28 February 2005
Friends and family:
I hope this message finds all of you in good
health and high spirits. I'm in Tamale for a
Gunea worm meeting so I have a brief opportunity
to reconnect with the outside world. I just
found out "Million Dollar Baby" swept the
Oscars and Morgan Freeman won for best
supporting actor. Its about time that
guy gets some long overdue recognition for his
acting. But c'mon, "Napolean
Dynamite" didn't win anything. I swear justice
on earth exists only in name.
As I reflect upon another month living in west
Africa, I'm finding that this
place feels less and less exotic and more and
more like home. The confusion
and novelty of the transition is wearing off
and the stress of being a
stranger is subsiding. Community integration is
coming along steadily as I
find my place in scheme of things. For the most
part, the locals are
realizing I'm not an outsider with a lot of
cash to solve their problems
like most foreign aid workers that visit. I'm
just a poor dude like them
with an interest in their culture and some
ideas on how to improve their
quality of life.
Lately, I've been focusing my energy mostly on
improving the education
system of Agou. But to say "education system"
is a bit deceiving as it
would imply something like that exists in the
community. Well, technically
there is a 3 classroom school building funded
by World Vision. There's a
beautiful new 8 seater latrine just finished
for the school (funded mostly
by the Danish gov't). There's even a full time
teacher paid a decent salary
by the district Ministry of Education. And yet,
every weekday I would pass a
completely empty school. It was mind boggling.
I could not understand why.
The chief, Nana Lucas, blames the teacher. He
claims Jacob is "a wicked man"
who either refuses or is too lazy to do the job
he's being paid to do. Jacob
claims the parents are to blame because they
send the children off to farm
rather than to school. According to him, the
misguided parents prefer the
short term benefit of farm labor (ie food) over
the long term benefit of
education. Its sad but true that children here
do a lot of work to help
their parents get by (both household and field
work) but the longer I lived
in Agou, the more I agreed with the chief.
Jacob, I think, is weasling his
way out of work by blaming the parents and the
district for not providing
enough teachers.
Its true that one person cannot be expected to
educate 100-150 primary
school children. But what about two or three
dedicated individuals? That's
the question I sought to answer last week when
I said I'm entering the
classroom. It was this question and a few
incidents that lead me to want to
teach. Two weeks ago there was a 3-day funeral
ceremony for this 30 yr old
man that died suddenly from an unknown cause.
Then just last tuesday, an 18
month old girl died after showing severe
flu-like symptoms. Tests are being
conducted to determine the cause of her death,
but the mother already thinks
she knows. She claims a "juju man" stole the
cloth her child was wearing at
the funeral and performed "juju" (black magic)
on it. The girl was healthy
before the funeral, lost the cloth, then fell
ill shortly after Yaw
Okumasi's funeral.
This kind of ignorance is rampant in my
community. I have the chief's son
telling me if I eat too much cassava I'll go
blind. Now I always check the
change I'm given by market vendors because
often its incorrect. And they
told me not to worry when a fat 2ft ft snake
entered the roof of my house
because "green snakes are harmless; only worry
about the brown and black
ones." I read some snake literature and found
out, no, it very well could've
been a green mamba or a green bush viper, both
poisonous and prevalent in
Ghana. (btw- mom, there aren't any black mambas
in Ghana. they are only
found in southern & central africa) I didn't
get bit or anything but I did
get fed up with the lack of education in my
community.
So last Sunday, I told Nana Lucas to bang the
gongong drum and tell everyone
school is starting Monday, feb. 21. I didn't
see or hear the gongong drum
banging but I did see throngs of students show
up monday morning. The
message reached them somehow. I've never seen
Jacob so stressed out.
Suddenly, attendance mushrooms from eight to
eighty students at his school.
I had been talking to Jacob for a while about
my decision to teach primary
school so it wasn't a complete surprise. We
agreed that I would have to
teach upper primary (grades 4-6) because the
younger grades would understand
very little of my English. In theory, English
is the official language here
and thus is supposed to be the only language
spoken in class. In practice,
however, and esp. in remote rural villages,
english is rarely spoken in the
classroom.
I carried a stick to class the first day but I
did not intend on using it in
the way Jacob does. I use it as a pointer. He
uses it to smack disobedient
kids on the head. I cannot bring myself to hit
this cute little guys. I love
seeing them line up in the morning and sing
songs like "the devil is a liar"
in unison. They sing the national anthem and
say the Lord's prayer everyday
before class begins. Then they do this marching
song and march into the
classroom, swinging their arms in single file
lines. They keep asking me to
teach them songs, but I really don't know many
folksy tunes for them. All I
could think of was "America, the Beautiful"
which they liked a lot. I just
looked up the lyrics to "La cucaracha" and
can't wait to teach them that lil
jewel. If any of you have any suggestions,
please send them my way.
So I prepare a simple Math, English, and
Science lesson for 15-20 students
each day. There's 40 total in grades 4-6 and
every day attendence improves.
We're learning multiplication tables, parts of
a sentence, and nutrition
when I return. I also spend an hour or so just
reading lil books like
"Chichi and the Termites" or "Mustafa's
beautiful daughters." Discipline is
a challenge because I'm not a very
authoritative person and keeping their
interest is hard cuz they understand very
little of what I say (imagine
taking a physics class in Mexico, that's what
it seems like sometimes). Its
challenging but its I enjoy it. As long as G.
worm is not much of a problem
and my role as assembly member is on hiatus
(there's only 4 district
meetings a year), I will continue to teach, and
more importantly, recruit
more teachers.
As promised though, here's another Top 10 list.
Last time I listed 10 things
I miss most about America. Well now here's 10
things I love about Ghana.
10. ubiquitous breastfeeding women. Not that I
love seeing bare breasts --
which I do -- but I really like to see this
healthy behavior is practiced so
much and so frequently without any shame or
embarassment. There's nothing
more nutritious for an infant and yet so many
mothers in the US opt for baby
formula. Also, the mothers here carry babies on
their back using a cloth
wrap wherever they go -- cooking, sweeping,
fetching water, and so on. The
infant has a lot of intimate contact with the
mother, a very good thing I
vaguely remember from psych class.
