Administrative separation

Within hours of writing my PIP blog entry, I received a call from our Safety and Security Officer asking me why I had been out of the country without permission. In addition to unapproved vacation time, Danny was talking about the travel that I did at night while out of the country. Burkina Faso suggests that volunteers do not travel from region to region at night because there have been "incidents" in the past.

I assured Danny that I had turned in the appropriate forms and that I had not made any unnecessary trips at night while in the north. Sammy was traveling so I wasn't able to confirm that I had turned in my vacation request form and had given verbal notice to Sammy well before leaving my site.

Concerned about the situation, I called Bob (Country Director) to ask what was going on and how this had come up so long after the fact. Bob told me that the Burkina Faso Medical Officers reported that PCVs in Ghana had contacted them about receiving a ride while traveling in Burkina at night. Bob assured me that people have been "admin sep'ed" for less and that it was a serious situation. I was surprisingly concerned for somebody who had not done anything wrong. I told Bob that I was traveling with Cheri and Gray and that the three of us had all turned in our forms when necessary. Upon hearing this, Bob told me that he hadn't received Cheri's form either and that if both us us had traveled without permission, it was DEFINITELY a big deal. Again, I was concerned despite having full knowledge that neither of us had done anything wrong.

I forwarded Bob all old e-mails that I had sent to admin. regarding the vacation but wasn't able to find anything official. I texted Sammy but he was unreachable by phone and I had to go back to site with a big question mark hanging over my head. I called Bob one last time before leaving Koforidua and learned that Cheri's form had in fact been turned in but that mine was missing. I told him that I was planning a trip to Accra Sunday (yesterday) and would make sure to speak with him Monday morning. I then left the land of internet and phone reception and returned to site.

After a somewhat restless night sleep, I woke the the usual commotion of my site. Dorothy, Eva, Augustina and Maku were all yelling and causing a stir at 6am. On this particular morning, the commotion was a bit different from normal so I went outside to see what was happening. Back near the chicken pens, the four girls joined a male neighbor of ours in swinging the longest implements available at a huge black snake!!! By the time I arrived, the snake had been knocked from the tree and was writhing around on the ground while being pummeled from all angles. The snakes head had been bashed and broken so the animal no longer posed a threat but stole the need for any morning caffeine. I was AWAKE!! The snake was about 7 feet long and black with a yellow bellow. I used a stick to poke and prod at the snake so I could get a good look at it and see it's true size. Though this snake could easily have killed any of us, I still felt sorry for it as it offered logy resistance to my manipulation of it's body (I think it was dead but still had some nerve activity). I took a picture and will add visual aid to this entry as soon as I can.

Emmanuel came out and cut the head off the snake so that he could bury body separate from head to ensure that it wouldn't come back. Why was I worried about confusion with paperwork when I was living amongst deadly vipers? Ghana always manages to put things in perspective for me and I'm very grateful for that.

A breakfast of groundnut paste and honey on bread washed down by a hot cup of Moringa tea brought my day back towards normal routine and my Friday continued. I managed to get a hold of Sammy and he assured me that he'd have somebody check his mailbox for my missing paperwork.

On Sunday morning, while traveling to Accra, I got a call from Bob telling me that my paperwork had shown up on Saturday and everything was fine. It somehow didn't make me feel much better that I had to call somebody in order to get paperwork processed six weeks after I had turned it in but at least I was in the clear.

I'm now in Accra picking up St. Ignatius football uniforms for the Bormase team and also wishing my best to Erica (our eleventh to leave and one of the best people currently in Ghana) before she leaves for home. I'm sad to see her leave but I can tell that it's the best move for her.

I'll be back to site today and then in Kumasi for 10 days (consecutive meetings).

Love to all.
Ira