The Road to Mpaha

Well, friends, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer now. I completed training and swear-in yesterday.

"I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, domestic and foreign, that I take this obligation freely and without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps by working with the people of Ghana as partners in friendship and in peace."

I am in Tamale right now, and will be for the next few days before I start my work/service/life in a small, rural, Muslim village in Ghana, West Africa. Wow! This is it. This is what I've been waiting to do for so long. Now what, you may ask? Honestly, I don't know. I have lots of ideas, but the next two years are very much like those old choose your own adventure books. As far as i can tell, my assignment sounds something like, "This is your new village. See what you can do in two years to learn from and help them as best you can..." There are so many people to meet and so much to be done!

On Monday I will take my overflowing backpack to the Tamale tro-tro station to go to the Mpaha junction (the beginning of my 52 km. road into the bush) early enough to catch one of the few tro-tros or cattle cars going down my road that day. When I get to town (after I wash off all the dust--- it's dry season), I will walk around to find the "important" people and health workers and volunteers in town while greeting everyone along the way. we will then go to the Chief to announce my mission and ask permission to proceed (even though I've already met him several times). 1. you never see the chief alone AND 2. the Chief should always be first to know. OK, the subject of this email.... people always talk about gaining perspective when traveling abroad, but rarely to you notice it happening. since the last time I wrote, I returned to my homestay just outside Techiman after visiting my site. My homestay has electricity, one paved road that connects them to a city, more than one dress each, a tin roof instead of leaky thatch, one of the older brothers came to visit on a dirt bike, etc. compared to the swollen bellies of children wearing nothing but a dirty, old, grey pair of underwear in Mpaha, the children of my homestay seemed so rich and modern. They have a healthy muscle structure, a handful of outfits, and sandals! This is the same family that in one of my first emails home I commented on how poor they were. My homestay family, a compound of farmers and their children who make about $200 a year now seems rich and modern.

I will be back in Tamale on December 15-17 to meet with a local NGO about Guinea Worm eradication. I will try to update on my adventures then.

Please eat one extra Christmas cookie in my honor.
Jenell

Editor's note: Jenell's blog is over on the right. Click on Jamaneba in Mpaha.