There was this woman I would go to. She made ice cream. In Ghana! In Jirapa! It’s safe to say I loved her for this. Ghana ice cream by the way melts really fast. A side note, I’m also involved in helping a People Living With HIV group. I’ve missed the last couple months meetings due to Peace Corps conferences and Girls Camp etc etc…anyway so I finally came to a meeting and she was there. My ice cream lady! She had just joined a few months before when she found out she was HIV positive. She was weaker and a little sadder since the last time I saw her. I could see this imaginary horrible, heavy, weight on her that I couldn’t begin to imagine. She has 4 kids and works hard to put them through school. So I stopped by her store again today and she didn’t have any ice cream. A sad day in my world. She is my moment of fake Dairy Queen happiness in Africa. She said since she was sick she didn’t have the energy to make the ice cream anymore. Later that evening she stopped by my house. To make her feel less bad about not having ice cream I told her it’s good that she relaxes and rests to feel better. Then she told me it’s not because she feels too sick to make the ice cream but it’s a fear she has. This woman is a business woman and very proactive. But now she won’t make the soy milk or soap she used to make. She won’t make anything. She won’t even cook for her family anymore. I asked her why, only to hear the answer I didn’t want to hear. She said she didn’t want to take the risk. What if she cut herself? What if one of her children got it? My heart sank slowly to my stomach. There are a lot of myths about HIV. For instance some people in America thought I would get HIV from simply coming to Africa. So you can imagine what the people in Africa (coming from no educational background) think about HIV. A women’s group I did an HIV/AIDS lesson with thought a lot of interesting things about it (Note the picture). They thought it was air born, spread through urine, and that there is a cure in America (America is perfect in the eyes of most Ghanaians; fascinating and disturbing fact). Experiencing all this has made me realize how difficult it is to teach people about something they fear, they can’t see, or really understand. With no scientific or health background HIV is not that tiny retrovirus programmed to make thousands of copies of itself by high jacking your cells machinery to do it. No, it is scary and probably there because you did something wrong. I would like to remind the doctors and nurses that work with these patients that treating a patient is not just treating a disease. There is more you have to do to help someone then cut them open or give them drugs. You have to tell them, to make ice cream, damn it. No matter what I said, she felt scared of herself. I told her that I know that she is always careful and she never spilled blood in the ice cream before so why worry now? Plus, I’m convinced it’s impossible to even cut a Ghanaian woman’s hands, they’re so rough and thick from all the hard work, farming, and grabbing of really hot items . Note: There are no pot holders in Ghana. Or need for them. Even if blood was in the ice cream the virus wouldn’t survive to infect someone else. Anti-Retro-viral therapy, CD4 counts, neutralizing antibodies, tcells, bcells, viral load…blah blah blah she still has HIV and her entire family is afraid they’re going to get it from her. And worst of all, she is afraid that she will give it to them. My friend Emmanuel (the regional representative of People Living with HIV) called this self-stigma. He said that sometimes it is worse than being stigmatized by other people. We really can be our own worst enemies. I don’t know how she got HIV. Most of the women get it from their husbands who are sleeping around or are allowed to take multiple wives. At least her family hasn’t kicked her out. Some people I’ve met have been left to die by their families. Why keep someone alive who is just going to die sooner and may infect others? That’s the logic. But, if that’s the case, everyone in Ghana who takes public transportation has a higher chance of dying than if they have HIV so we should all just stop eating and wasting food. Save time and resources for all those safe people that don’t leave their homes. If I can give her and all the people like her one message before I go this is it. I know I can’t speak from experience but, don’t be afraid. We all have something. We all have secrets. And we are far from perfect but you have to keep doing the things you do. Your life has not stopped or ended. It has simply taken a new path. Go with it. But, most importantly, don’t stop making ice cream. Never stop making ice cream.One more thing! I COS (Close of Service) on August 5th and will be taking off on a Europe adventure with the amazing Casimir. Here we are at Paragliding (picture below) which took place during Easter. The football(soccer) field in the background is where we landed. Its crazy to think I only have a few months left....so much to do...but I'm ready and excited for the next step in my life.

I rode my bicycle up to the Jirapa District Assembly at 10am on a Tuesday. Its a simple and usually quiet 3 story building but today its flowing with life like a busy anthill. Its the day of the 2011 "Inauguration of the Jirapa District Assembly". A building full of elected officials representing, "the people". The ants are interesting. They wear bright patterned clothing, stopping to greet each and every ant in their path. A formal obligation ingrained in them since birth. I join the ants in their customs and eventually enter the conference hall. Squeaky ceiling fans push hot air around the crowded room and a sea of colorful traditional smocks (Casimir is modeling one in the photo) greets me with Ghanaian formality. I find a seat in the back to observe the "smock fashion show" and try and blend into a room I will unequivocally not blend into in anyway possible. But, still I try. It doesn't work as recognizable faces start sitting beside me making jokes about their luck in seating and comments on how hot it already is. I ignore most of their jokes because I came to the meeting to watch a friend of mine be sworn in as an Assembly Woman representing her community. She's one of the only two Ghanaian women in the large room. Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about gender issues (although its a huge one) but, as I was sitting through the ceremony I continuously tried to get a glimpse out of the window and into the real world below. The place where I really wanted to be at that moment.

I've realized since long ago I am not meant to sit in an office trapped levels above the ground. Not only do I hate the awkward formality of all of it and the dead ends that come from long boring meetings but, the place where ideas originate and plans take action is not in an office building. Its on the ground. Its under mango trees, its in the market, walking to farm, fetching water, sitting in a Ghanaian classroom. Its in action. Its in communication. I've noticed that when you stay so removed from the earth and the people you lose the ability to make informed and experienced decisions on behalf of a society. When a political figure moves from their big isolated homes to a car and then an office building followed by lunch at an expensive restaurant and bar they miss the world. They pass everything by through tinted windows. Yet these are the lives of the "Big Men" that represent the people in Ghana (and probably most places in the world).

The next day, I was actually in the office to work on the computer when I was instantly disturbed (as normal). Two men came from Wa (Our regional capital) and I was pulled out of the office with my friend (the one just elected Assembly Woman) to get lunch and a drink. Normally when "Big men" go out they hide from Jirapa behind bottled drinks and food delivered on trays (I know that sounds normal for America but here its not affordable for most). Don't get me wrong, its nice to be treated every once in awhile. It is a good thing to enjoy your successes and life but this lunch was different, in a better way. As we sat on a bench in the center of the market drinking pito (picture of my friend, Nick, having some pito) and eating the local cakes and meat for anyone to see one of the men noticed how uncomfortable my friend was (this was not her choice setting) and explained something to her. He told her, "The moment you are elected to represent your people you start trying to avoid them. You start to forget who you're working for and what they stand for. Its good to go back to your culture and people. Be local! Remind yourself and everyone you're working for that you're just like them. And you are not above them, better than them, or superior. You know them and that's why you can represent them." The moment he said this I started enjoying this lunch even more. As I've been working in a government office in a developing country for almost two years now, I've noticed the corruption in politics and that he is correct. Once you're elected you're no longer "local".

In the Peace Corps they encourage us to stay out of politics. In fact, its in our handbook, but not only do I represent the United States Government but I am hosted by part of the Ghanaian Government. Hard for me to ignore politics. I don't have an opinion about their parties or who is running but more what they are doing. Or in most cases, not doing. I am here because children are dying from diarrhea that could have been prevented from having a clean water source, because malaria is continuing to cut peoples lives short, and because Ghana requested assistance to educate their people. So no, I don't care about greeting everyone in a fancy office building when the person I really need to greet is carrying her sick child on her back to the hospital. And no, I don't care if the Assembly holds a thousand meetings every year if none of them ever leave the office to talk to their people, to find out if their programs are working or how they can fix them. To be fair, there are some wonderful government employees that work very hard and do care about who they're working for. To be honest however, there are a lot of employees that only do things that benefit themselves which is not the ideal "civil servant". As far as I'm concerned the Peace Corps is about being "local" so to speak. Grassroots. I do not belong in an office. I can't do much in an office except type letters and stare at walls. What I can do outside is so full of possibilities its overwhelming.

A health club I work with at a local Junior High School has done more for their community in a few months than entire departments at "the office" do in 6 months. They educated the younger students on HIV/AIDS with practiced activities and songs. They all came on a Saturday morning to help clean up the hospital. During the clean up they even found and helped to solve a public health risk at the children's ward (picture of some of the kids cleaning). Where is their ceremony? Where is their time and travel payment? Their sitting allowance? If 15 year olds can do all of this without money, cars, computers and offices I start to wonder about all the complaints I hear at the office.

I cannot and do not wish to waste my time stuck in an office. I think I've made that clear by now. I can only speak for myself (after all I do realize its easy not to care what people think when you get to leave after two years/stay out of politics) but I will never stop sitting with the locals. I will never stop listening to their stories. I will never stop and pretend that the only people that exist in this world are like me and those equally employed. People here are always asking me why I'm not in the office all the time? It's simple, my work is with the people. Not the office. The office is there as a means to assist the people, not a prison to house dictators. If you ask anyone what their favorite part about their work is, do they ever say, "I love my office"? I doubt it.

This is a picture of my health club with some GREAT District Assembly employees that supported their clean up activity!

Originally I thought I would never leave Ghana. I would serve my full 27 months without stepping foot on American soil. Why would I need or want to go back? I had spent 23 years there! Well, exactly. I had spent 23 years there and to be honest I missed America. I missed my family and friends. I missed the food, I missed playing the piano, and I missed my culture. I'd like to think I'm so integrated in Jirapa that leaving would devastate me but when it came down to it, I needed a break. Ghana means something important to me but Montana will always be my home and I needed to go home.

Now, I still have 8 more months of the Peace Corps and a lot to do so I didn't come home for a few weeks to forget. What I have done, everyone I met and everything I learned in Ghana is only making my vacation back home all the more interesting. In fact I've realized I've forgotten quite a few things about America. Observations:

1. I can use my left hand. I have gotten so good at always using my right to not offend Ghanaians I actually feel some guilt when I use my left hand.

