It's a small world after all so we should cooperate
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).
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 about enjoying something one by one. I try to do this only once a day to make the bags last longer. ("Try" being the operative word.)
Before I came to Ghana I visited the birthplace of George Washing Carver. His place is near my mom's house. While there I picked up two pamphlets that he had written – one on peanuts and one on sweet potatoes. Both crops are grown here. Some of the recipes are for things like sweet potato flour, starch, and syrup which I wanted to try. These call for peeling, steaming, and such.
So kitchen gadgets. The peelers available here are very poorly made – think the dollar store and then go down from there. I tried various makeshift steamers with little success. The graters - well refer to the peeler comment. So the peeler from my mom is working great along with the steamer and grater.
However, I did not realize how short the sweet potato season was. There were few in the market today. Oh well – next season whenever that may be..... Until then other crops will come into season.
And then the safety goggles and dust masks. I'll be saying more about these in a coming post when the Sahara really starts blowing in my area and covering everything inside and out with a layer of dust. Or so I'm told. I'll find out in a month or two if they are exaggerating.
As I've mentioned the soil around my house, on the side of a hill,
is laterite. This means that over time the rain runoff and tropical
leaching process strips the soil of organic material and about every
other thing I consider to be soil. All this is carried down to the
valley – which is more fertile. What is left is more like sand
and pebbles. The area and dust is red because of the high iron
content. Given the amount of red dust I'm eating and breathing I'm
wondering if I need to take iron supplements.
Still the marginal land is still farmed even though the yields,
as expected, are low.
So I've been trying to work on composting methods to improve the soil. And low and behold one day I get a message from Bill (as mentioned above). He told me that is was coming to my area to teach composting. So he was serving as a private courier service and coming to teach something I want to implement in my area. Small world.
The Peace Corps and other government and non-government groups generally work in loose cooperation with each other when possible. Each group has their own mandate and style of development support and so maintain independence. Still, it is nice to work together to cross pollinate ideas and resources.
So last Sunday I went off to Jirapa to meet Bill and see the USAID demonstration. Roger and I took a tro to Jirapa (the first major town south and west of Nandom) about an hour away. Once in town the local USAID person, Ken, picked us up and took us to the site for the demonstration. As we needed to get back to catch a tro to Nandom, he also drove us back before the the session ended.
Unfortunately I was not able to spend as much time with Bill as I would have liked. My original plan of bringing a local Agriculture official with a private car would have allowed more time to visit. However, that fell through at the last minute and we had to take the tro instead. Still the short visit was nice and Bill is hoping to come for a follow-up visit sometime in the future.
Those of us who garden know the value of composting. However, here the knowledge and its application is more limited. First, during the rainy productive season people work incredibly hard, leaving little time for additional tasks. During the dry season there is more free time, but as it is dry, the ground is harder to work and moisture needed for composting in short supply. Traditionally, they have done a lot of bush burning (more on this in the future) which may be the way the savanna region works, but is a killer for organic material.
Still, if the fertility of the soil could be improved then the amount of work during the growing season would be somewhat reduced as less land would be needed for the same amount of harvest. Anyway, that is the general idea and I will not be here long enough to see if it actually works, but I can start some demonstration projects at least.
That is also the idea behind the USAID Farmer to Farmer program. Bill demonstrated a pit method of composting mixing brown and green materials.
So the farmers that Bill trained down south will try it as will some farmers up here. I'm also going to try other techniques to determine if one is more suitable for this community.
Christmas is coming fast, but you could hardly tell from what I'm seeing and hearing. I do have a felt Christmas Tree that Samantha sent. It is positioned above my mosquito so I can see it in the evening and morning. I barely get short wave BBC so little Christmas music there. There is one local station I could get if I had time to listen that may occasionally have a Christmas song on. But mostly it is local news and commentary or some music I don't appreciate much - so I don't generally tune into it. Of course no mall shopping. The daytime temperature is around 90 while the night and early morning is closer to the upper 60s.
So no Christmas music, no shopping, ….. Still, I've arranged to celebrate with a few of the local families, which will involve a pig or a couple of goats. There will also be mass Christmas morning. So I think I'll feel the spirit of Christmas even if the commercialization is lacking. (I'm heartbroken about that! Ha).
Of course I am heartbroken about being so far away from family and friends but I'm working on my skype skills and this method of communication seems to be less expensive than voice calls.
I remain healthy and happy. Merry Christmas to the Christians and Season Greetings to all to all a good night Ghana side as I finish typing this in the dark.
