were just so excited. I had friends in Accra that weekend, and they were watching the game at a sports bar, they also said that the atmosphere all over Accra was just insane. And this is the Under 20 team we’re talking about, not even the Black Stars. So you can imagine what its going to be like next year for the World Cup. I listen to BBC radio news in the evenings, and they’ve just had the draw where they create the brackets of who-plays-who in the World Cup. Its going to be interesting :)

3. Is it hot there? Do you live in the tropics? Is it desert or jungle?

So Ghana is interesting, because it’s a little bit of all eco-systems. We are officially in the tropics, yes. But the Northern parts of Ghana are part of the ‘Sahel’, which is the broad region south of the Sahara Desert. The Sahal areas are a flat, somewhat desert-like stretch of land. Moving south from the Sahel, it turns into Savannah and wood-lands, then more arid with some lovely rainforests moving further south, and then when you reach the coast of Ghana, it is as you would expect from a wet/coastal area. My particular site in northern Volta is mainly semi-mountainous woodlands.

And oh yes. It is hot. It is very hot. But you know, if you’ve spent a summer in Texas or Oklahoma, you know what hot is. And its not that its really so much hotter here. In my opinion it’s the fact that you can’t get away from the heat that makes its so much more drastic. For example, summertime in the US, you can go from your air conditioned home, to your air conditioned car/bus/subway, to your air conditioned office/school, to the air conditioned stores/shops, and back home again. Now we definitely enjoy doing outdoor, non-air conditioned things during the summer in the US, of course. But I think it’s the option of being able to cool down that makes the sense of heat in the US vs. here quite different. However, this is an amazing discovery for me, so we are moving into the ‘Dry Season’ now. There is a Dry Season and a Rainy Season. The Dry Season is apprx Nov 15th - sometime in March, and the Rainy Season is the rest of the time. That’s not the amazing part, the amazing part is that right now, and I think for about the rest of December/some of January it is legitimately cool in the evenings and early mornings. I was very surprised. I actually didn’t believe people in my village when they were telling me this would happen. I have been wearing long sleeves and even wrapped up in a pashmina the other night to sit outside. This cool weather is fleeting though…so I’m trying to enjoy as much as I can. The ’Harmattan’ is also a component of the Dry Season. The Harmattan is a seasonal wind that blows down from the Sahara. Basically stirring up massive amounts of dust that hangs in the air, creating a perpetual haziness. It had started a bit, and I notice it mostly in how my hair feels. Your hair and skin gets very dry during the Harmattan. But my fellow volunteers in the Northern parts of Ghana will experience a more severe Harmattan.

4. What kind of animals are there?

So…it is said that Ghana used to have a very rich animal population, somewhere along the lines of what you can see in East Africa. That is no longer the case, due to several factors, the deforestation pushed the animal populations out, as did the high levels of poaching. There is a national park here in Ghana, Mole (pronounced ‘molay’, like the amazing Mexican sauce…mmm…)National Park. That is a place you can go to see elephants here in Ghana. As far as animals you can see here at Kyabobo, you’re mainly talking about bush buck (like a deer), antelope, a warthog-looking creature. And there are two resident peacocks on the Kyabobo office compound. But in the Volta Region there is the mona monkey ‘Tafi Atome’ sanctuary, and the Shai Hills National Park has plenty of baboons. So the wildlife is here…just not on the scale of other parts of Africa. Oh but wait, the birds, I forget about them. Ghana is actually one of the best places to come to birdwatch. There are a vast number of species here. So…calling all birders…

5. Do you like their music?

I think so. Yes, I would say I do. The music Ghana is known for is called ‘Highlife’. it’s a little bit like regae. Its fun to dance to. But dance music, that is what all the Ghananaians that I know love. And they looove to dance. In the village, they have what are called ‘jams’. Basically someone will pay a DJ to come in with his set-up (which includes enormous, enormous speakers) and play music for a specified amount of time, this is typically into the early hours of morning. And all the teenagers and small kids in the whole village will come out and dance. Its cute.

6. What do you do to pass the time?

I read. A great deal.

