Ghana 2

6/24/10

Hello Friends

Well I am going on my third week in Ghana. Have alot to say but can not remember everything that has happened but here are a couple highlights. A week ago I moved in with my homestay family in a town of about 500 people in the middle of nowhere. It is a typical rural village in Ghana. It is a very small town so you have to stop to greet everyone. The people wonder what you are doing there and you kind of stand out walking through a small village in the middle of africa. The children are the best though because they are so amazed to see a white person. Most have never seen a white person in their lives. I have only made about three kids cry hysterically because they were so scared to see a white man. (pretty funnny) I have a 4 brothers ranging from (35 to 7), a sister (11) and a mother (63). Her husband died at the age of 58 from a stroke, so the oldest brother is now the man of the house and takes care of the family. We live in a three room compound, I have my own room and they share two other rooms. (pics on facebook). With a detached kitchen and latrine(outhouse). Which is a story in its self.

It is kind of weird to think of the time I have been here and for some reason it is somewhat blurry. Days kind of run together. I have so much I could say but it is hard to get thoughts together because there so much stuff that goes on on a daily basis.

It gets dark around 6. My daily routine is becoming pretty ordinary considering the circumstances. I usually go to bed around 9 to 10 because the day in Ghana gets started around 5 in the morning with the young girl sweeping the dirt yard in front of our house to get it ready for the day. Ghanians our very clean for the most part (i wouldnt say sanitary but clean)(if that makes sense). The roosters start around 3 in the morning so whoever thought roosters started at dawn that is totally false. That is usually my first wake up call and when I strap on my headlamp and wonder outside to go use the outhouse. Which consists of dodging goats roosters chicken a cock roaches as big as me. I usually go to language and environmental classes from 8 to 5 and then home for dinner. Where my mom trys to get me to eat everything and I always get the biggest portion and the children get what is left. Kind of the opposite of america (where children are taken care of first) and it gets hard sometimes to see. But that is the culture.

So, we will do this training for two months and then I will go to my site for 2 yrs. My site is called Adidome which is in the southern part of the Volta region. I will be in charge of coordination of groups and farmers and tree nurseries. So it should be pretty interesting. It is all about education here in Ghana.

The Ghanians are so behind on about everything. For example they skipped the whole landline phone era and just moved straight to cell phones. Crazy thought huh? They just know what they know and have been doing it for generations and do not understand that it is not good to cut down every tree in the forest or to burn trash or to throw all their trash out wherever they feel, or not to drink water from a polluted river. And then they wonder why they get all these diseases. There is no fresh water in this whole country that is safe to be in due to all the pollution from trash. And Ghana has the second largest man made lake in the world and people can not even get in it...... They have no idea about cause and effect. They just live day to day. And feel very fortunate to wake up everyday. ( hard to put into words but you get the point), So, I kind of understand why I am here.

I am pretty happy with my site. Check it out on a map or the internet. Adidome in Volta Region. Come visit if you want to have a personal led venture though an african country. There are hotels here. Direct flights from Atl and Jfk. Come on over.

So moving on, I went to Church last Sunday. 3 Hours long. It was an incredible experience and very moving. I will take my camera next time to record what happens. Alot of praying and shouting and dancing. There are usually like three dialects going on at one time so it kind of gets confusing. Very intense and incredible. They are so thankful and praise God for giving them life and family and for keeping the family healthy. My mom got up in front of the church and gave testimony praising God for all that he has given her family.

I went to visit and arboretum today and got to hike around a rainforest/ jungle. Pretty cool stuff. Other than that everything is going pretty good. I try to get at least one coke a day and that kind of helps with my crazy cravings. It is the closest thing that reminds me of the US. So, if anyone decides to send packages please send some kind of good snack that can sustain a trip to africa. ex. granola, peanut butter, ramen, mac and cheese, beef jerky, texas pete or anything else that you cleverly come up. It would be greatly appreciated. Other than that, I sometimes find myself day dreaming about US and wondering what everyone is up to. I heard the Lakers won the NBA championship so that was cool. It is all World Cup here. USA VS GHANA saturday.

