Back in the USA

After 20 some hours of traveling, including a 2 hour delay at the check-in line in Accra because of a computer malfunction, I finally landed on time in Roanoke yesterday afternoon around 12:30. I was in bed by 7 last night and slept off the jet lag until about 7 this morning. My sleep schedule is still messed up, but at least now I'm rested and able to start reflecting a little about my time abroad. For now, I have the pictures uploaded on my computer and can finally post some here...

Lower Wli Waterfall

My group at the summit of Afadjato Mountain


Okra Soup with Koffie and Enoch

Break time at Suzzy Mothercare

School photo (Momma Suzzy is on the left. Classrooms are on the right. They are wearing their gym uniforms because it was P.E. day)

The street on the way from the home base to the middle of town

At the waterfalls near Mountain Paradise

Looking forward to talking to everyone soon!

Winding down

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately. A lot of the volunteers that I arrived with on June 5 left this weekend, so the group of people I've become closest with here is beginning to dwindle. Both the guys that I shared a room with left, and now I have a 4-person room to myself. I has its advantages, such as 2 fans aimed directly on me at night and more privacy, but I miss the comradeship. The other members of my group that haven't left yet went to Accra (Ghana's capital and largest city) this weekend, but I decided to stay at home. On Friday night I went alone with Koffie and Enoch (Ghanaians I met here) to Mountain Paradise Lodge, just about an hour from Hohoe. We wanted to go and camp for the night, but it was too rainy so we stayed in a room in the lodge. On Saturday we went on a hike right on the grounds to a set of small-ish waterfalls (although they looked fine to me based on what I've seen in the US). The hike was relatively mild, until just before the waterhole there was a 20-foot "cliff" that we had to repel down with a rope (of course without harness). I haven't done a lot of climbing so I was pretty terrified, but I made it down just fine. (Interestingly, the climb back up was much easier, perhaps it was the fear of heights looking down that made it seem so impossible.) The waterfall cascaded down the rocks into a small waterhole, surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs which made for a cozy, cave-like environment. It was also deep enough to actually swim in, which was enough to make it the favorite of waterfalls I've been to here. We played around in the water for awhile, then hiked back to the lodge and waited for the rain to stop before walking back down the mountain and catching a tro-tro back to Hohoe. I spent the rest of the day and all day Sunday lying around and reading, as I've been slowed down a little by a cold. Thankfully, I feel better now.

This morning I returned to placement as usual, and surprisingly it was a pretty low-stress day--usually this is not the case for Mondays. Fridays are always the best, because I choose to take it easy and just do fun things like storybooks, coloring, and games. They love dividing into 2 teams and competing against one another. On Friday I tried a new game to work on number recognition, and it got so intense that one boy cried when his team lost. Teammates also started putting each other down when one answered a question wrong. I was reminded that sometimes moral education must be put ahead of numbers and spelling, and I reprimanded the aggressors and tried to explain the importance of supporting teammates. Eventually I decided to stop the game early and let them color, which cheered everyone up. I brought my camera to school for the first time that day, which made for a great time during break. All the kids love to have their pictures taken, and as soon as the camera comes out they start excitedly posing for pictures. Sometimes I tried to take a picture of a couple kids, but a few more kids would try to jump in the frame, and before too long half the school was jumping around in front of my camera. I also took a few movies of the games they play and the songs they sing. They're really great--hopefully I can get them up here when I get home. The word that comes to mind to describe break time that day: joyous.

Today begins my last week of living in Ghana. It's truly hard to believe that the time has gone by so fast and that it's almost time to adjust my mindset back to life at home. For the first time I'm beginning to feel somewhat ready to leave; I think that I'm probably unconsciously protecting myself from the pains of leaving and the culture shock I'm sure to experience upon returning home by desiring to return to my normal life. I can't help but think that "normal" life might not be so normal anymore--it might not be quite the same as it has been, having experienced all that I have here. And I hope mightily that it won't be quite the same. What a disappointment it would be if in a month I found myself in the life just as I lived it before I left for this trip, as if this 6 week experience was erased away altogether. But I have a strong faith that I will not be disappointed. While I do think that there will be some adjustment back to the reality of life at home, I think that some of the experiences I've had and the person I've become here will integrate with myself at home and create a new reality of life for me. I'm excited to see what that life brings for the future.

