Second week home


Peace Corps Volunteers know that life goes on back home while we are away in service. We worry about our families – their health and well being back home. Since we are not around we don't know everything going on back home. We don't always know how people are really doing.

Of course, the same is true of our families and friends who worry about our health and well being in our remote communities. They have an even harder time understanding what and how we are doing in a different culture under rather austere living conditions. Even with skype calls and blogs it is not always (not ever) possible to let people back home know how we are really doing.

My daughter's wedding gives me the opportunity to come home to visit and to reconnect with family and friends. Spending time together in the same room is a good way to reconnect. Seeing each other and spending time together has been very nice.

I spent this week with my mom and family in Northwest Arkansas. My family got to see me 15 months older and 35 pounds lighter. I was able to spend time with Mom, Rodney and Patti, and Chris and Arnette. As I write this in my mother's house I hear word that my sister is having some medical issues in central Arkansas. I hope to see her and her family at the wedding coming up in a couple of weeks. My family is doing pretty good – my mom had a fall and broke a bone in her foot so she is not moving very fast – it certainly can't be because of anything else – because I don't believe I or anyone else is growing old while I'm in Ghana.

Of course, that is not true – growing older is what we all do – one day at a time.

In a nod to nothing is completely bad my mom and I visited Crystal Bridges – an art museum built by Alice Walton and funded by the Waltons and Walmart.

Mom and me inside Crystal Bridges

Live goes on in Ghana


I received word, email, this week that my grant application to help improve the library and create a multi-purpose computer room was approved. Working with the headmaster of the school and others to turn that into a reality will be a major focus when I return. Making a difference, helping people improve their situation is the major reason to go and to go back.  (Although going back will be hard.)

I will likely have rabbits on my return to my site – Roger will keep them until I arrive. This is sort of funny since Northwest Arkansas has Pel-Freez – a rabbit processing company that has been in operation in Rogers Arkansas since 1952. The many however weird connections are also help make the sacrifices worthwhile.


Wedding is coming


But at this point I'm not thinking about Africa or going back – I'm thinking about Samantha's wedding. I'm so looking forward to the wedding as I know this will make Samantha and Brandon happy to start a new life. It will also be nice for Samantha to be done with wedding planning. Without mom or dad the wedding planning has been difficult. Our apologies for any missteps in invitations or plans – she is doing her best. Talking about missteps – I need to practice for the father daughter dance.


Health


I still have my cough somewhat – over the counter and other medicine, thanks mom, have helped significantly. I am gaining some weight and figure I'm eating at least twice as much here as in Ghana.


Love always,
John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crop...
Read more

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is ...
Read more

Ghana Archery and Travel to Tamale

Image
Ghana Archery Roger and I were walking to see a man in the community early last week and he happened across an arrow head. It was a long thin metal piece that would be attached to then end of a shaft. That got Roger talking about archery and got me thinking about another blog post. He explained how the arrow worked while we walked and promised to show me a bow and arrow when we got back to his house. He talked about the old times when they made poison. The process involved collecting plants and such things and placing them in a pot which is buried for a year. The poison was used on animals and people in the ancient times. That got me thinking about the information that has been and is being lost in the community from the older generation. Yesterday, I was sitting talking with some of the older men and they were talking about how the grandfathers could dig up the roots and such to make medicine for a variety of illnesses. They told me that the knowledge and practice of m...
Read more