These past few months have been challenging, stressful, and exciting. I have met interesting people from all over the world and have been learning from them and with them about something we are all incredibly passionate about: disaster relief and development. Everyone has come to Oxford Brookes to study at different points in their lives. Some people have been working in the field for years, some are just out of their undergrad, some have been working in a completely unrelated field for 20 years and decided they wanted to do something else.
The Center for Development & Emergency Practice (CENDEP) professors and lecturers have been interesting, experienced, engaging, and just as much interested in hearing what I have to say as I am in what they have to say. The humanitarian world is constantly getting it wrong and occasionally getting it right. A lot of people who have worked in the field for many years are very narrow minded in the way they think things should be done, whereas people who haven’t contributed fresh, new perspectives that changed how others looked at things. This diversity has brought a lot of lively discussion and interesting debates in the classroom and in the pub.
Janelle (US), Ahmed (Gaza), Marta (Italy)
Thom (UK), me, & Matt (UK)
Adam (UK) and Pedro (Portugal), havin a chat!
I have learned how to think differently, challenge ideas, and to consider the context. I’ve learned to understand the value and complexities of good partnerships and the relevance of human rights in disaster (among other contexts). I’ve learned there is no such thing as ‘best practice’, that context is key, and that good intentions are not always enough. I won’t keep chattering on about that though. I feel I should also take a minute to brag about the 5 research papers, 1 presentation, and 1 group project I’ve somehow managed to complete. Of course, I’ve only got grades back on two papers so far so perhaps it’s a bit soon to brag. Still feels good.
I’m sitting in the airport looking forward to being home for Christmas and spending time with my family, boyfriend, and friends (and to the inflight movies – I just love them!). I’ve really enjoyed this past semester in Oxford. I got lucky with really lovely housemates and a pretty ideal house location (just off Cowley Road).I also managed to snag a job up (Subway..again..I know, I feel sorry for me too) within the first few weeks. As much as I complain about it, I’m still grateful to have it. I haven’t had many opportunities to travel around England yet because I’ve been so busy with my studies, but I did pop by London for a day of sightseeing and Jenny brought me on a day trip to her old stomping grounds, Bath, for the Christmas market. I hope to do a bit more traveling over spring break or over the summer when I am doing my dissertation and have a bit more flexibility.
Big Ben, London
Somewhere in London
Piccadilly Market, London
Buckingham Palace, London
the abbey, Bath
Bath Christmas Market
A few more things:
-At the beginning of the semester Jenny, Chris, Tara and I went to Warwick Castle, where Jenny works. We got in free and got a tour from Jenny.
-Thom hosted a Halloween party which I decided to go all out for. I made a homemade shark costume. It was awesome. I won the prize for best costume which was a gigantic bottle of champagne and eternal glory.
-I hosted an American Thanksgiving dinner at my house for ALL of my coursemates. It was really fun. I don’t know how we managed to fit everyone (about 30) into our tiny lounge and kitchen, but we did and it was great! It was a potluck so everybody brought a dish and we feasted! It was especially fun because my coursemates are from all over the world and very few of them had celebrated a Thanksgiving before. Great people, great feast, great night.
bit crowded
chowin down
had to improvise on places to sit and eat
Charlie (UK), Tereza (Slovakia?), Ahmed (Gaza), Thom (UK)
me with the 4 most attractive men in our course. Matt, Adam, Thom, & Charlie.
class. Dan (UK) and Mike (US)
-I think the hardest adjustment to the UK has been differentiating “chips” from “crisps”. Crisps are what you’d call chips in the US. Chips are what you’d call french fries in the US. Very confusing. I confused many customers in my first month at Subway, haha.
Some Britishisms (or the ones I can remember off the top of my head right now anyway):
-Muppet: calling someone an idiot in an endearing kind of way..
-T=dinner
-Instead of saying “Can I please have..” they say “Please can I have”
-Instead of saying “hello” or “hey” or “hi” they say “heyya”
-on offer = on sale
-bin = garbage
-rubbish = trash
-blagged = sorta like..winged it or half-assed it..kinda
This winter Elliott and I will be bouncing around to THREE different Christmas’. One early Chinese dinner and yankee swap Christmas with my mom and brothers, another early Christmas in Albany with my dad (and some aunts, uncles, and cousins), and then Christmas-Christmas in Ohio with Elliott’s family. I feel like I’m in a movie, but hopefully the kind where nothing goes wrong.
After going on what felt like a CT goodbye tour, including Willimantic, Waterbury, and Oxford, I finally made it to Newark airport for my flight out to England for grad school. I was lucky and missed the evening rush – I slid right through baggage check and security which is a rare treat. The flight over was fine – I only watched one movie (I usually watch as many as I can cram in during the flight) and was able to get in a bit of sleep. I arrived, went through immigration pretty quickly, got money out of an ATM, put my ridiculous amount of luggage on a cart, and followed the well-marked signs in Heathrow all the way to the central bus station where I was able to purchase a ticket 5 minutes before the bus was meant to leave. It worked out quite nicely. As the bus was driving though Oxford I noticed the lack of taxis around and asked the driver how easy it would be for me to get one. He said you had to call one and well, without a SIM card, I couldn’t. He was very kind and called one for me. Minutes later I was picked up and brought to the door of my new home: 82 Bullingdon Road.
Here is my full address for those wishing to post me items such as postcards, Cadbury Mini Eggs (the ones here just aren’t the same – I swear!), or themselves:
Avery Doninger
82 Bullingdon Road
Cowely, Oxford, Oxfordshire
United Kingdom OX4 1QL
I was greeted by two of my housemates, Theo and Chris. The others had not yet arrived. They helped me with my bags and we chatted as I started to unpack a bit. Chris wasted no time in taking the piss out of my accent and ‘Americanisms’ – haha. They’ve been picking up on some of the things I say though so we’ll see who has the last laugh! The three of us walked to the centre (I was corrected when I called it downtown) to pick up keys for Chris and I. It is only about a 25 minute walk to the centre, and a quite lovely one at that. On the way back we stopped at Tesco (a supermarket just 3 blocks from out house) to pick up a few groceries. We live just off of Cowely Road near all the shops. Apparently it is the place to live, drink, and shop!
