My Ghanain Experience Thus Far...
Mood:  a-ok
Hello All,

So I've been here in Ghana for about a month now and I know you all want detailed info. on my experience thus far, so here it is:

Training: We have just completed week 5 of our 10-week training. Basically, it's like going to school. We start at 8am and end around 5pm. The goal of traning is that by the end -Nov. 27th- we should have a working knowledge of our site language (I'll talk about that a little later), gain technical skills in our respective sectors - in my case it's in health education- as well as know the ins and outs of Ghanaian Culture. So far, we've learned community entry skills- before anyone can enter a village to stay for an extended period of time, they must first seek permission from the chief and explain to him their mission and purpose for coming to the community. But you can't talk directly to the chief, you must talk to him through the linguist. In reality the chiefs already know we are coming and why b/c they have requested for us to come, but it's just formality to greet the cheif first. We've also learned about the Ghanaian community , as well as Ghanaian history, economy and culture. As part of training, there is the cross-cultural aspect of training through host families.

Host Family: My host family is cool. They are: Philomena (mother, 54); Faustina (sister, 26); Rita (sister, 18); Edward (brother, 16); Merfia (niece, 12); (4-year old-grandson); and Prince (7-month old grandson). They treat me very well. I feel like I've known them for longer than the 4 weeks I've been living with them. Mama Philo., Rita, and Edward know good English and I know a little bit of Twi (one of the dominant Ghanaian languages) so that is how we are able to communicate. I live in a compound, which is like a courtyard. This is where everything takes place - cooking, socializing, meeting and greeting people. The rooms of the house surround the courtyard kind of like an open motel except it's formed into a square with the middle open. My host family works very hard - in terms of physical labor. They are farmers and most of the work is done manually. So clothes are hand washed several times a week, cooking is done using charcoal that has to be hit together to make smaller pieces of charcoal and then they fan it so that the other coals can heat up the pot that is cooking the food. It's intense. Then there's making fu fu. Fu fu takes a lot of work to make. In short, you pound boiled cassava and plantain in a thing that looks like a pestle and mortar, except the pestle is a tree bark that mashes the plantain and cassava into a dough-like consistency. It takes two people to make it - the pounder and the turner. They both work together with a rhythm that they both must be in tuned to or else the turner will get their fingers smashed by the pounder. I've taken pictures, so when I'm able to load them you will see what I'm talking about. They let me turn the fu fu and I'm ALMOST a pro, lol. I'll be a pro by the end of home stay (Nov. 27th).

Food: Ok, food! I'm still getting used to Ghanaian food. Ya'll know how much I love to eat, but that has changed since I've been here. Instead of eating for enjoyment of the taste, now I just eat to survive, lol. Plus here it's too hot to eat until your belly is full full full. But maybe that will change with time. Basically I've eaten a lot of rice , stew, and fried chicken. But so far I've also tasted fu fu, I didn't like it. It's like eating dough. You can't chew it you have to swallow it, and that's hard for me to accept mentally right now, lol. I've also tried banku, which is fermented corn and something else. Didn't like that one either, lol. But maybe the food will grow on me with time. I do like the friend plantains though, lol, but that's b/c that's what I'm used to eating at home and in the Caribbean, lol. I also like this food called Kosey. It's beans, corn flour and spices fried up. It's kind of like a hush puppy. Very good! More on food in another entry. I'm still alive so that's a good thing, lol.

People: Ok, my experience with Ghanaians so far is that they are very friendly, but at the same time they can be slick. As for being friendly, Ghanaians will go out of their way to help you when you need it - like when you can't cook, or if you need directions, etc. They go out of their way to accommodate you. An example of this is when we were given an assignment during the first 5 days of training to find our way around Accra - the capital city - by ourselves and find certain things. Well of course we had no idea where we were going b/c this was our first time in Accra so we had to depend on the Ghanaians to help us get around. But one Ghanaian woman was very friendly when we asked her where could we find a live chicken in this huge market (the market is kind of like a flea market with lts of stands and merchandise, except it's more cluttered). This woman went out of her way to walk us about a mile to find the live chicken. So in general, they are very friendly and helpful. But also Ghanaians can be slick, b/c we don't know the prices of things and they think Americans are rich, they ack up the prices. I can understand their reason for doing it, but it's just annoying sometimes trying to bargain things down.

