Thursday, July 16, 2009

OBAMA in Ghana

I touched Barack Obama.
Sigh.
We shook hands.
He looked at me.
He said, "Kari Ann Benge, You are doing a great job."
Thats a lie.
He didn't insert my name.

But, he DID tell me I was doing a great job! :)

Then I shook Michelle Obama's hand.
And she said, "I hope you're ready, you're next!"

I wasn't able to utter a single word back to either of them.
The cat had my tongue.
This is what went on in my head- Obama is right in front of me, holyshit. Obama is shaking my hand, holyshit. Obama is looking right at me and smiling, holyshit. Obama just told me I'm doing a great job, holyshit. I just touched Barack Obama, holyshit. Michelle Obama is coming next, holyshit. She's squeezing my hand like we're good friends, holyshit. She's grinning and telling me I'm next, holyshit. What does that mean, I'm next? I just shook hands with Barack and Michelle Obama, holyshit. That was Barack Obama. He was here. I not only got to see him, he talked about how amazing Ghana is, and I shook his hand. Holyshit. Holyshit. Holyshit.
Sigh.



After months of nothing, we got the heads up on Thursday that everyone was invited to the departure ceremony for the Obama's at the Accra airport. I piled in with all the PCTrainees Sunday morning and bumped on down to Accra. By 2 we met up with all the other PCVs in Ghana at the US Embassy, got a nifty VIP ticket and were loaded into a bunch of stc buses that had special clearence to go to the airport (all the roads within a 3 mile radius of the airport were closed.) We were ushered past hundreds of police, military, and secret service and deposited in a little fenced in area directly in front of a podium on the main runway.
Luckily I was one of the first 15 people to enter this corral. So I walked over to the fence directly in front of the podium. And didn't move for 5 hours.
Totally worth it.
Obama gave an amazing speech.
And I got to touch him.
Sigh.





Thursday, July 2, 2009

Mango Thoughts




April brought mango season. Immense umbrellas of foilage groan heavily with ripe, yellow and green fruit swinging on vines in the breeze. I am always reminded of free swinging testicles bursting with juice. I can't help but chuckle as children emerge with long poles and take swings at these pinatas. One almost feels bad for the tree- his reproductive parts being prime targets for stick weilding boys and girls.
But once you get a taste of fresh mango juice all the feelings of concern for the tree vaporize.The secret that westerners don't know is that the sweetest mangos- the local ones, small and yellow aren't to be eater. They are to be sipped. You squeeze and suck all the syrup leaving behind the skin, pulp and pith. But noone explained this to me. I had to figure out my method of consumption by trial and error.
The local mango should come with a manual. As a westerner, when I see a ripe fruit, my saliva starts flowing at the thought of that first juicy bite. Apples, pears, peaches, plums. Even tomatoes. In the summers I used to sneak tomatoes from the neighbor's- I'd sit in the garden under the shade of the vines and bite right into the tomato's flesh like an apple- Juice and seeds running down my cheeks and overalls. Pure tomatoey heaven. But mangos... I was totally unprepared.
My first experience was full of promise- a whole bucket for the two of us to split. We washed off the dirt and stickyness and piled them into a mango pyramid. A particular one caught my eye- it was especially plump and had a nice even color. With squinched eyes and gaping mouth, I dove in, sending juice squirting to the four corners of the earth. Then, slowly my eyes opened, I fell from heaven and landed teeth first in a jungle of strong, stringy mango fibers. Every crevice of my teeth was packed full of mango floss, turning my mouth into a malady of tooth rearranging fur. Never bite into the local mangos! Since that first bite I have slowly perfected my no-teeth juice extraction technique.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

School Break

Damba Festival.
Celebration of the birth of Mohammed (the founder of Islam).
Originally a traditional festival celebrating something else, but everyone forgets what. :)
The big event is when the chiefs of the different areas of Tamale parade on horses under spinning umbrellas to the main chief of Tamale's palace.

Photobucket

Wedding.
Double dose.
Nash and I have decided to marry :) Peace Corps, however, has a whole regimen of hoops for us to jump through. So, at the beginning of break we traveled down to Accra for our marriage interview with the Peace Corps Country Director. Beforehand we have to fill out a whole packet so they can do a background search on Nash to make sure his past doesn't clash with "Peace Corps Policy." He's a good one, so I'm not worried :) Our interview was interesting, the CD asked us the normal things about how we met, what our plans were, and very seriously he said, "Now Nash, you know it's cold in the US. How are you going to handle that?" Haha, Nash just replied, "Well, I guess I'll buy a coat!"
While we were in Accra, Nash's uncle took us to a wedding with his family. It was interesting! They had gifts and minerals and food for all the guests, but my favorite part was the bride's dress. Utterly amazing.

accra wedding


Clay Fun
Fellow PCV, Jess Bowen, and I took a weekend trip up to Sirigu where there is a massive amount of local pottery produced. I was especially interested in the local way of firing. I have found a clay deposit dear the Deaf School and want to teach the kids the traditional way people make potter in this region. Bonfire style. And wonderfully simple :)

Photobucket

Friday, April 10, 2009

Arid.