7. What is the money called there? How different is it from our money system?

The bill money is called a ‘cedi’ ( pronounced ‘CD’), and its somewhat similar to the dollar system. The abbreviation is GHC - which stands for Ghana cedi. So the bills come in increments of 1 GHC, 5 GHC, 10 GHC, 20 GHC, 50 GHC, and I’m assuming 100 GHC - though I’ve never seen one. The coins are called ‘peswas’ (pronounced pay-swahs), and they come in increments of 5, 10, 20, 50, and then there is a 1 cedi coin. There also 1 peswa coins that exist, but you only see them when you go to the major supermarkets or stores in Accra. No one uses them in the rest of the country, because everything is priced in increments of 5 peswa.

8. How do you get power, and do you have the internet?

My village does not have electricity, so no - I don’t have the internet at my house.

The main town in my area though, Nkwanta, does have electricity. The Kyabobo Park office has internet, and then there are two NGOs in Nkwanta that have internet as well - World Vision and the Women and Development (WA-DEP).

9. Are there diamond mines in Ghana? Have you found gold?

I don’t know about any diamond mines, but there definitely is gold. The Ashanti Empire, probably the most famous empire in Ghana’s history, is known for their gold. I believe you would find the gold mines (or remnants thereof) around the city of Kumasi, in the Ashanti region. I have not personally found gold, unfortunately.

10. What region do you live in?

I live in the Volta Region. It is on the eastern side of Ghana, along the Togo border. The Volta Region was formally part of Togo, known as the ‘Trans-Volta’, its some interesting colonial-era history.

11. What places have you been?

I have been to the Western, Ashanti, Accra, Central and Volta Regions. I haven’t really had the opportunity to do much travel, but I’m hoping to be able to visit several existing Community-Based Tourism projects around Ghana, as we begin to structure our own community-based program in my village. And also whenever I have guests from the US, that’s a great excuse to travel J

12. Have you been to a castle? Do you expect to be going to a castle?

I have not been to one of the castles, but that’s something I definitely want to do. The cities of Cape Coast and Takoradi both have castles of great historical significance.

13. Have you met anyone important?

I have! The US Ambassador to Ghana and his wife, Ambassador and Mrs. Tietlebaum. Then also, our own President Obama and Michelle Obama were here in July, but I didn’t exactly ‘meet’ them. Some of my fellow volunteers who were better at squeezing their way to the front of the crown were able to shake their hands. And then of course there are chiefs in every village, and it is proper protocol when visiting a village to first locate, and then introduce yourself to that village’s chief before you go about whatever else. So we meet our fair share of chiefs here.

14. Does Ghana have a National Anthem? If so what is it?

They do have a National Anthem. I have never heard it sung in person, so I can’t vouch for it, but YouTube says it sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkOts4dwtQg

Thanks for the great questions! Until next time...

My village is one of the ‘fringe communities’ of Kyabobo National Park. It is the last of the fringe communities before you reach the border with Togo. There is a river that serves as the border between our village and Togo. It is approximately a 45 minute drive from the main town in our district, Nkwanta, or a 2 ½ hour bike ride…whichever the case may be…

This is a photo of the road entering the village. The mountains in the background are in Togo.

I live directly next to the main mosque in our village. Here’s an idea of how close -> Mosque on the left, my house on the right.

There are 2 or 3 other mosques in the village, but this is the one that everyone comes to on Fridays to pray. I have neighbors living to the right of my house, and also behind my house that I visit with. And I am never lacking in small children keeping me company when I am sitting outside. So I can’t say I’m lonely for company, its simply not possible!

Our village is the hometown for all Kotokoli’s living in Ghana. The Kotokoli’s are a tribe that originated in Togo, and most Kotokoli’s do still live in Togo. The Chief of our village is Kotokoli, and he also serves as the Paramount Chief of all Kotokoli’s in Ghana. Our village is comprised of several other tribes, including Challa, Loso, Konkomba, Basari and Chocosi. (I am spelling these all phonetically, so I apologize for any inaccuracies). Each of the tribes in the village have their own Chief which act as sub-Chiefs to the main Chief of our village. And as you may have guessed, each tribe also has their own language! Everyone understands Twi, the somewhat ‘lingua franca’ of Ghana, and use Twi as the common ground between the many different tribal languages.

The homes is our village are constructed with either mud brick or cement walls, and have either thatch or tin roofs. Most homes are arranged in a sort of compound layout, with a center area where family members will do the washing, cooking, drying and sorting of crops from farm, etc.

