Monday, March 13, 2006
Pictures and more Pictures!
Chre and Derek
Mpaha Library
Hi there!
We got the package from Jenell today with her memory card. I'm going to load a few of the photos tonite and will add more down the road. These photos include several from Jenell's time in training and her homestay, some adventures with other PC volunteers, and some from Mpaha.
The photos above are of her little friends from her homestay and the library committee in Mpaha. Below are several more photos: one of Jenell and her buddy Derek cooking at her homestay. Next is a picture of Jenell and friends Cissy, Jessica and Elizabeth. I've also included a photo of Jenell holding her (guinea fowl) supper in the courtyard of her "compound" in Mpaha and another of a boy (Issah) doing math at her house. I also had to add one of the soccer game! Finally I included a picture of a thatched "bathroom", a roadside fire with vultures and a photo of a woman doing laundry on the Volta river near Jenell's friend Jessica's site. Enjoy!
Cooking at Jenell's homestay during training with buddy Derek
PC Volunteers on an adventure
Dinner!?
Doing the times tables...
Saved by the goalie...
The "facilities..."
A fire flushes fresh prey for the vultures
A timeless scene on the Volta river...
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Jenell is Moving to Jirapa in NW Ghana!!
Email from Jenell on March 3, 2006
BIG NEWS: I am moving!
This week I will say my bittersweet goodbyes to Mpaha and move to Jirapa in the Upper West. Looking at a map of Ghana, Jirapa is in the far upper left corner NW of Wa. I am almost Peace Corps Burkina Faso now :). I am really excited about my new job. My primary project will be working with the District Assembly (the local government) specifically focusing on behavior change in HIV/AIDS prevention and Guinea Worm eradication. For secondary projects, it sounds like there are several groups I could work with: a PLWA (people living with aids) group, a hospital, an orphanage, a secondary school, an all girls secondary school, and several motivated groups of women trying to start their own businesses.
Why am I moving? (I thought about skipping over this, but I think it is important for me to share a more complete experience and not just the dancing and laughter)
I was struggling to find purpose or companionship in Mpaha. I told my director in my placement interview that I wanted to be challenged; however, the challenge of trying to stay happy when I was so isolated in combination with zero structure wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I learned a lot about myself, and how essential it is for me to share life with friends and family. For someone just looking to get away from the states, do some gardening, read some books, get to know a village and fight guinea worm every once and a while this would have been a great placement. With a large percentage of my day devoted to cleaning and cooking, I felt like a housewife...but with no family. That was not the life for me; I am too social and purpose-driven. I thought fairly seriously about leaving, as almost every volunteer does at one point or another, but after a lot of soul searching I decided that I wasn't ready to leave Ghana... I hadn't exhausted all my options and my work wasn't done. So, I contacted Peace Corps in Accra and asks for suggestions. It was quickly decided that I should be moved and because a volunteer had just been medically separated from Jirapa, there was an excellent site open. [Note: I plan to visit Mpaha periodically throughout the next 2 years to greet them and to deliver library books that are either in the middle of the Atlantic or on a camel in Mali right now]
Mail
Please send all mail to Accra (not Tamale). Although, any mail sent c/o Peace Corps Ghana will get to me eventually.
c/o Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa
Milk and Granola
In this transition time, I was able to spend some time at my friend, Jessica Hancock's, site just outside Tamale. While I was there we rode our bikes into the bush to meet a Fulani family.
We turned off the main path down a smaller dirt path that had been worn away by the cattle owned by the Fulanis. [Fulanis: nomadic cattle herders of Western Africa, originally from Mali, lead their cattle to where ever there is food. They are much like the Gypsies of Europe, and unfortunately equally untrusted.] Their secluded cluster of round huts with thatched roofs, unlike those in the village, were coated in concrete inside and out making them significantly nicer and cleaner. we were greeted enthusiastically by an older Fulani man wearing a lacy up-and-down (a glorified night gown for men with matching pants and hat). he smiled widely as if to proudly display his lone remaining molars, and laughed with tears of joy every time I addressed him as "Mr. Ossman."
A multitude of cautious children and a handful of slender, elegant women emerged from the various huts. the women were so exotic, clad in wrap skirts and enough beaded jewelry and bangles to double their body weight. I stared at them captivated just like everyone stared at us. we "talked" (gestured) to each other for a while exhausting all common English, French, Dagbani, and Fulani... this lasted about one minute. Luckily, one of Mr. Ossman's nephew/son/grandson/? was home visiting from school and helped to translate Mr. Ossman's story of moving to Ghana AND helped us to get some fresh, real milk!!!
