Ghana Community Volunteer Journals

This time tomorrow we will be in Ghana!
Its been a crazy last few days trying to get everything sorted & last minute packing. Our Malaria tablets didn’t turn up so we’ve run around to get some more today - the day before we fly ! To say the least the last few days have been testing ! But everything’s done now & it’s just a case of getting out there and enjoying the next month.
We’re gonna try & keep this updated as much as poss - providing we have the electric - power cuts are very common where we are.
The [...]

Five days to go to Ghana. My biggest worry is packing all those little “baggies” of bottles for 5 weeks “in the bush.” I’ll have to check my suitcase.  I hope I can sleep on the plane, not arriving comatose after the long trip (Ft. Myers-Miami-Frankfurt-Accra).
I’ll be easy for my B.R.I.D.G.E. escort to spot. At 63, I’m really “Senior” where the life-expectancy is 56. The Ewe (pronounced AYVAY) greatly respect their elders. With less than 4% of Ghanaians over 64, that’s a lot of respect. I doubt I’ll be the first light-haired person in Abutia-Kloe. I may be among [...]

There’s a marauding Lion loose in the neighborhood.
That’s the first thing I saw after “Googling” the name of my African home this summer.
Planning for my trip to West Africa has reminded me to get the facts. A science education imbued me with the mantra: “Where’s the data?” Even I have learned some new lessons in that regard these last few months. The plethora of comments I’ve received since announcing my plans spans the gamut from enthusiastic support to outright horror.
I have been bemused, amused, frustrated, fascinated, humbled, harried, and inspired. I’ve mused a lot about the social, emotional, anthropological, and [...]

I thought the shots might be the deal-breaker when I first thought I’d volunteer in West Africa this summer.
Yellow fever, Hepatitis A & B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio booster: add drugs for typhoid, malaria and “Traveler’s Diarrhea.” The list was daunting.
The thought of living in a place where flush-less, “squat toilets” are the rule, hot showers happen by heating water over an open-pit fire and drizzling it overhead didn’t deter me nearly as much as the thought of all those needles.
I was surprised when the Health Dept. nurse gave me almost all of them at once.
“Are you sure?” I queried [...]

My time in Ghana has come to an end.  As my final journal entry I thought I would list some afterthoughts generated throughout my time in Adaklu Have.  I hope all of you have enjoyed reading my entries.
Much love,
Elias
1) In Adaklu Have, a small rural village of around 1200, there is no recorded cases of HIV/AIDS, low teenage pregnancy rates, zero criminal activity or vandalism.
2) You can fit 23 people, 3 babies and a small pig in a 12-person van.
3) At least 3 times per day I would witness mothers nonchalantly breastfeeding their babies or children as old as 12 [...]

So Courage decided it would be a great idea for me to go to the farm with him and get a slight taste for what the work of the average citizen of Adaklu Have entails.  He dressed me up with a borrowed, very dirty, thick, and heavy farmer’s shirt; a pair of boy jeans size 14 that I, naturally, had to leave unbuttoned and unzipped; some knee high boots; a machete; and a shotgun.  At 7:30am we trekked to the farming fields.   He showed me quite a bit of the process of farming cassava (a root similar to yuka), the [...]

This last week in Ghana was really productive.  I met with two high-level public officials, Minister of Tourism/Member of Parliament Juliana Azuma and the newly-elected District Chief Executive Mr. Adzaho.  I first met with MP Azuma at her home.  Very nice house, but not luxurious, exactly what you should expect from a respected politician.  She was very warm and welcoming, as well as receptive to what I had to say.  I basically tried to get a feel for what she could possibly do to provide the electricity poles to Adaklu Have.  She mentioned that as Adzaho had been recently elected, [...]

On Saturday Courage took me to his home village, 20 minutes east of Ho.  I was, unexpectedly, received with a small welcome ceremony much like the one my first day at Adaklu Have, with lengthy greetings, welcomes, introductions and a new set of beads and necklaces.  Courage’s father, a well-educated/traveled member of the council of elders took great interest in my international relations studies, so he spent the better part of the day drilling me with questions about current political events in the world, from Darfur to the DRC to the Somali pirates, to Venezuela.  We had some very interesting [...]

Easter is the village’s version of Homecoming, when all the Adaklu Have citizens living outside (in cities like Ho or Accra) return home for church services, family gatherings and other various festivities.  One of the main events to which the entire village attends is a football match between current citizens (home) and expatriates (away).   By the time I arrived to the match, it had already begun.  At halftime the score was 0-0.  During the break the captain of the Home side asked me if I wanted to play for them.  Not having played in a couple years, I hesitantly accepted, given [...]

Throughout my life I’ve been lucky enough to have lived and have traveled to many different countries with contrasting cultures, ideas, ways of life and visions of the world we inhabit.  As distinct as people are in opposite sides of the world, born to different parenthood and upbringings, the similarities we share as a species are uncanny.
A few days ago we were eating dinner when I heard a mother reprimand a child in the neighbor’s house.  I had no idea what the mother was yelling to the child in Ewe, but her emphasis and intonations, combined with the child’s sobbing [...]

