Happy New Year Homies!!!

December 31, 2010

Wow, last post of 2010…crazy. So things have been chugging along here. We had the big meeting with the water sachet group and told them we will start paying them by the purse and that we will learn new things to make.  This week I started teaching them how to make the easy headband.  It went pretty well.  It’s hard to sew through the fabric and elastic with a hand machine…gets kinda gnarly and we broke a few needles. Anyway, we all made one for practice out of the same fabric…so we looked like a tribe with our matching headbands on.  I started hopping around and doing an Indian battle cry…I don’t know if they understood what I was doing, but they laughed all the same, and that was the point :)

TMT is still dragging their feet on everything. We had the meeting; Mawuli and I went around to each member and told them to make sure and come…since I went around, they all came. So I opened by saying all the things we said we were gonna do, and then went down the list and showed that the only ones that got done were the ones I did and that that was not ok.  The committee is made up of 1 member from each clan…the clan selected their person…the people did not choose to be on the TMT.  I pointed this out and said that if they did not want to be on the team and did not want to come to meetings and work to increase the tourism, then we need to re-elect people who are actually interested in tourism. 3 people were automatically like, “I want out.”  But then they all started talking in Sekua and I just kinda sat there and picked up a couple words.  About 30 minutes later George goes (and he was one who said he wanted out), “Boala, do not worry, we will come.”  Yeah right.  So the meeting continues and I bitch about how the ladder in cave 6 is still not fixed and that it’s been broken since September and that I bring it up at every meeting.  So who is gonna fix it?  Who will take charge?  Fo Nicho and the other “big men” are starting to get that I am basically and pretty obviously (which you don’t do here) saying that they are all SLACKERS! So he goes, “Oh, I think we will have to blame Mawuli for that.”  Mawuli is sitting next me and has this WTF look on his face…but he can’t say much because he is not a big man.  So I say it instead, “How is the ladder Mawuli’s responsibility? He is the financial secretary…that has nothing to do with the ladder. The tour guides need to make sure it is fixed. They take the tourists up there, they see it is not fixed…it should be their responsibility.  And while we are talking about the tour guides, they need to weed.  We are shooting some promotional footage on Saturday and you cannot even use the lookout point because the weeds are so high.  They are the ones who directly make money from the tourism and they need to take pride in their work!”  So here goes another long discussion in Sekua.  The tour guides are actually present; it’s the chief’s 2 sons (conflict of interested…hello) and another kid; they are all 3 around 20 years old.  Boss is out of commission because he had a stroke at Thanksgiving and his left side is still not working.  (I haven’t mentioned this in the blog before because I didn’t have any real medical details… and apparently I won’t because such things don’t exist here or least don’t get communicated…at least not to me.  So please pray for Boss.) Anyway, after a half hour or so of deliberation they decide that we will need to do community labor for the weeding in the future.  I say that community labor never gets organized and that we need this done this week. So Mawuli, the guides and I will meet Friday morning and go to the mountain to weed.  Ok, fine.  I sit there and watch this unfold…here is how things go in my village and from what I’ve heard it is pretty much the norm in Ghana:

-there is an issue (weeding the trails) brought up, the committee discusses it, they say they will have to address it at a future meeting, but the problem is that no one ever shows up for meetings and so it gets put off, and put off, and….It’s maddening!!

The result of this meeting is that we establish that Thomas (a committee member and carpenter) will make the ladder by Saturday and then Mawuli will pay him from the TMT funds.  Awesome.  We also establish that I will not do anything until other people start doing their part.  I explain this very nicely, “ I know that all of you have other jobs and families to take care of and that TMT is a volunteer position.  But before we can grow and get enough tourists here so that we can pay a managing team, we have to work for free.  We all have to put work in so that we can one day become big.  I hope that you all care about the tourism here, I care about it, that is why the Peace Corps sent me here, but I will not work alone.  I was sent here as an advisor, but I hold meetings and trainings and people don’t come.  If the TMT does not work for the tourism then who will?”  So we round out the night by saying that Friday morning we will weed and Sunday night we will have the training that we were supposed to have that night, but I didn’t give because I said there is no point in holding trainings when people won’t do what I train them on…this is Wednesday night by the way.

So….Friday morning Mawuli and I take our cutlasses (machetes) and head to the village to meet the guides to weed. 2 American girls stayed at the guesthouse that night and were going to do the caves that day, so we also needed one guide to take them to the caves.  As we are walking (all 4 of us) into the village, we see 2 of the guides on the road.  AND THEY TAKE OFF IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!!!!  I’m not kidding!  Mawuli yells at one of them and he stops but the other (one of the chief’s sons) is already gone.  The one guide and Mawuli are talking…I’m getting pissed so I break in.  “Francis, you know we are supposed to weed today; we talked about it on Wednesday.”  I raise my cutlass to show we are ready to work. “Wom le lo.” Which means, “come on time.”  So now if he doesn’t come it’s super disrespectful to me…I hope that makes a difference.  So then Mawuli goes to the chief’s palace to get the twins.  And then he comes back and says that the twins are not there and that the chief and the mom were mad because we were disrespectful to the guides by calling them temporary guides at the TMT meeting.  BULLSHIT!!!!  I was sooooo furious. So Mawuli, the 2 girls and I head up the mountain.  I am fuming and huffing and puffing up the hill. I was so mad.  So the lil’ babies went home and cried to daddy that we told them they needed to do something…boo f’in hoo!  They are lazy!  They make money directly from the tourists, they need to make the place look nice….not a hard concept.  But because daddy is chief…so I start telling Mawuli that this is bullshit.  I hope the whole village sees the white girl going to the mountain to weed and the lazy guides hiding somewhere. I also told him this is why we shouldn’t have the chief’s sons involved in the TMT. As we are walking I’m thinking about how to teach them a lesson. Suspend them…but then who will take the tourists…does anyone even want to be a guide…does anyone in this village even give a shit about the tourism?  How much can I piss my chief off before the next two years of my life really suck in his village?  So then I start comparing this situation to being in the mob or something.  You can’t stand up for what is right because there are people who will make your life hell if you do.  And why would I fight so hard when they people I’m fighting for don’t give a shit?!?  My inner dialogue is going crazy!

So we get to the part that needs to be weeded and I tell Mawuli to take the girls on the tour and I will weed.  As he is telling me he won’t leave me to do it alone, here come the 3 guides!  Oh I was so happy to see them.  I didn’t want to have to do the inner-self battle of what to do: teach them a lesson or let it go like everyone here always does.  Oh, so happy.  So Mawuli takes the girls on the tour and me and the guides start weeding.  We have a good talk, too.  They are concerned for the safety of the trails after cave 6.  Yes, that is what we will talk about on Sunday at the meeting, please come.  You guys have a lot of good input for the team.  Ok.  So we weed.  The 3 of them leave after the one main part is done.  I kinda weeded on my own on the way back down the hill and all of a sudden I hear someone else weeding.  One of the twins stayed behind and was weeding with me.  I was so happy. So he and I weeded for a long time and he had two small boys come help too.  So all was well.   We get back to the village and everyone is, “oh Boala, you were weeding. Oh you have tried!”  Yes, I have…a sidenote…I believe the cutlass swinging is a major part of the amazingly ripped abs here in Ghana.  I suggest we try this at home.

And just so you know, the ladder was made, but still hasn’t been taken to cave 6. And the meeting that everyone was gonna come to on Sunday…they didn’t…this was the Sunday before Christmas :) Ho, Ho, Ho.

Fun Christmas stuff:  The week before Christmas the highschool in the neighboring village was gonna have a Caroling night and also a play about HIV and pregnancy.  So Mawuli, Confidence, the 2 US tourist girls, and I walked over to Mate (the village).  As we are walking down the dark road to the village we start singing Silent Night.  Well, Mawuli starts singing in this high-pitched screeching voice, and then Confidence starts singing it in Ewe and we all are laughing and being silly…it was a really fun moment.  The play and the two dances were good…we missed most of the caroling because we were 1.5 hours late and this thing actually started on time, but it was good fun!

For Christmas, Chris and I went to Accra and met Nivole. We stayed in a nice hotel with AC and a hot shower!!!! SO NICE.  I ate Mexican food and Thai coconut soup!  We pulled a limb off a bush in the parking lot, threw some battery operated Christmas lights on it and had a fantastic time; we each had a package under the tree.  We skyped with our families on Christmas Eve; I watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas on my computer.  Chris got me a kente strip with my full name woven into it…it’s super cute.  So after we opened our presents on Christmas morning we went to the Cultural Center  (after I got us lost on a tro…I said Tema station…the tro was going to Tema town…not the same thing!!! At all.  So the tro dropped us on the side of the highway before we got out of Accra.  And  Nivole had to comment, “Why did I follow the white people anyway?!”). Cultural Center is a huge craft market with very pushy Rastas…they came up to us as soon as we got out of the taxi and started doing their selling “friend” spiel.  I was a bitch and they accordingly called me a mean lady…it’s true...I’m very mean these days, I’m constantly at my limit of bullshit, so any extra just sends me over the edge.  But I got 2 mud cloths, which I have been wanting.  I talked them down to ½ the price they started out at…which means I’m sure I still paid too much, but I paid what I wanted so I was happy.  I also got a kick ass moo moo!  I really like it…it’s comfy and the arms are sewn to the sides so if I raise my arms I look like a flying squirrel!   We then walked around Liberation Square and went down to the beach where lots of people were playing soccer.   Nivole made a good point, “I have never seen so many black people on a beach!”  It’s true. Chris and I were the only whities around…it was strange on a beach…

The week between Christmas and New Years has been pretty slow here; I’ve read a lot and started baking in the Coleman Camping Oven that my aunt sent me for Christmas. It sits right on top of my propane burner…Sweet. This week I put up more screen on my windows hoping to keep out those lil’ biting bugs.  I was 1.5 windows into it when Innocent came over and took the job from me.  Smiling and shaking his head at me, “Boala, get down from the chair, let me help you.”  Which means let me do it for you.  I love how I can start doing anything and someone else always finishes it.  Actually, if you know me, you know I don’t like that…it makes me feel useless…but as Mawuli says, “Oh Jeanna, it is because we love you so much.”…who can argue with that?  The next day Mawuli helped me finish the windows, so I baked brownies and took them both some.

