Dog / Burkina Faso

Bonjour!  This week I am in Burkina Faso (the country directly north of Ghana... I live on the border) in the capital city of Ouagadougou helping out at a shea butter industry trade show.  5 of us from Ghana (who are working with shea women's groups) came along with our Associate Peace Corps Director.  It has been a ton of fun to see another country in West Africa.  The national language is French here (as it is in all of the countries bordering Ghana) and the culture/food is also very different.  There are baguettes, croissants, cheese, wine, strawberries, and all sorts of other things that I never see in my rural, remote region of Ghana!  The actual trade show is at an amazing hotel (we are staying at a budget place 15 mins away) with a pool, restaurant, air conditioning, DRAFT BEER, elevators, wireless internet (I am sitting in the lobby bar right now on my laptop) and all sorts of things that are exciting if you haven't seen them for months!  

I got a dog!  His name is Snoop and he is awesome.  He is really easy going and he never leaves my side.  He eats whatever I do and loves to chase toads, chew on my socks, or just relax in my courtyard.  Since I am out of town this week my friend in Gwollu, Kardiri, is taking care of my house and Snoop.

Me and Snoop:
So much has happened since I last wrote but I have to get going... today is the last day of our conference and so there is about to be a cocktail party (with live music) by the hotel pool... can't miss that!

I will try to write some longer/more interesting posts soon and get them up... Love and miss you all!

Balu in Gwollu

Quick post because I am in Tumu for the afternoon so I have a few minutes with some really slow internet!

I got a name: The chief and his elders called a meeting last week and gave me the local name, Balu. They said the meaning of Balu is a shrine that sits in front of each compound and guards it against bad things and brings good fortune.

Bike, check. Fridge, check. Snoop Dawg, no dice. My bicycle arrived on top of the bus! After all day waiting for it the bus pulled up right where they said it would. Then, the guys unloading it tried to charge me an extra buck to bring it down. After I told them that I would climb up the bus and take it down myself before I gave them any more money (and started up the ladder) they laughed and carried it down for me. I have now gotten it repaired (a couple times) in Gwollu and it is currently working pretty well. I just got my fridge yesterday! My friend, "Captain," is a driver for the chief and so he picked it up in Tumu and brought it to my house for me. It works great and even has a little freezer compartment so I can make ice! No dog yet. I went to get the one that they said they would give me but then there was some confusion. The guy (who I don't even think was the actual owner of the dog) that I had talked to asked me to pay him the equivalent of about 20 dollars for the puppy. While that would be cheap in the U.S., it is absolutely ridiculous here, where a puppy is usually free or maybe 50 cents. I was angry that he was trying to cheat me (I even offered to pay 2 bucks!) so I will not be getting that particular dog. I will find another one soon enough.

Haircut! Yesterday I went to the barber shop in town and buzzed all my hair off again. It feels a lot cooler already. The guy finished with my hair, looked at my beard that was then way longer than my hair, and asked if he should also cut that off. It hadn't been my plan, but I said "go for it." So the beard is gone! I had it for like 8 months I think, so even I was surprised to see what was underneath.... I look like I am am 15! The barber (who actually was 15) shaved my beard with nothing but a razor blade that he held in his hand... no shaving cream or anything. It was quite an interesting experience, but it was one of the better haircuts and best looking shaves I have probably ever had, and it cost 70 cents!

Here comes the heat! It is starting to get a lot hotter here in the Upper West Region. For a few weeks the temperatures were (relatively) really low and there were strong winds, so it was nice. But, now the heat is on... The hottest time here is usually March and April and I am already beginning to feel it. People laugh when I say it is hot now and tell me they can't wait to see how I handle March/April. That should be fun.

Foreigners! So last time I travelled 4 white people came to my town to introduce themselves and visit me, but I was gone! They are also volunteers and they live in Tumu (where I am now for bank/internet) which is about 32 k away from me. There is a guy from Italy, two women and one man from the U.K., and a guy from California. They said they gather in Tumu on Friday nights (along with some other foreign volunteers) and so sometime I will come and meet/join them. They also said that if I have to stay in town they have a place for me to sleep. It will be really nice to meet them and have some other foreigners close to me to hang out with now and then because the closest PC volunteer is about 1.5 hours away in another small village.

That's all for now... gotta go sit under a tree and see if any cars passing will take me home! I will write again when I get the chance.

Update (Finally!)

It has been so long since I have been able to use the internet! I have been living in Gwollu for about a month now, so here's what I've been up to (breifly):



-My place is awesome... I got some covers made for my furniture (kind of looks like leopard print, very nice!) and I put down some linoleum flooring (called "carpet" here) in my main room so my place is very comfortable.



