Changing Colours

A few weeks ago, while waiting for the internet café to open and wandering the streets of Kofuridua, it was cloudy and I forgot to put sunscreen on (cue everyone’s groans). I came home quite a bit burned, the first and only burn I have gotten in Ghana. A friend of my homestay family was over the next day and kept looking at me funny. Finally, after a while, she turned to me and said with the utmost confusion and sincerity, “Akua, when you came to us, you were white. Now you are a different colour.”

The longer I am in Ghana, the more I feel like I am changing colours, though much more metaphorically than physically (I promise, I learned my lesson). I am getting used to the foods and learning to love fufu, I am getting used to the culture and becoming very adept at joking my way out of proposals, and I am even starting to get a hang of the language, though that’s going to require a lot more work. I have not started going completely native and eating only with my hands, drinking rain water from the roof, and ditching my bras; but I definitely am starting to feel more like a Ghanaian than I did before. The past few weeks, as I have travelled to my site and shadowed another volunteer, have really helped with this.

Two weeks ago we travelled to Kumasi, where we met our counterparts, found out our sites, and had a three day conference about everything from responsibilities of volunteers and counterparts to ways of educating the community about HIVAIDS. Of the 25 counterparts there, mine was the only female. And she’s a physics teacher. And just an all-around BAMF. Her name is Prospera Danu and she is quickly becoming my second Ghanaian mother. She lives at my school with her daughter (she is divorced). I feel really lucky to have her as my counterpart.

And I feel equally as lucky for my school! It is called Serwa Kesse Girls Senior High School and is located in the town of Duayaw Nkwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region, just outside the region capital Sunyani. I live in a bungalow on campus which I share with my landlord who is an English teacher at the school. I have a large bedroom with a wardrobe and big bed already provided, plus an equally large sitting room with a desk and chair, all to myself. Both rooms have electricity, nice big windows, and ceiling fans. Then across my courtyard is the toilet (flush!), bathroom (with a shower!), and kitchen that I share with my land lord, as well as a bunch of laundry lines and a pipe with water. It’s beautiful and far better equipped than I had dared to hope. The toilet doesn’t actually have a seat and the shower is by no stretch of the imagination even vaguely warm, but still. They definitely beat a latrine and a bucket I have to fill from the well two miles from my house.

My school is a beautiful complex and is relatively well off. We have a number of buildings, all with electricity, including a block just for science labs and another for the library/ICT centre (i.e. computer lab). Now granted, our library and lab are pretty poorly stocked. But again, I’m counting myself as extraordinarily lucky. I am considering trying to start a book exchange for our library as a secondary project, but obviously that’s only a thought for now. All the teachers at the school have been very friendly and welcoming. I actually share the name of a 50ish year old math master’s mother, so now he greets me “My mother!” and I greet him “My son!” It’s entertaining. My department head is trying to find me a husband, some other teachers are volunteering for that role, my land lord is threatening any man other than him who enters, the Twi teacher has offered to be my tutor, my neighbour the art teacher has me over all the time, my counterpart’s home is my second home, and my headmistress is super helpful and accommodating. I don’t think it’ll take long for the place to feel like home.

It looks like I will be teaching either Form One or Form Two chemistry, depending on what my head of department decides. Either way, that will mean teaching 12 forty-minute periods per week (2-3 periods a day, maybe two or three sections). This is perfect for me as teaching is not my greatest strength as of yet, but I do feel plenty confident working in extracurriculars. I have already agreed to help out with the science club and the debate/quiz competitions (our school is the debate national champs!), and I also want to try and start an HIV/AIDS or general health club as well. And maybe an environmental/clean up initiative. I may also help the sports master if he needs any assistance. So basically, I’ll be finding ways to keep myself busy and useful. I’m so so so excited to get back there and start.

After my site visit I travelled north west to a town called Menji, where a current volunteer is teaching. I and three other trainees got to observe how she lived and worked, plus meet two other volunteers in my region. There is only one other person from my group in the BA (Brong Ahafo), but the three volunteers I’ve met so far are awesome. I had a nice time seeing everything and hanging out with everyone, and in particular just relaxing- after going at least 8 hours a day at least 6 days a week, it was really nice to sit around and do nothing for a few hours every day.

While I was at site I made it over to Sunyani twice as well, so I can now say with confidence that I have the best counterpart, the best site, the best city, the best region, and the best neighbours. Boo-yah.

So that was my trip. I am now comfortably back in Anynasin with my homestay family, who I missed a ton during my travels. I will be here for three and a half more weeks learning Twi and finishing my training. I will swear in the 15th or 16th (which is broadcasted live online from what I hear, more details to come for those interested), then go to a two day cross-sector training where I will learn a bit of what the Health/Wat-San and Agric volunteers do. After that I will have 5 days to get to site, during which I think I will go to the beach with my fellow newly-inducted PCVs for some much needed R&R. Then it’s off to site and down to business!

Now comes the part where I turn into a little beggar- really, you all new it was coming. I’ve taken the liberties of compiling a wish-list of things I would love to have, and I am going to post it on here. No one has to send anything, but for those of you asking what I need, here it is.
• Flash drives with movies, music, TV shows, YouTube videos, and anything else entertaining on it.
• Cheese (the hard kind in wax that doesn’t need to be refrigerated until opened)! Cheese is nearly impossible to find here and is super expensive.
• Spices- any and all, they’re also tough to find.
• Seeds- I am going to attempt a garden. Herbs, veggies, berries, whatever you think will grow well/will be hard for me to kill.
• Olive oil
• Non-perishable foods (cereal, dried fruit, Nature Valleys, chocolates, anything that strikes you as particularly American)
• Bubbles
• Colouring book/markers
And letters are always appreciated too . It’s just like being at camp, mail tends to make my day, whether it’s a letter or a package or an email or a blog comment or a Facebook notification- even now it can get kind of lonely here, and when I go to site it’ll only be worse.

So I think that’s all for now, more to come soon!