President Obama's shout-out to Peace Corps Ghana

This week was one of those weeks that reminded me how lucky I am. I'm down in Kukurantumi helping out with the training for the new group of Peace Corps volunteers who arrived the first week of June. My time on duty right now just so happened to coincide with President Obama's visit to Ghana. I didn't think we (the Peace Corps) would get to do anything with the President, considering how tight his schedule was for this visit. But three days before he arrived, as I was on my way south for my last round of training duties, I got a very exciting message -
"Peace Corps volunteers will have the opportunity to attend the departure ceremony for President Obama in Accra on Saturday." Wow.
I wasn't expecting much. We are after all just volunteers. There was no way we were going to get special treatment at such an event. But as we discovered when we arrived at the Airport was there was a special standing section for Peace Corps volunteers and other important people (ie - Embassy staff etc) just a few yards away from the podium upon which President Obama would speak. Double Wow. We ARE special.
I thought that would be the end of the specialness. I was wrong. Here is a short excerpt from his short speech to the crowd gathered to see him off...
I want to recognize our Peace Corps volunteers who are here. (Applause.) You know, Ghana was the very first nation to host young people from the Peace Corps. And for decades, our two nations have formed vital partnerships and lasting friendships because of this program. So all of you in the Peace Corps, you are doing an outstanding job and we're proud of you. (Applause.)
(the whole speech, both President Atta Mills and President Obama's can be found at http://www.fosterfollynews.com/news/2009July11PresidentLeavesGhana.php)
The part where it says (Applause) is a gross understatement. We went crazy. If you read the whole speech, you'll discover that not only did Peace Corps Ghana get a shout-out from the President, but we were thanked for our service directly after the country of Ghana and President Atta Mills.
And it gets better still. After the speeches were over and the national anthems sung, Obama got down and came to shake our hands. I wasn't able to push my way to the railing to get a handshake, but I did get one from Mrs. Obama. Triple Wow.
So thank you, President Obama. Thank you thank you thank you. I feel loved.
I'll put up some pics on flickr later on. I don't have my laptop with me to transfer them.

Be very quiet, I'm hunting wabbits

That's right. I'm on the lookout for a couple mama rabbits and a daddy rabbit to start my rabbit colony in Fufulso. This was a decision I made just a few weeks ago at our In-Service Training. Someone was talking about raising rabbits as an alternative livelihood project. You see, rabbits breed quickly, are very tasty and nutritious, and sell for a relatively good price of six Ghana cedis (about $4) a piece. I'm going to start experimenting with raising some at Madam Hawa's house and if they thrive, I'll start trying to get some of the people in my village interested in trying it too.
I've got a lot of plans like this in the works right now. The Guinea worm cases are finally slowing (we've only had 15 cases so far for April), so I finally have time to do and think about other things. Some of these other things are...
1) Planting moringa seedlings and promoting them in town
2) Painting murals for both Guinea Worm and HIV/AIDS awareness
3) Starting a student health club
4) Meeting with the District Assembly (once they finally get decide upon a new District Chief Executive for the new administration) to find out how I can help with any district health or WATSAN initiatives.
5) Promoting rainwater harvesting and improving harvesting capabilities at various places in the village
6) Finish my GPS mapping of the village
7) Community Led Total Sanitation - aka, promoting and helping with the construction of household latrines and soak-away pits (to get rid of mosquito breeding grounds)
And on and on.
It seems I have a lot on my plate. Yet somehow, I don't really feel like I'm doing much right now. Part of that is the rains are starting to come small small, so people are starting to go to farm all day, making it difficult to get people to come to meetings and help with other projects. But it's nice to have a bit of a break. Last month, I was able to do a little traveling. I had to go to Accra for medical, then a planning meeting for the upcoming PST, then WATSAN IST in Kumasi, with a couple of days at the beach in there somewhere. Check out flickr for pictures of me bodysurfing and looking like a badass in a matching outfit with my counterpart.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to get at least a few of these projects off the ground before the newbies come in June. I just found out on Thursday that I'm going to be one of the trainers for the new group, so I'll be going down to Kukurantumi quite a bit in the next few months. My friend Alice is also studying abroad in Accra this summer and planning to come to my site for the first couple weeks of August. And some cousins are going to be in country at some point as well. So yeah, I'm going to be busy busy busy. But that's a helluva lot better than bored bored bored.
Leopold is nice and healthy, though he fails at catching the mouse in my kitchen. Maybe I should feed him less.
Life, in general, is good these days. I can finally sleep inside again (sometimes), though chilling in my hammock just before bed is still my favorite part of the day.
Okay, I'm heading back to the village now. Check out the photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahefrank).
Adios.

New pictures

I posted some new pictures on flickr today. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahefrank
I'll update the blog for real on Sunday afternoon.