The city is really small, clean, quite lovely, and not nearly as posh as I had expected. The Tube is the subway in London, but they don’t have a subway in Oxford so they call the bus system the Oxford Tube. The buses are pretty expensive though – a few quid! Can you imagine paying 4-5usd for a short bus ride?! That’s why I had to get a bike. Well, I had been planning on getting one anyway. There are bikes ALL over the city. Everyone seems to have one. You have to be careful though because apparently there are a lot of bike thieves around so it is wise to invest in a solid D-lock. We even noticed that bikes get tagged if they are locked up in the same place in a public area for a long time – they are notices of removal, which I thought was interesting.
Maja (pronounced Maya – she is from Poland) arrived late that night (Thursday) via car. She had planned on keeping her car here and getting a parking permit. However, she realized that when she was in uni in Manchester she got about 5 parking tickets which she never paid for because the car is only registered in Germany. If she were to register her car now, it is likely that those tickets would come up and she would have over 5000 pounds worth of tickets to pay. Obviously, she doesn’t have that kind of money and ended up coming with an insane plan. She had just driven the car here from Germany (where her dad lives – about a 10 hour drive) and decided that the best thing to do would be to drive it back to Germany the next day (after unloading her things here) and flying back that night – crazy!
Jenny arrived the next day (Friday, I think), but only dropped her things and chatted with us for a bit. She had to go back home and work, but she should be arriving tomorrow. Jenny will be the only one in the house with a car. Chris has a bike and Maja has one coming in the post). Tara and her mom arrived Sunday around noon and we helped her move her things up to the 3rd floor where her bedroom is.
On Saturday, Chris, Theo and I walked down to the Oxford Brookes’ Headington Campus to get familiar with the area where we will be taking all our courses. They are both Architecture students and my program (Development & Emergency Practice) is under the Faculty of Architecture so we are all in the same building called Abercrombie, which is brand new. There is still a little more construction being done in that building, but it is essentially done. There is also a bit of confusion with what has been moved where because professors all have new offices, etc., but it looks beautiful.
Saturday (I think) I went bike shopping with Chris and Theo and found that the cheapest I would get a new bike would be for 100 quid (160 usd). That was too expensive so I started looking at used bikes. I didn’t find any used bikes in the shops that would work for me so I started looking online. There is this great website in the UK called Gumtree, which is pretty much just like Craigslist, so inquired about a few bikes that were much more reasonable prices. That night, after Tara had arrived at the house, the 4 of us walked about a half hour to someone’s house to look at their used bikes, but neither were going to work for me. Both were a little too big and one didn’t have properly working breaks. It was nice to have company on the walk and to get to see a bit more of Oxford. Last night I found a bike on Gumtree that looked perfect and only be sold for 45 quid. I met the guy this morning and bought it! It’s not quite as pretty as my Ghanaian bike, but it’s solid. It has good gears and breaks, new tires, non-rusty chain, and even has a basket! I am very pleased with it and all that is left to get is a D-lock, which I will hopefully go purchase later today. I’ll be keeping the bike in my room in the meantime. Oxford Brookes has a bike doctor that shows up on campus about once a week and fixes students bikes for free – it sounds pretty awesome so I’m going to bring my bike over for a tune up tomorrow.
Sunday (I think – I’ve really confused all of my days), Chris, Theo, Tara, Maja, and I all went to uni and walked through the park on the way back:
Tara, Me, Maja, Chris (Theo was the photographer)
Now everyone is in the house except for Jenny who is coming tomorrow. We are all getting on really well. We went to the pub at the end of the street last night, which was nice, but a bit quiet because it was Sunday. My course doesn’t start until Wednesday so today I am just hanging out and getting a few things done like buying a bike and going grocery shopping in a little bit.
I did something stupid. I wasn’t thinking when I was packing and packed things like my hair dryer, straighter, kettle, and bed heater. I didn’t think about the fact that I might have problems because of the wattage difference. I plugged in my bed heater and it blew a fuse and broke it! I had to throw it out and buy a new one on Amazon. I had actually used my kettle and straightener a few times with no problems (besides the kettle being much louder than normal, but I didn’t make the connection), but I don’t want to continue using them and risk blowing another fuse and/or breaking them. I bought a converter thing on Amazon so I can use my straighter, but I won’t be able to use my blow dryer or kettle. Luckily, there is a house kettle that Jenny brought and Chris, of all people, has a hair dryer I can borrow when I need it occasionally.
When I got my visa mailed back to me right before I left it stated that I could work a maximum of 20 hours per week. This was very exciting news as I REALLY need the money. When I was browsing Google maps at home and zooming in on where I would be living once I got here I noticed that there was a Subway just three blocks away. As much as I disliked (as much as I would dislike any terrible job like that) working at Subway, I have already been fully trained and it’s familiar to me. I figured with the experience I have I could easily land the job and having it just three blocks away from home is a bonus. Luckily I jumped right on it when I got here because they are doing interviews and hiring right now so I was able to submit my resume and cover letter (seemed ridiculous to me, but my housemates insisted I should write one despite how shitty the job) and I have an interview for the job tomorrow – fingers crossed!
The last month or so I was in Ghana I didn’t have much time to update this blog. I probably should have written something down before I got caught up in summer and life back home, at least some reflections on my overall experience while they were still fresh in my mind – not that they’ll ever leave me, but I find my writing is better and more interesting when the thoughts are fresh. Either way, I am here now trying to piece back all the interesting details for my few readers before I embark on my next adventure: graduate school in England. There will be more on that later though.
It would be just like my family to come visit me in the same month I would be coming home after a year abroad. Either way, I’m glad they did. It all happened very quickly. Exams schedules were posted and my friends and I were frantically trying to piece together who was free when to travel. Most people’s schedules overlapped and few were able to find long enough stretches to travel together. Somehow I had managed a two week break between exams. Not keen on traveling alone, I took a long shot and reached out to my mom and tried to convince her I’d show her a good time if she came to visit me in Ghana. With encouragement from friends and family to just GO, she decided within a few days that she’d be coming and I was already planning a rough itinerary. When Everett (my brother) saw the itinerary he decided he couldn’t possibly miss out and with that, he was finding a way to get his shifts covered at work and coming along too. Of course my mom wouldn’t be leaving Griffin (other brother) behind if Everett was coming and so it was decided: the Doningers are going to Ghana.
