Time

I want to share a few excerpts from Ryszard Kapuscinski’s The Shadow of the Sun since his writing is so wonderfully descriptive and keenly observed. The first few chapters in the book are from his time in Ghana in 1958. From the chapter The Road to Kumasi:

We climb into the bus and sit down. At this point there is a risk of culture clash, of collision and conflict. It will undoubtedly occur if the passenger is a foreigner who doesn’t know Africa. Someone like that will start looking around, squirming, inquiring, “When will the bus leave?”

“What do you mean, when?” the astonished driver will reply. “It will leave when we find enough people to fill it up.”

The European (and American) and the African have an entirely different concept of time. In the European worldview, time exists outside man, exists objectively, and has measurable and linear characteristics.

For Africans, it is a much looser concept, more open, elastic, subjective. It is man who influences time, its shape, and rhythm. It is a subservient, passive essence, and, most importantly, one dependent on man.

The absolute opposite of time as it is understood in the European worldview.
In practical terms, this means that if you go to a village where a meeting is scheduled for the afternoon but find no one at the appointed spot, asking, “When will the meeting take place”” makes no sense. You know the answer: “It will take place when people come.”

Oasis

I spent Friday night with the other Upper East Volunteers at a place called Tongo Oasis just outside of Bolga. There are 13 of us now since the newly sworn-in NRM volunteers had 6 placed in our region. Tongo Oasis is an amazing place. It’s owned by 2 former Peace Corps volunteers who don’t come around that much but have left it in the more than capable hands of Ghanaians. They have cute, posh mud hut accommodations available but only to volunteers. The Tongo Hills are close so the scenery is quite picturesque. There is also a house with a common room that we used. The cook was taught how to make Mexican food so we enjoyed guinea fowl burritos and brownies for dinner. It was great meeting all the newbies even though I probably won’t see that much of them since they’re all near Bolga and I don’t go there very often. It was also fun to catch up with the other volunteers as well and we all hung out up on the roof of the house at night. Saturday we had our Volunteer Action Committee meeting where we discuss all things related to being a volunteer. Then a group of stayed an extra night at a volunteer’s house at the nearby school for the deaf. It’s always fun to see other people’s sites and hers especially since there were 6 kittens to play with, tons of students to meet, sign language names to share, and a chill time to be had in her nice setup.

I did a lot of waiting to get back home Sunday even though I thought I left with plenty of time. I finally arrived by 6 in the evening just in time to talk to the family back home and eat some dinner before going to watch the Ghana Black Stars play Tunisia in the quarterfinals. So instead of Superbowl Sunday for me it was (Africa Cup of Nations) Quarterfinal Sunday. When I arrived the match was tied at 1-1 and the half was approaching. The second half was at times exciting but since nobody scored the game went into overtime. Some of the players got overly aggressive and got yellow & red cards in overtime since so much was at stake. I don’t enjoy seeing people play dirty like that though. Anyway when Ghana scored in overtime much celebration was had by all. This included some of my male students picking up the bench they were sitting on and running around with it which scared me so much because they were not at all watching where they were going so my maternal instincts feared they were going to take someone out. At one point one of the guys was even riding on top of the bench as they ran around with it. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the chaos as much as everyone else. Ghana ended up winning 2-1 at the end of overtime to proceed to the semifinals where they’ll face Zambia tomorrow.
Right now we’re still in harmattan but it’s moving toward the hot season.

Yesterday’s weather was super hazy, quite windy and dusty. We didn’t see the sun all day long so by the afternoon I was really sleepy. It was like those days back home that are so overcast that they just weight you down and all you want to do is nap. Last night the weather was rather chilly (low 70s) so I froze while bathing and got to wear pj pants. I keep telling myself to enjoy these cool moments because pretty soon the heat is going to be blazing. It’s been getting up to the low 90s during the days recently but from what I hear the temperature will continue to climb next month.

I want to end by sharing this photo of one my favorite students Linda from my form 1class. I know I’m not supposed to have favorites but I do. Thanks to an awesome librarian I know, my students have some new books to read in our school library (or bookshelf rather). Linda has been coming almost daily recently to get a new book. She reads a lot which is somewhat rare here so I think we’ve bonded over that. I took this picture of her taking a book about a Ghanaian footballer since she also plays football and is really good. In honor of Charles Dickens' 200th birthday (thanks google for that info), I'm off to start watching Little Dorrit until bedtime.