9. Wood chewing sticks. For a long time I
wondered why the hell all these
people had wads of wood in their mouth in the
morning. it turns out the
sticks, made of some kind of soft wood and cut
into small rectangles, can be
chewed and then used as a toothbrush. I forget
to brush my teeth all too
often but now if I don't have time or forget, I
grab a wood stick from my
bag and chew it. hey, its better than nothing.
8. Communal care for one another. This is more
true in smaller rural
settings than the city (and probably similar in
the states) but in Agou, the
village is like one big family. When I hurt my
hand and wrapped it up,
everybody wanted to know what was wrong. It can
feel obsequious and annoying
to a Westerner like me at times, but when I
need something, like water or my
clothes washed, its not hard to find someone to
help.
7. Ghana time. No rush, no hurry. Everything
happens at a snail's pace over
here so you rarely have to hurry to get
somewhere or rush to finish
something. I am a slow person and I like this
pace of life very much. It can
be frustrating when setting up meetings though.
6. Castle Milk stout. you can't beat this cold,
rich, creamy beer. Its not
served cold in Agou cuz there's no electricity
but whenever I travel to
Nkwanta, you bet your balls I'm drinking a
castle.
5. Farm animals roam free. I eat meat here. I
don't have a problem with the
way they are treated here before people eat
them because they are free to
go wherever they want. Cows do their cow thing.
A chicken can be a chicken.
The goats butt heads all morning and sheep cry
for their mother when they
get separated. They search for food during the
day and return to their
owners house at night. Then we kill and eat the
animals when we're hungry or
there's a special occasion. Its the circle of
life. hakuna matata
4. drumming and dancing. I'm not much of a
dancer but its hard not to dance
when everyone else is and there's a damn good
beat. At church, on holidays,
even funerals you find they bust out big drums
and dance the day away.
Learning to drum is one of my goals while I'm
here. I'm not too musically
inclined so we'll see how that goes.
3. The fruit. I've never tasted juicier, more
succulent pineapple, papaya,
and mangos than the ones over here. The oranges
have a lot of seeds and
bananas aren't that much better but the
pineapples alone justify the cost of
a trans-atlantic flight to this country.
2. People are very resourceful. You have to be
when you don't have much.
Coke bottles are not given to consumers. You
drink the liquid then return
the bottle to the seller. Old bikes tires are
cut up and used in innumerable
ways as elastic bands. Food containers are
constantly re-used, eg the jam
jar becomes the sugar storage jar after its
finished. My roommate Max would
be very impressed.
1. Respect for elders. It actually exists here
and it is a beautiful thing.
My internet time is almost up but before I go I
want to make sure y'all have
my new mailing address:
Kris Huston
PO Box 68
Nkwanta, V/R
Ghana, W. Africa
I visit Nkwanta weekly so I will be much
quicker in replying to your snail
mail now.
godspeed,
Kris
Monday, February 28, 2005
beating the gongong
Thursday, January 27, 2005
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
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
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
metamorphosis
30 November 2004
Friends and Family:
First off, I just want to thank everyone who responded
to my last email. Your support was overwhelming and
very much needed as I headed through the last three
turbulent weeks of Peace corps boot camp. I missed y'all
very much on Thanksgiving and hope you had a wonderful
time stuffing yourself with turkey and whatnot. Ghanaians
don't celebrate it at all.
For anyone considering joining the peace corps, know that
the pre-service training is torturous. The time schedule is
very structured and rigid. Language training in the mornin.
Technical training all afternoon (eg. what is a borehole,
soakaway pit, how do I apply for funds from the District
Assembly and so on). Language & cultural training after that.
Then you walk home and the local Ghanaians shower you
with attention. Everyone wants to what you're doing and
where you're going. Wu ko hee? Wu ko hee? It can be
annoying after you've already answer'd it twenty times.
But I made it. I was sworn in as an official Peace Corps
Volunteer (PCV) last Friday, Nov. 27th in an elaborate
ceremony -- I apologize for not snapping any photos. I
gave my homestay brother, Charles, his camera back the
day before. But I will be sending some photos home to
Gilbert, AZ soon. (mom, a small digi cam would make a
great Xmas gift :) The swearing in ceremony was a
combination of feeling like high school graduation, all the
fun of african drumming and dancing (both by locals and
by us, volunteers), and the somber mood of a funeral.
The somber mood was due to the fact that we had to say
goodbye to our homestay families. Surprisingly, I grew
very attached to my homestay mother Akosua Amponsah
despite the fact that she spoke minimal English and I spoke
very little Twi. And despite the fact that I had only lived
with them for two months, saying goodbye was tough. She
cried, I cried. I will miss her care, her cooking, and her
thunderous laugh whenever I attempted to speak Twi.
She was very strict with my drinking. I was only allowed
to go out after sunset for *one* drink. One time she actually
walked to the drinking spot I was at and pulled me out in
front of ten of my peace corps friends becuz it was 8:30p a
nd I had said I'd be back by 8. She wasn't mad, just
concerned for my safety.
I sat with her and watched her cook many meals. Ghanaians
love to deep fry food so the food isn't bad. I watched her cook
fried plantains in a pool of palm nut oil (yum), egg omellettes
w/ onion, tomato, and cabbage (very yummy), fried yams,
groundnut stew, and my favorite: fufu. Fufu is a doughy, slimy
yellow ball comprised of cassava, plantain, and coco yam
pounded together in a bowl for about an hour. Fufu is the pizza
of Ghana. Its extremely popular despite the bland flavor (in my
opinion) and fact that you don't chew it. You grab a piece with
your fingers, dip it in a soup, and just swallow. I hated it at first
but I also hated beer at first. Over time, you learn to love it.