Sorry this is kind rambling. Hope everyone is good and I miss everyone. Let me know what is going on it is fun to read emails even it doesnt make sense kind of like this one.

Love Peace Happyness

Ghana 1

Hello everyone,

Here is the address that is best to send mail to. It probably take about a month to get here so if you want to send anything it is all good. I sent an email earlier but did not have the best address.

I am having a good time so far. Ghana is full of culture as you can figure and I have alot to learn. They seem to really respect each other and are amazed by americans. When a child smiles at you and waves it is totally amazing feeling. We are staying right outside of Accra at a Womens College. We have a fan and running water which is pretty nice. I dont have a shower so I take bucket baths which consist of me dumping a bucket of water over my head about three times. It is very refreshing since I have litterally sweated every hour of the day since I got here. We were blessed at our opening ceremony when we arrived because it was raining and all the Ghanians were very excited. It is pretty crazy the stuff like rain that can make a difference on your day.

Our trainers are all Ghanians so we are really pretty submerged in the culture and trying to learn. And next week we will live with our host family for 3 months before we assigned to our site. I have not had a cold drink or ice which is kind of weird. Well I need to pass the computer to someone else. I will talk to everyone soon and hopefully I will find a cell phone today. Headed to a party at the Ambassadors house tonight and hopefully have a couple cold cocktails.

Letters and stuff I think will be greatly appreciated here to just remind of home. And if you want to send anything in a package. I think it takes about a month to get here.

Powder for drinks (gatorade of crystal light)

anything that can be boiled in water (mac and cheese, dry soup)

hard candy

burned cds of music

and whatever creative you might think of..

Akyire yi yebehyia ( we shall meet again)

Love,

Bryan

Bryan Dodd PCT

PO BOX 5796

26 West Cantonments, Switchback Lane

Accra North, Ghana

West Africa

What is Peace Corp

The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a governmental agency of the same name. Each program participant, or Peace Corps Volunteer, is an American citizen who commits to working abroad in an assignment for the organization for a period of twenty-seven months. Generally, the work to be performed is related to international development. Specialties include education, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment. In addition to its mandate of providing technical assistance in these areas, Peace Corps is also charged with increasing mutual international understanding. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals, which are providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States understand the culture of the United States, and helping United States people understand the culture of other countries.

“To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”

Since 1961, nearly 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 139 countries

Peace Corp Ghana, Africa

I received an invitation to serve in the Peace Corps in Ghana Africa.

I accepted on March 5, 2010.

I will leave for staging June 1, 2010 for 27 months of service.

I was selected in the program of:

Environment (Agroforestry and Alternative Livelihood Facilitator)

PEACE LOVE HAPPYNESS. BKD

Aspiration Statement

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Bryan Dodd

Ghana

June 1, 2010

The time has come and now I have to put my words into action. I started the Peace Corps process over a year ago while a friend and I were having a relaxing conversation one afternoon. We were contemplating where our lives were going. I had just recently been laid off from a company where I had worked for 2 years, and I was struggling with the next step in my life. I had always heard of the Peace Corps but did not know exactly what it entailed and the responsibilities involved. From then on, I completed the necessary paperwork, and now almost a year later I am actually writing my Aspiration Statement. If you had asked me a year ago if I would be in this situation, I would have said “probably not.” However, I feel now sitting here today that I now have direction and meaning in my life for the first time in years and feel overwhelmed with excitement, hesitation, and nervousness which to me means that I am doing the right thing.

Since I received my invitation to Ghana a week ago, I have tried to imagine what my new life will bring, but find it impossible to visualize. I look forward to sharing the information I have and what I have learned growing up in the United States. I hope to expand my worldly and cultural knowledge, and developing skills that most will not be fortunate enough to experience. As of now my expectations, goals and objectives include:

A. I fully expect to bring leadership skills, my education in and out of the classroom, the ability to identify problems, to help with problem solving and motivation skills to get the best out of people. I have many aspirations including finding a different perspective on life, learning a new culture and language, developing passions and knowledge that will help me when I return home. Also, gaining friendships and relationships that will last a lifetime, helping and working hard for the Ghanaians that are hosting me along with the others taken into their homes and villages.

