When God Says Jump, I say how High
Hey Everyone,
Hope all is going well. There is a lot to tell on my end and I don't real know where to start. If you want to see some pictures from our training visit www.flickr.com/peterdicampo . I don't think there is any of me per say, but they were all taken by another WATSAN volunteer who is into photography and has been to all the same places as me. Hopefully I will stop being lazy and take some soon, at least of my home-stay family and my site when I get there.
Things are great. Last night, we (The PCT's (Peace Corps Trainees)) celebrated Halloween (joined by a few PCT's). I really like almost everyone in my group and am starting to form really close friendships. I also met a few of the education volunteers who came in June (we are called OMNI-BUS and they are teachers). I don't know what omnibus actually means but it is composed of Watsan, SED (small enterprise development) and environment volunteers. The title of the email...well last night my friend Pete (who is also a New Englanda) came to the party dressed as a tro-tro (bus used for public transport) with that line written on it. In Ghana, people name their stores funny things and put odd slogans all over tro's and taxi's such as "I am covered in the blood of Jesus" or "lazy man gets no food." Then they usually have condom advertisements placed next to that which read "if it is not on, it's not in" and have a picture of a bus driving with a condom on it. These slogans are everywhere. Every store is named something funny.
They say everything in Ghana like they have a Boston accent. It's not really the same but if I tried to mimic both you would not be able to tell the difference. The women who sell pure water on their heads, walk around yelling pur wata. When my friend was getting wet on a tro, they told him to "ask the driva faw a dusta." A dusta is a rag or a duster. Cooler is coola. And if you don't say it like you're from Wawick, they will have no idea what you are talking about. I said water to a Ghanaian the other day, they had no idea what I was talking about, I spelled it out, and then they were like ohhhh you mean wata. It's interesting that I could make it 22 years in RI and be accent free and am going to come home from Ghana talking like I'm from Bawston.
Last week I went on "field trip" with the entire watsan (water, health, and sanitation group). Let me also say that PC (Peace Corps) is crazy about acronyms so please try to bare with me. The accommodations were interesting. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes and peed in the same place that I showered, but besides that all was well. We visited another watsan PCV at her site in the North. Because we were visiting at the end of Ramadan, we were able to celebrate Sala (the festival at the end of Ramadan) with her village. We prayed at the Mosque, almost slaughtered her goat Elvis but ended up not, watched her chief ride around on a horse (which was said to be dancing but was really being pushed around by a bunch of men) under a gold umbrella, and danced a lot. We also attended a Christian Mass which was amazing. They drum and dance for hours. The volunteer I visited went to church and mosque integrate into the community. She went later though because it was so long. The people in her community think it's weird that she goes to both church and mosque but don't mind cause really in general just think she's strange. Even though Ghanaians are very religious, they seem to have a lot of tolerance for other religions. As long as you are religious, they sort of see it in the end as all one God. I may do what this volunteer did and try to at least attend party of both. Their ceremonies were actually quite moving.
We also took part in a community football game (soccer in the US) and got killed by Ghanaian soccer players. In Ghana, they absolutely love football. At intermission, we presented a skit about hand washing. Later on, we also helped but together a community health bored. All in all it was a success, although I have to say that working on projects in a group of 15 is not really all that successful. Another funny thing about Ghana, breasts are all over the place. It is extremely scandalous to show your knee cap but completely appropriate to walk around topless. Because of this, many women wear veils covering their hair (especially in the north, Muslim area, when they are going to mosque) while showing their boobs. However, if you go running and you show your knee, the whole community will stare. It's an interesting concept from Western standards.
Things with my family are still good. They have been helping me learn Twi a lot. I can finally go up to Old Lady (which is a completely appropriate name as the elderly are revered here and is actually what she is called) in the morning and tell her completely in Twi that I am going jogging and will be back soon. That's another funny thing. Running. So Ghanaian's love to laugh. As explained by our Ghanaian trainers, laughing is a coping mechanism that has emerged in much of the developing world as a result of the circumstances that come in such places. Lot's of death, disease, and worry about where food and water will come from if at all. A lady in my village actually killed herself recently. I was there when everyone started screaming about how she took poison. They tried to take her to the hospital but she did not want to go. They accepted this, let her die, and moments later joined the party (the assembly man in the district had just won an election and all were celebrating on a party bus.) Another friend in my training groups host sister's baby died a few weeks ago. It was really sad.
So...when I go running it's always an adventure. For starters, Ghanaian people don't run so they are confused by the practice in general. People usual point and laugh so hard they are essentially rolling on the ground. Sometimes groups of people also run along with me for a short time. Old women on their way to farm even try to keep up. My host mother likes to imitate jogging and then my whole family laughs a lot. Sometimes they come up to me and start yelling Wo Brey, which means you are tired.
