Moringa Forest

Life is plodding along here for us.  I'm always amazed by how fast time flies here.  Our market day is on every 6th day, so it makes are weeks appear shorter than usual.  We're staying busy and having a grand ol' time with things.

 Earlier in June, JB, 8 students, and I planted 300 moringa seeds (cool tree look it up) into water sachets.  Out of those 300, we have about 120 alive and kicking, well not literally kicking since they're trees.  Many died due to weeds, non-viable seeds, lack of sunlight from the growth of their neighbors, and probably because JB and I have never planted so many seeds before.  We've been keeping our little seedlings in our garden to protect them from goats, but they've been getting pretty big, so transplanting them has become necessary.  This week we worked with the agriculture students at our school to dig a bunch of holes and to build a fence around an area at our school.  So we can create a moringa forest!!  So far so good.  All trees were finally planted this morning after a week's worth of preparation.  Hopefully our 120 trees survive!  Pictures will be coming soon, since I know you're all dying to look at this massive forest of trees that we've created.

Teaching is in full swing now and school is totally up and running.  Which means there's no more sleeping in till 7 for us.  Students are up and sweeping early in the morning, teachers are turning on loud radios to jam to as they brush their teeth, and the goats, sheep, chickens, guinea fowls, and monkeys are, as always, awake by sunrise.  I've reviewed my final exam from last term with my classes and was both shocked and depressed.  Some classes knew the answers as we were reviewing the test, and yet left the majority of the questions on the test blank when they took it.  The other classes just gave me blank stares as if I didn't spend months before teaching them something.  They has already stopped thinking about it.  I guess that's the same in the US, I know I immediately stopped thinking about a subject once the test was over for a few classes.  So I can't hold these students to be any different.

I had a 5 little kids come running up to me today as I was walking from class.  They were all wearing the uniforms for the near by kindergarten and primary school.  I've taught them all about "high-5's", so they all wanted one.  The littlest girl gave the hardest slap, it was pretty funny.  And then they wanted me to look at their homework grades because they were so proud of them.  It was awesome.  It made my day.  

Change is Slow, except with weather

It seems like life here is slow moving. Things just happen in their own time. Buses rarely leave on time. Traveling takes a long time. There are benches everywhere, since it's assumed that there's always something that you'll be waiting for. The one thing that isn't slow is change in weather.

The sky was sunny yesterday, the sun was hot, and rain seemed to be no where to be seen. I could hear the distant thunder and it sounded pretty big. Those long drawn out thunders, none of this thunder clap business. This is more of a stone echoing in a well type of thunder. And it sounded big, but the sky was clear and there were no clouds on the horizon. So we judged that it was safe to walk to town to get supplies.

Now, I like to think that I'm well adjusted to the heat here. But maybe during this rainy season I've gone soft, because I was dying in the heat yesterday. I must have forgotten what the hot season is going to feel like or maybe I've just gotten used to not sweating constantly. The sun yesterday was brutal, the type where I wish I could try and actually fry an egg on the ground. So we did our rounds in the market, greeting our friends, talking with the ladies, buying our few supplies to last us 2-3 days until we make the trek back to town again.

We were feeling like a good meal, so we went to the cold store to see if there was any chicken available. Of course, Mohammed wasn't at his store. Seems like he rarely is, he just likes to keep the door open to tempt us to walk over there. A new cold store opened in town that was pass by if we walk the longer way home, so we figured we'd give that store a chance. All the while, the sun is still brutal and I'm debating if walking in the sun is worth getting chicken....it was.

By the time we make it junction that holds the cold store and the turn off to our house (about 10 mins) the sky has become a giant yin-yang sign. On our right side are massive thunder clouds and on our left a clear sunny day. The clouds had yet to block the sun, so even though there was an imminent threat of a downpour, I could probably still fry an egg on the ground.

Half way down the turn off to our house, the down pour starts, just 5 mins into the walk. How does it go from over 100 to pouring cold rain? By the time we knew it was going to rain, we also knew that we wouldn't make the walk back to our house dry. It was still an enjoyable walk (and maybe even more so) home in the rain.

