Gaining Altitude

I consider the second term to be a very important time for me as it really defined my role as a Peace Corps Volunteer at my school. 

In the past, I would teach class, come back home and relax, read, watch movies, and nap.  I wasn’t really spending any time with the other teachers or students but I was getting by.  I was enjoying the work I did but I hadn’t found my niche yet. 

All of that changed when the new library was established.  It was initially set up as a place where we would gather to play cards and chat, but soon the students turned to the books and fell in love with the space.  I also met my Ghanaian brother, Yamusah, through the library.  He helped sort the entire stock and became the first prefect.  I gave him the responsibility of holding the key and he opened it each night for the students to use. 

Because I was constantly thinking of ways to improve the space, I started to spend much more time in there with the students.  I was no longer retiring to my house in the afternoons to rest and I went around every single night while the students were studying in their classrooms to chat or tutor in what small ways I could.  I noticed my relationships with the students began to grow and my sign language improved exponentially. 

That turned into me going to meals with them and even sharing food with some.  Yes, I drink out of the same cups as them and dip my hands into their bowls of banku and soup. 

I also started to hang out with the teaching staff a little bit more.  I eat porridge with them every other day (when millet is served) and we now have a few inside jokes and I am starting to feel a bit more a part of the staff.  Although I am still not as close to the teachers as I want to be, I’m getting there. 

Another development this term was when I started going to Mosque with my students.  I went out and dropped far too much money on a Muslim outfit, got beads, and even a cap.  Initially, I was nervous to join them since I know literally nothing about what it’s like to be a Muslim.  But they welcomed me, sat down with me and taught me how to rinse before prayer, and showed me how to perform the ritual.  I have absolutely no idea what I am doing most of the time but I find the experience fun and now I look forward to Friday afternoons when I usually join them. 

But being a “Muslim” also has its benefits in Bolga.  I wore my outfit to market one Friday and suddenly everyone’s shouts changed from “Salaminga” to Alhaji, which sounds so much less offensive after a while!  I was also given the Muslim name of Mumuni and the locals know that more than they know my real name. 

Things are also looking up for my projects at school.  I have mentioned the struggling Vocational Program several times but I may have found an organization that could help us.  I wrote to them and they have a partner that may be able to help.  I am now waiting for a reply but it is a step in the right direction! 

We also just received a donation of 25 desktop computers for the school to initiate a government program to help train the hearing impaired in technology and communications.  There really wasn’t any assessment on the government’s side of things to see if our school is capable of implementing the program (which we aren’t yet), but now it gave me another goal of erecting a building to house the program in. 

For all of these reasons, I have decided 2 things:  The first is that I will not leave until my initial goal of finishing the Vocational Program is realized.  Secondly, should the program start by the end of my 2-year term, I have decided to stay the additional year to see how things are running.  I feel really good about the decision and I know for myself that it is the right thing to do! 

Holidaze and The New Term

 The past Holiday season was spent traveling around some of Northern Ghana with some other Volunteers. 

My first kill.

We met up for Christmas, shared presents, prepared a nice dinner and were generally very Merry.  I achieved 2 firsts here:  My first kill (the guinea fowl we cooked for dinner) and my first bee sting moments after I killed the bird.  Must have been the blood.

From there, we traveled to another Volunteer’s site and relaxed for a few days and indulged in a few gallons of pito, the local millet beer. 

By the time New Years came around, we were in Tamale, the regional Capitol in the Northern Region.  We had the very rare opportunity to go swimming in a real pool and took full advantage of that for a few hours.  Plus it helped us all to get much cleaner than we would from a bucket bath!  We met up with even more Volunteers and went to a local spot (bar) to ring in the New Year. 

