First Stages

Hello,

This is the first time in about five weeks that I've had access to the internet, so the following is a rather lengthy review of what has taken place in the last 7 weeks.

My flight was originally scheduled to leave early in the morning. I spent the previous day packing all my luggage and getting all my other things put away into boxes. The evening and night came surprisingly fast though, and I found myself working late into the night. I arrived early for my morning flight, only to find out that the flight had been cancelled due to fog. I was fortunate however, and got a seat on the afternoon flight.

The staging was held in Philadelphia. Staging consisted of meeting the group of teachers that were going to be volunteering in Ghana, filling out registration forms, and learning about some basic health and security guidelines, and getting the necessary vaccinations. Due to flight reasons, I arrived in Philadelphia one day early and met with my brother Anders and cousin John. We were able to spend some time that night and the following morning visiting and looking at the various historic sites such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It was a particularly hot time in Philadelphia, and one needed only to walk down the street to get rather sweaty. We consoled ourselves by saying that we were only preparing ourselves for Ghana.
Following the staging event, we chartered a bus to Newark International Airport where we toured around waiting for our 8:00 departure. We were delayed as we taxied to the runway, and it started getting rather hot inside the cabin. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before we took off and the cabin cooled down. I stayed awake for a while and had some snacks in the cabin, but soon fell asleep. When I awoke, we were a good part of the way across the Atlantic, and it was bright and clear outside. Before long, I saw land and we started descending into Amsterdam. The airport was had an interesting layout, but was very clean and modern. I got some lunch there, and was surprised to find out that the Euro-USD exchange rate brought my meal of a small sandwich and drink to nearly $10. Admittedly, it was excellent though.

The flight from Amsterdam to Accra, Ghana was through KLM. I’ve never flown KLM before, and was pleasantly surprised once I boarded the plane. There was plenty of space inside, and they had music playing some music as everyone boarded. Unlike the Northwest plane we took over the Atlantic, this plane had the TV screens in the seatbacks that had the GPS, movies, music, and games. The service on the flight was excellent and I occupied myself with snacking, taking photos from the window, and watching movies. I tried to see the Sahara desert when the GPS indicated we were over it, but the cloud cover only allowed me to see a faint brown surface. The sun was setting as we neared Ghana, and I kept my eyes on the clouds, trying to find some interesting cloud formations lit up by the sun. When we landed in Ghana, it was completely dark. There wasn’t a gate that the plane pulled up to. Instead, the plane stopped near the airport, stairs were brought alongside it, and a bus took the passengers to the airport. We met the Peace Corps Ghana Country Director at the baggage claim area and started finding our baggage. Fortunately, both my bags arrived and appeared to be in good shape. Two of the volunteers’ bags did not show up though. One of the volunteers didn’t end up getting his bag until several weeks later.

We made our way through the immigration area without any difficulty and walked outside of the airport to the clapping and cheers of the Peace Corps Ghana staff and volunteers. I was pulling two suitcases so I could only smile and nod as I walked by. Having been in the air for the past 16 hours, I wasn’t up to doing a whole lot more. We put all our baggage in a box truck, and boarded busses heading toward our initial training site. Traffic in Accra is highly congested, so we were given a police escort through the city. It was a wild introduction to Ghana - police sirens, horns honking, and people staring. It felt obnoxious in some ways, but it would have likely taken several hours otherwise. It is one of the interesting things working through the Peace Corps. We are actually working through the host country’s government, so some things can work out very well such as the police escort.

We arrived at our initial training site about 90 minutes later. The site was a university, but classes weren’t in session so we were nearly the only ones there. We were all split up into rooms and put our stuff away and finally got together in the mess hall for a brief welcome. We then all got some needed sleep. The schedule on the following day was rather light, but had some brief informational sessions.

The following week was spent with more sessions and allowed everyone to get settled after the flights. In order to learn how to move around in Ghana, we needed to learn the tro system. A tro is a small bus/van that moves people from place to place. In addition to the driver, there is also a mate that collects fares, and watches for people alongside the road that need rides. As a learning exercise in using the tro system, we were all split into groups and sent on various missions into Accra. My group was sent to find the Makola Market in Accra. We walked out to the road, flagged down a tro heading into Accra, and jumped on board. After getting off at an unknown station in Accra, we started asking around to find Makola Market. Ghanaians are very helpful, and in no time we were directed on our way to the market.