I am staying in the village for New Years.  They don’t do anything NYE so I’m typing this, maybe gonna start a box of wine and just chill. But I prob won’t make it till midnight here since I’m supposed to be getting an “early” call from Confidence to come pound foo foo.  Her brothers were slaughtering a cow today when I left for HoHoe…yum meat!!!  From what I can tell, we will pound and eat foo foo, go to church, and then come home and cook more and then take food to each other to “share love.”  I baked muffins today to share tomorrow.  And I have some balloon things my aunt sent earlier this year…I’ll finally be nice and give them to the kids tomorrow.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Love you and miss you guys.  Mia and Angie, Happy Birthdays, Mom and Dad, Laura and Todd, Happy Anniversaries, and Mia and Nick congrats on the wedding!

j

Ups and Downs

December 7, 2010

So the few people I’ve talked to at home recently are probably telling you guys that I’m about ready to hang myself from the nearest mango tree…which is a viable option, but won’t happen…don’t worry.  So projects…yeah not really.  The Palm Oil women have not wanted to meet…I’ve gone to the chair woman 4 times in the last 3 weeks…I have to tell you that I’m about done trying; honestly I don’t give a crap about palm oil and I really don’t wanna work with the group…the chairwoman chops money and no one really cares about the group.  I’ve decided why keep trying to motivate people when I don’t really want to in the first place…I don’t have to work with this group…the last volunteer did, but that doesn’t mean I have to.  So I’m gonna make one last effort to talk to a few of the other members tomorrow or Thursday and say (through an interpreter of course), “Ladies, let’s talk for real. Do you really want this palm oil group?  I could care less; this is for you, not me.  I walk by your houses and see you all cracking nuts on your own…do you really wanna organize a group or just keep cracking on your own.  It’s up to you.”  I don’t wanna let any of the women down, but it seems to me they don’t give a crap about the group and are only in it because now there’s another white chick in town, but they still don’t wanna meet.  In my mind I would think that they’d be like, “Hell yeah, we got someone back here to re-organize us, let’s get our group going again.” And that they’d seek me out…nope!  No one seeks me out. I’m running around this village begging people to let me help them????  But not bringing money...oh, yeah, ok, that’s why no one’s getting excited….fo’ real.

Tourism team…we should have a meeting tomorrow night.  We are supposed to have the TMT meeting on the first Wednesday of each month, which would have been last week.  Normally I go to the chairman and say, “Hey are we having our meeting tomorrow???”  But I decided not to this month because it’s quite obvious to me that no one cares, so I said nothing.  And nothing happened.  The next day the TMT secretary found me and said we should have had a meeting yesterday and that I should make sure we have one soon because he knows that I have planned meetings/activities for the group.  So I say to Fo Nicho, our chairman, “Hey, George wants us to have our TMT meeting.”  “Oh yes, next Wednesday in the evening. We missed it yesterday.”  “Uh, huh.  Hey Fo Nicho, did you talk to the signboard people to see how much they cost? You know, like you said you would at our last meeting?” (which was on November 3)…the answer was no…in case you were wondering. 

So here in lies a large source of my frustration in Ghana (and it’s not mine alone, I know for sure) people make committees, they hold meetings…especially when the white girl nags them…we go through the exercises, careful to make sure that they come up with ideas and not me alone, and then we set goals/make plans based on those ideas, everyone feels real good about it…but, here’s the key, NO ONE DOES A FLIPPING THING TO REACH THOSE GOALS!!!!! NADA!

Why??  This is my question.  Why am I here?  We’re not working on anything.  Besides Thursdays (water sachet women) I have to find reasons to go into the village; really!  I go in, buy bread, stop at Esther’s or Naomi’s to talk for a while (mostly I just sit because my language skill does not allow me to carry on a conversation…this also sucks hard.  And the thing is…I can’t teach myself a language I don’t know…Sekua is not on Rosetta Stone), and so after sitting around I hobble back up to my house and do something until I feel guilty enough again to wobble back to town.  I dunno.  I’m trying to be creative about starting things, but when there is no interest….

Mawuli still needs to talk to the people about the orphans…he’s waiting for a town meeting or something, I dunno. Confidence came to me the other day and suggested we start teaching the youth how to make batik and tye & dye.  She learned how to do all this at trade school.  Sounds like a great idea. We’ll need about 350 cedis to get started (if the youth is interested) and then we will teach the kids the skill and sell the fabric to hopefully make a profit that we can then reinvest back into the business until we make enough money to start giving scholarships to kids for school fees or for them to start their own venture…that is the very big picture in the long run.  Of course, “you could get the money from an NGO” put a very sour taste in my mouth. But alas I am bored and want to do something….is that bad???  I’m thinking that I will suggest she get 150 cedis (her family has some money) and I’ll get the other 200 (I’ll just use my own) and then we’ll start the business and pay ourselves back once it’s turning a profit.  If we don’t turn a profit, then we lose our money…that’s business, do you believe in this enough?  We’ll see how that goes.  She is supposed to talk to the youth this Sunday after church, but I want to go over a few things before she talks to them.

I also want to use the Water Sachet Group as a role model…let me tell you the story and at the end you’ll see my role model lecture…

Next week we will have a meeting at the Water Sachet Group (WSG) announcing that we will start paying the women per purse they make.  Up until now (Aki started meeting with them in January I think) the women have been working and the money earned paid for 2 machines and supplies.  Now that you awesome US people bought a bunch of purses, we have enough money saved that we can start paying out to the women.  So now we will pay them per purse…but only for good purses, so Aki and I are quality control, we will keep track of each good purse made per woman and then pay out at the end of the month.  The catch is, we won’t be able to work every Thursday and pay out because we have to sell them as fast as we make them or we’ll have no money in the group.  So I think this will be a sore spot for the ladies… BUT on the Thursdays we don’t sew purses I want the bad sewers to come in and practice so that they get better and we will start introducing new products to the good sewers so we can start diversifying our products and seeing different places we can sell them. Since we have some money saved we can use it (small, small) to develop prototypes.  So that’s that.  We’ll see how it pans out next Thursday.  We will also get a local seamstress to come over on some days and give tutorials on the machine, etc.

So here is the role model speech; I’m gonna give it to the WSG and also preach it to TMT and Confidence (and POW if they miraculously reinvent themselves)…something like this…

“Do you see what you have done?  You worked hard as a group for almost 12 months, and now you will start seeing the money come.  You did not say “give me” to anyone. You did not ask an NGO for money or ask anyone else.  You did it on your own!  This should show you that you can make money and a good life for your self…on your own…it takes hard work and time, but it will come.  This group is a role model to the whole community…I will tell them what you have done, and you should tell them what you have done.  You should be very proud of yourselves.  It’s much harder to earn your own way than it is to ask for something; but you are more likely to succeed when you earn it yourself.”  Or a lil’ somethin’, somethin’ like that.

Anyway. So today Mawuli built (because I wasn’t allowed to help much…I tried) me a bamboo table for my kitchen.  I needed more storage/work space.  In return, I made him banku and groundnut soup.  We are both very happy.  I’m still waiting on someone to show me where the good soil is so I can start growing my herbs…I’m tempted to just go in someone’s farm and take some…I don’t think they’re gonna miss it, I don’t need much and I’m tired of waiting on it.

I’ve also decided to go to the headmaster this week and talk to him about the books I’ve heard about that have been sitting in boxes for over year…because we don’t have a library.  I’m going to suggest, that I go through and organize them and come to the school once a week for a couple hours and sit and play librarian to anyone who is interested in checking out a book.  I’ll keep track of who takes them, etc.  Also, I figure this will help me meet the kids; I’ll try to pump them for info on if they want to start any clubs or tutoring or anything…and then I’ll make them pay me in Sekua terms/sentences J Nothing is for free folks…at least not while Boala is your volunteer.

I’ve also started communicating with a 5^th grade class in St. Louis. I signed up for World Wise Exchange, which is where I communicate with a class in the US about my experience here in the Peace Corps. So I’m gonna talk to the headmaster here in the village and see if we can get some student-to-student exchange going on.  Maybe some pics, letters, etc.

So…anyway. I am trying to think of ways to entertain myself and do some good in the community…I’m trying not to bitch too much without first looking at it from the village’s point of view.  I see that the villagers are busy trying to farm and do their other jobs and keep their houses and everything…it’s hard.  I understand that.  And I also am trying to think of how I need to change my way of thinking and my perceptions.  For example, just because I feel guilty because I’m not very busy, doesn’t mean that my village feels like I’m not doing anything…although I can’t ask them because they’d never tell me anything negative.  But, whatever. It’s a work in progress and I’m sure it will continue to have its ups and downs.

For Christmas, Chris and I are going to Accra and getting a nice hotel room with real beds and hot showers…fancy.  I wanna check out the Cultural Center while I’m there to see if it’s worth taking any of you guys to when you come to VISIT ME!!!!  I’ve heard it can be kinda overwhelming with pushy vendors…we’ll see.  I think we’ll also catch a movie, do small gift exchange, eat good food, etc.  Low key Christmas.  Sounds good to me.

So, I think that’s about all for me tonight. I’m sorry I haven’t been writing; I’ve been in a shitty mood and I don’t want you all to think I hate it here…because I don’t.  Am I homesick right now…yes…and that’s just how it is.  At some point something will start up and I’ll be all happy and excited again and then I’ll write all the good stuff….promise.

Thanks for listening…and please don’t start charging me for the therapy.

j

December 14, 2010

So I’ve been in a better mood this week…thank God!!!

We didn’t have our TMT meeting, again…I tried for 3 days to meet with the headmaster, hasn’t happened yet…and the water sachet ladies did not think practicing was very important… BUT

I did start making a protype for the headband/doo-rag combo that’s pretty cool.  The women all wanted mine that I took to work off of.  “No, this is mine.  I bought it with my own money.  I am learning how to make it, and once I learn, I will teach you.  Then you can make and sell them and then have money to buy your own!”  Confidence just came and talked to me about the batik project.  I told her I don’t want to involve an NGO to start because I don’t think our community is responsible with donated money, but I’ll match whatever she will put up in start up money. We’re thinking we’ll both put in 100 cedis of start up capital and then see how we fare for a few months. If it looks promising then we may contact an NGO to expand production.  So, we’ll see. 

 I hiked the mountain this morning with Rhoda (volunteer in next village); the Fulani (cattle herders) set the mountain on fire during dry season so new grass will come up for their cattle…makes the mountain look sad and crunchy L.  I took a walk earlier this week to take some pics of these really pretty trees that bloom at the cemetery, I also found a drum in HoHoe I’m gonna buy this week so I can start practicing drumming.  Soo…I’m trying to entertain myself in various ways even if it’s not actual work.

