Surfs up!

Look at this, 2 blogs posted in less than 1 month. I must be turning over a new leaf! And I'm planning to post 2 today if I have time!

Work has been keeping me very busy for the past few weeks. As a matter of fact work is what's brought me back to the internet so quickly. We are preparing for the grand opening for out new visitor center in Ebonloa. The opening is set for June 26th and we are hoping to get the French Ambassador to come.

In preparation for the opening we are trying to prepare the grounds and put up some fresh paint. I'm in charge of getting the gift shop ready. I'm designing and having furniture made and finding crafts for the shop. I'm at the internet today researching West African birds, sea turtles, sperm and humpback whales, mona monkeys, and information on fishing traps. We've collected bird nests and local fishing traps to decorate the walls along with the information I'm researching. The new visitor center is in the picture on the right. The picture to the left is one of the fishing traps that will be used for decorating the walls. The trap is used to catch mudfish, tilapia, catfish, snakes, and monitor lizards. Yum yum!

Another activity we've started planning is the Amansuri clean up event. The event will include the churches in 8 different communities. We will have a 2 hour clean up competition between the different church groups in each village. We are providing trash bags and gloves to all trash cleaners. Each village will be given rakes and cleaning supplies for participating. The winning church group from each village who collects the most trash will get an event t-shirt. The program will also include environment education in 12 local schools. The picture to the left is one of the villages who will take part in the clean up.

I've been working hard but I've managed to find time to play hard too! A nearby beach resort has had 2 Australians and 3 Americans staying with them for several weeks. I was able to use their surf board and go surfing. I was also invited to stay the night for free for their going away party. One of the owners, my friend Nina, also returned home to the UK for vacation. The going away party was beautiful complete with beach bonfire, fireworks, candle lit dinner, wine, and chicken curry.

While you were all home enjoying a long weekend of bar-b-ques and pool parties we had a funeral in my village. The man who died has spent the last 30 years in Cote D'Ivoire but as tradition calls for he was buried in his home town of Elloyin. My village was invaded by French speaking strangers. I became the biggest attraction in the village again. All the funeral guests were very excited to speak Nzema to me. My house was also invaded by more than 15 new guests. They slept strewn all over the floor in every room of the house. They kept the typical party hours of a traditional Ghanaian funeral, going to bed between midnight and 1am and waking up at 4:30 am for more dancing and drinking. Quite different from the quiet village hours I've adopted, go to bed at 7:30 to 8pm and wake up between 5 and 6am. Unfortunately they made themselves at home and all my plates, cups, bowls, and silver wear disappeared for 4 days. I assumed they would be returned after the funeral and long weekend was over but I was wrong. My landlord very apologetically informed me his guests took off with my kitchen wear to Cote D'Ivoire. I'm eating our of pots with my hands...true Ghanaian style! Oh and the picture on the right are a few Ghanaian kids playing with one of the most popular toys in Ghana. Its a stick pushing 2 wheels...kids of like a remote control car....right?

I believe that is the full 2 week update! I love you and miss you all!

Spring time!

For Kime:

Spring is in full bloom in Ghana, rainy season has begun, little babies are running around all over, and bright flowers are blooming everywhere. The best part about spring in Ghana is it marks the beginning of mango season. I probably eat 3 or 4 mangoes a day and they are stacked up on the sides of streets for sale all down the road. the ocean has been "spoiled" according to the villagers, nobody has been fishing for the past 2 months and from what I hear they won't until July. I've been attempting to swim and I admit it's been tough. I can stand in water to my knees with wavers hitting over my head. The waves are huge and the rip tides are strong. I won't be sad when the waves and tides ease up! The fisher men have been repairing their nets for the past 2 months and they are ready for the tight season to be over.

My cat gave birth to 2 adorable kittens in my closet last month. They are just getting to the fun age where they wobble around and are very clumsy. They are two total opposites! One is curious and out going, I call her Daredevil, the other is a whip and always hiding, his name is Scared-cat. Scared-cat has a home waiting when he is old enough, he will live with one of my Ghanaian friends, Azaneboah. Azaneboah has named him Lucky and wants to keep him to remember me by.