In response to many of your emails, I will briefly explain what it is
exactly that I am supposed to be doing over here. I am a PCV in the WatSan
sector (WatSan = water & sanitation). My focus will be on Guinea Worm
eradication in my community. What is Guinea Worm you ask? Well, let me tell
you. It is a long, string-like worm that emerges through a blister on the
body. It incubates in the body for a 8 - 12 months and can emerge from any
part of the body: hand, foot, legs, genitalia and so on. The emergence is a
slow, painful process since these worms are typically 3ft long and cannot be
pulled out. They must be allowed to emerge slowly or the worm will die and
the dead parasite's corps causes all kinds of problems for the body's immune
system.
So its not a life-threatening disease. But painful blisters produced by the
worm's emergence can lead to secondary infections. Secondary infections can
incapacitate victims for 2-4 weeks, meaning no work, no school for a month.
Entire communities can suffer from a lack of food for a year because GW
inhibits them from farming.
And remarkably, Ghana has 76% of the world's cases of GW. The nearest town
to my community, Nkwanta, reported 1200 cases in 2003. Fmr US president
Jimmy Carter visited Tamale in north Ghana last February to address the
issue and pledged a large sum of money to eradicate it. Go Democrats! The
saddest part is that it is so preventable. Just filter your drinking water
and you're cool. Drink borehole water and you're okay. But the water table
is very low in northern Ghana and borehole wells are rarely successful. So
people have to go and scoop water out of stagnant bodies of infected water.
If that water is infected with GW, then they get GW. And to my knowledge,
there is no cure for GW. Prevention is the key.
So offiicially, that's what I'm working on: guinea worm eradication. But as
I talk to more and more experienced PCVs in Ghana I've learned you can do as
much or as little as you want when you get to site. I have been told its the
only time in your life you won't have a boss, so enjoy it and make the most
of it. Some volunteers are super-volunteers with 10 secondary projects, like
income-generation bead makings workshops, composting workshops,
elementary/junior high school teaching, fish farming, planting trees, etc.
And other volunteers treat the peace corps like a 2 year vacation. They just
kick it, hang out with the locals, never put any effort into learning the
lang., and spend a lot of time visiting/partying with other American PCVs.
The peace corps experience is truly what you make of it. They give you
training, a living allowance, a livable house, and competent medical service.
The rest is up to you. I will find a happy medium somewhere in between
super volunteer and slacker.
I came here a slacker who read the minimal amount to do well on a paper. I
liked to sleep in and I sometimes enjoy'd the alcohol a bit too much :P But
being over here - a Heavily Indebted Poor Country HIPC - has taught me a few
things. I've changed small small. Being in a HIPC country is like living in the
Depression of the '30s.
You learn to be resourceful when you have very little. Peace corps gives us
$2/day to live on for training; then approx. $4/day after swearing in. One
example is I was throwing away these empty platic water satchets they sell
that look like silicon breast implants until one day my mom saw me doin it
and said 'debbi, debbi' [no, no]. Those can be used as packets to hold seeds
in. Friday night I stayed in a cheap hotel in Kumasi with some buddies. It
was $5/night for a double.. we split it among three guys. So we had a double
bed, a table and 2 chairs. Ryan slept on the floor using the chair cushions,
and I used the tablecloth as a blanket cuz there wasn't one and I can't
sleep without a blanket. I know I'm weak :P
I've also learned a lot about American culture over here. One of the most
important lessons I learned in training is to remember there are two
cultures here: Ghana & America. Its crucial to our sanity to remember our
own culture and not be overly sensitive to Ghanaian culture. For example,
its common to hit, kick, and generally mistreat cats and dogs over here.
They see them as rabid, flea infested vermin. I want to change that attitude
and I plan on having both cats and a dog at my site. Also, teachers here
commonly carry a stick and hit misbehaving students. That's not cool in
America and I'm not cool with that. I will approach the issue delicately
with my school headmaster and try to lead by example, rather than preaching
to a man twenty years my elder. Homosexuality is absolutely not tolerated
over here.. don't ask, don't tell is what PC tells LGBT volunteers at their
site. unfortunately, intolerance to a person's sexual orientation is
not much better in much of the US either.
I want to wrap up this email with some bad news. My neighbor and
good friend Scott recently decided to go home. He got malaria after site
visit (Nov. 8-10), then got hit with Hepatitis A after that. He was a strict
vegan and it was a constant struggle for him during training when other
people were always cooking for him. [sidenote: its hard to be vegetarian
over here, but not impossible. Bread, rice, beans, papaya, pineapple, yams,
and tomatos are plentiful. But when you tell people you don't eat meat, they
think you're crazy. a lot like most Americans actually.] He's okay now but
he decided to return to Rancho Mirage, CA and focus his energy elsewhere.
The people of Potripor will miss him. I am going to miss him. I am now
probably the most remote volunteer in terms of PCV proximity. No one is
nearby. I've had some counseling and I'm totally ok. I fully support Scott
and his decision to return. Living in the developing world ain't for
everybody.
I am in Accra now getting my phone repaired (that's a long, bitter story
that I'll save for another day). I leave for Agou fie tomorrow and I really
can't wait to see the faces of those villagers. The Ghanaian election is
Dec. 7 so we will be on standfast from 12/5 to 12/12. Standfast is like a
yellowish- orange security level meaning watch for danger and I cannot leave
my community. I am not concerned. The incumbent John Kufour is expected to
win in a landslide. And fortunately, Ghanaians are very friendly, peaceful
people.. unlike our neighbors to the west in Cote d'Ivoire and nearby Nigeria.
Please keep in touch. Tell me about your lives. Write letters, send
newspaper clippings from US. I will do all I can to stay in touch when I get
to site but I don't have cell service anywhere nearby, nor are internet
cafes nearby. I truly live in the bush. Write snail mail letters to:
Kris Huston
PO Box 68
Nkwanta, V/R
Ghana, West Africa
I promise I'll write back. until then, take care and happy holidays.
peace. love. happiness.
-Kristopher Kwabena Amponsah
...........................................................
"True friendship glitters when polished by hardship."
--Nigerian proverb
Friends and Family:
First off, I just want to thank everyone who responded
to my last email. Your support was overwhelming and
very much needed as I headed through the last three
turbulent weeks of Peace corps boot camp. I missed y'all
very much on Thanksgiving and hope you had a wonderful
time stuffing yourself with turkey and whatnot. Ghanaians
don't celebrate it at all.
