I Have Arrived

I have officially arrived in Ghana. For the next 12 weeks, I will be working with an NGO called Patriots Ghana located in Kasoa, Ghana. After a summer in Washington DC doing research work for the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, I am excited to beginning my second internship working in the field.  

I arrived in Ghana from the Netherlands. After a stopover in Frankfurt and a 6 hour flight, I walked off the plane. It was warm, but the sun had already gone down making it a perfect summer night (even though locals were stating how cold it was, which is worrying for the heat to come). After passing through customs, I met Douglas, the director’s younger brother. At this point, we hit our first obstacle; our taxi driver got his car booted for parking in an illegal location. We waited for around two hours until we finally took a different cab leaving him to figure out how to get his car back on his own. The drive to Kasoa was fairly quick maybe 30-40 minutes. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Accra was a sprawling city and still full of life even on a Sunday night. Even though English is the official language, which allows me to read signs and talk to everyone, I felt lost as Douglas worked out our taxi situation completely in Twee. The language is unique and my Spanish or English does not help me follow the conversation. I doubt that I will learn Twee in 12 weeks, but the new phrase of the day is “No Shaking”. Similar to the “Pura Vida” concept of Costa Rica; “No Shaking” means no worries and is used all the time.

After eating some rice ball soup (very tasty and spicy) and briefly meeting several of the volunteers, I retired for the night. The first night was warm, but I was able to get some sleep which I badly needed after a long day of flying following a late final night in the Netherlands. A previous volunteer had left a mosquito net which I used, but needed proper instructions to set it up correctly in the morning. Feeling somewhat sweaty and gross, I finally fell asleep ready to start my new adventure the next morning.

The sun was up early so I decided to get going even though I was still a bit tired and was not meeting the director until 8:30. After a cold shower, I started to organize my things and was beginning to feel more at home. Feeling clean and alert, with my mosquito net assembled and my clothing unpacked, I was ready for the day.  While eating breakfast (omelets), I managed to do a better job of meeting the other volunteers as well as understanding the organization. Different volunteers are working on different projects for Patriots Ghana. Several are dedicated to Public Health and were starting a community outreach project today. They have recruited and trained about 25 Ghanaians for a fellowship where they go door to door educating the public about Tuberculosis which is a problem in the country. Douglas, the director’s brother, is a public health student finishing his final year at university also has several of his own projects, one of which includes attempting to raise money for a clean water project to address the Cholera problem in many of the smaller villages.  I will be working with the Child Labour and Trafficking project with Eric and will begin orientation today.   

Before heading to the office for the first day, I explored the house. I will be living in the volunteer house which is located within walking distance from the office. There are several bedrooms. My bedroom has two separate bunk beds, but, currently, only a German public heath volunteer and I are staying in the room. There are maybe 9 people in total living in the house, but several are leaving in the next week or two. The house has a large kitchen and living room area which are communal space and have a very relaxed vibe. I am excited to start working and find out the types of projects that I will be focused on over the next couple months.