Achievement of a Major Goal

If you look over my past few blog entries, you can probably see that I have been incredibly busy traveling all over the country to work on projects, and have faced many challenges along the way.  A brief list of activities and challenges include:  shooting, editing, and designing the Sign Language dictionaries over the course of 5 months, various committee meetings, editing a couple training videos, in-service trainings for additional projects at site, pilot trainings and meeting with Ghana Education Services (GES) officials, revising a document for a national program,  and my work at site as a teacher in conjunction with challenges that include: consistent lack of electricity at site, the crashing of my computer (conveniently timed as I was editing videos, effectively leading to a loss of progress and potential to update or change the dictionaries or any other projects), becoming the only remaining deaf art volunteer, having to spend more than 1 month away from site in order to complete some of these projects, and many close friends completing their service in one respect or the other.  Now all of these things began to weigh heavily upon me and I reached a breaking point right about when my computer crashed.  But I received news in early October that not only validated all of the hard work, but led to the achievement of one major goal of mine during my service.

From the moment I learned there was an annual award for education volunteers, I knew I wanted it.  Not only for the title but to back up a lot of the work I do in Ghana in hopes that it will someday lead me to my dream job as an art teacher at a good school (somewhere on the side of a mountain in Colorado). 

The award is a GES-implemented function that is awarded to about 90 teachers in Ghana, 3 at each level (Primary, JHS, and SHS) from each region, one from VSO (the UK’s overseas volunteer program), one from JICA (essentially Japanese Peace Corps) and one from Peace Corps.  The overall winner of the National Best Teacher is awarded with a brand new home and 65,000 cedis.  The 1^st and 2^nd runner-ups are awarded new cars, and the top ranking teachers at each level or area of specialty are awarded large refrigerators and TV’s.  Needless to say, this is all a really big deal for those teachers that win. 

The ceremony was held in Cape Coast, which is a very popular tourist area.  Because of that, everybody thought I was traveling around to see the sights (which gets really annoying as a PCV who has been in Ghana for over a year).  I was also the only recipient form the foreign organizations that showed up which led to the typical phenomenon of becoming the token white guy.  The Vice President of Ghana showed up and gave everybody a figurative hand shake (due to Ebola) before he addressed the teachers.  Then the Minister of Education gave an address that was hard to hear because the other teachers were chatting around me.  Occasions like this are a lot less formal in Ghana. 

They began to announce the recipients for the various awards.  The teachers were really excited for everything during this point, hooting and hollering for the winners and their friends. It felt so nice to be in an area where every teacher was motivated and truly cares about the education of the children.   Eventually my name was called and I had to walk out in the middle of the huge grounds where the ceremony was.  At the podium, I received my certificate and a basket of traditional “artifacts” from some dignitary wrapped in extravagant kente cloth.  I tried to take my stock back to my seat but was asked to come and stand to the side and receive a vote of thanks.  Apparently there was a statement prepared, but because of the heat they didn’t read it and instead just thanked me for my service and then I headed back to my seat.  I was very confused. 

Cue the media.  I was intercepted by a reporter from the major TV station in Ghana and had the worst interview anybody ever heard of.  The whole thing focused on how I “even learned some of the local language during my time in Ghana.” My initial reaction was to be upset that the assumption is we cannot speak our local languages, so I just focused on how I live and work at a deaf school and because of that, speak sign language.  I also mentioned something about how the work was the dream of a lifetime and even threw in a God Bless Ghana for the viewers.  I quickly returned to my seat and tried to repress that memory.

The overall winner was announced last and that was really exciting to see!  The winning teacher works in the poorest region and gave a great speech about the direction of education in Ghana.  He received the model of his future home, which was pretty ridiculous, and the runner-ups received their cars.

The spread of gifts I received. 

After that, the ceremony closed and everybody went to collect their prizes.  Here, I learned that I also received a basket full of enough milk powder to last the remainder of my service.  Once all of the excitement died down, we all went back to our hotel and then on to a reception that evening to celebrate our victories.