Fireworks in the street

This New Years was interesting to say the least.  Let me set up the scene:  The only girls at the spot were the Volunteers and some other white people in a corner that kept to themselves.  Ghanaian women pretty much don’t party in public.  The rooftop of the spot (where all the fun was) was packed with men who were all trying to prey upon the Volunteers.  At a few points, some of the guys were wrapping their arms around me and another male Volunteer and trying to dance behind us.  So that’s about when I stopped enjoying the night.  I can remember all of this vividly because I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t drink anything.  By then our girls were loose and allowing some of the Ghanaians to get away with way too much so I started to step in and try to help them out.  Which led to a call to security and a few guys getting carried out.  At 12:00 exactly, the woman that was serving our group decided she needed to leave immediately and that I was in charge of collecting all of our money and paying her.  I didn’t even get to enjoy the first 10 minutes of 2014 because I had to pry money from all of my drunk friends which was no easy feat since the music was incredibly loud and it was dark.  And then fireworks started going off.  In America there are rules about where you can and cannot fire pyrotechnics but in Ghana it is all free game.  Add to that the fact that there is absolutely no security or crowd control and you are in for a show!  Fireworks were being fired right into crowds of people and into moving traffic.  I though there was going to be an explosion.  Eventually, that led up to a huge street fight and at that point I decided it was time for us all to go since most of our group was an easy target at that point.  We made it back to our hotel safely and nobody got robbed or assaulted so all was well. 

Gotta love free rides!

The following morning, I decided I had had enough fun in the past week that I needed to go home.  Instead of paying 8 cedis and sitting in a crowded tro for 3 hours, I decided to try and hitchhike the 3-hour trip home.  The beginning of the trip was stressful.  I watched so many really nice cars pass me and when I finally found a ride, they were only able to take me a few miles.  I made it about a 30-minute distance in just over an hour.  After sitting the in the bed of a truck, a cart, 3 other cars, and walking a good distance, I finally got lucky and a couple that was going to Bolga picked me up and I rode with AC for about 2 hours!  Then a quick walk home and I had made the trip for free in 4 hours.  In all, I was in/on a total of 8 vehicles.

The next 2 weeks would be very boring for me since school was still on break and campus was dead so I watched way too many movies and read a lot. 

Once I got back though, I received my Christmas package from home, which I think gave me temporary diabetes for a few days.  I ate so much chocolate in a few days that my legs were swelling, I was constantly tired, thirsty, and generally just felt ill.  But maybe that was the Giardia I had for the 3^rd time.  Who knows?  Anyway, all of the scary symptoms left after a few days. 

Second Term

The students finally started arriving back at school, and with them, my social life.  Teaching didn’t really start until the 3^rd week of school so I spent a lot of time just sitting around with the kids and planning out the next projects. 

The day we finally made a new pole.

In our spare time, I started bribing the students to come and make football nets.  Their reward for helping was that I would open the computer lab in the evenings and they could come in and play.  This was so successful that 2 nets were completed in 1 week.  To put that in perspective, our first 2 nets took 3 months to finish…  So many kids were coming to help that I had to devise a system to limit the number of kids in the lab (and prevent fighting) by handing out tokens to those that were most efficient.  That worked really well and work continued for 2 weeks before all of our nets were finished.  Up to now, we have made 6 nets, using approximately 8000 water sachets.

The past week was devoted to the district sports competition and our campus was packed with hundreds of kids from neighboring schools.  To help keep my sanity, I pretended to be deaf the entire week.  If I had been talking, the kids would follow me around shouting “HELLO!!!” and “Salaminga!” which gets really annoying after the second time.  This way, once they thought I was deaf, they would leave me alone and I was at peace!  I actually made it the entire week without talking to anybody or reacting to any sound, which is much harder that it seems.  Buying food was really fun because I could only flash money and point to communicate what I wanted, which really threw the market ladies.  Then some of the hearing students started to write notes to my kids and ask them questions and they even started doing the same to me!  The whole time, my kids knew I was refusing to talk so they got a kick out of every interaction I had.  On the last day, I bough food from one of the ladies again and purchased it as a deaf person and then thanked her in Talensi (the local language) and completely shocked her!  My kids were watching and all erupted in laughter and sign language applause (basically jazz hands) and then the lady knew the past week was all a huge joke.  Best moment of my week!

Ghanaian Shuffleboard

Since the kids have been pumping out the football nets, I have been encouraging the school to try and sell them to neighboring schools.  By the end of the tournament, one school had asked to buy 2 nets.  I have no idea if they will actually follow through since promises in Ghana generally tend to be casual in nature, but I am hopeful that we can start a small business endeavor and start to support the kids more with it.

