Rain in Ghana

OK, drizzle. It's rather pleasant actually. Or maybe that's just because I got over my modesty and have zipped the pants part off my cargo pants and am exposing more white skin than most of the people have ever seen before.

All is well here. I'm tired, so that must mean I'm not bored ... or that there were baby goats crying outside my window late last night. Our house is up the hill from the road in a village Awutu, which is about a 5-10 minute "tro-tro" ride from the refugee camp. A tro-tro is a converted mini-van, etc that acts as a bus very informally. I haven't fully figured out the system so am fortunate to follow others. Very nice volunteers here, and a couple PCO staff live with us. Whom I need to find soon, for a peace cell meeting. They gather together Tribal Leaders to talk through the issues that lead to the violence in Liberia, what can be done, how they're feeling, etc. Should be an interesting meeting, and Emmanuel (director) wants to do research on it and needs my help.

Tomorrow he and I are going in to Accra (which is a deathwish of a ride away) to HOPEFULLY receive my luggage and upload pics/update the PCO website and maybe some university library research. There, I'm in my element. And even more so with my luggage.

I'm very tired open sewers already, and of rice. Otherwise, it's all pretty good.

Yesterday I got drafted at the last minute to teach a class on self-esteem and non-violence to Liberian refugee women. I felt really underprepared for the experience, but it was fine. We've spent a few mornings interviewing candidates for the new school which is opening soon. I'll need to prepare teacher orientation for that, we've been working on budget items, etc. Today I taught adult literacy for the first time and it did feel strange - to work with adult women in their 20's - 60's who are really illiterate. We worked on vowels. There are no supplies at all - I had a tiny piece of chalk which did not last long. No books, I don't know what the last teacher did, etc. The women were good sports, but it wasn't an ideal teaching experience.

Also spent some time yesterday in the Children's Literacy Center and it was chaos - a small one-room area with grades pre-K through 6th, supposedly partitioned into rooms, led by untrained volunteers with no materials, surrounded by a bunch of guys smoking pot, nails sticking through the wall, no electricity for lights or fans, etc etc. A definite challenge. I was going to be there right now, and Madison was to meet me as I still don't know my way around camp (it's HUGE - 42,000 people and no pattern), but I fled for a quiet moment. We had a very intense meeting this morning about hiring for the school - three hours of intense argumentation and disagreements and shouting and "yes, yes!" We hashed it out and I think it will be good, but I do worry about the school space - in a church, with partitions separating rooms - and lack of supplies. Well, they will be trained teachers, and that will make a huge difference.

I still don't really get how the camp works. So, the Liberians cannot work, so how do they get money? And everything costs - water, toilets, etc. (No running water) They're mostly supported by those who've been resettled in the US and other countries, and then those buy things from market people at the camp, and it all circulates.

Language is also fascinating. I hear they speak English, but that sure doesn't mean I understand a word. I can't tell when they speak Krahn (language) or others - it's all hard to understand if not speaking directly to me. Joseph, whom I usually understand very well, threw me with some Krahn proverb today, and the women insisting that "childrens" is the plural form.

Well, I'll head back to the PCO office now and hope somebody's there to lead me to the peace cell meeting. Otherwise I'll just wander around aimlessly while people stare at my white legs (nobody wears shorts here, and so very few are white of course), young children cry out "obliny" (white woman) and tell me I'm beautiful (some random man complimented my hair today, which is good since I haven't seen a mirror in days and it felt too short), and I get offers of marriage. Maybe I'll figure out the tro-tros and hitch a ride home, though I doubt I can make it through the jungle without extreme lostedness happening.