Girl Goes Ghana

So I've obviously fallen behind a bit on blogging. I wish I could say that it's because I've somehow gotten incredibly busy and productive, but I'd prefer not to lie. It would be more accurate to say I've fallen into a bit of a groove. Things that used to seem interesting and exciting are now just pieces of my daily life, and don't feel as worthy of a blog post as they might have a year ago. Regardless, here are a few quick updates of what life has been like recently! Back in May, the group of volunteers that I traveled to Ghana with all met up in Kumasi, Ghana's second city, for a mid-service conference. That's right, I'm now well past the half-way mark on my 27 months in country! It's a little hard to wrap my head around the fact that I only have about nine months left before it will be time to wrap everything up and come home. It was awesome to see everyone again and hear what everyone has been up to. Even though we are in the same countr...

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...

So, a lot of you like to ask me what I'm doing here. Fair enough question; most people don't leave their homes and families for two years without the idea of accomplishing something. Well, buckle up, ladies and gentlemen, because almost eight months into my Peace Corps service, I finally have a good answer to anyone who asks me what I've accomplished here in Ghana. Me with some of the students at the camp.  Two weeks ago, a group of volunteers and I brought some of our best students to a GLOW/BRO camp in the Eastern Region of Ghana. GLOW/BRO stands for Girls Leading Our World and Boys Respecting Others. The program was started by Peace Corps volunteers in Romania back in 1995, and since then, it's spread across the world and become one of Peace Corps' most reliable and successful girl's empowerment programs. In our version, each PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) living in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana sent between two and four students to camp, where t...