John's Next Step

Christmas It is Christmas and I’m in Accra due to some medical issues.  I wanted to be at site for the holidays, but the medical problem seemed more severe so I came down early.  However, after an initial consult it was seen that I have a chipped rather than broken tooth so it can wait and as nothing can be done during the holidays.  I can stay in Accra or travel to site and back (which would be very difficult and I would spend more days traveling that at site if it was even possible to travel on the holidays.) Of course I would prefer to be a site or back at home in the states for Christmas.  Being a traveler during this season is not most people’s preference.  But, there is a precedent for experiencing Christmas that way.  At least I have a bed to sleep in rather than having to sleep in a barn worried about a pregnant wife about to give birth. Part of why I joined the Peace Corps was to learn to simplify my life.  Can I be happy without a full...

I got all the grades completed and helped with the final paperwork.  Now I have free time, but I find myself on the road to Accra soon to have my tooth looked at.  I did not want to go down during the holidays, but there is nothing to be done about that now. On Saturday we had a ceremony that installed the village chief and the queen mother.  The two people are not related and typically not related.  The local chief has a lot of power as they were set up by the British to help with administration.  The queen mother is responsible for women issues and in some places helps to decide or even is responsible for choosing the next chief.  Both appointments are for life. In the local language the chief is called Naa and the queen mother is called Pognaa (Pog being woman).  The program, below, said that Mass would start of 9:30.  In African time it started at 10:30.  The paramount Chief, the head chief in the area came during the sermon ...

Since coming to Ghana I’ve not seen an elephant, lion, zebra, or antelope.  I’ve have seen one monkey (possibly a pet living in a family compound) in the south and an alligator or crocodile in a large pond in Nandom (I’m not sure how to tell the difference).  Some people have been to the Mole national park, which is in the northern region, and have seen elephants although others have gone and not seen them.  There is also a hippo reserve close to Wa, but I’ve not been to that either.  I am surrounded by animals, the farm variety.  As mentioned before my neighbor has chickens, including roosters, so I wake up early – “when the cock crows” can be hours before dawn.  The other common fowl is guinea fowl.  There are a few ducks around and some people in town have turkeys.  Grazing animals include sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys.  We also have pigs.  During this dry season most of the animals are free roaming.  The animals also tend...

Selfie and the TSO I spent the week in Tamale – at the Peace Corps sub-office.  I arrived on Monday and will leave early next week after I get my flu shot.  So, I’ll be away from my village for a week give or take.  That is longer than I would like, but the break is also nice. Six people on the Food Security Task Force came together to discuss the efforts by Peace Corps to improve food security and to examine how we can improve resources for volunteer to work in this area and plan for upcoming training.  So while this may seem like trying to solve world hunger – it is exactly like working to solve world hunger. The topic is obviously complicated with a lot of different efforts such as: improving the soil, selecting improved seed varieties, improving farming and animal husbandry practices, reducing post-harvest loss, improving nutritional practices for children, and a host of other ideas. Obviously, a volunteer spending 2 years at site is not going to solve...

My post this week shares a setback in my gardening project. But first some good news about the computer room. Pictures of the computer room I have pictures!!!  (Although they took hours to put in this post.) Computer room ready for students One of my computer classes. Students with computers And one last picture Trying to manage 45 to 60 students working with 15 to 20 computers is difficult.  I’m mentally exhausted after each class.  Maintaining patience when I explain to a student over and over again how to do something or reminding them not to play on the computer when they are supposed to be completing an assignment is difficult.  However, this is a major part of my service and I have two more terms to bring the students up to a comfortable working level in using the computers. Travel plans This week I will be traveling to Tamale for a Food Security Task Force meeting on Tuesday – Thursday. I'll stay over on Friday for a w...

Construction projects We are getting into to building season in my area. This is the dry period when people can build their mud walls buildings. The school (students) started with making bricks a couple of weeks ago and now they are dry. Our students built a urinal pit for the primary students on Friday. We will have the students make more bricks for our next project – a new pigsty closer to our new school. The school raises pigs to support the end of year celebration. Fridays after the first couple of periods is normally set aside for such vocational work, or cultural practices, or academic competition between groups of students. Gender roles are followed - the ladies bring the water to make to mud mortar for the walls The bricks made by the students are carried to the construction site. Working on breaking up the dirt to make the mortar Some students like to stop working and pose for a picture. Like most children and adults some seem to stand aroun...

I keep track of the daily morning temperature and relative humidity when I'm at my place. Between June 7 th and Nov 3 rd the relative humidity was at least 60% everyday. However, I never saw it at or above 80% during this time so I can't really complain about the humidity. Since Nov 4 th the relative humidity has never reached 60% and yesterday it was at 36%. The morning temperatures have also decreased slightly from recently between 80 and 83 (Oct 3 rd – Nov 3 rd ) to getting down to 76 in the past couple of days in the morning. One can feel the few degrees difference in the morning. I'm adding some hot water to my morning bucket bath.  The daily high temperature is still close to 90 I think (although I don't track). One can begin to see winter coats on the local motorcycle drivers during the day. I can expect the humidity to go down to the 30% range in December and down to the mid-20%'s in February before moving back to the 60% range in May. Th...

Three rabbits in the bottom hutches.  The top hutches are for raising the babies when they come I got my rabbits this week. Two does and one buck. Neither doe is in heat so I'm trying to get them enough to eat so I can start breeding. I only have about nine months left which is maybe four breeding cycles. I would like to show that a controlled breeding program will produce healthy bunnies more effectively than the traditional colony method (Does and bucks are housed together and will breed anytime. Babies may be killed by others in the colony.) Feeding rabbits in Ghana, certainly in my part of Ghana, means collecting the food. They don't sell rabbit pellets although I can buy corn and mix with dried pito distillers grains to make a dry feed mix. I've not done that yet. I generally give the bulk of the food in the evening. Roger brings by some food in the morning. The rabbit will eat about its weight in leaves and hay each day and I think they tend to eat mor...

I mark the passage of another month in Ghana – less than ten months remaining in my service to Ghana.  Last night was Halloween and I enjoyed seeing all the pictures on Facebook of “trick or treaters” back in the states. The children here don't go trick or treating and Halloween passes without much notice. Roger and others continue to work on harvesting their crops. The corn, millet, and peanuts have pretty much been harvested. I saw yams and sweet potatoes in the market so those crops are also being harvested. Rice is the last major crop to be harvested I think. Dry season garden My garden has been grazed by the goats and I lost the last of the beans. However, I did complete the fence around the dry season area where I will be try to grow beans, okra, and kudzu. This will double or triple my daily water demands. I normally use about two buckets of water a day – the bore hole being about a city block away. Watering will be more of a daily chore – but such is th...