Well, after a very long trip from Amsterdam, through Frankfurt, and a touchdown in Lagos, Nigeria, I made it to Ghana! I met up with my volunteer coordinator, Anthony, at the airport and we drove (a very slow and traffic-packed drive) to the camp. That night, it took us about 2 hours but at a less busy time, it’s probably more like an hour. I got in at night, which was anything but quiet. The front of the camp (its pretty huge and divided into 10 or 12 sections) was full of people blaring American rap music (a favourite here), out selling stuff, or sitting around an outdoor TV set. When I got to the guesthouse, everybody except one girl (who has been sick for a bit) was in the capital, and I was more than happy to pass out the second I got there.

Friday I didn’t do much (we put of training until the Monday so I could get used to stuff and what not). It was pretty rainy out (turns out, it’s the rainy season) so I sat around and did some journal stuff. That night it cleared up so a couple of us (there are 5 people living in the guest house with me, 2 from the US, one from Mexico, one from Winnipeg and one from Wales) went into Accra (on a side note, its pronounced A-crra, not Acc-ra as I’ve been doing) to a bar called Champs that is a bit of a Western haven… I think it’s a pretty good break once you’ve been here for awhile… sort of a strange, but fun, first night.

Sunday (Saturday was pretty uneventful because I had to wait around a lot for some things to get done), I went to Kokrobite beach which was incredible. It’s this little beach town outside the camp… I went with two other volunteers from the camp and 3 girls who were the granddaughters of Dana, one of the volunteers. We pretty much just hang out there swimming, eating and as I found out today, getting a bit of a sunburn (sorry mom- I’ll wear the SPF5000000 next time I go).

Today (Monday) I did something slightly more credible (this weekend was really more of a holiday... which I certainly wasn’t against but probably isn’t what I’m here to do seeing as it is technically part of school). I started the CBW orientation at 8 that showed me around the different divisions of the organization. It turns out its pretty huge on camp and does a lot of really good work. First, I went to see the water and sanitation project (WATSAN). This section is in charge of digging wells (cost about $50 start to finish) that provide water for bathing and washing (not drinkable.. that water is sold on camp in bags for about 5 cents a bag). So far they’re working on their 19th well on camp (keep in mind those 19 wells are ideally being used by about 30 000 people). They are also in the process of digging drainage systems around the camp for dirty water and rain (so that it doesn’t back up into people’s homes) and filling the major ones with cement. CBW has also started putting and taking care of garbage bins around camp (although they don’t have nearly enough) that people put stuff in so as not to clog the drains and to generally keep things a bit cleaner…

After WATSAN I went to go tour around with the HIV/AIDS branch. In the morning, this group does outreach programs (this is what I did today) where you go around targeting teenage guys mainly, and see what they know about HIV and then give them a bit of information about transmission, prevention, condom use, STIs and stigma. This was particularly cool to watch because it fit really well with the classes I took last year… The guys were surprisingly receptive to our being there and asked a good amount of questions about the disease… From what I can tell, knowledge is still pretty limited but the basic stuff is there… What was really interesting to me was talking with a girl I’ve become friends with, Ruth (she’s about 12 and lives behind me and is, along with a bunch of other kids whose names I’m still struggling with, constantly peer in our window). She was reading a book to me with her sisters (I’ve counted at least 6, and 2 of the tiniest kittens in the world) and started asking what I’d done today.. I mentioned that I was going to go see HIV+ people and she was completely blown away that they not only existed on the camp but that I was in contact with them. Of course, she’s only 12… but she did still ask whether it was okay to have dinner with them and to hold their hands and what not. I tried to explain that there is nothing to be afraid of and that they’re going through a difficult time that they need friends for but then she asked me how they got it in the first place. Despite my experience educating the Witzels and my family about sex and reproduction at the ripe old age of 10, this was a pretty tricky one to answer…

Anyway, after a lunch of potato greens and rice (which, despite their name are really good – hot peppers are indigenous here and so all the food is really spicy which I love) I went with Anthony to the CBW chicken coop (a self-sustaining form of income for CBW that works with the internet café I’m at to give a bit more money), to the library and then to the schools. We first went to the pre-primary schools (goes up to grade 3) and then to the secondary one (goes to grade 9). Enrollment there has been really low recently because of the repatriation and conflict with the Ghanaian government… A lot of Liberians are n the process of returning home right now and, in anticipation of this, are not sending their kids to school. Fees are obviously also a factor in this because they’re saving up for the trip back (right now they only get $100 for the trip.. most think that it will cost more like 400-500 as a minimum figure). As a point of reference, it costs $10 to send a child to school for a year at the CBW school (which is staffed with trained teachers and what not). If anybody is at all interested in donating to send a kid to school let me know (its $10 and I’ll bring you home a sweeeeet t-shirt that they’re giving out in return)… Funding for other projects is also always needed so just let me know… I’ll start sorting that out in a couple days or weeks once I’m a bit more settled. Its really worthwhile and obviously is hugely beneficial… I was putting it in perspective the other night, calculating how many nights at the bar I would be sacrificing to put a kid through school. It kind of makes you kick yourself (not to guilt anybody into it or anything haha)

ANYWAY! That’s an overview of what I’ve done these first few days. Real work starts tomorrow – I’m going to spend my mornings working with grade 3s and my afternoons visiting HIV+ people at home. I’m pretty pumped! I hope everything is going well at home – send me e-mails if you have a chance! Internet isn’t too bad here assuming there is power.. I’m just kind of lazy and don’t always make it over. The fans here are an incentive though!