Back at jessica's house we pasteurized the milk and made some granola. I think the fact that it took us several hours to prepare a bowl of milk and granola made it taste that much better. The next time you pour milk over your cereal....mmm...milk and cereal... try to image riding your bicycle to your nearest dairy farmer to hear about his life, meet his family and gesturing wildly to try and convey that you
would really appreciate some milk.
well, this is getting really long and I should go study my new language, Dagaare.
Jenell
BIG NEWS: I am moving!
This week I will say my bittersweet goodbyes to Mpaha and move to Jirapa in the Upper West. Looking at a map of Ghana, Jirapa is in the far upper left corner NW of Wa. I am almost Peace Corps Burkina Faso now :). I am really excited about my new job. My primary project will be working with the District Assembly (the local government) specifically focusing on behavior change in HIV/AIDS prevention and Guinea Worm eradication. For secondary projects, it sounds like there are several groups I could work with: a PLWA (people living with aids) group, a hospital, an orphanage, a secondary school, an all girls secondary school, and several motivated groups of women trying to start their own businesses.
Why am I moving? (I thought about skipping over this, but I think it is important for me to share a more complete experience and not just the dancing and laughter)
I was struggling to find purpose or companionship in Mpaha. I told my director in my placement interview that I wanted to be challenged; however, the challenge of trying to stay happy when I was so isolated in combination with zero structure wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I learned a lot about myself, and how essential it is for me to share life with friends and family. For someone just looking to get away from the states, do some gardening, read some books, get to know a village and fight guinea worm every once and a while this would have been a great placement. With a large percentage of my day devoted to cleaning and cooking, I felt like a housewife...but with no family. That was not the life for me; I am too social and purpose-driven. I thought fairly seriously about leaving, as almost every volunteer does at one point or another, but after a lot of soul searching I decided that I wasn't ready to leave Ghana... I hadn't exhausted all my options and my work wasn't done. So, I contacted Peace Corps in Accra and asks for suggestions. It was quickly decided that I should be moved and because a volunteer had just been medically separated from Jirapa, there was an excellent site open. [Note: I plan to visit Mpaha periodically throughout the next 2 years to greet them and to deliver library books that are either in the middle of the Atlantic or on a camel in Mali right now]
Please send all mail to Accra (not Tamale). Although, any mail sent c/o Peace Corps Ghana will get to me eventually.
c/o Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa
Milk and Granola
In this transition time, I was able to spend some time at my friend, Jessica Hancock's, site just outside Tamale. While I was there we rode our bikes into the bush to meet a Fulani family.
We turned off the main path down a smaller dirt path that had been worn away by the cattle owned by the Fulanis. [Fulanis: nomadic cattle herders of Western Africa, originally from Mali, lead their cattle to where ever there is food. They are much like the Gypsies of Europe, and unfortunately equally untrusted.] Their secluded cluster of round huts with thatched roofs, unlike those in the village, were coated in concrete inside and out making them significantly nicer and cleaner. we were greeted enthusiastically by an older Fulani man wearing a lacy up-and-down (a glorified night gown for men with matching pants and hat). he smiled widely as if to proudly display his lone remaining molars, and laughed with tears of joy every time I addressed him as "Mr. Ossman."
A multitude of cautious children and a handful of slender, elegant women emerged from the various huts. the women were so exotic, clad in wrap skirts and enough beaded jewelry and bangles to double their body weight. I stared at them captivated just like everyone stared at us. we "talked" (gestured) to each other for a while exhausting all common English, French, Dagbani, and Fulani... this lasted about one minute. Luckily, one of Mr. Ossman's nephew/son/grandson/? was home visiting from school and helped to translate Mr. Ossman's story of moving to Ghana AND helped us to get some fresh, real milk!!!
Back at jessica's house we pasteurized the milk and made some granola. I think the fact that it took us several hours to prepare a bowl of milk and granola made it taste that much better. The next time you pour milk over your cereal....mmm...milk and cereal... try to image riding your bicycle to your nearest dairy farmer to hear about his life, meet his family and gesturing wildly to try and convey that you
would really appreciate some milk.
well, this is getting really long and I should go study my new language, Dagaare.
Jenell
Belated Email from Jenell from Jan 24, 2006…
Oops, didn’t get this one posted “in order” so this is belated... Sorry! LHS
Email from Jenell on Jan 24, 2006 "Veils and Nipples"
I wish I would have had a chance to experience and study Islam more before moving here because it's so hard to differentiate between what is African culture and what is Islamic influence. It has come together into something that is very much their own. Out and about in mpaha you are just as likely to see a woman in veil as you are to see her breast feeding. My personal favorite is the combo: veil and flat, sagging mammary gland both flapping freeing in the wind. I have seen more breasts in the last few months than years of volleyball locker rooms.
Just the other day I was greeting a market woman selling tomatoes when a two year old came over and pulled the woman's breast out of the neckline of her dress and started helping himself to a midday snack. The woman didn't even notice, and continued to ask me about my house, my sleep, my room, my children.....
