Village greetings

I have been living in my lil' village for one week (its name literally means "The Other Farm"). 

Currently I'm getting used to the surroundings, cleaning my house, figuring out my garden layout, learning everybody's names, going to church services and surviving the holiday season. I feel fine being a bit isolated, but of course, it is unusual to celebrate New Year without snow, cold and champagne (no worries, I'm already figuring out some alternatives).

Here are some more photos for your amusement:

 Dancing party during my official greeting to the village chiefs and other local officials. I sang "Silent Night", and the MC recorded it! Then he blasted my voice through enormous speakers, and my song was heard through the entire village. What can I say - the music industry follows me around.

 A holiday service at a Catholic church. The village has 4 churhces: Catholic, Methodist, 7th Day Adventist and Divine Faith. Churches and mosques in Ghana are pillars of communities where you can make friends, help with projects and learn a couple of songs.

 Snowflake workshop on my verandah. We bring snow to Africa!

 The party continues. Azonto dance is very popular all over Ghana.

The road to my village.

I am a Peace Corps Volunteer

On December 18^th, after 10 weeks of intensive language and technical training, after staying at various accommodations in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, Koforidua and at our homestay village, 31 trainees from all over the U.S. and all walks of life became Peace Corps volunteers to serve in Ghana’s agriculture sector.

We were greeted by the U.S. Ambassador, our PC acting directors and an official representative from Eastern Region. We were given certificates and seeds to plant in our future gardens. We took the oath and danced the traditional dance which we practiced for weeks. We celebrated with our homestay families, who not only made us matching outfits and fed us joloff rice and red-red, but were our families away from home. We also celebrated within our own circles and said goodbyes as we all left for our sites scattered all over Ghana.

I must say that the induction ceremony and even the good-byes were not the most emotional moments for me. The moment where I teared up and really felt the importance of my decision to become a PC volunteer was the day before the ceremony where we read and acknowledged the 10 Core Expectations.  I would like to post them here, and I would like to follow them throughout my service:

Core Expectations For Peace Corps Volunteers

In working toward fulfilling the Peace Corps Mission of promoting world peace

and friendship, as a trainee and Volunteer, you are expected to:

1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment

to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months

2. Commit to improving the quality of life of the people with whom

you live and work; and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them,

and learn new skills as needed

3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of

hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective

service

4. Recognize that your successful and sustainable development work

is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in,

and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community

and culture

5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

for your personal conduct and professional performance

6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual

learning, and respect

7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local

and national laws of the country where you serve

8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health,

safety, and well-being and that of others

9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and

community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and

traditions of the United States of America

10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of

your host country and community to people in the United States both 

during and following your service

On another note, I would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year! С Новым Годом! Efishya paa!

Life in Ghana in pictures

 My homestay mom and one of her students.

 Say "No" to Ebola (looks like it has been contained).

 Ready to develop Ghana's agriculture! (very Soviet-style pic, I know :))

 Motos, motos everywhere (but where are the helmets?)

 GirlPower posters that encourage school girls to get a career and not get pregnant.

 Local chicks.

 At the rice storage facility.

Container gardening! WE found an old TV case and planted American tomatoes.

More training...

Note – this blog post was created over one week ago but I’m only posting it now due to technological difficulties. Enjoy.

The days are just packed!

We finally did some beekeeping stuff – yeeha! One evening we all visited hives while wearing space suites, veils and funny hats. There was no honey, but it was still cool to open hives, use the smoker and hear bees buzzing around. They were not as aggressive as I thought they would be. The important thing in bee-rearing is to stay calm even if you are stung (bees feel the agression and swarm around the attacker). We all survived our first encounter. Unfortunately, it was too dark to take pictures.

We also built beehouses from clay pots (one pot glues to another) and wood (Kenyuan top hive). I never thought of myself as a caprenter but I guess I’ve got this skill in me. I particularly enjoy sawing and hammering (hammer time!). I’m not good at measuring, but, as one saying on a Ghanaian truck states, “Susu Bibiri” – “Measure Something.” Sounds  like a good motto to me. A little side-note – cars, trucks and tro-tros here all have different sayings glued to their back windows. Some statements are religious (e.g. “God is Great,” “Allahu Akbar,” “Genesis”), some of them state drivers’ ethnic background, moods and attitudes in life (e.g. “Still Black,” “This Shal Pass,” (ibid.), “Good Wife," "Don't Talk") and some of them are just perplexing (like the above-mentioned statement).

