I arrived safely in Accra after around 25 hours of travel from Philadelphia. We had a layover in Amsterdam, but we couldn't leave the airport, so no one got into any trouble. I have been very busy with training and getting adjusted here, so I'll just summarize what has happened so far:
Accra Phase
Our trainee group (33 of us) arrived in Accra on June 10. We went straight to a private university campus outside of the city called Valley View. There, we did some basic orientation and met many of the staff members who have been working with us to make this program work. We visited the Peace Corps Office in Accra, and met more staff, including the Country Director, Bob Golledge. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful. "Akwaaba" is Welcome in Twi (pronounced like "chewy, but one syllable). We also visited the Medical office, got some more vaccinations and got our malaria medication. I get to skip most of the shots because I already had them for when I lived in Ecuador. Most people are getting around 13 different shots, spread over the course of Pre Service Training (PST). During Accra Phase, we also got a chance to explore the city in small groups. We learned to use the transportation, the tro-tro and visited some important parts of the city. Mostly, we just got a chance to get out there and see what is is like. Ghanaians are very friendly people, and especially in Accra, almost everyone speaks some english. Many speak very well, although there is a certain accent that we call "ghanaian english" that takes some getting used to.
Vision Quest
I traveled from Accra by myself to the site of anther volunteer and stayed with him for 4 days. It was a very cool experience and I got to see what it is really like for Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in the field. My host's name was Matt, and he taught math at a small secondary school and stayed in a tiny village in the Brong-Ahafo Region near Nkoranza. I got to watch some of his coworkers at the school teach and talk to the students about their school. So many things are so different than in the United states. I'll have to devote a separate post to that topic. Vision Quest made me excited about having my own site and got me thinking about how I would like to set up my house, and how I would interact with my community members and coworkers.
PST
I traveled from Matt's site with another Peace Corps Trainee(PCT) to our training site in Kukurantumi, a small town near Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana. I arrived on June 18th, my 25th birthday! I got a pineapple for a present from one of the other PCTs. After a few more days of training and meetings and interviews, we were placed in homestay families in some of the surrounding communities. My family name is Yeboah and everyone here calls me Kwame, which means Saturday-born. It is common practice for Ghanaians to have a day-name as well as another christian name (the country is predominantly christian). I'm staying in Old Tafo. I have electricity (one outlet) and a nice pit toilet all to myself.
After three months of training, including 2 weeks of practicum teaching that begins tomorrow, I will go to my site in the Upper East Region. The village is called Sirigu, and the nearest larger town is Navrongo. I'll be replacing another volunteer who is teaching there now. I will teach integrated science, which is a combination of biology, chemistry and physics. It will be at a Secondary School, roughly equivalent to a high school in the US, but the students must apply to it after completing junior ss.
I got a cell phone here and there is pretty good reception most places I am now. Check facebook or email me if you want the number. It is free for me to receive calls and texts, but it might cost you a lot call or send 'em. I'm making fast friends with the people in my training group, but today there was a mail call and I didn't get any. I realize that this is because I haven't posted my address. You should send mail to the PC office at this address:
Toby Koy c/o
Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa
It seems to take as little as a week or two for letters to arrive, although one package that was recieved took over a month (he sent it before he left). The flat rate boxes are a better deal, I'm told.
That's all for now, sorry that there aren't more details. I'll write more later.
Love, Toby
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Staging in Philadelphia
The last two days have been very intense. On Saturday morning, I said good bye to my parents and flew from Madison to Milwaukee, and then to Philadelphia to my Staging Event, a three day pre-training training before I leave for Ghana. It was sad to say good bye to all my friends and family, although I was getting tired of doing it over and over. Thanks to all who wished me well and encouraged me. I am so excited and scared to be doing this amazing thing!
On the Plane to Philly, I chatted with the woman sitting next to me about what I was doing, and the guy in the seat behind me heard and introduced himself. He was also going to the same staging event to become a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Ghana. His name is Anthony and he also went to school at UW and was roommates with some guys that I went to high school with. Interesting coincidence! We got to Philly, (the plane was only delayed a little), and found other people carrying big bags and and wandering around like us. There were lots of other to-be PCVs and we took a shuttle bus together to the very fancy Holiday Inn hotel in the Historic District of Philadelphia. There, I checked in and gathered my paperwork for registration and training. More and more people gathered in the lobby and lounge areas of the hotel, and we all introduced ourselves to one another excitedly. I realized that there were a lot of people in our training group, and that we were all going to Ghana to become teachers.