Yesterday was the Inter School Cultural Festival, for which the schools of nearby towns Adaklu-Vodze and Adaklu-Kodzobi came to Adaklu-Have’s school grounds for the annual cultural performance competition.  The competition was held on four categories: Poetry, Drum Language (Using drum beats that stand for syllables of Ewe words - awesome), Choir Music and Dance Exhibition.  Groups of kids from the elementary and middle schools presented their acts, most of which were amazing.  Wait, let me back up.  For the last couple months, the kids of Adaklu-Have have been arduously practicing after school every day in front of my house (since [...]

Due to popular demand, a quick update on my project.
So in the past 2 weeks I found out that dealing with Ghanaian bureaucracy is just like dealing with bureaucracy everywhere else: time-consuming and frustrating.  I’ve spent most of my time and effort on the electrification project, which is what the community of Adaklu Have expressed is their #1 concern.  As such, I’ve tackled this issue from all angles possible.  I’ve written several proposals in hopes to get funding to have Adaklu Have’s community take on the project on their own (which would help bypass all the bureaucracy).  Besides this approach, [...]

This past weekend I joined the other 2 volunteers, McKenzie and Leora, and traveled cross-country to Cape Coast to spend some time on the beach.  left my house friday morning at 6:30am, got to the hotel in cape coast at 5:30pm… 11 hours of traveling, even though the trip is only supposed to take 6 hours.  Idle time waiting for buses/tro-tros, standing/sweating under the hot Ghanaian sun, and traffic made up for the extra time.
Once in Cape Coast, however, everything went well.  The beach was beautiful, providing a nice 2-day break from life in the village.  At night we went [...]

So it’s taken me a while to adapt to eating insect stews and monkey brains, but I’ve tried everything they’ve put on my plate thus far.  The hardest thing to take down has been the guano.  It just takes some getting used to.  Ok that was totally a lie, but I’m sure some of you bought it.  Food in Ghana does not resemble that of Indiana Jones or Ace Ventura’s adventures.
So some of the typical Ghanaian food is eaten with silverware and some with the hands, it varies.  They eat quite a bit of fried rice with different spices and [...]

After the goat incident, I did some work in the Ho office and took off to the main transportation station of Ho for some traveling. After consulting Simon and Courage and my travel guide, I decided to go to Hohoe, a village about 2 hours north of Ho (not all towns in Ghana start with the syllable “Ho”. In fact, those are the only two).  I decided on Hohoe because I was told the Wli Falls were the highest and most awesome waterfalls in all of Ghana. Once in Hohoe I found a small little hotel – electricity and a [...]

For all of you waiting for an odd story, here’s the one. This story is funny now, but it wasn’t at the time. So on Friday morning, I’m taking my usual “shared cab” from Adaklu-Have to the town of Ho, as I do every other morning. By the way, a “shared cab” means that the taxi driver will pick up as many people as possible, as long as there is air to breath inside the vehicle. On this particular ride, something out of the ordinary happened to a “yevu” (white man - me). First, the back seat is completely full, [...]

Throughout my life I’ve endured bad cases of the flu, strep throat, and other terrible sicknesses that kept me awake and miserable throughout entire nights. Wednesday night (of last week) beat all those past terrible nights. I’ve been keeping pretty healthy since arriving in Ghana, so I wasn’t sick. Instead, it was the heat and humidity that struck no this occasion. Having no electricity means I have no fan. The night was completely still, absolutely no wind or draft, only a pool of my own sweat. I had to pour some of my drinking water on my bed and constantly [...]

So if you’re reading this, you’re probably still wondering, “what is Elias doing out there?” well, I was wondering the same thing until I began talking to Courage and Simon, the chairman of the Community-Based Organization at Adaklu-Have. I’ve taken it upon myself to lead the project of electrification of the town as a first priority. Although this is the responsibility of the government, these farming villages away often get neglected. I’m having to deal with the bureaucracy of the Ghanaian political system electricity company, which is no more helpful. I’m also working on building a water pipeline from Adaklu-Have [...]

The night is incredibly peaceful.  At 7 it gets dark, really dark.  That first night Courage took me to the center of the village to hang out.  It still baffles me how they are able to see in complete darkness.  I was pretty amazed because all I could see was the stars in the sky, there was no moon and no source of light, yet he could see “very clearly” pointing me to watch out for certain rocks and ledges.  At night friends gather to recount the day and have a few laughs, with the added benefit that they now [...]

That afternoon Courage took me to the center of the village (takes about 10 minutes to walk from one end of the village to another) to meet the council of elders.  They were all sitting outside, in a circle, with two empty chairs waiting for Courage and me.  Everyone seems quiet and serious, so following Courage’s lead, I say nothing and sit down next to him.  This was my first experience with the deep cultural roots of the Ewe.  After traditional meetings protocol of prayers and greetings, each group leader introduces itself and its members.  Then the specific group [...]

