Master Jesus Spare Parts

Well we made it! All the way to Ghana. I have been in country about a week and a half now, after a weekend of "staging" in Philadelphia. Peace Corps likes to use lots of funny names and acronyms all the time. Like staging. It has been a whirlwind so far, lots of learning and traveling, so I will try to mention the highlights.

For those of you curious about technical details, there are 42 of us in the program. We are known as the "omnibus" group, which means that there are Environment, Small Enterprise Development, and Health/Water Sanitation volunteers all together. I am in Health/Water (known as WatSan) and my group has 16 people in it. A group of teachers came earlier this summer and they just swore in recently.

So we arrive, hang out on a sort of "campus" I guess you would call it, called Valley View. At Valley View they gave us all sorts of fun stuff like an enormous medical kit complete with every sort of medicine imaginable. We also get lots of shots. We all just form a line and go up to the nurse, tell them our name, sit down and get the shot with everyone watching. I'm sure it's uncomfortable for those who are squeamish about shots. Valley View was kind of boring. We did get to have dinner at the ambassador's house, which was nice. I drank the last red wine I will have for a long, long time.

Overall, I am liking Ghana. Here were some of my initial observations:
1. The sun seems very high in the sky even early in the morning. It feels mid-afternoon, but it is only 10am.
2. Store owners like to name their shops after Jesus. For example, Trust in God Cosmetics Shop, Master Jesus Spare Parts (my personal favorite), and God is Good Eggs for Sale.
3. The people are amazingly friendly. We ask for directions and they will personally escort you to your destination. And in some cases they even paid for peoples fares.
4. Animals are EVERYWHERE. Which makes me very happy. I am obsessed with goats. Although I have a hard time telling goats and sheep apart sometimes. And sometimes even dogs.

So after Valley View we went on "vision quest" (another weird Peace Corps term - I think it conjures images of native americans tripping on peyote in a cave somewhere). This is when we travel to another part of Ghana to stay with a current volunteer to give us an idea of what we will actually be doing (since all of this is mostly unclear. Even now it is still unclear). I traveled to Wechiau, which is in the Upper West region. It is apparently the most neglected and underdeveloped region in Ghana. We took a 14 hour bus ride to Wa, the regional capital, before heading out to Wechiau.

I have to take a moment to discuss the bus ride. We used STA buses, which is apparently the nicest, most comfortable way one can travel in Ghana. They were nice. The best part was the movies. There was a TV in the front which showed what I think were Nigerian films. They usually involved who I initially thought were small boys, approximately 8-10 years old. However, when the boys began picking up prostitutes and drinking liquor, I became confused. Supposedly these were not boys, but midgets! Ghanaians apparently LOVE midgets and find them hilarious. So in all the movies and programs they showed, small-looking males were the main role. Very odd, but I found this hilarious. At one rest stop the bus driver pulled me off with him, encouraging me to drink apateshi (a homemade liquor) and eat snake meat. I opted for a Pepsi.

My vision quest was fine. I liked my village. We rode on a pick-up truck with picnic benches in the back to get there. They are known as "bone rattlers." I am eager to get to my own site, which won't happen for another two months. On Monday we find out where we will be placed. Very exciting! Now we are back in Kukurantumi where we are training. We learn language and skills that are more relevant to our specific sector. I will be living with a homestay family in a village called Old Tafo. This afternoon we are having a "cultural fair." Who knows what Peace Corps has prepared for us this time. I will keep you posted.