During the tournament, I taught the JHS kids how to play shuffleboard which turned out to be a life saver!  Kids in Ghana have the ability to make games out of anything so I figured we could draw the target zone on the walkway with chalk and use lumpy stones at the pucks.  As it turns out, the inconsistencies of the stones adds to the challenge and makes it way more exciting when you actually score.  After a day of playing, I painted the stones and now it’s way more official.  It really is the simple things in life that can make you the happiest.  

Walking Barefoot and Non-Stop Painting

So the whole barefoot thing is only slightly metaphorical.  Now that I have been at my school for just a bit over 3 months, I can say that I am starting to feel right at home.  I feel that I am becoming more a part of the staff, my relationships with the students continue to grow, the language isn’t such a problem (the local language is a different story), and I have continued to make many improvements in my classroom and home as well as some within the school.  All of these things have contributed to my “barefoot” analogy. 

But really, I have been forced to walk around barefoot several times since my tattered 8-year old sandals keep falling apart on me. 

It all started when a Kindergarten student with an intellectual disability started following me around.  He hears perfectly but cannot speak so they decided to bring him here for school.  This kid is a goofball and apparently he is fond of me.  One day, he flat tired me and that was when the trouble with my sandals started.  I have glued the straps back in place several times since and eventually they always break off again.  I know they probably won’t last through my service, but I am not ready to give up on them just yet. 

Taken right after a bath,
so most of the dirt should be gone.

Another reason for going barefoot is to help with my tan lines.  I haven’t worn socks or shoes in over 6 months and my feet look like they have skin from 2 different ethnicities on them.  Or maybe that’s just the dirt. 

My feet get so dirty anyway, so what’s the point in wearing sandals?  With the seasonal change, my feet have begun to sweat a lot more too.  I can be sitting in my house with my feet up and they will still start to sweat.  Walking in sandals becomes an exercise that somehow involves Slip-and-Slide practice. 

The students all respond the same way when I walk around without sandals.  First they stop and stare at my feet, then they ask me “sandals where?” then, as I walk away, they cluster in groups and continue to stare.  This behavior is typical whenever something unordinary happens, which is very often around me.  Apparently adults here never walk barefoot, unless they are a vagrant or something. 

Adinkra Symbols

As for the painting, I have probably painted every day for the past 2 weeks.  First I repainted a color mixing mural in my classroom.  Then we relocated the library so I went and added some Adinkra Symbols, which are the traditional symbols that you see everywhere here.  Next, I started working on an Alphabet mural for the Kindergarten room.  And finally, the other day, I started repainting my bedroom. 

 

The Kindergarten classes are each getting the Alphabet and some Numbers painted on their walls.  The first set of letters took my 4 days so the whole project will last a good while.  I’m taking it slow so I don’t run out of things to do too quickly.  The kids don’t know about the murals so I will be excited to see their reaction when they return after the holidays. 

The paint in my bedroom has been a process. 
You can’t just go to a store and pick out your color from hundreds of swatches in various finishes like you can in the States.  Here, you get a choice between Easter shades of red, yellow, green, blue, white, peach and grey.  So I picked up a Powder Blue and added a little black paint, green paint, and purple and green batik dyes until I was happy with the color.  I painted my first wall and then discovered that the paint color was changing as it sat longer.  By the time the first wall was finished, I decided I hated the color.  The next day, I dumped a ton of green dye in until I knew I liked the color.  I’m happy with it, but now my sponge roller shredded so I have to go and buy another before the work can continue.  Painting a room is the States never seemed easier!