Obruni is my new name. In fact it is the name of all the trainees. It literally translates into "man from the horizon" and wherever you go in Ghana you will be called Obruni. Today, after Apartheid which through television made race an issue in Ghana) Obruni refers to anyone who is light skinned, even light skinned Ghanaians are called Obruni. It is not an insult, it is usually just a term used to get your attention because Ghanaians are generally interested in the foreigners. I literally have about 100 children run up to me everyday screaming, "Obruni what is your name" or "Obruni wo dinde sen," which is what is your name in Twi. Or you will get "Obruni, how are you."
Attention is not a problem for a foreigner here. I don't mind it and usually just respond by telling them my name. Once they know your name, they start yelling it every time you walk by instead of Obruni. Not greeting here is a crime. I once forgot to greet my friend Alison's host sister Ruth and Ruth told Allison that if I did not greet no one would help me ever, even if I was dieing in the road. I think this is an over exaggeration, but I still always TRY VERY HARD TO GREET. Marriage proposals are many. I have tried different methods of coping. I usually tell the men that I am going to have a huge competition with all of the men in Ghana who want to be my husband, they have to do all the cooking, all the cleaning, and I will only marry the one that makes the best fufuo (mashed yam, cassava, and plantain...the main staple of the Ghanaian diet, which we are generally not fed because our host families don't think we're ready). Either that, or I say I already have too many husbands and they can marry me but they will be number 30. Generally, this makes them laugh a lot and they stop bothering me. I have learned such mechanisms through the advice of other female volunteers. Again Ghanaian's love to laugh and so you can generally turn every situation into a joke.
I gave a presentation today in my village on Cleaning ones Latrine. It was part of my SCOPE project for training. I honestly can't tell you want SCOPE means, but it is basically just putting together a presentation on any subject and presenting it at any venue. We went to the Pentecost Church. Overall, it was really successful. Everyone was very attentive and interested and they asked lots of questions It's really easy to captivate an audience here. In the US (I am only speaking on schools in areas of higher income) we have so many tools in the classroom that we almost sometimes take education for granted. The Ghanaian trainers struggle with this as well in trying to train Americans. Here, those who go to school are lucky if the teacher even shows up and so they are so much more grateful and attentive from what I have seen. It makes my job a lot easier.
I am really excited to go to sight. I will be meeting my Ghanaian counterpart in a few weeks and going on site visit for five days. All of the current volunteers and us trainees from the eastern region are going to meet at the bead market on Tuesday and hang out. I have heard my counterpart is wonderful and will have the option of eating with him and his family every night. I think I may take it. A lot of my work is going to be with the women in the village which I am so excited about. I am going to help out on baby weighing days. These are days in which the women and bring their babies to the clinic to be weighed once a week. If the babies are underweight, the women are given formula. It's quite the too do and all the women get dressed up for it. I don't have a partner NGO as many of my volunteers do, so it seems like a lot of my work will be really self-motivated and grass roots, however, I have heard that the nurses who run the clinic are quit wonderful to work with. I am sure they will give me many ideas. I am also going to have to get creative. I think it will be good.
I spend a good amount of time talking with my host Dad because his English is so good. He helps me a lot with my homework. We have gotten onto some pretty serious topics like racial segregation in America and such. He went to Germany once and experienced some pretty serious racism there. He's really wonderful and was very concerned when he heard that my mom and step-dad are marine biologists because he thought that was dangerous, being out on the ocean every day and all.
Some of the environment volunteers went to my region for the "field trip." They all came back and told me to "get excited" because I am going to be living somewhere so beautiful. Rolling mountains, waterfalls, tons of trees, etc. I am also lucky because I have access to fresh fruits and vegetables all year round. This is not true in the much hotter and dryer north.
I have also come to prefer bucket bathing to a regular VERY COLD shower. A hot bucket bath right before bed is about the greatest thing ever. Me pe bakiti dware. I like the bucket bath. It's amazing, you can fully bathe in half a bucket of water and be really clean. It's amazing how much water a shower at home wastes.
Well anyways, I will stop rambling. I guess I am just excited about a lot. I hope everyone is well. It's always nice leaving because I think it helps you remember and appreciate all of your loved ones at home. I appreciate all the emails and letters very much. I may try to write letters more often because it is less expensive and their is no clock. I hate writing people personally while trying to rush to save some cedis. Ya know. So please forward along your addresses to me, and I will write you letters, fulling expecting you to send something back :).