Our village is almost entirely farming-based. The men and women both ‘go to farm’, as the phrase goes. They leave early in the morning, and start coming back around 2 o’clock, with some staying later into the afternoon and evening, and even some sleeping for nights at a time at their farms. The farms reach out in all directions from the center of the village. I think most people walk, on average, about 20-30 minutes or so to get to farm, but some are quite far off. I have purchased tall rubber ‘Wellington’ boots, so I am now equipped to ‘go to farm’. My counterpart promises I can go with him next Saturday. He said I can be in charge of gathering fire wood. I don’t think he trusts me with the actual crops…rightfully so.

The predominant crop here is the yam (more on this later, the yam needs an entire post dedicated solely to it), followed by cassava, groundnuts (peanuts), okra, tomato, onion, garden egg (which are like mini eggplants), and small green and red chilies.

Bananas, oranges and mangoes are some of the main fruits, and I am particularly lucky because a man in my village is an expert pineapple farmer. I’ve had two pineapples from his farm. Delicious.

Here’s a look at two different areas of the village.

So best wishes to everyone for a lovely Thanksgiving.

We PCVs have graciously been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at the US Ambassador’s home in Accra. A trip to the big city :)

So when I mentioned 'bad roads' before...this is what I meant.

This is the main road between Hohoe and Nkwanta.

So the Volta Region is my new home. I live in the northern part of the Volta Region, in the Nkwanta District (pronounced “In-kwan-ta”). The northern part of Volta is less developed than the rest of Volta, and the literacy rates are actually some of the lowest across Ghana. There is a great NGO based here in

Nkwanta called “Ghana Education Project”. I’ll have the opportunity to work with them on Conservation Education programs that they have in the local schools, in conjunction with Kyabobo Park.

Here’s a look at the town of Nkwanta. It’s pretty much a straight shot…down a long dirt road. We liken it to the Wild West. It’s really starting to grow on me though. The people are all fairly low-key and relaxed, you can get all the things you really need, and it is set at the base of the scenic Kyabobo Park mountains.

During the dry season (when the roads are in better condition) you can make it from Nkwanta to Accra in 5-6 hours. But during the rainy season (which is roughly from May - October) it can take anywhere from 6-10 hours. This is because the rains wash out parts of the dirt roads, the giant yam trucks get stuck in the mud -and stalled for days until some larger truck can come and move them, which blocks the road for any other traffic, and the potholes caused by the rain and the heavy loads of the trucks are pretty intense. In fact, I think a more accurate description would be craters, not potholes. But the upside to traveling in the rainy season is that there is no dust. Apparently during the dry season, the dust on the roads can get pretty bad, and after traveling for several hours, you are covered from head to toe. Something to look forward to :)

So you are officially in the Volta Region when you cross Lake Volta. Crossing in to the Volta Region kind of reminds me of crossing the Arkansas River traveling from Oklahoma into Texas…

Each region in Ghana has a regional capital. Here in Volta, the regional capital is the city - Ho. Basically Ho is in the south, then traveling north of Ho is the city Ho Hoe (pronounced “Ho Hoy”), and then north of Ho Hoe is Nkwanta. (I’ve heard that using Google Satellite you can zoom in on Ghana, Volta Region, and find Nkwanta…) Travel time from Nkwanta to Ho Hoe is about 3-ish hours, and from Ho Hoe to Ho is about another 2 hours. The Volta Region, proportionally, has an amazing amount of tourist and eco-tourist attractions (a good website -> www.ghanaecotourism.org)

Some highlights:

*Kyabobo National Park…(#1 tourism site in Ghana)

*Liate Wote (where my SED friend Katie is working) home of the Togbo Waterfalls and the highest mountain in Ghana - Mt. Afadjato

*Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary - where the Mona monkeys live

*Wli Waterfalls

*Avu Lagoon

*Kpetoe - an Ewe community that is known for its Kente weaving. (google “kente weaving” and you will learn a bit about Ghana’s traditional woven cloth. It’s really beautiful, and very cool to watch.)

*Xavi Bird Reserve

*Keta - the beach :)

So if you’re thinking about coming to visit Ghana…Volta is THE place to be.