First day of school....kind of

Remember when you had your first day of school. That whole week in preparation, buying new supplies, getting new clothes and then debated what would be the best thing to wear for the first day of school, getting excited to meet up with all your friends again, and just that excitement for one more year of friends and fun. Well here it's a bit different.

School was suppose to start last Wed. This is the date that the Ghana Gov't decides and then tells all the high schools, so everyone knows that this is when school starts. However, since we're a boarding school (and this might be true with non-boarding schools), no one wants to travel all the way here for 3 days of school just to go back home for the weekend. So the remedy for this unfortunate timing? No one comes! No students, no teachers...no one. And really who can blame them I guess. It's like a predetermined agreement. In fact there was so little school preparation that I totally forgot that school was suppose to start until Friday when I realized that no one was here and our school bell rang, so in truth there were a few students that actually came, but they all live in town and aren't boarders.

Well, I was expecting a bunch of teachers and students to be arriving this weekend, since I figured school would start today...I mean it's Monday! I got about a 30% turn out rate for teachers and I haven't even bothered to count the students. Although JB and I got a few students that came to our door this weekend to greet us and let us know they were back. Which was very nice of them. :) So today's the day when school starts...right?

Well....not really. Today's the day when students clean the campus. So no one really wants to come for this and most students (if not all) know that this is going to happen, so many don't show up for the first week either, cause what's the point. And since the teachers know that this first week (but in truth should be the second) is pretty much a bust, they don't want to show up either. So our compound will be quiet for another week. Most students don't want to clean the campus (and who can blame them), so an activity that should take a day since we have about 1000 students and the campus really isn't that big, truly takes the whole week to complete. Sigh...I guess school starts next week?

In truth it's really quite effective in it's strange kind of way. Everyone (besides us) understands all these unsaid, unwritten agreements. So these first few weeks of school function pretty smoothly. It's like slowly easing into the new year of school, as if jumping right in might be too much of a shock to the system. For me it's pretty relaxing, since I don't worry if school doesn't start. I figure that someone will come tell me when classes actually start and then I'll start going to class. I can't really prepare notes until I talk to the classes and see how far their previous year took them. So I'm just calmly waiting, reading some good books, and enjoying the rains. There's none of that anxiety of a new school year that you get in the States. This is a very calming way to start. Interesting how that is.

50th celebration

So I'm truly and utterly bad about updating. Ugh, sorry-o.

Peace Corps has just had it's 50th birthday and we celebrated here in it's birthplace! So it was very fun. The new PCV's swore in on Aug 30 and most of the current PCV's went down to Accra for the event. It was great to see all the people who live far away and meet all the newbies. I think there was a CBS special that showed some of my friends in their villages. I haven't seen it, but Emily's site (in the Northern Region) is similar to ours to if you watched it, maybe you can now picture some of how we live. :)

When we first came to Ghana, we were nervous about all the new changes, the new environment, the new people, the new everything. Ghana was a place far from home and it was hard to imagine that Ghana could become a home. Now, when I travel I can't wait to come 'home' to Zabzugu; where our stuff is, where people know us, where I know people and the language, and where I finally get to sleep with my pillow. It's always good to come home here now, although traveling to get here is a major pain.

Two pieces of advice were given to us when we got here by other PCVs. First give yourself 12 days to go back to the US if you're really unhappy, but you'll probably only need 12 hours. That was definitely true. I don't think I've ever needed more than a night's sleep before I realize how much I love it here. Things that make me mad or upset are short lived and not worth quitting. Secondly I was told that the second year flies by and you'll be super busy. I didn't believe that one since my first year here seemed to go by crazy fast, but here we are just beginning our second year and I already have a bunch of projects lined up to do and things that need to get done. I think this year is going to fly by and then we'll be back in the states. Crazy to think about!

Well I'm not feeling particularly poetic or linguistic at the moment, so I'll keep this post short. I just wanted to put a post before one month passed me by. :) I'm trying.

Long Time, So Sorry!

