So much to do

I last posted about the negative emotions being spewed around the country. Since that time, I have had some incredible days. Cheri came to visit on St. Patrick's Day. She and Daria (another Water and Sanitation volunteer) didn't arrive in Accra until nearly 10pm. They had traveled for 13 hours yet had enough energy to hit Accra for a mini Irish celebration. The following day Cheri, Daria, Travis and I wandered around Accra in order to find cold smoothies, salads and other unattainable meals for our northern friends.

Excess excitement in Accra put us behind schedule and Cheri got to see the stressed side of my personality. When I was playing "guest," I was incredibly relaxed and just went with the flow. When I had to add several steps to the plan, I was a bit less flexible. Everything worked out but it was fun for Cheri to see my non-happy go lucky side.

Once in Bormase, Cheri and I had a great time. We relaxed for one evening, enjoyed great Ghanaian cuisine, toured farmland and made beads. My neighbor Patrick was cooperative enough to set up all necessary ingredients for bead making. One afternoon, we pounded clay and used a carved piece of wood to make the appropriate shape for each style of bead we were planning to make. The following day, Cheri and I went to Patrick's house at 9am and were ready to work. Patrick had already spent a day and a half pounding the glass into a fine powder we had the easy part of the process ahead of us. Patrick, Lizzy (Patrick's 6 year old daughter), Cheri and I then cut palm stalks into small pieces and added them to each bead shaped hole. The head of the kiln will burn each palm stalk quickly but will allow enough time for the beads to take shape. Once the molds were properly set, we added dye to the ground glass and observed while Patrick filled each mold with the requested color. By noon, 15 molds were filled with colored glass powder and ready for the kiln. One hour later, Cheri and I watched as Patrick shaped and smoothed the hot glass. Once it had cooled, our four person group put the beads on sections of wire, added wet sand to a cement floor and rolled the strands of beads along the rough surface until they were sufficiently smooth.

At 2pm, the four of us were doing our best to make bracelets out of the beads we had made. I hope the pictures help. I can't take enough time to explain how amazing the process was. Each bracelet sells for roughly one Ghana cedi (one dollar).

With beautiful bracelets packed away, Cheri and I traveled 2 hours to Kpong for a day in the water. We met up with Travis and Daria and enjoyed some time swimming and hanging out in the sun. In the past 6 months, Cheri and Daria had only been under water on one occasion. It's amazing to think of what we get used to. I shortened the fun by rushing back to Travis' site for my fantasy baseball draft. The internet connection was poor and I ended up having a less than stellar draft but I appreciated the fact that my friends were willing to indulge me.


The four of us traveled 4 hours north with Kua pacing back and forth across our laps. We spent a night in Kumasi before trekking two hours south for a day or paragliding. The experience was unbelievable. Depending on the time of day, one can stay in the air for 5 minutes or 30 minutes.


Paragliders depend upon thermals to propel them higher into the air and extend their flights. I was lucky enough to get assigned to an adventurous Belgian man named Olivier. He wasn't particularly talkative from the start but we had an amazing flight and spent a full 30 minutes airborn. Some other volunteers were threatenend by a storm and had to make a straight descent in 5 minutes but nobody sounded disappointed with the experience. I absolutely loved it!!


The following day, Cheri and Daria left Kumasi for their respective sites and Travis and I checked in for In Service Training. We met up with the 10 other remaining Environment volunteers for a few days of training. Many of us had spent more time apart than we've ever spent together. We knew each other for 3 months before we went to site, it has been 4 months since we parted ways yet we were all very excited to see one another.

Over the four day training, we learned, complained, reminisced and ATE!! None of us appreciated the meals provided during initial training but the same meals seemed like four coursers after 4 months of fufu, banku and tz (t zed).

7 of us stayed behind at the Kumasi sub-office for a day and are BBQing chicken and relaxing before returning to our respective sites. I have had a great time but I'm lacking sleep and I miss my site and my books.

Love to all!!

How would you deal with...

...having children stand at your window all day repeating your name? What would you do if local NGO officials "chopped" or stole money that has been donated to help flood victims? How many animals would you have to hit while traveling before becoming desensitized?

Over the past 2 weeks, I've been lucky enough to run into several fellow volunteers. It has been several months since I've seen many of them and unfortunately, on two occasions, I was saying goodbye to members of the group. We've now had 10 of our 48 Omnibus group leave Ghana. One is serving in South Africa but the other nine have decided that Peace Corps Ghana is not for them. It's tough to see people leaving country 6 months after arriving with such great energy and enthusiasm. Volunteers deal with such strange emotions and situations on a daily basis that it becomes hard to recognize what's "normal" and what's odd. In Service Training starts today so I'll get some good stories from my fellow Environment volunteers and truly hope that everyone is managing alright.

I still love it hear but it's hard to see people so drained so quickly.

I'll have other stories soon. Great experiences and conversations have been strewn in amongst the sad stories but I'll save those for next time.

Love to all.

