Girl Goes Ghana

So if you're reading this blog, I'd imagine you are at least a little interested in learning more about Ghana. Or hey, maybe you just like to giggle at the image of me struggling to wield a hoe or flailing around trying to kick a soccer ball. Yeah, I struggle sometimes. But for those of you interested in learning about Ghana, I'm afraid maybe I've let you down a little bit. I've only been in Ghana for ten months. Moreover, no matter how integrated I may feel, no matter how much I learn, I will never, ever be able to explain Ghana like Ghanaians do. My perspective will always be that of an outsider. So I decided to interview some people who might actually know what they're talking about: Ghanaians. (Left-right) Noah, 20 years old; Bright,  23 years old. These brothers, Noah and Bright, are good friends with one of my fellow PCVs, and over the months I've been here, they've become friends of mine, too. I decided to sit down with them and ask s...

For the last two months, one of my counterparts and I have been going to the local school every Wednesday and Friday to deliver Grassroots Soccer sessions to a group of twenty-one adolescent girls. Since our sessions at the school will be coming to a close when the girls graduate tomorrow, I thought it might not be a bad time to clue you in on what I've been up to. I ran away to Ghana to become a professional soccer player. Grassroots Soccer (GRS) is an NGO that partners with Peace Corps in countries around the world. GRS is a method that volunteers can use to deliver education about HIV/AIDS, birth control, and healthy relationships, among other things. Although soccer (or football, as Ghanaians call it) is involved, the focus of GRS is using games and activities to help students talk about difficult subjects, and to help them feel empowered to take action in their homes and communities. A typical session goes like this: my counterpart, Evelyn, and I arrive at school aro...

I'm not too proud to admit this, but I'm maybe a little overprotective of my belongings. When I was growing up, if I loaned a book to someone and it came back with some of the pages wrinkled, it would earn my unending wrath. And I have nothing but scorn for those who decide they'd rather pick at my entree than order their own. That doesn't fly so much in Ghana. From the moment I came to my site, I was surrounded by people giving me things. People come to my house with mangoes, coconuts, plantains, buckets of peanuts, more tomatoes than I can reasonably eat. If someone is eating or drinking something and I happen to walk by, they more or less insist that I take some. I visited the Queen Mother a few weeks ago and left with a giant bucket of peanuts. People treat this like no big deal, but it really does improve my quality of life to have random portions of food handed to me every week or so. I think I've mentioned before that the market is not super easy to acce...