B. My main strategy for working effectively with host partners is to go into the Peace Corps with an open mind and the willingness to work, learn and teach people that I come in contact with. I will work diligently to meet the expressed needs of the host and hope for the best outcome for everyone.

C. I am open to the new cultural backgrounds that will surround me in Ghana. I feel the knowledge that comes with being immersed in a new culture is a life changing experience. You have a distinct opportunity to learn how people live, learn and interact. I will face all my new situations with the understanding that I have different background and/or beliefs and be willing to adapt and learn as much as I can, so that we can become more comfortable with each other and able to communicate.

D. The PST will help me with the above questions by gaining knowledge on the cultural beliefs, language, and the way of doing things. This will help me become more aware of how to handle situations that I will immediately encounter and enable me to react accordingly. It will help to gain communication skills, so that I am able to serve the people of my village. Also, I hope to gain knowledge on what exactly is expected of me as related to Agroforestry and as an Alternative Livelihood Facilitator. With this knowledge, I will have clear path of what is expected of me.

E. The Peace Corp. will affect my life in so many ways, most unimaginable at this time. I believe it will be much clearer to me when I return home. I feel I will have a keener sense of my career path when I have completed my 27 months of service. I truly believe I will return to the United States a better, wiser person in so many ways. It will help me gain a new perspective on life and a new outlook on my future.

September 29, 2009

--Very wet still from all the rain we have been having. Need to get the Collards and Brocolli into the ground as soon as possible. Tim began to prepare a couple of fields for the planting. Needs to be alittle drier before we plant.

--Picked Zucchini and washed. Patch is not producing as much Zucchini now that is has started to get a little cold a night, the plants like the warm hot weather. Only picked about 15 pounds.

-- Finished ripping up the plastic in the Cantaloupe patch. A lot easier to rip up now that the plants and old Cantaloupe have all decayed.

--Moved all the irrigation lines out of the patch so that we can now till and plow the field and get it ready for the winter grasses thatt will be planted.

Picture is a example of the black plastic that helps with weed control and that Tim and I had to rip up by hand.

September 15, 2009

--Picked Zucchini and washed. Got another 40 pounds.

--More weed control on the Tomato Plot and Zucchini Plot.

--Learned what the Florida Weave is. It is a process to string up Tomato Plants as they grow so the tomatoes will not touch the ground. If a tomato touches the ground it is pretty much ruined.

--Tim and I strung up about 8 rows of Tomato Plants. Tough work. A lot of strain on your back. Here is an image that shows the process.

September 3, 2009

--Gathered some PVC irrigation lines today out from the TeePee Patch. Had to make sure they were all picked up that Lucy wouldn’t hit them with the Bushhog.

--Picked Zucchini. Good batch. Picked right on time.

--Did some tractor work. Learned how to hook and unhook BushHog, Tiller, and Spreader.

--Road Trip to see Pounder the pig. We had some leftover Cantaloupe. So, when we got there he was pretty excited.

September 1, 2009

--A beautiful morning. Little overcast with a little breeze. Great day to be out in the woods and on a Farm.

--Tim and I started today by boxing 100 Cantaloupe to be sent to Athens to be sold.

--Then we went to the Zucchini patch and picked. This patch is about 25’x75’. We ended up getting around 200 pounds. The Zucchini will grow literally over night. It is pretty amazing. So we are going to have to keep and eye on them and try to pick everyday.

--We washed and cleaned the Zucchini one by one and separated into Good and Bad. aka pounders food.

--I then did some weed control by cleaning up some of the fields

--The tomato plants sure have grown since the fertilization of the Fish Sauce last week. Pretty cool to see how that works and affects the plant so quickly.

--Lunch: Great Tuna Tomato and Lettuce Sandwich and Homemade Bread from Tim. For
some reason great sandwiches taste so good after a busy morning.

--After lunch I had my first tractor lesson. It went pretty good and I caught on pretty quickly. (tim is also a good teacher and very understanding) Never thought I would be learning how to drive a tractor but it is pretty cool and a great experience.