Green again

It's amazing what a few days of rain will do. After nearly 3 months of hot, dusty days, Bormase is finally getting rain. The sky is clearer, the trees are greener and the air is much cleaner. When living in the bush, it's amazing to see the change that can be made by only a few days of rain. Trees were covered in dust and thirsty for any water. Now, the dust has been washed away and everything is brilliantly green and alive again.

When waking up on a cold morning in SF, a hot shower would sometimes be the highlight of what may have otherwise been just another day. A few days ago, I was taking my bucket bath outside with an incredible view above me. The sky was so clear that I could see more stars than you can imagine. While the sky was cloudless above me, I was also watching a violent electrical storm a few miles to my right. Much better than a warm shower!

Now that the rain has come, people around Bormase are rushing to clear land and get crops in the ground. I helped plant Cassave the other day. Cassava grows under ground like a potato but also has a tall thin stick of a tree above ground (you like the farm jargon I've picked up). What's amazing about Cassava is that we simply cut down Cassava trees, cut then into 8-10 inch sticks and stuck the sticks in the ground. Within a week they will germinate and in a year, each one will be ready for harvest. Amazing!!



This week, my new Moringa seeds are germinating at nearly 100% (the only two that haven't come up were those that I uncovered to check. Impatience!!). 2 acres are being cleared and the large scale Moringa nursery will be underway soon!!

Happy Independence Day!!

March 6 2008 makrs 51 years of Independence in Ghana. Ghana is 51 while the San Francisco Giants have been in San Francisco for 50 years. Looking at it that way makes 51 years seem a lot shorter. Either way, people here are very excited and as election talk is heating up in the US and in Ghana, things seem to be going well (could have been better in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island).

Last week I had my first visitor in Bormase. Lauren came to see my site before going back to America. She has been working at an eye clinic in Tema for over two months but had not been to see any small rural villages such as the one in which I live.

Once again, it was great to see my new world through a fresh set of eyes. As a guest, Lauren was free to take hundreds of pictures, play with children, ask and answer questions and absorb as much as possible. Having her at my site made me realize how much I've been protecting my daily life and my daily routine. I have avoided taking too many photos because I don't want to go around with flashy technology while I'm explaining that I can't give anyone money. Seeing Lauren's photos made me realize the degree to which I've already adapted to my surroundings. Many amazing sites surround me on a daily basis but now that I see them every day, I might not even think to take a picture before I leave. I'm very excited to see the finished product from Lauren's visit.

While she was in Bormase, we walked to the JSS in Sekesua for a 12:45pm meeting. It turned out that they school was conducting mock exams and neglected to tell me so we walked from noon to two in some incredible heat. Though we didn't sit down with the students, I was able to show Lauren the school and explain what I'm trying to do there. That afternoon, Lauren took photos while I went to soccer practice. I've been playing with the local team and I love it!! I'm made myself a striker so I don't push it too hard on my knee and I can walk around when I'm winded but I absolutely love playing. We start at 3pm and as more players trickle in, we go from shooting on goal to small sided games to a full sided game. The field has at least 4 5'x5' rocks in the grass and is sloped to such a degree that by sheer physics, two thirds of the game is played on one side of the field. Players range in age from under ten to late twenties. Until seeing Lauren's pictures I didn't realize how much I stick out. I'm at least a head taller than every player on the field and about a million shades whiter!! After Lauren left, I played in my first match. I'll tell you that lining up at midfield across from 15 strong African farmers is very intimidating. Our team played the Sekesua team and though each team had jerseys, some played with cleats while others wore no shoes. It started to rain at half time so I had to gracefully duck out of the competition but I managed to score our only goal and quiet Sekesua's hecklers. There were over 100 spectators and since the game, I've gotten such warm greetings around town. Very fun!!

Back to Lauren's visit. On Saturday morning, she and I went to my neighbor Patrick's house. Patrick is a farmer/bead maker and was kind enough to show us the whole process of bead making. He showed us the rock on which he lays panes of glass and old bottles. He showed us the heavy metal pole that he uses to grind the glass. He showed us the kiln in which he makes the beads (a chicken laid eggs inside the kiln while Patrick was out of town so his bead making has to take a back seat during the 21 day incubation period). After the tour, Lauren and I sat down with Patrick and his 6 year old daugher Lizzy to make bracelets. This is another activity that I have managed to omit from my weekly schedule for fear that I'll set an expectation that I'll come by every week. I've been too protective of my schedule for fear that I'll over commit myself and end up disappointing people. Now that I've sat down with Patick, I'm sure I'll work with him more often.

I showed Lauren my Moringa trees, the hourly egg collecting process, our communal meal routine and of course I got to show her exactly how much time is left over for reading.

This visit was a great learning experience for everyone involved. Lauren talked to many people about her work at the eye clinic and stressed the importance of getting your eyes checked (the new National Health Insurance Scheme provides free check ups for 10 Ghana Cedis per person per year). I learned a lot about my own routines and about my apprehensions at site. Lauren got to see what I consider the real Ghana. Tema is incredibly impoverished and clearly needs help but roughly 80% of Ghanaians survive to some degree via agricultural work and a visit to Ghana wouldn't be complete without seeing a rural village.

Love to all,

"O ba ma," means "come in time," in Krobo.