For anyone considering joining the peace corps, know that
the pre-service training is torturous. The time schedule is
very structured and rigid. Language training in the mornin.
Technical training all afternoon (eg. what is a borehole,
soakaway pit, how do I apply for funds from the District
Assembly and so on). Language & cultural training after that.
Then you walk home and the local Ghanaians shower you
with attention. Everyone wants to what you're doing and
where you're going. Wu ko hee? Wu ko hee? It can be
annoying after you've already answer'd it twenty times.
But I made it. I was sworn in as an official Peace Corps
Volunteer (PCV) last Friday, Nov. 27th in an elaborate
ceremony -- I apologize for not snapping any photos. I
gave my homestay brother, Charles, his camera back the
day before. But I will be sending some photos home to
Gilbert, AZ soon. (mom, a small digi cam would make a
great Xmas gift :) The swearing in ceremony was a
combination of feeling like high school graduation, all the
fun of african drumming and dancing (both by locals and
by us, volunteers), and the somber mood of a funeral.
The somber mood was due to the fact that we had to say
goodbye to our homestay families. Surprisingly, I grew
very attached to my homestay mother Akosua Amponsah
despite the fact that she spoke minimal English and I spoke
very little Twi. And despite the fact that I had only lived
with them for two months, saying goodbye was tough. She
cried, I cried. I will miss her care, her cooking, and her
thunderous laugh whenever I attempted to speak Twi.
She was very strict with my drinking. I was only allowed
to go out after sunset for *one* drink. One time she actually
walked to the drinking spot I was at and pulled me out in
front of ten of my peace corps friends becuz it was 8:30p a
nd I had said I'd be back by 8. She wasn't mad, just
concerned for my safety.
I sat with her and watched her cook many meals. Ghanaians
love to deep fry food so the food isn't bad. I watched her cook
fried plantains in a pool of palm nut oil (yum), egg omellettes
w/ onion, tomato, and cabbage (very yummy), fried yams,
groundnut stew, and my favorite: fufu. Fufu is a doughy, slimy
yellow ball comprised of cassava, plantain, and coco yam
pounded together in a bowl for about an hour. Fufu is the pizza
of Ghana. Its extremely popular despite the bland flavor (in my
opinion) and fact that you don't chew it. You grab a piece with
your fingers, dip it in a soup, and just swallow. I hated it at first
but I also hated beer at first. Over time, you learn to love it.
In response to many of your emails, I will briefly explain what it is
exactly that I am supposed to be doing over here. I am a PCV in the WatSan
sector (WatSan = water & sanitation). My focus will be on Guinea Worm
eradication in my community. What is Guinea Worm you ask? Well, let me tell
you. It is a long, string-like worm that emerges through a blister on the
body. It incubates in the body for a 8 - 12 months and can emerge from any
part of the body: hand, foot, legs, genitalia and so on. The emergence is a
slow, painful process since these worms are typically 3ft long and cannot be
pulled out. They must be allowed to emerge slowly or the worm will die and
the dead parasite's corps causes all kinds of problems for the body's immune
system.
So its not a life-threatening disease. But painful blisters produced by the
worm's emergence can lead to secondary infections. Secondary infections can
incapacitate victims for 2-4 weeks, meaning no work, no school for a month.
Entire communities can suffer from a lack of food for a year because GW
inhibits them from farming.
And remarkably, Ghana has 76% of the world's cases of GW. The nearest town
to my community, Nkwanta, reported 1200 cases in 2003. Fmr US president
Jimmy Carter visited Tamale in north Ghana last February to address the
issue and pledged a large sum of money to eradicate it. Go Democrats! The
saddest part is that it is so preventable. Just filter your drinking water
and you're cool. Drink borehole water and you're okay. But the water table
is very low in northern Ghana and borehole wells are rarely successful. So
people have to go and scoop water out of stagnant bodies of infected water.
If that water is infected with GW, then they get GW. And to my knowledge,
there is no cure for GW. Prevention is the key.
So offiicially, that's what I'm working on: guinea worm eradication. But as
I talk to more and more experienced PCVs in Ghana I've learned you can do as
much or as little as you want when you get to site. I have been told its the
only time in your life you won't have a boss, so enjoy it and make the most
of it. Some volunteers are super-volunteers with 10 secondary projects, like
income-generation bead makings workshops, composting workshops,
elementary/junior high school teaching, fish farming, planting trees, etc.
And other volunteers treat the peace corps like a 2 year vacation. They just
kick it, hang out with the locals, never put any effort into learning the
lang., and spend a lot of time visiting/partying with other American PCVs.
The peace corps experience is truly what you make of it. They give you
training, a living allowance, a livable house, and competent medical service.
The rest is up to you. I will find a happy medium somewhere in between
super volunteer and slacker.
I came here a slacker who read the minimal amount to do well on a paper. I
liked to sleep in and I sometimes enjoy'd the alcohol a bit too much :P But
being over here - a Heavily Indebted Poor Country HIPC - has taught me a few
things. I've changed small small. Being in a HIPC country is like living in the
Depression of the '30s.
You learn to be resourceful when you have very little. Peace corps gives us
$2/day to live on for training; then approx. $4/day after swearing in. One
example is I was throwing away these empty platic water satchets they sell
that look like silicon breast implants until one day my mom saw me doin it
and said 'debbi, debbi' [no, no]. Those can be used as packets to hold seeds
in. Friday night I stayed in a cheap hotel in Kumasi with some buddies. It
was $5/night for a double.. we split it among three guys. So we had a double
bed, a table and 2 chairs. Ryan slept on the floor using the chair cushions,
and I used the tablecloth as a blanket cuz there wasn't one and I can't
sleep without a blanket. I know I'm weak :P
I've also learned a lot about American culture over here. One of the most
important lessons I learned in training is to remember there are two
cultures here: Ghana & America. Its crucial to our sanity to remember our
own culture and not be overly sensitive to Ghanaian culture. For example,
its common to hit, kick, and generally mistreat cats and dogs over here.
