tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147502472012-02-12T16:19:11.516-05:00Observations on life from a volunteer in the Peace Corps.D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.comBlogger276125MaliceTowardsNonehttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-47353294303720580512012-02-12T16:19:00.000-05:002012-02-12T16:19:11.523-05:002012-02-12T16:19:11.523-05:00

One of the many cultural differences between and America and Ghana is the treatment of death.  Weddings are different too, but yesterday I didn't go to a wedding to celebrate a new beginning; no, I went to visit my counterpart and show my support for him and his family after his grandfather passed away. I don't think the death was sudden, and for most present the attitude was that at 91, he was

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-56365857898550682422012-02-05T05:51:00.000-05:002012-02-05T05:51:06.309-05:002012-02-05T05:51:06.309-05:00

And the campus at Franco goes quiet. While not every student has left the school grounds, 96% of them have and the dormitories have gone quiet. Walking around the campus I don't find that I get to say hi very often as there is nobody left to say hi to save the teachers who are still living on campus and some of the staff who remain at their posts. But in all, there is not a lot of action right

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-53431213472494869192012-01-25T11:32:00.000-05:002012-01-25T11:32:11.557-05:002012-01-25T11:32:11.557-05:00

Our students are in their first week of a two-week period of exams. The Cape Coast tests are 60% of their overall grade and if you want to see a quiet campus, then these two weeks will be the time to come. No one is wasting any time walking or talking with friends, they all have books open, pens and pencils at the ready, and lots of time poring over the facts and formulas that their tests will

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-48348969542470738182012-01-21T16:45:00.000-05:002012-01-21T16:45:05.807-05:002012-01-21T16:45:05.807-05:00

If you have been reading the last few posts, then you already know that dry season has been visiting my neighborhood for the past two or so months with little let up. Each day the sky turns a light dusty white color and you never see a stitch of blue sky, nor a cloud to speak of. Today a very strange thing happened in the morning, it was quite dark outside. When I woke up it seemed to me to be a

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-38432358839784469382012-01-15T04:33:00.001-05:002012-01-15T05:23:50.191-05:002012-01-15T05:23:50.191-05:00

Just for a moment, consider the last staircase you walked up or down in your life. Can you recall anything about it? Was there any difference that was notable or did you just see the stairs and then move from one story to the other? My guess is that if you live in America, then no, there was nothing particularly unusual about the staircase - maybe you noticed a chip in the paint on the handrail

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-53656879899789946212012-01-08T10:43:00.000-05:002012-01-08T10:43:28.498-05:002012-01-08T10:43:28.498-05:00

Being gone for about 25 days meant that upon my return to the house there was a tiny little bit of cleaning to do in the house. Every square inch of horizontal service collected 25 days worth of microscopic particles while both me and my housemate were away. The floors are spattered with footprints, and if you stamp your foot somewhat hard on the floor, then you will see curls and tendrils of

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-68781513631730289422012-01-07T16:04:00.000-05:002012-01-07T16:04:33.332-05:002012-01-07T16:04:33.332-05:00

The holidays have come and gone and it appears that this site has been rather bereft of updates and posts. Someone must have been asleep at the switch, operator-error in the parlance of the computing world, and things have been a bit slow. So now would be a good time to change that. For what it is worth I have been contemplating writing a bit more on life. Several people that I saw over Christmas

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-86304734326138655252011-12-11T03:26:00.000-05:002011-12-11T03:26:55.498-05:002011-12-11T03:26:55.498-05:00

All it turned out to be was just another Saturday in Ghana. For the most part this year is a little bit easier than last year. I know what is going on, I know when odd days off are going to magically appear on the calendar, and there are more things to do on campus then I was aware of last year at this time. One of the things that I knew would be coming is the matriculation ceremony of the

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-78335878451606521702011-11-27T09:55:00.000-05:002011-11-27T09:55:35.708-05:002011-11-27T09:55:35.708-05:00

It is two full days back at Hohoe and I still feel like it happened way too fast. The Ambassador to Ghana invited those in the embassy and all of the Peace Corps volunteers in the country to his house so they could enjoy the pleasures of a very splendid turkey dinner with all the trimmings and the best Thanksgiving you can get while you are thousands of miles away from home. This year I almost

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-29255475529567046752011-11-16T04:39:00.000-05:002011-11-16T04:39:17.977-05:002011-11-16T04:39:17.977-05:00

Just yesterday I had a fun if unexpected moment at the school. While teaching students the difference between a bulleted list and a numbered list a student from another class walked in and asked for my phone number. She was told to do this by another teacher whose name I was not quite sure about. After I gave her the number it took about ten minutes for me to receive the call and soon I figured

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-87250404094907206042011-11-06T08:36:00.000-05:002011-11-06T08:36:39.092-05:002011-11-06T08:36:39.092-05:00

It is finally official, I have a second body staying permanently in the house here at campus. St. Francis College has received a new volunteer by the name of Yoshitaka and he is living in our house fully now. He was here for a short time in Hohoe last month for training purposes, but he was not living with me. He had a homestay family of his own in town that treated him to some Ewe lessons and

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-64181783731657221312011-11-04T06:13:00.000-04:002011-11-04T06:13:01.315-04:002011-11-04T06:13:01.315-04:00

Recently I made an overnight trip to the Nkwanta region to see a few of our northern Volta volunteers. It was Halloween and many suggested a party to celebrate and that seemed like a great excuse to make the trek. Most who know me here can count on me being at the house or at that computer lab when they pass through Hohoe since that is where I usually am 99% of the time. But that needed to change

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-19691441909168576942011-11-04T05:25:00.000-04:002011-11-04T05:25:02.074-04:002011-11-04T05:25:02.074-04:00