2. I can pay with large bills and people will have change. I was so used to getting all my money in 1 or 2 bills I almost asked for 1 dollar bills at the bank until my mother reminded me it would be better to get larger denominations. Nobody can break a 20 at market but in a grocery store, no problem.

3. Fast food is really disgusting but amazing. I think I forgot the disgusting part but after a fake cheesy something with ham and triple fried curly fries at the airport my stomach wasn't exactly agreeing with my taste buds.

4. Nobody is hissing or yelling at me. To go in a store or shop and not have the owner try and persuade me to buy everything is strange but nice.

5. No offense to anyone but there are a lot of fat children in America. And you really notice it after being surrounded by skinny or really fit Ghanaian children all the time.

6. I have a seat belt.

7. No one says, "small, small", "sorryo", "I'm coming"(when they're leaving), "Aba"(my favorite saying in Dagaare) and "Paa".

8. I love milk. I really forgot how much I love dairy.

9. I can drink the tap water. :o)

10. American's are really nice. Everybody is always talking about how welcoming and friendly the people in Ghana are well, if it weren't for a friendly and nice American I would have missed one of my flights because I was so tired and fell asleep outside the gate. In my opinion we are just as courteous. At least in Montana.

I also notice a lot of things we take for granted. When people complain to me about their pipes freezing and not having water, or when I hear about spoiled children complaining about toys I cringe just a little. I'm not saying people can't complain and a lot of Americans I know work very hard for what they have but trust me, things could be worse. Cliche but, be happy with what you have, count your blessings, etc...don't make me say more.

America is not a completely evil self-centered place and its not perfect but it is my home and it has provided me with opportunities I am very grateful for. Opportunities many children in Ghana will never have. I can't even begin to address the differences and similarities between Ghana and America but I do know that people are people and that is what makes both of my two worlds go around.

I will head back to Ghana in a few weeks hopefully a few pounds heavier and a little refreshed. After my successful but stressful donation of 200 bicycles with 10 workshops, health club/school activities, and domestic disputes in Jirapa I feel I will be ready to go back to face all of these things with a new perspective. And the rest of my service will focus on my relationships. Although Washington DC likes numbers and results they don't make me smile quite the way a friend does. And thanks to Ghana my measure of success is qualitative not quantitative.

Happy New Year!!!!

So a common theme of my life here in Ghana is never knowing what will happen. Being asked to tell someone my average day here is incredibly difficult. For a lot of volunteers its the same in and out but for myself and Jirapa it is a different world. I can pretty much guarantee I'll wake up, let my adorable, rotten goat head eating, tick covered dog outside and drink a cup of French pressed coffee thanks to the amazing Adam Martyn (enjoy that compliment Adam). But after 8:00am I never really know what will happen. Sometimes that small morning routine doesn't even happen due to knocking on my door at 6:00am for this reason or that.

Anyway, the other day I thought I would go to the office, meet with the Gender Desk Officer and plan out some of our upcoming bicycle workshops for women. I get to the office and she has to leave in an incredible hurry (Vivien is impossible to pin down and is literally representing thousands of women in the Upper West) but we need to meet with this women's group in a small village, Tuggo, right outside Jirapa so it is up to me! I will take my bicycle and ride in the equatorial sun to someplace I have never been...OK, why not, right? The ride was nice minus one large hill and a bicycle with gears that don't work but the woman is waiting for me with pito in hand. Always a welcome surprise! Isabella is a truly sacrificial and selfless person. She is one of the few women in her village that can read and write and speaks English and even though she is retired she works tirelessly for these women. She stopped farming just to come and meet with me. We meet and discuss how annoying it is that all these people want bicycles that don't need them and how the husbands will probably take the bicycles from the women after the workshop but she is hopeful and so therefore, so am I.

After organizing details we decide to bike to the next town over, Babali. By this time it’s getting hot so I'm not excited about biking back to Jirapa so I'm invited to rice and stew with Isabella and some of her grandchildren. Plain rice is good when you've been riding your bike and only have caffeine running through your body so I was thrilled. We greet everyone in town and then I decide, I've come this far I should continue my bike journey to Lawra to visit Adam. I did this for two reasons. One, Adam is leaving soon so I won't be able to do this anymore or see him and two; he's a really good cook so chances are I'll get some good food. It's amazing what I'll do for food now. So I continue at about 1:00pm on to Lawra. As I'm pedaling and enjoying the scenery I realize I didn't put sunscreen on my legs (I'm wearing shorts for the bike ride) and it is BURNING out. I can feel my skin screaming. No Ghanaian has sunscreen and I'm in the middle of nowhere by some stream. So, being very resourceful, clever and dehydrated, I decided to make some mud and spread it all over my leg that’s getting slowly 3rd degree burned. These small village children were fascinated by the crazy white lady rubbing mud on her legs and I don't blame them, even I thought it was weird but I made it to Lawra with minimal sun damage!

When I arrived in Lawra I had somewhat of an international evening. I sat and had a drink with Adam (another PCV), an Italian student, a Canadian Volunteer, and a Cuban doctor. I got a lot of different cultural perspectives on a culture we are all experiencing and studying which was a refreshing change of pace. However, explaining why there was mud all over my legs was difficult but we had a good time. I rode back to Jirapa the next morning and carved a pumpkin with some neighbor kids (one woman told me I was wasting a pumpkin but I grew it so I can do what I want with it) and I cannot be happier with the randomness of my life. I am learning to not have control over everything and that being flexible can sometimes lead to the best of moments and days. I hope to have a little bit more of a predictable life for all of my current bicycle workshops but in Ghana living is about the moment and success is based on the process not the end result. Weird concept for us westerners but I'm getting it. It’s the only way to stay sane and the only way to get anything done. So who knows, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Sorry its been so long since I’ve wrote. I think I’m mostly apologizing to my mother who has been on me about writing another blog so Mom this ones for you! The last few months have been busy but very very fun and I think I may spend this next week sleeping and eating fufu (I finally just got my very own fufu mortar and pestle!). Let me just re-cap past events in my life because I think its been too long to go into too much detail.

Jirapa’s 5K Combating HIV/AIDS and TB Race

Although this was one of the most stressful things I have ever done in my entire life it is also something I am very proud of. Organizing a race for 100 people with an educational event on HIV/AIDS and TB proved exhausting. Everything is done last minute and the budget kept changing so it made my life difficult. I often go running with Jirapa’s Keep Fit Club and they’re always trying to think of ways to give back to the community, sponsor programs, and increase their membership so we decided on the race. Although a smaller event we had GREAT attendance (There are pictures on Facebook)! And about 10 Peace Corps volunteers came to help me which saved my life. Having other volunteers support you and their ability to help turn any project into something fun and successful is amazing! Kudos to everyone that helped to make it happen! I don’t know if we’ll do another race but maybe a football match…The Keep Fit Club has told me it so far has been their most successful event and they are very proud so I am very proud of them :o) Maybe the next one they won’t even need my help!

Kirsten came to visit:

One of my favorite people in the entire world came to visit me for 2 weeks. And it was a magical two weeks! We did so much it will be hard to recall. We saw the new volunteers swear in! We salsa danced and just plain danced A LOT! We went to the monastery in Techiman and then got to feed monkeys at a monkey sanctuary! We came to Jirapa and drank the finest pito in all the land. We spent some lovely hours in tros. We went to the beach and played in the ocean. We went to the rainforest and went on a canopy walk. We ate fufu, got attacked by insects, played with small children, turned down marriage proposals, and she met a ton of my new friends and Peace Corps family. Kirsten rocks and I am SOOOOOO HAPPY she came!

Girls Leadership Camp:

Speaking of working with other volunteers Nicole just organized an all girls leadership camp which we held at one of my favorite places-the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary. I brought 7 girls from Jirapa who were selected based on an essay contest. Overall we had 38 girls and 6 volunteers. The girls met girls from other cities in the Upper West, they had senior high school students as senior counselors and a variety of activities. I had a member of my People Living with HIV group come to talk to the girls about HIV and why it’s important to know your status and get tested. She was wonderful and her talk was real but optimistic. She got HIV through a blood transfusion when she was a child and is one of the happiest people I have ever met. She never stops smiling. Makes me feel bad for being upset about things like waiting for rides or rain... She spent half the week with the girls and I was so impressed with their ability to look past someone having HIV and I even saw one of my girls sitting with her arm around her. They have never met anyone living with HIV and I was worried about stigma but the girls were respectful and understanding. I was very happy it went so well. We had dancing we played games and told stories, went on nature walks and looked for Hippos. I am so so so proud of my girls! They participated, met other campers, and were very respectful. Brings me back to camp when I was in middle school. I am just thrilled that we were able to give these girls this opportunity. They don't get a chance to just be kids very often always cooking, cleaning, studying, doing wash, helping their families raise the other kids...this week they got to scream and sing and just play. Props to Nicole for making it happen. One of the best times I've had in Ghana.

What is next:

So currently I am back in Jirapa for awhile, working on my garden and the pumpkins that have taken it over. I want to get my football team running (literally), finish District Assembly reports I’m like 4 months behind, and drink some good pito with my friends in Jirapa! I have my mid service medical at the end of this month and I am running the ½ marathon in Accra on the 26th so wish me good training for this last month! I hope everything and everyone is well back in the states! Eat lots of ice cream for me!!!