I couldn’t have been more pleased to see them at the airport. After all, it had been almost 10 months since I had last. I had them out on the town and riding in trotros within an hour of their arrival!! Not to brag or anything, but they probably got the best tour of Ghana that anyone can get in 10 days. First we went to the small village of Tafi Atome and stayed at the monkey sanctuary. It is about a 5 hour trotro ride up to the Volta region then a short mototaxi ride to the village. The following day we headed up to Ho Hoe to catch a trotro to Wli Falls where you can hike to the waterfall and go swimming.
Now, it was this same day that my mother and I seem to have quite different recollections of certain events. She likes to call it “the sit-down restaurant story.” I will provide MY recollection of this story here and let her post HER recollection in the blog comment section if she wants (she will) and then I’ll copy and paste it here for readers later on. But just to be clear, this is what REALLY happened:
While we were hiking to the Wli Falls it started raining on and off. We waited for a trotro to take us back to a bigger town, Ho Hoe, where we would be able to get a trotro back to Accra. At this point it was about 2ish in the afternoon and everyone was wet, dirty, and pretty tierd. When a trotro finally arrived, we were packed with probably twice the amount of people it was meant to hold and headed back to Ho Hoe. I had promised my exhausted family that we would find somewhere to sit down and eat in Ho Hoe and then we would head back to Accra. However, when I promised a sit down restaurant in Ho Hoe I had gotten the towns mixed up in my head and was remembering Ho Hoe to be Ho, a much larger town. Once we arrived I realized my mistake and that it might be much harder to find a sit down restaurant as it was a much smaller town. Once off the trotro, it felt like the demands were all coming at me at once (probably because they were) – “I’m hungry!,” “I wanna buy a duffle bag!,” “I have to pee!.” These types of needs are not as easily addressed in Ghana. Public bathrooms are rare and if they do exist, you have to pay for them and 9 out of 10 times they are just a urinal (for men and women) and not a toilet. Open defecation is common practice in Ghana and a problem many development organizations are targeting. Either way, I knew a few places public urinals are typically found and luckily we found one. We walked around a bit and I wasn’t seeing any sit down restaurants and didn’t think we’d find one easily so decided to just stop at a street-side stand. They hadn’t yet had the chance to taste all the different types of Ghanaian food so I got a bowl for myself and allowed them to taste it. Only my mom tried it and she didn’t want it. They were being awkward and I just ate fast and we looked for a different place. Then they decided they just wanted to get snacks like bread and cookies for the road. I know they were experiencing pretty intense culture shock. Yes, there were flies around the food, but all the food was covered so it wasn’t accessible to the flies. Somehow my mother has construed a story in which she has become traumatized by my version of a sit down restaurant. She conveniently forgets the part where I mentioned I didn’t think we’d be able to find one and we’d have to settle for some street side food instead. Either way, everyone survived and we made it back to Accra that night.
The next day we took a trek down the coast to Cape Coast and Elmina. We did the canopy walk at Kakum National Park, toured Elmina castle, and had an ocean side lunch in Cape Coast. Late in the afternoon we trotroed it over to Takoradi, and when everything was flowing just too smoothly for it to be Africa, shit hit the fan. We were running a bit low on cash so I decided to run to an ATM with my mom’s AAA travel card (I have one too which I used once or twice, successfully, in Ghana when I first arrived). I tried the card at about 5 different ATMs and it wouldn’t work. I ran back to the hotel and got my card: no dice. We didn’t bring any other types of cards and no passports because I had never brought my passport (just a copy of one) when I am traveling within Ghana and there hadn’t been a problem yet (but a lack of passport means nobody can send us money through Western Union). We had money, but not enough for us to not have to worry about how we are spending.
I had been planning on bringing my family down to Butrie and Busua, two small beach villages about and hour and a half from Takoradi, but this money situation created a problem. Either we all went back and didn’t go through with our plan, or I go back to Accra by myself, get money, and return all in one day. It seemed to be the only option. I am completely comfortable traveling by myself. Ghanaians are incredibly hospitable and kind and I had done the trip a few times before. I had been to Butrie and Busua before so I wouldn’t be missing out if I went back to get money. So, I did what I had to do. I gave my family very detailed instructions on where to go and how to get there and I sat on the bus 7 hours to Accra and 7 hours back. It was a brutal day sitting on buses and uncomfortable trotros, but I survived and I arrived in Busua with the whole village awaiting my arrival because my mom was worried sick and asking everyone to keep an eye out for me. For some reason she had in her head that I would arrive at 6pm, but I didn’t get there until around 10pm. Either way, all’s well that ends well.
We spent a few relaxing days on the beach drinking mango juice, swimming, reading, and eating local foods and then moved on to Kumasi, the heartbeat of Ghana, for the final jaunt of the trip. It was about 5 hours to Kumasi from Takoradi and we just spent one night there. We visited the cultural center and the largest market in Western Africa, among other things. Then it was back to Accra for a day of rest, a bit of shopping in Accra and the trip home.
I really loved that my family could come and get a little taste of Ghana and the types of things I have been experiencing, especially because they can understand some of the references I make to things later on. I didn’t realize how much work it was going to be to watch out for everyone and make sure everyone was comfortable and having a good time, etc. I have had a lot of experience in developing countries and although all are very different, I have definitely become desensitized to the more primitive lifestyle, among other things, and often it doesn’t occur to me that my family might not be comfortable with certain environments, situations, or any variation of social or cultural differences we might run into.
I didn’t have much time left in Ghana after my family left, but I did have three exams. I ended up doing a lot of packing, hanging out with Ekua and Henry, studying, working my final few days at the GWASH project, and taking exams. My last exam was right before my flight so I had to race through my exam, run back to my room to get my stuff and race to the airport to make my flight.