Hey everyone,

It's been forever since I last wrote and I'm terribly sorry. It's a combo of internet prices got funny here for a while, nothing seemed exciting in my life, and my habitual lack of communicating with people. So I'm going to give it another go of trying to keep people posted. I just read "Dear Exile" about some Peace Corps correspondence and it made me realize that I don't have to have epic things to write about, but just my daily life here is so different (and sometimes incredibly similar) to life back in the States. So it's re-energized me to write again. And I've had a few "are you guys dead?" emails, so I'm trying again.

As a fast re-cap, we've now been in Ghana for over one year and have about a year left. For our vacation JB and I went to Spain to visit with Pepe and Emilio who were so amazingly welcoming, warm, and fun. It was great to visit with them and I will always cherish our memories there! A huge Thank You to everyone in Spain! Unfortunately JB was allergic to spain and I got really sick (but no Ghana sick) while there, so there were some days just spent relaxing.

After Spain, Dad came to visit us which was very fun and stressful at the same time. It was a Murphy's Law type of visit. I am so proud and happy that Dad came to visit though. He took all the challenges like a Champ, yet still knew his limits which is a good thing. We had a great visit and it's always wonderful to see family! JB had STARS during Dad's visit, which is a week long camp for Secondary School students. JB took two of his brightest students down for the camp and had a great time. There's photos of some of the fun times they had!

I've been teaching Chemistry to the 2nd year students here. It's been both rewarding and stressful for me. I've inherited the classes mid way through the term, so it's difficult to know what material the students have covered and to have them get use to my teaching style. During our final exams I learned just how much they either don't understand me, chemistry, or just plain don't care. So far my pass rate is incredibly low (we're talking 3 out of 70 students getting above a 40%...YIKES) Hopefully next year will show better results! I'm not sure my soul can take more failing tests....sigh.

We're both doing really well here now though. We hardly get sick anymore, which I think is a combo of know what is safe to eat and just having a much better immune system to handle all diseases. We have our routine down pretty well. Life is going well. I can't believe that we're already half way through. I'll keep you all posted (hopefully).

Pot of gold!

Well actually it's honey, but it's golden in color! So the fear of the bees, which has prevented me from running on my favorite path has some benefits, as does living in a compound house. Many things in our compound are communal. We all watch each others backs and share when we can. It's a nice set up. If the water is running, people make sure that everyone knows so we can fill up our buckets. If there's something good to watch or listen to, people make sure that everyone is invited. Somethings aren't so good, such as when someone decides to wake up at 5, we all do, because of the need for radio at 5am. Or if people want to stay up late, we all do, because the walls are thin and people sit outside windows to chat. I've really just worked on perfecting the art of sleeping through anything, so far it's going well. ;)

Definitely the pros out weigh the cons, and one such pro happens to be honey! One of the teachers decided to harvest (is that the correct word) the honey from the bee hive attached to the back of our compound (I avoid that corner like the plague). So after many bee stings he got a bucket of honey, which he then just shared with everyone in the compound. One of our friends and fellow teachers knocked on our door one night so we could join in the honey bounty. Everyone brought a bottle to fill with honey and we socialized around the honey pot, even our monkeys joined in the fun. It's really amazing and definitely is a reminder that I'm not in the U.S. anymore. When would anyone in an apartment complex share anything with the whole place without any compensation? Never! I guess people do bring in baked goods maybe to work sometimes, but cookies don't sting you. I'm just absolutely amazed, not to mention happy with honey.

The school term here is coming to a close, although a bit vaguely. No one is really sure when it's ending, just that it's happening soon. Kind of hard to plan a lesson when you don't know how many weeks you have left. What's also strange for me is that the seniors here end school a term early. So instead of having another term with them before their big exam, I only have a few weeks. So JB and I are planning for very different final exams. He only has a term final and I have a cumulative final...eek! These past few weeks I've had a very low turn out of students to my classes and I've talked with a few other teachers about this. However today they finally told me it's because for the last month of classes, I have to create a new schedule with the students for when they want class and to make sure that I'm not conflicting with other classes that got a new schedule. I'm not really sure why they mess up the scheduling, but I definitely have not been confirming in advance when I'm going to be teaching. My students probably thing I"m crazy just showing up like I use to. Ha! Oh Ghana! You're making my life hard and I'm not sure why.

