| Wednesday, April 11, 2007 |
| Grumpy |
I said that I would get better at updating my blog....sorry that I lied! Things have still been quite busy, but here's what's been going on over the past month:
1. I did my validation workshops in Chamba, Salaga, Kpandai, Bimbilla, Banda, Kete KRachi and Tamale over a span of two weeks. In general they went okay and it gave me the chance to see lots of the eastern corridor. The only downer is that I rode on motorbike to the workshop in Banda with Lelewu and my behind is still recovering. Worst road ever. Enough said.
2. I facilitated an SPSS refresher course for staff in the eastern corridor. It went pretty good, I think people are interested in using SPSS in their work. It also made me realize how much I miss doing 'teacher-type' things! Once again I hit the road with Lelewu on his motorbike, this time coming from the refresher course in Salaga to Kpandai. I think I am done with the long distance motorbike rides for a while.
3. I am going to Liberia on May 9th, it's finalized. I am going with the microfinance officer from Salaga office, which is nice because it'll be a face I know along with me. So to get ready to go I've been modifying surveys to collect both business income and reproductive health knowledge levels. It is pretty much complete, all I have left to do is some formatting and compile a survey for community leaders that profiles the communities.
4. I spent Easter weekend in Tamale, and it was alright, although I didn't get up to much. I read reports because I didn't want to haul them out to Kpandai with me, only to haul them back. I went out for beer and guinea fowl (the Ghanaian equivalent to beer and wings) and it kind of reminded me of home. I was laid low for part of Saturday, all of Sunday, and some of Monday with what felt like a ticking time bomb in my stomach. I didn't want to venture too far from a toilet!
5. I did take some time on Saturday to see the Damba festival in town, the first time in four years it's been celebrated in Tamale. I've been told that the Damba festival is the Dagbani celebration of the prophet Mohammed's birthday, and it had been cancelled over the past few years because of conflicts in the Dabong kingdom. I went with Bari to watch festivities near the central mosque, it was basically a swarm of people, the occasional person would be waving a cutlass or shooting off a handmade gun, and chiefs from nearby communities were being escorted to and from the Tamale chief's palace (the chiefs were on horseback and usually underneath the biggest umbrellas I've ever seen). Lots of people were wearing traditional wear and most of the women were really decked out in their finest. Unfortunately I was a little slow that day and forgot my camera, but a friend is looking into getting some pics for me. Unfortunately, searching out elephants in Mole Park over the weekend did not pan out. Another weekend!
6. The rainy season has now begun. It's been raining about every other day. I don't mind the rain when it rains, because it cools Kpandai down, but it makes hot sunny days hell on earth. Humidity is my enemy! So is heat rash, which I've been getting recently, it's not fun. It also increases the percentage of bugs in my room at night by about 200%. But the good thing is the mangoes are now ripe and plenty. Yum yum!
7. The Volta is seriously low and the power company has increased the load shedding, or scheduled power outages. So now, in a four day cycle, we'll have lights off for 12 hours during the night, and 12 hours during the day. In essence, for every four days, we'll have one day of lights off. I don't mind the lights being off during the night, because hey, I'm sleeping and there's usually a pretty good breeze going through my room. It sucks big time during the day because I can't work and there's no escaping the heat.
8. Overall I've just been in a grumpy state lately, and I don't know if it is just a phase, or if it's the onset of culture shock or what. We'll see how it goes. |
posted by angelina @ 4:58 AM  |
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| Me, Myself, and I |
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Alias: angelina
Where I'm at: Kpandai, Northern Region, Ghana
In 500 words or less: I am now done my schoolin' and you may all call me Master! I'm currently livin it up in a small town in Northern Ghana, and it's a blast being the only 'obruni' (white) in town!
Step into my mind, if you dare
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