Author: catrionamaeve

1.27.2019

Ashanti Region, Ghana

This month marks a year of living in Ghana, and what a year it’s been. I had no idea what to expect when I got on the plane to come here. No matter how prepared you are, there’s no way to prepare for all of the ups and downs of service. This past year has been a year full of surprises and adventure. A year filled with trying new things and adapting to a new reality. A year filled with challenges and frustrations and homesickness. And a year filled with love, friendship, and laughter. I’ve been amazed by the extraordinary kindness of strangers. I’ve also experienced the isolation of being surrounded by people, but still feeling alone, because the cultural and language barrier are sometimes really difficult to overcome. Not a day goes by where I don’t question why I am here. There have been many moments, especially recently, where I’ve been ready to pack it up and head back to the comfort and familiarity of my America. But as I near the halfway mark of service in only a few months, I am starting to feel reenergized and recommitted to finishing my service. This isn’t the work I pictured myself doing when I came here, most of it is not even public health work. But it’s still work that has value, and the friendships I have made with some of my community members are more important than anything else I could possibly do here. At the end of the day, I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be here in Ghana.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned a year into service:

1. Don’t take things for granted – people, experiences, electricity.

2. Take the time to greet people.

3. Things usually have a way of working out, even if it’s not the way you originally plan.

4. Change starts with just one person.

5. There’s always something that can be learned from someone else. Everyone has something to contribute.

6. Accept people’s invitations whenever you can. Don’t let fear of the unknown stop you from experiencing something new.

7. Practice self-care always.

8. Celebrate the big victories, but also the little ones too.

9. Friendships take many different forms.

10. Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself, and ask for help when you need it.

11. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else will come up and surprise you.

12. Laugh at yourself.

What lessons will the next year bring? I’m not sure, but I’m looking forward to finding out. Cheers to another year in Ghana!

12.19.2018                                                                                                      Ashanti Region, Ghana

As I sit down to write this, I’m suddenly realizing that it has been more than two months since my last post. I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long, and so much has happened since I don’t even know where to start. Highlights include running my first and only 10K, going on vacation to a beautiful tropical paradise called São Tomé (Be on the look out for a separate post), celebrating the holidays with fellow PCVs, continuing all of the great work at the school, and finally holding the mushroom production training my community and I have been discussing for months!

Out of everything I have had the chance to be involved in so far, I’d have to say this mushroom production training is the one of the most rewarding. I am working with a trainer from a nearby community to teach some farmers in my community how to grow mushrooms and help them build a permanent structure to use as a production house. I am learning a ton in the process and feeling even more connected to my community members. Not only are mushrooms very nutritious, they are a great income generating opportunity.

It took weeks to have the initial interest meeting because of unexpected delays and community events, and it was quite the lesson on patience and flexibility. But ever since that first meeting, I feel like we have some real momentum behind us. People are excited about this opportunity, and it makes me so happy to see so many different people from the community getting involved. We’ve got men, women, and even children participating in the lessons. We started the training on Monday, and it will go for the rest of the week. Every day, more and more people are showing up to learn. The district has some awesome resources for people who want to start businesses, so I think this training could be a great foundation for some successful businesses in the future.

Another thing that has been exciting me lately about Peace Corps is opportunities for volunteer collaboration. I love being able to work with other volunteers on projects that have a wider impact in Ghana. Currently, I’m working with another health volunteer nearby to plan a Train the Trainer workshop on Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs) with teachers and clinic workers in the area. We plan to give them each RUMPs kits, so they then can go back and train the young women and mothers they work with. Another way to collaborate in Peace Corps Ghana are working groups, which are essentially opportunities for volunteers to come together and work together on a specific issue and be a resource for other PCVs. I am part of SWAT Malaria working group, and we’re focused on malaria prevention in Ghana and supporting volunteers in their efforts. I am in charge of organizing the next World Malaria Month competition, which takes place in April and May, and allows volunteers to compete for prizes while educating their communities about malaria. This type of event planning activity is right up my alley. I love working in my community, but it is these opportunities to collaborate and support volunteers in the process that really gets me motivated.

