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!!