Sorry its been so long since I’ve wrote. I think I’m mostly apologizing to my mother who has been on me about writing another blog so Mom this ones for you! The last few months have been busy but very very fun and I think I may spend this next week sleeping and eating fufu (I finally just got my very own fufu mortar and pestle!). Let me just re-cap past events in my life because I think its been too long to go into too much detail. Jirapa’s 5K Combating HIV/AIDS and TB Race Although this was one of the most stressful things I have ever done in my entire life it is also something I am very proud of. Organizing a race for 100 people with an educational event on HIV/AIDS and TB proved exhausting. Everything is done last minute and the budget kept changing so it made my life difficult. I often go running with Jirapa’s Keep Fit Club and they’re always trying to think of ways to give back to the community, sponsor programs, and increase their membership so we decided on the race. Although a smaller event we had GREAT attendance (There are pictures on Facebook)! And about 10 Peace Corps volunteers came to help me which saved my life. Having other volunteers support you and their ability to help turn any project into something fun and successful is amazing! Kudos to everyone that helped to make it happen! I don’t know if we’ll do another race but maybe a football match…The Keep Fit Club has told me it so far has been their most successful event and they are very proud so I am very proud of them :o) Maybe the next one they won’t even need my help! Kirsten came to visit: One of my favorite people in the entire world came to visit me for 2 weeks. And it was a magical two weeks! We did so much it will be hard to recall. We saw the new volunteers swear in! We salsa danced and just plain danced A LOT! We went to the monastery in Techiman and then got to feed monkeys at a monkey sanctuary! We came to Jirapa and drank the finest pito in all the land. We spent some lovely hours in tros. We went to the beach and played in the ocean. We went to the rainforest and went on a canopy walk. We ate fufu, got attacked by insects, played with small children, turned down marriage proposals, and she met a ton of my new friends and Peace Corps family. Kirsten rocks and I am SOOOOOO HAPPY she came! Girls Leadership Camp: Speaking of working with other volunteers Nicole just organized an all girls leadership camp which we held at one of my favorite places-the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary. I brought 7 girls from Jirapa who were selected based on an essay contest. Overall we had 38 girls and 6 volunteers. The girls met girls from other cities in the Upper West, they had senior high school students as senior counselors and a variety of activities. I had a member of my People Living with HIV group come to talk to the girls about HIV and why its important to know your status and get tested. She was wonderful and her talk was real but optimistic. She got HIV through a blood transfusion when she was a child and is one of the happiest people I have ever met. She never stops smiling. Makes me feel bad for being upset about things like waiting for rides or rain... She spent half the week with the girls and I was so impressed with their ability to look past someone having HIV and I even saw one of my girls sitting with her arm around her. They have never met anyone living with HIV and I was worried about stigma but the girls were respectful and understanding. I was very happy it went so well. We had dancing, we played games and told stories, went on nature walks and looked for Hippos. I am so so so proud of my girls! They participated, met other campers, and were very respectful. Brings me back to camp when I was in middle school. I am just thrilled that we were able to give these girls this opportunity. They don't get a chance to just be kids very often always cooking, cleaning, studying, doing wash, helping their families raise the other kids...this week they got to scream and sing and just play. Props to Nicole for making it happen. One of the best times I've had in Ghana. What is next: So currently I am back in Jirapa for awhile, working on my garden and the pumpkins that have taken it over. I want to get my football team running (literally), finish District Assembly reports I’m like 4 months behind, and drink some good pito with my friends in Jirapa! I have my mid service medical at the end of this month and I am running the ½ marathon in Accra on the 26th so wish me good training for this last month! I hope everything and everyone is well back in the states! Eat lots of ice cream for me!!! Bye bye til next time!

So recently in my life I did some traveling "small small" as we would say in Ghana. So I'd like to share. Since about Thanksgiving my friend Derek and I have been talking about going to Togo and finally, Derek being assertive and probably annoyed of our hypothetical plans said, "Pick a date and lets go. Lets stop talking about it and just go!" So that is just what we did. We took offical vacation and planned to go to Togo. We would go to Togo right after our All Volunteers conference in the Volta Region.

First of all All Vol was great. Literally ALL of the Peace Corps Volunteers in Ghana got together in a city called Ho (at a hotel with yeah, a POOL!) to share projects, ideas, learn more about HIV/AIDS and to well...socalize. Because lets face it we all become a little isolated and lonley so its nice to relate to your fellow volunteers. But, it was sort of overwhelming being around so many white people. So, I could talk about the long workshops during the days and all the magical things we learned but I'd rather mention the night time activties planned by volunteers.

We had a Texas Hold Em night. Thanks to my InCyte crew back in Spokane and playing poker everyday I feel my poker skills are average to intermediate but sadly I lost Derek's 5 Ghana Cedis that he was so nice to lend to me. Sorry Derek!

There was also a Peace Corps Prom. Which was probably the best prom I've ever been to. Fantastic! Minus the fact that being next to a pool gets you thrown in no matter what you're wearing. Derek was my prom date. He may be one of the best dancers in Peace Corps (photo as evidence). We danced til...we were pushed in the pool.

We also had a Peace Corps Talent Show because we are all such talented individuals. Singing, dancing, acting, more singing, and even some synchronized swimming! And then naturally everyone was thrown in the pool. We're not used to pools so it was exciting to say the least.

After the craziness of All Vol Derek and I added a member to our Togo trip, Lawyer Liz (a very important member) and we headed to the land of "Travail, Liberte, Partrie"! So with my sort of French skills, Derek's Ewe (the local language in his region and in Southern Togo), and Liz's math skills and ability to keep track of all our money we made a good trio.

So we had 6 goals when we went to Togo:

1. Wine

2. Baguettes

3. Cheese

4. Cascade

5. Coffee

6. Croissants

This was not a pleasure seeking trip at all, no. In our defense we eat large quantities of startch and drink box wine in Ghana so it was time for some luxe (That's French for luxury)! Well I am proud to say we completed ALL of our goals, going a little crazy on numbers 1 and 2. This was actually the only plan we had for Togo which ended up being a great plan. Because we always won. I think this pizzeria we went to left us not knowing how to act. We're used to eating fufu with our hands out of a communal bowl and now we had to taste wine (honestly we had a hard time not chugging it) and eat hour d'oeuvres. Colonisation faults aside the French brought some beautiful things to Togo. Observe the cheese here----->

We decided our second day in Togo to go to Kpalime which is about an hour North of Lome to see some waterfalls another volunteer told me about. Using my incredible French I got us directions to the station and somehow we got to Kpalime in a tro with a small girl screaming the entire hour. I didn't know someone could scream without even taking a breath but I think we loved Kpalime just because we got away from the screaming child. The path to the waterfalls was incredible through winding roads up mountains and after a short hike we swam in some of the most refreshing water.

After an incredible time at the waterfalls we got back to the hotel and realized...we don't have our key...mother*#$! You would think, "Oh, it happens no big deal" but when the owner of your hotel is a stereotypical old French man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and you're young Americans who he hasn't been that fond of anyway AND you're the only one in your group that knows any French you have to get yelled at in French by the angry French man. Brought me back to high school French class. "Monsieur, Nous avons une probleme. Nous pardons le cle..." Then "YELLING IN FRENCH!!!" Then he changed the lock and yelled, "VOILA!" So the next night in Togo we went to a nice place on the beach away from all angry French people.

The last part of my small travels involved my return up to Jirapa. I decided to stop at Mat's site, Bole, along with 3 environment volunteers (Casimir, Sam, and Megan-all good company) and check out an annual festival called the Deng Festival in a nearby village Sonya. Going to Mat's site is great because well, he likes to cook. So we had steak sandwiches. I think I like food too much. This village is amazing for a few reasons. All of the houses are connected through their rooftops. So a walking tour on top of everyones homes was something new. Lack of privacy maybe but a really cool communal way of living.

Most of the festival involved dancing, pito, and asking the gods for things for the future by sacrificing a chicken. They slit the chicken's neck and depending on how the dead chicken falls determines your prophecy. Head up, to the side, face down (that one is not good). Mat and Casimir almost bought a chicken to sacrifice but we're poor and getting your future predicted by a dead chicken is kinda pricey. Dancing continued ALL night followed by a rabbit hunt in the morning.

So after the festival I finally made it back to Jirapa and work took over. But the break was so nice and much needed. Nothing like some French influence and time with brilliant, fun, wonderful people to prepare me for setting up a 5k race for 100 people....

To be continued...

This is how I spent my Eater 2010...

The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse", is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae. The hippopotamus is the third largest land animal. The only place to find Hippos in Ghana is in the Upper West Region in Wechiau. The Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary encompasses a 40 km stretch of the Black Volta River.

The Peace Corps Volunteer (Volunteerius sapiens) or PCV, from the ancient Greek for "crazy foreigner", is a dirty but interesting, mostly herbivorous mammal all over the world that would take a 60km bumpy tro ride, bike 18km in the sun, in 110 degrees, sleep on a roof, take a 30 min boat ride all to see the hippopotamus while it sleeps. Character building? Maybe. Did anything go as planned? No. Did that stop us? Absolutely not. (The photo above btw was taken NOT while riding and therefore allowed the wonderful volunteers to remove their helmets for a photo opportunity. You should always wear a helmet)

So here is what happened. We finally got to Wechiau. We were excited, ready to ride out into the wilderness, sleep in a tree fort above the river and maybe even hear the hippos come out at night. At least that's what I pictured happening. I couldn't wait for this hippo adventure and we even brought all of our own food. About 50 mangoes, bananas, beans, onions, tomatoes, bread, salt (of which I would add way way too much but I'm arguing it was to keep us hydrated).

Anyway the guide quickly informs us that a group of Canadians has arrived just before us and has taken both the tree houses. This leaves us with what the brochure calls, "camping" and the "lodge". Now, the guide tells us we can't camp without a tent. Policy. So we're thinking, "We did not ride all the way out here to sleep in a lodge. There is no such thing as policy in Ghana and we want to rough it damn it! And we're poor and camping is way cheaper. Plus we're used to sleeping in rough places. We've been here for months!" So we argue with the guide until he realizes he's not going to convince us to stay in the lodge so we are now camping at our own risk and then we move on to the topic of bikes.

There are no bikes. They're finished, they're spoiled, they're trying to get new ones...We should take the tro ride. Are you kidding!!! We wanted to rough it and we don't even get to do the bike ride out there as promised?! Our pride and integrity is on the line here. We're no Canadians taking the nice van ride out to the nice tree houses. No, we are Peace Corps Volunteers. We will ride whatever two-wheeled thing they give us to ride and we will sleep with the hippos!! So somehow they round up 5 bikes. Or what used to be bikes. With what used to be bike seats. 18km ride...I'm thinking, "No big deal". Turns out it would have been no big deal if we had bikes with seats, or gears, or brakes. But no problem. No turning back now. I'm pretty sure both ways were uphill but its difficult to tell now that all is said and done.