Holidays away from family and friends aren’t the easiest, but I am lucky to have a wonderful community here to celebrate with. I spent Thanksgiving with some awesome PCVs from around southern Ghana, and thanks to several wonderful volunteers/chefs we had a turkey with all the Thanksgiving fixings. Last week, I also had a little Christmas celebration with my Ashanti friends with our gifts under the paper tree and Christmas card photo out in the blazing sun. It sure doesn’t feel like Christmas with this hot weather, but we managed to find some holiday spirit and enjoy the season just the same.

Happy holidays to all of my amazing friends and family at home! I hope your days are filled with lots of love, joy, and laughter. You’ll be hearing from me in 2019, where I’ll be reflecting on a year in Ghana.

10.14.2018                                                                                                      Ashanti Region, Ghana

How is it October already? The time is flying way too fast. The new school year started here on September 11th, so most of my time has been spent working with the kids at the primary and junior high school and getting some programs started for the year. The schools in my community have been extremely welcoming to me, and it’s clear how committed they are to their students’ education and well-being. The kids are so sweet and fun to work with.

At the primary school, we are implementing the Grassroots Soccer (GRS) Skillz Boyz curriculum with the boys 12 and older, and starting a weekly Girl’s Club with all the girls in Upper Primary. My counterpart, Daniel, is a teacher at the school. He attended a training in July on how to conduct GRS, so he is taking the lead on the project. GRS is an adolescent health organization that leverages the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize youth to overcome their health challenges. The SKILLZ Guyz curriculum specifically tackles sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV prevention, substance abuse, peer pressure, and self-efficacy. The program uses soccer terminology and games, so not only do the kids learn about how to protect their health, they also have fun in the process. With the girls, I am hoping we will cover some similar topics, while also incorporating some hands on activities such as making sack gardens and learning about recycling by using water satchets to make things like soccer nets and purses. [A side note: In Ghana, water is sold in bottles, but it is also more commonly sold in small, sealed plastic bags called water satchets. These hold 500 ml and are sold for 20 pesewas (less than 5 cents in the US). As you might imagine, this leads to quite the big trash problem in some communities.]

At the junior high school, we are continuing with the biweekly girl’s club from last term. Our first lesson was about sex and gender, what they mean, and how gender roles play out in daily life. This past week we covered goal setting, and how we achieve our short and long term goals. The girls made vision boards where they wrote their goals and illustrated them with pictures from magazines. Research shows that if you write your goals down, you are more likely to achieve them. Well, I am pleased to say we have a class full of future teachers, nurses, doctors, soldiers, musicians, and newscasters. We also plan to cover healthy relationships, HIV, and malaria prevention this term. We are going to implement a school-wide GRS Malaria program in November to coincide with the national bed net distribution that is taking place.

I am also in the process of setting up two pen pal exchanges with one class at the primary school and one class at the junior high school. This is a great chance for the kids to practice writing in English. It was so fun to see how excited the primary students were filling out the paper about things they like and drawing their self-portraits. This month I have also started a Homework club. At the end of last term, one of the teachers mentioned to me that the kids often don’t have someone to help them with their homework at home. With that in mind, I decided to start staying after school with some of the students. We meet every day, except Friday, between 2-3pm. We are still working out the kinks, and there are some challenges because I don’t speak Twi well enough to communicate with some of the younger students. It makes me happy though to see how many kids want to come and do their homework with me, and how many older students are willing to stick around and help out their younger siblings and friends.