I had been counting down the days to go home because I missed Elliott so much and I hadn’t seen my dad yet because he wasn’t able to visit me in Ghana like my mom and brothers. But, in those last few days I became really sentimental and sad about leaving Ghana. I bike around my usual routes, took trotros downtown myself for a little last minute shopping in the market and it hit me how much I would miss this place, these people, and don’t laugh, but roasted plantains. Despite all of the frustrations that came with living in a developing country like Ghana, it found a way to steal my heart in a way that Botswana did not. Haiti was a much different experience as I was there helping and assisting in the earthquake recovery effort, whereas here in Ghana I was living, working, and learning side by side with Ghanaians. I could probably go on and on about the things and people I will miss in Ghana, but it might be easier just to say: I’ll be back.
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I accepted a long time ago, when I first returned home from Haiti, that people wouldn’t see things the way I did. My experiences had changed me; my perspectives, my priorities, the way I lived, my goals and aspirations. The first question I got asked by almost every person I saw when I returned home from Africa was, “Is it weird being home? Is it hard adjusting?” – Not anymore. I remember how drastically I had changed after Haiti. From the little things like taking quick showers (in appreciation for the daily bucket showers I had taken as well as the scarcity of potable water there) to my stance on international humanitarian aid, development, and global poverty. Little things just didn’t seem to matter anymore because I was able to think of a million worse things in life and appreciate what I had like a roof over my head, endless opportunity, an education, and my loved ones to name a few. In addition, Haiti provided me with firsthand experience to the successes and failures in disaster response, poverty, and development as well as interactions with professionals and experts in the field. This sprouted interest, further reading, and development of opinions. I learned in AmeriCorps I wanted to work within the social and community services sector, but my first experience in Haiti refined those interests to international development and disaster relief.
Following questions of my adjustment to life back home were almost always additional questions looking to confirm common stereotypes about Africa; “Was it REALLY hot?”, “Were there big animals walking around everywhere?”, “Were you living in the jungle?”, “Did you see a lot of starving kids and poor people?”. Most of these questions can’t be answered by a simple yes or no. I traveled all over southern and western Africa – the diversity was tremendous; after all, Africa is made up of 55 very unique, countries and spans over both the northern and southern hemisphere. The first few times I was asked these questions I attempted to provide a full explanation. It didn’t take long for me to learn I had been allocated approximately 1 minute or so for their full attention and interest in my response before it was all lost. At that point, the conversation shifts to the horribly long line they had to wait in at the DMV or the new shop that opened up in Avon center, you know, topics of interest. Not to say there weren’t family and friends genuinely interested in my experiences because there were, but for the most part, this is how the conversations went. But i
I can’t believe how fast this summer has flown by. In less than a month I will be flying out to England to start my graduate program at Oxford Brookes University. I am getting a MA in Development and Emergency Practice. I have secured housing in Cowley, Oxford with five other Brookes graduate students, all whom seem really great. I’ll miss friends and family, but I’ll be home for Christmas and hopefully my mom, brothers, and Elliott will come visit in May or over the summer. Although summer is coming to an end I feel like I have gotten to do most of the things on my summer to-do list or will be doing them in the next week or so. Hopefully I’ll get to spend a few nights at the new Cape house before I leave, but that is all dependent on people getting their asses in gear and stop messing up things for my mom. I don’t know what else to say. I had a wonderful experience in Africa, have loved being home with my friends and family, and am very excited for my next adventure in the UK – what could be better?
Kelly, Katie, Emma, and I finally found a weekend to go to Togo and Benin. We traveled from Accra to the Togo border, which should only take about 3 hours, perhaps 4, but our trotro driver took a longer route through Keta so it took FOREVER. But it was ok because it was really beautiful. The border was very easy, but Katie and Emma forgot their yellow fever cards. We were worried at first, but then realized a bribe of about 2 cedi would cover it no problem. Lome, the capital of Togo is just on the other side of the border and our hotel was within walking distance, but we decided to take motos.
our hotel
hotel room
There is not too much to do in Lome. We arrived late in the afternoon so we just dropped our things at the hotel, walked along the beach, went to the market, and got some dinner. The beaches in Lome were really gross. The city sewage flowed right onto the sandy beach and just made a pool of sewage – it was gross. The worst part was that children were swimming in part of it. You have to be very careful walking along the beaches because there is human shit scattered around like landmines. We didn’t spend long at the beach.
beach in Lome
gross
sunset on the beach
Togo is a French speaking country and luckily for us, Emma and Kelly both speak French very well. Although I know Haitian Kreyol, which derives from French and has many similar words, I wasn’t expecting to understand much. I was very surprised at how much I understood. Many words are the same or very similar. Kreyol uses different tenses and is more simplified.
I think my favorite part of Togo and Benin was the french baguettes. Women walk around with big bowls on their heads filled with fresh french bread. The also brought along a stool and when you wanted a sandwich they’d take down the bowl, set it on the stool and make you a sandwich. They had egg, avocado, onion, tomatoes, AND IT WAS SO DELICIOUS. I think I probably had six or more throughout the three days we were there. We literally ate them for every single meal except for one.
enjoying our french baguette sandwiches!
Anyway, Saturday morning we took a trotro from Lome to Cotonou, Benin. Once we got outside Lome the beaches were absolutely beautiful. It only took about 30-45 minutes to reach the Benin border from Lome – that is how small Togo is. The Benin border was pretty easy to get through too – no issues. When we arrived on Contonou we got French baguette sandwiches and headed to our hotel to put our stuff down. From there we took motos to the market where we checked out the fetish and voodoo sections – pretty interesting..and gross. That evening we had a delicious dinner at a little café across the street from our hotel.
Benin
motos are everywhere in togo and benin. cheapest way to get around too.