Sore, tired, and ready to eat a million mangoes (thanks Jeff!) we drink water, chat, and then make dinner. Night time comes around and we realize we don't want to sleep on the ground. So we convince our guide to let us sleep on the roof. This is where we slept. Mosquito nets and all. Not bad not bad.

6:00am. We grab life vests, bikes, water, very very sore butt bones, and make our way to the river. Even if things don't go as planned, which is about 90% of the time, at least nothing can change things in this world from being beautiful. The river is peaceful yet alive with fishermen hoping for a good day, insects are soaring just on the waters surface and kids are splashing on the banks. The river is surrounded by lush, full greenery and there are a variety of birds singing and flying above us.....stop, wait (one of those record screeching skipping noises when something has gone wrong) the Canadians took our boat. Seriously, we were losing our happy feelings for our neighbors to the North. So we have to leave our guide behind to fit in a smaller boat and the rower only speaks Wali. Good thing Jeff has been doing a lot of Wali speaking lately and manages to translate a little throughout the trip. We saw about 4 or 5 hippos sleeping and relaxing in the cool water.

So we saw our hippos. I had a good time. I'm proud of us. Would I have done anything differently? Yes, gotten there an hour before the Canadians.

My hippo trip was followed by an official trip to Accra. I cannot even begin to explain the differences between Accra and Jirapa. I could easily explain the price differences! But I got to see a movie "Shutter Island" (Leo Decaprio!) which was a nice break from reality with air conditioning. And I got my hair washed and cut and blow dried for the first time in 10 months...Ecstasy! Anyway its back to work! This last picture is for Lindsey's Mom :).

Monday March 8th was International Women's Day. I felt a need to do something about this and like everything in Ghana it would all be done last minute. So with the help of the wonderful Joan at the all girls high school-St. Francis in Jirapa she had her students do an essay competition on the topic for the day. Which was "Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all". Joan selected the best 3 essays and we took them to Wa, took them on the radio and had a discussion about women's rights and then they read their essays. These girls are very bright, composed, patient, and very motivated. They all did a wonderful job representing their country and school and its never too soon to start that media career. Ultimately I hoped to give the students a chance to share their experience and knowledge while building their confidence and skills. I wanted them to feel important, capable, and influential in their country especially when it comes to women's rights. I don't want them to be the typical shy, passive, reserved girl who won't stand up for what she deserves. By speaking on the radio it gave these girls a sense of confidence and importance that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

As promised I am going to post some pictures of the girls at the radio station and post their essays for all to read! Enjoy!!

Ali Regina Soah

"As a Form 1 student of St. Francis Girls Senior High School, I am privileged to be given the opportunity to speak on the topic of this august occasion: International Women’s Day.

To begin with, Rights are the basic things every human, both men and women, need and must have for our country of Ghana to function well. These rights should be respected and backed by law and the State. Women in our country and the world at large need to enjoy the same rights as men, without any discrimination, but rather equally.

Our mothers must have the right to a decent life. They must not be denied their right to live decently and be treated fairly. Most women in our communities are sometimes maltreated in various ways . For instance, a woman who is accused of being a witch goes through hell in the community. She is denied food, she is made to sleep with a dead corpse, and worst of all she is made to swallow the saliva of a dead person which is very poisonous and can cause a health hazard to her, which can also lead to her death. Through these actions which her community inflicts upon her, she is denied the right to a decent life.

Also, many women are denied their right to education. In a situation where a family is poor, where a boy and a girl’s education is involved, the boy is given the opportunity to go to school while the girl is asked to trade to supplement the family budget. The girl may be asked to sell water on the street, or worse yet, she may enter prostitution. As she engages herself in prostitution, she has a risk of contracting deadly diseases, such as Human Immune-Deficiency virus ( HIV) which later develops into the disease called Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome ( AIDS) . She might also become pregnant. If she decides not to keep the pregnancy she may use all sorts of crude and highly unsanitary methods to end her pregnancy, which might cause her to be barren the rest of her life or even lead to her death.

Another area where women suffer because they do not have equal rights is in the area of marriage. In Ghanaian society, our mothers were not given the chance to choose a life time partner as the men can do. Many women are forced into marriage at a very early stage in their lives. Due to being forced to marry too early, they do not get a chance to develop their God given talents and abilities. For instance, in a situation where woman is given out to marry the chief of the land she only sits down and folds her arms, watching things while they happen. Instead of her also working to support herself and to use her God given talents, she fears the man so much that she only sits down beside him and then may develop troubles in her head which can lead to her suffering from mental stress.

In a nutshell, women should be give the right to a decent life. That is to say, they should not be denied their right to live peacefully and productively and in harmony with society. They should also be educated to the same heights as men . They should be given the chance to choose a life time partner in order that she may develop her God given abilities instead of ending p in some man’s house where she lives with fear and in an unjust situation.

Equal opportunities, especially in education, should be assured for all women. A girl should not be dropped out of school while a boy continues his education. Unfortunately for women, our local people believe that if a family educates a woman, that at the end of the day she will end up in a man’s house, forgetting that when she is educated she will impact the knowledge of her children, leading to the progress of our entire nation. But men will only concentrate on himself alone, instead of trying to also impact his knowledge upon his children in order to broaden their minds. As the saying goes, “ If you educate a man you have educated an individual but if you educate a woman, you have educated the nation of Ghana and the world at large.” For this reason, all women should be given equal opportunities for education in order that the entire nation can make progress.

Equal opportunities for women to work should also be provided if our nation is to make progress. Women should be allowed to work just as men are. As the adage states, “ What men can do, women can do he same and even do it better.” If women are given the same opportunities to work as men, our country will be a happier, more progressive place , causing harmony to grow in our land. By giving women equal opportunities and equal rights to be educated, to work, to be treated decently in the community and in marriage, every person, man and woman, will contribute to making Ghana a country of progress for all."

Offei Jemimah Rukaya

"I am a Form 1 student at St. Francis Girls Senior High School and have the honor of speaking today, International women’s Day, about the need for making sure all women in Ghana receive equal rights and equal opportunities so that there will be progress for all citizens of our country. Women should be given the same opportunities as men so that our nation will progress. For example, if a man and a woman enter the same car and proceed at the same speed, they will both reach their destination at the same time. So it is with the opportunities that should be given to women to help our nation prosper. When a man is given an expensive car and a woman only receives an old one, the man will reach the destination with much greater ease and comfort than the woman. Women who are vulnerable and who have fewer advantages in society need to be receive all the support we can find in order to build up their personality, broaden their horizons, and kill the inferiority complex within them in order for them to contribute their quota in building up our nation. This goal can be achieved by making sure all women have access to education, the right to make decisions about their own lives, and the chance to work at all jobs for which they are qualified. First, As we will all agree, education of all people is the key to progress for our nation. Both women and men have the right to an education in our country, but when a woman reaches a certain stage it is presumed by our people that she cannot do anything apart from the kitchen where she prepares for the family. For this reason, society often does not encourage women to make use of the equal opportunity for education that our nation has made available. For example, I know a brilliant girl at stage six who was given out for marriage at the age of nine . This cultural practice means that she and many other girls have been denied the right to an education and forced to marry against their will. When this practice of forced marriage is erased from the minds of our people it will create progress for everyone in Ghana. Secondly, women should be given the right to make decisions that affect their community and the nation at large. Women are very talented but they are often denied the right of making decisions. For example, the elders of certain communities may go to the Chief’s house to make decisions that will be forced on women. Whether these decisions are good or bad for the woman, she must accept them. But it should not be like this. Women should be given the opportunity to participate in decision making that directly affect their lives, in order to help build a good nation for us all. Last, but not least, when good and right jobs are offered to women everyone will know that they can think of ways to improve the work place . They can work very hard but too often men always have it in their minds that women are not able to do anything. It is a proven fact that the work a man can do, a woman can also do. But often women are denied job opportunities. For example, if a woman and a man apply for the same job, even though the woman has the better job skills and everything it takes to do the job, often times the job goes to the man because men look down on women, saying a woman is not fit to hold that particular job. I propose that both women and men be given the rightful opportunity to work. Finally, if women are given equal rights and equal opportunities by the government and our society , they will then be able to contribute toward the progress of all. We must therefore know, that if you educate a man, you educate one person but if you educate a woman, you educate the whole nation. Women in Ghana today are found working in high level positions like Her Lordship Georgina Woode who is now the first female to be Chief Justice of Ghana and Her Ladyship Joyce Bamfford Addo who is the first woman to be speaker of the Parliament of Ghana. These women are showing our nation that what men can do, women can also do, and do very well. On this day of celebrating International Women’s Day in Ghana, let us promote in our political and society forums the benefits of equal rights and opportunities for women because with the collaboration of both men and women development and progress will come about for our entire nation."