I hear the heat is breaking records back home--apparently we sent it your way because it's been much cooler here, there have even been a few times that I wouldn't mind wearing a jacket! Now it's your turn to be jealous of my weather. Maybe the temp will return to normal there just in time for my arrival. If I don't have a chance to post again before I leave Friday, thanks so much for reading about my journey. I'll get some pics up soon!

Happy Independence Day(s)

I know it's a little late to be saying that, so I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! It turns out that Ghana shares its Independence Day with Canada, July 1st. So I've been busy celebrating the birth of nations all week. Ghana is quite a bit younger than the US, at only a little over 50 years old. There wasn't a big fuss about it here--no parades, no fireworks, no cook-outs. The schools were closed, however, so Shawn (a friend from CCS), Koffie (a Ghanaian friend) and I decided to take a day trip to Ho, a nearby city about 2 hours away. We took a tro-tro, which are notorious for being known by visitors to Ghana as both uncomfortable and terrifying to ride in. They are vans that fit about 12 passengers on hard seats with far too little leg room. On the way there, my seat was loose and I rocked back and forth the whole way. On the way back, we dropped off and picked up travelers along the way, and at one point we were crammed in 4 to a row. It was worth it though--Ho was a really nice city to visit. Bigger than Hohoe, it actually boasted sidewalks, covered drainage culverts along the streets, and traffic lights! It was a more picturesque city as well--trees lined the streets, for example. We went to the Volta Region museum, which was small but interesting. They had artifacts from the region, including tribal swords and thrones, traditional drums and musical instruments, and artwork from and about the area. Koffie grew up in Ho, so he showed us around town. He asked if we wanted to see the soccer stadium, which he said we big. As it turns out it was scarcely larger than my high school football stadium. Afterwards, we walked a ways along the streets of the city to the market, which was similar to Hohoe's, just larger. They have everything at the markets, from meats and produce to clothing and electronics. They are covered and dark, and a little intimidating with all the people around, but they have some cool stuff there. From the market, we took the tro-tro back to Hohoe.

For American Independence Day, we took a hike up to the upper Wli Waterfalls. I'd already been to the lower falls, it's an easy 45-minute walk through the rainforest on generally flat ground. The hike to the upper falls is quite a bit more rigorous. It's as vertical as the Afadjato mountain hike I did my second week here, longer, and requires a little bit of climbing up rock faces. On the way I could occasionally catch a glimpse of the two sections of waterfalls together, upper cascading down the rocks to the lower, reminding me of the prize at the end of the exhausting hike. When we reached the pool at the bottom of the upper falls, I went from being nearly the hottest I've been here to the coolest. The temperature fell tremendously and the wind coming from the rushing water could almost knock you down. Despite the temperature, I still swam out into the pool and climbed the rocks at the bottom to sit under the water falling down from the peak of the mountain overhead, which serves as the border with Togo. The hike back down was pretty tough as well, mostly because my legs were tired and I had to take care not to slip on a rock and fall down the side of the mountain to my certain death. I'm definitely happy to say that I've seen all of the famous Wli Waterfalls.

On the ride back, we stopped on the side of the road for firewood, which we strapped to the top of the van. Just after arriving back at the home base, we went out into town in search of hot dogs. We stopped at a frozen foods place--they usually sell frozen chicken, beef, and other local meats, but we asked for sausage. She took us behind the shack through the alley and to someone's home. Just when we thought maybe we'd asked the wrong question, she came back out with a package of hot dogs. The label revealed that they were chicken franks, but we still bought 2 packages of 10 each. After a successful trip, we arrived back at the home base and began arranging the firewood in the front yard to build our bonfire. We lit the fire after a while with the help of some gasoline. For a couple hours a few of us sat around the fire, cooked hot dogs, and even improvised smores with marshmellow cookies (like moon pies) and "biscuits" (sweet crackers). Some people played the drums they'd bought. It was a good American 4th of July celebration all the way in Africa.

My volunteer placement at Suzzy Mothercare continues to go well. I always aim to write more about it, but I end up taking up all my time talking about the stuff I don't do almost every day. More and more lately, the teacher has been leaving the class to myself. I often teach the whole day, with him just comining in and out sporatically. I have no idea where he goes or what he does, but in my experience it's common for teachers to do that here. I've been using various methods to teach mostly addition and English spelling and reading, and I've been happy to see some progress in the students. I discovered early on that they don't know what sound each letter represents, making it tough for them to spell and read (again, they always rely on memorization). I'm trying to teach that, but it's proven to be a laborious process. They love it when I read stories, so I usually reward them for good behavior with that. The kids are great; it will be really hard to leave them in a couple weeks. It will be a long time before I get that much attention and love all the time. On Friday I had them make Ghana flags and signs for the football game, which they loved. Unfortunately I guess they didn't cheer hard enough like I'd asked them to, because Ghana fell in an exciting game to Uruguay which went to penalty kicks. If you didn't hear about it look up the game recap on ESPN or something, it was a great game.

