These past few weeks I have been starting to feel more comfortable here and have been allowing myself to have a bit more fun and enjoy myself. It would have been nice if I felt this way throughout this whole experience, but I am content that I have at least reached this point and am continuing to learn and understand more and more as time goes by. I am not sure what has caused this shift, (probably a combination of many things) and I think that it has been pretty gradual. I have noticed that I am becoming less frustrated by the things that typically bother me and have been embracing more of the great things about life here in Ghana.

I’ll try to explain with an example of something that happened this past week: I decided to make certificates for all of the field assistants that I trained – I thought it would be a nice little gift. I did not have time to do it at work so I went to an internet café over the weekend in Tamale and printed them off with my own money. After my first training, I handed out the certificates to each Field Assistant; I had hand-written everyone’s name. I received a few “thank you’s” but mostly “Why are our certificates not laminated or in color?” or “Why didn’t you take our photographs and put them in the certificates and type out our names?” Of course these comments bothered me a little, but I am more able to laugh it off because I know that this is just how Ghanaians are and I should not take it personally.

I also feel like I have more going on in my life here; things have started to pick up at work and I have developed more (and stronger) relationships with people. One of the wives in the compound I lived in while I stayed in Bagarugu (my 2nd village stay) gave birth to a baby boy and I was invited to the baby naming ceremony. Just a little background info: Traditionally, the newborn child is kept in one room and does not receive a name until one full week has passed. After a week, the family is confident that the child will survive and is here to stay so they will bring it out for everyone to see and give it a name. Usually for the ceremony – at least for the Dagomba’s here in the northern region – the family will prepare HUGE bowls of TZ and soup in the morning so they can feed anyone who stops by and the new mother and her friends all have outfits made from the same cloth for the occasion. In the evening they use a generator to power a stereo and dance through the night. Those who are good dancers get candy (or a soda if they are really good). I missed most of the festivities because of work but I was able to stop by and greet everyone. Everyone was so excited to see me when I arrived. I brought a large bar of key soap for the new mother which I have learned is a proper gift, and then a small amount of money for the husband. They fed me a ton of food and then I was able to meet Haruna, the newborn. I snapped some photos of the boy and his mother and promised to get them printed before I leave.

I feel like I have been getting to know some of the people in Diare a little better. I still hear “Salaminga” (white person) as I ride my bike through town but people refer to me by my Dagbani name, “Pagnaa”, more and more. I have made friends with some of the field assistants here and one of them said he will organize a farewell soccer match for me before I leave, I’ll let you know if it actually happens. My time here is running out and I am beginning to think about how I will wrap everything up and make sure I say farewell to all the friends I have made. Here are some pics Ive taken recently...




Haruna and his mother



This is me and Haruna at the baby naming ceremony



I made french toast one morning for the whole fam! They have eggs, bread, and canned milk here and I brought maple syrup with me from Canada to share. They all loved it. If I get around to it I might make it again and try selling it at the market... just as a little experiment



This was at an NPP rally in Diare for the presidential election coming up. The next day just about everyone I ran into said "I saw you dancing yesterday". The election is not until december. I am glad that I will not be around for it, but every Ghanaian I have talked to is confident that it will run smoothly and without any violence



Here is Amina and I, and her brother who also lives at the compound



This is my friend/host sister Kande