They see them as rabid, flea infested vermin. I want to change that attitude
and I plan on having both cats and a dog at my site. Also, teachers here
commonly carry a stick and hit misbehaving students. That's not cool in
America and I'm not cool with that. I will approach the issue delicately
with my school headmaster and try to lead by example, rather than preaching
to a man twenty years my elder. Homosexuality is absolutely not tolerated
over here.. don't ask, don't tell is what PC tells LGBT volunteers at their
site. unfortunately, intolerance to a person's sexual orientation is
not much better in much of the US either.
I want to wrap up this email with some bad news. My neighbor and
good friend Scott recently decided to go home. He got malaria after site
visit (Nov. 8-10), then got hit with Hepatitis A after that. He was a strict
vegan and it was a constant struggle for him during training when other
people were always cooking for him. [sidenote: its hard to be vegetarian
over here, but not impossible. Bread, rice, beans, papaya, pineapple, yams,
and tomatos are plentiful. But when you tell people you don't eat meat, they
think you're crazy. a lot like most Americans actually.] He's okay now but
he decided to return to Rancho Mirage, CA and focus his energy elsewhere.
The people of Potripor will miss him. I am going to miss him. I am now
probably the most remote volunteer in terms of PCV proximity. No one is
nearby. I've had some counseling and I'm totally ok. I fully support Scott
and his decision to return. Living in the developing world ain't for
everybody.
I am in Accra now getting my phone repaired (that's a long, bitter story
that I'll save for another day). I leave for Agou fie tomorrow and I really
can't wait to see the faces of those villagers. The Ghanaian election is
Dec. 7 so we will be on standfast from 12/5 to 12/12. Standfast is like a
yellowish- orange security level meaning watch for danger and I cannot leave
my community. I am not concerned. The incumbent John Kufour is expected to
win in a landslide. And fortunately, Ghanaians are very friendly, peaceful
people.. unlike our neighbors to the west in Cote d'Ivoire and nearby Nigeria.
Please keep in touch. Tell me about your lives. Write letters, send
newspaper clippings from US. I will do all I can to stay in touch when I get
to site but I don't have cell service anywhere nearby, nor are internet
cafes nearby. I truly live in the bush. Write snail mail letters to:
Kris Huston
PO Box 68
Nkwanta, V/R
Ghana, West Africa
I promise I'll write back. until then, take care and happy holidays.
peace. love. happiness.
-Kristopher Kwabena Amponsah
...........................................................
"True friendship glitters when polished by hardship."
--Nigerian proverb
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
great white hope
10 Nov. 2004
Friends and Family:
Hello. I recently acquired a mobile phone (011.233.24.328.4116 from the US) but overseas calls are very expensive. I will try to call but I've had the most success with text messages. So with the brief time I have here, I will do my best to give y'all a glimpse into my life and what it is like over here.
I just got back from my site where I be living for the next two years. It is called Agou fie [Ah GO fee ay] and it is nestled in between the mountain border of Togo and the mighty Lake Volta. If you're looking at a map it lies between the towns Kpassa and Nkwanta in the eastern most region of Ghana. It is marked 'Bush Area' on our big Peace Corps map and I am the first volunteer to be placed there. Scott is another volunteer in our training group who will be living nearby (~5 mi away). Scott is an adventurous surfer from Torrence, CA and we are stoked to be pioneers for this new area.
To give you an idea of what it looks like, think of the mountaneous tropical regions of Colombia. The last movie I watched in the states was 'Maria full of Grace' and the scenes of her community in Colombia are fairly similar. Except there are no sweat shop factories.. no factories at all. Just a loose collection of mud brick houses with straw roofs.
I am fortunate enough to be livin in a tin roof, concrete brick house. It was built by a cattle rancher and former Attorney General of Ghana, Obet Simwa. There are two rooms, each 12' by 12' and a covered front porch. I have my own Mozambique ventilated lined latrine to crap in ... basically, an outhouse with a 2 ft deep hole in the ground. Sadly, it is more than most large families have. There is a rain gutter connected to a large concrete tank that stores my drinking water. An ingenious design for an area that gets pounded almost daily with rain in the wet season (May - Oct) and not so much in the dry season (Nov. - March).
It's a wonderful home, but unfortunately its home to many small creatures as well. So far, I've seen beetles, black wasps, spiders... a lot of big ass spiders, fireflies, and lizards in my room. I've heard mice and what I believe are bats above my room, in the space between the ceiling and the roof. There's a thumping on the ceiling that wakes me up in the morning. my neighbor Jacob said its most likely bats returning from their nights feast.
Then, there's the mosquitos. After two days at my site I looked like I had chickenpox. I was covered. To top it off, my neighbor Jacob -- headmaster of the primary school -- had malaria. Remarkably, he still went to school and taught that day. Over here, getting malaria is like catching a flu. It slows you down but its not a big deal... that is, if you're African. I've yet to suffer anything beyond intestinal difficulties, fatigue, and mild diarhhea. knock on wood.
The chief of Agou fie, Nana Lucas Sachepou, welcomed with me with a traditional prayer to the ancestors. I could not understand it all since they speak Challa where I'm at. It can be a little disconcerting when you say 'Amen' to a prayer you have absolutely no idea the meaning of. But then they poured the libations, a green bottle of Schnapps... alcohol, now they were speaking my language. Interestingly, when you drink a shot of the liquor, you leave a little bit at the end to pour to the ground, in remembrance of their ancestors.
The drumming and dancing ensued. I watched as the Challa performed their dance, then the Konkomba, and finally the Bassary. There are three tribes that live in and around Agou-fie, comprising close to 800. They all speak different languages but somehow they live together harmoniously. Amazingly, half are under the age of 14. When I spoke with the chief and community elders about the most pressing problems facing their community, they all said children's education was numero uno. There is only *one* teacher, Jacob, for approx. 200 school age children. Primary school 4-6 (like grades 4 - 6) are taught in English so I pledged to assist him in teaching them.