Weather: Yes you guess it, it's hoooot!!! The crazy part is that this is the cooler season. Right now it's the high 80's but the sun here buuuurns, lol. In the morning time it's cool and cloudy so it fells good, but the noon sun is hot. Sometimes I feel like a chicken on a grill, lol. Ok, not that hot but you get the picture. So right now I can't complain, when nit starts getting hotter I'll write more on this subject.

Transportation: Crazy!!!!! This is where reminds me of the Dominican Republic. First of all, people here can drive around with cracked windshields. Sometimes the taxis and tro tro (public transpo) don't have interior padding on the doors, sometimes the window handles are missing, basically they're death traps, lol. But don't worry, I feel safe in a way b/c they pack the cars with so many people and I never sit on th end or in the front seat so if there were an accident, the other people's bodies would protect me, lol. Driving in itself. On a two-way road with one lane going and , if the driver behind you thinks you're too slow, they will pass you in the middle lane. So basically a two-lane road becomes a three-way, lol. It's crazy but it works for , and Dr too.

My site: Ok, so I found out that I will be living in the Upper West Region ( look at the map on the About section of my website). Right now all I know is that I will be working with a nutritional center, an orphanage, and working with a group of people living with HIV/AIDS. My job says that I will be working with the center to address the malnutrition in youth and pregnant women, working with the orphanage and the group of people living with HIV/AIDS, and helping to create awareness on HIV/AIDS. But once I get to site at the end of Nov., I will know for sure what I will be doing exactly. They tell me that I'll be living in a self-contained house with a living room, kitchen, bathroom with flushing toilet and tub (no pit latrine, yeah!!), and bedroom. They also said Iw ill have electricity too! So you are all welcome to come to and visit me.

Ok, that's all for now. If you all want to know anything specific or something I've left out here, just e-mail me and I'll write you personally.

Bye bye
PS, Sorry for any misspellings, etc. I pay for internet by the minute here and try not to spend too much money rereading stuff, lol. Forgive me.

I'm here in Ghana alive!!!
Mood:  cool
Hey hey hey,

I know everyone has been waiting to hear from me. I arrived in Ghana on Sept. 17th and am now in training. Things are going good. It's definitely a change of pace but things are good. We all will be in training until mid Nov. and then sent to our own community to work in health related programs. As of yet, I do not know where exactly I will be. We just had site interviews and they will try to match us best with our preferred site.

Right now in training, I'm staying with a host family. They are very cool. I have a host mom, grandmother, three sisters, one brother, and a nephew named Prince. He is sooo cute. We spend a lot of time together sitting in the compound chillin' and doing things together. Since I've been here, some of the things I've done are:

- Take cold showers
- bucket baths (my host sister warms the water for me, lol. Ya'll'll know I hate anything cold)
- I've fetched water from a borehole
- I've walked home with a bucket of water on my head (Yes it was very heavy and my 12 year old sister does it every single day and makes at least 3 trips)
-I take my host nephew on walks on my back, yeah like a true Ghanaian , lol
-I've help them make fu fu and I've also tasted it. (Didn't like it too much, it's like eating dough and oil, lol)
- I wear skirts almost everyday (it keeps me cooler)
- I know how to greet in Twi :0)
- No jewelry or long finger nails for me.

So those are some of the things I've done thus far. I'm sure there are many more to come. As for the scenery, it's very beautiful. It's sooo green and pretty, lots of palm trees grass, and green stuff. Lol. It's very relaxing when you're traveling. It's like a story book driving past miles and miles of mountains and trees. I hear the north is more Savannah-like- flat and dusty. Right now I'm in the south. My friend Sobechi is in the north so if I get placed in the south, I can still go visit her and see what it's like up there. Sobechi came all the way down to Accra to see me when I got here. I was sooo happy to see her. She's doing great!