When I was walking down the footpath to the village this week a lady came from one of the houses (I always greet them, but I don’t know them) and asked me if I would “snap”  aka..take a picture.  I explained that I didn’t have my camera, but later in the week I’d come by and do it.  So Thursday I’m heading home from the village and I stop at her house…she tells me to go and come… (come later).  So anyway, I’m unpacking my stuff and there’s a knock at the door.  It is her with her little baby girl (3 mos old).  She is wanting me to take the baby’s picture; she has it in a cute lil’ outfit with a booties and a hat.  So I take a couple shots and then she goes, “So when will there be prints?” “Uh, well I don’t print in Ghana. I will send the snaps to my family in America and then they’ll send to me. So when I get them, I’ll bring them to you.” “Ok, so when you go there?”  “Where? America?” “Yes.” “Oh sister, you are not understanding me.  They will mail the prints to me.  It will be 2-3 months.” “Oh! The father is coming from Accra for Christmas. That is why I need the prints.” “Well, I don’t print in HoHoe.  So I don’t know how much it costs.”  And then she said something about money, which I hope meant she is planning on paying for the prints, but who knows. I hate not being able to communicate well.  I talked to my friend in HoHoe and he says I can get a digital print for 30 pesawa…not expensive, but I decided I will go to the house and tell the mom how much it costs and tell her to give me the money for the number of prints she wants and then I’ll have them printed when I’m in HoHoe.  Now you could be saying, “Boala, you heartless bitch, just give the woman the 30 pesawa!!”  But, if I do that, then the whole village will hear about it and every person will be after to me take pictures and print for them.  I hate that I cannot just be kind and giving here…at home I’d print the pics and hand them over without thinking about it.  But here, I have to gauge every move or else I end up screwed!!!  It’s exhausting.

Anyway.  I got my Christmas package from mom and dad…THANK YOU!!!  Yum, chocolate, and CHRISTMAS TREE CAKES!!!!! I love ‘em!  Christmas lights, singing santa, some leggings, deodorants, toothpaste, ton of food and a new silver chains so I can finally wear my necklace again!!!  Happy Day.

J

 December 16, 2010

I have some more updates, but I've actually been busy this week and will update next week. Just a fun note, this week I bought my new mattress.  15 people, 3 grown cows (with horns), and my new mattress all road home IN the tro...my mattress was bent in half on top the cows and 2 guys were sitting on my mattress...you get the picture.  I made home with no horn gouges in the mattress and now I don't get near as many bug bites!!!! :)

Tonight I'm going to the next village over; the secondary school is having Christmas caroling!! I'm excited!

Merry Christmas!

j

blah blah blah

November 17, 2010

So here is my first breakdown/bitch session in Ghana.  Last week I traveled to Tamale (26 hours of travel spread out over 2 days) for Peace Corps training. Trip up went well, had a week with my SED group.  After training me and a couple other PCV’s went over to Mole for a safari.  Trip there (4 hours) fine. We spent 2 nights, had a good time, saw warthogs, antelope, bushbuck, monkeys and baboons…no elephants, but elephant footprints and poop.  The breakdown occurred on the trip back.  Our 4 hour journey back to Tamale started at 4 am. We catch the bus and head back…we stop to pick up people at Domango and people are literally fighting to get on the bus.  People were packed standing, leaning on you and your bags. (we think it was because it was a Monday and all the highschool students were going back to school…they stay in dorms at school like our colleges).  So whatever…fine.  We get to Tamale, taxi driver tries to screw us on money…we win.  We go to the tro station and the dude tries to screw us on the luggage price…we argue, Nivole cusses…that never happens.  Finally I give in, she leaves and Chrissa and I load on for the 6 hour ride.  This tro is one of the “bread boxes” as I call them.  They look like delivery trucks and are packed with seats and a roof rack.  Rams are loaded onto the roof along with our luggage. We’re smashed in like f’n sardines.  I’m sitting on one of the jump seats…the ones that fold up and then flop down in the aisle…which means I have a half back rest and no ass padding.  The woman next to me is coughing and hocking out the window, the woman on the other side of me has her kid’s head flopped over on me making me sweat even more, all of our thighs are smashed together in a sweaty, soupy mess, the guy behind me doesn’t have a back rest at all so he’s always leaning on my back, and the dude in front of me is huge so his seat back mashes back and takes away the 2 inches of leg room I’m supposed to have; his seat was smashing my knees the whole way.  I can’t move my legs or put my shoulders back against my seat because we’re mashed too tight.  An hour in I want to cry.  To make matters worse the tro is a piece of shit and we stop every 45 minutes LITERALLY to add water to the radiator and/or beat the tires with a metal rod to make sure they’re still working.  I have never been so uncomfortable and irritable in my life.  Chrissa had spit fly on her 3 times from the chick in front of here spitting out the window.  The tro was so slow it turned into an 8 hour trip.  Luckily, when we stopped half way through, the German couple was so fed up they got out and picked a different car, so I got a slightly better seat…if that wouldn’t have happened, I don’t know if I’d have made it the whole way.

We finally arrive at Kumasi ( a huge city, and it’s dark) and get a taxi; we arrive at the guesthouse we were gonna stay at because it’s cheap….and it’s full.  ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?????  As we discuss our options with the guy who is running the guesthouse, his friend keeps looking me up and down and by this point I have lost all patience with all things.  “Will you please quit looking me up and down, dude?!!!  What are you looking at???”  He kinda smiles and walks off.  “Mister you better keep your friend away from me; I’m in no mood for games tonight.” “Oh, he was just saying if you are stranded….”  Apparently here, if chicks are stranded they’ll go home with someone and sleep with them.  “Dude, we’re not stranded. I’m never stranded; there’s always options and fucking your friend ain’t one of them!”  I was so pissed.

So then we have to get another taxi, which we got ripped off on but because we were exhausted we took it, and went to a different guesthouse and paid twice as much.  OMG.  Nivole arrives and we all meet at a restaurant split some food and I drink 2 glasses of good red wine even though I can’t really afford it.  I was running off 3 hours sleep and a full day of bullshit. I shower and pass out in seconds.

Day 2-Wake up at 6, get my shit together, tell the girls goodbye and taxi to the very crazy huge Kumasi tro station.  After several tries, I am directed (with my 40 lbs of luggage) to the right tro shed, where I am promptly fucked with.  “It will be 3 cedis for your bag.” “Brother, this is a 1 cedi bag.  It costs 1 cedi all over this country. You, me and everyone here knows that.” Because of course all the tro guys come over to stare and/or laugh at the Obruni chick.  “You will give me 2 cedis.  It is not a lot of money.” “Brother, I am a volunteer; I do not have tourist money. I have lived in this country for 5 months and will be here for 2 more years.  I am not a tourist; I know how much this bag costs…it is one cedi. I will pay 1 cedi.”  At this point I’m still very polite but firm, kinda playing the cute, know-it-all card.  “Ok, 1 cedi.”  “Thank you.”  Another guy, “Sister why are you sweating so bad?”  “I am obruni, whities melt in the African sun. At some point my white will melt off and I will be black like you and will not sweat anymore.”  They all got a big kick out of that.  So that was not bad.  I won!  And didn’t even get pissed off.

I had a great ride to Koforidua.  Get there after 3.5 hours and have to walk to a different station to pick a tro to HoHoe.  There is no HoHoe car.  Ok, so I walk back to the main station to pick a car to Kpong. “ Once cedi for the bag.” “Brother, this is a short trip. I pay 1 cedi for long trips, I’ll pay 50 pesawa.” “Ok.” Ok.”  So I go off in a corner to smoke (yes I’ve picked it up again.) and the mate comes up and starts chatting me up while his homies sit back at the tro and jaw him on.  I’m in no mood to be the entertainment. “Brother, I am tired, I do not want to talk, I’ll be back to the tro when it is full to leave.”  Ok…..soo after an hourish we arrive in Kpong.  There are only 2 guys in the tro….so it’s gonna take FOREVER to fill.  So I go to the urinal. The lil girls who are running it think something about me is fucking hilarious.  I’m in no mood.  So I pee and head back to the tro.  The guy is trying to charge me 2 cedis for my bag.  I argue…I win.  I pay the mate 5 cedi for my 4 cedi ticket.  He later comes back and takes my ticket for whatever reason (I thought he was taking everyone’s or I wouldn’t have given him mine.)  After 1.5 hours the tro is full.  “Brother where is my ticket and my change.” “I am the driver, I will get you your ticket sister.  Do not worry.”  I’m thinking bullshit, you’re gonna screw me over somehow, like saying I didn’t pay since I don’t have a ticket.  I didn’t pay the luggage guy. I told him I wouldn’t pay him until I had my ticket and change.  We get in and leave…still no ticket or change.  We get about halfway to HoHoe and they kick me and another girl out in Kpeve because the rest of the peops aren’t going as far as HoHoe and the driver doesn’t wanna drive that far just for us. So he pays another tro to take us.  So he kept my 5 cedi for my ticket and luggage and then paid my fare to the other driver…so he didn’t screw me; yeah!!!  So now I’m sitting and waiting for this tro to fill.  Since it is a short distance tro (1.5 hours) they pack you in 4 to a seat instead of 3 to a seat…the woman next to me stinks like all kinds of funky and there’s baskets of dried fish behind my head.  I want to puke.

Finally I arrive in HoHoe a frazzled, sweaty, pissed off mess.  I strap on my luggage and walk to the Likpe station hoping I can catch a car down here even though it’s officially closed at this time (5:30ish).  I wanted to pick some eggs, a box of wine, and some smokes…I’m wound super tight.  And my egg lady is closed.  And my cigarette peops.  Dammit!!! But there is a Likpe tro!  “Boala, where are you from?” “Oh I have been in Tamale for training.” “You did not tell me you were leaving. Oh Boala, you look very tired.” It was Raymond, Confidence’s father.  I wanted to cry.  So we start down the road and have to stop for someone to pick something up…and there’s a liquor store!!!  YESSSS.  I buy my boxed wine and I finally get home after 6:30…I started traveling a little before 7 am. 

I get home and feel like I don’t ever want to talk to a Ghanaian again.  I’m so tired of fighting!!!  I’m tired of arguing all the time and getting cheated all the time because I’m white.  It really pisses me off.  I know it won’t change and normally I just turn it into a game of bargaining, but 2 days straight of all that bullshit just really put me in a terrible mood.  Also, I talked to Mawuli and apparently Confidence had to travel a couple days while I was gone so she gave my key to Naomi to feed Monkey. Which is fine, but I wished she would have called me and asked me who I wanted to have the key.  I told her before I left that I wanted no one else in the house while I was gone.  So I’ll be having a talk with her tomorrow.

