Nesting, Cuddling, and New Words

Upon my arrival, I have discovered that I am one of 7 “newbies” who arrived around the New Year. I will be entering the role of Program Assistant and could not be more excited to learn my assignment and begin my tasks within the school. As we have successfully concluded our groups’ orientation, I feel ready to dive straight into my responsibilities with Exponential Education.

In comparison to Senegal, Ghana is very similar on the surface. Similar architecture of concrete, metal and brick is everywhere. As Ghana is located closer to the equator, there are banana and palm trees thickly covering rolling hills. Presently, a strong wind constantly blows, kicking dust and pollution into the air. I’m told that in a month or so this wind will die, the dust will settle, and the sun will be punishing. To be honest, I’m looking forward to that as the dust gets into everything, eating its way into any crack it can find.

Neighborhood view

My street!

My first week was entirely devoted to Orientation activities. After leaving Accra, we bused to Kumasi and stayed for a couple days at the staff house in Oduom. We had giant communal dinners and breakfasts as most of the staff converged to welcome us. Our days were spent learning the basics of Ashanti Twi, the local language spoken by a good portion of people in our region, as well as hearing overviews of our programs from the current staff members.

Photo Cred: http://mci.ei.columbia.edu/millennium-cities/kumasi-ghana/kumasi-maps-and-population-data/

Photo Cred: http://www.ghanabooksjwp.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=113429022

It was a lot of information, and it’s all starting to sink in a bit. The names of places are becoming more familiar - from how to get into town to which lady to go to for the best fried rice and plantains. Our neighborhood is a little bemused by the arrival of so many unfamiliar obronis and everything we do is funny to them. The biggest challenge so far is to master the language. Ghanaians learn English in school, and many people can speak it well. However, like when one is visiting the UK, Australia, US etc, one uses different words for different things. Please see several examples below:

Ghanaian English	American English	Used in a sentence
Somehow	Possibly, maybe, a little bit	“Do you like this café?” “Somehow..”
Alight	Get out (of a taxi, tro tro)	“Mate, we will alight at this next stop.”
Small small	A little bit, any small quantity	“I understand small small Twi.”
Knock-ups	Fire-crackers	“Look out for all those knock-ups on New Years.”

For now, this is my focus as I wait to reach out to the schools I’m going to be working in. Language language language. I have flashcards with three different translations on them and I go through them every night. The faster it sticks the easier my work and life will be here.

My fellow staff members are absolutely wonderful. The previous generation of Expo staff are incredibly helpful with any questions we might have. The new arrivals, including myself, have a bit of a fire in us to learn everything as quickly as possible. We’re all eager to get our programs started and put our knowledge to the test. Not only in our work, but in our daily lives. We’re bent on pooling our money to improve our living space, make new friends in every Ghanaian we meet, and seek out new places in town to explore. We all seem to have a contagious case of "nesting" as we order beds made, tables built, and trying to make this space "ours."

More news to follow on house and work progress… but in the meantime, please enjoy these initial snapshots of daily life!

Introspective morning coffee

Proud results of Kumasi Quest 2015: Marcel the Shell and Lazarus 

Orientation in the "lounge" of Antoa

Twi lessons

Sunday visitors

"The Before" Picture of the bedroom

Backyard Plantains

Power's out: time for candlelit dessert

Hammock siesta with Sobolo (hibiscus ginger tea)

Bash: our neighbor's dog and evening entertainment

Bed / table / bench are made, time to get the house set up! 

Lunch time: Indome noodles and passionfruit soda

Backyard view

Evening reading in the hammock with the handy solar lamp

Little feather with our eggs.

I am a-Ghana.

Ghana, Ghana, Ghana I go...

I left Senegal in the summer of 2012. As soon as I left I felt like I was plunged in a strange, fast paced world. I had spent one full year perpetually 30 minutes late, drinking tea and discussing politics with friends, watching hours of Bollywood and Senegalese sitcoms with my sister, swimming, surfing, exploring... leading my girls empowerment program, watching social change take place, gaining inspiration from young politically connected hip hop artists, researching public health in a children's hospital... I left a country of easy going and loving people. I left friends and family.

