Missing an outing

For the close of Child Month we had a school outing to Grand Etang Lake, Annandale Falls, and Grand Anse on Tuesday. Our school is small enough that we only needed two buses. Also, this Peace Corps volunteer didn’t go. But I am glad that the teachers and students got to relax for the day, well students relaxed anyway.

Grand Etang lake - they don't swim in the lake

Yes, the kitchen person, also a mom, with hand of face ....

Annandale Falls

Another view of the falls
There are times when Peace Corps volunteers are not treated as Federal Employees. For example, while staff gets American holidays – the volunteers are expected to be at work. However, there are also times when Peace Corps volunteers are treated as Federal Employees.

Tuesday was one such time when I was scheduled to receive the flu shot. Federal employees are required, in most cases, to get the flu shot and it makes sense in places like Baltimore, D.C., and other cities with a significant number of federal employees. Beyond the individual health benefits, giving out the flu shot provides as sort of community immunization that helps reduce the possibility of a significant outbreak.

I guess it makes sense in the Caribbean since there may be a number of American coming down to visit during flu season. Also a lot of volunteers travel home for the Christmas break when the season might be peaking. I also had to get the flu shot in Ghana, which I thought was sort of ridiculous as Ghana doesn’t have a flu season and if it did it would not be the American flu variety. And since Ghana is a lot farther away very few volunteers traveled home during service.

I got the shot in Ghana and I got mine on Tuesday. It was unfortunate that mine was scheduled at a time that I missed the outing. It would have been nice to have gone with everyone else. However, Peace Corps volunteers and their communities knows that there are times when Peace Corps will have something that takes the volunteer away for a short time. It’s not the first time I missed something, and not likely the last … But that is also life – we can’t do everything – so no real worries.

Of course Wednesday was Halloween. I explained the history of Halloween, rather than focus on how much candy the children get. I remember one year my daughter brought home something like 15 or 20 pounds of candy. I didn’t bring this fact up as the adults and teachers are concerned about losing their culture to the more alluring candy feast.

So I explained how Halloween started with the Celts Samhain festival that was adjusted by the Church about a 1000 years ago. In my research I was surprised that the “trick or treat” thing likely only became popular after a Peanuts comic strip in 1951.

The whole dressing up and collecting candy thing didn’t happen in Ghana and hasn’t taken hold in Grenada yet. November 1st, All Saints day, and the eve of All Souls day is the more celebrated day. It is common to visit family graves with candles and flowers. Unfortunately, we just have small family cemetery plots and the wind didn’t cooperate for the candles, so no pictures. The largest cemetery in Grenada is in Grenville and I understand, although I did not go, that it can be very beautiful with the flowers, candles, and festivities.

There is an election being held in Grenada this Tuesday concerning the adoption of the Caribbean Court of Justice for the final appellate court. Of course, Tuesday is also the mid-term elections. I stay out of local politics and mostly dodge conversations about the US situation. However, I did mail my ballot and hope the everyone has either already voted or will vote on Tuesday. A lot of people are waiting to see the results.


Love always,
John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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 crops are in other fields.   Row of ya
Read more

Mid-service Training

Image
This past week was mid-service training (MST). The conference was held on St. Lucia at the Mount of Prayer Coubaril run by the Benedictine Nuns. It was a lovely place with hospitable people as you would expect from Benedictines. A couple of years ago in Ghana I was able to spend a little time at a Benedictine Abby (popular with volunteers) – so it was a nice connection with the two Peace Corps services. I got a little spoiled with the great meals and the WiFi. I intentionally don’t have WiFi at my house so I’m less tempted to stay inside. I do have better data service than Dondometeng in the Upper West - no complaints there and so none here. Their Church Their view Their conference room Getting ready for a meal My room was the only one with a television.  It did work, but I didn't watch anything. My guess is the picture was a little fuzzy because of all the estrogen, but that's just a guy theory with a dirty phone This was actually my firs
Read more