Today I went and talked to Mawuli and told him I would be in the house all day and that I wanted to be alone. I’m tired and generally in bad mood and that I’ll greet the village tomorrow.  I go visit my supervisor and Esther and tell them the same thing. 

So I spent the whole day laying in the house, cleaning, watched 2 movies and chilled.  A guy from HoHoe that I know came out to visit even though I told him I wanted to be alone today.  I was kinda mean; I actually started crying because I felt like I was defending myself again and all I wanted was to be left alone without having to explain or defend myself to anyone.  “ Oh Jeanna, I am so sorry. I just wanted to see you since you’ve been gone so long. I brought you an energy drink and wanted to make you happy.”  “I’m not crying because of you; I’m so exhausted and pissed off and I am so tired of arguing everyday just so I don’t get cheated.  It’s exhausting; that’s why I told you I didn’t want to hang out today. I WANT TO BE ALONE.”  He left.  I felt kinda bad; he’s a real nice person and always helps me out.  After he left I just started crying and couldn’t stop…nothing in particular; just an overwhelming feeling.  I called my friend Chris; and then I was ok.

Anyway, I’m drinking my wine and venting to you fine people.  Tomorrow is the water sachet group and they’re always fun!

Thanks for listening.  Also, please excuse all the profanity, but it was absolutely necessary, I promise.

J

November 22, 2010

Hello.  So the good news is I haven’t killed anyone since my last entry, but the bad news is I’ve been feeling pretty shitty since then…karma???  Anyway, Thursday with the women was exactly what I needed; they make me laugh. And Salomay gave me a big hug and bananas, and I danced with the lady that always calls me “Agonome”. Which is coconut oil in Ewe….she thinks it’s hilarious that I got all excited that I found coconut oil in HoHoe…so ever since then she calls me Agonome and laughs hysterically and tells everyone about it.  She’s funny.

Anyway, Thursday was Water Sachet Group day, Friday was market in HoHoe, Chris came home with me and Saturday we went to Bakua (next village) to see 2 Pegasus Africa Volunteers who are teaching there.  Saturday day I started feeling crappy: headache, queasy, not very hungry.  Saturday night I got all dizzy and nauseas and ended up catching a tro home.  I’ve felt funky ever since.  I was supposed to hike the mountain yesterday, but spent the day lying on the couch. Today I went into the village for a couple hours to talk to people, but still feel funky.

I feel disconnected and like a bad volunteer.  I was gone for almost 2 weeks, spent one good day in the village, and have been pretty much huddled up in my house since.  Plus I leave Wednesday to go to Accra for Thanksgiving at the US Ambassador’s.  So I guess I just feel bad about not being around; I’m gonna go to the PC doctor while in Accra (I gotta go get shots anyway) and will hopefully start feeling better so I can eat a bunch of turkey!!!  Accra has a movie theatre and the new HARRY POTTER is playing!!  And I heard you can get milkshakes there.  Accra is a huge, dirty city filled with all the food we desire and can’t afford…but somehow we still do!  I haven’t been to Accra since training, so I have no idea where to go or how to get around, so we’ll see how that goes.

General mutterings:  I got a package from Uncle Glenn and Aunt Kathy….THANK YOU!!!  Chocolate, just what a grouchy, sick girl needs…it has made me smile!  I have my family send me condiment packets from fast food restaurants…light weight and reeking of America.  In this package was Arby’s Sauce.  Oh, God.  At the very sight of that little packet I felt the buttery, toasted bun and delicious warm roast beef melting in my mouth…complemented by the deafening crunch of curly fries and washed down by a fizzy slurp of Diet Dr. Pepper.  Ohhhhhh.  I don’t even use Arby’s Sauce at home, but the very fact that this lil’ packet sent me into an emotional overload makes me question my sanity.  I was almost pissed off…that I couldn’t have it.  At that moment it represented everything comfortable and normal.  I’ve kind of been in a funk since training; I’m gonna go out on limb and say that that’s normal, but it’s still a super shitty feeling, especially here.  I’m feeling anti-social…even with the white people.  So I’m trying to decide what to do for Christmas. Do I spend my 2 days leave to go to the beach with a bunch of people, or do I want to spend my holiday (first Christmas ever away from my fam…I’m 28) with a few close people? I dunno. We’ll see.

Is the Peace Corps making me a hermit?  I’ve always been very happy spending time alone, but here I wonder if it is gonna become a negative thing.  I miss my friends at home; the ones I hand picked because their individual traits were amazing and uplifting and brought joy to my heart and made my mind expand.  The ones that I trust my life with and could indeed proclaim that they were 100% real.  Ones you can trust not to blab your shit just because they’re bored and need something to talk about. I dunno…like I said…in a funk.

Anyway, things are bumping along here.  I figure after I get back from Thanksgiving I’ll try to start getting things started again.  While at training I made a list of 13 things I want to work on, in no particular order:

-garden (I got some seeds leftover from a volunteer..I’m starting with herbs planted in watersachets until I can find a place to plant a veggie garden…and build a fence to keep the goats out.)

-make moringa soap with palm kernel oil from women’s group

-start making lotion here like I did at home with local beeswax(once I get my herbs growing) and teach the women

-train POW group on business skills/make bookkeeping visual since they can’t read/write

-check into MTN/Vodafone sponsoring our tourism signboards/brochures

-talk to Ghana Tourism Board manager about visiting our site for an assessment and TMT training

-organize to talk to District Assembly about 30% contribution and tourism center

-start to work with orphans here in Todome (Mawuli just told me about this)

-screen in my front porch so I don’t have to hide inside at twilight

-make bamboo shelf for kitchen (Boss just brought me some bamboo today!)

-start doing yoga in the mornings again (tros got me body all out of whack!!)

-do an AIDS demonstration

-start a girls club

Today I talked to Mawuli and he announced to the church on Sunday that we will be having a community meeting soon and also told them that I would like to start working with the orphans..teaching them, etc.  The community meeting will be about AIDS awareness, but he doesn’t want to tell them what it’s about or they may not come.  We have to go talk to the chief first though.  I asked Mawuli if there is anyone in the village living with HIV or AIDS, and he said he didn’t know.  I asked what age people start having sex here in our village…he said 12.  Geeze.  So…next week I will be buying my very own wooden penis (are you happy Amy?????)…for condom demonstrations of course…not for me personally.  I’m sure that shopping experience will prompt a few good stories.  I have seen a juju shop by the station selling them.  We were told in Peace Corps training that we should be able to procure a wooden penis for 2-3 cedis…so I really hope that they don’t try to rip me off.  I really don’t wanna have to fight about a wooden penis at the very crowded tro station, but you know I will.  I have been told it is very hard to put a condom on a wooden penis…so I will have to practice…and so will Mawuli…sounds fun, huh? –Katie, remember the Designing Women’s episode, “They’re calling me Mary Jo Shively, the Condom Queen!!!!” ????  Just call me Boala, the wooden dick chick.  So anyway, Mawuli and I will give the presentation and have the crowd play games that show how easily HIV is spread and how you cannot tell by looking at someone if they have HIV or not.  I hope they are receptive to it.

So….I think that’s about all for now.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!  Eat lots and lots.  Anner, Mom, good luck on Thanksgiving Dinner…I’m sure you’ll do well and make Granny proud.  Love you guys and wish I was there with you.

j

pics

So today I traveled to Ho so I could mail my Christmas package to the fam. On the way, a woman puked on me in the tro....awesome.  The whole tro was like, "Oh, sorry-o." "Oh, sorry for you." Yeah no kiddin.    Tomorrow I start travelling to Tamale for In Service Training and get to meet up with all the old SED homies. It's getting hot here; Harmattan is starting and you can see the air getting "cloudy" with dust. It is hotter...I sweat like a crazy person all day now.  Monkey is getting big. He killed and ate his first lizard the other day.  The Palm Oil Group is reforming and we are gonna start using the shed, we are electing new officers and sounds like we may get it together...but I'm not getting my hopes up. The water sachet group is doing good; they got all the purses sewed for the US order in about a week and half.  The Tourism Team is still hard to get together for meetings...so we'll see how that goes. I'm really not in a writing mood lately, so I just haven't been doing it :)  But I will post some pics since I'm at the fast internet today.

Happy Birthday P!!!

Love you guys!
j

 sunset behind my house

 kente strip

 drumming and dancing at Tafi Abuife

 my house

baby goats at chris's house

 pottery at Kpando

 potter at Kpando...yes they mean hand made.

 couple lil boys in the village.  Dixon is the one in his undies; that's my supervisor's son.

 Salomay and baby Michaela posing for watersachet pic.  I really like Salomay; and Michaela actually likes me! Most of the babies in the village are scared of me...no, not because I'm mean, b/c I'm a whitie.

 Pathrine showing off our 3 sizes of bags.

 my halloween oufit..handmade o' course.  I'm a tree!!!!

 women working on sachets

 christ was a Kente Party Boy from Jackass...freaking hilarious!!

 Sonic the Hedgehog

Happy Halloween!!!

 Confidences Birthday part at my house

 I made her a crown.

chrissa weaving at her kente loom

Rainy Funny

October 25, 2010

So I haven’t really written anything in a week or so…haven’t felt like it. Been kinda busy; had TMT meeting, set goals; had Palm Oil Women meeting and said we need to restructure; Water Sachet group is working hard core trying to fill the U.S. orders by next week when I ship…THANKS U.S. HOMIES FOR YOUR INTEREST AND EFFORTS TO DISTRIBUTE. The ladies are excited and have been working really hard and pulling extra days this week to fill the order.

Halloween is Sunday; Saturday night we’re gonna have a local PC party…I’m gonna be a tree…go figure.  I sewed another skirt this week. 

What made me write today:

Today I spent the day in the village making water purses with 2-3 of the women. It kept pouring on and off all day. It was towards the end of the day, we were huddled in the lil shop room and there were about 15 kids there too (they were gathering water sachet bags for the cocoa saplings my supervisor does each year). So we’re all smashed together, chillin’, waiting for the rain to let up, starin’ out the doors when you see a man coming up the road pulling hard on a rope.  Eventually a white bull emerges on the other end of the rope. This poor man is pulling his heart out, in the pouring rain, in flip-flops.  The bull would start pulling and going in circles.  The kids were cracking up, you see the people in the other lil huts looking out and laughing too; I start chuckling.  He battles it for a while, and then all of a sudden the bull turns and hauls ass back down the road and this poor dude is being yanked down the muddy road like he’s on skis. We all start cracking up! The kids run into the road to watch him get pulled, we all run out to the porch and are laughing hysterically, as are the other people hiding in the other huts.

