What have I been doing the past 5 months? A lot.

Back in January and February I began contacting all kinds of borehole people to ask for their help in getting a borehole installed for Yapalsi so we could all have clean water to drink. All information about this can be found at www.youtube.com/user/DianaHsieh1

I spent a lot of time running around my backyard (miles and miles into my backyard, also known as, the bush) hunting for different animals to accompany my family and my own evening meals. I had it in my head I was going to catch a rabbit one day. The best I ever did was a bush mouse.

  

There was a random week I spent translating for a Chinese man who had been living in the town I go to to buy groceries (Savelugu). He had been living there for almost two weeks and spoke only Chinese. He had there to assemble a machine that a Ghanian man had bought to make soda products. Apparently there had been a language barrier between Dagbanli and Chinese. Enter 3 Ghanian men at my house in Yapalsi at 7pm at night. They came and asked for my services and I vainly hoped that they were confused and it was actually a Japanese man that was here. But they were correct and it was a Chinese mandarin speaking man there. So I spent a week being driven to my market town and I learned a lot about how soda is made. Did you guys know that soda bottles come in little test tube looking things that hot air will be blown into it to shape it into the shape of the bottle? It’s pretty cool.

Then I went home for a month and ran all over America putting a little over 5,000 miles on my Mom’s car  (Thanks Mom!!). I went to South Carolina and met my best friends from college, I went to Utah for a week of backpacking, and then I went to Chicago to meet my boyfriend’s parents. All went well.

Now I’m back in Ghana and I had just gotten back from a Shea Tree Training event held in Tamale (the capital of the northern region). I brought one woman from my village (Sanatu) and I think she really got a lot out of it. The process of making Shea Butter is well known here in Ghana, however the process of making high quality Shea Butter is less known (or practiced). We’re going to have a meeting where she passes on her knowledge to the other women here in Yapalsi.

The borehole grant has been funded so that will be what I will be working on the next few weeks. Some of you have expressed regrets that you were not able to donate before the grant was funded, but let me tell you there will be another chance! The funding may not be sufficient (inflation and unforeseen costs) and I will therefore need to alter the original budget. If and when that happens I will cry out again for all of your wonderful donations that you weren’t able to give yet.

Pictures on the next post. The internet isn't able to upload anything other than text today. 

Updates

Merry Christmas!! It’s my 3^rd Christmas here in Yapalsi and it went by just like my first one, unnoticed. Haha.  I spent the day peeling cassava and hanging out with my family. How much cassava does it take to feed a family of 10 for a year? I’m not sure but I know it takes more than 10 solid days of peeling from 7am-4pm.  I was only around for 2 of those days because I’ve been down in Accra.\

I was down in Accra to have a medical checkup (I’ve been deemed healthy and happy) and to say goodbye to the last of my fellow colleagues that boarded the same plane for Ghana as I did. It’s strange to think that it’s been 2 years but I’m ready to do a bonus one.

Back up in Yapalsi we started a women’s savings group where every week the women meet and deposit a bit of money in a lock box. The money that is saved can then be given out in the form of loans. This allows the women a way to get loans that they otherwise would not be able to. The woman has a set amount of time to pay back the loan with a small interest. At the end of a term (decided by the women) the women collect their saved money. 

The example I always use to explain the benefit of a savings group is… “There is a peanut farmer. They don’t have the money to buy seeds for this year so they don’t grow any peanuts. That is obviously not good. Now the alternative is that this person takes a loan from their savings group. They use the money to buy and plant the seeds. When the peanuts mature they can sell the extra and pay back their loan while also having peanuts.”

We’ve just had our 9^th meeting and my group has managed to save close to 300 cedis (roughly 150 dollars). In truth my group doesn’t seem to be too interested in the loans aspect, but if they are just happy saving than I’m happy. I also think they want to see how the savings go for their first term (decided to be 6 months) before trying anything more risky.

So once again Merry Christmas! 

(It is also once again bush rat season. Tis the season to be happy! I’ve gone from being slightly horrified/scared to eagerly anticipating them. Good or bad?)