Love,
Alexis
Hope all is going well. There is a lot to tell on my end and I don't real know where to start. If you want to see some pictures from our training visit www.flickr.com/peterdicampo . I don't think there is any of me per say, but they were all taken by another WATSAN volunteer who is into photography and has been to all the same places as me. Hopefully I will stop being lazy and take some soon, at least of my home-stay family and my site when I get there.
Things are great. Last night, we (The PCT's (Peace Corps Trainees)) celebrated Halloween (joined by a few PCT's). I really like almost everyone in my group and am starting to form really close friendships. I also met a few of the education volunteers who came in June (we are called OMNI-BUS and they are teachers). I don't know what omnibus actually means but it is composed of Watsan, SED (small enterprise development) and environment volunteers. The title of the email...well last night my friend Pete (who is also a New Englanda) came to the party dressed as a tro-tro (bus used for public transport) with that line written on it. In Ghana, people name their stores funny things and put odd slogans all over tro's and taxi's such as "I am covered in the blood of Jesus" or "lazy man gets no food." Then they usually have condom advertisements placed next to that which read "if it is not on, it's not in" and have a picture of a bus driving with a condom on it. These slogans are everywhere. Every store is named something funny.
They say everything in Ghana like they have a Boston accent. It's not really the same but if I tried to mimic both you would not be able to tell the difference. The women who sell pure water on their heads, walk around yelling pur wata. When my friend was getting wet on a tro, they told him to "ask the driva faw a dusta." A dusta is a rag or a duster. Cooler is coola. And if you don't say it like you're from Wawick, they will have no idea what you are talking about. I said water to a Ghanaian the other day, they had no idea what I was talking about, I spelled it out, and then they were like ohhhh you mean wata. It's interesting that I could make it 22 years in RI and be accent free and am going to come home from Ghana talking like I'm from Bawston.
Last week I went on "field trip" with the entire watsan (water, health, and sanitation group). Let me also say that PC (Peace Corps) is crazy about acronyms so please try to bare with me. The accommodations were interesting. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes and peed in the same place that I showered, but besides that all was well. We visited another watsan PCV at her site in the North. Because we were visiting at the end of Ramadan, we were able to celebrate Sala (the festival at the end of Ramadan) with her village. We prayed at the Mosque, almost slaughtered her goat Elvis but ended up not, watched her chief ride around on a horse (which was said to be dancing but was really being pushed around by a bunch of men) under a gold umbrella, and danced a lot. We also attended a Christian Mass which was amazing. They drum and dance for hours. The volunteer I visited went to church and mosque integrate into the community. She went later though because it was so long. The people in her community think it's weird that she goes to both church and mosque but don't mind cause really in general just think she's strange. Even though Ghanaians are very religious, they seem to have a lot of tolerance for other religions. As long as you are religious, they sort of see it in the end as all one God. I may do what this volunteer did and try to at least attend party of both. Their ceremonies were actually quite moving.
We also took part in a community football game (soccer in the US) and got killed by Ghanaian soccer players. In Ghana, they absolutely love football. At intermission, we presented a skit about hand washing. Later on, we also helped but together a community health bored. All in all it was a success, although I have to say that working on projects in a group of 15 is not really all that successful. Another funny thing about Ghana, breasts are all over the place. It is extremely scandalous to show your knee cap but completely appropriate to walk around topless. Because of this, many women wear veils covering their hair (especially in the north, Muslim area, when they are going to mosque) while showing their boobs. However, if you go running and you show your knee, the whole community will stare. It's an interesting concept from Western standards.
Things with my family are still good. They have been helping me learn Twi a lot. I can finally go up to Old Lady (which is a completely appropriate name as the elderly are revered here and is actually what she is called) in the morning and tell her completely in Twi that I am going jogging and will be back soon. That's another funny thing. Running. So Ghanaian's love to laugh. As explained by our Ghanaian trainers, laughing is a coping mechanism that has emerged in much of the developing world as a result of the circumstances that come in such places. Lot's of death, disease, and worry about where food and water will come from if at all. A lady in my village actually killed herself recently. I was there when everyone started screaming about how she took poison. They tried to take her to the hospital but she did not want to go. They accepted this, let her die, and moments later joined the party (the assembly man in the district had just won an election and all were celebrating on a party bus.) Another friend in my training groups host sister's baby died a few weeks ago. It was really sad.
So...when I go running it's always an adventure. For starters, Ghanaian people don't run so they are confused by the practice in general. People usual point and laugh so hard they are essentially rolling on the ground. Sometimes groups of people also run along with me for a short time. Old women on their way to farm even try to keep up. My host mother likes to imitate jogging and then my whole family laughs a lot. Sometimes they come up to me and start yelling Wo Brey, which means you are tired.