It catches me and makes me realize where I am.  Thankful for where I am and grateful for this moment; an experience I would never witness at home. It makes me feel happy inside. It was so funny…this was the excitement for the day; a bull pulling a man in the rain.  At home I’d be sitting in my office trying to find something to entertain me until 5 o’clock.  Life is funny…everywhere…just in different ways.

J

Water Sachet Women's Group

What water sachets look like and how you drink them.

Mama Victoria helping Felicia on the machine

Group working.

Finished purses.

Most of the group; from left: Salomay, some lil girl, Gertrude, Apolonia, Felicia, Gifty some lil boy, Esther, Mama Victoria.

Homies,
I am working with a group of women in my village (The Lelabi Women’s Group of Likpe Todome) that make water sachet purses. What are water sachets? Here in Ghana “pure water” is sold in plastic pouches; this is how you get safe drinking water on the run. While this has decreased water born diseases, it has increased the amount of plastic trash strewn all over Ghana.

So, there has been an upstart in the production of water sachet purses. The women and children in my village collect discarded water sachets, clean them, dry them, and then sew them with local fabrics into little purses. The profits are invested back in the group to expand production and will later be used for extra income for the women and also for projects in the community. Also, they are WATERPROOF!!! This is awesome; when I’m hiking without a backpack and it starts pouring, I just stick my cellphone in my water sachet purse and HOLLA, it’s safe!

So this is my first stab at promotion of these back in the States, so please bear with me; there is no pressure in this; I’m just trying to see if there is a market amongst friends in the U.S. The purses cost $1.50 US dollar (I need to make sure that price includes the shipping costs); they are great for Christmas presents/stocking stuffers. Friends, please post this to your facebook page too, copy and email to your moms so they can show their ladies in their offices, churches, etc. If you have anyone who is interested please let me know via facebook message or email (jeannar11@gmail.com). I’m not for sure on all the logistics yet, but figured I’d see if you all have any interest before I get carried away.

Peace and Love, or as they say in Sekua, “Liyuh ku Lelabi”
j

nothing to do w/ the women's group...but this is the skirt I made by hand....the women were quite proud, though

Happenings

September 14, 2010

Riding back from Ho today I see a goat standing on the roof of a moving tro.  I assume it was tied down somehow, but who knows; tro-surfing goat…awesome. The only thing that made the trip more awesome was our tire blowing out about 15 minutes from HoHoe.  Before I moved here, I had never been in a car when a tire has blown before; since I have been in Ghana, it has happened twice…

 September 18, 2010

Thursdays I spend in the village with the women’s water sachet purse group.  I like Thursdays…the women are funny!  Today I got to sew a purse…at first I turned the wheel thing the wrong way and the women started hollering and laughing…it turned out ok in the end J  Salomay made us okra stew and banku.  I also helped pop dried corn kernels off the cob so they can be planted;  I got a blister on my thumb. In preparation for Chris, Molly, and Laura coming to my house that evening I go in search of food to cook.  I ask if anyone is having bananas, Esther talks to some people and says that some woman over there is having some.  So Rose and Dixon, my supervisor and Esther’s kids, lead me to this woman’s house. I ask if she’s having bananas…and off she goes into the bush.  About 5 minutes later she returns with a bunch of bananas she’s just hacked off a tree somewhere…50 pesawa…awesome…I love this place!  Friday morning we hike the mountain and go to the falls. We don’t do the caves because we can’t find Boss and we’re kinda in a time crunch anyways as we are all gonna go to Chris A’s to meet his Kente weavers and have a bonfire (his mom sent s’mores stuff!!!)  We tro to Chris’s in the pouring rain; the tro leaks of course; you can’t see crap and they drive too fast (all the tires are bald here…hence all the blowouts!). I prayed a few times and we arrive at the junction to Chris’s. It’s pouring ass so we run to a lil shop/lean-to thing; the name of the establishment, “I’m afraid of my friends. Even you.”  We sit huddled under this lil’ thing, drink a beer and watch it pour.  I love days like this!!!  It makes me happy to be where I am. 

Chris’s house is great; he organized drumming and dancing in his village.  We all sit around in his village and watch the dancers; we then join them dancing in a circle in the dirt under the moon. It was so much fun!!!  After that, we (the yevus) perform one of the dances that we learned in training; the villagers loved it!  Chris also got us all a strip of kente (cloth woven here…I’ll post some pics of the weavers/looms, etc) which was super nice of him!  We had a great time.

September 19, 2010

Today is Sunday; I figured church was at 9 like usual…I was super tired from traveling and was planning on sleeping late…till 7:30 am!  That didn’t work.  At 7 am (I’m awake but kinda just chillin in bed) there are knocks at my door, but at first I couldn’t tell if it was my door or not. So I get up and look out the window and see Nyemetchay going down the hill to church (I told her to come get me when they went). Dammit. I then hear the drums start.  I decide on skipping church today.  It’s two hours earlier than usual and I don’t feel like rushing and then being late.  So I make breakfast, hang with the cat, and read my book. 

Later in the day, I go outside on the porch to start painting the bookshelf the carpenter finished. As I’m painting, Mawuli comes to tell me that the men who are going to work on the mountain road will be coming today. “Do I need to meet with them today?”  “No, maybe tomorrow. But they will come and stay at the guesthouse.” So I keep painting and here come the trucks up the hill.  I see some of the people I met a couple weeks ago; we greet. They also have a couple new people with them.  As I’m hunkered over painting and talking to a couple other people (2 little girls from the village showed up, Sister Naomi came by, and Mawuli was there too…like a porch party!!!!)  one of the guys gives me a bottle of French wine (I so bet that it’s better than my 2 cedi box of wine!!), “ This is for you.” “Wow, thanks!!!”  A few minutes later one of the guys gives me a loaf of bread….geeze.  See, even strangers feed me here.  Anyway…now I need a corkscrew…dammit. I made spaghetti tonight too…the wine would have been great with it…but no corkscrew…which is why I bought boxed wine in the first place J

Today I sewed some curtains for my front windows; they are half curtains that are pretty sheer, but obstruct the view from the little kids trying to stare in my windows when they are stalking me for candy!

Also, Courtney, if you are reading this, Lukenbach, Texas is playing on my Ipod right now J  And just so you know, the chickens that run around my yard here, chill up in the mango treeJ

September 24, 2010

I woke up Tuesday (21^st) all stuffed up; it’s been cool here at nights…even I’m getting chilly…I still sweat during the day though.  Anyway, when I go out on the porch 2 of the road guys are hanging out, one is the American man I met before and the other is the South African man who I had just met.  We sat and talked for about 45 minutes or so and then I went to town to find Boss.  He wasn’t there, I didn’t feel that great, so I walked back home and started making breakfast.  By the time I was finished eating, I was burning up.  I ended up spending all Tuesday laying in my bed with a 102 temperature, severe abdominal cramps, and peeing out my butt. Yes I know that is disgusting, but it felt awful and you can at least hear about it! …see why PCV’s become so tight; we have to, no one else wants to hear our gross stories.  Wednesday I wake up with a 101 temp; I’m contemplating calling the PC Dr, when I get up to run to the bathroom…I didn’t make it…even out of bed. DAMMIT.  I feel like hell worked over and do not have the energy to wipe up my own crap and wash my sheets and stuff…by hand!  As I’m sitting on the toilet, sweating, cramping, and almost crying; I realize, “ Hey Jeanna, you’re sitting on a toilet, shaking, pouring ass…but did you hear me…you’re sitting on a toilet!”  I had just left Chris A’s house last week…he had to walk about 20 yards to his latrine that contained only a Turkish toilet…aka, hole in the ground you have to squat over and use.  I have used several of those types of latrines and I can tell you that I have no idea what I would do at his place if I was this sick.  I could not run that far without crapping myself…and at night…no.  Also, being so weak and shaky and having to try and squat….geeze…this little realization made me shut up real quick and be grateful  So, I pull the sheets off the bed and throw them on the floor (there really wasn’t that much on them) and figure F* it, I’ll wash them tomorrow…today it cannot be done!  At this point I haven’t really eaten much in over a day and had been drinking Gatorade only.  I was hoping I’d hear the kids playing around the house and send them into town to get me some bananas…but there were no kids….about an hour or so later I think I hear Mawuli.  So I go to the door…and, yes!!!  “Mawuli, I am sick and was wanting to send a kid to town to get me some bananas…but they are not here.  Will you please go or send someone?”  “Jeanna, why have you not called me?  How long have you been sick?  Oh, I am so sorry.  What is wrong with your health...”  This is why I had not called him; I know he’d be super concerned and tell everyone else and they’d be super concerned.  “The children have gone to school…they will weed the school yard this week and start school on Monday.  I will go and get you bananas.  I will also find you medicine.” I explained I had called the PC Dr and was waiting for a call back; I just needed bananas. Ok, so off he went; I laid down.  10 minutes later, “Sister Boala…” It was Sister Naomi, “Oh, Francis told me you were sick, so I left the shop to come to you; I will stay with you until he comes back with the bananas.  Oh, how are you feeling?” We sit and talk for a while…Mawuli comes back and then the Dr calls, listens to my symptoms and then tells me what antibiotic to buy.  “Mawuli, where’s the closest chemical shop (pharmacy kinda)?” “There is one in Mate and one in Bala. Give me the name of it and I will go fetch your medicine.”  “Ok, thank you.”  They both leave and I kinda fall back asleep and about 2 hours later…. “Jeanna, are you asleep?  I have your medicine.  I’m sorry it took so long. I went to Mate and Bala and they did not have it, so I flagged Hayford down (a driver of a local tro) and had him get it in HoHoe when he was driving his route.  Here it is...”

This is how things go here; I was wondering how long it would take for the PC Dr in Accra to get my prescription called into a store in HoHoe….uhhhhh…what prescription? None needed….ok, great.  I don’t wanna get on a tro to find medicine, I’ll crap myself for sure.  Mawuli and then Hayford to the rescue; I never even left the house.  People are too awesome.  So the fever went down by Wednesday night, but I was still peeing out my butt all day Wednesday and Thursday, but today…it’s only happened twice!!!! So I left the house and went and greeted people.  My supervisor has also not been well; he had a small moto accident; so I went and saw him…and came home with a pot of cooked beans, gari, and a bunch of bananas.  God love ‘em.

