John's Next Step

I did not hear any jingle bells and did not see any stocking hung by the chimney with care. Christmas in my part of Ghana is not commercialized. It may be different in the big cities in the south. I'm in the Upper West Region. The region has a very high poverty rate. There are plenty of cars in the capital Accra and other southern cities. There are plenty of motorcycles a few hundred miles south. Many people here cannot afford a bicycle. This is not to say that no one has a car – there are some around and a good number of people have motorcycles. There are a lot of bicycles, but most people walk. Walking miles at times.... Most everyone has a farm to have staple food to eat and perhaps something to sell. Money is required for school fees, cell phone credit, and to buy a few things. Teachers, bankers and some government workers get a salary and have days off. However, most people here have shops, sell in the market, or otherwise find ways to make a little money. Ladi...

Busy this week. On Tuesday I needed to go to Lawra to get money from the bank. The tro was looking like it would take awhile to fill and getting a ride back is ALWAYS a pain so I rode my bicycle. Lawra is 20 miles one way – part dirt roads and part pavement. It would have been easier if I had a front derailer, lighter bike, better tires, this, that, and the other thing. The ride down in the cool morning was relatively easy. The ride back in the heat of the day with the wind in my face was hard. The last 5 miles was very difficult. My left knee still hurts a little, nothing major, but just an old man ache. I don't know if the bike ride is a sign that I'm physically healthy or mentally ill. On Thursday I gave the math end of term exam. Thursday was also the last day of class. On Friday I went 10 miles away to see a volunteer working on a world map project (more on this in a future blog with the project is finished. Basically, this is a mural of the world map dr...

In the “it's a small world” category a Facebook friend in the 50+ Peace Corps Volunteer Group sent me a message about a month ago saying that he was coming to my area of Ghana for a short term USAID Farmer to Farmer volunteer program. Bill Zimmerman is also from Missouri and lives closer to my mom than I do (well than I did when I was in St. Louis). Care Package Delivery So someone stateside was coming to my part of Ghana. A surprising the number of people travel to Ghana. These people tend to get loaded down with items to or from the volunteers. So Bill agreed to be my personal courier and my mother sent a care package to him before Thanksgiving. It was a great package with a couple of bags of M&M, a good peeler, grater, and a steamer along with safety glasses and dust masks and other things. The care packages from my mom are always great.  I am finding ways to enjoy 4 or 5 M&Ms – one at a time over the course of 30 minutes or so.  There is something a...

There are rocks in the millet. Not exactly something that seems like a cause for celebration but that is the meaning of our harvest festival “Kakube”. The millet harvest has been brought in and spread out on the ground to dry before being collected for storage. There are invariably small rocks mixed in at this point. Millet is an important local crop used for a porridge and, as mentioned earlier, the local alcoholic brew consumed by men and women – pito, or daa. Kakube was started about 30 years ago in Nandom by the Paramount Chief of the area. Previously the local communities had their own harvest festival and there was no common gathering to celebrate the harvest. The idea of Kakube was to bring everyone together. The local celebrations have moved to Christmas time in this Catholic area. The local soccer (football) field is converted to the festival grounds in about two days. Chairs and tents are placed around the festival grounds. The Paramount Chief and/or Queen ...