My new Peace Corps service in songs 2.0

This blog continues because I am continuing my Peace Corps adventure – this time in Ukraine! Since February 2018, I’ve been posted as a PEPFAR Response volunteer in the city of Nikolaev in the south of Ukraine (about three hours away from Odessa). I’ve only had three weeks between my posts to repack my bags, take care of some paperwork and say hello to Boston and Philly.

And now I am back into a post-Soviet space – the place where my family is from, and where I’ve left a lot of roots, connections, hopes and fears. In fact, my desire to serve here was triggered by my maternal grandmother’s death last year. It affected me so much that I have decided to go to Ukraine and reconnect with a culture that I was very close to but never too familiar with. So, here I am.

A little bit about my site: the city of Nikolaev (also known as Mykolayiv) was founded as a ship-building city and a port in 1789 in the outskirts of the Russian Empire to stake its claim (ahead of Turkey) on the Dikoe Pole (Wild Field) that was a no-man’s land for many years. The founder of Nikolaev is a historical figure, Prince Grigoriy Potemkin (who was one of lovers of Catherine the Great).

During 18^th and 19^th century the city became an important gateway into Black Sea through the Southern Boog River estuary. There were even consulates of several European nations, as well as customs, banks and ship-building schools. Even now as you walk along Nikolaev, you can see old buildings built from a pretty pale yellow sandstone with shell fossils – former banks, schools and custom offices.

During the Soviet times Nikolaev became a so-called “closed” city. Not everyone could freely move here. It had important strategic ship-building factories that designed and built ships for the Soviet Navy. A lot of Soviet-style buildings were built back then too --- schools, more factories, theaters, tall apartment buildings etc.

Now Nikolaev lies on the outskirts of Ukraine... Even though you can feel its old glory in straight tree-lined boulevards and riverbanks, it has a high unemployment rate and a 3^rd highest HIV infection rate among Ukrainian cities. Which is why I have been [placed here in the first place. I work with a charity fund UNITUS which works with risk groups to reduce the infection rates and place HIV-positive people on the required ART-therapy. It is mostly a Russian-speaking city, where I fit right in. Of course there are Ukrainian-speaking residents, and I’m trying to learn Ukrainian by talking with them.

And now, even though I’ve been here for only three months, I can already sense what type of service I’m having through these songs ----

The song Back in the USSR is the epitome of my time here – I am literally back in the land of my childhood with its shabby apartment buildings, fluffy cats and tea-drinkers. It is a nice feeling, but I also feel a bit detached from life here --- as an explorer who observes things happening around them with an impartiality of a surgeon.

This song - Yedu Ya means “I’m going” – and it is about traveling. I’ve been traveling a lot here – mostly by marshrutka bus and train. It talks about traveling companions, everlasting search for something fleeting and unexplainable. “I’m going, going, going (though) rivers, steppes and fields…” Very nostalgic indeed.

This is a beautiful Ukrainian folk songs is called Galya is carrying water . A lot of local songs are about love, of course, but what make them stand apart from Russian ones is the fact that they are more happy and flirty (while Russian songs are more about unrequired love or tragic loss of a beloved). Coincidentally, my mom’s name is also Galya. This is the song that also inspired me to apply to serve in Ukraine.

Ok, this song is hilarious! Vidlik is a parody of a famous songs of the same name by a talented artist, Onuka (who, to me, is a Ukrainian version of Robyn). It attempts to be artsy to show a typical village life (while the original is just artsy). I’m posting the original Vidlik as well. It is a song of VERY few words!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRHwWGO_A48&index=6&list=PLKsL-P_9A6RmuzgeeDrLvyRc4KhVsMAAF

My Peace Corps service in songs

One of my colleagues wrote a great post about her service reflected by Disney songs, which can be found here. I loved this idea so much that I started thinking what songs reflect my service most accurately. Some songs I have listened to repeatedly, some of them I have not even thought of for a while, but here they are. Enjoy!

Toto's Africa was my go-to song when I was packing for Ghana. And maybe it is not geographically accurate (the song talks about Serengeti in East Africa, while Ghana is in the west), it is too 80s, too-too much, but I love it. Plus, I also do bless the rains --- rainy season is my favorite here because everything is so lush and cool and green!