Sunday morning we woke up early and took motos to Hotel du Lac where we went on a boat tour of a stilt village. The boat took us up the river that went through Cotonou and into the lake where a community was built on the water on stilts. It was really cool to see. There was a market, but people had all of their foods and goods on boats and were selling from the water. There were really small kids in boats alone padding and fishing with small nets. There was even a gigantic mosque on stilts. It was really cool to see, but I felt weird about it. I know a lot of tourists come there, but I can’t imagine what it must be like to be going about my daily chores and having people come up and take pictures of me.
at the stilt village
the market
the mosque on stilts (still under construction)
stilt village
The plan was to head back to Lome after the tour, spend the night there, then go back to Accra on Monday morning. We decided on the way back to Lome that there wasn’t much more to see there so we were better off just heading all the way back to Accra that night instead of spending the money on another night in a hotel. We ended up getting back to Accra in pretty good time – around 8:30 – 9. It was probably good we came back Sunday night because I had two classes on Monday morning I would have missed and they were the last classes of the semester.
Visiting Jen!
4/27-28/12
This weekend I went to visit my friend Jen in the Central Region. I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but for those who haven’t heard it: I met Jen volunteering in Haiti these past two summers. Last summer she told me she was applying to the Peace Corps. A few months later, she told me she was placed in Ghana, where I was planning to study abroad. Turns out she was assigned to do Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and the organization I am interning with here in Ghana (the Ghana WASH Project) was going to be getting 6 Peace Corps Volunteers. Jen ended up getting assigned to my organization. Small world! She has been placed in Opembo, which is the Awutu Senya District of the Central Region. It is not very far from Accra – only about an hour and a half. She has been going through the three months training and has just arrived in her village a few weeks ago.
I finally got a chance to go visit her this weekend. I left Accra late in the afternoon on Friday, not expecting for it to be a long trip there. It wasn’t a long trip, but there was a VERY long line for a trotro to Kasoa at Nkrumah Circle. I had to wait for about an hour until I finally got on a trotro. When I arrived in Kasoa I immediately was able to get a trotro to Bawljiase, but I was supposed to get off at Opembo, the stop right before it the last stop. Opembo is a small community and by the time I got there it was around 7:30 and dark. However, as soon as I stepped off the trotro and started walking down the road I was greeted by about 25 kids running toward me laughing and yelling and greeting me. They practically mauled me – hugging me, grabbing my bags to help and hold on my hands and practically dragging me to Jen’s house. Jen had been retrieved by another mob of children and dragged from her house to meet me. I think it was probably the best greeting I have ever received.
It was great getting to catch up with Jen. We had planned to go to the market the next morning, but Jen’s Local NGO counterpart showed up to take her around to communities she would be working in. I ended up going along and I was able to answer a lot of questions Jen had about GWASH so it was probably good her counterpart came by. She has been learning Twi, but her community speaks Fanti (but everyone speaks Twi too). Most of the children speak English, but not too many adults speak it. That is why it is very helpful for Jen’s LNGO counterpart to assist her. We ended up going to the market in the afternoon and then I had to leave around 2:30 to make it back to Accra before dark. I was really great to catch up with her and I’m definitely going to find a way to get back there before I leave Ghana.
These next two weeks I don’t have a lot going on. I am working and will probably be doing a little traveling for work. I have also started training a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) who will be taking my place when I leave. There was recently a military coups in Mali so all of the PCVs were evacuated to Ghana. Some ended up going home and some got reassigned to new projects. GWASH decided to take one of the Mali PCVs, Monica, into the Accra office to replace me so that is who I have been training.
I have two exams coming up at the end of this coming week and then another week (my last day of work at GWASH is May 10th) AND THEN MY MOM AND BROTHERS COME TO VISIT!! Very excited. Then I only have three more exams and I’ll be home May 27th!
Sorry for the delay in posting this! Here are a few more adventures to read about. Just livin the Ghana life over here – hope all is well in the rest of the world. I should also let you all know that I have booked my flight and I will be home in the US on May 27th – just in time to meet my new baby cousin MALLOY ANN WHITE!
LAST WEEKEND: 4.7-9.12
The plan was to leave for Togo and Benin on Wednesday, but on Tuesday night we found out that Katie wouldn’t be able to get her passport back from immigration (she sent it in for a visa extension) until 2pm on Wednesday. We agreed we would leave Wednesday afternoon, no problem. However, Katie didn’t end up getting her passport until around 4:30 that afternoon. Mildly disappointed, we shifted around the plan to leave early Thursday morning. BUT, both Katie and Kelly ended up getting sick Wednesday night and we didn’t end up leaving Thursday either. By Friday Katie and Kelly both weren’t feeling better and didn’t want to go so I decided to go with the group of Canadian nurses to the Volta Region Saturday through Monday, as I hadn’t been yet.
Early Saturday morning got a trotro to Medina and from Medina to Ho Hoe. It was a really beautiful drive there. The Volta Region is incredibly tropical with thick, lush green forests. It ended up taking us much longer to get to Ho Hoe than it should have because our trotro broke down. Even after it was up and running again, it couldn’t go all that fast so it was a long trip. When we got to Ho Hoe we were delighted to find out the hotel reservations we made had been given away. This actually happens pretty frequently here because sometimes people make reservations and then don’t show up, so the hotels prefer to take the money where it is guaranteed rather than hoping for the people who made reservations to show up. Because of this, all thirteen of us trudged around town going from hotel to hotel to find a place to stay. We went to four hotels, all of which were full.
broken down trotro! our trotro is behind the REALLY sad looking one.
crossing the river
We had planned to stay at the monkey sanctuary in Tafi Atome (45 minutes from Ho Hoe) Sunday night so we decided to call them to see if they had space for us that night. We were grateful that they did, but the reason we didn’t want to stay there the first night is because it is expensive to get to and from (because it is very rural) and we would have to come all the way back to Ho Hoe the next morning to get transport to Wli Falls, another 45 minutes away. Either way, we stayed at the monkey sanctuary and in the morning they brought us to see the monkeys (they are most active in the morning and evenings). The monkeys were SO COOL. We held out bananas and they jumped onto our arms and then sat there and ate the bananas. They were really light and really cute.
MONKEYS
the best photo. BRENDAN.
