Playtime!

It's been several months, but I am now getting around to posting about the playground that was donated to my village last December. One of our tourists, Michael Sheppard from the U.K. came in 2009 wanted to help out the village. With the help of one of my counterparts, Kofi, we put Mike in contact with the local preschool, which needed assistance with school fees. Last summer, I believe, Mike ran a marathon in London to raise more funds for the school. Together, Mike, Kofi, and I decided to put those funds towards repairing the existing playground. Thanks to Mike, we were able to replace the old rusted equipment with new parts to make a see-saw, swing set, and a merry-go-round. We were also able to buy another swing set and a new slide. Take a look for yourself:



These three welders came to my village from Hohoe to design and build the playground. It only took them a couple of days, which was really impressive.


Swing set, before.


New Slide


The top part of the Merry-go-round was sitting in one of the classrooms, collecting dust, and there was this random pole sticking out of the ground. It makes much more sense this way!












All the kids knew something was happening, and they were so excited!


YAY!!!! New Playground!!! (I'm sure that's something like what they were saying.)






This thing is actually a lot of fun!

I just want to say, Thanks again to Mike. I really feel for these kids, because they don't get a lot of attention or toys- that's just the way things are here in Ghana. But the kids are the ones that will correct my Ewe and laugh and play with me, so I was excited and eager to reward them. Kids in Ghana have to do so much around the house for their mothers (fetching water, cleaning, taking care of babies) and they have to help their fathers at farm. Not to mention going to school, which is taught in English. I think the kids are so awesome and adorable, so, on behalf of all the children of Liati Wote, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! AKPE KRA KRA KRA!

I Shook Michelle Obama's Hand!!!

Obama gave a farewell speech in Ghana, and we got to attend!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get to shake Obama's hand, but I did get to Michelle! I prefer her hand anyway.

The PCTs were lucky enough to attend as well as current PCVs and US employees in Ghana, such as embassy workers. You can see a few of the other PCTs in the pictures, but I couldn't find myself in there. It's not surprising because I was behind three tall guys. :(

Oh well, the speech was amazing, and I got to meet a lot of volunteers that aren't involved with training. Overall that weekend was very cool.

In Maase

It has been a crazy first few weeks in Ghana! Right now, I am staying with a host family in a town called Maase in the Eastern Region. I have only been with the family for a couple of days, so it’s still a new experience, and us obronis, or white people, are still a bit of a novelty in the town.

Okay, since I last wrote, I went on an expedition to the Northern region to a town called Fulfuso. It took about twelve hours on a bus to get there, but it was well worth the travel, because I got to see most of the country. There, I visited another PCV named Hannah, who was not a bearded fella, Theresa, but very, very nice. She works as a WATSAN, or water and sanitation, trying to reduce the number of guinea worm cases in the area. If you want to be thoroughly grossed out, google guinea worm in images.

And now for the big news… A couple of days ago I got my assignment!

I’ll be working in a town called Liati Wote in the Volta Region. It is right near Hoehoe and the border of Togo and Ghana. I’ll be working in Ecotourism there, because it is a very beautiful part of the country, with the highest mountain nearby and waterfalls. I’ll write more details when I find some out. I do know my living conditions, and in typical business fashion, us SED volunteers have the hookup. One guy actually has two houses and one woman has air conditioning in her office. I’m not as high maintenance as those two, though. I’ll be living in a compound that a local politician owns. He and his wife actually live in Accra and only come home for funerals. It has electricity and flush toilets.

As of now, all of the PCTs are in the surrounding area, divided up by sector. All of us business people are in Maase for training and language classes. I am learning a language called Ewe, which is interesting. The only frustrating thing is that Maase is a Twi speaking community, so I have to try not to confuse Ewe and Twi.

I don’t have much time here at the internet café, but I’ll post a few facts for y’all. I just heard the song What if God Was One of Us, which I found amusing for some reason.

Fun Facts Edition 3:


Ghanaians love Celine Dion.

It is common to bathe at least twice a day, if you don’t Ghanaians will be very confused by you. How do you bathe in Ghana? With a bucket. My host mom insists that I use hot water, though.

Food is consumed in mass quantities here. This morning for breakfast I was served six slices of bread, six cracker/cookies, and a heaping bowl of oatmeal. It was enough to feed four people, but luckily Ghanaians don’t waste anything, so I know some kids eat my leftovers.

Ghanaians find it hilarious when we scare the little kids who aren’t used to white people. Some little kids love white people and will yell “OBRONI,” and I have to say “Yenfreme obroni, Yefreme KATIE.” Now the kids yell “KATIE.” So either way, we always get attention.

I’ve been proposed to about seven times as of now. They love to joke about marriage here, too.

Well, I love and miss you guys! I'll be able to post more often now, because we are settled in this community for the next two months. Feel free to Email me if you have any questions/concerns! Love, Katie

Fun Facts About Ghana

First Edition

~Located in West Africa, Ghana was the first country the Peace Corps Volunteers served in 1961.

~Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake, extends through large portions of eastern Ghana.

~Located a few degrees north of the Equator, with the Greenwich Meridian passing through the country, Ghana is geographically closer to the "center" of the world than any other country.

~More than 250 languages and dialects are spoken in Ghana. Twi is the language that I am expected to learn whilst in training. It is mostly spoken in rural areas, and English is mostly spoken in urban areas.

~The capital city is Accra, and has over 2 million people. This is where I'll be spending the first three months of training with the Peace Corps. The population of the whole country is about 21 million.

~Ghana has twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. The main exports are gold, timber, cocoa, diamond, bauxite, and manganese. The exchange rate of the Ghana Cedi is $1 USD =Gh¢ 0.93.

~Ghana has a parliamentary form of representation. The current President is J.A. Kufuor. There is open debate and a positive political climate in Ghana.

~Internet access and telephone agencies are located in all major cities and most towns. Letters and packages are always welcome and below is the address that I can be reached while in Pre-Service Training (PST) until August 30.

Katie Caldwell, PCT
Peace Corps/Ghana
P.O. Box 5796
Accra-North, Ghana
West Africa

We Invite you...

I have been invited to Ghana!!!

Program: Small Enterprise Development

Job Title: Business Advisor

Dates: June 2009 - August 2011

Whoa, I need to catch my breath! It's been quite a wait, but I am relieved to finally have more information! At first the Peace Corps was telling me that I would probably be going to Eastern Europe or Asia. Then they told me the Caribbean. And sure enough, I'll be going to Africa!

Anyway, now that I have a little more information, and several more months to wait, I do plan on updating my blog frequently. And as always, feel free to call or E-Mail me with questions or comments!

Thanks for reading! ~Katie