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Kids of all ages are allowed to participate... you'd think it would be horribly dangerous however I've yet to see one of them cut themselves in my 2 years. Of course the knives are extraordinarily dull too.

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I wrote a blog a few months ago in October about the Muslim holiday back in October so here it is:

Eid Al-Adha

Sala Day! The Feast of the Sacrifice. It’s one of two religious holidays celebrated by Muslims worldwide. It marks the end of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. Its a time where my village gets to eat themselves silly. 

My entire village (being Muslim) celebrated Sala day in great style and energy. Lots of rice balls, fufu, and MEAT. Many a goat, sheep, ram, chicken, rabbit, and 1 cow met their end Oct. 16^th in Yapalsi.  Everybody got to eat meat and sharing the same diet as my village I was (nearly) as excited as my 10 year old sister to be getting some meat. It’s been a long while.

There was drumming and dancing with no alcohol. It was just pure old traditional celebration. It was great. Two other people came to Yapalsi to attend, one was a PCV at a deaf school nearby and another a JICA volunteer living at a veterinary college 8km away from my village. I think the two of them got their fill of local festivities!

I’m really enjoying hanging out in village.

Day Camp

     A workshop was held at our suboffice where different trades were taught: Botiking (tye-dye), sewing, crocheting, and soap making. The goal of this workshop was for women who have either dropped out of school or are unable to get funds for school to learn one of these trades to help support themselves.  There was a total of 8 different girls brought (one of them a 14 year old single mother).

     I brought 1 JHS (middle school) child to the workshop. Her name is Aisha and she is the senior prefect of her school. She told me that her mother had taken her firewood that she had been collecting and sold it and used the money herself.

      The day was a busy day and it began early with soap making and botiking. The girls were split up into 2 different groups and half went to do soap making and the other half botiking.

Here are what the girls learned:

Soap making:

Step 1- Mix caustic soda with water (1:4 ratio) the night before

Step 2- Heat palm oil until the palm oil appears white

Step 3- Heat Shea butter until completely melted

Step 4- Let the palm oil and shea butter cool and then mix the two together in a 1:1 ratio

Step 5- Add in Moringa leaves

Step 6- Let the soap sit for 1 week and then use

Botik

Step 1- Heat Wax

Step 2- Take wooden stamp and dip into melted wax

Step 3- Place stamp on cloth and press wax firmly onto cloth

Step 4- Repeat step 3 until desired pattern is achieved

Step 5- Prepare dye mixture: Take 2 spoons full of caustic soda and pour into water (amount depending on deepness of dye color), take hydro (2 spoons full) and add it in, and lastly add in dye.

Step 6- Put cloth into dye and mix thoroughly

Step 7- Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour

Step 8- Dry and it’s ready for use!

Take our Daughter to Work Day

Here is a paper I wrote for a PC newsletter of an event I did about a month ago.

     I live in the Northern Region of Ghana in a small village (of about 600 people) called Yapalsi. In Yapalsi there is no female graduate of an SS. I know of only one 35+ year old mother who had some small amount of primary school. By and large I (like too many of us) live in a village of completely illiterate mothers.

     This has always troubled me. I want the next generation, this generation, to be different. I want my girls to be informed, I want them to be confident, I want them to be happy, I want for them what I never had to fight to get- higher education.

     So upon reading the GYDlines I got motivated to do a TODTWD. I spent one week running around my district capital finding different contacts, making awkward phone calls (“Heyyy friend! Long time… like 1.5 years long…), getting brownie points by going to church to further discuss TODTWD with a speaker, wearing my Ghanian wear, talking to headmasters to pull my kids out of class an hour early on Friday, and in general, preaching all about the importance of educating our youth to any who would listen.

     Friday arrives and I pick up my 4 JHS kids at school (a 7km walk one way from my village), take us to the nearest taxi station and pay for a drop to go to our first stop- the District Assembly.

     Now, even before reaching the DA I realize from that I’m in trouble. The woman I set everything up with had traveled to a conference 5 hours away. Somehow it escaped her mind to tell me that when we met 2 days ago. However I had two interviews lined up here and go to my next in line.