Dry season is finally on its way out. Woo Hoo! You can almost measure it by the amount of water that my body needs has reduced drastically. During Feb. and early March I was drinking about 6-7 Nalgenes a day. Quick, how many gallons is that? I want to guess 2 or 3? Anyway, now I'm down to about 4. Much easier. It was work forcing down that much water! My filter never had a moment's rest. I do have a nice filter though. Peace Corps provides us with one that holds about 144 oz. It uses "candles" to filter the water- 2 ceramic cylanders with sand inside. I store water in a 40 gal plastic barrel that goes for everything- bathing, dishes, washing clothes, drinking...Savelugu Deaf has no natural water. Carter Center drilled some wells a few years ago but those only have water during the rainy season. No help. Around campus there are various tanks- plastic, cement, metal that organizations have donated to store water. So, 3 other teachers and I share a cement one. We pay for a water tanker to come fill it ($8 per tanker, which is somehow expensive) So sometimes they can't afford it and I'm on my own to figure water out... Oh water.

I'm lucky though. Dry season is much shorter than it used to be. In late March it started raining about once a week. I guess just 10 years ago it didn't start until the beginning of June. Global Warming?

Speaking of global warming- Yesterday, a teacher sat me down and said, "Kari, tell me everything you know about global warming." How do you begin to answer that? I just laughed and said I would try. We talked for awhile and ended up with a cause/effect flow chart that looked like this:
Pollution/Smog -> Holes in Ozone/ blanket of smog in atomosphere -> harmful rays more acces to Earth/ trapping of heat -> general warming of Earth -> ice caps to melt more than normal -> oceans' rise -> ocean currents change -> jet streams in air change -> ?lots of theories about what next? ice age?
How did I do? Of course I kept saying, "I'm not a scientist!" I also explained how right now we are in the ice caps melting phase. The stuff beyond that is speculation. Some people say it is all speculation.
The funny part is, after all that, the guy says, "Good! Now I can go to Denmark!" Haha, apparently there is a group choosing people to go to a global warming seminar in Denmark. The guy just wants to go to Denmark... Oh well...

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Reinstatement- First month back


Saying goodbye to mom and dad was different this time. It wasn’t leaving safety and going off into the unknown. Don’t get me wrong. It was sad. But this time it was leaving one family and heading towards another. We said our goodbyes with no tears, knowing it wouldn’t be long before we’d meet again.

Some time on a plane.

And there I was. Plopped down in the same Ghana I’d left 8 months earlier. The same wall of heat stepping off the plane. The same African-accented English. The same smells of rich spices mixed with wafting garbage. Cars honking, drivers yelling out destinations in the distance. Curious eyes watching me, the foreign siliminga. And then there was Nash. The best constant of all. He had come the 12 hours from Tamale to meet me at the airport. I didn’t see him at first. He had talked the guards into letting him into the passenger area. Separate from the crowd, there was his lone figure. Grinning and waving. Suddenly I hadn’t been gone 8 months at all. Time rewound and Ghana picked up right where it had left off.

Peace Corps also met me at the airport. After a quick reunion with Nash and a plan to meet later, they whisked me off to headquarters. I spent the morning making the rounds. A long update with the medical officer. Introduction to the new Country Director. Figuring out paperwork with the finance lady. And Joe B, my boss and Ghanaian father. We spent a long time talking about all that had happened since I left and I introduced him to Nash. He was smiling and laughing and told Nash that if Nash ever hurt me, he would personally go and hunt Nash down. Oh Joe b… haha, I missed him 

Some Accra greetings- Nash’s cousin, Majeed and sister, a very pregnant Rahma.

A 12 hour STC bus ride.

TAMALE. A sigh of relief. I’m home. Things are mostly the same. The bustling market. Line taxis. The calmness of the Dagomba people. The dry heat.
SAVEDEAF. Savelugu School for the Deaf. Bonyeli. Kids grow an amazing amount in one year. There is a noticeable difference in the upper primary kids. I have missed this place. Most of my sign language is not forgotten- or just needs a quick reminder. No one told the students I was coming back. The first afternoon I walked through campus, jaws were dropping all over the place and my “K” sign name was flying around. Art class had ceased in my absence. Students couldn’t believe it was really me. It’s an amazing feeling to have everyone as happy to see me as I am to see them. Warm fuzzies all around.

I spent most of the first week going back and forth from Bonyeli to Tamale. Getting my house back in working order, arranged, stocked with food and water. Catching up with the teacher’s families next door. Visiting Nash’s family. Brushing up on the little- very little- Dagbani I know. It was wonderful seeing everyone again. Nash’s sisters especially. They were so happy.

