honorable Kofi daTeri

27 January 2005

Friends and Family:

I am now in Tamale in route back to my site, Agou fie.
I have one last chance to send out an email before I leave
civilization and return to the bush tomorrow morning.
I wrote a lengthy mass email in Accra last night only to
lose the entire thing due to a late night power outage.

It was entitled 'death and discombobulation' and it was about the
overwhelming exposure to death I've experienced lately -- mostly plant &
animal death, but plenty of human death as well. My heart goes out to the
family of Sarah McNeil, a close friend of my brother Ben and a genuine
sweetheart to everyone, who died last month in a car crash in northern
Arizona. I also expounded upon the existential crisis and confusion
resulting from such loss of life, but it was a somber and morose message and
perhaps someone upstairs didn't like the negative tone. Thus, I promise to
make this a happy one and focus on the good that's happening in my new life.

So I am feeling 100% better as I write this email. I had been in Accra for
several days at the request of our Peace Corps Medical Officer. Last week I
had a fever, sore throat, and acute pain when swallowing. All were symptoms
of a painful, pussy blister on the joint of my right thumb that had become
severely infected. The blister was initially a second degree burn I got from
a hot coal that landed on my hand as I fanned my coal pot -- its a little
square grill you fill with charcoal that I use to heat water and cook my
meals.

The burn was no big deal, but then I bought a big 20" machete (cutlass they
call it here) and decided on Xmas eve I needed a more direct route to my
source of water, a hand pump borehole well. So I set out to clear 300 ft of
2m tall grass. I was successful in killing the grass and clearing a path
Indiana Jones style, but I also managed to kill my hands. I was having so
much fun whacking the weeds I was completely oblivious to the blisters
forming on my fingers and the ruptured bloody blister from the burn. The
problem came when I tried keeping the thumb blister covered and clean. It
was in a bad spot and the region of Ghana I now inhabit is particularly
dusty and dirty this time of year. Long story short, antibiotics saved the
day and now I can return to my work in Agou.

What is my work? Well, everything but Guinea Worm eradication it turns out.
Guinea worm is the least of their problems in my community. It *was* a big
problem but an NGO called the Carter center has drilled several dozen
boreholes in the Nkwanta district and people are by and large using them.
Borehole water comes from groundwater below and is naturally filter'd by the
soil and sand, producing a remarkably clean drinking source. It is also
completely free of Guinea worm since there is no way infected people can
contaminate the water below ground.

Agou fie has two boreholes. They are both much more convenient than fetching
from the Bonakye river, ie potentially contaminated water. but one was not
working when I arrived. I met a borehole technician in the nearby town on
Nkwanta (pop. approx 20,000) the first week I arrived -- along with about
500 hundred other people... remembering names has been a constant challenge.
But my community could not afford the repair. Unfortunately, I found this
out after I had him come out and repair it. It was like $60 for parts,
labor, and transportation but 500,000 cedis is a lot to ask from poor ass
peasant farmers.

So my holiday season consisted of going door to door with the chief's son,
greeting the people of Agou fie, and then asking them to fork out 2,000
cedis. We were successful and even collected more than enough to start
saving for the next project -- a 10 seater public pit latrine. Right now I
watch in horror as people pretty much shit wherever they feel like it -- of
course, not too close to main paths or anyone's house but not always.

Moreover, they elected me to be the treasurer of their WatSan committee. The
beauty of moving to a new place is you can re-invent yourself. Back home, I
was horrible at managing money. I was constantly selling books/cds and
borrowing from friends to pay for groceries. But they don't know that and
now I'm actually much better at managing my finances. I have to be. I only
get $30/week to live on... which makes me obscenely wealthy compared to my
fellow villagers.

