Peace Corps had to evacuate Mali a few weeks ago... my thoughts go out to all the volunteers who had to leave in the middle of service.
What about my future you may ask? Read my new title and you may find a clue.... I am Ghana go to a new Country..... Did you guess it?!
Akwaaba (welcome) to my latest blog design! The past few weeks have continued to be interesting with a fast paced scramble to relocate MI students. A few other Michigan tech engineers and I jumped on the Ghana bus for a departure on June 4th... Sadly I will not meet many "team Mali" members, we were all split up. Luckily I quickly found the Gha Gha for Ghana facebook group and started connecting with my new training group of TEACHERS.
Yes yours truly is now going to be teaching Math and Science to Junior High students. Although I will still be a "wat/san engineer" I am going to be located at a rural school and teaching. Yes, this was a bit short notice, but I was planning on teaching while in PC anyways, just not as formally as a math teacher.
So I did the whole invite/visa/resume/paperwork/blue folder/country desk for the second time, which I guess is neat because usually you only get the one long awaited invite and I got two! Now I am mentally preparing myself for Ghana. So much for the long hours I spent practicing French for Mali, but on the bright side Ghana has given me a lot to look forward to.
So here is how it goes down:
June 4th- head to Philly or DC, meet my fellow volunteers, talk about how scared we are (I am not scared now but I am sure the day before I fly into the next 27 months of my life my stomach might turn a bit), get poked with more needles (thank you PC for helping me overcome my fear by sticking me with so many this year), paperwork, staging things, and we are off!
In the Capitol we will have a welcome ceremony, meet all the staff, and get ready to go to training among many other things.
Then it is off to training where I will stay with a host family and meet the rest of the group daily to do safety, language, cultural, education, and pretty much everything to survive in Ghana training (including dancing and testing myself for malaria! more needles!). I believe as an educator I will find out three weeks after we start training where my village is so I can focus on the local language (we all learn Twi and other less common languages depending were we are placed)! But it will not be until August that I move there.... I really have no idea how it will work being a hybrid teacher/engineer, luckily there are some other guys in my group doing their thesis too so we are all in the same boat.
Then hopefully I will become an official PCV! A fun ceremony and we are sent off to our new homes. I will then update everyone with a new address and begin teaching and tons of other activities.
THINGS I WANT TO DO:
we have lots of free time
my thesis of course-- that depends on what my community or school needs most
Sustainable mini farming
rainwater harvesting
drilling to ground water and extracting it, water storage, water education...I just love water
HIV/AIDS education
find bikes get them to people who need them and teach proper maintenance
teach late night classes for women who have to work all day
find out what my school needs and write grants/raise funding to get proper supplies to students
My friend Danielle teaches math in Tulsa to Junior highers so I am grateful that I have her to answer questions I am sure I will have, as well as give me creative ideas and tips on teaching. I am hoping we can connect our students through pictures, letters, and videos for cross-cultural education as well.
There are just so many opportunities and projects, I cannot wait to see what I will be able to do for my community. I know in PC results can be slow and sometimes I will feel like I am not doing any good but I know after my two years is up I will have no regrets.
Other facts you may find interesting:
I am not supposed to leave my site the first and last 3 months so visitors are VERY VERY welcome between November 2012 and June 2014!
Ghana is Tropical in the South and less in the North, the rainy season is April through September. I could be placed anywhere so the climate and diet can very a lot depending where my village is. I am hoping to stay Paleo. It will be hard during training but once I start living on my own it will be very easy to cook for myself with fresh produce from the market (sometimes 5+ miles away). I also have been reading about sustainable small scale farming and am hoping to experiment with Biointensive gardening methods.
That is all I can think of right now! 39 days!!!
Em