I started teaching the next week. We did clay in all the classes. Messy, but fun. I had gotten some from a nearby village pond before I left. It was actually still soft enough to use. We did shapes and things like cylinder/cube/pyramid. They loved it. I had forgotten how excited kids are to learn here, over the littlest things. Then they made whatever they wanted for the last half. The boys would all do motos and cell phones and the girls would make pounding basins and babies.

This last week Nash’s father has been sick in the hospital. Luckily he has turned around and is fine now. It has been interesting watching the process. I keep trying to ask what the doctors are saying. But no one seems to know. Family isn’t allowed to speak with the doctors. The doctors order tests and prescribe meds. But no one knows why. Similar to the USA, doctors are extremely overloaded with a surplus of patients. Yet there isn’t anyone to make sure things are correct. The way a family member might in the USA. The care of each patient is also very different here. The family is in charge of all aspects. Food. Water. Fans. Sheets. Baths. Health Insurance, if the patient has it. Bribing if they don’t. A family member is expected to be present 24 hours a day to be tending to the patient’s needs. When someone is admitted for more than a few days, it is a huge hassle for the family. I admire Nash. He has been bearing the brunt of this burden the past week.

And I’m back in the swing of things. Normal life in Northern Ghana has commenced.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

An interesting 8 months.


Almost an entire year has gone by since I last wrote something. Here's the short and sweet:

In January, I contracted viral Meningitis (diagnosed later) and it relapsed several times and brought on a load of complications in my body. I fought it out and did pretty well, if I do say so myself, considering I was 12 hours from a decent hospital and shriveling in Ghana's 140 deg. hot season. However, the decision to medevac me to Washington DC was finally reached in June.
It was a very odd way to return to the USA. I was a mess of emotions from not knowing what was happening to me (still didn't know yet everything had been related and Meningitis had caused it). And I was suddenly confronted with all these things I hadn't seen in an entire year: an endless supply of water, ice cream, a dishwasher!, a laundry machine!, a supermarket with anything I could want, air conditioning, a mattress with springs, sidewalks, fast internet, grapes, loads of white people, roomy cars, clean air... I could go on and on. My parents came and met me at the airport. It was wonderful to see them, I hadn't seen my dad in a year! The next month was spent seeing doctors and specialists and PCMOs. In the end I was given no choice but to be Medically Separated and give myself some time to heal.

And I was plopped back in Ohio. I hadn't lived at home since high school! After 7 months of doing little things here and there: a ghana month with the church youth group, odd jobs for my mom's business, visiting friends and family, talking to Nash every day on Skype, playing with the dogs.... Peace Corps has finally cleared me to go back! Whoo Hoo!

I will leave in a week.
Here I come Savelugu, you haven't gotten rid of me so easily!
I can't wait to see everyone. So many things have happened in my absence.

The Drumming and Dancing Troupe has gotten up and off the ground. We were able to give it a start before I left: 5 drums were bought, an instructor agreed to teach, and a few lessons were had. By now, though, the Troupe has been practicing for 2 full quarters and the deaf students are becoming dancing whizes! (I've seen video) Also, a second sponsor has been found-a Dutch group. They have provided a moto for the instructor to ride to the school, have organized the school's weaving/sewing class to produce original costumes for the dancers, and are even planning to found a non-profit organization that will support and expand the troupe. The first official performance is to be at a local restaurant this Friday (Jan. 30). I'm sad I won't be there to see it, but I'm planning to arrive before the second one! All in all the troupe has turned into a great success.

My sister, Sara, spent 6 weeks in Savelugu. The plan was for her to stay with me and bike to an internship at the local hospital every day. However, I was medevac-ed shortly before she was scheduled to arrive. We were discouraged that we weren't going to be able to spend those weeks together. Sara made the decision to go ahead without me. Nash picked her up in Accra, and my good friend and fellow PCV, Alicia, spent the first week with Sara to help her get acclimated. Despite my absence, everything actually worked out. Sara spent her days at the hospital getting all kinds of experience with malnourished babies, burn victims, and Malaria. Also, she actually contracted Malaria, which gave everyone at home a scare. In the afternoons she helped the Dance Troupe practice, often drumming or helping with dance moves. When she finally returned home, we talked for hours about all the different people she had met. It is interesting, without me there, she had a completely different experience, making/visiting her own set of friends at the hospital.

And let's not forget: BARACK OBAMA is our new president!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With a wonderful plan to double the size of the Peace Corps. Get excited.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Videos!

Lunchtime at Savelugu School for the Deaf



Savelugu Market



Kakum National Park- Trip with Mom



Alicia's Video(Sara is in it)- How To See To Dance A Painting