Ok, I think that's all for now. Let me know if you all have any questions and I will try to address them in the next posting. So e-mail me!

-Nneka

I made it to Ghana
Mood:  spacey
Heeeeyyyyy,

I finally made it to Ghana last Friday. This place looks like any place in the Caribbean. So far we've been at a University (I can't disclose the location b/c of security purposes) and getting used to the place. We've also learned a couple of Twi phrases. Today we went on an Accra quest searching for certain things and I had to go to the Makola Market. The only word I have for that place is CRAZYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! The good thing is people here speak English so we asked around and got to where we needed to go. People were walking around with any and everything you can think of -onions, cloths, jewelry, chicken, radios, batteries, flip flops. It's crazy. But It was fun getting around on our own and finding our way back. Tomorrow we are going to officially enter training.

So back to how we got here. We left on Thursday night and got into Accra on Friday of last week. We stopped in Amsterdam. That was a nice place- cold but nice. Everyone has a bicycle, the roads are paved with bricks like in the colonial times and again, it was freezing.

Ok, I am exhausted right now from running all around the city and then I have an hour ride back to the University.

I will write again soon.

-Nneka

Staging/Orientation
Mood:  a-ok
Hello Everyone,

I have made it here to Philadelphia and am in staging/orientation. It's been very fun meeting all these new people and it's comforting to know that we are all in the same boat. So far we've talked about safety issues, risks, handling our projects, and so forth. Tomorrow we are getting our shots and then we're off to Ghana. Our group is about 31 people, and five of us are black, so of course we all kind of gravitated towards each other and hang out.

It's really exciting but yesterday, it was a very stressful and difficult day. First, I only got about 2 1/2 hrs of sleep, I got up around 6:30 am and finished packing and ran some errands. Then my mom, dad, and Grandmother went to the airport and we were all balling like babies, yes, including me!!! It was very difficult and emotional leaving them. They have and always will be so supportive.

Well, that's all for now. Sorry this is so short but I only have 15 minutes on line.

Thanks to everyone for their support and I'll keep in touch. And you can too, so write me!!!!!!

-Peanut

Introduction and Goals
Mood:  bright
Hello All,
Welcome to my page! This page is to provide insight into my two-year stint in the West African country of Ghana! Here you will find my experiences and pictures as I begin the unknown journey to the motherland.

All that is known at this point is that I will be arriving in Ghana on Sept. 17th. I will be in Accra for training for about a week and then off for training for two months in either the North or South of the country (we'll find out when we get there). During those first few days in Ghana, they will assign me a community where I will be working in the area of community development in the specific area of health/water and sanitation. In one week, I will be learning the dominant language in Ghana- Twi, which belongs to the Ashanti, the dominant ethnic group in he country. And depending on where I will be in country, I may have to learn another language spoken in that region/community.

I am soo excited to start this new chapter in my life- a chapter that is open to all sorts of possibilities - new friendships, new way of thinking, and definitely a new way of living. It is possible that I won't have electricity and running water, but I'm looking forward to enjoying and appreciating the basic and simple things in life - sharing, caring, and togetherness. (These things seem to be lost in the hustle and bustle of the American way of life).

So far, my goals while in Ghana are to:

- Establish a womens/girls group to talk about female issues in my community

-Learn to balance a bucket on my head

-Speak Twi semi-fluently, and learn a fourth language if possible

- Completely immerse myself in the culture by participating in everyday and cultural events (funerals, cooking with local women, dancing, etc.)

- Learn to cook Ghanaian food

- Travel to an Animal Reserve Park or Sanctuary

- Travel neighboring countries

I am heading out of here on Sept 14th for staging (orientation) in Philadelphia for two days, then traveling to NY for a two day flight and well end up in Accra, Ghana on Sept. 17th.

Wish me luck and please keep in touch!!