-I have been named "Speaker of Parliament..." Different groups of men frequently sit (during the dry season when they are not farming) in the same place together somewhere in town and they call their groups "Parliament." So one of my first days in town some guys called me over to sit and talk with them in front of a hardware store. Ever since I have stopped by almost every day and so they (half jokingly) have dubbed me the speaker of their parliament. It's awesome.



-I got a bike... and a fridge... I hope. I am just returning from Tamale where I got a bicycle. The bike was "new" and seemed pretty nice but already (in 1 day) the chain has broken twice and the front tire has popped twice. That was just from me "trying it out" after the guy (who I paid) "fixed" it. Argg... it was a very frustrating purchase. AND continues to be... this morning I travelled from Tamale to Wa on a very overcrowded bus and they refused to take my bicycle on board anywhere. SO, I had to SPRINT about 1k down the road (and then back, to catch the bus as it was pulling away) to put my bike (and pay someone) on top of a different bus which I was TOLD will arrive across the street from this very internet cafe "sometime today." Don't worry, I've got the internet cafe guy on the lookout for me. We'll see if this bus/bike arrives and what type of condition it is in! Oh and the fridge... I gave a fridge repair guy $100 to go and get me a fridge in Kumasi... But I do kind of know the guy... so I am pretty sure he will return (with a fridge) later this week, as he promised!

-I just used a seriously GROSS public latrine in Wa. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Thankfully I was smart enough to at least travel with my own toilet paper so that I didn't have to use the one small piece of newspaper they offered me. There were tons of little worms and bugs all over... I think I have said enough on this subject.



-Cowboy Hat! My friend and I both bought Indiana Jones style cowboy hats in Tamale for $2 this weekend. They are awesome.



-SNOOOOOP DAWG. I am getting a puppy tomorrow. There were a few across the street from me and so they are saving me a male for when I get back tomorrow. He will be named Snoop.



-Election Results: After some relatively minor disputes/revotes/allegations the Ghana Presidential Election is finished. Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the National Democratic Congress Candidate, has been sworn in as President. The NDC has not been in power in Ghana for 8 years (the NPP has), so this move will be sure to change some things up. I watched the swearing in event on TV with some friends in Gwollu... it was really cool.



-No Local Name Yet... My community has still yet to officially give me a local name (I think it has been due to a combination of procrastination and election stuff, other events, funerals in town, etc.) but I think this week we are having some sort of event/ceremony. People in town have been suggesting names to the Chief and my counterpart so some areas of town are already calling me various Sissala names. What they will ultimately decide I don't know, but the debate has been pretty heated as I hear certain people lobby in support/opposition of specific suggestions. Mostly though, I am known as "Mister Adams." The kids, and my night watchman, also just call me "master" which is a little awkward/funny. In Ghana (and perhaps other places) "Adams" is a Muslim name. Since almost everyone in my town is Muslim, they seem to be very excited/confused when they learn my name is "Adams" (they always add the "s" even if I don't, so I just go with it). So I am ALWAYS being asked if I am a Muslim and I have to politely explain that I am not and that "Adam" is considered a name of no particular religion in the U.S.



-CROCS! I mentioned in an earlier post that my town has sacred crocodile ponds... I checked them out and they are awesome! 100+ crocs live happily right down the street from my house. Since it is the dry season, their pond is getting low and so many of them come out frequently to just lay/play in the sun. There are some nice trees to sit under next to the ponds so sometimes I just go to watch the crocodiles. You can get really close to them and they don't bother people at all. All sorts of people go in the water to fetch barrels full of it in the very same pond where all the crocs are. Some of the kids even know that one of the biggest ones will allow you to grab its tail (and they do it!).

Alright, my time here at the internet cafe is running out so I will go. Still no bus/bike (yikes!). Oh well, it will all work out... always does! I likely will not be making it to a reliable/functional internet connection very often so I appologize in advance for not responding to emails or posting frequently. I hope everyone had a nice holiday season... to all those in the snow, if I could send you this 100 degree heat I would!

Headed to Site / Runoff Election

Yo!

Yesterday we had our swearing in ceremony to mark the end of Peace Corps Training. The event was really cool... the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana was there and the trainees did a dancing and drumming performance. So now I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer. We all went out one last time in Kukurantumi last night and now we are all headed to our individual sites. I am at the PC sub-office in Kumasi with a bunch of people for the night and tomorrow we will visit a monkey sanctuary on our way to the Upper West Region. I am excited to see the monkeys.

