Peace(corp)ing out: Day 39

After site visit 9 of us met at TSO (a sub-office of the Peace Corps) and left to help current PCV’s for a 2 day HIV/AIDS event. It was SO much fun meeting other PCV’s and getting to hang out with everybody else. I really needed a little recharge time after site visit.

The first day we went to a primary school (Kindergarten-6) and split up into different groups for different lectures. I worked with the hilarious Texan Barbara with the kindergarteners. We tried to explain to them that they should not play with razor blades, open cans, or syringe. With a huge language barrier it was difficult to get the point across, even using pictures. Barbara and I did a short skit though that hopefully helped get the point across! Universal fact though, “Head shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes” is a huge hit for all children.

It was definitely an eye opener seeing the huge student to teacher ratio. I can’t even articulate how it was to see how life could be so different being born here. It’s such a strange pseudo feeling... knowing that these people’s lives go on whether I’m there or not. Sometimes I feel like I’m looking through a window. Maybe because I feel like a stranger, but hopefully I’ll gain enough confidence to say that this is my home and be able to get into the midst of everything emotionally.

The second day we threw a fair type event. Relay races (wheelbarrow race, three legged race, and potato sack hop race), water balloon toss, limbo, cornhole, and “the bread game.” The bread game is a game where we tie bread on a string and dangle it from a tree limb. Then it’s a race to see what child can eat the bread the fastest without using their hands. Cornhole was awesomely improvised out of sticks and cardboard. Then we had a super fun dance party where every kid broke it down, Ghanaian style! Don’t be worried when all the children surround you and then just stare at you, the only non-African trying to dance.

It was so awesome eating American style food (spaghetti, stir fry, and potato soup) again. We ended with awesome brownies with Hersey’s chocolate syrup for Dawns birthday. Delish! Huge shout out for the awesome PCV for allowing us to use her home and getting us accommodations for the 2 days (3 nights) we were there.

With the conclusion of the HIV/AIDS event we all got on a trotro (with the help of our PCV’s) and headed out for Techiman for the beginning of technical training. This was a hilarious travel story. The tro we took from Tamale to Techiman (about a 6/7 hour ride)had a huge hole in the roof of the car. Not uncommon and none of us thought anything of it, until it started raining. The windows were leaking along with the ceiling. In retrospect it was really funny. The scattering of people to the far reaches of the tro (holding about 40 or 50 people inside) will always be a fond memory. Luckily about 5 people got off the tro before the rain happened otherwise there would have been no movement anywhere. All cars are always packed to ridiculous portions here in Ghana. The first tro we took for the day was filled beyond capacity. The driver told this mother to put her two children in her lap because they were small. They were like normal 5^th grader sized kids. Then the PCV we had sat with her legs aimed at the crotch of the ticket boy who had to sit spread eagle facing all of us. (Note: The two tro's were different sizes)

Once reaching Techiman we got reunited with everybody and that was super fun. Had a few beers and heard tons of fun stories. Lots of latrine stories haha.

Then today we learned and saw how to process the Moringa tree leaves into soap, cream, or powder. Moringa trees are the miracle trees of Ghana. They’re packed with all kinds of nutrients and healing properties. It was really cool learning all about the plant.