long time, no see

So, I’m in Africa, in Ghana to be precise, where I’m serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’ve been here since September 23rd. I came over in a group of 50 trainees. We had training in Accra, the capital city, for a week, and then went on individual trips to visit current volunteers, when I visited a volunteer in a tiny village near Lake Volta. After that, we were in Techiman, a city in central Ghana, for about 2 months for training. We stayed with families in villages around Techiman, and went into the city for training sessions on certain days. I stayed in Krobo, a village of a few thousand people. I lived with a Ghanaian family and they cooked my meals for me. In my family, I had a mother and father, 13 brothers and sisters, and who knows how many nieces and nephews. Thankfully, not all of these people live in the same house. In Krobo, there is occasional, sporadic electricity, and no running water. While there, I was like a member of my Ghanaian family. I took bucket baths, I hand washed all of my clothes, I went to farm with my family, I helped the women cook dinner, I helped the kids with their homework, and so on. It was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot about Ghanaian culture.

During training, I also went on a "field trip" to visit a current volunteer at his site for a week. I went with a group of about 10 trainees, and we visited a volunteer whose site is on the beach. It was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. I also went on some other short excursions during training, including a national park, a monkey sanctuary, a sacred monastery, botanical gardens, and a waterfall.

There have been some challenges, but overall, Ghana’s pretty cool. And, of course, when I say cool, I’m not referring to the temperature. In regards to the climate, it’s really rather hot, it being equatorial Africa and all. To be perfectly honest, it’s always, always really, really hot. But it’s amazingly beautiful. There are lush, green, rolling hills covered in beautiful tropical plants as far as the eye can see. And the beaches on the coast are beautiful too, gorgeous white sand and tons of palm trees. I often feel like I’m in a movie that is set in Africa, like the Lion King. There are lots of cool animals here too. There are elephants, lions, wildebeests, antelope, hippos, hyenas, vultures, monkeys, and others. And there are far too many insects, which is one of the challenges. There are ants anywhere there is food of any kind, and it is seemingly impossible to keep them out. And during the dry season, there are also ants anywhere there is water, so it is essentially impossible avoid ants. The other day I saw a bunch of ants carrying an entire, rather large, bird somewhere- impressive teamwork, I must say. And you never see dead bugs anywhere, because as soon as the bugs die, the ants carry them off. Although the ants leave the wings behind, so I often find wings lying around on the floor. I briefly visited the rainforest, which has some of the most beautiful and bizarre looking bugs and plants I’ve ever seen. Of course, there were also cockroaches and spiders that were each around 6 inches long. Thankfully, I don’t live in the rainforest.

One of the most challenging parts of living in Ghana has been dealing with the cultural differences. Here, it is not at all rude to shout out "OBRUNI," which means "white person," whenever you see a white person. So, every single time I leave my house, people shout "OBRUNI" at me, everywhere I go. They don't mean it as an insult, but there are very, very few white people here, and they want say "hi." But it gets very frustrating. It's the worst in the small villages, like where I lived during training. People who live in these tiny, isolated villages hardly ever see white people, so they gather around you in a crowd and follow you around, shouting "obruni" at you and asking where you're going. People here are really interested in white people, especially in where we are going. Everyone asks where I'm going. People driving by in cars or on motorcycles, everyone I pass on the street, people in shops. But it's really kind of humorous. Like when I'm trying to talk on my cell phone, and a crowd of people gather around me, just staring at me-I have to just laugh and realize the hilarity of the situation. I try to be understanding, and compassionate too. Most of these people are illiterate and live in extreme poverty. The poverty here is really shocking. A report by the UN said that outside of major cities, 80% of Ghana's population lives in extreme poverty. In villages, most people live in thatch huts or cinder block houses, and they are almost all farmers. They have almost no possessions, only one or two sets of clothing, a mat to sleep on, and usually that's about it. There are certainly lots of people living in poverty in the cities too, just not quite as many.

My site is Koforidua, which is the capital of the Eastern Region of Ghana. It’s a beautiful city, about an hour inland from the coast, in a hilly area at the foot of the mountains. All of the hills are covered in beautiful tropical vegetation, and the climate is much cooler than in northern Ghana. I’ve been assigned to work with a NGO (non-governmental organization) for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) and orphans and vulnerable children, for whom one or both parents have died of AIDS. It’s a really great organization and I think they do really important work. They provide counseling for PLWHAs, pay for their hospital visits and medications, including antiretroviral drugs, give them food supplements, help them find ways of generating income, train them and help them find jobs, arrange socialization meetings and events so that the PLWHAs can interact with each other, and assist them with any other needs they might have. My NGO also works with orphans and pays their school fees, provides them with books, uniforms, shoes, and other necessities, and makes sure they are well cared for. Also, we do outreach programs to educate people about HIV/AIDS, how it’s transmitted, how to prevent becoming infected, how to make wise choices, and we also encourage people not to stigmatize and discriminate against PLWHAs. We go to schools, churches, community meetings, businesses and so on. I do many things at the organization, but my main role is to act like a consultant. I’m helping them organize their offices, keep better records, apply for more funding, find more and better ways to assist the PLWHAs and orphans, and grow and improve as an organization. I’m expanding the educational outreach programs and working in partnership with other NGOs in the area. I’m also visiting the PLWHAs and orphans in their homes and trying to find out their needs, and ways of meeting those needs. I’ll be giving talks on nutrition and health at PLWHA meetings, and working in schools in my area too. I’ll also be working at the hospitals in my area, educating and training the staff about caring for PLWHAs. So, all in all, I’m really busy. Later.