After we saw the monkeys we headed back to Ho Hoe and from there headed to the waterfall. There are two waterfalls – the lower falls and the upper falls. Most people just go to the lower falls because it is a short, easy walk. The upper falls is a 45 minute hike up a mountain. We decided to go to the upper falls. A guide took us and we plowed up it (well, George, John, Collin, and I did anyway). It was a gorgeous hike and when we finally go to the falls we all just stripped off our cloths and jumped in. It was seriously incredible – when we walked across the river we were illegally in Togo. It was very secluded and there were few people there besides us. We stayed for maybe an hour/hour and a half then headed back down the mountain to see the lower falls. The guide told us that most people just go to the lower falls and many people who try to go to the upper falls end up turning back half way because it is too difficult (it wasn’t very difficult, just hot which made jumping in the water all that more satisfying)
trotro ride to Wli Falls
hiking to the upper falls
on the hike up
Wli Falls (upper)
awesomeness
george, me and collin
When we got to the lower falls I was really happy we had gone to the upper falls. Although they looked pretty much the same, the lower falls wasn’t as nice. There were a LOT of people, trash, and wasn’t so secluded or beautiful. It was really anti-climactic after seeing the upper falls.
We headed back to the monkey sanctuary and stayed another night, then headed back to Accra in the morning. I was disappointed I didn’t get to go to Togo and Benin, but really happy that I was able to hop in on the Volta trip with the Canadians, Collin, and Brendan. I think we are going to go to Togo and Benin next weekend.
THIS WEEKEND (4.14.12)
One of the coordinators for my study abroad program (ISEP) invited us all to her wedding this weekend. It was held in a Catholic Church and was very similar to an American wedding, I’d say. I really enjoyed all of the ridiculous Ghanaian humor (I didn’t understand it when I first got here, but now I constantly use it and think it is the most hilarious thing ever). I’d write about some of the hilarious things the pastor said, but I feel that you may of had to be there. BUT I will say the pastor repeatedly said at awkward moments (such as during the kiss) “wow, this is so powerful!”
Andy & Susan!
The whole ceremony was in English, not Twi, which was nice for us. There were a few differences in the ceremony, but nothing all that significant. Well, actually I would say that it was more of a church service than a wedding. With a focus on marriage and the family. There was a lot of preaching on man and wife. You know, how the man is the head of the house and that although the woman is not at his feet it is her job to assist him in any way he needs. Yep. Also, throughout the entire ceremony there were at least 6-12 men blocking the view of the bride and groom because there were surrounding them taking photos. After the ceremony everyone took photos with the bride and groom and then enjoyed the reception. It was really nice and I am glad I got the opportunity to see a Ghanaian wedding! I am sure a traditional wedding, as opposed to a Christian one like this, would be much different though.
ISEP
Avery
Title quote: Matt Hires
PS. DID I MENTION MY MOM AND BROTHERS ARE COMING TO GHANA TO VISIT IN MAY?! To quote my professor: “I should be the happiest [wo]man in all of Ghana! HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD!” ….. ahahah..yeahhh.. #ghanalife
BASCO 3.24-25.12
Kelly and Katie were told about an orphanage in the Eastern Region that is always looking for volunteers. They decided to go this weekend and at first, I didn’t want to go – not because I didn’t think it would be fun or interesting, but because when it comes to working with kids I think it is important to commit to volunteering long term, which is not something I could do in this situation. BUT I decided to go anyway because I didn’t have anything else going on that weekend and I wanted to check out the bead market in Koforidua (the district capital which we were going through to get to the orphanage).
We got a late start because Kelly was asked to play in a field hockey game with Ghana’s national women’s field hockey team. She was playing with the university men’s team a few days before when they asked her – so cool! We left when she got back around noon and took a trotro from Medina to Koforidua. From there we took a taxi to the bead market. The bead market is big on Thursday, which we knew, but had heard there might be a few vendors on a Saturday. There was only about five or so and they didn’t bring many beads. We want to go back on a Thursday. A woman from the orphanage met us at the bead market and took us to the orphanage (called BASCO)
It was a lot farther away from Koforidua than we expected; they made it sound like it was basically in town. We took a trotro from the Koforidua station to a junction about a half hour away and from there a taxi down a dirt road to BASCO. It was really beautiful; thick greenery everywhere you look – like a jungle. The BASCO complex was a nice piece of property too. We didn’t know what to expect. They showed us where we would be staying then gave us a short tour and told us a little about the orphanage.
Baptist School Complex and Orphanage (BASCO) was started in 1996 and has about 200 kids. Not all the kids are orphans though; some kids are boarders and pay and some live in the surrounding area and just attend the school. I think about half are orphans. The youngest kid is 6 and there are a lot of teenagers. They said they have only gotten a few new kids since it opened. They are so low on funding that once a student completes school there they teach for a few years until BASCO can help them (hopefully) attend college or some kind of higher level of education. I am not going to go into any more detail, but if you want to find out more about BASCO, visit their website: http://basco-ghana.org/
We stayed in the volunteer house where two Germans have been staying. They have been at BASCO volunteering for almost a year now. One is teaching and the other is the nurse. We got to BASCO pretty late in the afternoon so we just settled in and then played football with some of the boys. They brought us dinner and we relaxed a bit then some kids showed up at the volunteer house. We ended up hanging out with a bunch of kids on the porch for a few hours – it was really great. We just joked around, talked, and played some games they taught us until the power went out.
The next morning we just hung out with kids. I ended up playing cards with a group of young boys for probably four hours or so. It was fun, but the games we played were limited because they had barely half a deck and all the cards were really tattered. I didn’t understand why BASCO was so grateful that we came until that afternoon. They kept thanking us and feeding us and making sure we were comfortable and taken care of, but I didn’t understand what we were actually doing to contribute. All we were doing was coming for a few hours, playing with some kids and leaving. After a few hours of being with the kids I realized what a big deal it was that we were there. We were really in the middle of nowhere and these kids couldn’t go anywhere but the BASCO compound. And within the BASCO compound there wasn’t much entertainment. Having us come and hang out was like a treat for the kids it seemed. When we left that afternoon (it was a long way back to Accra and we needed to get back before dark) they thanked us and thanked us for coming. I still didn’t feel like I had done much of anything, but I’m glad we were able to help in any small way they thought we did.
