Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Ghana! Or, as they say in Twi, "Afenhyia Pa!!" Meaning, Another good year has come around again. It seems a fitting greeting to say as I enter my third month in Ghana… another good month has come around (passed) again. (Could this really be an email from me without some general reflection regarding the general fluidity of time?)

So I'm sitting on the front porch of my new home, stretching my limbs (both literal and figurative) enjoying the extra space that swearing in affords them. In some ways it's very liberating to be through training and on my own, but I find myself humming that tune, "I don't know what to do with myself... don't know just what to do with myself." I sense that will be changing fast, so I've decided to enjoy the time to myself instead of fret about it.

Already I've managed to fill up my days pretty well. I've made the rounds, introducing myself to "big men" in "high places" like the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the District Assembly, and the Forestry Office. I'm pretty lucky as the chairman of the Habitat Homeowner Association (whom I work with) is very well connected, so he can just take me into the offices. Without his introduction, it might take months. As it is, the offices happily receive me and we sit under a fan and schmooze. I've actually made some good contacts just sitting in the offices waiting for introductions to happen, for example some guy who works at a secondary school invited me to come teach about HIV/Aids anytime I'd like. Hearing this, another man, a friend of the Habitat Chairman, informed me that he works with an NGO that does HIV education and invited me to come to their office and see what they do. So I did. Turns out they also run education programs in communities without doctors, to help them identify common complications associated with pregnancy that need medical attention. They focus on single pregnant mothers, which is exactly the audience I was interested in working with for a secondary project, so generally I'm quite pleased that this fell into my lap. And get this, they had a poster in their office (which I saw when I visited) that read, "Educate a man, educate one person. Educate a woman educate a community." I know. I rejoiced, who cares if the office was staffed by men.

Onto other news, I got a new house: two rooms to myself with a separate kitchen. There is the usual latrine and bathing area to the side of the house, but the added benefit of a paved area to serve as a porch or outside additional cooking space. I'm enjoying setting up my home, and yesterday made a Christmas tree, with ornaments cut from wrapping paper. The children got a kick out of this, it was general chaos. Who knew wrapping paper was such fun? This might be the most Charlie Brown looking tree I have had yet, complete with a paper train around the bottom. But I assure you this was the largest production I have ever made over a Christmas tree in my life. I even have to keep my dog Teak from chewing the ornaments and can it get more seasonal than that? Yes. I got a puppy as a gift at the end of training, and am still deciding if it was a wise idea. I love him to death, but he has started chasing the neighbor’s chickens and I'm scared he's going to kill one some day, the punishment for which is death...

So to wrap up this week: Wamfie, Wamfie, Wamfie. I've lived in fear of this first week on my own since arriving in Ghana, and now here I am. I expected it to be scary, which it is. I expected to be lonely at times, which I am. I expected to spend a considerable amount of time watching roosters strut through my yard, which I do... However I did not expect to feel so alive at the same time. I did not expect to be so happy so soon. I don't believe there is anything so liberating as to realize you don't need the safety nets you so desperately clung to for so long. If I am able to extend one holiday wish for all of you, it is that I hope you can find the courage to try something new and enjoy the liberation of discovering you are capable of more than you thought. Thinking of you all, and missing you acutely at times!

Sophia