In our group of volunteers, there are 13 of us that were assigned to the Volta Region. And four of us are up here in Nkwanta. The three other volunteers in our Nkwanta group are all Health/Water Sanitation Volunteers. And one of my fellow Nkwanta volunteers also lived in New York, 5 blocks from where I lived in Wash Heights, and worked about 6 blocks away from where I worked on the Upper West Side…for TWO YEARS. So that means we had the exact same commute - on the A train - every morning for two years, and now our sites here in Ghana are both in Nkwanta District. Crazy world, I tell you…

So here is a look at our bunch of lovely Volta Volunteers …

We had our official “Swearing-In” on August 13th. This is where we transitioned from Peace Corps Trainees to Peace Corps Volunteers. In attendance were members of our Host Families - from all six communities - all our PC Training Staff, current PCVs, Admin Staff from the Accra PC Office, the US Ambassador, the Chief and various officials from the local town and schools, and an amazing Ghanaian Brass Band. So there were several speeches, each of our Trainee language groups performed a short skit demonstrating that we had - in fact - learned some local language, the Omnibus and Education sectors each performed a traditional Ghanaian dance, we were awarded certificates, our Host Families were announced one-by-one to receive big hugs and their own certificates, my First Peace Corps Friend (FPCF J ) -Guillermo Moratorio-, along with the help of several other PCTs, produced an amazing video based on the “Me ho ye paa” phrase --which in the Twi language means “I am very fine” ::I will try and upload the video...soon..::, we then solemnly took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Brass Band played. So that’s how it happened that we 63 PCTs became Ghana’s newest Peace Corps Volunteers . It was a beautiful day, everyone was dressed in their finest Ghanaian clothing, and we celebrated well into the evening at our local “For You” Spot.

Then it was off to site!

For the next three months, we are required to stay at our sites without traveling, so as to fully integrate into our communities. We will be setting up our houses, meeting our community members, and overall defining what our role will be throughout the next two years (no stress!) The public schools here in Ghana begin in a couple of weeks, so that’s when all our Education friends start their official jobs as Math, Science, ICT and Visual Art teachers. At the end of these first three months, we will have what is called In-Service-Training (IST), where we meet back up in our various Sectors and discuss how our first three months have gone. In Peace Corps, this is what we call a “De-Brief”. (We De-Brief everything. We have De-Briefs about De-Briefs…) At IST, we will learn more specific skills that we have identified as needing to learn for our specific site projects. So for example, if our community has suggested a certain project they want to work on, and would like to write a grant to obtain funding for that project, at IST we might learn about various avenues of funding for such a project, and then share that information with the community members interested in writing the grant. The end-all-be-all goal is, of course, sustainability and our role in the community is one of facilitator. IST will enable us to be a better source of information and resources for our community.

AND it will be right around Thanksgiving! So I’m sure a feast will be in order…

[Photos]

(a) Small Enterprise Development (SED) group

(b) host sister Presla and host mother Drace

(c) newly sworn-in PCVs with local officials

The photo to the left is Brother & Nana.

And the above photo is myself, Brother, Presla, Nana & Sister Drace.

During our 10 weeks of Pre-Service Training, we lived with host families in small communities surrounding the Peace Corps training site.

My host family lived in a compound with many separate rooms, and a section that was actually a two-storey house. I had a private room and kind of a little sitting area with couches, coffee table and book cases. Comparatively, my host family had quite a nice house - I think this is somehow related to their association with the Chief. From what I could best understand, my host mother was the niece of the Chief…but the nature of relationships and familial terms are very blurred here. Everyone is everyone else’s sister, uncle or cousin. So sometimes you just have to guess.

The town we were staying has had electricity for, I believe the last 10-15 years. They also have a total of 3 boreholes throughout town, where community members go to pump water. Borehole is very clean (as Peace Corps volunteers, we still use a filter for all of our drinking water) and is a much better option versus water from a river, etc.

So my host family mainly consisted of:

Mother = Sister Drace

Sisters = Presla (22 yrs) & Rosemary (16 yrs)

Presla’s Baby = Isabella (3 months old)

“Junior Siblings” = Brother & Nana (each roughly 2 yrs…)

There are many other people who live in the family compound, but what I listed above was my main, day-to-day family that spent time with.