Puopele Yeldibong Flora

"Speaking today as a proud Form 1 student of St. Francis Senior High School, I am honored to be selected to talk about International Women’s Day. I believe that women in our country we are first class citizens who should enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men, because by sharing in the responsibilities of our nation we women will turn our abilities into the betterment of the society and our nation of Ghana at large. Rights are defined as privileges that people enjoy as a result of being human and also belonging to a group or organization. Opportunities are certain chances that make way for progress. It is important on the International Day for Women to recognize that women have the right to be educated. Women in Ghana should be educated to the highest level and as far as they wish to go. In years past, women in Ghana were not allowed to go to school since it was perceived that the place of the woman is in the kitchen and therefore it would be of no importance for a family to dedicate their resources to educating a woman since she would someday get married and the husband would take care of her. In Ghana today, as a result of the 1992 constitution, has clearly outlined that women have the right to education. We can now see that women’s voices can then be heard in the political arena and what more do we see for women in our nation? Women now hold very important and prestigious positions in our nation, such as Mrs. Georgina Woode, our nation’s chief justice, and Mrs. Hannah Tetteh and Mrs. Afua Sutherland and many other women whose professional skills have allowed them to be able to create the awareness in other women that the place of a woman can extend beyond the kitchen, as it has too often been drummed into our ears for time to time. Secondly, as a young female I believe that all women should be guaranteed the rights to their own personal health and bodily privacy and that nothing should be done to them against their wishes that will take away their right to live as a healthy female in our society. Lastly, all women should have the legal right to own land property. This legal right gives women the right to acquire property. Laws should protect women so that no one should prevent her legal acquisition of property or seize her property against her wishes. If women are given their full legal rights, our dear nation, Ghana, will progress and develop even further because we will be living up to the adage by the great and wise Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey who said, “ If you educate a man, you educate an individual . If you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation.” There are many opportunities for progress and development in countries around the world where women have the same rights as men. Let us listen to the cry of women so that Mother Ghana will advance in peace and prosperity."

All of us and the radio presenter!

Recently I went to Kumasi for some In Service Training. Things went well. This is a pic of the whole training group for WATSAN!! We had a good time. Good food. etc...

This is the counterpart I brought to the training. He is great. We represented Jirapa well.

We got to do all sorts of great fun educational/development work. You can see how enthused Richard and I are above. Well...we went to a research institute on livleyhood projects. Like growing mushrooms and pigs.....

All in all a successful training. NEXT I went and helped paint a world map on the library wall of another volunteers site.

And the final product!!

And pounding Fufu. Its amazing how integrated we are right?

So now I'm back at site writing grants and staying really busy and really hot. It was like 115 degrees today. Ugh. I got a fan though so no worries :)

Happy new year to everyone! I finally have some down time with some Internet so I'll try to get you updated on my life and activities etc... We are slowly getting into the peak of the dry season which is already really really hot. I miss the green. Sand EVERYWHERE. But I can't lie I'm not missing the snow and cold. So...naturally in this heat my crazy/wonderful neighbor Adam rode his bike like 15 miles to come visit me and get some of the soy milk that a women in my town makes. One of the previous Peace Corps Volunteers actually taught the women's group how to make it which is cool. It has been so long since I've had real milk this stuff is incredible. I'd probably bike 15 miles for it too. Anyway he asked me if I wanted to come help out sometime with a music club him and another volunteer run at a high school by his town. I'm like uh....ya! So we brainstorm a little, trying to think of what we can do and I'm like, "Lets teach them to Salsa Dance!" I know the basic step and a few moves and I'm thinking it's probably something they've never done. Sharing some different culture with the students is always a good time.

The next week we meet up and with the help of a VSO volunteer from Canada we start talking to the 20 to 30 some kids in the club. We had a pretty even split of girls and boys which was nice. So Adam starts by asking them what their favorite type of music is. First and most popular response is....Hip Hop! Then country...but ya. Hip hop. Anyway we're like today we're learning about Salsa music and we're going to learn to Salsa dance. None of them have any idea what this is. We bring out a map and ask them to show up where they think Salsa music came from. After a little while we had to explain that no there is not country called 'Salsa' when we realized that's what they were looking for. I'm wondering as I'm sure some of you might...will Ghanaians be like the average American when at a dance class? By this I mean, the girls will be way better and more into it then the guys. The guys will be nervous about asking girls to dance. Guys and girls don't dance together here, not like this so...Will this be really awkward? Well its almost exactly the same. When we lined them up boys across from girls we had to drag and push them together. Then just like Americans they stared at their feet some not even being able to get the basic step. And then others picked it up really well. The girls loved it. At one point the Form One students had to leave to go get their dinner and the girls wouldn't leave because they didn't want to miss any of the dancing. The boys, uncomfortable with asking girls to dance (apparently this is universal) started to dance with each other (that doesn't usually happen in the US). It is more common here for men to show more affection to other men and women to women than to the opposite sex. But I kept having to tell the guys they needed to dance with girls so they could learn the boys part. Some of the guys didn't understand why they didn't get to spin. I told them they have to master spinning the girls first. The girls seemed to get it a little faster for some reason and only a few of the boys grasped the concept of being in charge of when to do a spin or move. It's interesting to me when its not only a new activity for them but an entirely new concept not seen in their culture. Swing dancing, the Cha Cha, the Tango...all of it new to the Ghanaian high school student.

At the end of the session we asked them what they liked about it and what they didn't like. They said they liked the beats in the music and they liked being able to dance with a partner. Their local dances are done more in groups so it was a new experience for them to do something with each other like that. I only wish they could see some good salsa dancers in action (Ahem like you Miss Kirsten Sims :0). Then they asked for one more song before we left. Overall we had a really good time. I know they have salsa dancing in Accra and the big cities but for the village kids that don't even have electricity in most of their homes this was a cool chance to do something completely different. Salsa dance. Everyone needs to dance sometimes right?

Ok. So here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I tried to pick ones that were representative of the last few months. I'll post a ton on facebook as soon as I can get my thumb drive to America!

These little monsters are the neighborhood kids. They're crazy but pretty awesome. And they're very very creative. And they love to color. Who doesn't though right?!

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These are some members of the Talagona Womens Farmers Group. I love these women. It takes me about half an hour to bike out to their community but they work really hard and I'm trying to help get them bikes and a loan with a local NGO. They also love love love to dance and sing and make me dance...

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This is the captain of my football team, Nima and I at the big celebration at her school. The Vice President came. It was a big deal. He gave a nice speech.

Joan and I at the celebration!

A group of us at the Kobina Festival in Lawra drinkin some pito!

This is a shot of some people we were talking to at an HIV/AIDS program I helped organize. We had about 80 people show up.

Here is me on my birthday getting "powdered" by my friend Adien with baby powder. It's a tradition... I smelled nice after this...

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Mat and I at the Farmers day celebration in Jirapa.

Patience and Portia playing some guitar in my living room.

Joy and I Christmas Morning!!! With our bo fruit creations. Ready for 2010! I hope...

I made a comment on facebook about all the funerals that are taking up a lot of time around here and I felt I should clarify. Its true. It is sad. And there are A LOT of funerals every week. But funerals here are well, very different than in America. You celebrate for 2 days straight. And I mean 2 solid days of pito and alcohol and mourning and yelling and food and more yelling and more pito and greeting people and some dancing too. Tooooo much alcohol at funerals here. I would also like to say that I hope none of this comes off as insensitive. Just trying to add some light to a sad reality.

So recently I've been trying to organize this bicycle project but everyone is gone and I'm not getting much assistance so I always figure if you can't beat em join em! So I went to some funerals today instead of working. Community integration? Cultural exchange? We'll write it off into one of those categories. We hopped in the back of a truck and headed to the first one. My Ghanain friends were upset b/c I wasn't wearing the "correct" funeral attire- which in my defense I didn't know I'd be going to a funeral so ya they used some of their cloth to wrap around my head and volia! Ready for a funeral. The outfit is just to wrap cloth around you and cover your head. They tell me I need to be saying, "N sa wa, N sa wa" but I quickly realize this is more of a wail then something that's said. Let me try to describe for you...

We arrived to the house where the funeral was at and there is this wooden structure built up about 6ft with the body of the dead man sat in a chair. He's wearing his normal clothes, just hanging out looking very respectful and to me like he may just get up and jump right down from the stand and take part in the celebration. I think the people hope he might. He doesn't. Don't worry. We then move to various points around him and kind of make this noise...like a cry. Only the women do this. The men say something calmly. Then we move to another spot and do it again and this kind of goes on for awhile. Showing our respect. Next everyone throws a coin at the stand. An offering I suppose. Then we walk in a circle around the stand a few times and then go throw a coin at what I called the "musicians". This is not correct and all my friends thought it was hilarious that I would call them musicians. There is a group of men playing the xylophone and singing. Well apparently they are reenacting stories from the deceased's life. Remembering him.

Next, I'm takin to a tree in the back and we all sit around and they bring us pito and shake all our hands. It's strange because instead of the guests going around greeting the hosts the hosts greet you. They're the ones that lost a loved one but yet they serve you and welcome you to their home. We all work with one of the daughters of the man the funeral was for so we all gave her some money to help with the funeral and then we tied a piece of cloth around her waist or wrist. A tradition for the family. She was very composed. But I could tell it was difficult for her. She would hold my hand just a little bit longer than normal. Kind of savoring some human connection. Compassion. I wanted to reach out and hug her so bad but they don't do that so I had to hold back. A lot of the women almost look like they're forcing themselves to cry for 2 days b/c honestly it would be hard to cry constantly for 2 days but my friend was just quiet. I think her pain was very real and something I can't really understand. Thankfully.

Anyway we hit up another funeral after this one. You HAVE to stay and drink pito b/c it would be rude if you didn't...so we got back to the office at around 3. Another day at the office right? So hopefully I'll get some work done tomorrow. Bodies and my frustration buried. Respect given. Traditions done. Life goes on in Ghana.