Day on the Farm

Today I returned to my village from Tumu in the Upper West region where I attended a two-day volunteer led training on dry season gardening. I left notes and class exercises for my students while I was out. I was interesting in going since there are a couple of dams in my community which could be used to do dry season gardening and help with food security. Feed the Future/Food Security Initiative is the big Peace Corps topic this year and was discussed at our Education training as well. During Buli language, our trainer PP discussed how during harvest time the food is plenty so people eat three meals a day then only two once dry season comes and food isn’t as plentiful and finally only one towards the end of dry season right before the rains come again when food is scarce. Although this is yet to happen it’s stayed at the back of my mind as harmattan ends and dry (also hot) season approaches.

Sunday was a long travel day since the bus leaving Bolga for Tumu was a few hours late leaving. But since I had a good book called The Shadow of the Sun to keep me company while waiting I was ok. The book is written by a journalist who spent time all over Africa starting with Ghana in 1957 on the cusp of independence. It has some great quotes which I will probably post on here from time to time. The training was great because after a few hours into the classroom session on Monday morning I’d already learned a lot about dry season gardening and types of irrigation (manual, surface, and drip). Then we headed out into the field to visit two PlanGhana dams used for dry season gardening by the communities. They both used manual irrigation so it was clear that it was quite labor intensive and perhaps not worth it depending on the pay off. We stayed at the SILDEP Guesthouse in Tumu and a new volunteer is working with the women’s group there on the miracle plant moringa, making soap and other products. I bought some soap, seeds to grow my own moringa, and some moringa & lemon grass tea. The Swiss woman who runs the guesthouse knows how to cater to Westerners so we enjoyed some amazing food including homemade papaya jam, pancakes, papaya pie, brownies with nuts, fresh juice, spaghetti Bolognese, and northern fufu with chicken light soup.

The training group was small- about 10 volunteers and some local farmers- so it great catching up with people I trained with but hadn’t seen in a while plus meet new people too. Yesterday was the installation day for the drip irrigation system (from a kit) which was procured using grant money. In the morning we had a session on different design considerations then went to the volunteer’s site Kupulima very close to the Burkina Faso border. The land had already been cleared, leveled, and measured out so our work occurred in three phases. First we used hoes and shovels to prepare the land. Next we laid out the drip lines, connect them to the main line, and connected the main line to the reservoir. Everything went very smoothly, except for a dead mouse blocking the flow of water, but this was quickly resolved and thankfully didn’t mess up anything. It was exciting to see the water flow through the entire system since it was a sort of experiment and they weren’t sure the water would be enough for the whole area. Finally we planted a few snap pea seeds and some cucumber seedling before calling it a successful day. We even finished early and most of us walked away feeling like we could install a similar system. I found the hands on part of the training to be extremely effective. The main idea I walked away with was to start small so I’d like to plan a small garden and manually water it this month. Happy February and Groundhog Day by the way! I want to tell one of my classes about our crazy ‘holiday’ tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes. This weekend I’m heading to Bolga again this time for a volunteer’s meeting on Saturday. I will finally be able to pick up some packages I have waiting on me plus meet the all (I’ve met 3) of the new volunteers that came in December.

O Madam!

A few stories from my village last week- one funny the other fascinating. On Saturday morning I watched Gulliver’s Travels with some of my girls. Watching movies with them is always a riot because of the comments they make. For example, at the beginning of the movie there were all these shots of NYC and my student Sarah said ‘O your place is niiiice-o madam!’ After we finished watching that movie they were waiting for a Saturday class to start with another teacher so begged to see my I Love my Life video and also ‘Choose Your Partner’ and Group dances we did at our swearing in. A few had seen these dances before but one who had not exclaimed ‘O madam you can dance!’ Then my student Gifty decided I should teach them the southern Ghanaian dances. In the middle of this, Abigail walks in to see me teaching them the dance and asks ‘O madam is this one of your dances?’ I was cracking up about teaching a southern Ghanaian dance to northern Ghanaians plus me teaching anyone to dance period! I guess my role as a cultural ambassador encompasses people within Ghana as well.

Saturday evening I was going out to walk and ran into my friend Chris and his friend Joe who is a local cobbler. Earlier in the week I’d stopped by his shop and commissioned him to make me a pair of black leather sandals. I liked a certain style but it was only in white so I asked him to make it in white. So that night he apologizes for not having had the time to make them yet and for disappointing me. Of course I said it was ok but asked why he was so busy. To which he told me his father passed away so they’d been busy with funeral preparation and had buried him that afternoon. They were on the way to go to the funeral party so I accompanied them in order to greet the family. I pass their house almost daily on my walk to the dam. We greeted many different family members and I saw the burial site which was inside the compound and consisted of two mounds of dirt with some objects on top. Then we got out of there as fast as possible because all the men were bushed (drunk) making it a rather unpleasant scene for me especially. I asked Chris to explain traditional burial practices to me later and it was very interesting. Men are buried 3 days after they die and women 4 days in the same way they are named after being born. A traditional mat is used to carry the body to the circular holes which have been dug to construct a room of sorts. Once the burial rituals are performed, which includes pouring of libations among other practices, the person’s spirit joins the ancestors. This particular man worshipped a juik (an idol) given to him because he had both sons and daughters. The juik was the object I’d seen on top of the mounds and consists of dried bush rat skin. After some time, the burial site is then ‘cemented’ over and just becomes part of the compound’s floor. I’m sure I will learn more about other traditional practices the longer I live here.