I stopped and talked to some of the teachers who were supervising the kids cleaning the schoolyard.  I told them I’d like to do something with the school once it gets going and everything settles down; they said right on and to come and observe classes anytime.  I went back into town this afternoon and saw one of the ladies I know walking away from town.  “Oh, Apolonia, where are you going.”  “A man has died in a close village.  I am going.”  Her companion, “Boala, do you want to come?” “Now?” “No tomorrow.” “Oh, I am going to HoHoe tomorrow.” “Ok.” Apolonia, who talks to me in Sekua mostly, but also some Ewe, “…….azi detsi……” All I got out of her sentence was “azi detsi” which is groundnut soup in Ewe.  She starts rubbing her belly and laughing.  I start cracking up. Ever since I told the women that I made banku and groundnut soup a few weeks ago, Apolonia has been giving me crap about trying the Obruni’s soup.  “Oh, Apolonia! This Thursday I will bring azi detsi to the women’s group!” “Oh and banku!!” “Yes, and banku!”  The two women walk off laughing and “Oh, Boala”ing me. 

I keep walking and see some old man walking with a cane and I don’t recognize him so I assume he is maybe from Mate or something.  I great him in Sekua…he gets all excited (before this I thought he was about 4 breaths away from death) and responds accordingly with much enthusiasm for my language efforts. He keeps walking past me and I hear him in English, “Oh, that was fine! Yes, very fine!”

I keep walking up to Esther’s shop when I hear, “Boala.”  “Confidence.  How are you? I have not seen you in a while.”  “Oh, Sister Naomi just told me about your health…how are you?  I have been away with work, I have not been around to check on you.”  “I am all better; thank you.”  I tell her about Apolonia giving me crap about my soup and that I’m gonna make it for the women on Thursday.  “Oh, when will you make it?” “Thursday morning probably.” “Ok, I will be around. I will come and help so it does not turn out runny again.”  LOL.  “Great, thanks Confidence.”  So much for trial and error on one’s own; automatic re-teach.  It was good to get out of the house and see people.  Today was good.

Anyway, that’s about all that happened this week.  Monkey tried to eat a frog and it squirted him…his mouth foamed up and he kept slobbering…but he’s not sick or anything.  Ok, now that really is all that happened this week J

j

September 29, 2010

My days go by pretty quickly, although I don’t quite know why. Maybe because there is absolutely no chance of a schedule or “normal day.” This is completely unlike my life in the States. While I tend to be laid back, on a regular day, a schedule and organization is natural and comfortable to me; and whether I like it or not, I got a control freak in me.  This is not possible here.  I have not hiked the mountain in almost 2 weeks; I have also not had a Sekua lesson in 2 weeks. This is partly because I was sick last week, Boss has been MIA/traveling the last couple weeks, and it has been raining a shit ton.  This has taken away the two “normal” things that had been established in my first month here at site.  I hiked the mountain most mornings at 6:15 am and several afternoons a week I had Sekua class….not so much anymore…I’m flapping in the wind again.

So, this week, I just kinda wander around the village. I stop and talk to people, go home, weed some in the yard (my arms are so freakin sore from swingin’ my cutlass…I also have blisters.  My supervisor was appalled to find out I’d been weeding.  “with a cutlass??!!! Where did you get a cutlass?” “I bought one in HoHoe a few weeks ago.  The grass is tall; when I go to hang my laundry I get bitten by many bugs.  I will weed small each day.”  “Oh, Boala.” And then he shakes his head like my dad has done for sooo many years.  It is the look of exasperation and saying, “Girl is gonna do it anyway, no point in arguing.”) So after I weed, I’m covered in sweat and itching so I shower, then maybe make lunch, kinda nap a little, or read a book, or study Sekua.  After a while I go back to town and greet and usually sit for a while at Esther’s store.  I’ve started taking different routes/footpaths through the village. I’m finding new people to talk to; so I take the same path the next day and greet the same people…meet people, etc.

So yesterday I was wandering around after greeting people and came home on my main footpath. Patience was sitting under her tree cracking palm nuts.  I didn’t really have anything to do so I went over and greeted her in Sekua.  I asked if I could help…in English, she doesn’t speak English at all, so I just found a hand sized rock and sat down and started cracking.  She was somewhere between amused and scared.  We sat and cracked, didn’t really talk; I enjoyed it. Every once in a while someone would come by…Boala/Obruni comments.  They all laugh; I smile and keep cracking.  One girl that I see on the paths, but don’t know who she is, comes over and starts visiting with us; she speaks English so we start talking.  “Do you know what kind of tree you are sitting under?” “Nope, what is it?” “It’s a kola tree.” “Oh, what the old people chew that makes their mouths red?” “Yes.” “Where are the nuts?”  She says something and Patience goes in the house and comes back with this funky, lumpy, bumpy fruit thing. “This is the kola fruit, and you pop it open and here are the nuts. This one has 2, but some have many.  You peel the white off the nut and then there is the red part that you eat. Some people make a drink from it; most just chew it.” “Can I try a bite?” “You want to try?” “Well, sure.”  I took a lil’ bite…it was gross.  All bitter.  “This is not tasty. I do not like.” “Yeah me either. Boala, you are funny.” Of course I am.  So I crack for a while longer and Patience says something and the girl says, “Boala, the rain is coming. You should go to the house.” “Ok, see you tomorrow.”  So I shuffle down the path and the drops start just as I hit the yard. About 2 minutes later it pours for a couple hours.  This is my day.

Today I went to meet the Palm Oil Women’s group. They are roasting/boiling the nuts so they can then siphon the oil off the top and sell it. On the way to town to meet the group, I stop off at my supervisor’s house to see if he has the key to the Palm Oil Shed. I have not ever been in it and want to see it (the previous PCV had it built for the POW group) and the nut-cracking machine that I was told was broken.  So I ask about it… “there is no machine.”  WTF????  Did I completely make that up?  I have it written in my notes and everything...the nut cracking machine is broken….yup right there on my paper.  Did I misunderstand?  Geeze; communication, not so clear here.  So whatever, I trudge up to Augusta’s house where the group is supposed to meet (I have been wandering why they are not meeting at the shed?  Is that not the point of it??)  There are a few of the women there. They take me over to the pots and show me the brown sludgy stuff that’s boiling.  Then we kind of just sit around while it boils.  Some of them wander off, Augusta is talking to her son, I stay sitting.  I watch the goats a lot…the little ones are cute. They make me laugh.  I kinda zone out in my head and think about how bizarre and unproductive my life is.  How am I supposed to motivate/organize these women when I don’t really know the process, really know them, and can’t communicate worth a crap?  Am I just gonna be lazy for 2 years and bumble around town and say, “well I can’t work with people who don’t show up and don’t tell me what they want.”  I start getting frustrated.  I didn’t come here to be lazy and sit on a stump watching goats; I need to be more proactive. “Augusta, what do we use the shed for?”  “…no…nathing.”  “We don’t use it? It just sits there?” “Yes.”  AHHHHHHH!!!!!  Then I hear her son laughing and coming over (he’s the one who told me I was old when I was cracking nuts with him…he’s lost his voice real bad…probably from talking shit about “old women”…just kidding J…I gotta make my own fun here). “They use the shed to set fire to the nuts.” “Like we are doing right now…here…at your house…not the shed?” “Yes.” And off he goes like he’s just explained everything.  WTF??????  AHHHHHHH!!!!  Frustration! Why are we not at the f’in’ shed? You know, the one the previous PCV worked hard for?  There is just no point in asking anymore…my communication skills suck here.  So I go back to watching goats.  After a while, they pull the cauldron off the fire and start skimming the oil. They then put the oil into a big container. I start to wonder if they know how much money the make at doing this….profit analysis…yes, that’s a school term…aww, that finance degree may be useful!!!  I get a lil’ excited inside, ditch the goats and try to talk to the women.  “Do you know how much money the group makes from each bag of nuts?”  “Yes. 100”…. “100 cedis? Wow. So, how much to buy a bag of palm nuts?” A girl who speaks English pretty good comes by… “Sister, please help me.” I repeat my question, she says it to the women and Augusta starts, “10 cedi.  Then we get 60 cedi.”  “So you pay 10 for the nuts and then sell all the oil for 60 cedi?” “Yes.” That’s 50, not 100!  “So what does the group do with the money?”  “We buy more.” “Ahh.”  There is some talking. “Then we do it again; then make two. One goes to bank, one go to buy nuts.”

That’s about as clear as mud.  And that’s where I leave it for today. I’m frustrated... I still don’t know squat.  So 100 cedis?  Does that mean that they get 100 cedis, 50 to bank, 50 to buy nuts?  Nuts are only 10 cedi a bag?  I’m confused somewhere between the 60 and 100.  I also want to know how they keep track of sales and who handles the money; who deposits the money at the bank, how much is in the bank; at some point I will want to see the books, see how they are keeping records…mainly I just wanna know what they want me to do!  They obviously don’t need me to show them how to make palm oil.  What do they expect from me?  What’s the point of the group; why not just have a couple women processing palm oil…why have the group…how is the group helping them?  It doesn’t seem like there is any group or organization.  Do they want me to organize them or do they just wanna do their thing? I think I should hold a meeting to get all these questions out.  But then again I think that I need to just see things through slowly.  Information comes in bits here…like discovering that there is no nut-cracking machine (I swear I was told we had one and it was broken).  In training they told us you may have to ask a question several times to determine the real answer…they ain’t foolin’!

I don’t really know how to communicate effectively with the TMT or the POW group or anything.  But I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. So…patience…that thing I’m not so good at. I think right now I’m just really wanting to feel needed/productive; I’m kinda floating with nothing to ground myself.  I want to contribute and feel like I do something and make some difference or have someone rely on me for something (well I guess Monkey does, but he doesn’t count…he chases his own tail with vigor…he’s slightly damaged in the head I think).  I’m also quite sure this feeling will only get more intense the longer I am here.  It’s only been 6 weeks at site…anyway…

Tonight was a beautiful sunset.  I grabbed my camera and started walking west…I ended up just wandering through people’s yards trying to get to the edge of the bush/houses so I could get good pics of the sunset over the other mountain range.   It was beautiful.  A good reminder that I am not in my “normal” life.  Things are going to be hard and frustrating, but I get to look at the raw beauty of a nature that I’ve never seen before…and I end the day in a big ol’ gooshy smile J

October 4, 2010

So last week I found out that the reason we are not using our newly built (within the last year) tourism reception center is not just because we don’t have water/electricity to it (like I was told in the past), but is because we don’t have the key.  I have been told that the contractor kept the key….why?… “maybe he wasn’t paid.” “Why? Who built it?” “An NGO.” “Did they not pay?” “I think they sent the money through the District Assembly.  Maybe the DA used the money for something else.”  Geeze…just like the POW (Palm Oil Women’s) group.  Keep asking questions, keep getting new/different info.  So…this sounds like it’ll be fun to work out; dealing with government agencies…always a delight.  2 new building in our little village within the last year; neither is being used!!!  Grrrrrrrrrrr.