They also lack electricity and sufficient clean water -- one of the village's two hand pump borehole wells is broken. But despite all these problems, the people of Agou-fie are happy people. They laugh all the time, even at funerals. It just goes to show that happiness is a state of mind that can be attained without great wealth.
One more thing I have to share is the rules the chief had for me upon my arrival:
1. don't have sex with women in the bush
2. don't steal our wives
3. don't beat anyone in the bush
The bush is the tall grass that surrounds the village. I have to say it was hard not to laugh when they were telling me this b/c they were deadly serious about this.
I laugh but my skin color and my gender has given me remarkable power and prestige here. I'm still not used to the kids that gawk and stare.. there was a bunch of six kids that sat outside my house just waiting for another glimpse of the white man. Its a little like being a celebrity. I have a new sympathy for the plight of the public figure and the perpetual plague of the paparrazi (as you can see i love alliteration :)
The gender privilege is very obvious here as well. Our peace corps medical nurse, Ivy, told a group of us males that when we stepped foot off the plane in Accra, our stock went up 300%. She said that if we came to Ghana a virgin, we will most likely not leave one! Its true, esp. in the smaller villages. gender roles are much more traditional. women wash, cook, clean and tend to household affairs. Men farm, govern, drive cars, and make the important decisions. I will have much more to say about gender inequality in Ghana, but for now lets just say I don't have a wife but I've been offered one several times.
Friends and Family:
Hello. I recently acquired a mobile phone (011.233.24.328.4116 from the US) but overseas calls are very expensive. I will try to call but I've had the most success with text messages. So with the brief time I have here, I will do my best to give y'all a glimpse into my life and what it is like over here.
I just got back from my site where I be living for the next two years. It is called Agou fie [Ah GO fee ay] and it is nestled in between the mountain border of Togo and the mighty Lake Volta. If you're looking at a map it lies between the towns Kpassa and Nkwanta in the eastern most region of Ghana. It is marked 'Bush Area' on our big Peace Corps map and I am the first volunteer to be placed there. Scott is another volunteer in our training group who will be living nearby (~5 mi away). Scott is an adventurous surfer from Torrence, CA and we are stoked to be pioneers for this new area.
To give you an idea of what it looks like, think of the mountaneous tropical regions of Colombia. The last movie I watched in the states was 'Maria full of Grace' and the scenes of her community in Colombia are fairly similar. Except there are no sweat shop factories.. no factories at all. Just a loose collection of mud brick houses with straw roofs.
I am fortunate enough to be livin in a tin roof, concrete brick house. It was built by a cattle rancher and former Attorney General of Ghana, Obet Simwa. There are two rooms, each 12' by 12' and a covered front porch. I have my own Mozambique ventilated lined latrine to crap in ... basically, an outhouse with a 2 ft deep hole in the ground. Sadly, it is more than most large families have. There is a rain gutter connected to a large concrete tank that stores my drinking water. An ingenious design for an area that gets pounded almost daily with rain in the wet season (May - Oct) and not so much in the dry season (Nov. - March).
It's a wonderful home, but unfortunately its home to many small creatures as well. So far, I've seen beetles, black wasps, spiders... a lot of big ass spiders, fireflies, and lizards in my room. I've heard mice and what I believe are bats above my room, in the space between the ceiling and the roof. There's a thumping on the ceiling that wakes me up in the morning. my neighbor Jacob said its most likely bats returning from their nights feast.
Then, there's the mosquitos. After two days at my site I looked like I had chickenpox. I was covered. To top it off, my neighbor Jacob -- headmaster of the primary school -- had malaria. Remarkably, he still went to school and taught that day. Over here, getting malaria is like catching a flu. It slows you down but its not a big deal... that is, if you're African. I've yet to suffer anything beyond intestinal difficulties, fatigue, and mild diarhhea. knock on wood.
The chief of Agou fie, Nana Lucas Sachepou, welcomed with me with a traditional prayer to the ancestors. I could not understand it all since they speak Challa where I'm at. It can be a little disconcerting when you say 'Amen' to a prayer you have absolutely no idea the meaning of. But then they poured the libations, a green bottle of Schnapps... alcohol, now they were speaking my language. Interestingly, when you drink a shot of the liquor, you leave a little bit at the end to pour to the ground, in remembrance of their ancestors.
The drumming and dancing ensued. I watched as the Challa performed their dance, then the Konkomba, and finally the Bassary. There are three tribes that live in and around Agou-fie, comprising close to 800. They all speak different languages but somehow they live together harmoniously. Amazingly, half are under the age of 14. When I spoke with the chief and community elders about the most pressing problems facing their community, they all said children's education was numero uno. There is only *one* teacher, Jacob, for approx. 200 school age children. Primary school 4-6 (like grades 4 - 6) are taught in English so I pledged to assist him in teaching them.
They also lack electricity and sufficient clean water -- one of the village's two hand pump borehole wells is broken. But despite all these problems, the people of Agou-fie are happy people. They laugh all the time, even at funerals. It just goes to show that happiness is a state of mind that can be attained without great wealth.
One more thing I have to share is the rules the chief had for me upon my arrival:
1. don't have sex with women in the bush
2. don't steal our wives
3. don't beat anyone in the bush
The bush is the tall grass that surrounds the village. I have to say it was hard not to laugh when they were telling me this b/c they were deadly serious about this.
I laugh but my skin color and my gender has given me remarkable power and prestige here. I'm still not used to the kids that gawk and stare.. there was a bunch of six kids that sat outside my house just waiting for another glimpse of the white man. Its a little like being a celebrity. I have a new sympathy for the plight of the public figure and the perpetual plague of the paparrazi (as you can see i love alliteration :)
The gender privilege is very obvious here as well. Our peace corps medical nurse, Ivy, told a group of us males that when we stepped foot off the plane in Accra, our stock went up 300%. She said that if we came to Ghana a virgin, we will most likely not leave one! Its true, esp. in the smaller villages. gender roles are much more traditional. women wash, cook, clean and tend to household affairs. Men farm, govern, drive cars, and make the important decisions. I will have much more to say about gender inequality in Ghana, but for now lets just say I don't have a wife but I've been offered one several times.