Nico & Vinz - Am I Wrong is just beautiful (lyrically and visually), it inspired me to go for morning runs and made me think about life in general.

This song - Oye (Good is Good) -- was sang at all the churches in my village, and not only on Saturdays and Sundays :)). The local kids taught me the lyrics, and it improved my Twi, at least in terms of praises.

Another gospel song -- Joyce Blessing's Monko Mo Akyi -- will also make me remember my arrival in my village and numerous tro rides afterwards. Women gospel singers in Ghana are very popular, so dynamic, their spirits literally soar and their smiles can melt a heart of any stalwart agnostic, even mine.

Ok, so it seems life in Ghana is all about prayers... People pray before meetings, after meetings, on buses, on planes.... On one of my flights home a group of Catholic church members prayed for the safe flight and sang several hymns. This Madonna gem is perfect in so many ways... Including the fact that it was (and is) my go-to karaoke song at Republic.

Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places is dedicated to my fellow hashers. One time a group of them visited me, and it was super-fun. We went for a jog in cocoa groves, ate instant mashed potatoes (a delicacy!!) and sang this song while drinking Club.

Finally, Ed Sheeran's - Bibia Be Ye Ye (All Will Be Well)--- should literally be an anthem for anyone living, working and volunteering in Ghana --- it summarizes the spirit of the country and its fun sides --  tro rides, spontaneous dancing parties and street food. Maybe a bit cheesy, yes, but this phrase is literally written on back of tros, so it must be true :)).

Enough for now. I love making play-lists, though, maybe there will be another one soon.

Likes and Dislikes

During our COS conference (which happened a hundred years ago, back in 2016), we were asked what we would and would not miss about our service in Ghana. We even drew pictures to better portray our views. Besides obvious inconveniences (lack of flushing toilets, Mexican food and ice cubes) or things that are usually missed (red-red, people, good times), I put a list of things I will and will not miss.

Eating and drinking with friends is on the top of things to miss.

Then, quite recently I realized that it is not something I will or will not miss but rather something I do and do not like, no matter where I live – be it Ghana, US, or Russia. I think serving in Peace Corps exposes you to more things that you do not like but have to deal with on a daily basis, while a somewhat sheltered life in the US can make you withdraw from places and people that make you feel uncomfortable almost immediately (which is why we are more likely to have friends on Facebook who share our beliefs and values and block the ones that made us feel uncomfortable with their posts).

So, here is what I do not like -----

Religious zeal – Ghana is one of the most religious countries in the world, half-Christian/half-Muslim, and it is wonderful that both groups are friendly towards each other. However, the fact that people would rather go to church in the middle of the day instead of working, or rationalize their hypocritical actions with Bible/Koran quotes, or blindly follow their preachers’ biased and sometimes hateful messages breaks my heart. I am weary of any sort of religiousness, so being in Ghana was challenging in this sense. 

A mural in the old church in Ashanti Region

However, I completely understand people’s need to belong to a church community, for hope after death, for guidance in uncertain times. Here when you take a tro to another town, people pray and give money to their tro preacher because this trip can literally be their last… A newborn baby is not named or baptized until at least several months have passed because she may not survive her first case of malaria or diarrhea. Ghana’s infrastructure is not reliable, and the police, the doctors, or the public officials are not the ones who necessarily help people (as they should). So people put it all under a will of God. The local expressions – “Nyame Boa” -- God willing – is used everywhere, even for something like “I will take some breakfast, God willing.” So in short, I understand it but I will not miss it. I also do not like it expressed in any other cultural setting.

Extra attention/harassment – I am not an attention-seeking individual. True, I can don a tutu for a marathon race, or sing Spice Girls’ Wannabe at karaoke without shame, but I am not someone who actively seeks to be acknowledged, noticed, or gawked at. Well, that is not the case in Ghana – I’m constantly stared at, approached, propositioned and simply harassed. True, it does not take to the point when I’m worried for my life, but, as we were shown in training, if you are slowly but surely get fed up with it all, things can get ugly for everybody. Many extraverts serving in Peace Corps suffer more from it and become withdrawn and bitter. Or, as in my case, they become introverts (or, even better, introverted extraverts).