 

Finally, this month I have been working on a grant to help my school build a new classroom. We are more than halfway to our fundraising goal, and I am so thankful for the support and words of encouragement we have received for this project so far. The school needs this new classroom because currently the creche students, which is similar to daycare or pre-K in the United States, have their class in a small office space. There are many of them, which makes it very chaotic and difficult to learn, and also makes it easy to spread germs. We’d like to give them a physical space that supports learning, as well as some materials and toys since the classroom looks a little barren at the moment. If we are successful, then we hope to partner with an organization to turn the office space into a library for use by the primary and junior high school students. The community is contributing all of the labor and many of the supplies needed. They have already broke ground and started building, so it is imperative that we get funded soon so that they can continue on schedule. We hope to have the classroom built to begin using in January. If you are interested in donating or learning more, please check out the fundraising page. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Working in the schools has been a real joy of my service so far, and I am so glad to be in a community where the teachers and students are open-minded and receptive to new ideas. It isn’t always easy, but I know we’re all committed to the same goal – giving the students the knowledge and tools to be successful leaders in the future.

 

 

9.7.2018                                                                                                           Ashanti Region, Ghana

2649 Kilometers or 1645 miles. That’s the distance I’ve traveled through Ghana in the last month. All of that travel is the reason that I’m a little delayed in posting for August. In the last month, I attended a conference on Malaria, helped with a summer camp for girls and boys in junior high school, participated in an in-service training about nutrition, and finally did a little personal traveling to the Upper East region of Ghana. I traveled west across Ghana, almost reaching Cote D’Ivoire and north to the town of Paga, which borders the country of Burkina Faso. I’m thoroughly exhausted now and happy to stay in one place, at least for the rest of September.

Now I have loved the adventures and experiences I have had this month, but I have also been dealing with a significant emotional challenge. On the first day of August while we were out running, Gyata was hit by a taxi. The cars fly down my road, and I’ve worried since I got her that this was going to happen at some point. I am just glad I was with her when it did, since the driver didn’t stop. She is going to be okay, something I wasn’t very certain of at first. She broke her front and back left leg, and was very scraped up. We are fortunate to have a veterinary doctor who makes house calls in the area, and while he is not always available, he’s been there when it’s counted. Watching her in so much pain was really difficult and her recovery has not been easy. Now more than a month later she’s back to her same happy self. Her legs didn’t heal exactly right, but that hasn’t seemed stop her from walking, running, and jumping around. I am so incredibly thankful that things weren’t worse. Part of what made this whole experience so tough is being in a place where people don’t value their animals the way we do in the United States. They don’t have pets like we do; they don’t consider them a part of the family. Even though they all adore her, they just couldn’t understand how distraught I was by the situation and didn’t know how to help me. Leaving her to go to training left me worried sick, but she has easily found a second home at the neighbor’s house who took wonderful care of her while I was gone. She is even delivering dinner for Gyata to my door now that I’ve returned because she knows Gyata likes Fufu. She comes up in just about every conversation now when I walk down the street and people are always asking about her. This situation was really tough to deal with, but I am glad to be on the other side, knowing there are people looking out for me and Gyata.

This past month I have had three different types of work related experiences. The first was the STOMP Malaria Conference. This is a conference that used to be held in Senegal, and Peace Corps volunteers from different countries would attend to learn about malaria and how to intervene. It is now being held in each respective country, and this was the first conference in Ghana. My counterpart, a health worker at the nearby health center, and I traveled to Tamale to attend. During the week, we learned about malaria and common interventions, the President’s Malaria Initiative which coordinates malaria efforts in Ghana, and developed action plans to take back to our communities. We visited an Insectory, a place where they collect and breed mosquitos for the purposes of researching insecticide resistance, and learned about the Indoor Residual Spraying that is going on in the Northern region of Ghana. This method involves spraying the walls of rooms because mosquitos rest on walls after feeding. Though extremely effective, it is very expensive and is only being done in select districts. We also learned about other cool interventions that are being piloted in Ghana, including ProACT. This involves going house to house in communities to test and treat people with fevers, instead waiting for them to come to the clinic. This is something I would love to bring to my community, since people often say the clinic is too far to walk to. The conference was awesome and so well done. The first thing we plan to do this month is to hold focus groups to try to better understand the barriers around malaria prevention and treatment in our community in preparation for the Ghana Health Service national bed net distribution that is happening in November.