Our group consists of 35 people, a few more guys than girls, two couples, mostly mid-twenties but a handful of older people, including 5 people over 50. They are from all over the country and four of us are from WI. There are only a few people of color in our group. These people will become my new best friends (I hope) and we will be a support network for one another for the next 10 weeks of intensive training in Ghana. The Staff who ran the staging did an awesome job. We had trainings and activities all day yesterday, about PC policies, expectations, cultural adjustment, and logistics. They answered all of our questions and made us feel unified as a group and excited about Ghana! I have really only begun to get to know these new friends, but already I am very excited. A lot of them are teaching science, like me, but others are teaching math, visual art, or information communication technology (computer stuff). We have the chance to go out to lunch and dinner together and we also went out to some cool local bars and had a pool party at the hotel. PC gave us each $180 to spend on food, accidentals, and reimbursement for transport and airport fees. I spent a good portion of it on alcohol and sushi. It feels really good to not have to worry about money, and know that I will have enough to live and get what I need while I am serving in Ghana. I filled out my loan deferment forms and the only thing I have yet to do is get a new watch battery(or a new watch).
Tomorrow, we go to the Clinic to get malaria medicine and a yellow fever shot, then we check out and ride a bus to New Jersey in order to fly out of Newark Airport. We fly to Amsterdam first, and have a 3 hour layover there. Unfortunately, our trainers insisted that we did not have enough time to leave the airport. From Amsterdam, we fly to Accra, (accent on the second sylable) the capital of Ghana. It will be almost a full day of only travel. I'm not really looking forward to the flights, except that I'll get to spend a lot of time with some of my groupmates. When I get to Ghana, the real work begins. I'll be busy with language, cultural, and technical training. Don't worry if you don't hear from me in a while because this this stuff, no news is good news. I'd love to get comments or emails from you all, and I'll answer all your questions about how amazing this all is.
love,
Toby
On the Plane to Philly, I chatted with the woman sitting next to me about what I was doing, and the guy in the seat behind me heard and introduced himself. He was also going to the same staging event to become a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Ghana. His name is Anthony and he also went to school at UW and was roommates with some guys that I went to high school with. Interesting coincidence! We got to Philly, (the plane was only delayed a little), and found other people carrying big bags and and wandering around like us. There were lots of other to-be PCVs and we took a shuttle bus together to the very fancy Holiday Inn hotel in the Historic District of Philadelphia. There, I checked in and gathered my paperwork for registration and training. More and more people gathered in the lobby and lounge areas of the hotel, and we all introduced ourselves to one another excitedly. I realized that there were a lot of people in our training group, and that we were all going to Ghana to become teachers.
Our group consists of 35 people, a few more guys than girls, two couples, mostly mid-twenties but a handful of older people, including 5 people over 50. They are from all over the country and four of us are from WI. There are only a few people of color in our group. These people will become my new best friends (I hope) and we will be a support network for one another for the next 10 weeks of intensive training in Ghana. The Staff who ran the staging did an awesome job. We had trainings and activities all day yesterday, about PC policies, expectations, cultural adjustment, and logistics. They answered all of our questions and made us feel unified as a group and excited about Ghana! I have really only begun to get to know these new friends, but already I am very excited. A lot of them are teaching science, like me, but others are teaching math, visual art, or information communication technology (computer stuff). We have the chance to go out to lunch and dinner together and we also went out to some cool local bars and had a pool party at the hotel. PC gave us each $180 to spend on food, accidentals, and reimbursement for transport and airport fees. I spent a good portion of it on alcohol and sushi. It feels really good to not have to worry about money, and know that I will have enough to live and get what I need while I am serving in Ghana. I filled out my loan deferment forms and the only thing I have yet to do is get a new watch battery(or a new watch).
Tomorrow, we go to the Clinic to get malaria medicine and a yellow fever shot, then we check out and ride a bus to New Jersey in order to fly out of Newark Airport. We fly to Amsterdam first, and have a 3 hour layover there. Unfortunately, our trainers insisted that we did not have enough time to leave the airport. From Amsterdam, we fly to Accra, (accent on the second sylable) the capital of Ghana. It will be almost a full day of only travel. I'm not really looking forward to the flights, except that I'll get to spend a lot of time with some of my groupmates. When I get to Ghana, the real work begins. I'll be busy with language, cultural, and technical training. Don't worry if you don't hear from me in a while because this this stuff, no news is good news. I'd love to get comments or emails from you all, and I'll answer all your questions about how amazing this all is.
love,
Toby
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