48 hours and still no water…

48 hours and still no water…

I arrived in Ghana safely and am adjusting to the HOT weather, spicy food (even at breakfast) and uneven living conditions. I am officially going on my second night of no running water and have two large buckets that are waiting for me to attempt my first bucket shower. I am not sure I can even lift them! Despite the challenges, the bugs and the heat, I am VERY happy. It feels good to be breaking out of the comfort zone of hot running water, familiar food, nearby gyms and air conditioning. There is so much to take in that the little inconveniences are really not bothering me that much.

OK, so enough about me… if Ghana is for beginners, I can’t really imagine what the other students must be going through in other parts of Africa. The city of Accra is an assault on the senses. There is a chaos in most areas, apart from the few blocks around where I live and work, with cars, motorcycles and people playing chicken with each other to get to their destinations faster. For those of you who know me well, I tend to have a very good sense of smell. I am not sure if this is a good thing here. The food all has intense odors and smelling it in the morning is tough. Different parts of the city have their own smells – some smoky, some muddy and some with a mix of food wafting into the streets. It is unlike anything I have experienced in the states.

The wonderful thing about Ghana so far is the people. They are unbelievably nice and so interested in helping me out. There is a driver at World Education who brings me to get dinner and makes sure I get to my apartment safely. He removed two dead cockroaches from my apartment last night (these are hopefully the only ones I will see!) and offered to get me more water when he found out that I didn’t have water again. The rest of the people at World Ed are just great. They have good senses of humor and are trying to teach me the local language of Twi.

Today (Wednesday), I had a field trip with one other staff member from World Ed, Bernard, and several members of the Red Cross team from the eastern region. We ventured to the Central Market area of Accra to visit an organization that is doing something similar to what we are attempting. They run a residential program that rescues female victims of child labor, provides them with basic education (literacy and mathematics), STD and HIV education, job skills training (hairdressing, dressmaking, jewelry making, and baking), and basic business skills to ensure their success. They accomplish all of this in nine months, which is very impressive but also very encouraging since that is the same timeframe for the World Education project I am working on.

OK, I am off to attempt the bucket shower. Wish me luck!!