Elections and Churches

Greetings Friends,

Things here in Ghana are just fine, thanks for asking. I'm getting into a groove with my teaching schedule, although I still feel I have a lot to learn about Ghanaian culture before I can say that I truely understand the rhythm of life here. I've been here for over 5 months, now. That's the longest period of time I have ever lived outside the US, longer than my study abroad experience in Ecuador. It seems like the time has simply flown by. In reality, I still am only beginning, 5 months out of 27 to go. wow.

I hear that the weather is getting colder in Wisconsin, some snow even? Here it is getting dryer and dryer. The plants are turning brown, trees are starting to lose their leaves. No exciting fall colors here. The harvest is mostly over it seems, and the fields of millet that normally surround everything have been cut down. The stalks get used for cooking fuel. It seems that suddenly a lot of buildings and things have appeared where they weren't before. Really I just couldn't see them. Now I can see for quite a way, and when all the grasses and plants are gone, and all the trees are bare, I will see for miles and miles... The land is mostly flat here, so it really opens up when everything is dead. It's getting dustier. Now, rather than setting, the sun just sinks into the red haze on the horizon. I'm told it will get much worse, and when the Harmaton winds come from the north, there will be dust everywhere. A good thing though, is that they will bring cooler air with them. I'll let you all know how "cold" it actually gets here. Ghanaians tell me it gets really cold, but my descriptions of frozen lakes and snow in the US are amazing to them.



I'm happy with the results of the Presidential election in the US, and Ghana will soon be having its own Presidential election, on December 7th. There is propganda all over the place for the major political parties, the NPP and the NDC. The situation is similar to what the US had: the incumbent president has served for two terms, totalling 8 years, and cannot run again. The two main parties have candidates that have been campaigning all over the country, and one of them will win the election. The challenge here is that Ghana is a very young democracy. There is a real danger of violence if a change of power doesn't go smoothly, or if the elections are not transparent, and foul play is alleged. The radio is constantly playing messages of peace and encouraging people not to cause violence or problems. It is quite different than in the US. We don't really consider the possibility that the Republicans won't give up the White House in January, they will because that's how the system works. Here, the system is young and not as established. The worry is that the incumbent party will not hand over power if they are not reelected. Everyone is pledging to be fair and transparent, including the incumbents, but it will be a real test of the system to see if Ghana can have peacefull elections this year, or if problems will erupt like they have recently in other African countries. The Peace Corps is taking no chances with us volunteers. We will all be together at the All Volunteer Conference during the week of the elections. We will be secure there, and if neccessary, they can wisk us away to safety if a crisis happens. I really hope everything goes well, it would be a shame to have to leave so soon after establishing myself here. I am growing to like this place a lot. All of you at home: don't worry about me. Follow the Ghana elections and hope for the best.

Churches. I'm not a particularly religious person and never really have been. I don't go to church in the States, but here I visit once in a while as part of the cultural experience. Ghana is very strongly christian, and in the north here, the is also a large muslim population. I've been to the large Catholic church in Sirigu a number of times, and the familiarity of the ritual is comforting, even though I'm not Catholic. Most of the service is in Gurune, but they translate some of the sermon for me when I come. Mostly I go because it is an important part of community involvement, and I want to interact with my community. Last Sunday, I went to a smaller church called "Assemblies of God." It was really fun because the first hour was all singing and dancing with drums. I love to dance, so I had a great time. Many of the church members are my students, and it was really neat to see them talking in front of the congregation and leading songs and prayers. Church is much more fun here than I've experienced in the US. It's also a lot longer. 3 hour services are not uncommon. Another cool thing is that when someone is singing or dancing, if you really enjoy the performace, you can go and stick a coin on their forehead. The money goes to the church and it shows how much you appreciate their effort. It also looks funny to see people with coins stuck to their foreheads. I'll continue to visit other churches in my community, and I want to go to a mosque as well. People here are very religious, and I'm learning to go along with that.

I hope everything well with all of you. Thanks to everyone who has sent me mail and packages. I really, really appreciate it.

Love,
-Toby

Seasons

It is starting to get drier here. It hasn't rained in about 3 or 4 weeks, and the locals say that we might get one more good storm before the real dry season happens. Already the grasses and fields of millet are looking brown and some have been cut and harvested. the stalks get used for cooking fuel or animal fodder. When everything is really dry, all the plant life dies and you can see far far far. I'll take some pictures. The change is coming surprisingly fast, and I'm excited about it mostly, except for the whole dryness thing. My nose feels funny in the low humidity, and my heels are dry, but I'm taking care of myself, so I'll be fine. I'm told that the borehole nearest my house dries up in the driest dry season, so that is not so good. I'll survive, I have students do fetch water for me!

I am working with a teacher in Wisconsin and we are doing a pen-pal letter writing project to connect her students to mine in Ghana. I sent the first package of letters from my students today, so they will be arriving in WI in a few weeks, i guess. It will be exciting when we get the responses. My students where happy to write to their "American friends."

I bought a guitar today. I don't know how to play it. Yet. I'm going to teach myself, so if you, my friends and family, have any songs you would like me learn and play for you, let me know. Send me tabs, i guess.

I stepped on a 3 inch scorpion with my bare foot the other night, it was outside my bathroom. Surprisingly, it didn't sting me, just crawled along the wall. My housemate, Robert, was pretty scared of it, and he wanted to kill it, but I wouldn't let him. I examined it for a while and then let it outside. It will be much happier there. It had really cool long claws like tiny hemostats and a big curled barbed tail. cool, cool.

Love to you all,
-Toby