Fast forward a few days and I finally arrive back at site, motivated and ready to take on the new school year.  It’s interesting how recognition goes a long way to inspire you.  While it was nice to be away and experience a more prosperous side of Ghanaian culture, I once again realized that I am truly happiest when I am at my little, secluded school in the northern reaches of Ghana. 

 

Upon reflecting on the experience, one can’t help but feel something about being named the “Best” of anything.  Of course, excitement was one of those emotions, but also there was a mixed feeling of why did I win this over any other volunteer this year?  I may never know, but I think it is also important to realize that just because I was on the radar due to the scope of my projects, doesn’t necessarily mean I deserved the recognition most.  This feeling is what will drive me to be more, do more, and truly prove to myself that I deserve this.

The Toughest Job I've Ever Loved

When you join the Peace Corps, you have the idea that you will be dropped in the middle of nowhere for 2 years, made to live in a mud hut and poop in a hole in the ground, and stay there for your entire service.  While this may be true for some Volunteers, this is not what I have experienced, especially since April of this year.

I am just now coming to the end of a very stressful period of about 8 weeks which were full of tons of work, loss, and stress.  I attended a week long training that focused on using soccer to teach about HIV, attended and co-facilitated a pilot training for an new HIV Model at the school for the deaf in the capitol, attended an education committee meeting, worked for 2 weeks editing training videos and running other errands, and also worked on editing the HIV manual for a national-level project.

All of this together seems like a lot, and it was.  I was totally fine with the work load because I was able to take about a month of time for work in the capitol to finish everything.  But somewhere near the end of all of this work, my computer crashed.  I lost just about every important file for many national-level projects, including my dictionaries, and my productivity came to a screeching halt.  With deadlines looming, stress began to kick in.  I was able to find another computer from an Embassy worker and finish editing the videos I was charged with.  But instead of simply editing a large manual, I had to start from scratch and completely recreate it.  Not fun.  Fast forward a few weeks and I find out that my computer loss is not covered by my insurance so that was great news.

Once all of my work in the capitol concluded, I finally headed home after a record stay of 26 days, the longest stay anywhere for me since April.  But the work didn't stop there.  I still had a lot of work left in editing the HIV manual and had to find other computers to work on.

While all of this was happening, school finally reopened and I also had to tack on those responsibilities.  I started repairing the sewing machines at my school to use in vocational education at school.  This turned into me tailoring many of the students’ tattered clothes, which became a small entrepreneurial endeavor to support the vocational club.  I also proposed a discipline adjustment at school and held meetings for that, and sent proposals to local organizations to help fund our struggling vocational program.  So the 2 weeks I was finally able to be at site were just as busy as the holiday from school.

My neighbor ate my cat while I was away from school.  I was actually more upset that I didn’t get to eat him; cat has been on my To-Eat list for a while now and I had big plans for Biggie.  ButI was gifted a puppy from one of the prefects at school.  His name is Pito, which is the local millet beer, and he is shown here in a calabash, the vessel in which pito is consumed.  He is way cooler than Biggie ever was and now I just have to find a way to keep people from killing him.

Lights were also out at my place again during those 2 weeks.  The electric company has shut off our meter due to a long overdue bill from a previous tenant.  But with the loss of my computer, I no longer feel the impact of living off the grid.

Just as I was getting back into the swing of things at site, I received a call from my supervisor informing me that I was selected as this year’s winner of the Best Teacher Award!  This has been one of my goals since I came to Ghana and it really feels great to be recognized. 

Even the trees had a hard time

So looking back over the past two months, so much has happened and I have pushed through all of it and made it to the other side.  The one thing that I have learned about myself through this experience is to take everything in stride.  Yes, your computer may crash, your electricity may be turned off, your pet may become someone’s super, but in the end, the way you handle all of those things at once says a lot about your character.  One year ago, all of those things piled up would have killed me, but Peace Corps has shown me how to deal with the impossible and ride out the storm.  This may be the toughest job I have ever had, but I am so ready to see it through!