It’s also interesting to note that all of the farm-type animals co-habitate with the family in the compound. There really isn’t the concept of keeping animals in a pen or fenced-in area. So they just wander throughout the town, in and out of homes and compounds, and somehow - miraculously - wind up back in the proper family compound to spend the night. Animals that shared our compound included sheep, goats, chickens, roosters (soooo many roosters), dogs, cats and pigs.

And the chicken situation is particularly interesting. As a method of identifying your chickens (think along the lines of cattle branding) people paint there chickens different colors…..but for some reason its almost always pink. I have a picture of one somewhere...i'll find it..

President Obama visited Ghana on July 10th and 11th, 2009. It was a short trip, but he visited with several different groups and made a visit with Michelle and kids to the Cape Coast Castle, an historic landmark commemorating the cross-Atlantic slave trade. I can tell you with no uncertainty that EVERY GHANAIAN in this country was so excited about Obama’s visit. There are hotels, bars, restaurants, taxi cabs, and even biscuit/crackers named after Obama.

(refer to below pictures).

We, as Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) were able to join current PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) on the eve of President Obama’s departure, at the Accra airport - on the tarmac - for a joint farewell speech with Ghanaian President Atta Mills. There were several hundred other people there, mainly Ghanaians, but some from the US Embassy and an international University in Accra. In addition, Peace Corps people joined a smaller group of people in a VIP-setting of sorts - in which we were allowed in the space directly in front of both the Presidents’ podiums. In fact, those PC folk who made it to the very front were able to shake hands with both Barack and Michelle after the speeches.

It was basically an amazing experience. I had never heard the President speak in person, and to hear him giving a joint speech with the Ghanaian President and also make reference to the Peace Corps throughout his speech was great. A big thanks to all those at Peace Corps who were responsible for transporting and housing us during those 24 hours - it was quite the event.

[Below are various excerpts from the speeches of Pres. Obama & Pres. Atta Mills, and several photos.]

*****

PRESIDENT ATTA MILLS: “President Obama, there's not a single Ghanaian who is not excited by your visit. And a lot of Ghanaians began praying for you the moment they heard that you were coming to visit us. The Good Lord has heard our prayers and you have come. And I think that, by all standards, we can all say this has been a very successful visit. I would therefore, my brother and sisters, like on your behalf to say me dawase, me dawase. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Nyame, Nyame -- Nyame fa me koe. May God safely guide you. Thank you, President. (Applause.)”

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Hello, Ghana. (Applause.) Thank you.. Thank you. I want to thank the people of Ghana for this extraordinary visit. Michelle and I have been greatly honored to be joined by President Mills and his lovely wife. They have been gracious hosts.

You know, your President and I have a lot in common. We're both lawyers, we're both former law professors, we're both new presidents. (Applause.) We both like to think of ourselves as athletes. The difference is President Mills played hockey on the national team of Ghana, and I played basketball mostly in my backyard. (Applause.)

But we both love sports. We're both proud of serving our country.. And today I want to honor President Mills for his strong and thoughtful leadership, his devotion to democracy, and his commitment for the future of his nation. I also want to thank the magnificent welcoming committee, including the drummers and the dancers. Michelle and I and our daughters enjoyed it very much.

I want to recognize our Peace Corps volunteers who are here. (Applause.) You know, Ghana was the very first nation to host young people from the Peace Corps. And for decades, our two nations have formed vital partnerships and lasting friendships because of this program. So all of you in the Peace Corps, you are doing an outstanding job and we're proud of you. (Applause.”

…..“So I especially want to, again, speak to the young people of Africa. In places like Ghana you make up more than half the population, and here is what you must know: that the world is what you make of it. You have the power to hold your leaders accountable and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in communities like these Peace Corps workers -- (applause) -- and harness your energy and education to renew and build connections between the world. You can conquer disease and end conflict and make change from the bottom up. You can do all that.

And I promise you this: If you seize this opportunity, if you take responsibility for your future, America will be with you every step of the way as a partner and as a friend. (Applause.)”

*****

At the end of our Vision Quest, we traveled to the PC Training Site located in the Eastern region. We had several days of more informational and medical sessions, and also interviewed with our Assistant Program Country Director (APCD). Our APCD is the one in charge of our specific sector; I will be working in the Small Enterprise Development (SED) sector.