After the conference, I headed to the Glow Bro (Girls Leading Our World, Boys Respecting Others) camp with one of the girls from my community. Peace Corps volunteers organize this camp in different regions of Ghana. It ended up being a very long day of travel to and from, but the camp was worth it. There were about 40 students from all over the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions. We spent three days hanging out and teaching the kids a variety of different things. They learned about leadership, gender roles, women empowerment, goal setting, and so much more. I helped lead the hand washing lesson, and taught them how to make Reusable Menstrual Pads. The kids had a ton of fun, made a ton of new friends in new places, and learned a lot that we will hope they will go back and share with their peers. My student will be a huge help with the Girls Club this year. In the evening we spent one night watching Black Panther, which the kids loved. Another night we talked about astronomy and watched the Magic School Bus (Total flashback). It was so cool seeing the kids exposed to new things and explore their interests. The last night we had a talent show, and man these kids had talent and they are not afraid to show it. We had dancers, singers, a poem, a couple skits, and even some jokes. I am looking forward to being a part of the camp again next year, and hopefully will be able to bring more students.

Finally, my last work related travel was for a in-service training on nutrition. We are allowed to apply and attend two of these trainings a year to gain more specific skills and knowledge. I took a women from my community who teaches at the primary school and has a two year old. We had a lot of fun during week, especially because there were lots of kids to provide entertainment. We talked about the new Ghana Health Service nutrition campaign, the Four Star Diet, as well as about the impact of poor nutrition and how to promote healthy diets. The Four Star Diet stresses the importance of four food areas in the hopes of addressing some specific nutrition concerns faced in Ghana. These categories are animal proteins, legumes, staples, and Vitamin A rich foods. Our main goal is to teach people how to adapt the meals they already making instead of completely changing everything. This includes introducing alternative sources of protein and highlighting the nutritional benefits of certain vegetables and fruits. One great plant is Moringa, which is a source of protein and vitamins and can be easily added to meals in the form of powder. I’m convinced Moringa will be the next big food craze in the US, so I encourage everyone to jump on it now. I just found a great recipe for popcorn which calls for olive oil, salt, and a little Moringa (So tasty!). To address the issues around availability we talked about different gardening methods, including sack gardens and composing (Both of these I plan to do with the Girls Club). We also spoke about exclusive breastfeeding and hygiene because they have critical roles in achieving good nutrition. My counterpart greatly enjoyed all of the cooking demos and told me we should have more of these trainings in the future. I am hoping to work with her to share these lessons with mothers at the monthly baby weighing clinic in my and the neighboring community.

Finally, I did some exploring this month. I took my personal days (We get four a month) and I traveled up north to see my friend Amina. One day we went to a Filipino cultural event that a few volunteers coordinated to share with the community. They had food and games, and taught about the history, geography, language, and other aspects of the culture. I enjoyed meeting new people and learned a lot myself. Then, we traveled to Bolga (They call this the Accra of the North) and stayed at a cute little guesthouse that a volunteer lives at. Our room was a round mud hut with a thatch roof. We got dinner in town and met some of the volunteers in the Upper East. While in Bolga, we took a day trip to Paga. There we went to the Paga Crocodile Pond. This pond is famous for their docile crocodiles, but there are many places in Ghana where crocodiles peacefully coexist with communities. These crocodiles are considered sacred, and killing one is a capital offense equivalent to homicide. When a crocodile dies, they believe someone in the community will die. They called one out of the water, and we got to touch it and take pictures with it before they fed it a fowl and sent it back into the water. It was quite the experience. While in Paga, we also visited Pikworo slave camp. It was a beautiful place with a heartbreaking history. The guide was very knowledgeable and showed us where all of the different parts of the camp were. He told us how the slave traders captured the people and kept them in this camp until they were sold and made to walk barefoot to the coast. We saw where they got their water and ate, and some of the locals showed us how they drummed using the rocks to keep themselves entertained. They were told that they were being given a better life and would be educated to one day return home, and so they performed dances and drumming to express gratitude. I am glad we went because it is such an important part of the history that I haven’t learned about before. Before leaving Bolga, we stopped by the cultural center where I got some beautiful woven baskets. Bolga is famous for these, and I was overwhelmed by the selection. I loved this little city and am sad that it is so far from me. I probably won’t be back, but I am happy I got to see it.

