First Aerogramme from Ghana

A MOST BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HANNAH!!!!!!

October 25, 2008

I just got Hannah's letter dated Oct 9th.....so here it is transcribed ...

Dear Friends
I just got back from what the Peace Corps calls my "vision quest". I travelled to a current volunteers site for a few days visit, to see what life is like in a village. It was so great to have at least a little freedom,even if it was brief. I had a lot of fun with my host, Sarah. It helped that I brought my M&M's and beef jerky, along with my mad cooking skills. She lives in Tutukpene, a town in the Nkwanta District of the Volta Region.
I wish I could live in Tutukpene too-it's nestled at the base of a mountain and there is lots of good "chop" (fast food Gana style) available. And though Nkwanta is "isolated" because travel is so difficult in the district, the volunteer sites are relatively close to one another and they work together a lot. There may not be electricity and internet and phones are hard to come by, but
I would love living there for two years.
I am supposed to have my site placement interview today or tomorrow to determine where I'll be. We're now at our training site in Kukurantumi. I move in with my host family on Saturday and on Monday I find out where I'll be sent once I finish training in December. Everything is going so fast but I wish it would move faster still. I am ready to go to work!
Though I don't know what language I have to learn for my site, I have been practicing Twi for travel purposes (and so that if I do get to go to Nwanta, I'll have a head start). My favorite phrase so far is "Yemfre me obroni; yefre me Hannah" ..."My name is not white lady, my name is Hannah".
The little kids are so cute when they try to get an "obroni's" attention (Obroni literally means "one from over the sea"), but it is sometimes frustrating . They are usually happy if I just wave back- if I speak Twi to them it makes their day. By the end of my stay with "Ama Olila" ( Sarah's
Ghanaian name) the kids in Tutukpene knew me as Sister Hannah and would call to me
wherever I went. I have run out of room now and time....the Fufu has arrived!
So for now, "Yo Meeks!" Hannah