I decided to start going to the main mosque on Fridays. Most of the village goes, and I wanted to observe and experience something that is so central to their life. It took me three tries to get to mosque the first time. I remembered that women needed to wear a veil so I grabbed the veil I purchased just for the occasion and headed to town noticing that the sun was indeed closer to the equator, and at that moment possibly closer to mpaha than anywhere else in the world :D. I ran into Abduli, a local guinea worm volunteer, who took one look at my exposed arms and ankles and told me to go home and cover myself. I left my house again in long sleeves, full length pants, and veil only to be sent back again because I was a woman and needed to wear a skirt. I threw a 2 yard wrap around my waist over the pants and proceeded to walk across town in the heat of the day with the harmatton wind blowing like a giant blow drier across a sandbox.... just when I thought Ghana couldn't get any hotter!
Religion seems to play a much larger role in Ghanaian life than American, in general. Is this due to average socio-economic class? (like a Marxist opiate of the masses-- a higher power to pray to to deliver them from poverty, the promise of a better afterlife???) OR maybe is this due to lower education levels? When I was telling a pregnant woman that there are some in America who do not believe in God, she laughed and laughed, and shook her head in pity of those fools. With a big smile she said, "OK, who else put the baby in my stomach than God?"
The other night I was instantly pulled out of my malaria medication dreams because of a strange scratching noise on my sheets a foot in front of my face . I reached for my headlamp and discovered that a bat had somehow gotten into my mosquito net and was now crawling across my sheets and flying around in my mosquito net. I was in the corner of my bed with my sheets pulled up to my eyes planning out how best to extract a bat from ones mosquito net. When the bat stopped flying circles around my head and landed on the sheets by where my feet had just been, I took my pj's threw them over it, quickly untucked my net and push my the bundle containing my new flying rodent friend onto the floor. I then made sure that my net was tightly tucked and free from anything else that might want to bite me.
Well, I'm off to the tamale market to by some food to bring back to site. I hope all is well.
jenell
Email from Jenell on Jan 24, 2006 "Veils and Nipples"
I wish I would have had a chance to experience and study Islam more before moving here because it's so hard to differentiate between what is African culture and what is Islamic influence. It has come together into something that is very much their own. Out and about in mpaha you are just as likely to see a woman in veil as you are to see her breast feeding. My personal favorite is the combo: veil and flat, sagging mammary gland both flapping freeing in the wind. I have seen more breasts in the last few months than years of volleyball locker rooms.
Just the other day I was greeting a market woman selling tomatoes when a two year old came over and pulled the woman's breast out of the neckline of her dress and started helping himself to a midday snack. The woman didn't even notice, and continued to ask me about my house, my sleep, my room, my children.....
I decided to start going to the main mosque on Fridays. Most of the village goes, and I wanted to observe and experience something that is so central to their life. It took me three tries to get to mosque the first time. I remembered that women needed to wear a veil so I grabbed the veil I purchased just for the occasion and headed to town noticing that the sun was indeed closer to the equator, and at that moment possibly closer to mpaha than anywhere else in the world :D. I ran into Abduli, a local guinea worm volunteer, who took one look at my exposed arms and ankles and told me to go home and cover myself. I left my house again in long sleeves, full length pants, and veil only to be sent back again because I was a woman and needed to wear a skirt. I threw a 2 yard wrap around my waist over the pants and proceeded to walk across town in the heat of the day with the harmatton wind blowing like a giant blow drier across a sandbox.... just when I thought Ghana couldn't get any hotter!
Religion seems to play a much larger role in Ghanaian life than American, in general. Is this due to average socio-economic class? (like a Marxist opiate of the masses-- a higher power to pray to to deliver them from poverty, the promise of a better afterlife???) OR maybe is this due to lower education levels? When I was telling a pregnant woman that there are some in America who do not believe in God, she laughed and laughed, and shook her head in pity of those fools. With a big smile she said, "OK, who else put the baby in my stomach than God?"
The other night I was instantly pulled out of my malaria medication dreams because of a strange scratching noise on my sheets a foot in front of my face . I reached for my headlamp and discovered that a bat had somehow gotten into my mosquito net and was now crawling across my sheets and flying around in my mosquito net. I was in the corner of my bed with my sheets pulled up to my eyes planning out how best to extract a bat from ones mosquito net. When the bat stopped flying circles around my head and landed on the sheets by where my feet had just been, I took my pj's threw them over it, quickly untucked my net and push my the bundle containing my new flying rodent friend onto the floor. I then made sure that my net was tightly tucked and free from anything else that might want to bite me.
Well, I'm off to the tamale market to by some food to bring back to site. I hope all is well.
jenell
