Naama

Another update from the UPPER WEST region of Ghana...in it's regional capital of Wa. It's currently raining big time here, so Zoe (the closest volunteer to my new community) and I are sitting in an internet cafe waiting for the rain to pass.

I met my counterpartner, named Alhassan ("Ollie"), who is a community health volunteer in Kulkpong (pronounced Kul-e-pong) earlier this week at counterpart workshop. He's super awesome and seems very involved in the community. We then travelled the country, some 14+ hours....leaving at 4:30 am Ghanaian time, which really resulted in 6:30 am we pulled out of the college....then finally arrived to my community when it was just getting dark. It was nice to go, but it wasn't until morning I really saw the community; due to the lack of electricity! it's awesome though, living without lights or running water. bucket baths are now a breeze, and waking up with the sun and going to bed when the sun sets are now normal.

Ollie showed me around Kulkpong the next morning, then we got on a lovely trotro to head back to Wa. It's about 41 kilometers (28 miles for you Westerners =]) but it can take anywhere between 1-2 hours or more...depending on the driver, passengers, number of stops, etc. Trotros run when they are full here, so it's not like they have scheduled times to leave -- they just go when they are full and that's that. To outsiders it seems like complete chaos, but it's orderly and somehow seems right and works. Now these tros (or lorrys, they have lots of names) are in terrible condition...but they have to be. The road I travel to my village is not tarred (or DIRT as we call them back home) and it has pot holes and divets everywhere...so basically a pretty smoooooth ride ;)

So I met the sub-chief and some elders...the assemblyman...basically important people in the community and then Zoe came to town. We took a walk around to just chat and stuff. We walked through the market area (which comes every 6 days and it's the largest market in my district, Wa East...which is like a county in the US), to see the boreholes (where you get water), to the dam, past the new police station (which has no staff members yet), and around to visit people she knows in the community.

Today I got my traditional Ghanaian name. The process of naming a new baby (or stranger, which is me) is called outdooring. It's usually done 7 days after a baby is born...in which he/she is introduced to the community and given a name. Well, since I'm a stranger to my new community, they are grateful enough to give me a name and have a small ceremony. The chief and elders met and decided on my name and told me that when I return in August (after training and swearing-in) there will be a more traditional outdooring ceremony where everyone in the community will attend and I will greet them. I am the first woman volunteer (i'm the 3rd Peace Corps Volunteer in Kulkpong) so they think it's important for many women to attend my ceremony. However, today only men were at the small gathering. But my name is "Naama" -- which is two words combined..'naa' means chief and 'ma' means mother...so therefore, I am considered the Mother of the Chiefs. This is a BIG name, so I'm thankful they gave me such a respectible name. I'm excited to finish training and start my new life in Kulkpong.