The elections took place last Sunday with relatively few problems and the results were released Tuesday. No candidate received a plurality (the top 2 had like 49.4% and 47.8% or something) so there will be a runoff election on December 28th between the NDC and NPP candidates. As a preventative measure, all PC volunteers will have to remain in their communities between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2. So that means, unfortunately, none of us will be together for Christmas or New Years. But, it should be fun to move into my house and get settled and have the excitement of the holidays and the election going on.

Ok, it's getting late so I think that is all for now. Keep the emails coming.

New Address

Here is the address where I can receive mail when I am in Gwollu:

Adam Luck, PCV
C/O Gwollu Tourism Committee
P.O. Box 99
Gwollu, U.W.R.
Ghana, West Africa

Ghana National Elections

This Sunday, December 7^th, Ghana will hold its Presidential election. It was an amazing experience to be in Africa as the U.S. elected its first African-American President and it has been very exciting to see first-hand the political campaigning during an election year here in Ghana.

Here is the lowdown as I see it (based upon my casual observations for 2 months… these are not official party platforms or descriptions)…

As in the U.S., there are 2 major political parties here in Ghana. They are the National Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The current President (since 2000), John Kufor, is a member of the NPP and is not running for re-election. The NPP’s candidate is Nana Akufo-Ado and the NDC’s candidate is Prof. Atta Mills. The NPP is the more conservative party here and is often likened to the U.S. Republicans. Its flag colors are red, white, and blue and its symbol is an elephant. The NDC is the more liberal of the two parties and is often likened to the U.S. Democrats. Its symbol is an umbrella. Both parties offer different general themes to their campaigns… The incumbent NPP: “We Are Moving Forward” and the challenging NDC: “We Are Changing.” Each message comes complete with its own theme song and dance! The NPP’s case seems to basically be that they have been in power for the past 8 years and under their leadership Ghana has made great progress. The NDC argues that the NPP has become extremely corrupt and the executive leadership must change parties to end the corruption.

It is very hard to get a good gauge on where the country stands because the polling here is not so prevalent and the support for the candidates varies greatly between regions of the country. For instance, our training site is in the Eastern Region, which heavily favors the incumbent NPP, but much of the rural North (Upper West and Upper East Regions) is more supportive of the challenging NDC.

Two other regionally popular parties are the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), which also both have candidates for President. In the Presidential election, a candidate must receive 50% of the votes cast plus one in order to claim victory. If this does not happen, there will be a runoff between the top two candidates (at a date not yet determined, but sometime in December). Since the race seems to be very close between the top two candidates and the minor parties are likely to take a substantial (5-10%?) portion of the popular vote, I think a runoff election is very likely. In the last contested Presidential election in Ghana, the CPP candidate “gave” all of his votes to the NPP, which put that party over the 50% threshold. I am not quite sure exactly how that process works, but the CPP candidate in this election has stated that his party will not be reapportioning its votes this time around.

Whatever the outcome of the election(s), everyone in Ghana has been trying to assure that the voting will be both fair and peaceful. In recent history Ghana has been a role model country in Sub-Saharan Africa for a stable government. Another peaceful transfer of power would continue this trend and send a strong signal to the rest of the continent (and world) that Ghana is a safe and stable place to invest in. As for the Peace Corps Volunteers, we will all be together during the elections. The 100+ current volunteers will all be having a conference and the 41 trainees (me) will be staying with our homestay families in our training villages. We hope that the election(s) will take place in a safe and fair manner and that we will be able to move into our communities soon afterwards!

Gwollu Site Visit / Thanksgiving

Last week I traveled from Kukurantumi (where I have been training) to Gwollu (where I will move December 13th) to visit my site for the first time. It was great! The journey there and back was long (about 18 hours actual travel time each way) so I only got to spend 2.5 days in Gwollu but it was very nice to see where I will be living for 2 years...

My house: It's awesome! It truly is about as good as it gets for Peace Corps housing. I live in a large compound (large building with courtyard) that would usually house a whole family but it is just me there! The compound is also home to an office for my tourism management committee, a large exhibition hall for a soon-to-open (we hope) museum, a visitors' center, and a few other vacant rooms being used for storage. I have a large room (15 by 20 feet) that has a wall dividing my bedroom and living room. I have a couch, 3 chairs, and a table in my living room and a bed and desk and chair in my bedroom. I have power and 2 ceiling fans (my favorite part about the place!). Also in the compound, I have access to a small room that is my kitchen. My kitchen has a place for me to store food, a table, and 2 gas burners to cook on. My bathroom is also really nice... it is down the hall from my rooms and it consists of both a men's and women's bathroom. Each has a flushing toilet and a running water shower (amazing and rare here!). These bathrooms will be available for visitors and tourists as the museum and visitors center opens and more tourists start coming through, but for now I am the only one with a key to the lock so they are just for me. My accommodations are very nice, which is surprising, but comforting considering I am in one of the most remote and poor areas of the country.