I am home now, and have plenty of things to work on now that school starts again next week. Many things have fallen to the side in the last month, and so I am going to be rededicating myself to running, reading, and meditation. That’s all for now!

6.30.2018                                                                                                        Ashanti Region, Ghana

It is hard to believe it is the end of June. Next week marks the end of official site integration and everyone from my training group will meet in Kumasi, the regional capital, for Reconnect IST. This week long training will be a chance to debrief about our experiences and receive additional information about things like applying for grants. When I think back over this past month, I am amazed by how much has happened and how fast time has gone by. Every week I feel myself becoming more comfortable and more connected to this place. It’s starting to feel like home.

My most exciting update is that I have become the parent to a three month old puppy named Gyata and a kitten (unknown age) named Max. The two of them together are a handful, but they add an enormous amount of love and excitement to my life. The only downside is they love to fight. I am constantly having to separate them in different rooms, and I can never leave them home alone together. The biggest instigator is actually the cat, who likes to jump on the dog’s back and face while she is sleeping, even though she is more than twice his size. Both of them love to snuggle with me, especially the cat who climbs and sits on my shoulders while I work on the computer. I take the dog on one, sometimes two walks a day, and it gives me a chance to greet my community members on their way to farm. The kids are fascinated by the dog, and now when ever I go out, they ask me where she is. Nobody has mentioned it, but I imagine they find it quite strange to see me walking the dog on a leash. The cat desperately wants to be an outdoor cat, but since he hasn’t gotten his vaccinations yet I have been keeping him inside. He is getting bolder with his attempts to escape though. To get away from the dog, he sleeps in my bicycle basket or on the top of my mosquito net like it is his personal hammock. The two of them have such big personalities, and they alternate between driving me crazy and keeping me laughing with their antics. It has been a real crash course in puppy training. If anyone has any puppy tips, please send them my way, especially for biting and potty training. I have lost two toothbrushes, three pairs of flip flops, and the cord to my USB fan to Gyata. Though we have a long way to go with behavior, she is a quick learner and really super sweet when she wants to be.

I have also started weekly cooking classes that I am really excited about me. My Peace Corps Counterpart, Evelyn, offered to teach me how to make local foods, and I am so glad I took her up on it. She comes with me to the market on Tuesday, and shows me where to buy the ingredients. Then on Wednesday, she comes to my house, teaches me how to cook, and then we eat together. So far I have learned how to make Kontomire Stew and Boiled Yams, Groundnut Soup with Rice Balls, and Jollof Rice. Next week, we are making Waakye, which is a dish with rice and beans. I am enjoying getting to know her better, and becoming more knowledgable about such an important part of the culture, food. Knowing that I don’t like to eat meat, we have adapted most of the meals to be vegetarian. Although she says you can’t make soup without meat, so I’ve had to compromise a little. In the past weeks, I have also started Twi lessons with the teacher at the JHS. He is confident that with his help I will be reading, writing, and speaking Twi well in no time. I’d truly like to be able to communicate better with all of the people in my community, so I hope it works out. We are starting at the beginning, but moving quickly. Already I am feeling more confident, and my community seems excited to help me too.

As for my work, I helped with two child welfare clinics this month, helping record vaccinations and the nutrition status of children. Ghana is in the process of switching to the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) from the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), so it interesting for me to see the process and how they educate the mothers about the new vaccine. I visited the Senior High School in my community for the first time, and discovered another potential opportunity to collaborate. It is a small private school with plans to expand this September. I observed a class taught by the headmaster, and I was impressed first by how he was able to teach science labs to his students without any materials and second by how he went well beyond the lesson to instill self-worth and self-confidence into the students. The school is lacking a library, a computer lab, and a science lab, but the teachers and students are committed nevertheless. The teachers I have met here and their commitment to helping their students is amazing. Going to the school and working with the kids is my favorite activity. I have had two sessions with the JHS’s Girls’ Club where we covered how to make reusable menstrual pads and hygiene habits. They are so energetic and receptive to learning. This month I hope to plan a lesson on nutrition before the term ends at the end of July. Finally, I hosted a community meeting to go over the results of the needs assessment I conducted when I first arrived at site. I felt surprisingly comfortable speaking in front of the group, but I think that it helped that I had a translator. We did some priority ranking and determined that building a clinic in the community should be the first priority.