Western Region 3.30.12 – 4.1.12
Kelly, Katie, Emma, Lisa and I got a late start to our trip to the Western Region of Ghana. We didn’t end up leaving Accra until about 3:30, but it all worked out. We arrived in Takoradi at like 8:30/9, checked into our hotel room, grabbed some food, and called it a night. We were up bright and early Saturday morning to get a trotro to Agona Junction and from there to Butrie, a small coastal village.
Takoradi
Butrie is absolutely stunning. It is this little gem of a community, seemingly untouched by the outside world. The beaches are pristine and people warm and welcoming. The castle stood atop a mountain overlooking the community. We each paid 5 cedi for two guides to take us up to the castle. The money goes into a community fund so although the guides weren’t exactly necessary, we were happy to spend the money.
Kelly, Me, Lisa, Emma, Katie in the castle at Butrie
From there we hiked to the next community over (about 3km) to Busua. The first part of the hike was over a small mountain through the forest and when we got to the bottom we were met with another beautiful sandy coastline which we walked along until we got to Busua. We had lunch there and then hiked to the next town, Dixcove (2km?). Dixcove was much bigger than Butrie and Busua, more like a town than a village. It had a castle as well, but we couldn’t go in for some reason. We just walked around, chatted with some people and then decided to head to Awidaa.
hiking to Busua
Busua!
freshly squeezed juice
Busua
Dixcove
Dixcove
Awidaa is where Green Turtle Lodge is located and where we had planned to stay the night. If we did it again, I wouldn’t stay there just because it was really expensive to get to. Green Turtle Lodge is about 10km from Dixcove, but it takes forever to get to because the roads are so bad. The only way to get a trotro there was from Agona Junction (we didn’t want to go all the way back to Agona Junction just to get a trotro back to Awidaa) so we had to pay for a cab from Dixcove, which was very expensive.
It took about 30 minutes or more to get to Green Turtle Lodge, which ended up being a nice place. The beaches were beautiful and facilities nice. We stayed in the dorms, which were fine for 10 cedi a night except there was no fan or electricity and it got pretty hot. The other problem with being all the way out in Awidaa is that the only place to get food is at Green Turtle Lodge so obviously, the prices were absurd. Despite all that, we enjoyed ourselves. The next morning we took a canoe ride in the lagoon (the 10 cedi it cost us each went into the Awidaa community fund) for about two hours – it was pretty cool. When we got back we took a taxi back to Agona Junction and from there a trotro to Takoradi. It was a Sunday so there wasn’t much going on around town. We ended up just waiting at the bus station for a few hours until out bus came because we didn’t want to schlep around in the crazy heat when there would be nothing to do anyway. The whole trip went smoothly and we all had a great time. Now we are thinking about an Ivory Coast trip during exams…
Green Turtle Lodge beach
where we slept at green turtle lodge
Up Next 4.4.12
Today we were supposed to leave for Togo and Benin BUT Katie gave her passport to the ISEP program coordinators to get her visa extended and she still hasn’t gotten it back yet. They promised her she would get it by 2 today, but it’s almost 5 now. We are hoping they get it to her tonight and we can leave in the morning. Fingers crossed.
Another week has come and gone. School is the same. At work I am making a short video to put on YouTube about how we train local artisans to build household latrines.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the Ghana WASH Project, here are a few of the project’s success stories:
*links will be added on Wednesday*
3.16.12
There is rumor that professors are on strike because they haven’t been paid. My professor showed up this morning, but my roommate’s didn’t. So I guess we will see how that turns out.
On Friday night a bunch of us went to see Patrick in a play. The University of Ghana is pretty well known for its theatre productions. The play Patrick was in was called The Father and it was pretty good. It was funny at parts, though got boring at parts too. All the actors and actresses were great. I think my favorite part though was the Ghanaian audience. Ghanaian’s love to make these noises “YIE!” “EHH!” “OH!” “AHH!” etc, etc. So, the audience was very animated – whenever anything exciting or funny happened the whole audience would make the same noise. All of us Obrunis (foriegners) were dying, it was so funny. After the play a bunch of us went out to Jerry’s to grab a quick drink and celebrate Kate’s birthday at midnight.
me, patrick, and katie at Jerry's
3.17.12
A BIG group of us went to Kokrobite beach Saturday night. We rented out a house that sleeps 12 and fit about 18 people. It was such a fun time. We did a little beach shopping, swimming, lounging, snacking, hanging, and dancing (it was reggae night and the music was great). The next day was much of the same – hanging out, relaxing, enjoying. It is funny though, it was a very fun and relaxing weekend, but as soon as you get on a trotro to head back to Accra, every ounce or relaxation is drained out of you – traveling via trotro is uncomfortable, unpleasant, and…cheap. The first trotro we got on fit 36 people, 7 rows of 5 people and one guy hanging outside the door, hold onto the window. Brilliant.
the gang's all here.
artsy power ranger shot, directed my moses
me and moses
some of us
kokrobite beach!
"STOP"
"IT'S HAMMER TIME"
loading up the trotro
Not much more to say and I’m not sure what is going on next weekend. Perhaps another trip to Kumasi, but I’m not sure.
We were sidetracked this week from more important EAW-type things because we re-discovered Jason Russell, the man behind Invisible Children and the smash hit Kony2012. In his own words, "if Oprah, Steven Spielberg and Bono had a baby, I would be that baby." It's no wonder that the gap between marketing and program teams across the EAW World got about 6 miles wider over the past few days...
In the beginning, the Donors said, "Let us make development in our image, and in our likeness, so that we may bring about changes in developing countries". And other Government Departments replied, "Yes, but not too much change, and not all at once, who knows What might Happen." And the Donors did reflect upon this, and after a time they did say, "Let there be Aid Programmes".