Friday, October 15, 2004
so far so good
15 October 2004
Its hard to believe but tomorrow marks my one month anniversary in Africa. I plan on celebrating the occasion in a traditional Ghanaian manner. I'm going to a Seventh Day Adventist church in the morning with my homestay family. Last Sunday I sat in on a Presbyterian service. It was a humbling experience. The congregation consisted of 5 adults and 9 children. The pastor had to attend a funeral (no surprise there, my community of 3000 averages about three a week) so one of the elders of my house, Akuoko, led the service. It was held in a open air classroom with lizards running around on the walls. A little bit different from the super size Central Christian church in AZ.
In the afternoon I setup a soccer match between some PC volunteers and the local kids in my community, Krobo. If the game is anything like the one I played in last week, we will most likely be murdered by shoeless kids half our age. We play on a dirt field in front of the Catholic church. The goal posts are comprised of three bamboo posts -- two on each side and one along the top. but actually we just used a 10 in. stone on each side of the field as the goal. So you had to hit this little stone with the ball to score, making an already tough sport infinitely more difficult and tiresome.
In the evening, I plan on throwing down a beer or two at the local drinking spot called Adayesha Garderns. The beer is actually decent -- Gulder is my favorite local brew. Its a dark ale that tastes like Negra Modelo. The hard alcohol and mixed drinks are pretty nasty since ice is something I've yet to encounter over here.
I have so much to tell y'all and I hate mass emails so I will be getting a cell phone soon [from the US dial 011 233 24 328 4116].
until then,
-Kristopher
Its hard to believe but tomorrow marks my one month anniversary in Africa. I plan on celebrating the occasion in a traditional Ghanaian manner. I'm going to a Seventh Day Adventist church in the morning with my homestay family. Last Sunday I sat in on a Presbyterian service. It was a humbling experience. The congregation consisted of 5 adults and 9 children. The pastor had to attend a funeral (no surprise there, my community of 3000 averages about three a week) so one of the elders of my house, Akuoko, led the service. It was held in a open air classroom with lizards running around on the walls. A little bit different from the super size Central Christian church in AZ.
In the afternoon I setup a soccer match between some PC volunteers and the local kids in my community, Krobo. If the game is anything like the one I played in last week, we will most likely be murdered by shoeless kids half our age. We play on a dirt field in front of the Catholic church. The goal posts are comprised of three bamboo posts -- two on each side and one along the top. but actually we just used a 10 in. stone on each side of the field as the goal. So you had to hit this little stone with the ball to score, making an already tough sport infinitely more difficult and tiresome.
In the evening, I plan on throwing down a beer or two at the local drinking spot called Adayesha Garderns. The beer is actually decent -- Gulder is my favorite local brew. Its a dark ale that tastes like Negra Modelo. The hard alcohol and mixed drinks are pretty nasty since ice is something I've yet to encounter over here.
I have so much to tell y'all and I hate mass emails so I will be getting a cell phone soon [from the US dial 011 233 24 328 4116].
until then,
-Kristopher
Friday, October 01, 2004
Akwaaba
1 October 2004
I made it! I write to you from Techiman, Ghana after what has been two of the most amazing weeks of my life. I apologiz for not writing sooner but communication has been difficult to say the least. As with many aspects of life in Ghana, the phone system is more advanced than I had expected but still frustrating to 'obrunis' (foreigners) like myself. Many Ghanaians have cell phones but service is spotty. I may get one if there is service at my site, but I won't know that until late Nov. when I'm sworn in as an official volunteer (I'm just a trainee right now).
Fortunately, internet cafes are common and relatively cheap (~$1/hr) in larger cities like Techiman. I will try to write as often as I can but relax if you don't hear from me for a while. Life moves at a slower pace over here :)
I am currently living with a family about 3 miles outside Techiman in a community called Krobo. The family I live with is huge. There are 11 people. The mother, father, 5 boys (Paul - 30, Charles - 26, John - 18, Isaac - 15, and Simone - 12) and 4 girls (Jen - 26, Evanis - 20, Lydia - 23, Vivian - 2). Those are their English names. They also have Twi names based on what day of the week they were born plus the family name, Amponsah. For example, my homestay mother is called Akosua and my father Kwodwo -- akosua is the female name for sunday and kwodwo means monday. They call me Kwabena cuz I told them I was born on a Tuesday (mom could you confirm that?) btw- here's a fun fact I know you'll enjoy, Erik. Kofi is the male name for Friday. Which means the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, who's from Ghana was born on a friday.
The family, like most Ghanaians I've met, are really wonderful people. They waive to me from the street, greet with a smile, and love to shake my hand. I walked through a primary school yard the other day (ages 6 - 12) and the kids were pummelling one another to shake my hand. I must have shook about 60 hands that day.
The first day I arrived in Krobo I went to two funerals -- there were four that weekend. Funerals here consist in a bunch of people clothed in red and black, listening to eulogies set to high life music (very reggae-like), and warm greetings with a handshake. I must have shook 100 hands that day. Unfortunately, hand washing is not as common a practice as hand shaking (enter us, health & hygiene volunteers). My solution so far has been to get as many people to "pound" -- close fist touching of the knuckles -- as possible. I tell them that is how we greet in America. My next goal: teach the people here Texas hold' em poker.
Overall, my impression of Ghana thus far has been bittersweet. The US dollar goes a long way here (unlike Britain). In fact, I am literally a multi-millionaire in the local currency [ $1 = 9,000 cedis ]. To give you an idea of the local cost of living, a loaf of bread is typically 5,000 cedis, a gallon of gas 20,000, a soft drink 3,000, and a bottle of Guinness goes for 7,000 cedis. And yes, beer is abundant over here so I doubt I will have any trouble 'integrating' into the community.