So anyway…this weekend I went to Chris’s welcoming ceremony; it was supposed to start at 10am…it started about 12…at around 3 some of us left so we could get back to our villages on time.  We were standing on the side of the road waiting for a tro when a motorcycle pulls up.  My thoughts, “Geeze, what bullshit is this gonna be?” Because usually in this situation there’s some level of bullshit thrown at the Yevus.  So the guy has a full helmet on, but something is familiar.  “Fo, John! Is that you?” “Daavi Jeanna, indo!”  HA! It was my Ewe teacher from PC training!  I had just thought about him the other day because I knew he traveled to visit family in HoHoe sometimes.  It was nice.

So today I didn’t really have anything to do in particular, so I figured I’d go to town and see if I could practice sewing on some water sachets (because I cannot sew in a straight line.  Aki wants me to take over the group when she leaves in March, so I figured I had better practice.) Also, I wanted to talk to Esther about making inventory and production sheets for the sachet bags.  So first I stop by Sister Naomi’s shop to say hello. Then I hobble further up the street to Esther’s.  It starts pouring and we move inside; I hold the baby while she peels sweet potatoes and we talk about different vegetables, where stuff is in the HoHoe market, etc.  My supervisor (her husband) comes and he and I talk about figuring out how we’re gonna get the key to the visitor reception center.  I express that I’m getting restless and we really need to do our tourism mapping project so we can set goals and I can actually get started on some work (it’s now been 4 weeks since the meeting was originally scheduled).  After an hour or so the rain lets up and I head to the house to make lunch, but said I’d come back in the afternoon to practice sewing.

I go back around 2:30 and start practice sewing straight lines…it got progressively better…that’s about all I can say.  But the best part is Esther and I sat and talked while I sewed and she supervised.  We talked about the water sachet group; I asked what the women want to use the profits for.  Up until now they have been using profits to buy more sewing machines.  We now have 2; plus another one that needs a part (I have seen it with my own eyes…this is not another “broken nut-cracking machine.”), and when Aki leaves in March she’s going to donate her machine to the group.  That is enough machines, so we now need to decide what we should use future profits for.  Aki and I discussed this on Saturday and decided over the next couple weeks we need to have the women come up with ideas and then we’ll vote.  So I started asking Esther…she’s a smart lady and she’s dedicated to the group.  She said that some of the women want to keep buying machines until there is one for everyone, then each person will have their own machine to keep for their own; some of the women want to start sharing the money; and some want to put it into other projects.  She also says how some of the women take supplies to “practice” at home, but never return them.   We keep talking; I said we’ll have Aki announce this Thursday that all group work must be done on Thursdays…no taking anything home…by anyone.  Also, one machine will be used by the 3 women who are good sewers, and the other machine will be used by those who are still learning. They will practice sewing in straight lines, etc…that way they aren’t trying to make purses and wasting zippers and stuff when the purses they produce are all wonky and can’t be sold.  Last week there was a new woman who came to join the group.  Esther said that this woman came in the very beginning, but then quit coming after the 2^nd meeting.  Now she is here.  Esther thinks it is because one of the women has been trying to get the others to ask that the money be shared and paid back to the women.  So she is afraid that some of the women have been talking outside the group and saying that they will be getting money and so now new women will want to join because they think they will get money.  If the women want to share the money fine…but only part of it…some of it needs to be saved and other to pay for supplies.  Also, we will have to keep track of who comes to the meetings and works and then we’ll have to divide up the money accordingly…you’re not gonna get paid if you only show up for a lil’ bit of the time and disappear like some do. 

So then I start talking to her about how the POW group is frustrating because they are not organized, I can’t communicate with them, and they aren’t even using the shed.  So I find out that basically there is no group; that they have just restarted since I have come and that the reason it fell apart was that one of the women has basically been keeping the money.  They don’t know how much they make on the oil and they don’t use the shed because Augusta wants to keep it all at her house…then she has control and you can pretty much figure out who’s pilfering the money.  The reason many of them don’t show up is because they refuse to work if she keeps it up.  Sooooo..

I’m finally getting some info.  Yes, I guess this could be gossip, but it is at least information and it makes sense.  So I think I’m just gonna have to take charge and be bossy with the POW group as in: I want to see the books, the bank statements, each officer must fulfill their role; the chairwoman cannot be in control of the money, we must work in the shed, the oil must remain in the shed and be sold out of the shed; we must keep track of inventory. If we do not run this as a real organization, then I’m not going to work with them and they can do whatever they want.  And I’ll find a new use for the shed as for it not to go to waste.

I finally got the financial books for the TMT today.  They were on the other end of the guesthouse…I’ve been asking for them for like 2 weeks…they were 60 feet from my door….anyway.  Also, this Wednesday is the 1^st Wednesday of the month, which means general TMT meeting…where I will plead with the members to please set a date for the Mapping/Goal Setting meeting so that we can start working on stuff.  I also have a list of stuff to address. 

This week I’m going to go to Koforidua and hit the bead market…so hopefully I’ll be posting these blogs that day as there is a great Vodafone Café there.  Also, I got an email (thanks for letting me use your modem, Aki!) from the teacher I’ve been paired up with for World Wise. It’s a cultural exchange program where I communicate with a classroom in the US about my experience here in Ghana. The class I’ll be working with is in St. Louis…glad they put me with a school in my home state.

Liyuh ku lelabi,  (peace and love in Sekua)

J

October 11, 2010

What up? Let’s see what I can remember from the last week.  We were supposed to have a general TMT meeting at 5:30 am on Wednesday…I headed to town around 6 (they never start on time), saw Mawuli. “We having the meeting today?”  “Well many cannot make it. They say they need to go to farm to weed under their maize.  So I think we will not have it today.”  Awesome, glad I woke up an hour early.  “Do they realize I cannot do any work until we set TMT goals? So that means I’m gonna just be walking around the village talking to people and not doing anything to better the TMT.  Do they know that?” “Yes, they know.  When farming season is over, they will come to meetings. November, December they will start coming.”  Yippie.  In their defense, they had community workdays last week and they are building stairs down to the waterfall since the path has been eroded pretty badly…this was also a reason for missing the meeting…some were going to work on the stairs.  On Tuesday they had called for me and I walked up the mountain to where they were working.  They had hauled bags of cement up from the village, the women and men were hauling water and sand on their heads to mix with the cement.  Men were digging up and then splitting stone to make the stone and cement path.  It was a freaking hot day, too!  They work so hard.  I got there, greeted them, and immediately, “Boala, we made you a nice spot to sit. Go get away from the sun.”  They put a flat rock under some cassava plants and that’s where I planted my ass for an hour while I watched everybody work in the sun…weak yevu.

Wednesday I went to HoHoe and spent the night with a friend so I could get up early and catch the 6am tro to Koforidua (big bead market on Thursdays and I wanted to pick up some presents for the fam to ship home for Christmas).  I get to the tro station around 5:40am…the tro that reportedly fills up very quickly did not fill up until 9:15.  Awesome.  The tro was a POS.  I have stubby legs, but even my knees were smashed into the back of the bench in front of me…for 4 hours.  Plus, they had shoved a bunch of bags under my seat and the one in front of me, so I couldn’t even move my feet up or back…and I had to straddle my bag the whole way…and the seats had no cushion to them.  Am I done bitching? Nope! The tro kept overheating, so we had to stop and pour water in every hour or so.  On one of these fateful stops I had to pee.  I had on pants so there was no way to just stand on the side of the road and pee with a skirt; so I found a small bush area, I know the tro full of people could see through the bushes if they looked, but I didn’t really care…it was their lucky day, they got to see my sparkling white ass covered in purple bug bites! I finally got to the bead market almost 4 hours late (I was meeting a couple other PCV’s there…they were even later than me…like 2 hours later.  Gotta love Ghana travel.)  I spent 2 hours wandering around the market and bargaining…it was fun and I found a lot of cool stuff.  There were sooooo many beads and I was trying really hard not to get ripped off…I’m sure I did on some things, but overall I’m happy with what I got for the money and I had fun. (I would have taken a bunch of pics of the beads…but my good camera broke L)Approximately 4 hours after arriving, I headed back without going to the internet and stopped along the way to stay with Mike since I was delayed for so long and couldn’t make it back to the village that day.  It was weird being back in a Twi speaking area.  I kept speaking in Ewe or Sekua and then would have to switch to what I remembered from a couple months ago…in a matter of 1 day I had to use all 3 languages and it had me all confuzeled.  Also, on the way back I saw a ram standing on top of a moving tro…this place cracks me up.

Llast week I got TWO packages!  Anner and Marilyn hooked a sister up!!!  THANK YOU!!!!!!  Gum, chocolate, candy, pretzels, goldfish, pringles, tuna, canned chicken/ham, crystal light, beef jerky, chunky peanut butter, velveeta, shirts, pedicure stuff, soap, lotion, yarn, crochet stuff, sketching supplies, treats and flea collars for the cat, and pictures from peops at home and also some pics of what I’ve posted since I’ve been in Ghana. Getting packages is so awesome…it’s like Christmas…so exciting…it’s stuff that’s familiar…and it makes you miss home and the people who love you.  One bad thing about getting packages is dealing with the Ghana Post Office.  Apparently only one guy can hand out packages…only on Wednesday and Friday…only till 3…and he takes a 2, 2.5 hour lunch. 

While I gripe about these things…the post office, the crappy tros (not all of them are as bad as the above mentioned one), the meetings that never happen…it’s just gripe. It amazes me how little the inconvenience/inefficiency really matters to me here.  If I was 4 hours late to meet friends and stuff in the US I’d freak out!!!  Here, we all know it’s gonna happen more often than not; it sucks and messes up your “schedule”, but what are you gonna do? Nothing. Can’t change it, so why get upset?  Even when you can’t feel your legs or butt from the shitty tro, you don’t bitch or get pissy about it too much…there’s no alternative…deal with it.  Spend an hour and half hanging around the post office waiting for the package guy?  Chat up the ladies behind the counter so they get to know you; go grab some chop across the street and BS with the people there.  It’s easier to be laid back when there are no real expectations.  This is a fundamental difference from here and the US. I don’t think it just applies to the yevus or PCV’s; I kinda think that’s how this whole place works.  Which is probably one of the reasons it’s not more developed…but I don’t think the Ghanaians really care that it’s not developed, though.  I dunno…just some mutterings that have been floating around my head.