Way back when, maybe at the beginning of 2010 when I knew I was going to come to Ghana, I filled out a form for the Coverdell World Wise Schools program whereby a member from the Peace Corps connects with a school back in America. My teacher and I have been in touch and it looks like we can get the students connected while separated by thousands of miles and a small body of water. A few weeks

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-43816085814040327742011-10-09T09:23:00.000-04:002011-10-09T09:23:20.853-04:002011-10-09T09:23:20.853-04:00

Ever since this past May when I attended the All-Volunteer conference I have had an interest in doing something on our local radio station. One of our since-departed volunteers explained how he went about getting a monthly show on the air at a radio station near his site and what he did to educate people on the disease of HIV. Personally, I had no secondary project on hand to report back on and

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-45432212211513100232011-10-01T12:51:00.000-04:002011-10-01T12:51:53.149-04:002011-10-01T12:51:53.149-04:00

As September came to a quick close I found myself having to write out lists of things that I ought to do. Back in August I was pressing myself a bit to find things to occupy the days while the students were away. Now I am getting caught up in four or five things at once and it is a good thing. Firstly, the students are back and milling about the campus a lot now. The third-year students were the

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-27795571823736233092011-09-21T06:53:00.000-04:002011-09-21T06:53:54.012-04:002011-09-21T06:53:54.012-04:00

After three days going to and from Accra I am ready for the rest of my service, medically speaking. About a dozen of us from Volta and a few other regions convened at the Peace Corps Headquarters prepared to visit the doctor and see a dentist to ensure that we still are coping with the banku and fufu adequately. We had two days to be in the medical unit of the compound but I was able to get both

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-13194880037434207482011-09-05T13:44:00.000-04:002011-09-05T13:44:41.033-04:002011-09-05T13:44:41.033-04:00

This video below is courtesy of our newest group of Peace Corps Volunteers. One Austin Pruett pulled together video clips that he took during training and put on top of it a nice song and there you have it, a video of what it is like to live in Ghana. Many kudos to him for taking the time to do this. For those back in the States with weak stomachs, I ask you to stop watching at the 4:04 mark (

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-48818796511211194062011-09-03T06:45:00.000-04:002011-09-03T06:45:01.281-04:002011-09-03T06:45:01.281-04:00

August 30th has come and gone but the memories will be around for at least two more years in Ghana as the new group of volunteers have officially taken the oath and cast their lot with the rest of us still occupying our humble homes in the country. It was a great event and one that reminds me of how special it is to be here and be a part of it all. As it may have been mentioned in the previous

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-5978202496573611842011-08-22T11:38:00.000-04:002011-08-22T11:38:09.552-04:002011-08-22T11:38:09.552-04:00

If you were born on August 30th, 1961 then you and Peace Corps have a birthday coming up. We are going to be celebrating 50 years of service coming up soon, and the celebration will be starting in Accra in the country where the first sandals hit the ground and volunteering began: Ghana. Our new group of trainees, as I may have mentioned, will be swearing-in come the 30th of this month and it has

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-38362440087098990132011-08-16T08:12:00.000-04:002011-08-16T08:12:48.184-04:002011-08-16T08:12:48.184-04:00

Firstly, I am posting today on August 16th, which means I owe my happiest of birthday wishes to my mother who was kind enough to let me come to Ghana without too much worrying and remorse on her part. She is a special mom, one that I was very, very lucky to have growing up back in Pennsylvania. Enjoy your day Mom! On top of the special day for her, I am right back in the heart of Peace Corps

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-11122172751374995632011-08-09T12:50:00.000-04:002011-08-09T12:50:15.261-04:002011-08-09T12:50:15.261-04:00

The tempo has slowed quite a bit. My American visitors departed at the end of July and I returned to Hohoe from Accra the day after. I gather that my immune system was working overtime during their visit and was getting exhausted as I had a slight headache all morning long getting ready for the bus ride home. As the bus finally moved and I was done snacking on all the foods brought to me in my

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-9213196339809426262011-07-22T14:29:00.000-04:002011-07-22T14:29:24.217-04:002011-07-22T14:29:24.217-04:00

My friends and I went to see the waterfalls that are located close by to Hohoe yesterday. We have had a pretty significant amount of rain in the area over the past three weeks and that was on incredible display when we finally arrived at the falls. I would say that the cataract was at least twice as powerful, maybe even three times as powerful as any other time that I have seen it. The stream

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-79559303863115616902011-07-19T10:22:00.000-04:002011-07-19T10:22:08.058-04:002011-07-19T10:22:08.058-04:00

This past Saturday was the closing ceremony at the college. All the students gathered in the church on campus and we heard from various staff on what the students had accomplished and what they might wish to try harder on next year. I really enjoy the Senior House Master when he delivers the list of, "those, ... who must be punished." There is a lot of work given as punishment for rules

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-90815749962121888082011-07-14T13:26:00.000-04:002011-07-14T13:26:39.082-04:002011-07-14T13:26:39.082-04:00

In one of the previous posts I made a passing mention that I would offer up a story or two from what went on during training but then failed to post anything more on the subject. This one is here to fix that oversight, but it only has to do with my homestay family from when I was in training the year before. Our current trainees took up housing in several communities, but the one that I had

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14750247.post-37776899729090477742011-07-09T12:37:00.000-04:002011-07-09T12:37:35.073-04:002011-07-09T12:37:35.073-04:00

Our semester is coming to a close here on campus and with that ending comes the Cape Coast exams that test whether the students understand the concepts and minutia of teaching in Ghana. While first-years and second-years are busy writing away, the school provides for invigilators, those whose job it is to watch and make sure that there is no talking or helping during the examination time. I did a

D.Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535642432386832769noreply@blogger.com0