Girl Goes Ghana

I've been washing my laundry by hand for over a year now, and guess what? I'm not actually terrible at it. My clothes come out unstained, soft, and smelling of detergent. The women in my community cannot be convinced of this. I used to do my laundry sitting outside my house, but I got tired of the way that people would crowd around me and stare at me while I washed, so within a few months of coming to my community, I moved laundry day inside. Sloshing water around on the floor is a small price to pay in order to avoid stares, laughter, and people straight up trying to pull my washing out of my hand. However, although they no longer have the privilege of gawking at me as I clean, most of the women in town remain convinced that I am completely incapable of washing my clothes, and frequently offer to rectify this situation. Several people have come to my house to spontaneously offer me lessons in washing by hand. My friend Davi Aku gets mad every time she sees my washing on...

Most of you probably know that I'm in Ghana as a health volunteer, but I don't think many are aware of the fact that officially, I am a Health/WATSAN volunteer. WATSAN means Water and Sanitation. When I first arrived in Ghana, I wasn't quite as excited about that part of my job as I was about the other parts. I was much more interested in educating people about malaria and HIV than I was about improving water and sanitation practices. However, the longer I am here, the more I recognize that issues with water and sanitation are a massive part of the health issues here in Ghana. For example, a lot of babies and children suffer from frequent diarrhea that could probably be prevented with regular hand washing. But if bringing water to the house entails walking five miles with a fifty pound bucket of water on your head, hand washing might not feel like such a priority. A lot of people are aware that burning trash at home is associated with respiratory issues, but if there is ...