Love always,
John
Care Package Delivery
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 about enjoying something one by one. I try to do this only once a day to make the bags last longer. ("Try" being the operative word.)
Before I came to Ghana I visited the birthplace of George Washing Carver. His place is near my mom's house. While there I picked up two pamphlets that he had written – one on peanuts and one on sweet potatoes. Both crops are grown here. Some of the recipes are for things like sweet potato flour, starch, and syrup which I wanted to try. These call for peeling, steaming, and such.
So kitchen gadgets. The peelers available here are very poorly made – think the dollar store and then go down from there. I tried various makeshift steamers with little success. The graters - well refer to the peeler comment. So the peeler from my mom is working great along with the steamer and grater.
However, I did not realize how short the sweet potato season was. There were few in the market today. Oh well – next season whenever that may be..... Until then other crops will come into season.
And then the safety goggles and dust masks. I'll be saying more about these in a coming post when the Sahara really starts blowing in my area and covering everything inside and out with a layer of dust. Or so I'm told. I'll find out in a month or two if they are exaggerating.
Laterite soil, USAID, and composting
 |
| The red does no show so well in this picture - but this is basically the soil down for I don't know how deep. |
So I've been trying to work on composting methods to improve the soil. And low and behold one day I get a message from Bill (as mentioned above). He told me that is was coming to my area to teach composting. So he was serving as a private courier service and coming to teach something I want to implement in my area. Small world.
Cooperation
The Peace Corps and other government and non-government groups generally work in loose cooperation with each other when possible. Each group has their own mandate and style of development support and so maintain independence. Still, it is nice to work together to cross pollinate ideas and resources.
So last Sunday I went off to Jirapa to meet Bill and see the USAID demonstration. Roger and I took a tro to Jirapa (the first major town south and west of Nandom) about an hour away. Once in town the local USAID person, Ken, picked us up and took us to the site for the demonstration. As we needed to get back to catch a tro to Nandom, he also drove us back before the the session ended.
 |
| Ken displaying a Missouri hat with Roger. That face is the background is typical of children worldwide. |
Unfortunately I was not able to spend as much time with Bill as I would have liked. My original plan of bringing a local Agriculture official with a private car would have allowed more time to visit. However, that fell through at the last minute and we had to take the tro instead. Still the short visit was nice and Bill is hoping to come for a follow-up visit sometime in the future.
 |
| Bill, Roger, and I |
 |
| And a picture with a little more excitement |
Composting.
Those of us who garden know the value of composting. However, here the knowledge and its application is more limited. First, during the rainy productive season people work incredibly hard, leaving little time for additional tasks. During the dry season there is more free time, but as it is dry, the ground is harder to work and moisture needed for composting in short supply. Traditionally, they have done a lot of bush burning (more on this in the future) which may be the way the savanna region works, but is a killer for organic material.
Still, if the fertility of the soil could be improved then the amount of work during the growing season would be somewhat reduced as less land would be needed for the same amount of harvest. Anyway, that is the general idea and I will not be here long enough to see if it actually works, but I can start some demonstration projects at least.
That is also the idea behind the USAID Farmer to Farmer program. Bill demonstrated a pit method of composting mixing brown and green materials.
 |
| Part of the lecture slides |
 |
| The pit in the pit method before adding brown and green material |
 |
| The green and brown materials |
 |
| Wood ash (lots of cooking with wood and charcoal) used to speed the process |
So the farmers that Bill trained down south will try it as will some farmers up here. I'm also going to try other techniques to determine if one is more suitable for this community.
Christmas
Christmas is coming fast, but you could hardly tell from what I'm seeing and hearing. I do have a felt Christmas Tree that Samantha sent. It is positioned above my mosquito so I can see it in the evening and morning. I barely get short wave BBC so little Christmas music there. There is one local station I could get if I had time to listen that may occasionally have a Christmas song on. But mostly it is local news and commentary or some music I don't appreciate much - so I don't generally tune into it. Of course no mall shopping. The daytime temperature is around 90 while the night and early morning is closer to the upper 60s.
So no Christmas music, no shopping, ….. Still, I've arranged to celebrate with a few of the local families, which will involve a pig or a couple of goats. There will also be mass Christmas morning. So I think I'll feel the spirit of Christmas even if the commercialization is lacking. (I'm heartbroken about that! Ha).
Of course I am heartbroken about being so far away from family and friends but I'm working on my skype skills and this method of communication seems to be less expensive than voice calls.
I remain healthy and happy. Merry Christmas to the Christians and Season Greetings to all to all a good night Ghana side as I finish typing this in the dark.
Love always,
John
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