This month, I hope to focus more on my fitness goals. I signed up for a 10K race in Accra that will take place at the end of October. Between now and then I plan to turn the daily puppy walks into runs. We will see how Gyata feels about running. I am hoping it will keep her from eating things along the way. I am also finally getting to my garden since the gate is finished now thanks to the help of some guys in the community. This past week I started digging the holes and berms to guide water through the garden. I need to weed, set up the beds, and then I’ll be ready to plant. I plan to start with some local vegetables like garden egg (eggplant), peppe, and Ayoyo (a leafy green). I also have tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, basil, and luffa (like the sponge, apparently it is a plant). I am excited to see how it turns out. I imagine that this next month is going to fly by like the last. Follow me on Instagram for more regular updates.

5.29.2018                                                                                                        Ashanti Region, Ghana

In Ghana I answer to a different name, a local name given to me by my homestay family during training. I am called Adwoa (meaning I am a female born on Monday) Akyaa (a family name). Now, six weeks into site integration, answering to this name feels natural and like I am a part of my community. I walk down the street and am greeted by everyone I pass, asking me how I am and where I am going. When I go to the school, the kids crowd around me shouting my name and trying to get my attention. The community has welcomed me warmly. My community members bring me fruit and vegetables from their farms, and help me fetch my water on a weekly basis from the borehole. The kids come to my house to say hello and play games. The teachers and clinic staff that I have interacted with patiently answer all of my questions and teach me about their culture. I love being able to answer all of their questions about life in the United States as well.

The house that I live in gives me the perfect amount of privacy and space, and as a bonus it is set against an amazing backdrop. Everyday I wake with the sun, and am up out of bed by 6:30am. I bathe, get dressed, and make myself breakfast, usually oats or avocado toast. From there, each day is a new adventure. Some days I find myself at the school, shopping in my market town, helping at child welfare clinics, or doing chores at home. Tuesdays are market days, which is the busiest day when all of the vendors come to town. Their stalls are tight packed together and line the streets, and I can get all of my food for the week and more: clothes, electronics, household items, fabric, etc. They have mostly everything you could possibly need.  Once a week, I try new do laundry which takes about an hour. I wash everything in one bucket, rinse in a second one, and then hang it on the line to dry. I am in the process of starting a garden, and a couple of boys in the community are building me a fence to keep out the goats and chickens. I am looking forward to growing vegetables that I can share with my community in return for everything they do for me. I have lots of free time, and am constantly looking for ways to spend that time productively. Though I do love watching TV shows on my computer and am moving through seasons at an incredible pace, I have also found time to read more (Just finished the book Unbroken, and would definitely recommend!), relax with yoga and coloring books, and experiment with new recipes (Learning to cook is one of the goals I have for myself here). In the evening, it gets dark around 6:00pm and usually I am asleep by 9:00pm. On a normal day, my go to dinner is rice, vegetables, and a hardboiled egg. I am thankful for my rice cooker and fridge, which makes meal prep so much easier.

My first full month in my community was aligned with World Malaria Month, so the first thing I did was conduct a malaria survey assessing knowledge and practices around malaria prevention and treatment, in addition to a general needs assessment. I visited 60 houses with the help of my Peace Corps contact person, Evelyn. She lives close by and has been incredibly helpful by introducing me to people and showing me where to get things in my market town. We spent several days interviewing people, and talking to them about their health concerns and desired health projects. Through this process, I learned so much about my community dynamic. Malaria knowledge is strong, even among the young kids, and most people are well-educated about how to identify and prevent the disease. The actual availability and usage of bed nets is still very low. A bed net distribution is just one of the things that could benefit the community. They have also expressed the need to invest in community infrastructure, including building a clinic to improve access to medical care, mechanizing the boreholes to make them better suited to serve a community of their size, building latrines in people’s homes to promote hygiene and sanitation, and finishing the new school building to address overcrowding issues. I was surprised by the number of chronic diseases in the community, in addition to the expected infectious diseases. The next step is to gather the community together to discuss the results of the survey and identify priorities and the resources and leadership needed for completing these projects.