Extra attention is unavoidable at the market...

This made me think, however, that no matter where I live, I always have this thought in the back of my head – watch where you are going, who you are interacting with and what you are saying, as a woman. Right before my service I was at a fairly nice bar in a posh suburb of Boston and saw how a couple of girls were clearly harassed and bothered by one semi-drunken guy. I politely told him not to do it, and that the girls were clearly uncomfortable. He backed out but then 2 minutes later started yelling profanities at me, right in front of the patrons and bar tenders. I could have kept my mouth shut and left, you would have said --- why defend these girls in the first place, they could have done it themselves if they really wanted to? But in this day and age, I think all of us girls should stick together. This episode provoked lot of anger, but I stood my ground. Later on one guy tapped me on the shoulder and said: “Thank you for doing that, and I’m sorry for what he did.” True, we need to pick our own battles, and if I fought with every person who bothered me in Ghana, it would not have been pretty, so I had other survival techniques. One is simply ignoring and/or pretending not to understand what is going on, and another one is telling a while lie and brush it all off.

It's all good.

And when I leave, what will I miss besides people I worked and drank Club with, fufu and a no-rush-in-life attitude? What is something that I liked in Ghana that I want to recreate wherever I go next?

A tro station in Kumasi

A tro-tro culture: Yes, I will miss those long, dusty and sometimes scary tro-tro rides. A tro-tro is a cheap and (somehow) fast way to get from point A to point B (and later, C,D, E, etc.) anywhere in Ghana. A tro is a little community. Once you’re on the tro, you become a part of a brief but solid family unit. You say hello, help passengers with their bags or hold their babies, and strike an occasional conversation about anything. People can even feed you, if you are hungry (although I prefer not to eat or drink while traveling for obvious reasons). And they are always on a look out for a mate (a driver’s assistant) to give you the correct change. And if you do not greet people, they may actually hold a grunge against you and will not wake you up when your stop comes up.

In terms of likes and dislikes, here I like convenience and efficiency of a tro – just wave your hand and a tro will stop for you. Who wouldn’t like that?

Will miss witty store signs!

Also, I will miss all these witty, strange and sometimes merely bizarre sayings and quotes on the back of tros and taxis (and also, storefronts). My personal favorites are “Some friends are bad,” “Paddle your own canoe,” “Keep your secret,” “Aponkye Break” (which means a car can suddenly break and stop like an aponkye [ah-pohn-chee], a goat) and “I love my wife.” There are also sayings that start with a word “Still…” (which means solid, like a rock) but that can produce hilarious results: “Still Beyonce,” “Still Fast Boy.” These alternatives to bumper stickers are great nuggets of witty truth and cultural identity.

Students with their contraption for an egg drop made from available materials.

Resourcefulness: Face it – Americans are wasteful. We throw away uneaten food and unworn clothes, burn electricity at offices at night and do not gnaw on chicken bones. True, we do recycling, garage sales and thrift shops, and love our fuel-efficient cars. But the resourcefulness and lack of wastefulness I encountered and did in Ghana is incomparable.  I eat everything on my plate. I save plastic bottles for toys and crafts. I can bathe with a half-liter of water (1 water sachet). My Chacos finally fell apart after 2.5 years of constant wear because I did not have any other pair of shoes. I really want to take this back with me and make sure that my minimalism lifestyle continues with lack of waste (although I will not save plastic bottles but recycle them).

Jerry cans serving as buckets at a borehole.

Oh, and as far as other (more important) things are concerned, I will definitely miss fufu, Club (beer) and FanIce (icecream)!

Cheers!

Treasure Island

Recently I have gone to Sao Tome, a small island nation on the equator in the Gulf of Guinea. A simple 1.5 hour skip, hop, and jump from Accra on the plane, and you are in a Portuguese-speaking fresh-seafood paradise.