We miss you all state side!!

Running with bees

Four days a week I go for a run on this trail behind our compound. One of the things I love about this trail is that it's usually very unpopulated so I don't feel like I'm the center of attention while I'm running. Usually it's a very nice run; the weather is not hot yet (I run at 6am), the scenery is wonderful, the air smells nice, and it's very calming to just run. Today however was very different. There were more people in the fields, which still isn't very bad since I just wave to them as I run past. Towards the end of the first mile I ran past a tree, only to feel a sting on my back near my shoulders, then through the music of my ipod I hear the buzzing and another sting! A swarm of angry bees!!!! So then I start to scream and run faster, trying to get someone to help me. Although the men in the field can't understand my hysteric screams and just wave at me like I"m crazy. So I sprint down the path with a swarm of bees around my head screaming like a crazy person. If only there was a lake or some body of water to jump in, oh right, I'm in Ghana, in the Northern region during dry season, crap. Eventually after about a quarter mile sprint there were only a few bees still attacking and I got a man from a field to come beat me with a cloth to get rid of them. I definitely could have gone through life without that experience. At least I'm not allergic to bee stings! (cause I probably wouldn't have made it back to my compound to get a shot in time) After the bees left me alone, some man came up to me to tell me that this morning they were smoking the bees in that tree. Who knows why, but he told me I shouldn't run this path for the next few days. Aye Aye capt. No worries there, I believe I'm going to find me a new running path. Ugh.

Travels and Damba

I have had my first experience with needing to go to Accra for medical reasons. Nothing too major, I had a somewhat exposed nerve on a tooth, that had potential for infection. So I got that cleared up ASAP! The dentist in Accra was very sweet and nice. Although definitely a different experience from US dentists. I was in and out in about 30 mins, had very little say about what was to happen, and no pain meds or warning about "discomfort". I had the front of the tooth sealed with who knows what and was told that it might sting a bit...oh boy did it sting!! But I guess it was a good thing the visit was short, because I'm not sure if I could have taken much more of the "stinging". ouch! But all is good now and hopefully this seal thing lasts for a long time.

After going to Accra, I met up with the Gender, Youth, and Development (GYD) group in Kumasi. Kumasi always freaks me out because it's so big. I'm definitely use to small towns and get pretty stressed out when needing to travel to Kumasi or Accra. But I prefer Accra over Kumasi. It's just too big and too unorganized, I'm also so lost when I'm there. So I mainly stayed at the Kumasi Sub Office (KSO). I had a blast with the other members of GYD and I think this next year we'll be able to accomplish a lot and I hope to be pretty involved in the GYD activities.

As it happens the Damba festival was taking place after my GYD meeting, so I was able to participate in it. Damba is the biggest festival in the Northern region, taking place over the course of 3-4 days with all day activities and dancing all night. There are two major Damba Festivals, one for the Gonjas and one for the Dagombas. Although I live in Dagomba land, the Damba festival started out as a Gonja thing, and so typically is the biggest in the Gonja lands. (the Gonja and Dagombas are the two biggest tribes in the Northern Region) So this year I participated in the Gonja festival, next year I'll go to the Dagomba one.

Damba started out as a Gonja tribal festival and when Islam was introduced, the religion was incorporated into it. Damba mainly celebrates the birth of Mohammed. After the Dagombas were established as a tribe in Ghana, they also celebrated Damba since they are the other major Muslim tribe. Much like Fire Festival, depending on where you are and who you ask, the histories of the festival and the purposes or events seem to vary, so what I know might be different from what other people were told about the Festival.