Recent Developments

• ·      Today marks 6 months in Ghana
• ·      Haven’t cut my hair (except for the back) yet
• ·      First term of school is now over
• ·      Sadly, I lost my first student.  She passed away while I was gone on PC business
• ·      I painted my house
• ·      I think I am done giving out my number.  I seem to have attracted a few clingy friends/fiancés. 
• ·      The Harmattan has begun and with it, dust everywhere, dry lips, seasonal cough, etc. 
• ·      I have easily read 40 books since I have been here.
• ·      I just celebrated Thanksgiving with some other Volunteers.  We even had a turkey.  It cost 200 cedis, or $100.  Expensive bird! 
• ·      Projects:
  

o   The students just completed their second football net. 

o   We are relocating the library soon, which will free up a lot of space in my classroom!

o   Soon, I will start painting Sign Language Numbers and Alphabet for the Kindergarten classes. 

o   I may have mentioned the Vocational Building earlier.  There has still not been any progress with it.  Very frustrating.  

A student in the nose box.  He didn't know I snapped this, much to the delight of the class.

Bad Decisions and Worse Consequences

I know it’s been a while since my last post.  Let me take you back to the reason it has been so long.

Against all reasoning, I went for a nice little swim in the dam near my house late September.  At some point during my excursion, I cut my foot open.  Then, since I am really stupid, I went for a swim again the next day.  You can imagine my sunburn after that. 

Within a few days, I knew I had problems.  I was continually running (and not the exercise version), I had developed a UTI, pink eye, sinus infection, blurry vision, sprained ankle, and spots all over my skin.  It was time to call the doctor. 

They were worried I had some serious stuff so I went to the hospital for tests and started an antibiotic.  Eventually everything cleared up and I was fine.  Until, the kids at school all started passing around a seasonal cold, which I am still fighting off. 

To top all of that off, my power was out for 5 days during my illness(es).  It’s usually not that big of a deal but I was having to wash dishes by candlelight.  Not very easy when I also don’t have a sink.  

Daily Life

As per request, I have decided to compile a list of things that no longer phase me about everyday life. 

Getting into Town

I live a few kilometers from the village of Tongo where I do most of my shopping.  As long as I have my bike, getting there is fine.  If the tire is blown, it’s still possible, but the very slight and gradual incline makes it very annoying.  Walking there takes about 30 minutes. 

Getting into Bolga

First, I have to get into Tongo to catch a tro tro.  Now, there is a market day every 3 days in Bolga so I plan all of my tasks around this schedule.  Waiting at the taxi stand in the village can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. If you are fortunate when you arrive, there will be one spot left in the tro, you take it and leave immediately.  If you are unlucky enough to be the first person in the tro, you know there is a wait ahead of you.  Plus, it is very common to have a full tro but still have to wait for 20 or more goats/sheep/dogs/small children to be strapped to the roof before leaving.  Today is the first time I have been to Bolga on a non-market day.  Getting here took 1 hour.  Who knows how I will get home.  

Market Day

These days are a mixed bag.  I always go to the huge market in Bolga to buy veggies and wagashi cheese, which is similar to fried feta.  Some days, the city is packed and it becomes difficult to cross the road, other days everything is closed.  

The Bank

The 3-day schedule makes some things difficult to achieve.  Say it is Saturday Market Day, and you have 2 cedis in your wallet.  It costs 1.50 to get to Bolga so you know that will be fine.  Once there, you head right for the bank, only to find it is closed even though the sign on the door says it is open on Saturdays.  True story:  The bank manager herself told me the bank is closed on Saturdays despite what that sign says. 

So now I only go to the bank during the week.  Mondays are off too, because everybody needs their money and you are likely to find hundreds of people waiting in “line” and it would take hours to get your money.  Fridays are a similar story.  So now that leaves mid-week days the only days I will attempt to go to the bank. 

Now all of this sounds silly, why wouldn't I just use an ATM to get my money.  Luckily, they do have them in Ghana, but the card I applied for 6 weeks ago is still floating around somewhere. 

School

I guess it is surprising that I teach 50+ kids in each class.  That is something you get used to very quickly and before long, I stopped realizing how challenging it used to be.  Add the fact that the students cannot hear me if I try to add a detail while they work, and I had to reform the way I teach everything.  Oh, and the fact that my Sign Language is effective enough to get by, but I can only do a basic amount of explaining anything. 