Jabiru saves the day

In my last entry, I mentioned a little boy named Jabiru. The other Guinea Worm workers jokingly refer to him as my little husband, because I’m always asking about him and making sure he gets toffees when he comes to be bandaged.
Well, when I returned from my weekend in Tamale, I was happy to learn that both of Jabiru’s worms are now completely out and the sores are healing well. He is so much happier now that the excruciating pain is over.
What I didn’t expect was what happened yesterday. As I was returning to my house from yet another trip to the school latrine, I heard someone yell, “MANTENSO!” (that’s my Ghanaian name). I looked up and saw Jabiru, running full tilt towards me across the football pitch. This little boy, who last week couldn’t walk because of the pain, was running again. And quickly. I took him to the house and gave him a lollipop and a bouncy ball.
So even though I’m suffering from a major case of the runs and am still without a latrine, I can’t ignore that I’m part of something amazing. We’re so close to eradicating Guinea Worm, not only in this country but in the world. Hopefully this is the last time Jabiru, and all the other small children in my village, will have to deal with Guinea Worm.
Okay, off to find the masons, who are dodging me instead of working on my shitter.

The latest from Fufulso/Junction

I’ve been sitting at the computer for a few hours now, trying to figure out a way to convey to you some of what I’ve been going through in the last two months in one short blog entry. I’ve decided it’s impossible. So I’ll tell a few stories and leave it up to you to come visit and see for yourself what it’s like to live in a rural Ghanaian village.
I arrived at the Tamale Sub Office (TSO) yesterday morning. I haven’t taken a day off in over a month (day off in this sense meaning getting out of the village, because even if I’m just at the house reading, I’m not relaxing, because there’s always something going on around me). In order to preserve my mental health, I decided to come here for the weekend, to spend some quality time with electricity, toilets, showers, and other things I don’t have at my site. I splurged on some cheddar (a small piece was 9 ghana cedies – more than my 6 ghana cedi daily pay) and made some chicken fajitas and jollof rice for dinner. It was just me and Mike (filling in for Allison as PCVL for the weekend – she’s at one of the ISTs). After dinner, I browsed through the library and found a collection of Hemingway stories. What a way to spend the day. 24 hours later, I am feeling so much better. I’ve been under way too much stress, so taking a day for myself was amazing. And I have another 24 hours before I’m supposed to go back to site, so I’m going to live it up (and post some pictures and words, of course).
The major reason for my stress is Guinea Worm. Fufulso/Junction is still leading the country with the highest number of active cases. When I left on Saturday, we had 25 cases for February so far. It’s not a pleasant disease. Because we’re leading the country, the Carter Center and the Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP) are throwing a lot of resources our way. This includes 1) a “stop team” – five guys who have come to stay in the village and help with the daily activities that are needed to stop the current outbreak from causing the disease to spread. The team is living in my compound, which makes for a much louder, busier environment for me 2) a treatment center, consisting of a couple of large tents, lots of bandages and antiseptic, and one awesome technical advisor, Mr. S.S. (he won’t tell me what the S.S. stands for – he says it’s his secret name). 3) Weekly nighttime case searches, conducted by me, the stop team, community health nurses from the clinic in Yapei, and whoever comes down from the GWEP office in Tamale. 4) New dam guards, to ensure the women filter not only in their homes but also at the waterside when they fetch. 5) Lots of education – at the schools, in the homes, and at big events, like the huge concert/drama thing we had this Friday. 6) And on and on.
Because of all this, just about every day is spent doing something Guinea Worm related. I’m glad to be doing so much in a way, because I can say that I’m part of something historical – we’re very close to eliminating Guinea Worm not just in Ghana but in the world, and it’s not everyday that a disease gets eradicated. But at the same time, the constant work is really starting to wear on me. I’ve been having trouble sleeping (lots of work and emotional stress + really really hot nights + cultural adaptations = sleepless nights). And while I like going to help at the treatment center, it’s very depressing to walk into the tent and see every bench full of small children suffering from Guinea Worm at various stages. There’s one little boy that I’ve become rather attached to.