That was a long post--if you made it through thanks for reading! Take care, everyone!

T.I.A. - This is Africa

"T.I.A." is an acronym that was introduced to us by the CCS staff and is used a lot by the volunteers to refer to things that might be unusual, bizarre, or shocking back home, but are commonplace here. For instance, when the power goes out, our supply of running water is cut off (as it has been since last weekend--we've been taking "bucket showers" for a week), or someone arrives 30 minutes late for an appointment without apology because we're on "Africa time", we might shrug our shoulders and say, "T.I.A.". Well, I have a pretty good TIA story to share about myself.

A couple of weeks ago I was outside the home base talking on my cell phone (which I purchased here) with my Mom. I was standing on a large concrete block only a few feet from the house, filling her in on everything that I'd been doing, when I suddenly felt the ground break apart under my feet and felt myself falling down. Fortunately, for some reason my instinctual reaction was to stick my elbows out, so I caught myself on two concrete blocks, each beside the one that had just shattered under my weight. After a moment to collect myself, and figure out what had just happened, I realized that not only was I immersed in some liquid up to my knees, but I was also still holding the phone to my ear. I told Mom to hold on a second (I can't imagine what she was thinking at this point) and struggled to pull myself out of what I soon began to realize was a tank filled with not-so-clean water. I eventually put the pieces together--I'd fallen into the septic tank. One of the staff members hurried over to check on me and asked if I was okay. My response--"Alpha, that water is very dirty isn't it?" He responded, "Yes, Patrick, it is very, very dirty." I walked off in a daze to the shower, thinking about all the diseases I might catch.

As it turns out, something did come of the incident. Last weekend, the bottom of foot started itching very intensely. On a quick examination of it, I thought it must be a series of bug bites arranged in a line. By Sunday, it looked as if more bug bites were developing, and it was changing shapes. Last Monday, I had one of the staff members look at it. "Oh, that looks like a worm," he said. I said okay, and asked what we should do about it. He had someone take me to the pharmacist, who diagnosed it as "larvae migrans"--a migrating worm. As I discovered online, apparently it is a parasitic worm that burrows into the skin and then moves around as it grows, but it is not seriously harmful unless left untreated. She gave me 3 doses of pills to be taken once a day for the next three days. No prescription necessary. Two days later the itching was gone (meaning the medicine had worked and the worm was dead), and by this weekend so was the raised red mark in the shape of a haphazardly moving worm. For me, having a living worm under the skin of my foot is not something I'm used to. For everyone here, it was typical. I guess all I can say is TIA.

What else is going on here? I decided to stay in Hohoe this weekend instead of traveling. It was still eventful, and I'm really glad I did. Yesterday I was invited by a friend I met here to have lunch. We went to the market together and bought all of the fresh ingredients for Banku and Okra Soup. I wish I could say what all was in the soup, but I'm really not sure other than okra, smoked salmon (purchased already cooked and just sitting out at the market--I have no idea how I didn't get sick), garden eggs, some kind of greens, and various spices. As for the banku, it's hard to explain but it has the consistency of dough and tastes pretty plain. We went back to one of their one-room apartments and all of us prepared the meal together. All that was necessary was a stove and a small table for chopping. When the food was ready, we put it in two dishes on a table, and we all ate with our hands out of communal bowls, by gathering some banku in the right hand and dipping it in the soup. They all treated it like a feast, and I felt like the honorary guest. It was an incredible experience, even though I could hardly stomach the food because of the taste of the fish. One of them kept egging me on to eat more. He wanted to see my belly get very fat. The others were more compassionate--"It's his first time" they said to the other guy. One of the coolest things I've done here yet.

Last night we went out to watch the Ghana vs. USA game. It was a win-win for me, but I'm glad Ghana won. We walked back through the massive, city-wide celebration. It was hard to make our way through the crowds of people dancing, singing, drumming, parading. I've never seen anything like it. They play again on Friday--we'll hope for another good outcome.

I had so much more to write about last week, but unfortunately I have to go now. I'll catch up next time--until then, take care!