I returned home to Oregon for my senior year of my undergraduate degree. I returned to rain, insulated lifestyles, and overwhelming environments. It took me a couple months to get adjusted to the pace, the social cues, and expectations of home. I eventually stopped trying to talk to people in grocery stores just because they were next to me. I stopped arriving to things 30 minutes late and vaguely blaming the traffic. I stopped getting excited when I walked out my front door because truly exciting and awkward situations were no longer daily fixtures. My language patterns changed when no one understood the sprinkling of French and Wolof words in my speech.

In short, I re-adapted to home reluctantly, still trying to hold on to the norms of Senegal. I completed my final year of school at the University of Oregon while working, leading the women's Rowing team, and working an internship. I graduated June 2013 and similar to other recent graduates I got a job for the necessity of self sufficiency rather than interest. I worked in various positions for another year and a half; retail while completing an internship at the World Affairs Council, a brief stint as a medical receptionist and a temporary position with Holt International. I sent my resume off to what felt like 1,001 organizations.

But when the moment was right, I got the call I'd been waiting for.

I heard of Exponential Education through a friend I studied with in Senegal. (If you're thinking of studying abroad - this is a reason why. You meet great people, who usually go on to do great things.) Their work mirrored my experience with CIPFEM, though their scope was much, much larger. As I contacted them and spoke with several people in the organization, I was cautiously optimistic. Ghana was high on my list of places to visit, and this position offered a great chance to build field experience on a 10 month contract. Long story short, I'm moving to Ghana.

Exponential Education's work is remarkable and I highly encourage perusal of their website. Partnering with Ghana's Department of Education, local teachers and community members, Expo's staff have created and run programs in Kumasi since 2010. It's a fast-growing non-profit, and I was not only drawn in by their methodology but also their multicultural, young staff. I'm looking forward to being surrounded by others who as passionate for education and empowerment as I am.

If you would like a full description of the organization, take a look at my fundraising campaign on Indigogo, here. A contribution would be wonderful, and it goes straight to the programs we administer in Ghana.

During my extensive preparations, word invariably gets out that I'm moving. The top 5 questions immediately passed peoples' lips are the following:

1. So, about Ebola?
2. Ghana... in Africa?
3. So, how safe is it?
4. Education, huh? Teaching English?
5. What language will you speak?

To which I reply:

1. No... Ebola is currently destroying the livelihood, infrastructure, and cultural norms in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia. While transmission has occurred elsewhere they have been, or are in the process of, containing those outbreaks. Senegal has had one known case and they were on that before it could spread further. Due to Ghana's regional proximity to the "hot-spots," they are of course vigilant and attentive to any outbreak in their own country. Hotlines are established and medical personnel are fully briefed. Ebola usually crops up on hospitals when patients present themselves with flu-like symptoms and as I'm working in the education field, my access to that environment will be limited. However, it is important to note the severity of the virus in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Health infrastructures already weakened with a history of social unrest have been split open. 

2. Ghana (not to be confused with Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, or Gabon) is located on the Gold Coast in Western Africa. It has a rich history of culture extending back thousands of years. It has a vibrant trade industry and was the seat of the Ashanti Empire before colonists claimed the land. Its primary exports are gold, coffee, chocolate and tourism. Thanks to these factors, Ghana has one of the fastest - growing GDPs on the continent.

Photo: GhanaHope Foundation

3. Ghana is one of the most stable countries in Africa. Independence from the UK was declared in 1957 and a republic established in 1960. It has a population of about 27 million and is roughly the size of Great Britain or the state of Oregon in square miles. It is a bastion of lively music, dance, and food culture.

4. Contrary to many first impressions, we do not necessarily teach at Expo. Some of us are tutors in specific programs, but most of the staff help to run and design programs supplementing the public education system. Close relationships with the government and local schools are essential as Expo responds to the needs of community.