--Tim then had me plow and till The Lower 40 to get it ready to plant the winter Rye and Clover. Pictures to come.

August 27, 2009

--Began the day by transplanting some more broccoli. Checked on the collards in the greenhouse and they are looking good and healthy. Soon to be planted in the ground.

--Major focus today was to harvest some of the cantaloupe. The cantaloupe field is about 50’x150’.. We only picked the ripe ones that were ready to be eaten. You are able to tell if the cantaloupe is ready by if the stem attached to the cantaloupe easily breaks away. This is called SLIP. You can gently press your finger against the stem and it breaks away from the cantaloupe.

--Tim and I both had our carry bags strapped to our backs and went through the patch picking the cantaloupe. After we loaded up the mule and the tractor with the good and bad cantaloupe we went to the barn and washed them.

--We washed one by one each cantaloupe, sorted them and packaged them in boxes and but them in the refrigerator to keep.

--After lunch we picked another load of cantaloupe and washed and cleaned and separated them.

--We also made a pile for Pounder the pig.

--We picked about 450 cantaloupe for the day. Here is a picture of me with the first load:

--Here is a picture of the cantaloupe field that we harvested. It is about 50'x150' and we only picked a little over half of it.

August 25, 2009

--Started the day by packing 500 peat pots with top soil to get them ready for transplanting of the broccoli plants. Then Tim, Lucy and I transplanted, watered the broccoli in the peat pots to get them ready for panting.

--Lucy and I next project was to pick the remaining squash left in the patch before Tim was to follow and spray organic pesticide to kill off the remaining bugs. The bugs will tend to jump from patch to patch when the host has been picked clean and move onto new plants. So it is key to spray the organic pesticide to kill the pest before they are able to move onto the next patch.

--The patch is around 25’ x 50’. We each took rows and went through the patch and harvested the remaining squash and then brought them to the barn to be washed and separated into the good ones and the bad ones/ too big/ rotten ones.

** The bad ones are later fed to pounder the pig. There is a neighbor organic animal farm.
We then measured the good squash and separated them into 20-pound boxes.

--Next I did a little weed eating of the zucchini patch and tomato patch. They also are about 25’X 50’. I did the weed eating between each of the rows that there were no black plastic laid and weeds tend to grow.

--Tim and I then walked the rows of the zucchini to check on how the plants were growing. We found a couple of great looking zucchini that were ready to be harvested. Zucchini tends to take off so in the next week or so we will probably harvest the rest of the field.

--LUNCH: Ham and Turkey Sandwich with potatoes chips. Fresh Cantaloupe from the field to add.

--To finish the day Tim and I fertilized and watered the tomatoe plant field. This is done through a drip irrigation line that is laid under the black plastic. We mixed a batch of fish sauce and added a little water to dilute it to about 100 to 1 and hook it up to the drip irrigation to irrigate. They are usually watered for about 4 hours or until nice and wet around the plants.

August 20, 2009

-- Started day by transplanting 950 collards and 50 broccoli plants into peat pots to get ready and plant them in the fields. Following this we irrigated each tray of 50 peat pots by submerging them in a mixture of fish sauce (grinded up fish for fertilization) and water. Let them soak until water was seeping through the topsoil of each plant. Left them in the greenhouse to grow a little bigger before planting.
-- Growing cantaloupes inside a deer fence, and on black plastic with drip irrigation

We picked the first two ripe cantaloupes. There were two more cantaloupes eaten by some type of animal. Below is a picture of a soon to be ripe cantaloupe.

August 18, 2009

First day on Flatwoods Farm with Tim and Lucy. They gave me a tour of the farm. They showed me all the different fields.
-- Asparagus Patch
-- Back 40 (5 acres) (planted with organic wheat for soil)
-- Darlin Patch
-- Lower 50
-- New 40 (3 acres) (planted with organic wheat for soil)
-- Teepee
-- Twin Pines
-- Upper 40 ( main field)(planted living and thriving clover that we have planted for our green mulch, cover crop and source of nitrogen. It is also very beneficial to wildlife. To plant a plot we first mow it, then plow the plot and till in the organic matter. We are then ready for planting.)