Let’s Reflect on 2010

I keep saying it time and time again, but it’s hard to believe it’s already 2011.
And as per usual in my entries, I also can’t believe it’s already been 7 months!! I know all of you devoted readers are also keeping track as the months fly by. =D

At the beginning of 2010 I was back home in Michigan, waiting to receive a nomination after my Peace Corps interview. Now, in 2011, I’m sitting in Ghana (hoping my battery lasts long enough to type this post) full-swing into my Peace Corps service. 2010 was the most drastic year of my life. Maybe I once thought that starting high school or college were major events or even the time I studied abroad in Australia for a semester. Back then, yes, those events were major, but now I can easily say those events were created and passed on the smooth, open road that I’m paving as my life. Now, on the other hand, I’m continuing to pave my road, but it’s definitely an unpaved, gravel bumpy path. And with the roads I’ve traveled in Ghana, that’s a quite modest description.

It wasn’t too far into 2010 when I received the call from my recruiter in Chicago telling me she has nominated me. (In short, the big steps are application, interview, nomination, then finally an invitation.) I can remember the day like it was just yesterday. I was in the laundry room, staining Lindsay’s cabinet (without her knowing!) when my cell phone rang. It was an unknown number so I almost didn’t answer, but something told me to wipe the wood stain off my hands quickly and answer. THANK GOODNESS I did; it made my day! So then I was to begin the tedious process of medical and dental examinations and wait for an invitation from Washington, which could take weeks or months. I was so excited I made a doctor’s appointment for the next week and also called the dentist as quick as I could. Then the fun began....Dr.’s visits after Dentist visits then back to the Dr. to get blood drawn then on to a root canal specialist....I think you get the point. PLENTY of visits to medical personnel, but thankfully it all has paid off in the end.

The beginning of 2010 was filled with medical appointments, many hours at the Perch, Girls on the Run practices, and trips to visit family and friends around the States. Then on April 3rd, I was officially invited to become a PEACE CORPS TRAINEE. I can also remember this day like yesterday. I found out online before the paper-copy came in the mail, and I was home and so was my mom. I read “You have been invited to volunteer in ________.” I could only be happy and thankful I was invited, but to WHERE?! A blank line?! I remember reading it aloud to my mom, and she just said “Well, this is what you wanted isn’t it.” Sparks couldn’t have been any more straight-forward or blunt about it. It was exactly was I wanted. It must have been the following week when I received the big blue invitee packet in the mail and found out I was coming to Ghana.

Then the research on Peace Corps/Ghana began: explaining to people where in West Africa Ghana is and assuring them that Ghanaians are the friendliest people in West Africa (which I can now personally attest to and I must say it is definitely true!), writing packing lists and taking shopping trips, and visiting my friends and family to only receive the warmest sendoffs. Almost exactly two months after I received the invitation I was boarding a plane for staging in Philadelphia. And two months and one day later, I was in Ghana. Walking through the Accra airport with Katie I remember seeing a sign that said “Akwaaba! Welcome to Ghana: Gateway to Africa”. Then we started talking about which continents we had and hadn’t been to with other PC trainees.

It was really happening. I was really standing in the rain with three bags outside the Accra airport, in the capital city of Ghana, IN WEST AFRICA! It was the most shocking moment ever, to be in a developing country on the other side of the Atlantic with no one I had known for longer than 3 days by my side. I say it was shocking, but it was also thrilling, like something you look forward to for so long but don’t know exactly how it will feel or be until the day actually arrives. And here it was, half way through 2010 and I was in Ghana.

So you’ve all read my last six months of events, so I won’t go there ago. I’ll just recap some. First came Pre-Service Training, then site. I’ve been at site now for close to 5 months and things are going well. I’ve started gathering ideas and information to carry out a mass malaria education event/campaign. Coming here during the peak season for mosquito breeding (the rainy season) I noticed many people, children and adults, suffering with malaria. Also, the nurses are always busy seeing patients and diagnosing them with malaria. It is preventable, only the education on how to prevent it is lacking in the community I live in and the surrounding villages. So as they say, knowledge is power and hopefully by educating the people on how malaria is transmitted, treated and most importantly PREVENTED the number of malaria cases will reduce and in turn families can save money and time treating this deadly illness.

With that said, I can’t imagine 2011 will be any less uneventful than 2010 was. I pray that I will continue to be blessed with my amazing friends and family. I hope that I will continue to grow and gain knowledge and my Peace Corps experience will unfold into something even greater than I can currently imagine.