The day before the beginning of the Festival, all of the surrounding sub chiefs from the five gates (kind of like districts) arrive and greet the Paramount Chief (the high chief of all the Gonjas, sometimes called the Gonja King). So the chiefs of the five gates and all of their sub chiefs (it's like a tiered system), will line up in a procession and walk through town to the palace and greet the paramount chief. All of the following days, the chiefs of the five gates will stay in their homes (or the homes where they're staying for the Damba festival, since they actually live in other villages), and the lower chiefs and dignitaries will walk through the town and greet each of the sub chiefs every morning. Pretty confusing stuff, filled with lots of rules and etiquette. On this day, we greeted the paramount chief. Since he's the King, we bow all the way to the ground, with the men leaning to the left and the women leaning to the right, so show our respect.

The second day was filled with football (soccer for us crazy Americans) matches from all the different Gonja towns. There was also suppose to be a bike race (although they had no bikes, so that didn't happen), a Tug-o-Peace (because we should make peace not war....however, that never seemed to happen and I was very bummed, because it sounded awesome!), and wrestling, which also did not occur, but would have been fun to watch. But there was lots of football matches. We went to a Pito (pronounced pee-toe) bar around lunch time. Pito bars are marked by a jug on a stick outside someones house, so they're not like Spots (what Ghanaians call bars), where it's actually a place of business with signs, and different drinks, and perhaps some food. Pito bars are in someone's courtyard and only are open when it's available, hence the jug on a stick outside. So we just walked through neighborhoods until we saw one.

In the afternoon, there was the first major Damba event (well first one that actually happened as scheduled), which was the Sorting of the Rice. Everyone gathered at the Chief's Palace, where there was plenty of dancing as the different processions arrived. After everyone had arrived, the dignitaries sat down on prayer-mats around the chief and everyone else just stood. A lady with rice came around and gave about a handful to the dignitaries. And the Linguist (the speaker for the chief) went about the opening prayers and remarks. Groups of people were presented to the chief to show respect. I don't speak Gonja, so I'm not really sure what all was happening during this time, but it involved a lot of talking. Afterwards, dancing lines started up and the people began to disperse. Nothing ever really happened with the rice, so I'm kind of confused as to its purpose, but oh well. After a break for dinner, there was a singing and dance competition. Which at first I thought would be like Village Idol or something. Nope, not at all. All of the participant I saw where 50 or older and did the very traditional songs and dances. It was pretty awesome. Around 2 am, we left to go to sleep, but the competition was to last until morning, crazy!

The next morning between 5am and 8am was suppose to be the sacrificing of the Bull. We decided that it probably would happen closer to 8, so there was no reason to wake up at 5 and boy am I happy we did that. The sacrifice actually took place at 10:30...hahah! Yeah Ghanaian time! But there was some dancing that started up around 9. I didn't stay for the 3rd day, since I needed to get back to Tamale, but I heard that it was suppose to be a lot of talking, which I don't understand, so I'm not too sad. All in all, Damba was a lot of fun and very informative.

Lights out? Use a stick!

Our power went out last night, something that recently hasn't been happening. However upon inspection, only our compound and a few houses to the West had lost power, with all of the classrooms still retaining power. Kind of a bummer seeing other people with power and us without. So the great minds of our fellow teachers got together to devise a plan. What is this plan you ask? Well, lets get a desk, then put a stool on top of it so that we can fiddle with the wires supplying the power to the compound. Luckily the man selected to stand on this wonderfully safe contraption had wonderful balance. There are four power supply lines that connect to the compound from the power pole outside the building. This man went about checking to see if there was electricity in any of those lines and started undoing then crossing the wires attempting to get power, I believe he was trying to take the power from a neighboring building. When 20 mins of this didn't result in power, a new plan was put into action. The power pole outside the compound has connector pieces for the wires, I have no idea what they're actually called, probably something like transistors or capacitors, who knows, they're the cone like things you see connecting wires to poles. Well this guy took a huge long stick and start to hit these connectors, causing sparks and all sorts of "probably bad news" things to happen. And what do you know, we got power. HA! Who'd have thought that hitting a cable with a stick would restore power.

