First week back at site

After arriving in Ghana on Monday night I spent some time in Accra to see about my shoulder pain. I arrived back in Nandom last Sunday afternoon. Here are my initial thoughts on my return to my site.

Heat and humid in the rainy season is good for mold.  My place was closed up for a month and that gave the mold a chance to gain the upper hand. I'm allergic to mold so despite my washing, cleaning with bleach, and putting things out in the sun – I got my cough back. Nothing serious and with some of the cleaning the cough is moderating. But I expect it will linger on until well into the dry season.

Lights on, lights off. How quick I became use to stable electricity. Every day we have had lights on and lights off or low current.

A balanced diet. Let me just say it is easier to find a variety of food in the states. Back to simple foods and oh so much oatmeal.  On the plus side - I'm back to living within my budget.

It rains during the rainy season! We've had rains almost every day since I arrived. When it rains you get stuck in a spot until it is finish. The rains can be hard, but typically last for less than an hour.

Between the rains, poor soil, and goats my zia trench garden was a mixed success. The peanuts and local beans have done well. The corn and green beans were a big failure. Okra was a mixed result. Using sawdust to improve the organic material in the soil showed some benefit. Planting in the trenches with the unusually heavy rains hurt the roots of some crops and may have been a factor in the corn failure.

Goats love to eat corn and beans. Some people have begun to let their goats roam early to eat in the fields not yet harvested. So any corn that survived the weather was pretty much trimmed by roaming goats that are suppose to still be tied up. Some people..... I might try to get a fence around my experiment so continue to work during the dry season – when all the goats will be free to roam. I would like to see if kudzu can survive the dry season. I am interested in kudzu as a way to increase the nitrogen in the soil and as an animal (rabbit) fodder.

The corn and beans in the foreground are a loss.
The beans and peanuts in the back are productive - we are keeping the weeds to limit goat damage.

Two kids who just finished munching corn and look to me like "what's it to you".

School is back in session. I'm teaching ICT to all three forms this year. Until the computer room is complete I will be doing mainly lecturing rather than having hands on computer use. I handed out candy from the states. Each student received two pieces – not much, but all I could bring. The limitation was due to baggage space and weight limitations. I've kept some other candies (read a large bag of M&Ms and Smarties) for the last year of my service. (It may be wishful thinking to hope it will last for the next 300 odd days.)

There remains competing interest for the new school. The Junior High was only able to move in on the Friday before I came (at the end of the second week of school) – leading me to believe that if I had not returned the agreement we reached before I left would have been null and void. I continue to work with the community to refine our mutual understanding concerning the use of the new school, my role as a Peace Corps volunteer, and the grant money.

One of the valuable characteristics of the Peace Corps is embedding the volunteer within the community for two years. The volunteer gets to know and be known in the place. The volunteer needs to be able to navigate the frictions and factions, common interests, and differing opinions in the community. Sometimes this is difficult. What was meant by what was said is not always understood. I misunderstand and I am misunderstood. In such cases I try to maintain a cooperative and humble position. In specific instances I try to get things in writing.

The people. The daily struggles of the people and their friendship are a reason to stay and continue this work until the end of my service. We all try to make the world a better place. I have less than one more year in this small area in a remote savannah region of Ghana.

Health

I'm to do stretches and planks for my shoulder.  I'm to move to push ups at some point. I do need to do more exercise – particularly core and upper body. I'm also going to try in increase my weekly amount of protein. My shoulder pain is greatly reduced but not completely gone.

As mentioned – my cough is back, but moderating a little as I fight down the mold in the place. I've developed a minor outer ear ache in one ear. I've been through these before and don't think either will lead to a trip to Accra.



Love always,

John