In our group of 63 Volunteers we have 7 sectors:

SED

Environment

Health/Water Sanitation

Math Education

Science Education

Information Technology Education

Visual Arts Education.

In our interview we discussed how we felt after visiting an actual PC Volunteer at site, what our individual skills and expectations were for the next two years, and in general our interests/hopes/fears, etc. This culminated into the much anticipated Site Announcements, which happened last Wednesday. Our entire group went to a school campus where a map of Ghana had been traced on the floor. When your name was announced, you received your site information and went to stand in your appropriate location on the map.

This is my official site & job description:

Kyabobo National Park (pronounced “Cha-bo-bo”)

Northern Volta Region

Eco-Tourism and Community-Based Tourism Development

Check it out: http://www.kyabobo.com/

My main tasks are:

1. To help develop community-based tourism as an income generating activity in your village

2. To improve the promotion of eco-tourism and marketing of the Kyabobo National Park

3. To have a responsible and dedicated Tourism Management Team (TMT) to run the affairs of tourism in the community formed

So I think I’m going to be busy.

Within my job description I will be working with the Ghana Wildlife Division, the Dutch government’s development organization “SNV”, as well as the Ghanaian NGO “Ghana Education Project”. These organizations are involved at either the community/village or National Park level. From everything I’ve read thus far and heard from current PCVs, it sounds like an amazing location and I’m very much looking forward to our site visit - which happens at the end of July.

Oh, and the description of my living arrangements. The anticipation truly mounts…

“You will live alone off a sand road. Your house will not have electricity, and your toilet will be a KVIP Mozambique type. Your water will come from a borehole.”

Next was our 5 day “Vision Quest” where we went to visit a current PCV at their site, to get a feel for what the day-to-day life of a Volunteer is like. I went to visit an Environment Volunteer in the Western Region of Ghana.

::If you look at a regional map of Ghana, you will see that Ghana is divided into 9 regions. Starting at the south western coast of Ghana is the Western Region, then moving east is the Central region and then Greater Accra region. Moving north are the Ashanti, Eastern and Volta regions. Further north is the Brong-Ahofo region followed by the Northern region, then the Upper East and Upper West, respectively. ::

For Vision Quest I traveled to the north-west corner of the Western region, not far from the Cote d’Ivoire border. The area is mainly rainforest, very beautiful, and a little difficult as far as travel goes. Its about 4 hours from Accra to Kumasi (the location of one of the PC hub-offices), and another 5-6 hours to my Vision Quest Host’s village - 2 hours of which are over dirt roads (shown in photo #1).

My Vision Quest Host works with farmers in several communities in her area that have joined to form Community Resource Management groups. I was able to attend meeting of one of these groups, and also on go on an excursion to the Bia Reserve - a protected rainforest area. (photo #2) It was really nice to have the opportunity so soon after arriving in country to travel to a PCV’s site. I had a great time meeting other Volunteers in the Western Region and at the sub-office in Kumasi. Its so interesting to talk to different PCV’s because Peace Corps experiences are so unique to that person, their village and their specific projects.

I walked away from Vision Quest with the general impression that PC Volunteers are doing some really amazing things in Ghana. So I give my Vision Quest 5 stars. (photo #3 - girls in the village near the Bia Reserve)

Akwaaba!

We arrived in Accra on Thursday June 4th, and were met by a group of Peace Corps staff and current Volunteers (PCVs). We spent the morning at the main PC office in Accra, meeting all of the staff - and our the Country Director, Mike Hoffman. Our Country Director is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) and a recent one, at that. He served in the Pacific, on the island of Vanuatu from 2004-2006. We spent the next 5 days at a university campus outside of Accra, going through lots of informational sessions regarding Peace Corps Ghana, details regarding the sectors in which we would be working, and adjusting a bit to Ghanaian food. On our third evening in Accra, the US Ambassador to Ghana - - invited us to his residence for a reception. It was a great evening. We had guacamole. The Ambassador and his wife are both very accomplished and genuine people, and had some thoughtful words of wisdom for our group of trainees. We learned that among the higher levels of the Ghanaian government, approximately half of those officials had a Peace Corps Volunteer as a teacher during some point of their education. So Peace Corps has a nice home here in Ghana.