I just finished reading “Sundays at Tiffany’s” by James Patterson (...I just finished this morning and yes, I’ll admit it, I JUST started reading it yesterday afternoon!) and it definitely has a special message: Love means you can never be apart. I know that physically I’m apart from all of you, but know that emotionally, spiritually, or however-ally I am there with you. I know that when I am doing certain things or something happens, I just laugh and say “well what would happen if Sparks was here” or “I really wish my best friends were here to see this”. So know that although we are thousands of miles apart, somehow as we say in Ghana, I’m still there with you.

xoxo♡

P.S.
The thermometer is up and running. It’s currently 8:33 p.m. and it’s 83.1℉ inside and 81.5℉ outside. The lowest recorded temperature outside was 69.6℉ and the highest was 90.5℉. It’s absurd to comprehend, but when it gets down into the 70s at night, I am COLD. I use a sheet and blanket at night, and still find my toes and nose cold. And during the day when it’s 90 degrees, I can easily wear long pants and be totally comfortable. This is the coldest season in Ghana, so I’m waiting to face this dreaded HOT season. I never thought I’d be comfortable in 90℉ weather and chilly when it’s 80℉. I guess our bodies really do acclimate to whatever demands we impose on it. Shout-out to my AT friends: acclimatization, the SAID principle, whaaat?! :)

P.S.S. (or is it P.P.S.)
Ace is growing like a weed. I really feel like a mother when I say he seems to be getting taller everyday, but it’s true. He’s eating fufu like a champ now, and he follows me and Ting around everywhere. He says hello to Harley, Princess and all these new cats in the family. (Also, Dad...we adopted Harley on February 3rd last year, so don’t forget his birthday! :] )


A Typical Village Day

So a lot of you ask me what I actually do everyday, and that’s a hard question to answer because it varies. But I’ll give you a few days worth of ‘work’.

As I’ve said, I have started working on this malaria campaign and I want to include the surrounding villages so I need to make sure their nurses are on-board. Therefore, I have to go visit the surrounding community clinics to extend the idea to their staff. Yesterday, I went to the village with the main health center. My village and two other villages are CHPS clinics (I don’t know what the acronym stands for, something like community health partial services maybe?) and this main clinic is where they get their supplies and drugs from. Willingly, the nurses at this clinic were super supportive and ready to help! So I went their yesterday morning to introduce myself, the idea I’ve worked on with my nurses and counterpart, and see the ‘mother’ clinic. I went there around 9 a.m., and I was waiting in that village for a car back to my village around 11. Waiting for cars (or lorries) can be a hassle sometimes, as they just wait/depart when they are filled. With good luck, I only had to wait about 30-45 minutes until a lorry was passing through to my village.

When I got back to my village, I went with Ting to fetch some water from the borehole to wash my clothes with. My afternoon was then filled with washing too many clothes. I used to think days spend doing laundry were relaxing in the States, but here it’s the opposite. It’s very time consuming (especially when the harmattan winds create SO much dust and when it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve washed) and I’m still a beginner at manual/hand washing. But with the help of two little girls, between the ages of 4-6 most likely, somehow we washed ALL.

Before it gets dark (around 6:30), I have to start preparing dinner. On the menu: fufu and light soup. Peel the yams and start boiling them. Then Ting and I started preparing the soup. Ingredients: peppers, tomatoes, onions, shea butter, Maggi cube, canned mackerel in tomato sauce, salt, water. Also, I got a new cupboard made for my kitchen, so now we have plenty of counter space to wash vegetables, dice them, and grind them. So while the soup is simmering, the yams need to be pounded into fufu. It can be done alone, but like most things, I’m still a beginner and Ting helps. He does the pounding and I flip/turn the fufu in the mortar. To attempt to give you a more clear image, he’s using a pestle to pound the yams, and my hand, right hand of course, is inside the mortar flipping the fufu in between the pounding. Pound, flip, pound, flip, and so on. At first, it’s very scary sticking your hand in this small mortar with someone pounding with a great deal of force, but you get used to it and create some sense of trust with the person. So about 10-15 minutes later the fufu is pounded and we’re ready to eat. The two of us, and Ace, ate fufu and as Ting said and Ace showed, the soup was ‘moving forward’...meaning it was delicious!

The sun has set by now, so I usually just stay around the house. Sometimes I’ll go visit my counterpart or the nurses, but lately it’s been too cold to be outside at night. Sounds unbelievable, I know, but it’s true. Tonight I went into the hall and typed up the previous post. Visitors will stop by, we’ll chat, then I’ll be back to typing. Around 8:30 or 9 I’ll retire into my bedroom and either read or just sleep. I generally get up anywhere between 6 and 8 in the morning, and when it’s dark I’m tired. Call me an old lady, but I’m not complaining about the sleep!

So there it is. A typical day in the village. Other days I might spend the day in the clinic or when school is in session I might visit the schools. Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention that I do is bathe! Most days I’ll take a bucket bath in the morning and in the evening before dinner. In the mornings I sometimes heat my water because the weather is too cold and in the afternoons the room temperature water is usually refreshing. However, because of the harmattan winds, I always feel dirty, regardless of how many bathes I have taken. And my feet, don’t even ask. They are constantly dirty; and I must wash them at least 3 or 4 times a day!

Exciting isn’t it?! :)