More weekend travels

Greetings once again from Hohoe, a place from which I was absent again for a couple days this weekend. Our group of 11 decided to make the relatively long drive to Cape Coast this weekend and stay at a resort called Coconut Grove. Despite the van being air conditioned, the ride was as intolerable as always--an 8 hour drive, about 2 of which were spent in congestion surrounding the capital city of Accra. We did make a pit stop at the mall there for dinner, which was a welcomed dose of Western culture in the midst of Africa. I ordered a chesseburger and got a fried chicken patty with cheese--apparently a beef burger was too much of a stretch towards American. I didn't mind though, I've only been here 2 weeks and would feel ridiculous for not being able to go longer without a burger, so beyond my control the streak of non-American food continues. We arrived at the resort around 5 or 6 and had a bite to eat there and a quick walk on the beach. The beaches were beautiful: lined with palm trees and untouched by human hands, but there were huge rocks just into the shore, making swimming impossible. Anyway, we woke up Saturday morning and drove to a natural reserve nearby for a canopy walk, one of the few in the world (according to the guide). We walked on suspended wooden and rope bridges between giant trees which jutted out of the roof of the rain forest below. I think he said at the highest point it is 60 meters above the ground, but I can't remember for sure. I do know that he said it used to be higher but too many people said it was too high so they lowered it. In my experience, think it's high enough as is.
Later that day I watched Ghana play Australia in the world cup back at the hotel. Much to everyone's dismay Australia struck first, but when Ghana tied the game the celebration was almost like Wake beating Duke in basketball, except far fewer people. But they were that excited. And it wasn't even the end of the game. They ended up in a draw in the end--I can't imagine what I would have seen had they won.
We woke up the next morning and drove to Cape Coast Castle. It was originally a tiny fort built by the Swedes in the 16th century (I think), but after it was captured by England it was gradually transformed into a vast, imposing castle. Its most infamous, and tragic use was for trading and holding slaves before they were loaded into ships like cargo and sent to the New World. I stood in the dungeons where thousands of Africans perished from starvation and sickness before even seeing the decks of the ships. I walked through the wooden gate dubbed "the door of no return" where slaves exited the castle--and their motherland of Africa--to be sent to America, never to return. A placard is posted above the door on the exterior side that reads "the door of return", symbolizing the end of slavery and the freedom for those who wish to return to Africa. Needless to say, it was all really powerful stuff. My only complaint is that the tour was too long--I think it just become too much to take in all at once.
It's hard to believe that I'm already in my 3rd week here. This weekend, some of the volunteers I arrived with are leaving. When I signed up for this trip I thought 3 weeks seemed like a long time, and 6 like a lifetime. But now I think even 6 weeks will fly by. I'm glad to be staying that long. Of course it will be great to see everyone when I get back. Hope you're all doing well!

Wli Waterfalls, Lake Volta, and Afadjato Mountain

Hello again from Ghana! Since I last posted I've been busy exploring the country. The car rides are always intense--the roads are not exactly in great repair (biggest and most numerous potholes I've ever seen) and the cars people drive here are not built for the conditions. We usually take a van without air conditioning and cram about 14 people in it. The seats might as well be bare metal. BUT--when we reach our destinations it's always completely worth the ride. Last week we took a trip to the Wli waterfalls, from what I've told the tallest in West Africa. It was an easy 45 minute hike to the waterfalls, during which we passed over 7 different rivers. It's a really cool experience to walk through the jungle here. For those of you that are familiar I often feel like I'm a character in "Lost". Everything is just a little different than the woods back home: the plants and trees look tropical, the bugs are bigger, and the weather is hotter. The waterfall itself was stunning--it was a stream of water that dropped straight down the height of a small skyscraper to a large water hole at the bottom. We swam in it, and some of us stood right under the falling water (of course I had to do that).
Since we don't volunteer on the weekends they are free time, so our group decided to go to Lake Volta last weekend. We took a two hour ride to our hotel for the stay. I expected a Holiday Inn, but the Afrikiko was more like a resort minus the amenities. No little soaps in the rooms, no room service, no workout facility. But they had air conditioning, a pool, beautiful grounds, and a setting right on the Lake. We spent the weekend mostly relaxing. On Saturday night we went to another hotel for dinner, and then to the disco afterwards. Interesting experience in so many ways.
Yesterday morning instead of going to our volunteer placements we drove to Afadjato mountain, which they tell us is the tallest in Ghana. I was definitely not prepared for how intense the hike was. It only took an hour, but it was about 850 meters vertical, which I'm not accustomed to. The view from the top was incredible though--360 degree view standing from one point. I took some great pictures that I'll have when I get back. Although I couldn't sleep on the treacherous ride, I took a nap when I got back.
Briefly other things going on:
World Cup! Ghana won its first game, so everyone here is really excited. The whole town seems to watch all the matches--people even bought TVs and put them up in or in front of their shops on the street just for the World Cup.
Rain. Almost every afternoon it rains HARD for at least an hour straight. These are the kind of storms that might go on for like 5 or 10 minutes back home, but they last forever here. Today I was in town when the rain hit, so someone invited me into his shop for shelter until I could flag down a cab to get home.
Power outages. With the rain often comes widespread blackouts. The power is usually restored in a few hours, but a couple days ago we had to sleep through the night without fans because the power was out and our generator wasn't working. Not the most comfortable night I've had, and showering in the dark did prove very difficult.
My volunteering continues to go well. It's still really hard work--I appreciate elementary school teachers more than I ever had. After a few hours of teaching I feel exhausted, every day. But the kids are great, and the work makes me feel really fulfilled.
It's almost 9 here so It's time for me to make the walk back to the home base. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the "warm" weather back home.