3.10.12
I was up early on Saturday with Kelly, Katie, and Lisa to go to Trashy Bags. It is an organization here in Accra that turns trash into products like bags, hats, laptop cases, etc. They mainly use water sachets and the pastic wrapping from FanIce, FanYogo, FanChoco, and FanDango – types of ice cream things that they sell here. Because it was the weekend, there weren’t people there working, but we got to see where they sew it all. I bought a nice laptop case, which just barely fits my laptop – I’m not sure if I am going to keep it because the next laptop I have probably won’t be as big, or return it for a larger size. Either way, I love it. It is made out of water sachet baggies and is padded on the inside. I also got a little pencil cases because they were half off. If anyone wants anything from there that is cheap (pencil case, etc) I will get it for you, but if you want something expensive (duffle bag, laptop case, kindle case, etc) I’ll get it for you, but you’ll have to reimburse me cause I’m a poor ol’ student. This is their website: http://www.trashybags.org/
laptop case from trashy bags
pencil case thing from trashy bags
We got back around 11, chilled for a bit, and then a bus came to pick us and the other ISEP students up for a bead workshop. We learned how beads were made and the significance of them here in Ghana. We also strung our own necklaces. It was pretty fun and now I have a cool necklace and some beads to make more stuff.
necklace i made at the bead workshop
In the late afternoon, Kelly, Katie and I went to the Art Centre. I have a list of things I want to get before I leave Ghana (for myself and for others) and I have been slowly chipping away at the list. For myself, I got a cute little wallet thing, but what I was really looking for was a stringed instrument for Elliott. The only one I have found here is called a Cora. At first, I wanted to get the smaller one because it was decorated nice and had pretty fabric wrapped on parts of it, but it didn’t make a nice sound. Of course, after talking to a bunch of people I found out that those are just for decoration, and they showed me the larger ones which are for playing. The first guy I talked to wanted me to pay 120 cedis. I got him down to 70 cedi, but didn’t want to purchase from the first person I talked to because for all I know it could be worth no more than 15cedi. So I told him I would be back and I found the same one for 50. Although a much better price, I kept looking and ended up getting one for 40 cedi. I met up with Kelly and Katie who were talking to some Ghanaian guys. When they saw the Cora they said they had one and wished I had bought from them. Then they asked how much I got it for, but I wanted to know what a fair price they thought it would be (because I had already bought one, they had no reason to lie) and they said 50 cedi. When I told them I got it for 40 they were very impressed. SUCCESS!
wallet from the art centre
other side of the wallet
Kora
Kora for Elliott
kora
3.11.12
Today (Sunday), Kelly, Katie, and I wanted to go downtown to Mokola Market (the central market in Accra) to buy some fabrics. We knew that it would be pretty dead because everyone is on church on Sunday morning, but we went anyway. We thought it might be easy to get around with less people, but we ended up not buying anything. Even though we found some fabrics for sale, there weren’t that many vendors and we would rather have more options and more room to bargain.
As we were walking a trotro screeched to a stop and hit something. We saw a guy go flying. The trotro hit a person – he got up pretty quickly, probably from adrenaline, but then fell down again. What we didn’t realize was the guy was on a moto when he was hit. It was so scary. Everyone poured out of the trotro and people filled the street trying to help. We aren’t sure what happened to the guy or if he is okay, but the three of us were pretty shaken up by it. The traffic here is really crazy and you have to be alert and careful, but in this circumstance, there wasn’t any traffic and there were very few people. I don’t think it was the trotros fault, to be honest, they didn’t have a stop sign or anything the moto just came flying out of a T intersection in front of the trotro. At least that is what I think happened – can’t be sure.
SCHOOL
Classes have been going okay. I am taking five, three credit courses, so there should be three hours of classes a week. Here at the University of Ghana, they have one, two hour class and a one hour tutorial. The way it was explained to me was that most courses have the one hour tutorial, but most 400 level courses don’t because they expect that at that level, you do extra work on your own time. All my courses are 400 level, but it seems that most of the other international students who are 300 level only have tutorials for one or two classes.
I have three classes on Monday and two classes on Tuesday. In my first class, Industrialization in the Developing World, the professor is always on time, always lectures the entire two hours, and is always incredibly boring. The second class, Cities in Economic Development and Problems of Urban Management, the professor is consistently late, but has a lot more interesting and engaging lectures. My third class on Monday, Disaster Risk Reduction Policies & Strategies, is with the same professor. This professor went traveling somewhere for two weeks so we didn’t have class.
For Cities, he assigned a group paper worth 20 percent of our grade. The entire class of about 25 was split into two groups to write a paper. Ridiculous. I wrote it while my group sat and talked, occasionally throwing me ideas. For Disaster, we were supposed to have a guest lecturer come during the weeks he was gone, but he didn’t come the first week. Instead, he scheduled another time for the lecturer to happen that was more convenient for him. I could only stay for the first hour because I had another class. The guest lecturer said he would be there next week as well, but never showed. Here in Ghana it is appropriate to wait a good 30 minutes to a hour for a professor to show up. This is done frequently. Last week when my Disaster professor was finally back (I knew he was back because he gave a lecture to my Cities class that morning, didn’t show up after an hour so we all left. Then, later that week he posted a bulletin saying class would be held Friday at 3:30. If I hadn’t texted a classmate Thursday night I never would have known about it. This type of thing happens all the time. Bulletins are constantly posted and if you don’t see them, you can get screwed over pretty hard and nobody has any sympathy.
On Tuesday, my first class is Population and Development. The professor is a woman and she seems very smart, but her lectures get a bit boring. Then again, we have only met three times and it is halfway through the semester. One week she was traveling and this past week it was a holiday (Ghana’s Independence Day). My last class is Twi. The professor is really great and I am learning a lot. We only have about 6 people in the class, which is nice. On Wednesday and Thursday I always go to work (the Ghana WASH Project) and most Fridays I go in, but not always.
Here is an article the Ghana WASH Project published for International Women’s Day: http://www.ri.org/files/uploads/GWASH_Success_Story_Women_and_WASH_FINAL.pdf
I wrote the second story called Creating Forums for Women to Participate Equally in Management & Decision Making (edited by my boss, who wrote the other articles).
Another week ahead should be much of the same: classes, work, rice, plantains, heat, trotros, biking, etc. Saturday morning a group of us are off to Krokrobite Beach for the night to celebrate Katie and Becca’s birthday – should be fun!