I also teach IST which is mostly about computers.  The kids love it and I don’t.  Simply put.  It’s not their fault that they don’t know much about how to use a computer.  It has been difficult to teach them basic things like clicking and dragging things around.  I teach about 25 kids at a time with 7-8 computers.  I have 30 minutes to teach them all so I have to plan about a 4-5 minute activity to allow enough time for everybody to try it out.  It takes about another 5 minutes for the student to correctly turn the computers off.  The language barrier and my complete lack of technological sign language knowledge makes these classes stressful.  But the students are making progress and it is becoming easier. 

Bathing, Washing hands

I am still bathing with a bucket.  It sounds like it would be annoying but after a while this too becomes normal.  I boil a little of my water first so I have a nice warm bath.  Or if I take a second shower, I sit the bucket in the sun for a bit to heat it up. 

Washing my hands is done by pouring water from a cup over a large bowl.  I probably miss a nice sink the most. 

Cooking and Washing Dishes

I use a 2-burner gas stove to cook everything.  I make pancakes just about every day for breakfast.  Varieties include but are not limited to:  original, cinnamon, coffee, chocolate, peanut butter, peanut butter and chocolate, strawberry, and rum.  I think I may open a pancake stand when I get back home.  Lunch is usually something easy like IndoMei, which is very similar to Ramen.  I always have some soup for supper, either groundnut soup, chicken noodle, or tomato soup. 

I have developed an interesting method for washing dishes.  I pour about 1 cup of water into a bowl and use that amount of water to wash everything.  Then I rinse the same way by pouring it from thing to thing.  It’s shocking how little water you can use when you have to ration what you have. 

   

The Real Start of School

It’s finally time to formally start school, 2 weeks after the students started coming, but that still doesn’t mean I am teaching classes. 

My classroom is conveniently blocked in by Kindergarten on each side and those kids just love to peer at me through the crack in my door and the windows like I’m some animal on display at a zoo.  It is harmless at first and then it becomes very annoying as I chase them away time after time until it becomes a game for them.  Needless to say, what discipline I learned in America doesn’t apply here and I am picking up some really bad habits that I won’t speak of. 

When it finally comes time to begin teaching, I quickly learn that I am not going to be provided with a schedule so I had to chase the other teachers around and basically come up with my own.  That took about another day off my teaching schedule. 

 I assign a first project and have the kids illustrate their names and sign names as a way to gauge their levels and help learn their names.  When the projects were completed, many exceeded far above my expectations and I was really happy about their work.  However, it seems many of the kids don’t know their real names, only their assigned sign names, and the roster is impossible to line up with the list I created from the cards.  Grading is going to be fun…

Next, I taught a mobile lesson where the kids got to work in groups.  They collected whatever they

could find outside and some groups came up with really nice finds.  After 3 classes completed the mobiles, my class now looks like a jungle and everybody loves looking at their new art!

My pool with the hills in the back

The kids are currently working on snake coil pots.  Clay is clearly a medium they enjoy and their creativity blows me away.  They use stones and sticks to add embellishments to their pieces without me even thinking about it.

Somewhere between my last post and this one, I explored around my site some more and found a huge dam that is now my personal swimming pool.  I risk contracting Schisto and other nasty bugs by just having my feet in the water but I consider a nice refreshing swim to be well worth the risk.  Except for that part where I have felt like crap since I first went out over a week ago…

End of day 1

I got bored and decided to start a small project on campus, working on building a football net from water sachets, which are small plastic bags that all the water comes in here.  They are discarded everywhere since there is really no public trashcan, and the kids go out and collect them so we can continue to work. The first net is almost complete and the football team couldn’t be happier!

I also went on a short trip to Navrongo and saw the world’s largest basilica made entirely from mud bricks.  The interior decoration is very traditional and was inspired by the Nankani-Kassena motifs that are used to decorate their houses.  It also includes reliefs of local animals and religious stories.

The wet season is coming to an end and with it, some amazing storms have been blowing through.  We get a lightning storm just about every night and I was able to get some pretty exciting shots.

Developments with Biggie:  He is a really horrible cat and we have come to a point in our relationship where I thought he would benefit be more as a meal.  But after being far to aggressive toward him, I decided to start feeding him outside and he no longer wakes me up at night!  So now, he is welcome back on probation, as long as he can behave himself.