We also had training on making pomade and candles from bees wax. Beekeepping is a very good income-generating activity, and doesn’t require too much investment (the hives can be cheaply constructed from local materials, and even the suites can be made from jute sacks).

And finally, we did a touristy thing and went to Upper East region to touch scared crocodiles and shop at the market in Bolga. Markets are a lot of fun because you can always get a discount if you bargain right. I had to remember the good old days at the Green Bazaar at home where prices could be slashed almost in half if you play your cards right. So, after some basic Twi and Ghanaian English, I’ve got a very nice hand-woven basket and a lot of delicious fruit for less than $6. Barganing is essential here, otherwise I don’t think I would have enough of my measly allowance to survive around here :)).

Training in Tamale

After we visited our sites, we all got back together for some technical training in the city of Tamale, Northern Region. Every day brings something new. We learned about an efficient way to plant rice, talked to local farmers about the importance of vaccination for their fowl and sheep, made some nice-smelling soap from shea butter, and concocted jam from mangos and pineapple (mmm, delicious!).

Northern Ghana is definitely different. There is an Islamic influence here – lots of mosques, head-dresses on women, skull caps on men, long robes. The most prevalent nature zone here is Guinea savannah, so the landscape definitely differs from tropical South. The grass is scorched, the roads are dusty, and the air is dry.

And there are tons of motos (aka motorcycles)! Literally everybody rides them – especially women (who sometimes tie up their little kids behind their back and cover them underneath their head-dresses). The way their colorful clothes billow in the wind is breathtaking.

I also celebrated my first Ghana-style Thanksgiving here! It was awesome: we cooked tons of food (guinea fowls, mashed yams, roasted squash, boiled paw-paw – you name it). I forgot what I did and ate last Thanksgiving in the States, but I’ll definitely remember this one.

 Checking out the rice paddies.

Earnest the driver recording our field-tripping experience.

 Local traffic jam.

Twilight ride.

Photo Post for the Previous Post :)

As promised, here are some pictures from our site announcements and site visits. I will see all trainees again tomorrow in Tamale, for more training, after which we are headed back to Eastern Region for last presentations, more home-stay visits, workshops, presentations and a swearing-in ceremony!

SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS

 I'm going West! Western region that is (or, as it's known among other volunteers, Best Western :)).

 Sara and her contact person from Brong Ahafo region.

 Jimmy and his contact person being awfully photogenic.

 Topher bear-hugging his contact from Krobo culture.


SITE VISIT!

 My "Yes We Can" kitchen.

 The courtyard.

 Living room.

 Library! I had tears in my eyes when I saw it. I also inherited a couple of board games, a harmonica, a cross-stitch kit and several Sudoku books.

 Mr. Okra - the #1 contact person!

 Ready to serve (even though I'm still a trainee).

 A door to paradise...

 ...which needs to be swept regularly.

 Local palm oil group.

 Village street. The taxi is next to the "station"where everyone hangs out.

 A friendly football match with another school (fyi - it was a tie).

Local cuteness :)). Just had to throw this image in there.

Site Visit

Greetings from Western Region! I spent the last few days visiting my future home for the next two years. Needless to say, this past week was packed.

While in Kumasi, we finally got to meet our primary contacts who were selected by their communities that will receive each of us as an official PC volunteer at the end of December. The ceremony was pretty cool – we all stood on the big hand-drawn map of Ghana and shook hands with our contacts. My contact person turned out to be Mr. Okra – a cocoa farmer, a beekeeper (!), and a respected person in the community. He told me a little bit about the community: there are several farming groups there already, and everyone is excited to meet me. He was a great companion during our 2-hour  journey from Kumasi to Bibiani (the district capital), and then all the way to my new peaceful abode in the African bush.