Your Shirt in Africa

My biggest news this week is that I’ve started teaching maths again. I’m helping out in the form 2 class so the other teacher can focus on preparing the form 3 students for the upcoming Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in April. The students are pretty behind in both forms so it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed but all I can do is my best. We started a new topic on angles and I tried to make a joke about being careful about spelling the word correctly because if not angels aren’t really math related. A few students chuckled so I guess it was ok but humor doesn't always cross between cultures. At the end of the class on the different types, I had the students stand up and make acute, right, etc angles with their arms. They seemed to have fun with it and hopefully it will help them remember too.

I know I’ve posted about this before but recently I read an article about how donated clothes in America find their way to African markets to be sold (yes for a price). It was written by a journalist who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo and was pretty interesting. It definitely made me think about the shirts I see her in a new light but I still find amusement from all the different shirts I see. For example recently I saw an Atlanta ’96, got really excited and took a photo. When we first arrived in Ghana, a common rookie mistake by me and my fellow trainees was to try to strike up conversation with folks based on the team's hat or shirt they were wearing. We quickly learned that clothes here are worn for more practical purposes and not for frivolity. One of my students came by my house recently for me to look at an old (and I mean old) laptop- it’s a Toshiba T2150CDS and doesn’t have the normal QWERTY keyboard- wearing a shirt that read ‘I’m definitely up to something.’ So I asked her ‘Emelia, what are you up to? Your shirt says you’re up to something?’ She laughed and I explained to her that the expression usually means that you are doing something that is no good. By the way, if anyone has any knowledge about old computers let me know because I am supposed to be the expert here but as once we turned on the laptop the screen was just black and I have no idea what to do!

It’s been quite the football frenzy around town recently. There were matches being played in the field which is just behind my house Sunday and Monday so it gets pretty loud. I watched on Monday night with one of my students. Over the weekend the African Cup of Nations started and last night the Ghana Black Starts played in their first match and gamed (beat) Botswana. I walked over to the other teacher’s quarters to watch the match with a bunch of teachers and enjoyed watching the men passionately discuss football. It seemed the conversation got heated even though everyone was rooting for the same team!

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I had some of my students write things they like and dislike about the our school and I was amazed at how positive the responses were in general. There were a few similar themes in the items they saw needed improvement but overall they are happy with their school and education. It was eye opening for me to read their responses and realize that this school is all they know and this is normal for them. It's hard for me not to dwell on and get frustrated by all the problems I see here, especially with the education system. Later in the week I read this article about child slaves working on cocoa fields in Ivory Coast and how they perceive their lives as normal. It is telling and put Ghana's problems into perspective for me since Ivory Coast is a neighbor.


I’ve been making frequent social calls to a student’s house to check on the construction of a new mud hut in their compound. Joyce’s house is on the way to the dam where I like to walk in the evenings and her father and other family members are always yelling ‘Jam(Come!)” to me. Thankfully she’s usually around and can help translate when her dad inevitably starts telling me something in Buli I don’t understand. I’ve been a few times the past week or so to snap photos of the progress on the house and the last time I went he told me I should come every day. I told him I would try but that sometimes I might not be able to go. Maybe if I do go visit every day the baby won't be so terrified of me...

Where the Smile Lingers

Last week was our in-service training (IST) with our counterparts in Kumasi at the Wadoma Royale Hotel, which turned out to be owned by my headmaster’s relative from Gbedema funny enough. The slogan of the hotel is where the smile lingers. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it but do have other funny English-isms to share. My notebook I was given to take notes in during the training has photos of people playing football (soccer) and some inspirational wordage include ‘If our bodies are not strong, our spirit to do things will certainly be quite dull. And at the same time, we are lack of energy (ies) to study. Diseases will only attack the weak, but not the strong (really?!?).’ Also I did take a photo of a cigarette stand named Corruption which cracks me up and a food stall named STOMACH Has No Holiday (so true!). I want to do a blog post soon on Ghanaian English- I'm coming.