Obruni is my new name. In fact it is the name of all the trainees. It literally translates into "man from the horizon" and wherever you go in Ghana you will be called Obruni. Today, after Apartheid which through television made race an issue in Ghana) Obruni refers to anyone who is light skinned, even light skinned Ghanaians are called Obruni. It is not an insult, it is usually just a term used to get your attention because Ghanaians are generally interested in the foreigners. I literally have about 100 children run up to me everyday screaming, "Obruni what is your name" or "Obruni wo dinde sen," which is what is your name in Twi. Or you will get "Obruni, how are you."
Attention is not a problem for a foreigner here. I don't mind it and usually just respond by telling them my name. Once they know your name, they start yelling it every time you walk by instead of Obruni. Not greeting here is a crime. I once forgot to greet my friend Alison's host sister Ruth and Ruth told Allison that if I did not greet no one would help me ever, even if I was dieing in the road. I think this is an over exaggeration, but I still always TRY VERY HARD TO GREET. Marriage proposals are many. I have tried different methods of coping. I usually tell the men that I am going to have a huge competition with all of the men in Ghana who want to be my husband, they have to do all the cooking, all the cleaning, and I will only marry the one that makes the best fufuo (mashed yam, cassava, and plantain...the main staple of the Ghanaian diet, which we are generally not fed because our host families don't think we're ready). Either that, or I say I already have too many husbands and they can marry me but they will be number 30. Generally, this makes them laugh a lot and they stop bothering me. I have learned such mechanisms through the advice of other female volunteers. Again Ghanaian's love to laugh and so you can generally turn every situation into a joke.
I gave a presentation today in my village on Cleaning ones Latrine. It was part of my SCOPE project for training. I honestly can't tell you want SCOPE means, but it is basically just putting together a presentation on any subject and presenting it at any venue. We went to the Pentecost Church. Overall, it was really successful. Everyone was very attentive and interested and they asked lots of questions It's really easy to captivate an audience here. In the US (I am only speaking on schools in areas of higher income) we have so many tools in the classroom that we almost sometimes take education for granted. The Ghanaian trainers struggle with this as well in trying to train Americans. Here, those who go to school are lucky if the teacher even shows up and so they are so much more grateful and attentive from what I have seen. It makes my job a lot easier.
I am really excited to go to sight. I will be meeting my Ghanaian counterpart in a few weeks and going on site visit for five days. All of the current volunteers and us trainees from the eastern region are going to meet at the bead market on Tuesday and hang out. I have heard my counterpart is wonderful and will have the option of eating with him and his family every night. I think I may take it. A lot of my work is going to be with the women in the village which I am so excited about. I am going to help out on baby weighing days. These are days in which the women and bring their babies to the clinic to be weighed once a week. If the babies are underweight, the women are given formula. It's quite the too do and all the women get dressed up for it. I don't have a partner NGO as many of my volunteers do, so it seems like a lot of my work will be really self-motivated and grass roots, however, I have heard that the nurses who run the clinic are quit wonderful to work with. I am sure they will give me many ideas. I am also going to have to get creative. I think it will be good.
I spend a good amount of time talking with my host Dad because his English is so good. He helps me a lot with my homework. We have gotten onto some pretty serious topics like racial segregation in America and such. He went to Germany once and experienced some pretty serious racism there. He's really wonderful and was very concerned when he heard that my mom and step-dad are marine biologists because he thought that was dangerous, being out on the ocean every day and all.
Some of the environment volunteers went to my region for the "field trip." They all came back and told me to "get excited" because I am going to be living somewhere so beautiful. Rolling mountains, waterfalls, tons of trees, etc. I am also lucky because I have access to fresh fruits and vegetables all year round. This is not true in the much hotter and dryer north.
I have also come to prefer bucket bathing to a regular VERY COLD shower. A hot bucket bath right before bed is about the greatest thing ever. Me pe bakiti dware. I like the bucket bath. It's amazing, you can fully bathe in half a bucket of water and be really clean. It's amazing how much water a shower at home wastes.
Well anyways, I will stop rambling. I guess I am just excited about a lot. I hope everyone is well. It's always nice leaving because I think it helps you remember and appreciate all of your loved ones at home. I appreciate all the emails and letters very much. I may try to write letters more often because it is less expensive and their is no clock. I hate writing people personally while trying to rush to save some cedis. Ya know. So please forward along your addresses to me, and I will write you letters, fulling expecting you to send something back :).
Love,
Alexis
posted by Alexis In Ghana at 3:12 AM
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