I admit that I’ve had low expectations about my site, accommodations etc.: I tried not to get too excited when senior volunteers dropped hints here and there. So, when I saw a cozy bungalow nestled among plantain and palm trees, I almost had tears in my eyes. I don’t like to brag, but I just have to say it: it felt like home right away. It had a shelf full of books (a library!), hand-made quilts, chill neighbors (all are teachers of the nearby school), potted plants and a kitchen full of useful stuff left from previous two volunteers. Oh, and, as it wasn't enough, a yoga mat and a frisbee!! Life is good (will post pics when my connection is better):

Here are some highlights from the site visit:

1)      The coolest thing was to meet a local chief. I first met him by accident when I stopped by at the village school to say hello to teachers. Apparently, the village chief is also a teacher! Later that day, Mr. Okra took me to the chief’s house for an official visit, which was pretty casual considering the fact that the chief wore a t-shirt and Charlie Watsies. Very American, if you ask me ;).

2)      While walking through the market in Bibiani (where you can buy pretty much anything – from groundnuts to coffins), I also met an agriculture advisor from Burkina Faso, who not only lived in Canada, but also studied in Russia (Krasnodar, where my mom is from). So, speaking Russian with a fellow African about my mom’s homeland was also pretty cool.

3)      On the way from the market both me and Mr. Okra discovered that our phones disappeared and then miraculously reappeared on the taxi’s floor. Apparently a thief had a change of heart when we also discovered that our money was gone, so we couldn’t get out of the taxi and pay (fyi – I only had 2 cds stolen, hopefully it’s my biggest loss while in Ghana).

4)      Everyone is impressed with my Twi-speaking skills (although I feel that they are regressing). However, I’m in a Seshwi region, which is a different language. Oh, well – back to square one.

5)      In two days I visited two different churches (as I was told, churches is where the main community-bonding action happens!). So far the record service (after Presby’s in Anyinasin: 3 hours) belongs to 7^th Day Adventists: 3.5 hours (although they were broken down by a Bible study session). The Methodist Church had a modest 2-hour service.

6)      There are no goats and sheep in this village! Apparently, there was a meeting one day to decide to prohibit these animals because they roam around and destroy the crops. I like baby goats, so I felt a bit at loss when I didn’t see them, but then when I saw big tomato bushes, okra plants and watermelons growing everywhere, I understood the rationale. The ‘No-goats’ rule rules.

7)      Most importantly, everyone here is super-cool! Maybe it’s because nobody called me ‘obroni’, or maybe it’s because I’m still a newbie in Africa, and everything seems great before a wave of blues crashes a bubble of isolated bliss.

We shall wait and see. So far, I’m happy to be chosen to live and work where I was chosen to live and work.

Another Photo Post

Briefly about current happenings: we are going through language proficiency testing. It's a bit nerve-wracking, but we should all pass. I'm learning Twi, which is one of the most popular languages in Ghana. On Sunday we are packing our bags and are heading for more training sessions to Kumasi and Tamale. We are also going to visit our sites where we will spend the next two years! Very exciting time indeed.

But now - more pics from Ghana!

My homestay sister Effia (her name means "born on Friday").

Cocoa pods.

Awesome tree (don't know its name, will need to find out).

On the way to the church. All ladies here are pretty stylish!

Old Presby Church where we do some of our training sessions.

Walls and posters. It's very moist around here, so all walls are moldy.

On the way to the local farm for tech. training. So far we learnt about grafting, budding, container gardening, organic fertilizers and pest control traps and how to handle pigs and rabbits.

Village scene. I buy snacks from those vendor ladies all the time. My favorites are cassava fried balls (taste like tater tots), bofrout (tastes like a semi-sweet donut), roasted ground-nuts (peanuts) and fried plantain chips.

Photo Post!

Ok, while I still have Interweb, I'm posting some pics from the first month in Ghana - hopefully they will be visible!

PC Ghana office sign in Accra. We went there to get numerous shots, get medical kits and paperwork for bank accounts, IDs, visas etc.

Sleepy drivers. Accra traffic can be brutal (or boring).

My home-stay Ghanaian mom, Madame Adweua! She named me Akuia Adwekuma (which means "born on Wednesday and named in honor of Adweua).

Sunset in our little village of Anyinasin. It gets dark here very early, at around 6pm (equator, baby!). After numerous hours of language and technical training (as well as a quick pint at a local spot), I go home, eat dinner, chat, do homework and go to bed at around 8pm.

Delicious lunch! Fish, joloff rice, salad, fruit and water.

Courtyard of my home-stay family compound. This door is for the bath-room (where I take my bucket bath).

My room.

Coconut water from its original source! Note a band-aid on my arm (from a shot).

Village street.

Local youth.