The weather: Is awesome! Oh the northern part of Ghana is so much more pleasant than the south. Down where I have been training it has been sooo humid and I sweat (a lot) literally all day and night. It is gross and I just can't stop (no fans in my house). In the north, the weather is very dry. So, although it is actually even hotter temperature-wise during the day in the north it feels much better because when you sweat it actually works and you don't stay wet and gross. Right now (Nov-Feb) is also the dry season and so it will likely not rain much at all.... this makes things very dusty, especially because almost no roads are paved, but I would prefer the dust to the sweat any day! During this time of year the temperature also drops (the locals would tell you it's cold!) to about 70 degrees for the night and early morning while the sun is down... it is great. The dry season is also when you can view the crocodiles at various "sacred crocodile ponds" in Gwollu... I didn't go to visit them yet but I can't wait!

The language: So, I have been doing very well with my language training here and was very excited to practice it in my community. I had been told that Gwollu's version of the Sissali language was a little different than the dialect I was learning, but I was sure it would just be slight differences in pronunciation... I was way off! The language was very different from what I had been learning... even the simple greetings and easy stuff was very different so that became quite frustrating. I spent a lot of time just looking at people very confused when they spoke to me, but that usually just turned into laughter on both ends, which was fine with me for now. When I get to site for good I will find someone and pay him/her to tutor me in the local dialect and Peace Corps will reimburse me for it, so I will be fine. The community did not give me a local name yet (the guy I am replacing was called "Batong") but they said they will have to think about one that is fitting and give me a name when I arrive in mid December.

My counterparts: I have 2 counterparts, Ghanaian colleagues, that I will work closely with during my service and they are great. G.B. will be my counterpart for the work I am doing with the Tourism Management Team in Gwollu. He is in his 70s and has forgone the opportunity to spend his retirement relaxing with the rest of his family in Accra in order to come back to his rural hometown to help develop the community. He is a jovial, funny, very caring man and he is very respected in Gwollu. Also, he wears a fedora (awesome Italian hat) all the time... I told him I love it and I haven't seen anyone else in Ghana with those, he said he got it in Accra and next time he goes he will get me a matching one... can't you just picture the 2 of us riding our bikes around town with fedoras on? Classic. My other counterpart is a young woman named Abbiba and she is the coordinator of the Gwollu office of an NGO called RAAP (Regional Aid Action Programme). RAAP works with a local women's shea butter producing co-op and does a lot of other development projects in Gwollu and the surrounding communities. I should be able to be involved with a lot of different programs through RAAP.

The community: Gwollu just became a District Capital a few years ago and so it is growing a lot. There is a market in the center of town every 6 days where you can buy fabric, clothes, fruit, vegetables, and all sorts of things. In town there are some tailors, provision shops, cold stores, chop bars (roadside fast food), drinking spots (bars), hardware stores, and a chemical store (pharmacy). The population is about 6,000 and the town is broken up into several large areas of land with each being named for the family that originally settled there. Just next to my house, in the center of town, a portion of a slave defense wall has been preserved. There are a few other places in town where you can still see portions of the wall as well. The wall is of important historical value as it is one of very few remaining pieces of evidence of organized resistance to slave trade in the world. Gwollu also has an ancient bone-setting clinic, which I haven't got to check out yet, and a fertility clinic (where I think they make some sort of herbal viagra). Gwollu is also the hometown of the late Hilla Limann, a former President of the Republic of Ghana, and you can see his tomb there.

Thanksgiving: Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We returned from our site visits on Wednesday and the 41 trainees had big plans to cook all day on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we were told late Wednesday night that 24 of us had to travel to Accra to open bank accounts... we were gone from 6 AM to 5 PM (and not very happy about it) on Thanksgiving day. Those who stayed in Kukurantumi though, were able to cook and so when we returned we were all able to be together for dinner and drinks and it was a fun time. Some people slaughtered (with the help of a Ghanaian farmer) a turkey and fried it in pieces, so we were able to have turkey! Also, one girl's homestay parents run a bakery in town, so they used the facilities to make 60 personal-sized apple pies! They were awesome!

Okay, I think that is enough of an update for now. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is gearing up for a great Christmas season. Stay in touch... love and miss you all!

p.s.- sorry for the low quality picture posts... the internet is so slow here that posting anything of quality (or at all) takes forever. I do have to send my laptop home to get the cd drive fixed though (long story, sucks!), so I hope to have my dad post some pictures from home for me next month!