Poem: Rainstorm

Rainstorm

June 7, 2010

Africa, Africa, open your mouth,
Heavens smile your praises down.

The majestic offering has been made,
The sweat and blood have been shed.

The spirits have come with grace in their eyes,
Satisfied with the sacrifices made.

The blessing begins to pour forth,
Violently beautiful; powerful and rich.

The blood of the land begins to flow,
Over the brittle bones of life.
Celestial kings demand their due,
Pounding their staffs with deafening blows.
Trees wave their starving arms,
Dancing for the gift from the heavens.

The sky is on fire, flashing its power,
Children of the land cry in fear.

Men and women dance as the trees,
Thankful for the life that is bestowed upon them.
The fields drink the nectar with a deathly thirst,
Months of wanting have left them hungry.
The animals sigh their relief,
As they too receive this breath of life.

Now all is still; cool and right,
The design of life fulfilled once more.
JR

Vision Quest

Hello,
4 days ago we left the comfort of our initial training sight (which I dubbed the refugee camp, due to all of our clothes spread all over the place) and went in pairs of two to spend 4 days with a current volunteer.  Nivole and I took trotros to the Nkwanta in the Volta region (East side) to visit Vanessa, a current business volunteer. We had 2 tros to catch and total ride time of about 8.5 hours. Tros are small buses that fit 15 people...they are fun :) Whilest waiting for your tro to fill up (takes around 1 hour to find 15 people to go to the place you are trying to go) men and women walk around with stuff on their heads to sell; aka mobile Walmart. Items are: boiled eggs, toothpaste, neck ties, juice, sachet of water, dried fish, kitchen towels, bread, noodle pies, flashlights, etc.  Oh, and my fav, roasted ground nuts, aka peanuts!

We arrived in Nkwanta in pouring rain and met Vanessa. We then had to catch a taxi to her village of Kue; about 1200 people.  This is a hour taxi ride down a dirt road where you dodge goats...it's amazing that they usually don't get hit...i was scared for the goats (they are sooo cute!!). Our taxi was the most jankity thing I have ever seen that still runs...Nivole was scared to death and lovingly called it the "Death Trap." And yes we had to bucket water from the trunk and hot wire it; we made it; these are the things that make this fun.  Also, we got called Obruni (foreigner/aka white person) for the first time at the taxi stand in Nkwanta...funny thing is, is Nivole is black; they cannot understand how she can not speak Twi or Ewe or any other tribal language.  It's hilarious; and Nivole handles it very well.  And before I forget another great racial hilarity:  One of our trainers told us "they will try to take advantage of you because you are colored."  I have never been colored before, I guess it is about time!  A good saying, "Where you is, is what you are!"

Vanessa's village sits at the base of the mountains that separate Ghana and Togo.  It's a gorgeous region!  Her village is full of mud brick huts with either thatch or tin roofs.  There is no electricity or running water; toilet is hole in the ground.  She has a pet kitty named, Kwami; he is cute!  We met the chief, went to the school, hiked up a mt/hill, and hiked to the river.  Huge rainstorm under the tin roof was deafening!  She bought us our first 2 yards (2 yards of fabric that you can wrap as a skirt/dress/towel/sheet) and made us grilled CHEESE sandwiches with Velveeta she had received from home...who is the best PCV in the world...Vanessa is!!! :)
We then tro'd to HoHoi to meet up with some other volunteers. Scott is working at a deaf school and has worked with the kids to produce lil change purses out of the water sachets that litter the ground. This is  a great project and the kids are making money so he can show them how to run a business; start a bank account, etc. They are also learning kente and making bottle cap earrings to sell.  There are a lot of details I'm leaving out b/c of time; main point...inspriring.  We then went to an orphanage where Opie (another volunteer) put a girl he found in his village. Her name is Lee. Lee's parents died and her grandparents thought she was a witch, so quit feeding her and taking care of her. Opie found her, fed her, got her medical stuff done so she could go to a nice orphanage.  He has been going and visiting her for over a year!  The kids were awesome!!!!  We had so much fun. I played "down by the banks, where the bullfrogs jump....." and all kinds of good stuff. I also taught a couple of the girls "forehead, eyewinker, nose dropper, moutheater..." (only my family will understand that) and they loved it!!  They also told me that you can clean silver jewelry (they liked my necklace with all the charms on it) with tomatoes...so try that.

Soo...now we are traveling to our new training site. I am at a super fancy, nice internet place in Korifudua; so don't think you'll get a long post like this usually.  All of these pics are from Vanessa's village. I will possibly add more to facebook.  I can't find my cord to upload the pics from the orphanage....i will in few weeks hopefully.

peace and love,
j

Holla from Ghana

Hi!

Ghana is great, hot!  We are going to the ambassador's tonight; tomorrow we each venture off to stay w/ a volunteer. Had my first thunderstorm in Africa last night...epic!!!!  Just a short note to say I'm here and not to expect anything for a while.  Not easy to get to a computer for the next couple weeks.

Love ya!!
j

Staging, then shipping out.

Hi. We had training in Philly today. I got to meet the other 71 volunteers in my group; everyone seems like a lot of fun!  Also, note; Flyers are playin the Hawks tonight in Philly...just sayin....GO HAWKS!
We only got one shot today: yellow fever, the rest will come once we get to Ghana. We get bussed to JFK tomorrow and ship out in the evening. 

I'm really glad all the goodbyes are over. It was really hard in the airport saying goodbye to the family. You know me; I don't like to cry in front of people. I've decided that's a bad thing because I spent all day in the airports trying not to lose it for no apparent reason. But anyway...now it's been all hello's and that's such a better feeling!

Well I'll update you guys once I get access in Ghana.

See you on the other side :)  
j

Going Away Party

Yesterday was the going away party; thank you all so much for coming!!  Good food, good people, good times.  I'm gonna attempt to add a pic here. This is the quilt my family made for me; it has pics of the whole family on it, including all our animals...my kitties that I had to leave with a friend in Texas.  I miss my kitties.

Anyway, 2 days left....

j

Updated email for Ghana

Hi Guys,

Been awhile. Jamaica was excellent and I just got back today from a weekend in Chicago visiting family and friends.  I'll be flying to Philly on June 1st for staging...a lil' over one week!  I'm getting excited, sad and a bit crazy with all the stuff I still need to do.  Oh well, it shall be done.

I've started a new email while I'm in Ghana; apparently gmail loads faster than hotmail, sooooo..

jeannar11@gmail.com

will be the address I'll be checking the most while in Ghana.

Hope you all are well.  Hit me up on my normal cell phone # if you wanna talk before I leave on the 1st.
j

Test post to facebook

Hi All,

Quick update; I've moved back to Missouri to spend time with the family before I leave with PC. May 8-15 my best friend and I are going to Jamaica for some R&R :)
This is just a test blog to see if I can link it to facebook.
j