So I left Jirapa for about 4 days. I tried to tell as many people as I could because from previous experiences of leaving for like 2 days I get attacked by people wondering why I didn’t tell them I was leaving. It is a personal insult apparently. It’s takin me awhile to get used to this small town life where everyone knows everything about everyone and has a say to say in everyone’s everything. If that’s clear. So I thought I told everyone. Anyway we had Thanksgiving at the Ambassadors house and got to stay with US workers in Accra. I felt like I… wasn’t in Kansas anymore so to speak. More like I was in America. We arrived to the beautiful ambassador’s house who greeted us with sangrias and then we swam in his sparkling pool. I got to see all the amazing volunteers from all around Ghana who I have missed desperately for the last 3 months. Then we ate turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, beans, pumpkin and pecan pie followed by coffee. Most of us couldn’t move after eating so much rich food- I’d like to point out I’ve never seen Guillermo look so miserable and happy at the same time. So after a 12 hour bus ride, which I thankfully slept for most of, it was very refreshing to have such a great holiday. After the celebration we did a very “American” thing and went to a sports bar called “Champs”. We played pool, pub trivia, watched American football, and drank tap beer that had prices too similar to American prices for my taste. I even got to see my friend Whitney (a volunteer in Togo) from college who was spending the holiday in Ghana. Then after a quick swim in the ocean the next day we headed back the 12 hours to the Upper West. Away from cars and buildings and toilets back to “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?!” When I got home, after sleeping for like 16 hours straight I realized my garden I had started with some neighborhood kids was half fenced now and almost complete. The kids here amaze me at times. After going around and apologizing to the people I did not tell I was leaving to and then apologizing to the ones I did tell but now they were upset I didn’t call them while I was there to greet them from Accra… they all had a say on my new garden. “Elyse, the donkeys will eat it.” “The fence is no good” “You should buy the wire fence” “The termites will get it” “What are you planting?” “How will you water it?” And I got a lot of “What did you bring me from Accra?” Well, it’s nice to be back. I’m fine thank you and I didn’t bring anyone anything back except myself.

Some co-workers at the district assembly were asking what we did to celebrate Thanksgiving and I said that all we did was eat food. They thought this was great but then were curious why I hadn’t grown fat. I told them I tried and that I try every year on Thanksgiving but it somehow doesn’t work. They still didn’t believe me that I ate enough. Travel Moments I’d like to share… 1. While Jason was deep in a book about the holocaust Joy and I noticed a man selling skin anti-rash cream and we pointed him in Jason’s direction. This confused both Jason and the man and the man told Jason he must be “Loving too much” showing him how he could put the cream in ummm certain places to relieve ummm certain skin problems. Joy and I couldn’t stop laughing. The things you do when waiting for a bus to leave for 3 hours… 2. Austin is wrong and you cannot just “guess” in Sudoku. 3. Forget your personal bubble. 4. If the music is too loud to talk you should just dance. 5. Pure water Pure water Pure water 6. I missed Pito 7. It is ok to feel through the tro window if the fan-ice or fan-yogo is frozen before purchasing it. 8. In one tro ride a Ghanaian told Arjun and I that he heard there were gangsters in America….it was an interesting conversation. 9. Buying 3 egg sandwiches is difficult…because really who does that? I do when Jason and joy don’t want to go get one. 10. It is always better to travel with a buddy if only for some entertainment and for group hugs when necessary. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of the family and friends I have back home always providing me with much needed support. And I’m thankful for being able to have some amazing experiences and amazing people to share them with.

So I'm on my way down South for Thanksgiving and thought I should write something. People in my community were upset I was leaving but good food is a very big incentive for me. I have to make sure I tell everone too. Last time I left for 2 days I got chewed out for not telling the girl I buy phone units from, and the boe fruit lady, and my supervisor, and various neighbors. It's a lot of people to inform.

Anyway...Jirapa has been good. I have been doing a lot in the schools lately. My friend Adien teaches in a village like half an hour outside Jirapa and asked me to come talk to his students about HIV/AIDS. There have been a lot of teen pregnancies so he really wanted someone to speak to them. So me and this guy from the education office decided to head out one morning to Adien's school. Now, my HIV/AIDS talks are getting fairly good if I do say so myself- but they are usually geared towards like 20 to 30 kids...Adien literally meant he wanted me to talk to his ENTIRE school. Over 100 students...outside...and only a few speak English. Oy. So I made the best of it. Had them play a game...maybe got through to about 6 of them. I hope. They all wanted to see the white lady talk. The students always have interesting questions though. They use black poly bags here for everything and they asked if they could use one as a condom. Um...no. Please don't. Other questions included the start of HIV which their science teacher battled me over. I kept trying to focus on the fact that its here. And we have to deal with it no matter how it started. Right?

After the talk Adien took me to his Aunt's family's house close by and I just have to say I love greetings here. This is how it went.. In Daagare but I will translate.

Adien: Good morning

Aunt: Morning, How is work?

Adien: Fine

Aunt: How is your house?

Adien: Fine

Aunt: How is your Father?

Adien: Fine

Aunt: How is your Mother?

Adien: Fine

Aunt: Sit and eat.

Adien: Ok, Elyse lets eat.

Simple. To the point. No time for wasted conversation. But its all love when people want to feed you I say. Hope all is well back home. I keep dreaming about snow... I think my body is confused... but I'm enjoying the sun :).

Miss and love you all.

Elyse

Saturday October 17th 2009 I began my Ghanain football coaching career. I got up at 5:00am rode my bike 2 miles out to St. Francis High School to find an empty dirt field, two goals with no nets, some girls washing clothes and none of my football players. So here I am, discouraged, annoyed, tired, with my bike and notebook of drills and exercises and all for nothing. Thankfully the American teacher lives right next to the football field so I decide to go vent to her (hoping she’s awake). Mid venting to Joan by 6:00 some girls come knocking on the door, “Miss, Miss we’re ready for training”. So I go out and ask the girls what time they were told to meet. They say 5:00. My captain, Niima, is smart-in Ghana when one schedules a meeting it is important to tell people it starts at least a ½ hour before you actually want to start so you can start on time. They tell me they were tired and were sleeping and that next time I should wake them up. I turn into my mother at this point and say, "Am I your alarm clock? No." They thought that was hilarious. None of them have alarm clocks. By 6:15 about 21 girls show up. Tired and complaining the girls are all in skirts or dresses with flip flops- but they’re there. I now feel myself turning into my high school soccer coach and I lecture them on the importance of showing up on time. How they scheduled the meeting time and how I’m volunteering my time to be there with them etc…

So first we warm up. Some jogging, crunches, pushups, stretching. I’ve realized I won’t be able to do any really long runs yet since they don’t have shoes and I’m not sure what we ‘re gonna do about that. Then I bring them to a wall and I teach them wall sits or chair sits. I love these. They quickly realize they don’t love them. We do 30 sec. and they are practically ready to run away from the wall. But I’m like, no, 30 more sec. After this I have them do a competition, to see who can last the longest. Well now they can do it for over 3 minutes. They suddenly became very strong. They had a good time cheering on their friends who were lasting the longest and making sure everyone’s legs were at 90 degree angles.

After exercises I knew we needed to have some fun and since our only 3 footballs are all flat I have them play link tag. Well, I have learned that tag is not universal. It took about 10 minutes to explain but once we got going it was great and they had a good time.

Finally I went over passing with them. Different ways to pass the ball, how they should trap the ball (which they call breaking) and I threatened that if I saw them passing with their toe they would owe me 10 pushups. We formed two lines and practiced passing with both feet. Overall they did well, especially for being in flip flops and skirts. We’re having our next practice this Saturday so I am figuring it out as I go. Small small. :)

It has been much too long since my last post so I have way way way too much to write about!! So I'm just gonna talk about some random things that have been going on.

Recently in Jirapa is the rumor of a big dark hand that comes out of the earth in the middle of the night and slaps people!!! Supposedly it killed the man that owns the spot by my house and two others. Anyway I think it's hilarious and a good way to scare young kids into staying home late at night. But everybody I've been talking to has heard about it so word travels. I found out about it at 4:30 in the morning when this neighbor girl and I were going to Jirapa's "Keep Fit Club" that meets every Saturday. Yes, a keep fit club. The club actually has a lot of members but because of the fear of the hand there were only about 20 this last Saturday. So some differences in running clubs in the US and in Ghana...

*Ghana-4:30 in the morning is when you have to meet because its too hot at any other hour and you need to have time to fetch water and other things like that.

*US-You meet after work at like 6:00 in the evening.

*Ghana-You run in two rows and in whatever attire you have. Bare feet, sandals, whatever.

*US-You run where ever you want to and in nice (insert brand name shoe here) and appropriate running gear.

*Ghana- You must doge goats and sheep in the road because that is where they sleep. You also must enjoy the sound of the mosque calling people to prayer at this ungodly hour.

*US- You must doge traffic and enjoy the sounds of traffic.

*Ghana- You must have an exercise ready for the group when you reach the stopping point. Thankfully I know way too many exercises thanks to High School Soccer and I ended up leading some sit ups and leg strength exercises. And we only did about 10 and everyone was too tired.

*US- There is no stopping point until the end. And the leader always has a set of really difficult exercises that he/she can somehow do while talking.

*Ghana- On the way back you sing/chant. And clap. And you must greet people that are just waking up.

*US- You don't greet anyone! My God, your running!!!

Overall...people love to exercise no matter where you are. Not enough women can join the group here because they have to ya know, cook, clean, fetch water, take care of the children, and sell things for extra income. The women that were with us ran faster and had to go back early so they could start getting things ready for their families. Oh, and both groups have tee-shirts which is a must for a running club I think. It was a good time. I plan to keep going. As long as I can avoid the giant hand of death or whatever it is.

Work wise...I got a class at one of the Junior Highs started on letter writing to the wonderful Lindsey's 6th grade class in Hawaii. I told the students I only needed 20 kids and they should only do it if they plan on writing regularly and with good penmanship. I'm going later this week to check on the writing so hopefully they've started. They all got really excited when I brought it up so I'm thinking it will go over well.

I also helped the HIV/AIDS focal person for the District Assembly set up a meeting with local government employees on implementing a HIV/AIDS workplace policy since none exists. The meeting started late of coarse...like over an hour late. We spent a half an hour talking about starting too late...but finally once it got going it was great. Again only 2 women were there which is always disappointing for me but one of them had a lot of good input. So now we're just working on creating/formatting and submitting the policy to all the participants that came to the meeting.

Other than that I've just been spending a lot of time with the local Non-Government Organizations (NGO) helping with presentations mostly on HIV/AIDS. And I've been attending a lot of anything that I can! Meetings, clubs, market, weddings, funerals, presentations, whatever. Keeps me busy. Jirapa has a lot going on.

Randoms:

I got a bicycle finally. Which is really REALLY nice.

There are now 5 white people in Jirapa. 3 VSO volunteers from the UK just arrived and are working with the education department. They all seem very nice and will be good to work with.

