It's a Small World After All

I think this may have been the best week yet!

After seeing the great HIV clinic in Hohoe Tuesday, I was able to start teaching at the schools on Wednesday. I started my personal hygiene program at Happy Kids’ Orphanage and School. I was a little nervous for the first class, but Anna was there to help me. We were able to go to 4 classrooms with the kids varying in age from 5 to 15. We made posters about when and how to wash your hands. Then we played a fun game that I found which shows how germs are spread. You start by having about ¼ of the class put one of their hands in paint. Then tell the whole class to get up and shake each other’s hands. This seemed to be a really popular game and the children seemed to have a lot of fun playing it.  I think it was a good way to highlight how you can get germs from someone else and even pass germs that aren’t yours. After the game we had buckets of water and soap and we first demonstrate how to wash your hands properly (Anna even brought out the nurse’s standards to hand washing) and then had each of the kids come up to wash their own hands. I would say that as the day went on, I got much more confident and was able to explain myself a little better each time. I was pretty surprised with their teaching methods, as many of the kids didn’t write anything down while their teachers were teaching and some of the teachers seemed about my age!

After we finished at our placement for the day, Anna, myself and the staff traveled to the next town over, Kpando, for some fun cultural programming. We first went to this park that has a BIG (rivals Rio…maybe I’m exaggerating) statue of Virgin Mary and then has all of the Stations of the Cross made into statues that are on a path throughout. It was quite a nice little park and I left a prayer at the feet of Mary under a rock. Next, we travelled to a pottery shop. Pottery is a big part of the livelihood in Kpando and this shop was filled with bowls, teacups, animal figures and candle holders. We ran into a Peace Corp Volunteer when we were there. He was in charge of business development in Kpando and had been showing the Pottery Maker how to further her business. It was great to talk with him for a while and get his perspective on the Peace Corp experience. He only had one more month left and he said for him it was a great opportunity.

Later, we went to the fishing village of Kpando on the banks of Lake Volta. It was super interesting to see and John, our cook, convinced one of the fisherman to take us out on his rickety old wooden fishing boat.

We finished up our day with meeting two other Yavoo (white people) that we had met at the orphanage out at Obama’s Garden. It was quite nice to have some western conversations again J.

On Thursday I did the same lesson on hand washing at a different school, St. Francis. This school, unlike Happy Kids, is a government run school and I noticed a great difference between the two. St. Francis was much more structured and had actual lesson plans. They also had teachers and student teachers who were training at the St. Francis teachers’ College that is on the same campus. The classes also have a lot more children than Happy Kids. They had upwards of 30 children in each class while HK had only 5 in some. I thought the morning went quite well and I was much more comfortable in my lesson plan and felt that the children understood me more than at HK.

Friday was a very interesting day because we were able to help at a Pro-link conference held for the leaders of the community. Their topic was Women and Children’s health and the importance of getting proper care. Anna and I helped with the check- in and than were able to sit in for the conference but it was a little hard to follow because it was in Ewe. Thankfully one of the pro-link guys translated a bit for us. They were the nicest people. We had to leave a little early, so I went to tell our host and he had the two of us come up in front of the group and tell what we thought of their meeting and plans for the future. I felt a little put on the spot, but I said that I was really impressed by what they had already established and understand how important it was to educate the rest of their communities.

That afternoon Anna and I headed to Mountain Paradise, which is about an hour’s drive away. It is a little hostel with a beautiful view of the hills and some nice trails. When we pulled up Anna was so surprised because the scenic bar had burnt down since the last time she had been there! The owner said that one of the farmers down in the valley had started a brush fire and it got out of control. We still managed to have a great weekend! Once we had settled in we were talking to this young couple, the woman was from California and the man was raised in Ghana. BUT GUESS WHAT?!!! He had attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids for undergrad and had worked in Muskegon! What a small world! He continued to amaze me when he said that he also went to U of M for grad school. I was so stunned and could not believe that he had lived in both of my cities! We had a nice evening with this couple and about 50 games of UNO.

This morning Anna and I got up early and had a nice breakfast of hot chocolate and pancakes, but they sadly don’t have syrup in Ghana so we had to settle for jam. After breakfast we headed out for a nice hike. There was a BEAUTIFUL waterfall and swimming hole we came across too! We swam and enjoyed the view for a while then headed up the rest of the way. The trail was pretty steep and went up and down the hillside. The owner said it took 3 hours but we did it in 2.

When we came back to our hostel we met an older American couple probably in their 60s or 70s and chatted with them for a bit. After we talked for a while, we found out that they work for USAID in Accra. We were talking a bit more and turns out that I was talking to the #2 in charge for USAID in Ghana! That is a hugeeee deal! I told him about my major and that I was considering the Peace Corp and he highly encouraged it. He told me that he had been a volunteer in Afghanistan and had actually been the last group to ever serve there. He said that since he left the US after college he has not lived there since and named off about 10 countries in Africa and some in Eastern Europe that he had lived in. I was so amazed by this couple’s life and it really encouraged me and my future. They both recommended that I look into one of their internships for next summer and I managed to get his business card. Who would have thought that you could do networking on a mountain in Ghana?

Now I am back at the home base and Anna just left L We had a great week together and I really enjoyed adventuring Ghana just the two of us this last week. The next group of volunteers should be arriving in the next 2 to 3 hours so for now it is just me and the staff. I am starting to plan my lesson for next week and I think it is going to be about brushing your teeth.

I am a little bummed I won’t be home tomorrow, it is my daddy’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Love you! Hopefully the brothers can pull through without my help.

Until later my friends!

Elizabeth