So good news: last year this time -- in dec of '03 and jan. of '04 -- there
were 120 documented cases of GW. This year we had one case in december and
none that I'm aware of yet this month. So I can focus on more pressing needs
like the primary school that one teacher for 200 students and the teacher is
in Cape Coast more than he's in Agou. A disease called Bilharzia is ravaging
the nearby river community of 2,000 named Kabiti. Bilharzia is a parasite
that causes painful urinations and even blood in the urine and sometimes
stools for 6-12 weeks. You get it by swimming or bathing in the water and
its spread by people urinating/defecating in the river. For this reason, the
PC tells volunteers we are not to swim in any of the fresh water bodies of
Ghana, which is might tempting during this hot, dry season with
temperatures of 80 to 95 degrees F everyday.

I was also able to branch out and visit ten communities surrounding Agou fie
to address their development needs. The opportunity came as I found out our
District Assembly member, Raphael Yahesu, is suing nine chiefs for a letter
they all signed expressing a Vote of No Confidence in the man. The lawsuit
claims defamation based on false allegations, but I happen to think he's
full of shit and a corrupt politician. Either these nine chiefs are
fabricating 11 allegations of corruption, ranging from stealing money from
school projects to selling land that did not belong to him to settling
police disputes without contacting authorities OR this one man of less than
forty is lying. The very fact that he has the money to hire a lawyer and sue
nine chiefs leads me to believe that at least some of the corruption
allegations are probably true.

Being an exotic American white man, I was invited to the end of the year
District Assembly by the paramount chief of Agou. The meeting is strictly
meant for elected officials but surprise, surprise our man is no where to be
seen. So I'm filling in for him. The assembly members are called 'honorable'
and my new Ghana name is Kofi da Teri because I arrived on Friday (Kofi is
the male Twi word for Friday as you recall) and "da Teri" is Challa and
means "for everybody." Hence, a running joke in Agou that I am the new
assembly member. Don't worry, mom and dad, there's no party affiliations --
its akin to a local city councilmember.

So I've being doing what Raphael should have been doing. I just finished a
10 page development project proposal for the Agou / Kabiti area (pop.
approx. 6000) based on my discussions with the chief, elders, and community
leaders of nine communities. I have a rad translator named David Bakapo that
fluently speaks eight languages and understands 15. He's 42 and has two
wives and three children. His English is excellent as he was raised by
Catholic missionaries from America in the northern region of Ghana. He also
like hard alcohol a lot. He likes to start the morning with a shot of
ampeteshie - an 80+ proof alcoholic drink made from distilled palm wine
which comes from palm trees. Needless to say, we bonded immediately.

All is well in Agou. I can't wait to get back but I want to apologize for
not communicating sooner. Its very hard to find internet anywhere nearby. No
mobile phone service for any time soon. and the roads are horrific. But
keeping writing letters. I received many encouraging letters when I visited
the Accra office and soon I'll have a PO Box in Nkwanta I can check weekly.

As promised, I want this email to be fun and happy so in honor of my fav.
late night comedian, Letterman, here is a top 10 list.

Top 10 things I miss most in America
10. my Ipod (music soothes the soul. luckily my mom sent a package full of
cds and I just bought a cd player so I can remain sane)
9. Movie theaters (I found movie rentals and vcrs/tv but no surround sound
auditoriums)
8. cheese. Real cheese, not the crap they sell in the local market called
'Laughing Cow'
7. Anonymity. Here I am a public figure. I get noticed and watched
everywhere I go simply because I am a novelty. In at least fifteen years,
there has not been one PC volunteer to live in this godforsaken district.
6. Jack in the Box. La Burrita in Berkeley is a close second. I've yet to
find any Mexican food restaurants in this country.
5. flush toilets and sinks. a rare sighting in poor areas, ie where I live
4. Ice - scotch just isn't as enjoyable at room temp, nor beer for that
matter
3. Internet accesss. Its hard to find and difficult to quit, much like crack
cocaine... not that I know anything firsthand but from what I hear its
like..
2. Pizza. hot, cheesy NY style is available but extremely rare and only in
big cities
1. New York Times. this is self-explanatory for anyone who knows me well.

Next time, look forward to Top 10 things I love about Ghana and Top 10
things I hate/dislike/ don't understand or am not accustomed to ( so as not
to sound ethnocentric).

take care and carpe diem cuz you never know when your day will come.

happy trails,
Kris