There are 2 mice in my kitchen. And I hate cockroaches.

I'm heading to Wa tomorrow to see if I can get packages!! Yay my favorite Aunt Patty! I'll let you know.

All my love!

Elyse

Hello to everyone! First of all I would like to say that there is no virus attached to this blog. So if you got a virus it wasn't from this. I don't want people to stop reading it because they think they could get a virus. Blogspot is a very legit website and no viruses can be downloaded from it. All the other PCVs are using it and have never had this problem...

Alright. So I arrived at site a few weeks ago and have actually unlike a lot of volunteers been really really busy. Coming to Africa I thought I would be in a rural area with no electricity, no running water, no computers...oh how I was wrong. My community is fairly large and the government offices are in my town. This is where I actually have a desk! A few days ago I just found out that I will be needing to submit a report to the District Assembly every month of my activities. So things are reminding me of home! It is still no America but I find it funny when my neighbors ask me if I'm going into the office today. So I'll just give you a run through of one of my days...

5:30am-woke up to goats outside, dishes, breakfast, bath.

6:45am-Walked to the hospital, met with another volunteer in the area who is from South Carolina, a retired English teacher! She is wonderful. We talked about working together on some projects.

8:00am-We walked to the high school she is teaching at where a girls camp was going on that week. I told the girl child officer I would love to help if they needed me so she told me she wanted me to speak to the girls...in like 1/2 an hour. Got to love impromptu public speaking to over 100 Ghanaian teenage girls! So I got up and decided it would be fun to have them say "Power" after every time I said "Girl". It went over pretty well! Then I just talked about the Peace Corps and about how important education is and finishing your schooling before you have children etc...

12:00pm-I headed back to the Hospital in town and met with the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing center) in-charge nurse. She seemed really hesitant about working with me so it will probably take a while to gain her trust. It was a little disappointing.

2:00pm-Went back to the District Assembly and met with the radio operator who is going to start helping me work on my Dagaare! The first session was a little unorganized but we'll see how it goes.

4:00pm-Headed back to the Girls camp and watched the final talk on Gender Roles. They had some great local female public speakers for the girls. Pretty interesting.

6:00pm-Met up with my counterpart back where we live. This is when I found out I need to submit a report :).

7:00pm-Made no bake cookies for Joy for her birthday!

So ya. Just getting to know people in my community and trying to figure out what kind of work I can get started! I miss you all! Hope you enjoyed all the photos on facebook.

Love,

Elyse

Ok, I tried to load these on facebook and that failed...really badly. So...I selected just a few to share on here. I'll see if I can get more up later.

This is the famous Guillermo and I about to see Obama! Guillermo thought my grandmother and favorite aunt Patty would appreciate this photo!

Next we have the wonderful Lindsey and I. She is amazing and her site is way way too far away from mine!!!

Below are what we like to "grubs". I know what you're thinking, "Wow, that's disgusting/fear factor like I really hope she didn't eat those.." But I did. We stuck them on a stick kabob style, roasted them a little and then ate. It was..like a gusher...and the head is kind of crunchy...I don't think it will be a normal thing in my diet but I'm going all out so it had to be done.

Speaking of going all out, the beautiful Joy and I got weaves done in our hair. So here is some of that! We are also sporting our latest fashion statement made and picked out by our amazing home stay families!

So I have officially become a volunteer and sadly left my home stay family. We were a little bit of a mess when the taxi pulled away. For people I could barely have a conversation with I'm gonna miss them a lot. My host grandmother sort of prayed over me/wished me well (I think anyway it was in Twi) and could barely hug me because she was crying. They're an incredible family and took such good care of me. (about sending them a package mom-they don't have an address...it doesn't really work that way here) I gave them some MT huckleberry candies and jam and they loved it! Here is a picture of my little sister Victoria doing some coloring.

So out of all the sectors at swearing in WAT/SAN was by far the brightest. My host father wove me an entire outfit out of Kente which is a traditional cloth woven in Ghana. A normal 2yard of fabric here cost about 6 to 8 Ghana Cedis but a 2 yard of Kente costs about 60 to 80 cedis depending on the design. Ya, so I was wearing the real thing! This is my sector group all dressed up in our Ghana wear for swearing in!

Here is a photo of me and Dorothy! She was always a full supporter of my crazy bright hair and clothes. And has been an amazing women and now Peace Corps volunteer to have around.

Alright, so I'm runnin out of Internet time. But I hope you all enjoyed these few photos. I'll be at my site for awhile now getting settled in. Thank you so much for the letters and I received the package Grandma!! Everyone loves you now as I shared the trail mix/newspaper/gummy bears etc...!!! I still love you the most!

Everyone keep me updated on things at home!! Miss you all!

Peace and Love,

Elyse

I'm going to start this blog by putting up my wish list so far.

Good tea

Candles/good incense

Mac and Cheese

Hemp. (for making necklaces) -lots of cool beads here

Good pens/sharpies

Chicken soup packets...

Instant potatoes, really instant anything.

Tupperware

Bobbie pins

I got a P.O. box at my site which goes like this...

Elyse Cleveland

P.O. box 26

Jirapa, Upper West Region

Ghana, West Africa

So that should be fine to send letters to. But I don't know how good it will be so as far as packages go so the group of volunteers in my region has a box they share in the capital city and they have no problem receiving packages there. So send packages from now on to...

Elyse Cleveland

Peace Corps Volunteer

P.O. Box 523

Wa, Upper West Region

Ghana, West Africa

First, thank you for all the comments!! I love them all! Sorry about the viruses if that's happening. We can only use Internet cafes here so unless you have your own computer its always a tad risky so I apologize if my blog had something bad attached to it! Patty I love your list! Made me laugh. :)

Ok... so I went on site visit!! First we met up with our "counterparts/supervisors" as a group and kind of had a workshop sort of thing. My supervisor is... well... awesome. If he had a theme song it would go like this, "You can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a ladies man no time to talk..." ya the Bee Gees. He's got a great sense of humor and is pretty motivated and really helpful and an awesome 70's sort of style. After a long workshop trying to get past all those cultural barriers so we can work together we spent the next 14 hours crammed on buses/tros together. So I know him fairly well now. We left at 5am and I got to site around 10 at night. My house wasn't ready (surprise) so they put me up in a guest house/hotel which was very nice. My supervisor told me he would come get me the next morning around 9 or 10 to introduce me to people etc.. well the next morning around 11, still no supervisor. I was board so I put on my newly made Ghanaian outfit (My host mom picked out the fabric) and I decided to check out my new home. It happened to be market day and I happened to run into a really great lady (Stella) that works in the hospital's medical lab. (figures right, I must attract lab people). She was on her way to her sisters Pito stand so I'm like, "Sweet what's pito?!" I spent the next few hours hanging around with Stella drinking the local brew- its sweet and kind of taste like mead I guess, it's made from millet. Not bad. About 95% of my community is Catholic (figures again, I must attract them too). So about 95% of my community really enjoys Pito. Then I met some other locals, drank more pito, turned down about 10 marriage proposals (I think it was my sweet outfit), drank more pito, practiced my Dagaare, and spent all day at market. It was a good first day I think. I'm integrating ;).

The rest of the time at site visit I met the entire District Assembly (the local government here) reminds me of all the people my parents work with! Oh government workers...all so alike. Good senses of humor. I met some of the local doctors, education directors, community development workers, and health directors. And everyone was excited to see me and told me I could help them with their projects so I'm starting to get a lot of ideas. Not committing to anything just yet...

My house is great but just needs to have a few things fixed. So I really hope that's done by the time I get back. I have a living room, bathroom, veranda, two bedrooms, kitchen, and some pigeons in my roof. My neighbor Lesley wanted me to send all her warm wishes to my family in America!! She's great and helped teach me to make Saw as it's called in the north but more commonly known as T Zed.

I also had an interesting conversation with one of the few Muslims in my town when I was hanging out playing a local board game with some women. He works for the district assembly and told me that by the end of my 2 years he would make me Muslim. I told him there were 3 reasons I cannot be Muslim and he had a solution for everyone so our discussion isn't over I'm sure. First I said, "The men are allowed multiple wives but the women aren't. I want 3 husbands so that's gonna be a problem" he asked me if I would be able to provide for all of them. I said, "Sure! I'll make lots of money!" Than he said, "That's not what I meant". Then I moved on b/c I wasn't about to go there. I said, "Women don't have the same rights as the men in the organization and I'm not ok with that". He said we'd go talk to the church or masque or whatever and get it worked out. Great. Then I said, "I like Pito and you're not allowed to drink Pito." He really didn't have a good answer for this. The women were getting a kick out of the conversation though, laughing at him the whole time. After this he decided to go home to his 2 wives and I stayed to finish the game even though I was invited over for dinner.

Ok, well back to the village! I passed my language test today!! Horray!! So swearing in is on the 13th. I can't believe training is pretty much over. I will officially be a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana. Ah! Love you all miss you tons!!

Elyse

Hello all! Ok, first of all I'd like to add another disclaimer to my blog: the views and abilities of Guillermo to write a million blogs and post pictures does not reflect my ability to get to the Internet cafe or my ability to post photos. But I did receive the big hug from him. He said it was from, "My favorite Aunt Patty, Millie, and your Mom," so thank you to all!

Next I'd just like to make it clear that I despise chickens (except eating them). Especially the ones that sit in the trees right outside my window and make horrible unnecessary noises at 5:15 every morning. Did I mention its right outside my window? And why are they in the trees? That makes no sense. Today I threw rocks at them. Someone was probably wondering what the white girl was doing throwing rocks at the trees but I swear if I could catch one of them I'd drop kick them across the street. Ok, just had to vent about the stupid chickens. Oh...and my host mom brought me an entire basket full of eggs yesterday. I don't know how I'm going to eat that many eggs...but I'll give it my best. She seemed pretty happy about it. Plus they always tell us to "Eat ALL!" Whether it be two balls of fufu, eggs, or soup. The bigger we get the better! I however am not getting bigger since my body doesn't know what to do without all the milk and fat I used to eat back home. So it just kind of rejects everything. Lets just say I'm excited to get to site to cook for myself.

