John's Next Step

Notification of travel As a teenager with a license do you remember having to call your parents to let them know you got to your friend's house safe? Or as a parent do you remember waiting for a call that never came and being relieved and angry when you found out that your child is safe? Well in Ghana it is not just parents that you must tell and it does not matter if you are twenty something or fifty something. You are expected to tell people where you are going and when you expect to return. If you are going some distance you also need to let people know that you got there safe. Historically, people wanted to know in case something happens so they can possibly come to your aid. This type of mutual protection and concern is ingrained in the culture. Going to the market? Make sure you tell you neighbor. Arrived safely in Tamale – your neighbors and fellow teachers all want to know.  If you don't call them you can expect a call from them to make sure you are OK. Wh...

Another holiday to consider my separation from those I love by distance and circumstance. And yet I also believe, as I am currently listening to “How can I tell you” by Cat Stevens, that God is love and therefore able to unite over such distances and circumstances. I sometimes actually feel the closeness spanning distance and circumstance, but even without the feeling I am comforted in the belief. Of course the holiday is famous for increasing the sales of greeting cards and candy. This is also true in Ghana. In Nandom I did not see any signs of the commercialism but I traveled through Wa on Friday and saw that many stores had cards, chocolates, and cellophane wrapped gift baskets for sale. (As a reminder: Nandom is my market town in the upper west portion of the Upper West Region of Ghana. It is a small town in a farming area. Most people are subsistence farmers will little income. There people mainly walk or ride bicycles. There are a handful of private cars in the...

One of my early memories about teaching involves a trip home from college when I helped my mom, an excellent third grade teacher, score math homework. Some of the students did not score well. My mom said that as a teacher you see how hard the students work and you know the type of support they get at home so low scores are better understood. However, I was so upset at having to give low grades to students and psychologically scare them for life that I had to stop grading the papers and I swore I would never be a teacher. My previous work life was mainly in the computer field for large corporations and living up to my oath, although I did teacher religious education in my church for a few years and taught a semester at a community college as a favor to a friend years ago. So here I am some thirty something years later, a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Education group. I teach math and information communication technology (ICT) to junior high school students in Ghana, West Afr...

Learning to live simply is one of my reasons I joined the Peace Corps.   Looking at the stuff I packed and received in generous care packages I should say I am living “more simply”. I have fewer things, but I also luxury items that I don't actually need. A lot of what I brought were things I already had around the house.  I did buy some new things; for example, a good backpack and a power pack to charge electronic devices. Packing Lists I think that every Peace Corps blog should have a packing list to help Future Peace Corps Volunteers figure out what to pack and what to leave behind. I delayed this post until I've been in site for a bit to see what I've found useful and what I've not used. Note: the Peace Corps “allowed” weight and size limit for two pieces of luggage has some wiggle room. First, the bags that I'm glad I bought: A large backpack, a medium duffle bag, a small overnight backpack and a soft computer bag I loaded up and tested the b...