His name is Jabiru. He’s three years old and has a Guinea Worm coming out of each foot. Sometimes it’s takes several of us to hold him still to change his bandages. I usually give him toffees if he’s a good boy while we’re dressing his wounds, but sometimes even that doesn’t help. Like earlier this week, when he bit me while I was holding him still for bandaging. If you have a strong stomach, check out the pictures I’m posting on flickr today. It’s going to be difficult getting rid of GW completely for us, as we have no safe water source. Dam water is notoriously unhealthy - not only does it harbor GW, but lots of fecal mater ends up in the water, thanks to the cattle and donkeys and free-ranging small boys. Because our village sits smack dab on the water divide, drilling boreholes isn’t a realistic option. All their attempts (including one as recent as this month) have come up dry. The White Volta is only 4 miles or so away as the crow flies, but politics and economics mean that we’re not going to be getting water piped in from there anytime soon (just like the lights – power poles arrived three days before the election, but not a single line has arrived since then). That leaves us with a few hand-dug wells and a handful of primitive rainwater collections systems. But these are all part of why I’m here – to work with the village to either solve these problems or find a way to live with them.
On a more positive note, the latrine is finally under construction. John (my Peace Corps boss) came for a site visit last Saturday and ripped my landlord a new one for not having already completed the project. So hopefully by this time next week I’ll have somewhere to poop that’s not a six-minute walk from my house (and more importantly, is accessible at night). I also managed to get rid of the river of sewage flowing outside my bedroom window. All the way from the compound drains from one hole (bathwater, dishwater, wash water….) and it makes quite a smell mess. So we used the broken pots from our ceramic filter distribution (UNICEF donated a ceramic filter for every household in the village) to make a soak-away pit. You dig a hole where the water drains, put rocks (or in this case, ceramic pieces) in the hole, cover with a screen or sheet metal and cover with dirt. The water goes in the hole and the rocks/ceramic shards help the water soak into the ground in a much cleaner manner. Not only does this help with the smell, but it also means that you’ve eliminated another mosquito breeding ground. Score one for the community health volunteer.
And joy of joys, my kitchen is finally operational. I broke down and bought a three-burner gas stove (it runs on a propane cylinder). Though initially expensive, in the long run it’s cheaper than charcoal, as it only costs about 5 ghana cedis to refill the cylinder. And it’s a lot cleaner and easier to cook on. I had the carpenter build me a table and some shelves, and except for the lack of oven, my kitchen is complete. Cooking has been a major stress release for me these last few weeks and the stop team guys really like my cooking (we’ve all decided that the landlord’s wife is a terrible cook, so the guys buy me ingredients and I cook for them as well a lot of the time). Leopold the cat has also helped keep me from going insane. She’s getting big, mostly because I give her a lot of fish to eat. She still likes to cuddle, sleeping in my lap as I’m reading in my hammock and curling up at my feet when I go to sleep at night. I don’t know what I’ll do with her when I have to go back to America but luckily I don’t have to think about that for quite a while.
Thank you to everyone who has/is sending me care packages. You can’t imagine how it helps to get stuff from home, even if it’s something as simple as a Texas Monthly magazine or a roll of Charmin (note – we do have toilet paper her, and I can even get it in my village. It’s just not very high quality). I like letters too and though it might take me a while to respond, I will reply.
And a note on communications. If you’re calling me through Skype, I have my skype account forwarded to my Ghanaian cell phone. If it’s not going through, it’s usually because our cell network frequently goes down for hours at a time. That and I have to send my phone out for charging. So if you don’t get me, just keep trying. Eventually you’ll get through. And when you do, I guarantee it will make my day.
Okay, I think I’m going to stop here. I want to go to the market so I can make something tasty for dinner, since I have access to an oven here. Until next time…
Hannah

A quick update

Christmas was surprisingly great - my landlord slaughtered a goat and we had a feast. New Years was uneventful. I was stuck at my site for both holidays due to the presidental election run-off in Ghana. C'est la vie.
My village is currently in the lead as far as the number of Guinea Worm cases reported for 2009. That's not a designation we want. I've therefore been keeping busy doing filter inspections, case searches, and am getting ready to do some educational programs at the schools once the students return. We had a football match yesterday with Guinea Worm question and answer afterwards. Both chiefs came and even sat next to each other - an historic moment for Fufulso-Junction.
I still don't have a latrine, a situation which is particularly annoying on days when I want to do nothing but spend the day inside of one. They keep saying the mason is coming to finish it soon. But lord only knows when it will actually happen.
Getting a dog was vetoed by my landlord, who fears them. A girl tried to get me to buy a baby deer, but I saw potential problems with such a pet. So I bought a kitty instead. I named her Leopold. Yes, it's a her. I came up with the perfect cat name, not taking into account that it might be a girl. I couldn't think of another name though. So Leopold it is.
So much has happened in the last month but I don't have time to talk about it now. I uploaded some pictures to flickr, so check them out.
Later!
Hannah

Ghost stories in the monkey cemetery

After spending a night in Kumasi, where I spent hours catching up on the internet, a group of us started making our way north. We wanted to take our time because we couldn't do anything until the banks opened on Monday, so we stopped at the Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary outside of Techiman, in the Brong Ahafo region. The story behind this place is kind of fun. There was a hunter walking in the bush one day and he came upon a fetish that was being guarded by four monkeys - two Monas and two Black and White Colobus. The hunter took the fetish and the monkeys ran away. The next morning when he awoke, the monkeys were at his house in the village, guarding the fetish again. The hunter then consulted the fetish priest, who told him that the monkeys were the children of the fetish god. If they liked the monkeys, they should keep the fetish and treat the monkeys like fellow humans and protect them. The monkeys therefore live in peace with the villagers to this day. The come and hang out, mostly in the morning, and even get buried as humans when they die. So if you visit this place, there are monkeys running around every, somewhat similar to the way goats roam about all over the place in other Ghanaian villages.
The monkey cemetery was definitely the highlight of the tour. We were staying at the guest house in Boabeng that night and couldn't resist the urge to walk through the forest to the cemetery after dark to tell ghost stories. It was fantastic, and SOOO scary.
If you want to see pictures, I just put them on flickr.
Off to my site now...