In other news, I've started teaching Chemistry to the Form 4 (seniors) at our high school. What's nice is that I'm only teaching 2 classes, with a total of 45 students, so it's not too much extra work for me. However, I never realized how much time is spent doing lesson plans...I give props to all those actual teachers out there...that's some hard work! Oh course, I'm sure that you're text book is actually factually correct, so you don't have to double check everything and that'd save me a ton of time. What's interesting to note is that JB is teaching 500 students spread out over 8 classes in Form 2. Not only is his student load way higher than mine, but he also has students that just don't want to be in school. The 45 students I have are the ones that made it out of those 500, they're the very devoted ones. So JB deals with a lot more students who don't care or pay attention. My students are active in asking questions, they want extra classes, and are very willing to learn. It's been great. The problems that I'm running into are dealing with this horrid textbook and limited supplies, but I'm making due. Luckily I have the internet to help supplement my lessons.

New photos should be up this weekend, so keep an eye out for them. The majority of them are from a baby weighing that I go to every Friday. Instead of going to clinics or having check-up appointments for babies, here we just have baby weighing days. Every friday women will come to the old, old hospital (mainly it's just two rooms with a court yard) to have their babies weighed and receive vaccines if they're due. This helps to catch babies who are failing to gain weight and need extra nutrition. Today we have 5 babies requiring Plumpy Nut and some mothers in need a bit more education. These Fridays the women also receive a general health talk, today was on Malaria and Breast Cancer. One of the big highlights I believe for these mothers is just being able to relax with some friends for a few hours. Women here wake up at 4am in order to start cooking breakfast and getting the kids ready for school which usually starts around 6:30-7am. Then they're busy all day cooking, cleaning, going to farm, some work in the market, and other various work. Baby weighing is when they only have to deal with one child and they don't have to deal with any extra stress of the day. It's nice to see these women laugh and joke with each other. I think it's a great way to end the week!

The New Year

Well the new year has come bringing with it all sorts of opportunities for change and growth. It seems like New Years Day just happened, and yet it's already the end of the month. Crazy! I guess I better get on the ball with stuff or my life will fly past me. Looking back on this past year has helped me to realize that amazing people that I have in my life as well as all the great adventures that have presented themselves. I truly want to thank our family and friends for the wonderful support and love you have always given us. I know that I'm horrible at keeping in touch, which I think also means that I don't give thanks enough to the people in my life. I'm sorry for that, I'll try and get better, although I feel like I always say that. Here they tell us behavior change is slow, so please bear with me.

We've been here in Ghana for about 8 months and I feel like I don't have much to report on the "saving the world" aspect of this job I think people are expecting. Projects here are sometimes hard to pin point, usually it's between what people want, what people probably really need, and what's actually possible to combine those two things. So it takes a lot of talking and observing to get a feel for things. There are small things that happen everyday, whether it's JB teaching his classes or me going to do assessments, things are happening. However both of us want to get in one of those "big" things during our stay here in Zabzugu and that'll hopefully (it better!) happen this upcoming year. We're at a slight disadvantage I feel like with other volunteers in that we don't have other PCV neighbors close by that we can work on a project with. To do the big camps for kids many volunteers are needed and many communities with active volunteers need to have plenty of prep time. The 5-day soccer camp I helped out at had 12 volunteers helping and that was only for about 60-70 kids. So with JB and I....sadly it's just us. But we'll think of some good things!

We just got back from a few days in Tamale. It was nice to spend some time with our friends, eating good food and just relaxing. It's funny how some days in Zabzugu I feel like I've accomplished nothing, yet I'm definitely not totally relaxed. Here, I truly am on the job 24/7, whereas in Tamale I don't know anyone besides other PCVs so it's way easier to just let my guard down. We got our flu shots, so while I might get malaria and dysentery, I'm safe from the flu! Whoo-hoo! We were able to get our monthly stock up on some American-ish stuff such as ketchup, soy sauce, and laughing cow cheese. I have made good enough friends with a veggie lady there, so I now am dashed (given extra) and came away with probably more veggies than we can eat before they go bad. So we'll be very healthy these upcoming days!

Well I wanted to do an update...sorry if it's a bit rambly. I'll make a more organized post soon! Another one of my new years resolutions is to update more frequently, so keep your eyes open, I'll try not to disappoint!