I met my “caretaker”, Jennifer, a 25-year old teacher, as well.  In the little house it’s Jennifer, Courage and myself, and so far we get along pretty well.  They’re both really nice, caring and considerate.  Jennifer cooks for us, and so far she is a bit shy and doesn’t say much, but you can tell she has her joking side to her. Courage, on the other hand, is very outgoing.  Also very smart - the people of the village look up at him.  He’s well educated, and basically lives in Adaklu-Have because the Department of Education sent him there [...]

I arrived at around 2pm, and you could swear the Sun is about a mile away.  The climate reminds me of Charallave in Venezuela or Miami in August. We finally arrived at my new, very humble home for the next month.  Got my own nice little room, with a foam bed on the floor and a desk.  The bathroom is a room with four walls and a drain, used for bathing and urinating.  Then there’s the outhouse, which is a little hut about 10 meters from the house.  Inside, there is a box with a hole.  I’ll spare the details, [...]

Woke up, got some nice egg breakfast at the hostel restaurant and took a cab to the transport station to get a Tro-tro (van) to take us to Ho.  This was no ordinary van.  From the outside it looked like a van.  The inside had comfortable seats, air conditioning, and 2 portable DVD players, each 1 in the back of the head rest of the driver and passenger seats.  Never seen that before.  Pleasantly surprised, however, as I got to watch Paul Walker riding a horse getting chased by Mexicans on motorcycles in one of the top 3 worst movies [...]

When we get to the taxi station to get a cab to the hostel, Joy starts arguing with a driver in his local language (Ewe) and things start getting a little heated.  Here’s where I say, “well, here we are,” as I prepare myself for some action.  I try to slow things down by asking what’s going on and what all the yelling is about, but I clearly have no authority in what’s going on, and right when I became sure that things were going to get physical, things sort of quieted down, the two guys shook hands, Joy [...]

On the flight, London Gatwick to Accra, Ghana.  After sleeping for a couple hours, it was time for Lunch!  The stewardess woke me up from my nap to ask me whether I wanted meat or fish.  All disoriented I answered “fish”, soon realizing that I probably made a terrible mistake by ordering fish on a plane - all before I even set foot in Ghana.  Turns out, I was proven very wrong.  The fish was actually pretty good.
Arrived at Accra airport at 7pm, felt right like getting off at the Margarita airport in Venezuela, hot, humid, beach-like weather – Accra [...]

Hola, Hello, Ciao, Konishiwa, Bonjour (I think that covers most of you)
My name is Elias Parisca, originally from Caracas, Venezuela where I lived until the age of 14.  In 1996 I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, USA with my mother and older brother.  Since that year in Atlanta, I’ve lived 3 years in Clarksville, Tennessee, 1 year in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 3 years in Durham, North Carolina (where I went to college at Duke University), 1 study-abroad year in Rome, Italy, followed by 3 years in San Francisco, California, until last September when I moved to London, UK for a Masters [...]

So we took off for our big adventure…with big plans.  We hopped on a bus to Cote D’Ivoire, and 14 hours later arrived in Abidjan.  It’s a big city with a skyline and all.  It was sort of surreal to be there — from afar it looks like a thriving city, but up close, it is very run down and poor.  We learned that in the 90s the president was spending money like crazy to make Abidjan appear like the “Paris of West Africa.”  But this was money poorly spent and created more anger in the citizens.  We didn’t stay [...]

PART 2:
So, that’s what I’ve been doing…working.  And some playing, of course.  And well…here’s some highlights:
- I have a rash on my left arm that’s spreading and won’t go away…the heat doesn’t help.
- Ciara and I broke down and got a hotel room in Ho one night.  We went to the pool, ordered room service, turn the air conditioning on full blast and watched movies (Music and Lyrics, and V is for Ventetta to be exact!).
- I was given a chicken yesterday…pronounced, cocolo in Ewe.  I named him Edward.  He’s beautiful.  But I fear that he will not live much [...]

Where have I been?  What have I been up to?  You’d think since it’s been so long since I’ve written that I’d have a lot to say.  Well, I do.  So gitty-up.  I’m breaking it up for ya…
PART 1:
First of all, the past 2 times I’ve tried to write in this journal, the electricity has gone out in Ho for the whole day.  Which is a bummer, b/c the main reason I go to Ho is to get on the computer.  But it IS funny that this outage does not affect my home life in Have, as we don’t have [...]

I’ve been here slightly over 1 month, and I’m happy to report that progress is being made in Future Hope Foundation, or FUHOF.  We’ve been meeting twice a week since I’ve arrived.  The first couple week’s meetings were to elect chairman, secretary, treasurer, etc.  We also worked on a resolution and constitution for the committee, as well as discussed membership requirements and dues….various business matters that weren’t as fun as they were important.  The committee is 7 members of the community who have volunteered their time to come together to form this community based organization (CBO).  One of the members [...]