It's hard to believe I've been living in Ghana for one year and 8 months. 6 1/2 months to go! It felt like last week all of my Ghanaian friends realized I will be leaving soon. My landlord and his family asked when I will be leaving and so did my NGO. Both told me they would cry when I leave. I am excited to get home but it will be hard to leave Ghana. I have bought my close of service (COS) ticket home. I'll be backpacking through West Africa with my good friend Terri, who is also a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Ghana. We will leave Ghana in early November and go through Burkina Faso, Mali, Gambia, and Senegal. We will fly from Senegal to Morocco and explore there for a week before taking a boat across the Gibraltar to Spain. In spin we'll meet up with 8 other PCVs from Ghana and take a 14 day cruise across the Atlantic on our way home. The cruise will stop in Portugal, the Canary Islands, and the Bahamas. It's going to be an amazing trip home. I'll get back to the US in December just in time to relax for the holidays.

(This is part of the crazy crew that will be making trouble on the cruise!!! Taken at my village on a fishing boat!)

Everyone has been asking me what my plans are after PC and I'm not sure to be honest. I'm not even sure where I will end up living but I will figure it all out when I'm home. For now I'm focusing on my work in Ghana and living for the moment. Work has been going great, after distributing the 10,000 copies of the brochure I made last year for the stilt village, Nzulezo. (These pictures are Nzulezo, the stilt village and some of my friends that live there) This year I created 5 different posters to promote new attraction in my area and my NGO has just made 4,000 copies of them. Our most famous attraction is Nzulezo, a village built on stilts above the Amansuri Lake, which is protected by Ghana Wildlife Society, my NGO. You can take a 1 hour canoe ride from Beyin to the village on stilts. There is also the Meandah crocodile pond which you can continue to from Nzulezo an additional 15 minutes. The crocodile pond has a boardwalk nature trail that is 500 meters long. Last time I was there I saw a mona monkey swing across the trail on my walk to the observatory on the crocodile pond. The last time I went to the crocodile pond I stayed the night there to research the crocodiles. The Amansuri wetlands is home to long snout, dwarf, and Nile crocodiles. (To the left is a terrible picture of me at the crocodile pond) We are also promoting a new visitor center at a village called Ebonloa. Ebonloa has a nature trail and is located on the Amansuri Lake as well so you can go to Nzulezo from Ebanloa too. In addition to Ebonloa you can see akepteshie distilleries and learn how the local people brew the local gin. Then there is the sea cruise, taking hand crafted wooden boats with an outboard motor 1 hour to sea and returning. Whale season will begin soon and you can actually see the whales jump from the shore. Another of our attractions is For Apollonia, a trade castle that was also used during the slave trade. (The picture to the right is Caitlin, Sarah, and I on a cannon outside of the castle. To the left is the inside of the castle.) Well you can imagine with all the attractions I'm staying busy. Our project was originally funded by the Dutch government, when that contract ran out the French decided to fund us. Our French funding ended this month and they just visited this week. We are hoping the French Ambassador will continue the funding after the visitor center in Ebonloa opens at the end of June. Oh, I also made post cards for our attractions and we printed 1,0000 copies that we are selling in our gift shops. I will try to send some out to my friends and family. I guess that about wraps up all the work I've been doing for my NGO. I am also working on building latrines for my village in my free time, which I haven't had much of. I will keep you posted on the latrine project as it continues.

Good news, I've managed to stay healthy since I returned from the states in January. I haven't had malaria or any infections this year. I've only had to fight off a little dysentery but I'm back to perfect health. Oh besides the current black eye I have, it's small though. I was riding home from market and I hit the side of my eye on the metal casing around the window of the tro tro. The roads are horrible, almost as bad as the drivers. I was hitting the roof on every bump. I didn't realize I had a black eye because their aren't any mirrors around but everyone in my village was trying to rub the bruise off of my face. They thought it was dirt, they can't exactly see bruises on their skin. They also always try to scratch my freckles off. Haha!

I love you and miss you all and can't wait to be home in December! My Dad decided to get a new hip while I've been gone and now he is acting like he is 20 years old again. Their might not even be work left to do on the house when I get home. My Mom of course is still staying busy at work and trying to keep my Dad in line, a never ending project. My Grandmother just left after spending 3 weeks in Florida with my parents. Congratulations to Griffin who just graduated from the fire academy. He is very happy living in Texas now. I'm missing all of my buddies from A&M who seem to be doing well from what I hear.

I think that's all I have for now. Sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time. I promise to post more frequently Kime! I love and miss you all. I hope their aren't too many type-os, I am always in a hurry at the internet. Looking forward to that beer state side.