     This turns into a bit of a teeth pulling routine. The woman is not interested in motivating my girls (though she sure seemed it on Wednesday) and gives us very perfunctory answers. This was such a disappointment. I leave feeling really let down, but what makes everybody feel better? Food.

     After the DA we go to get some chop and I pay for their food and get them the *big* pieces of meat. As everybody starts eating I begin phase 2 of TODTWD, talk about my own experiences. Maybe it was the fact that my girls were eating meat for the first time all month, maybe it was just because we were out of the DA, but whatever the reason they were very engaged in my discussion of why higher education is extra important for women.

     Phase 3 of TODTWD- Bring my girls to the local radio station (90.5 Mah-mah-mah MIGHT FM). This visit goes spectacularly. Patience, the woman broadcaster, is very engaging and very motivational. She explains her hardships and triumphs. She has everybody’s full attention and keeps it for her entire hour long discussion. Leaving on a high note, she even gives my four girls a shout out on live radio. Smiles all around =)

     The last and final phase- Go to the Veterinary College to talk with the animal rearing professor, Madam Fostina. I’m excited for my girls to talk to Fostina because she was born and raised in the Upper West Region and I believe there is a big north/south split where Ghanians from the North sometimes feel inferior or more handicapped just by being born and going to school in the North. Madam Fostina is able to prove to my kids that if you work hard you can become a “big woman” and succeed regardless of region.

     I believe the four JHS kids I brought around took a lot away from our day of travels. I hope that they were inspired and will try harder to finish their schooling. At the very least I know my girls had an overall fun day seeing different successful women and will take away from this experience that women can and do succeed. Now, it’s just left with time to see if they will believe and live the thought that “I am a woman and I can succeed.” 

COS conference

This past week I went to my "close of service" conference. COS conference is a chance for PC staff to tell us important information about reverse culture shock, the perks of being a RPCV (returned peace corps volunteer), and to give us a chance to be say goodbye to each other. It's been nearly 2 years since I've set foot in Ghana and I can hardly believe it.

I got to see all my dear friends (some whom I haven't seen since the first 3 months in country, back when we were still Peace Corps "Trainee's") and that sure was amazing. It's so strange to think that in the next 3 months most of my closest friends will be leaving and going back to the states.

The conference was held at an amazing hotel in the Volta region of Ghana. There was a pool, supermarket, and even peacocks which walked around. It was a little unsettling at first and I realized just how much of a shock America is going to be.

But it's going to be be put off for a year because I've chosen to extend for a year. I'm still working on the Moringa project with my women's group and I want to finish that project before I leave. I also just couldn't leave my kids yet either. I mean, could you leave these faces?

It was a difficult decision but I really just couldn't say goodbye yet. I felt incomplete. So here is to another year! 

Some of Yapalsi's children all dressed in their best outfits (in celebration of Ramadan)

Rukaya and Nafishetu, two of my house girls

Peace corps October 2011 group.

Moringa Project

Hey everybody here is some photo's of the moringa project!
(If you want to see the pictures larger just click on them)

Our nursery trees started back in April

Building our garden

 

Ran with me on the back of the bike carrying our 3 month old Moringa Trees. Trip 1 of 7.

Planting the seeds of the intensively grown trees

The nursery trees in their new homes

Women's group

Happy July 4th

For July 4th I met a bunch of people at a PC sub office where we grilled sausages and made a potluck of random foods. I wish I had a single picture to show you guys as proof, however it was a frenzy to get at the food so in interest of my hunger I decided to go for the food rather than my camera. We had mashed potatoes, coleslaw, popcorn, sliders, lo mein (I had a craving for it so I decided to make it haha), cheese cubes, rice and fish, fruit bowl, chips and salsa, and lots of drinks. It was a really fun way to celebrate America. We read the declaration of independence and sang lots of songs. All in all we celebrated the fourth in a very American fashion I believe.

I have planted the Moringa Trees at my village. Last Friday my women and I met up and planted nearly 500 trees. So hopefully I'll have pictures for you guys soon of that fun day.

Everything else here is going quite well.

Happy Fourth!