We finished out the month by hosting a Grassroots Soccer event on malaria and stenciling Malaria symbols at the school in my community. Grassroots Soccer is an adolescent health organization that leverages the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize at-risk youth in developing countries to overcome their greatest health challenges. I am going to a week long training for the program in July, but this was a sneak peek at how it works and how I can use it in the community. Some other education and health volunteers from nearby came to help, and we played games with the kids and talked about malaria. Even though it was African Union Day and the kids had a holiday from school, we had great turn out. The kids know a lot already, so it was mostly a good way to get to know them and have some fun. I think the favorite game was the one where I was the “mosquito with malaria” and had to tag the kids when they ran by. Once they were tagged, they became a “mosquito” as well and helped tag others. The lesson is how easily malaria can spread in a community when even one person has malaria. The kids also enjoyed another game, which is similar to the parachute game I remember playing in Kindergarten. Basically they use a sheet to toss a ball in the air, and then have to all get underneath before the ball hits the ground. The sheet is the “bed net” that protects them from the ball or “mosquito.” We also spray painted some visual reminders on the walls of another volunteer’s school. Shaped like a mosquito, the symbol says “End Malaria, Fight the Bite.”

I have been enjoying getting to know people and doing these little activities during integration period. This next month I will focus on developing a plan of action and building relationships, that way we can start off strong when integration ends in July. I also hope to solidify a language tutor in the next month, that way I can start to improve my language understanding. I also am adopting a puppy this week, so look out for more about her.

5.01.2018                                                                                                        Ashanti Region, Ghana

I have been in Ghana exactly three months as of today; the time has passed quickly and slowly at the same time. I am here with 20 other new, recently sworn-in, health volunteers from all over the United States. We come from very different educational backgrounds. Some of us studied public health and biological sciences, but others have backgrounds in music, religious studies, and international politics. We are fresh from ten weeks of training, and ready to settle into a new community and routine and join the more than 150 volunteers from the agriculture, health, and education sectors that are currently serving in Ghana. Ghana was the first place to receive volunteers more than 60 years ago, and the impact of the work can felt throughout the country today. You can see it not only through the public health and other achievements that have been made, but by speaking with people who have known volunteers and had their lives impacted through those relationships.

What attracted me to Peace Corps is that its development work built on a foundation of mutual respect and friendship. My goals when I came to Peace Corps were to learn about a different culture and way of life and tackle infectious disease problems in the process. I also saw Peace Corps as an opportunity to push myself past what I thought I was capable of and embrace uncertainty. I was hired as a health extension volunteer, which I have learned is as broad as it sounds. Promoting good health is my ultimate goal.  The training I have received has given me tools to educate, foster behavior change, and address barriers around malaria, HIV, maternal and child health, and water, sanitation, and hygiene, the four health focus areas in Ghana. Training covered language and culture, the role of gender, medical and safety, and technical health skills.

My public health background gave me an understanding of the social determinants of health and behavior change framework going into training. My focus at Boston University in Community Assessment and Program Design has given me the mindset of the importance of community input and sustainability throughout the program implementation process. Peace Corps training added tools for evaluating cultural misunderstandings and practical skills that I can bring to the community. Using the DIVE (Describe, Interpret, Verify, Evaluate) method, we were taught to think critically about  cultural differences and find informants to help us understand why things are the way they are, instead of making assumptions. My practical skills now include building soak away pits to reduce the standing water around bath houses, giving lessons on nutrition using Go Grow Glow guidelines, and teaching women to make reusable menstrual pads.