My first days

Hey all! I survived the trip safe and sound, and now it's my 5th day in Hohoe. The first few days have been a blur, but I've enjoyed almost every minute of it. It's hard to know where to start. The people are so friendly and welcoming that it's hard to believe. We truly stand out in the town: I've only seen one other group of Yevu (white person), and the town is not as small as I expected. The streets are lined for miles with shops housed in open-air shacks, and it is very busy with taxis, pedestrians, bikes, and mopeds during the day. Yet we are welcomed generously by complete strangers that we meet. My fellow volunteers are all good people as well. I think we'll have some good times together.
It's hard to even explain how hot it is here; a day does not pass that I am completely soaked in sweat at some point, and it is usually the majority of the time. It often rains hard in the afternoons and evenings, which brings much-needed relief from the heat. Surprisingly, most nights I've slept well. We have some serious fans in the bedrooms which provide a breeze that keeps it just cool enough.
Enough of the mundane details--let's get to the exciting stuff. My first day at my volunteer placement was a surreal experience. One other volunteer and I were dropped off from a taxi on the side of a street. A CCS employee led us through an alley and to the back of one of the wooden "shacks" as I call them that line the streets. We walked through a small wooden gate and to a corridor between an enclosed building and a long open-air "pavilion", which I began to realize composed the tiny "quadrangle" of the school. Out from one of the classrooms (which are really just areas of the open-air structure sectioned off by nothing but wooden blackboards) came Momma Suzzy, the founder of the school. With a beaming smile she hugged us and thanked us generously for "coming all the way from America to teach her children". We talked for a moment, and then walked out to see the children in their uniforms marching to the beat of the drums to their classrooms, singing hymns, as they do everyday. Suzzy ushered me into the 1st grade room, full of about 15 students. For the first day I observed the teacher, and my only contribution was to introduce myself and show some pictures. Since then, I've split time teaching with the Fred, the teacher, and occasionally stepped in to teach other classes. It's very challenging work. Not only do me and the children not understand each other very well, the education style here creates another hurdle. They are mostly taught through memorization. Trying to teach concepts is difficult, but I am determined to teach that way, as I think it is the only way to truly learn. It has been overwhelmingly fun and rewarding. 15 first-graders can get somewhat crazy, but they are good, loving kids and they can always bring a smile to my face. Recess is probably the funniest thing. Dresses and shirts come off, the playground becomes a toilet, everyone is running around chaotically, and without warning a group of like 10 of them will run over and start climbing all over me. Pretty funny.
Yesterday we walked to the Wli waterfalls--the tallest in western Africa--and swam in the waterhole at the bottom. It was phenomenal. I wish you could see what I saw, but unfortunately the connection here in the sole internet cafe in town is too slow to upload pictures. If I take a really great picture I'll try to upload it, but it might take up to an hour if it works at all. If you want to see you might have to wait until I get back home.
This weekend the new volunteers are going to Lake Volta, a large lake about 2 hours away. It promises to be a good time; we'll have air conditioning and warm showers! Hopefully we'll make some good stories for me to tell about.
Thanks for reading and take care..the day is good!