Today I met with Boss and we hiked the mountain. We hiked to the top, I swang on the stick swing for a while and then we headed back.  “Oh,Boala, let’s go to the Fulani and see if he has any milk for us.” Hell, yeah!!!  Fulani are people who keep cattle…I have seen the cows grazing on the mountain before…good looking cows…healthy, but I had never been to the Fulani’s cottage. So we hike up another peak to the cottage.  We get a bootleg water bottle full of milk!!! Sweet.  So you know how I’m a total domestic goddess, (LOL…see, I haven’t lost my sense of humor), today I made cheese!!!…on accident. I was trying to heat the milk (we have to, you can get parasites and tuberculosis, etc; and, yes, I made a makeshift double boiler) to get rid off all the funky, but apparently I heated it too much and it started to chunk up.  So I threw in some salt and started stirring.  I didn’t have any cheesecloth, but I did have some medical gauze, so I tripled that up and squeezed the cheese curds. Then I flattened it into lil’ discs and stuck them in the fridge.  I put the remaining skimmed milk in my coffee and oatmeal J  Tonight I fried the cheesel…YUMMY!!!!  I could still possibly end up sick as dog if I didn’t do it right…but chances are it’s worth it…it was really good. Also, today I started cutting out and HAND sewing a skirt.  I’m like a Little House on the Prairie Martha Stewart these days.  I’ll post pics of the skirt once it’s done…unless it turns out completely wonky.

J

October 13, 2010

So far, still not sick from the cheese and yesterday I finished my skirt!!!  It looks pretty good; I’m happy with it.  Next I will try a longer piecey-piecey skirt I guess.  I started with a knee length one since I’m doing it by hand…takes a while. But, all I have is time here J.

So funny story I forgot to tell you. Sunday before church, Boss came up to me, “Remember I told you I had good news and would need your help?” “Yup, I haven’t seen you around lately; I was wondering when I’d find out the good news.” “Well, my sister’s daughter has received a ring.” (not his real sister, but a good friend)  “She is getting married?” “Yes, over in ******” I forget the name of the village; it starts with an “A” and is about 1.5 hours away.  “Oh, congratulations!” “Yes. And there have been many weddings in that village, but there has never been a white person to attend any of the weddings.  And my sister knows that I work with the tourists, so she was hoping I could get a white person to come to the wedding.  I told her that we are having a white person live in Todome; and that you are very nice and are my friend and I would ask you if you would attend her daughter’s wedding.”  LOL. “So you want me to be the white person so that this wedding is different than all the others?” “Oh, yes, it would make my sister very happy.” LOL  “Ok, Boss. I will go; but you have to explain the Ghanaian wedding stuff to me first.  It’s not 3 days like the funerals is it?” “Oh, no, of course not!  It’s only 2 days.”  Awesome.  2 days of being the spectacle in an organized event of which I will not be able to understand a word and will only know one person.  He also said he was gonna ask Aki the JICA volunteer…if there were two yevus…holy moly!!!  So the wedding is gonna be in November or December; I have a Peace Corps meeting for a week or so in November, so we’ll see.

So today we were supposed to have our missed general TMT meeting, at 5:30 or 6 am.  So a lil’ before 6 I start to head out the door; and then decide to call the chairman and save a trip to town if the meeting was cancelled again.  “Fo Nicho, are we still having our meeting this morning.” “I have been at the roadside, and no one was there. I have sent for Boss to see where the others are.  I will call you and let you know if we will have it.” “Ok.”  10 minutes later my phone rings. “Boala, the secretary will not attend; Silencer and Hayford show’d up, but we cannot have a meeting without the secretary.  I think today you and I will go to him at school and see why he is not attending.  He must be there for the meetings.” “Ok, I’ll meet you at your house by 8 so we can go to him.”  So the secretary of the TMT is the 6^th grade teacher.  We go to school and he’s not there…he had to go to HoHoe.  Ok…my thought is who is teaching his class, but I don’t even entertain the idea of asking.  So I talk to Fo Nicho about the POW group and said that I wanted to see the shed that was built for them.  We also decide to try and set a meeting for Monday morning because I want them to decide if they want to work as a group…with a treasurer, work at the shed, keep track of what is sold, profits, bank account, etc…or just do their own thing…and I need Fo Nicho to translate for me.  If they do not work as an organized group, then I am not going to work with them on a regular basis and will try to find something else to put my energy in.  So, I go to Augusta’s house (the chairwoman) to see if they are having nuts to work with and also to try and get the meeting together.  Her and her son are there.  He speaks English well, so he helps me.  She said they are having nuts and that they will have a meeting and try to get together to work next Wednesday.  I told her that I want to have a meeting with the whole group and Fo Nicho so we can discuss the group organization…so please inform the women to meet on Monday at 6am.  She says ok and she’ll let me know by Sunday night if the women will be at the meeting.  Fine.

Her son (Sammy) starts telling me that I am doing very well at my Sekua and that sometimes the old people don’t respond because my tone is a little off (it’s a very tonal language). He says most people understand what I’m trying to say, but some people (like his mother) don’t recognize what I’m saying.  “Yeah, my tonal accents are off.  It’s hard for me to tell the difference, but I’ll keep trying.” “Yes. But they should understand you still. They need to try to hear you harder.  You are doing well; you are trying.  They need to try as well and they need to respond to you so you will keep learning.” Ok; we’ll see what we can do.  “Oh, even yesterday I see you. You try! I see you walking on the village road in the hot of the day…you were carrying a violet pail.  Oh!  Even some of the villagers complain about the heat…but you try!!”  Geeze. I had taken a break from sewing, walked to town to chop some fried sweet potatos (ntombo…learned that word yesterday) and pepe at the roadside.  Ma la ntombo (I like sweet potato).  Then I bought a pail to throw my vegetable scraps in, greeted some peops, and hobbled back home before the rain.  Damn my shining white skin; Sammy spotted me all the way from their house!   You can only see a small section of the road from there. He’s kind of a creeper.

Anyway. I met up with Fo Nicho in the afternoon to go to the palm oil shed.  It’s a very nice building with 3 rooms; 2 connect, but lock separate, and one is a completely separate entrance.  It even has electricity and a ceiling fan. So basically what I found out was that the shed was finished just before the last volunteer left; the women have never used it…ever!  It has been sitting there; there is an electric bill stuck there showing it has not been paid since it was hooked up.  “Why is there a bill if we don’t use the shed?” “I don’t know.  But there is a bill.”  An 87 cedi bill!!  “Who will pay?” “The women’s group (whose name is on the bill) don’t have the money; so the community will have to meet and decide.” “Oh! If there is a minimum monthly charge no matter how much electricity we use, we need to have the electricity shut off until we find a use for this building.” They are thinking of using the two connecting rooms for the school (Todome has a primary school); one room will be a library and the other for a computer lab.  Ok. “Do we have books for a library?”  “Yes, there are books we have received, but we do not have anywhere to put them. So they are in boxes in the school office.” Sitting there…doing no good. “Ok, so we can have the carpenters and wood people donate time and materials to build shelves for the library?” “Yes, we can do community labor work.” I wonder if the kids even have time to read…they go to school, help with the house, farm, siblings, etc.  “Well, we can work on that after we talk to the women’s group and then maybe I’ll start a book club or something.”  “That would be good.”  “And as far as the ICT…there are many things that must be done for that.” “Yes, there is a group who may be able to donate computers. We will have to write a proposal.” “Yes, Fo Nicho, but look at this building.  Lelabi wrote a proposal, got the money, the community built it and here it stands after one year…no one is using it!  Just because we can find someone to donate stuff does not mean that community needs it or can use it properly” He laughs.

This is the most frustrating aspect of development work (so far…to me…)!  The villages want anything that will be considered development even if they don’t know how to use it or it doesn’t make sense.  Things are donated and then wasted or not used efficiently.  Money and items are flowing to underdeveloped countries throughout the world; but that doesn’t mean they are the right things needed for SUSTAINABLE development.  It’s hard.  Like right now, I want to start working on something; I’m about to say F it and start getting things done…but that does no good.  That’s just me getting things accomplished; but once I’m gone….nothing.  Talking to Esther this week about the Water Sachet Group… “some of the women think that when Aki leaves in March the group will be finished and they all want to have a sewing machine.” “Well if the group wants to keep working I would like to work with you even after Aki leaves.  We can expand the products we make and the production and business skills the women have.” “Yes you will be with us; so we can keep going.” “Esther.  The women have the skills. There is nothing that Aki or I do that you all cannot do on your own.  You women can run this all by yourselves. That is the point of this group, so you guys have a way to make money on your own…long after we are gone.  You can have Fo Nicho drive you to drop purses at the shops and take you to the bank…the group can do it all.”

Back to the palm oil shed….The POW group doesn’t want to use the palm oil shed because it is too far (it’s below my house…across from the church).  “Did the women say this when this plot was decided for the shed?” “No.” “But now that it’s here they say it’s too far.  That is not acceptable. They are being lazy!  This was a waste of time and money. We will not do this again.”  Library books that have been donated…sitting in boxes.  You do not have to have a complete library in order to provide books to the kids!  AHHHHH.  Where do I start? How do I motivate?  My head feels crazy…it starts pouring rain, I sit under the eave and think in circles. The women do not want to use the shed; we can use it for a library; the books are sitting in boxes; do the kids have time to read; would a book club be a waste; computer lab; who would teach it; how would we afford all the voltage regulators etc; I am not writing proposals for them…the community can put that money up if we get computers donated; do primary school kids really need to learn computers here; if they go on to secondary school yes; if they do not go to secondary school they’ll just end up on the farm and never see a computer anyway…….

I don’t know.  It’s hard to decide where to start…what will be beneficial and sustainable; how to actually make a difference…not in a big, prolific way, but just in a way one person thinks.  To see real development in a person who “gets it.” That tangible things are not always the answer and that just because there are projects and they “look good on paper” does not mean that they are actually helping the community or the villagers’ livelihoods…and that is the very definition of successful development.

j