Back to Ghana

I am returning to Ghana after an amazing vacation home. It was a whirlwind of a trip that took me from Cocoa Beach, FL to Austin, TX, College Station, Houston, San Antonio, and even down to Lafayette, LA. I had a great time hanging out with my family in Austin and old college buddies in College Station. I got to visit with some old friends in Houston as well as visit the Fed, my old internship. I had a great time with my friends and family in Cocoa Beach! I want to thank you all for your love and support, I couldn't do it without you! Had a great time seeing you Vicki, John, Erica, Amy, Katy, Hunter, Derek, Susie, the Animals, my friends at the Fed, Mr. Fraga, Sarah, Kime, Frank, Butch, Johnny B, Don, the Pfleugers, Beelers, Hammonds, Cuetos, my folks, my Grandma and everyone else who made my break so wonderful! I enjoyed the company, the amazing food, hot showers, washing machines, air conditioners, warm beaches...well I guess I have that there also! All in all I couldn't have asked for a better vacation!

I'll take this opportunity to upload pictures of Ghana at a fast speed. Each picture is followed by a quick description.The man on the left is my landlord, he is like my father. He has made life in my village so much easier. I owe everything to Ataku!The next few pictures are friends in my village. She happens to be my closest neighbor and favorite cook.The last meal she cooked for me before my Christmas vacation!My little buddies!My favorite porridge maker!More friends!My seamstresses!
My seamstresses shop!The village church! I live behind the church.
I hope you all enjoyed the short tour though my village. Thank you again for all of your supports and letters. Only 11 months left and I'll be home!

Busy, busy, busy!

Life is great in Ghana! Sorry I haven't updated you all in quite a while. As you know I don't make it to the internet often and when I do it is rarely fast enough to upload images. I'm trying right now and so far it seem successful!As for work and my village, things have been going really well! I am planning to have my HIV/AIDS football tournament the weekend of Nov 29-30th. The students will teach HIV/AIDS lessons to the village over a loud system before, after, and during half-time in the local language, Nzema. Also, we will paint and HIV/AIDS mural on the palace wall the week before the tournament. I will keep you posted and take some cool pictures of the students, hopefully everything will go smooth for the first time!I am also working on a Peace Corps Partnership Program(PCPP) proposal to build public latrines and a cultural center in my village. Right now most people go to toilet on the beach, but they are very excited about the latrines! They have all promised that they will use them! Anyways, the PCPP will be posted on the PC website and people can make donations towards the project. They will also send requests for funding to a list of address I give them...so sorry for those of you who start getting PC mail.What else with work...I made a brochure that has been sent to the print. They are making 10,000 copies! For those of you I haven't told, my primary project is marketing for a stilt village, Nzulezo. The money made through the tourism is divided and given back to several communities.The picture below is of an apateshie distilleries, and also the final product, jet fuel! Haha! I've learned to respect it after a few rough nights!

Now I want to tell you my favorite updates! My cat had babies on Halloween! I was in Accra the day they were born and by the time I made it home the 3 kittens were down to 2. I found them wrapped up in a fish net, I guess mom thouht it would be a good place to have them. They had cuts all over them becaue the string had cut through one of their skin. I fed her antibiotics through a syringe for 4 days, 3 times a day and she just had her 2 week birthday. They are both doing fine! Lil' Trooper who was cut the worst still doesn't have full use of one of her paws because it was cut half way though, but she is fine other than that.

Another project I am working on in my village is rabbit rearing, as an altenative proten source for the low fish rations in my village. Well my rabbit just had her first litter, 5 babies! Kojoe is a 16 year old boy in my village who I am teaching about rabbits, he is helping me take care of them. He came and got me when he found blood all over the cage and we got there just in time to see her give birth. She had 6 but one died at birth! All the kids who were watching the birth thought she was having rats. The picture on the left is the babies at 2 days old. The picture below is the babies at one week, alright so much more cute in my opinion!

I also have a new little boyfriend who is looking out for me. His name is Nanka, he is 10 years old and he comes to pick me fresh coconuts every afternoon. Last week it started raining and he ended up taking shelter in our tent and stayed the night. I have to chase him away every night at dark now. He is a sweet heart though!

This picture doesn't show it, but this tree is over 50 feet tall!
The picture below shows the site where our house will be! It is beautiful, it sits just 20 feet from the water on the beach. We watch beautiful sunrises to the left and sunsets on the right. It always has a nice cool breeze blowing too. Well till next time! Peace and love, Mandy

A long awaited update!