5. While English is the administrative language, and will be spoken in most professional settings, I will be learning Twi as well. I am living in Kumasi proper where most people in the area speak Twi, though some of our program staff is learning Ewe as they are in a village just outside Kumasi. As I experienced in Senegal, there are dozens of regional languages. These are not dialects but completely different forms of language. It's not uncommon for locals to speak 4+ languages as they grow up surrounded by community members who speak differently from them. As we only have so much time on our hands, we're going with the one most used in our area.

Presently, it's T - 60 hours until I can set off. I couldn't be more excited! Please feel free to leave comments/questions and I'll do my best to answer in subsequent posts.

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." 
--Miriam Beard

Book 2: Simplicity and Sweat...

The wayward backpackers getting ready for a hike to a waterfall

Book 2: Simplicity and Sweat...
Second Installment in the Chronicles of Legal and Semi-Legal Activities

The second part of the Chronicles of Legal and Semi-Legal Activities picks up right where Book 1: A Theory of Relativity leaves off in Tamba. Katie and I eventually made our way back to the small cross-road town after several 7-place, alxum, and bed-of-pick-up truck changes. We met with the rest of the group at the Peace Corps Regional House (PCH) and compared adventures. Listening to the wide array of experiences was fascinating, though somewhat embittering for Katie and I. We got a hard reality-check throughout our week. Some others had similar shocks, but we definitely felt like we got the hardest hit. Domestic violence, a failing school system, a similarly failing health system... none were easy pills to swallow.

Our first hotel in Kedougou-with the hobbit door for Peter

The following section briefly (always, despite what reader think, these blog posts are always too brief for my taste) outlines our 4(ish) days we spent packing around the Bassari region in Southeast Senegal. This beautiful region is the home of the only mountains in Senegal, a good-sized chimpanzee population, and very popular backpacking trips. This is also the region where my parents and I stayed, which is detailed in the post Bush Adventures and Bucket Lists.

First river sightings

Guinea fowl-and international road block

After spending the night on the PCH roof, the coolest place to sleep at night, we were up and at the Tamba garage by 7 AM. We wanted plenty of time before we arrived in Kedougou. We acquired a car with no trouble. Feeling slightly smug with our smooth traveling arrangements, we settled down to bear the jolting, crunching ride to Kedougou. However, in keeping with the trip's theme of technical difficulties, the car began to smoke right at the 30 km mark outside Tamba. So we turned around and headed back to the garage for a new car. Then, once again, we re-settled for the 7 hour trip to Kedougou.

I'm going to let the images speak for themselves on this post with the exception of the final portion. We hiked to wonderful waterfalls, climbed to the top of cliffs to overlook the entire region. We heard chimps in trees and relished the feel of being in the shade. It was a wonderful break after being in Dakar for so long, and even better to spend that time with good friends.

Cash payment for guides-aka, crime lord status

Marble quarry, exported to Europe and around West Africa

Fighting our way to the view... with the customary amount of children

Village well next to the community garden

Our transport across the region with Doba

At the words, "lets take a picture," the children flood the car

Map of the region in Campement le Bedik 

Perfectly good huts... and we sleep outside

Common area for meals, games, journaling, deep thinking

Gorgeous, simply gorgeous 

Village on the mountaintop above Campement le Bedik. Inaccessible to cars/bikes. Foot access only. 

Peter's Pride Rock

Resting before the rest of the climb

Down below: Campement le Bedik 

That smile is false. I was terrified and wanted down. Immediately. 

Rest stop: we are winded, children are bored.

Our trip began in Kedougou, where we set out to explore the greater area. Following our hiking and adventuring, we traveled back to Tambacounda and hired a car to take us to the eastern Gambian border. We would then follow the northern part of the Gambian River, spend a few days in Georgetown, then proceed back to Dakar though Farafenni.