At the same time, the poverty here is unavoidable. Home plumbing is a luxury few here enjoy. I have gotten use to bucket baths and actually prefer them to cold showers -- what the hotels we stayed at offered. The toilet situation I have not gotten use to. The smell in the outhouse is enough to kill small mammals and used toilet paper is collected in baskets to be burned later. Open sewers running along the roads in town are common as well. Let's just say there's plenty of work to be done for a water sanitation volunteer.
But I don't want to paint too grim a picture of this place. It is much more developed than I had anticipated. For example, there are supermarkets in Accra that sell just about anything you could find at Safeway or Albertson's in the States. Malaria is all I heard about before coming here but mosquitos are rarely encountered. I have yet to see one and have only been bitten once (don't worry, mom, I'm still taking the weekly malaria pills).
I'd love to send pics but my digital camera was pickpocket'd on a crowded bus in Accra. Fortunately, one of my homestay brothers, Charles, was kind enough to lend me his 35mm until I get a new one. One more hill in the rollercoaster that has been my life these past two weeks.
I leave for Tamale in northern Ghana tomorrow. There myself and three other volunteers will visit a current PCV doing work on eradicating the Guinea worm -- a project I very well may be doing. I'll keep you posted as I learn more about what I exactly I am doing here. Confusion and disorientation have been a reccuring theme for me and everyone in our group -- 31 of us total, only one person has quit so far.
I'd love to hear from y'all. My address is:
Peace Corps Headquarters
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
and keep me posted on the election news. I heard Kerry won the first debate. I know he's behind in the polls but don't doubt the comeback kid has it in him to win in Nov. Mom and Dad, please send my absentee ballot for me if it comes to the house. And make sure Mikey is present to witness it cuz I don't trust you Bushees.
happy trails,
Kris
I made it! I write to you from Techiman, Ghana after what has been two of the most amazing weeks of my life. I apologiz for not writing sooner but communication has been difficult to say the least. As with many aspects of life in Ghana, the phone system is more advanced than I had expected but still frustrating to 'obrunis' (foreigners) like myself. Many Ghanaians have cell phones but service is spotty. I may get one if there is service at my site, but I won't know that until late Nov. when I'm sworn in as an official volunteer (I'm just a trainee right now).
Fortunately, internet cafes are common and relatively cheap (~$1/hr) in larger cities like Techiman. I will try to write as often as I can but relax if you don't hear from me for a while. Life moves at a slower pace over here :)
I am currently living with a family about 3 miles outside Techiman in a community called Krobo. The family I live with is huge. There are 11 people. The mother, father, 5 boys (Paul - 30, Charles - 26, John - 18, Isaac - 15, and Simone - 12) and 4 girls (Jen - 26, Evanis - 20, Lydia - 23, Vivian - 2). Those are their English names. They also have Twi names based on what day of the week they were born plus the family name, Amponsah. For example, my homestay mother is called Akosua and my father Kwodwo -- akosua is the female name for sunday and kwodwo means monday. They call me Kwabena cuz I told them I was born on a Tuesday (mom could you confirm that?) btw- here's a fun fact I know you'll enjoy, Erik. Kofi is the male name for Friday. Which means the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, who's from Ghana was born on a friday.
The family, like most Ghanaians I've met, are really wonderful people. They waive to me from the street, greet with a smile, and love to shake my hand. I walked through a primary school yard the other day (ages 6 - 12) and the kids were pummelling one another to shake my hand. I must have shook about 60 hands that day.
The first day I arrived in Krobo I went to two funerals -- there were four that weekend. Funerals here consist in a bunch of people clothed in red and black, listening to eulogies set to high life music (very reggae-like), and warm greetings with a handshake. I must have shook 100 hands that day. Unfortunately, hand washing is not as common a practice as hand shaking (enter us, health & hygiene volunteers). My solution so far has been to get as many people to "pound" -- close fist touching of the knuckles -- as possible. I tell them that is how we greet in America. My next goal: teach the people here Texas hold' em poker.
Overall, my impression of Ghana thus far has been bittersweet. The US dollar goes a long way here (unlike Britain). In fact, I am literally a multi-millionaire in the local currency [ $1 = 9,000 cedis ]. To give you an idea of the local cost of living, a loaf of bread is typically 5,000 cedis, a gallon of gas 20,000, a soft drink 3,000, and a bottle of Guinness goes for 7,000 cedis. And yes, beer is abundant over here so I doubt I will have any trouble 'integrating' into the community.
At the same time, the poverty here is unavoidable. Home plumbing is a luxury few here enjoy. I have gotten use to bucket baths and actually prefer them to cold showers -- what the hotels we stayed at offered. The toilet situation I have not gotten use to. The smell in the outhouse is enough to kill small mammals and used toilet paper is collected in baskets to be burned later. Open sewers running along the roads in town are common as well. Let's just say there's plenty of work to be done for a water sanitation volunteer.
But I don't want to paint too grim a picture of this place. It is much more developed than I had anticipated. For example, there are supermarkets in Accra that sell just about anything you could find at Safeway or Albertson's in the States. Malaria is all I heard about before coming here but mosquitos are rarely encountered. I have yet to see one and have only been bitten once (don't worry, mom, I'm still taking the weekly malaria pills).
I'd love to send pics but my digital camera was pickpocket'd on a crowded bus in Accra. Fortunately, one of my homestay brothers, Charles, was kind enough to lend me his 35mm until I get a new one. One more hill in the rollercoaster that has been my life these past two weeks.
I leave for Tamale in northern Ghana tomorrow. There myself and three other volunteers will visit a current PCV doing work on eradicating the Guinea worm -- a project I very well may be doing. I'll keep you posted as I learn more about what I exactly I am doing here. Confusion and disorientation have been a reccuring theme for me and everyone in our group -- 31 of us total, only one person has quit so far.
I'd love to hear from y'all. My address is:
Peace Corps Headquarters
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
and keep me posted on the election news. I heard Kerry won the first debate. I know he's behind in the polls but don't doubt the comeback kid has it in him to win in Nov. Mom and Dad, please send my absentee ballot for me if it comes to the house. And make sure Mikey is present to witness it cuz I don't trust you Bushees.
happy trails,
Kris
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