The first three months of service is called “Site Integration”, and it is during this time that we are encouraged to be present in our community and open-minded to learning about the place we will be living the next two years. This early effort gives us a better idea of what public health  problems the community faces and how we fit in. My community is near Agona, about an hour north of Kumasi, the regional capital of the Ashanti region. They are a community of about 1000 people. Most are farmers, whose main livelihood is growing cocoa, the cash crop of Ghana. They have welcomed me openly and appear motivated to improve the health of their community. I am the first Peace Corps volunteer to serve in this community, so they are very inquisitive about who I am and why I am here. As a first volunteer, the relationship building is a particularly important part of my service, something I may have underestimated before I got here. With my public health experience, I feel prepared to fulfill my duties as a health volunteer. However, I expect to be challenged by the the more personal aspect of meeting people, having less privacy, and overcoming language barriers to form friendships.

I have been at my site about a week and a half, and I am excited to start defining my role in the community. I will begin visiting the clinic this week to see how I might support the outreach work they already do. I am also looking forward to school starting next week, so that I can get to know the students and teachers. The first project my community has requested is a health club in the schools. I hope to teach the kids about gardening and nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, and malaria prevention. The community has expressed that teenage pregnancy is an important issue here, and from speaking with the police commander, drug use seems to be a challenge as well. I think youth empowerment will be vital to my work, and in the future I hope to be involved in the leadership camps organized by Peace Corps. I learned from the nurses in the clinic that malaria is also a huge concern in the area. Continued community education about the severity of malaria is essential as bed nets are often not used, despite their availability. I intend to serve as a co-facilitator in addressing these issues. I plan to work in partnership with community members to leave skills and knowledge behind with leaders and role models when I leave at the end of two years.

My public health background has given me a more structured and logical approach to addressing problems to create more successful outcomes. I will use my knowledge about conducting needs assessments to identify community priorities and ensure that my efforts appropriately address these. My education has also helped me identify clear goals, objectives, and measures of success. Based on my time in the community to date, I believe I will have opportunities to both explore my interest in infectious diseases and work on areas that are new to me. While I am excited for what is to come, I believe that this experience will challenge me in ways I cannot even anticipate yet. In addition to navigating new social dynamics, I expect to face unexpected barriers when implementing projects, whether that people with different points of view or challenges accessing resources. These experiences during service will help me grow to be a more adaptable and resourceful person. I came in with very few expectations, and I am pleased to find myself in a place where I can support and help grow the current programs that exist.

1.22.2018                                                                                                            Chesapeake, Virginia

One week from today I report to Peace Corps Staging, a day of registration and orientation in Washington D.C. before I and other Peace Corps Volunteers in my cohort board the flight to Ghana. It’s hard to believe that this experience is finally happening, especially considering there was a period where it looked like everything I had dreamed and worked towards might be for nothing. Getting medically cleared for Peace Corps turned out to be a long and intensive process. However, I am proud to say that after not getting cleared the first time and being told I wouldn’t be going to the Peace Corps, I appealed the decision and won. While this clearance process was not easy, I am thankful to the Peace Corps for their commitment and diligence to ensure their volunteers are fit to serve and able to access appropriate medical care. I believe everything happens for a reason. I can say that going through this process has removed the doubt and fears I had before and made me more certain than ever that this is where I am supposed to be.

Preparing for two years outside the U.S. comes with a long to-do list, which includes both the important logistical things such as finances and shopping, but also the equally important personal experiences like spending time with loved ones and eating all my favorite foods (Honestly, not sure what I will do without Chick-fil-A). Fortunately, Virginia’s inability to handle snow has allowed me to have lots of quality time at home. I’ve got my bags mostly packed (and yay they’re only a little overweight), registered for my absentee ballot, taken care of those dreaded student loan payments, and now I’m all set to go. I am so excited to get out in the world, meet new people, and put my degree to use. I’d like to think I have a good  understanding of what’s in store for me, but honestly I’m just going in with no expectations and a plan to take it day by day.

With love,

Catriona