Hello all! My father recently informed me that I haven't posted a blog in 2 whole months so I figured I better go on it and knock one out. So here it is with my sincerest apologizes, an update on my last two months in Ghana.
I thought way back to July, and referred back to my journal, and remembered that July was the month school let out. I spent most of July wrapping up my environment clubs and getting ready for break. I also had a few visitors come to hang out on the beach with me. Brady came for about a week and Janet and her freind Karen from the states. Also, Terri and Erika were all at my place on Erika's way to Accra to ET (early terminate). We had a great time, we camped on the beach...even though we were rained out at 2 a.m. we still had a ball. I'm missing Erika bad!
In August Janet came back after dropping her friend off at the airport to unwind from the stress of visitors...haha! Janet is a sixty year old PCV who lives a few hours south of Wa in a town called Bole. Sha has on of the most interesting lives imaginable, from living homeless on the beaches of Hawaii to the life of an ex-porn star, ex-stripper. She is currently engaged to a chief in her village! We sat and daydreamed about making a cultural center at my site and hers. Then we brainstomed finding local artesians and having them train younger generations some of the dying cultures in Ghana. In addition we could find new crafts that foreigners might enjoy, like beach art and jewerly using seashells. Also teach the local fish net weavers to make hammocks! We even went as far as checking the price to buy land on the beach. My wonderful landlords response was, "Oh you want to buy some? I have plenty. I will give you some!" So, I'm now an ocean front property owner in West Africa. Janet is coming back down to my site in early October to help put together a PCPP proposal (Peace Corps Partnership Project). That will be a link on the PC website so people can make personal donations to our project. If all of this goes through and the funding is available I might think about extending my service a year to make the cultural center more sustainable and teach them book keeping, putting me back home in December 2010. As you can see, it's been an exciting and busy two months. While Janet was down we also had several beach burn activities, just started making trash piles and burning them, then asking passer-byers to help us. We always finished the beach burn with a swim and I would have about 8-12 Ghanaian kids hanging on me in the ocean. They seemed to enjoy it!
Last week we had HIV/AIDS training in Kumasi at a real nice hotel, with a pool and A/C. We learned how to put together PEPFAR proposals to use USAID money for HIV projects in our village. I'm aiming for my village football tournament to be in November. The students and environment club members will facilitate HIV/AIDS education, games, songs, and skits before the games, halftime, and following the games. I want to put together a larger proposal next year for an HIV/AIDS walk that will involve 7 villages.
Other than that life has been pretty normal here! After having malaria for my second time, and recovering from my fourth worm I can say I'm back to perfect health. We did go about a week without running water or electricity so I had to rough it and fetch my own water for a while. I also had to eat 1 1/2 kilos (3.3 pounds) of meat becasue my freezer when out with the power. Talk about a stomach ache! This week all of my group will be celebrating our 1 year in country, it's hard to believe I've been here a whole year. I'm really looking forward to coming home for Christmas, only 3 more months! I'm going to eat so much food! I'm also looking forward to seeing tons of friends and family. I'm hoping to go talk to one of the classes that I've been writing about Ghana and making them some fufu. My grandmothers coming down to visit from VA for the holidays. We are also making a short side trip to TX to visit some of my family in Austin. I will be busy for sure. In my down time I'm looking forward to doing some construction with my Dad and maybe making some cool cards with my Mom.
Sorry I wasn't able to post any pictures again, the internet is moving too slow today. I hope everyone back home is doing well! I miss you all! Love, Mandy

Sorry!

I typed up this long great blog about everything that has been happening in my life in the past month. Anyways, I forgot do upload it from my computer to my jump drive so I'll have to post it next time I'm at the internet. I did upload some pictures that I was planning to put with the blog so I will get as many up as I can before my time runs out. I'm sorry it's been so long since my last blog for my regular readers.

The above picture on the left is an ingrown finger nail that got infected and resulted in my finger nail falling off. Only in Ghana would it get that bad. The picture on the right is of a burn I got cooking during my 4th of July celebration. It's my largest open wound in country so I'm being very careful and keeping it clean. It's almost heald! You can see the middle finger nail is almost grown out. Other than that my health is great....FINALLY!

This last pic is from way back when Griffin visited. We went up to visit a volunteer who lives near Bolga so we went to the crocodile sanctuary. Sorry I couldn't upload more pics but I have to go find a vet for my kitten, she has to get spaid this month. I promise next time I will post a good story and some pics to go along with it. Love you and miss you all so much!