Sao Tome and Principe islands were originally uninhabited and were discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century during the Columbus era of sea voyaging. The islands were later inhabited by the colonizers and slaves who were brought from the mainland Africa (a Ghana connection -- Portuguese had a slave castle in what is now Central Region, and the town, Elmina, is still around). It was also a good place to ship all of the undesirables -- for instance, a large group Jewish children was shipped there to fend for themselves. Sadly, almost all of them died. Later on, when the coffee and cocoa plantations grew, servants from Angola were brought in to till the land. The people and languages mixed together with time, and now there is a distinct group of SanTomeans who love flowers, coffee and wine.

The colony gained independence from Portugal in 1975, but its culture remained to be influenced by this small sea-faring nation. The houses have intricately carved beams, all meals get seasoned with vinegar and olive oil, and music is a gentle mix of Creole and Portuguese tunes.

It is simply a treasure island, especially if you are a hungry and broke Peace Corps volunteer.

Some observations and comparisons: people walk faster and wear less conservative clothes than Ghanaians. It is also quieter here, no booming speakers or street preachers. But men still whistle and hiss at you, yelling "Amiga!" or "Branca!" 

The south of the island is tropical lush forest, while the North is very Mediterranean looking.

Palm dance

Baobabs

Blue lagoon hill

Closer to the North

Coconuts everywhere

On the Equator line!

Main occupation is fishing.

A fortress, a light house and a bar.

Main faith -- Roman-Catholic

Sao Tome city harbor

The island is peppered with old abandoned buildings, factories, ships and farming equipment.

All taxis are yellow.

Santa Katarina tunnel.

Town of Neves

Selling pastries on Sunday

Boats are smaller

Our guesthouse Vila Marylin. Recommended!

Que bonita

Travels

Throughout the year, my PCVL position gave me a good opportunity to travel around Ghana and visit various volunteer sites in Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Western and Ashanti regions. Our main job is to find a good site for health, education or agriculture volunteer, talk with a community about expectations and inspect the housing. We would meet with school headmasters, chiefs, nurses, students and farmers.

Kwahu Mountains in the distance.

Afram Plains.

We would wake up early in the morning to use bumpy bush roads among cashew groves or go on the top of the Kwahu mountains. We even went to my village where I happily discovered that people still remembered me.

Uncle Sam chatting up a counterpart.

We took a smoky ferry to a remote Afram Plains area, and stayed at seedy hotels where the only things that matched were my pair of shoes. We drove through scary rains and during glorious sunsets.

It's coming!

Rain and logs - double jeopardy.

We would eat fufu and bread-and-egg sandwiches at chop bars (a canteen, which is just a wooden shack on the road), took schnapps with village chiefs and danced with a group of Ivorian refugees.

Chop bar

Local church.

Ooops -- this happens a lot.

Street sellers in a traffic jam.

"Be Nice to Me" spot -- love the name.

Tractor peeps giving directions.

Breakfast on the road -- kosi bean cakes.

An inquiring look.

Play ping pong!

Everywhere we went, people helped us to get around, and asked me to talk to them in Twi. I am not fluent by any means but I can actually tell them a bit about their future volunteer – that it can be anybody – “bebya”: a man or a woman, tall or short, young or old, shy or confident. A volunteer may like to eat fufu or not, they may want to fetch water by themselves or ask for help, and they may or may not know the local language well. A volunteer may also tell about America – not the America from movies and music videos, but the America of their family, home town and state. Their America may be hot or cold, urban or rural, religious or non-religious, stressful or relaxing.

Our stalwart driver Aikens in front of Bui dam.

A volunteer's kitchen.

Once we got a live turkey as a thank-you gift! It is now living in our compound in lieu of a peacock.

Below are some random pictures from different villages I visited.

Shade is essential during the dry season.

Teachers' lounge.

Chief's entrance.

Fish market.

Talking about Peace Corps.

If you look closely, the saying on this tro is "Control your mouth." :))

A successful talk

Biking and moto-ing.

This volunteer extended!

Mosquito net - an important part of a housing decor.

Our brave car taking a break.

Dancing with Ivorians between site visits.

Drumming

At an opening of an ICT lab.

Z and his counterpart.

Going, going, gone...