Lets see... we're working on our SCOP or Small Community Outreach Projects. So my friend Lizzy and I are working with the youth group to do a presentation/discussion on Family Planning, condom use ect.. with the teenagers in the community. We met with 4 of the executive members yesterday and the meeting went surprisingly well! First they had an argument about what "Ghanaian time is" since we started the meeting late. Then they very cordially debated what group we should target. One of them would make a point and then another would add, "I agree with you100% but you need to look at the issue this way..." The youth group is actually made up of members from the ages 15 to 65 so... ya. But, they did build the clinic in the town, remodeled the Junior high school, and they built a bench/shaded waiting area at the taxi station. So they're very motivated and focused on helping their community. It's pretty great to see. Anyway, it went really well and we got the nurse in the community to come and do a condom demonstration. It is a bummer though that birth control isn't available to the youth except with their parents consent. Which they would never get...even though most of the parents had kids at the ages of 15 and 16.

We did go to some Waterfalls!! Finally something not work related! We went to the Akaa Waterfalls which were amazing. It felt good to finally do something active and not just sit and listen and talk all the time. It finally gave us a chance to step back and look at something really beautiful. Away from people standing and getting sprayed from the mist of the waterfalls, in the sun was pretty incredible.

Currently some thoughts on Ghana

1. I love groundnut cake, which is basically peanut brittle and I love sugar and I miss it.

2. I hate chickens. But I already talked about that.

3. You greet EVERYONE. Literally. And sometimes this gets old. And EVERYONE wants to know where you're going. And saying "none of your business" isn't a response. Not one they'd understand anyway.

4. I do love being able to leave conversations by just saying, "I'm leaving". And that's totally acceptable. It's great.

5. Don't worry Will, I know alcohol can't kill everything. And my body also knows this. And it's just kind of a fact that you get sick here.

6. I wish I could carry 60 pounds on my head like the small children in my compound...but sadly I cannot.

7. The women work really really hard and don't get enough credit or respect.

8. I've started making agreements with insects and lizards to leave me alone if I leave them alone. I don't know if it's working...

9. Apparently you need to collect your dead by 5pm especially on Fridays (saw this on a sing today).

10.Wednesday we meet our counterparts and go on site visit so I'm really excited to see my new home!!

Ok, all in all I'm well. Super super busy...I miss you all! Keep my up to date on what's happenin in the good ol USA!

All my Love!

Elyse

Hey All!

So, everyday seems to be filled with something new, something odd, and something hilarious. I decided to go to a Methodist church with my Grandmother on Sunday and it was probably the longest 4 hours of my life. There was a lot of singing and dancing (which was fine but I had no idea what anyone was saying) and a lot of "offerings" so to speak. The sermon was interesting. Since their woman's group was raising money that Sunday he wanted to talk about women. Fair enough. But more importantly the role and duty of women. I knew at that point it was about to get interesting. We should wake up early, clean, have breakfast ready for the family because cleanliness is next to godliness. I sort of felt like I went back to the 50's but when he said the same thing in Twi the women kind of laughed so I'm not sure how serious it was. Then he continued to talk about the empowerment of women and how they're getting jobs outside the home etc... so then I felt like I was in the 60's when women not only had to work but clean and cook too! Good times... After about a half an hour of that the Pastor wanted the Americans to come forward and introduce themselves. So my other wonderful feminist volunteer friend Lindsey and I made our way to the front, used the little Twi we knew to say where we were from etc.. and we thought that would be it. Oh no. He announced that we couldn't go sit down until somebody donated 10 Ghana cedis for each of us. I quickly looked at Lindsey, "Are we being auctioned off?! At church?! In the name of God?! Without us realizing it?!" Yes we were. Luckily the 10 cedis came quickly and we could sit down but Lindsey was informed that she should now marry that man. Anything in the name of God right?

We spent the rest of the church service donating money during hymes. Its different also since they announce the price people are donating and then you get up and put that much in the box. I was apparently called on to donate a large sum of money but ya... volunteer. So I gave my 50 pesewas and I'm not sure I'll go back. I did meet a wonderful young Ghanaian girl after the service though that said she wanted to learn to play the piano. The church actually has a little Yamaha keyboard so I told her if she set it up I could teach her some things!

My host family is fine and always overly concerned and worried about me. They tried to wake me up at 5:30 this morning to sweep since they didn't understand what my teacher had told them about letting us sleep and just helping us cook etc... So hopefully I'll get that fixed and won't have knocking on my door everyday at 5:30. I know I woke up a lot earlier than that before (you crazy ICP staff)...but training is crazy and I could use the sleep! My host family does however really want to dress me up and buy me clothes and jewelry. Its uh... interesting and I'm trying to figure out how to best get around it. Also, when you invite a Ghanaian person out somewhere its important to know that you'll be the one paying. I didn't realize this and my host sister was very excited about getting us more food and drinks...and I saw why when I had to pay at the end. Important lessons to learn.

I should probably tell you all a little about my site! The town is called Jirapa and it's in the Upper West Region. The population is about 16,000 so its much larger than I expected. I have electricity, a flush toilet (oh ya!), and two rooms and a living room all to myself. Three volunteers have been there before me so I'll be jumping into quite a few projects which hopefully means I won't be board. There's a women's bakery that needs help with organization and marketing, there's a People Living With AIDS group that would like help with presentations and ideas for income to buy their medicine. There is also a clinic, an orphanage, and I'm in the District Capital so I hopefully will do a lot of work with the local government. They eat dog where I am going. But I think I love them too much to do that. It would be like eating a little Chloe...ya no way. We head to our site visits in a few weeks so I'll have more info after I check everything out!

Hope all is well in the states!! Miss you all!! The rain has stopped so we're leaving the Internet cafe!!

Love,

Elyse

So this is probably going to be a short blog but I thought I'd update! I got to my home stay a few days ago and my family is wonderful! They don't speak very much english...so that keeps things interesting and they really want me to learn Twi but I had to explain to them that I'm learning Dagaare (my site placement is in the Upper West Region). My host mom is so cute, her name is Ya Atah and my fathers name is Daniel (what a coincidence huh?). Daniel weaves Kente cloth which is amazing and he gave me some as a present!! It's beautiful. They always feed me tons of food and my Grandmother is always upset that I can't eat all of it. I pounded Fu Fu which is very very hard and my host mom is so strong. They laughed at me and I had to explain to them that it's my first time! It's a good work out though!

Training has been a little unorganized (I expected this though). I have to leave around 6:30 in the morning and usually stop and great about 10 people before I make it to the station. One of my neighbors always asks me to marry him every morning and I tell him "not today, but maybe tomorrow". It's pretty funny. A taxi driver today pulled over with a car full of people and asked me to give him my number so that he could teach me Twi. I asked him if he knew Dagaare because that is what I have to learn and he said no so I said I could not give him my number.

The people here are wonderful and very loving. Training has been busy busy busy but I'm trying to stay organized. Thank you for all the wonderful comments!! You guys are all great! Mitch and Jamie, let me know whats going on with your house!! And I want to know who the new supervisor is?!! Miss you all!!

Elyse

Hello Everyone!! So I finally made it to an Internet cafe! I've been trying and the Internet has been down everywhere I go but alas I'm figuring out that that is Ghana. Alright well let me see if I can try to capture what has been happening. We've been traveling a lot!! We were in Accra which is just a crazy ridiculous big city, and then we went on our vision quests and now we're in the Eastern Region!

My vision quest was great and scary all in one. The lovely Maria fed me and led me around her village called Sankpala in the Northern region. She was putting on a HIV/AIDS week so we did a presentation at the clinic and then a fun education/game/station thing at the school. To end the week there was a teacher student football match so of coarse I had to play. Someone passed me the ball and I started juggling and all the kids freaked out! I'm probably the first white girl they've seen juggle a football. So I put on a Jersey to play with the teachers (who I was soon to find out all played on a team for the city and were very very very very good) and a group of little girls just gathered around me in awe. They were so excited I was going to play too. So I have decided I need to start a girls football club at my site in August. The girls just don't get a chance to play and they all want to. Anyway, I'm thinking we're all going to play in like bare feet and sandals...hahaha I was wrong. All the kids run to their huts and come back with cleats (boots). They may not have real shoes but let me tell you they all have football boots! Priorities right? So here I am in my Chacos and a little boy Abikari asks me, "Madame! Madame! Are you going to play?!!" I'm like, "I guess so but I forgot to bring my boots" and he just laughs and runs to the field. Now the field is like all dirt with no lines, so I ask one of the teachers where the lines are and he says, "No, its ok, we just know." I'm thinking oh man this is going to be interesting... We start the game and there is a huge audience and there are drums being played the entire time. I maybe touched the ball twice...but they were all really great and tried to pass to me. There isn't much passing since the ground is so uneven and I am in really bad shape but I had a good time. I plan to improve.

We move in with our home stay family tomorrow so I'm really excited and really nervous. We've been getting shots, going to meetings, and playing a lot of cards so its been pretty relaxed so far. I just bought a cell phone so hopefully I'll be able to call some of you soon! I miss you all soooo much!! I just got a letter from you Grandma so I'm excited to read it!!! Please send letters they are awesome!!! And then I feel cool when they say my name. Hahaha.. Hope all is well in the states! Bye Bye!!

After two uneventful plane rides and a really expensive cab ride I made it to my hotel in Philadelphia!! No one really knows who all the other volunteers are but if they're wearing chacos its a safe bet. I've only met a few other people but so far everyone is great and excited and completely not sure what to expect. I started losing my voice which is convenient since I have to meet a lot of people...but I found meds so I'm set. No worries. Other than that I saw the liberty bell, had a Philly cheese steak, and met another volunteer that's doing the same project as me! I plan on future blogs being a tad more interesting.... but I'm here and ready to go!! I miss everyone a lot but hopefully they'll be keeping us busy so I can stay focused and motivated.

Love you all!!

Peace,

Elyse