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.