This is how the Chronicles got weird: we seemed to have bad luck with transportation. On the drive to the Gambian border we rented an upstanding looking vehicle with an upstanding looking driver who presented his papers and strapped our bags on board. We set off out of town, on a paved highway.. which was great. Five miles in, we took an abrupt right turn onto a skinny dirt road leading off into the tall grass. After several minutes of strained silence, we inquired of our driver where the hell we were going and got a vague "border" response. Excellent. Having previously traveled in the Casamance, and thus versed in potential banditry situations, I advised the others in hiding their money, memory chips, etc on their person. After a couple miles, we took a sharp left turn on a slightly larger dirt road, and saw the border fence in the distance.

At the gate, the guard and our driver entered into a discussion. Apparently, his papers were invalid. As was his vehicle. And his drivers license. As we had payed him to take us to the first town in Gambia, we were temporarily stranded at a seldom crossed border station. Nothing a little small talk with the guards couldn't fix. We convinced them to let the driver take us to the Gambia, where we would drop him like an invalid license in favor of a Gambian ride.

So, we did just that and proceeded to spend a relaxing few days in Georgetown. We fought off monkeys at breakfast and set out on a 7 hour river cruise where we saw numerous hippos, monitor lizards, baboons, and other wildlife. There was an incident of mistaken identity between a water bottle and our disguised vodka stash and I'm pretty sure I got some kind of stomach flu from a monkey whose hands was in our sugar bowl. Other than those brief moments, the few days we spent in Georgetown were relaxing after our backpacking/hiking adventures. A couple days before we left, our kind hotel manager told us he had called a driver with a van to take us all the way back to Dakar. Better, we were promised that the driver would speak English (administrative language of the Gambia) or French (the administrative language of Senegal) or Wolof (the lingua franca no matter what country you're in). We weren't picky. Any of the three languages would do, and the idea of a driver who we couldn't fluently communicate with sounded lovely. We accepted the manager's generous option, hoping for a seamless transition back to Dakar.

The van was everything we wanted...leg room, air conditioning, a spare tire in the trunk. Luxury. It was wonderful. The dream lasted until the border. Our driver didn't speak any of the three languages described above and we got by with advanced and theatrical version of charades. Once again we were forced to bail out an illegal car/driver, bribe some border guards and sweet talk some others. The problem was, we were stopped at each subsequent check-point on the highway and questioned. I had been living in Senegal longer than anyone else, and was apparently the most adept at getting us out of trouble so I was pushed out of the car in these instances to negotiate our driver's release. 

However, the real skills weren't tested until 5 hours into our drive, when the signature bumping of a flat tire interrupted my nap. The tire was flat, our spare was flat, and the jack snapped on the first attempt to raise the car. Well, seeing a van of people in distress demands a certain kind of response from a passing bus of Senegalese. In case you're wondering, the number of kind people it takes to rock a van hard enough to wedge several large rocks under it... is 8. And from that point we could remove the tire. Since our spare was useless, I was again volunteered to hitch-hike to the next town, buy a tire, hitch hike back. Which I did, with our not-so-helpful driver in tow.

Though we originally planned on arriving back in Dakar before dinner, we ended up rolling up at about 9 PM... easily 12 hours after we started. The feeling of peace that had radiated from our bodies while floating on the Gambia River was gone. Some of us still had tire grease smeared on our faces, and the driver's language barrier was getting particularly wearing. We grabbed out things and bid adieu to each other and our cursed vacation.

I dropped my bags in the foyer and submitted to consolation from my grandmother. One thing I miss about Senegal is their brutal honest. No one placates you when you look terrible, they just say it. My grandmother asked if I had walked across Senegal, told me I smelled terrible, and sent me off to get cleaned up before telling her about my trip. Some vacations are merely more difficult than others. I didn't know I had a hidden skill to talk us out of bribes, but hey, we saved lots of money.

In retrospect, though were were miserable, it was one of my favorite vacations. Sometimes they were just ridiculous. Sometimes they were lessons learned. We walked away with unquestionably thicker skins and a delight in all things Dakarquoise. But now that I've moved on from Senegal, this trip is recounted the most.