Back to the training…we had four days of sessions on topics including grant writing, secondary projects (especially concerning food security and HIV/AIDS), West African Examination Council (WAEC) exams given at the end of JHS and SHS, and some new Peace Corps initiatives. One of the best parts for me was just to sit down with other JHS to ‘share our experiences.’ It was helpful to realize that many people are facing similar challenges and it was great listening to solutions that worked to overcome these problems and also to brainstorm ideas too. Plus it was fun to see everyone again and be together as our Education training group once again and for the last time really. We’ll see each other in the future but not as a separate group.

School opened (began) last week when we were in training but teaching is slowly beginning this week. So now it’s time to get back in the rhythm of teaching before tackling all the ideas I have for the new year here! At times here redefining success is pretty essential. Like today I held 3 happy, smiling babies and I’d say that’s an accomplishment. First if people are trust you to hold their baby then that’s a good sign and secondly if the baby doesn’t cry from fright then hurrah. I hope everyone’s 2012 is getting off to a great start!

Newsletter Article

I wrote this piece back in November for a community newsletter where one of my aunt's lives so I thought I'd post it here- enjoy!

My quest to serve in Peace Corps started in July 2010. I wanted a career change from working as a supply chain software consultant and had the desire to help people. JFK’s mission to promote world peace and friendship by creating an agency resonated with me. After interviews, medical and legal review, and lots of waiting, I received an invitation to teach mathematics at the junior high school level in Ghana, West Africa for 27 months. After accepting, I embarked on my journey along in a group of 70 idealistic, excited trainees in June. I spent twelve weeks living with a Ghanaian family and being trained on teaching, language, culture, development work, and the education system. At the end of June, I found out I would be living in the rural village Gbedema in the Builsa district of the Upper East region. On August 30, I was sworn in as a Volunteer on the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps Ghana, the first country to receive volunteers.

The first goal of Peace Corps in order to accomplish the mission is helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. Since there is a shortage of trained teachers, I am the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) teacher at the public school in my village and hope to shape my students into future leaders. I teach in English about computers to three classes ranging from 50 to 80 students in the purely theoretical sense since the school does not currently have a lab. I hope to inspire at least one student to pursue a technology related career in the future. I am also the health madam and run a health club with a fellow teacher. We discuss health current events and topics that affect the students including personal hygiene; diseases such as malaria, TB and meningitis; and STIs including HIV/AIDS. Next month I am planning to incorporate HIV/AIDS education into my ICT lessons for World AIDS Day. In the near future we will be implementing a peer education program. I am enjoying my work here so far but look forward to seeing how my role in the community evolves over time.

Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served is the second goal of Peace Corps. Part of this mission is accomplished just by simply being: living with, working alongside, and ‘being free’ with the community members. Speaking the local language goes a long way to integrate into the community so I continue to develop my Buli skills. Of course I am just an individual American representing one facet of America. Although I mostly try to use Ghanaian examples in my classroom, I sometimes give mini-lessons on various aspects of American culture. One of my favorite topics to discuss thus far is holidays. I also share dishes such as vegetable gumbo, alfredo pasta, and pancakes with students and friends to give them a taste of America. Visitors to my house enjoying looking at my photos from home, especially the one I brought from a trip to DC of ‘Obama’s house.’ Recently I showed my older students photos of Atlanta on Wikipedia on my laptop while reinforcing our lessons on the internet. It is funny how often I find it difficult to explain certain elements of my culture. But I guess part of living in a new culture allows you to view your own culture through a different lens.
The third goal of Peace Corps is to promote a better understanding of other peoples (Ghanaians in my case) on the part of Americans. I know I will fulfill this goal more when I return to the States at the end of my two years. Currently I am participating in a letter exchange program with an inner city school in Atlanta. I write them a letter each month explaining various aspects of Ghana, including money, the geography, festivals, and tourist attractions. I also keep a blog where I reflect on each week by writing stories. Also I include pictures, videos, and lots of elements of Ghanaian culture and life such as music & dance, transportation, people, and food.

I have my own personal goals for service as well but I hope staying true to the three goals of Peace Corps in accomplishing the mission will ensure a successful service. As much as I hope to teach and help people I have heard time and time again that most Volunteers learn and receive more than they are able to give. Thus far I am learning about perseverance, balance, thankfulness, boundaries, and living a simple, quiet life. Because of the various challenges I’ve been faced with during my first three months in my community the Peace Corps slogan ‘The toughest job you’ll ever love’ keeps coming to mind. In case you’re wondering, it’s true.