My Battle with Malaria

The past two months I have become accustom to always being sick, it’s just a way of life in Ghana. I carry toilet paper with me where ever I go just incase it’s a diarrhea day…or week…or month. I’ve started keeping at least 3 or 4 rolls of toilet paper in my house just incase, I ran out one time and I had to use newspaper. Not a very pleasant experience! I carry pepto, ibuprofen, aspirin, sudanyl, antacids, band-aids, butterfly band-aids, triple antibiotic ointment, hydrocortisone, a thermometer, and even medicine who’s soul purpose is to block you up incase you have diarrhea so bad you can’t travel to the hospital. This week is the first time in almost 9 months that I haven’t had any open wounds, from bug bites and cuts. Fevers have become a normal thing as well, normally 101 to 102, it will be on and off for about a week normally. Every now and then I will get a very high temperature, 104.5 to 105, when it gets that high I know theirs a problem. I’ve had 2 infections that caused temperatures of 104.5. I learned my lesson though, if you have an open cut keep it covered 24/7, don’t let cuts breath in Ghana.
This week I got a temperature of 105, my limbs when numb and my head was spinning, it hurt to move. It wasn’t so bad though, so long as I didn’t move I felt fine. The temperature didn’t bother me so much; I only felt it when I rolled over, then the heat would radiate from where I was laying. I managed to make it to my med kit and take some ibuprofen, drink some water, and wonder to take a cold shower. When I made it back to bed my temp was down to 104. The next hour was the worst part about being sick, breaking the fever. I laid there and sweat and had chills, uncontrollable shaking, when I got up I had made a sweat angle on my bed. I felt fine the next morning, I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) the next morning and told her about the temp I had had. She said it sounded like malaria, their was no way to be sure unless I took a blood smear so they could test my blood for malaria. She said the blood smear would be miss read unless I took it when I had the fever. She didn’t want me to wait for my fever to come back (normally every 24 hours) because I had such a high temp, so she started me on Coartem. I had heard horror stories about Coartem, I had heard that it was worse than actually having malaria. The side effects listed were dizziness, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, sleep disorder, joint pain, and headache. Before I started taking the medicine I cleaned up my room, cleaned my water filter and filled it, and got everything in order so I could be sick in comfort.
I ended up not having any of the side effects! Until about 5:00 pm the second day…the PCMO didn’t mention that the Coartem kicks in the second day. The second night I only got up to a 104 temp but I think it was worse because I knew what it was going to be like. The next day I was 100% cured! It was the easiest case of malaria I think I could’ve had. Turns out I got malaria on Griffins visit, it normally takes 2-3 weeks for the malaria to show up.
Terri, one of my PCV friends came to visit and nurse me back to health the next day, but she was a bit to late so we spent the whole day having fun in the sun and swimming. We had such a good time! Two days later we went to Takoradi in the late afternoon, she left early the next morning. After she got on her tro I got on mine and headed home.
I took got on the tro in a corner seat and tucked my bag under my feet and took a nice long nap. When I awoke from my nap I dug through my bag to find some mints, my mouth was dry because I had fallen asleep with it open. I couldn’t find my mints, I checked the floor and didn’t see anything and right about then the tro stopped and the two men next to me dropped at a station. We continued on our way and a minute later I realized not only were my mints missing but my cell phone was as well, and my Peace Corps issued cell phone for safety and security. The first emotion that swept my body was anger, fury, outrage, infuriated, irritated, etc. It is an over whelming emotion that fills your whole body and take all the strength you have to keep it in. I couldn’t sit still once I made it back to my village because I was so mad, last time I was robbed I was mad at all Ghanaians, but this time I was mad at myself for not catching the guys before they got down.
I am hard wired just like my Dad in this manner, I get uncontrollable mad but once I calm down I can see the light again. I took a nap, I’ve found that’s the easiest way to calm down and clear my mind. It has been a hard month for me, but they say when it rains it pours and it did pour for a few weeks. If you wait long enough you will see the beautiful golden light on the edge of the dark lovely clouds. When I woke up I saw my golden lining, the one person who could cheer me up. He loves me more than anything and I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual. If I had to describe him I would say he is a cross of the best sides of Bashful and Dopey from the 7 Dwarfs. He is a Ghanaian boy, he doesn’t understand any English, and he is 4 years old and my shadow. His name is Quabinah!
With this golden lining it didn’t take much to make the sun rise. I taught a lesson in my market town and the class was phenomenal, they listened, laughed, and were all involved. It was the beginning of an environment club, we talked about wildlife as opposed to man made objects, and ideas on how to stop pollution.
I plan to go buy a new rabbit on Monday, it is already pregnant so I am very excited. I am also starting a susu in my village, it is a women’s savings group, I want to teach the women that they can save small amounts of money and it will add up to large amounts. On Tuesday I am taking a group of 15 girls who all want to be nurses to a hospital to shadow a Ghanaian nurse for a few hours. They will have the opportunity to ask questions, and then take part in an HIV/AIDS lesson. I am so excited and looking forward to this weeks work!