The next step in the training was visiting a current volunteer at their site. I was assigned to meet with someone near the center of Accra. It was a great opportunity to see the countryside and get a better understanding of what it’s like to serve as a volunteer here. My host was involved in an environmental project, so I didn’t get to see a whole lot of teaching, but I enjoyed seeing the village and looking around the site.

All the trainees then moved to the PC training site in southern Ghana. We’ll be remaining here for another 5 weeks. One of the first things that took place during this time was getting assigned to a site. Everyone was interviewed and the education directors got together to decide where everyone was going to be placed. There are a number of things that go into site placement such as medical concerns, technical abilities, teaching experience, and knowledge. It was interesting to wait for this announcement because we’ll be at these sites for two years. My initial preference was to be placed in the northern region of Ghana. I also wanted to teach at a junior high school. Even though this will be more challenging, I also see the potential for effective teaching to have a greater impact on the students. When the wait was over, I learned that I would be teaching at a junior high school, but in the southern region of Ghana. Even though I was initially hoping to be placed in the northern region, the southern region will be quite all right. It’ll also be closer to the major cities of Accra and Kumasi. Because it’s also quite a bit closer to Accra than the northern sites, it’ll also facilitate the arrival of the many visitors that I’m expecting to host. You do want to come to Ghana, don’t you?

The second interesting thing that happened during training was getting placed with a host family. Families around the community volunteered to host us, and were given some information on the types of food to make and what to expect from the volunteers. They are given a generous amount of money to provide food for us. The family placement was interesting though. All of the trainees and all of the representatives from the families were all gathered together under one roof – trainees on one side, families on the other side. One by one, names of the trainees were called, and the corresponding names of the families were called. The trainee and family then met in the middle of the room, exchanged greetings and walked out for introductions. The entire thing was arranged to build anticipation. When my name was called, I found that my host father had come out to meet me. He’s a farmer and a painter, and we started visiting about the local farms. Later, his wife arrived and together we took a taxi to his house right in the middle of the training town. There are quite few children, relatives, and boarders that live in the housing complex, so there is never a shortage of activity.

During training, we’re learning the local languages, customs, and the like. We’re also undergoing technical training. As part of this technical training, we spent two weeks teaching classes at the local schools. We started by teaching our peers, then small groups of students, and finally taught the actual classes in the schools. It was an interesting experience. I have a lot of ideas when it comes to teaching, but it’s another thing to put all the ideas together into a cohesive, effective lesson. As I neared the end of the practicum, I started feeling as though I was reaching the level of competence that I was looking for. My reviews from the observing teachers were all positive, and I’m looking forward to teaching at my actual site. One of the biggest benefits from this would be that I will know what the students have already learned, and I’ll be able to build on that.

Now that we’ve finished training, we’re continuing with our technical and language training. I’ve been learning Twi, which is the most commonly spoken local language in Ghana. It’ll be useful knowing Twi when I visit the market towns and the cities.

So, that is the rather long recap of what has generally happened since I got here. The questions remains though, “How is Ghana?” I would actually have to say that one of the things that I’ve been surprised by most here has been the lack of surprises. I’ve just gotten used to the way everything has turned out here, and it really doesn’t feel that strange. Looking at a map, I still have to realize that I’m actually in Ghana out in Africa, but my surrounding are starting to feel very familiar. I know that it will be more challenging when I reach my site though. At that time, I’ll be completely on my own, without any Americans to rely on for immediate support. I will have a number of volunteers that are going to be within a couple hours of me, but no one else will live in my village. I am looking forward to getting to my site though and getting my place set up the way I want it. There will be some time before school starts, so it would be nice to see if I can get some painting done. Of course, I haven’t been to the site yet, but I’d like to make it look the way I want it to. There is also the issue of simply having my own place. There is a certain advantage with living with a host family, but I’ll have more flexibility when I get to my own site.
So far, everything has been going quite well. I’ve been learning a lot and have been enjoying what I’m doing. I actually wrote this message back at home, and just uploaded the text at an internet cafe. Today was market day in the town, and I got some material that I'm planning to have made into shirts and a pair of pants.

I'll keep in touch!