Sitting in an internet cafe in Ghana with bad superhero/soccer player cartoons playing in the background.....I'll try not to let it distract me as I blog.
It was back to work at AFAWI this week for me. The new office is still having work done, but the main room is set up and so that's where I've been this week. The new location is a bit of a trek from my hostel, but it's in a really nice area so it evens out. It's in a residential area; a classy-ish Ghanaian suburb which feel removed from the city. I walk the last 30 minutes from my trotro station to the office (or vice versa) and the change is incredibly dramatic from when I'm walking around my area of Accra. For on thing, the roads are dirt and there are trees all around, and usually a bit of a breeze which is a really pleasant change. It's also just less hassle from people around me. Even though people still yell "Obruni" at me, I don't get nearly the hassle I do in the main area of the city. The difference between that walk and the walk from Circle (a roundabout/market area where I get dropped off on my way home) is insane. I get let off at one of the craziest areas of Circle, and get grabbed, and pushed with men hissing at me to get my attention and telling me I'm beautiful or that they love me (um, thanks?) and shoving cell phones or other products in my face. It's not a great end to what usually ends up being at 2 hour commute home. But I am grateful for the change in environment and the (relatively) peaceful walk right before and right after work, and am trying not to let the hassle of that last little stretch ruin my day. I've also made arrangements to leave work early so that I can make it home well before dark - because that is not something I particularly want to experience.
Now that the office is ready, I've also had a bit more work to do. The accountant hasn't been in too much this week so I've had a lot of use on his computer which is nice. I've written up a few articles on different projects, which will be used to update AFAWI's website. I also completed an application for a conference on HIV/AIDs for the Chairperson, and an article for a partner organization's newsletter. Even though the work is sporadic and a lot of it has been reading up on programs and going through documents it feels really good to be productive. In particular it feels great to be writing more and to be writing things other than journals and letters and blogs and personal things. I don't think I realized just how much I missed writing articles and essays and more academic stuff. It makes me super excited to go back to school. It's also really reaffirmed my sense that whatever career I finally chose or end up in, I want writing to be a huge part of it. Doing the updates and articles and things has also given me a chance to familiarize myself with the different projects AFAWI has undertaken, as well as to get a sense for how these projects are funded and carried out. Which is fantastic, because I feel like I'm already achieving my goals of learning about how NGO's and development organizations function.
This week AFAWI also had three new volunteers come in. They'll be interning part time, as they are also students at the University of Ghana. One is a Ghanaian guy who lives and studies in Germany, and the other two are American girls - all doing a semester abroad. They're all really nice and in a way it's cool to have other westerners in the office (or people who have at least lived in the west), just to get a break from the extra challenges of cross-cultural communication. It's also a little weird though, because their experience of Ghana is so different from mine. I talked to them a bit about my program, and even about the artificiality of it and how different it is for them - living as students and also as tourists while I'm living on this strict budget but with the ability to walk away at any time. They were pretty understanding of it all, and were able to see both the value and the limits of this kind of program- maybe not as clearly or deeply as I can, but they still kind of got it. I think it's another one of those previews to coming home and what it might be like trying to relate to people who may not understand that I haven't just been off in Ghana for 5 months, but that I've been trying to live in solidarity with the economic poor during that whole time. In that sense, it was reassuring because we were able to have a conversation about it and I didn't feel like some radical hippie or like a complete hypocrite. So, I think it'll be alright.
This week I also had my first full meeting with AFAWI's teen club (last week's was cancelled). The communication barrier I guess is a bit tough, because of my accent. Even though I try to speak slowly I don't know if they always understood what I was saying. This isn't really my favourite part of my job - just as the articles have reaffirmed my love of writing, the Teen Club is reminding me that I'm really not a people person. But I'm the only volunteer with Friday's off, so I'll embrace it! Next week I'm apparently leading a Health Talk on personal hygiene so that should be interesting. It ties into the issues of menstrual hygiene and education, which AFAWI has addressed through a couple of different projects as its actually a significant barrier to young girls attending school. I'm planning to blog about that project soon because I find it particularly interesting but my time here is running out so I'll try to do that later this week! I've been trying to cut back on my internet time - for financial reasons and just also because I felt like I was getting a little too caught up in communicating with home. So I took the week mostly off. This week though I'll try to really dedicate some time to blogging instead of getting re-addicted to e-mail and facebook. Going without and then suddently having it all again has made me realize what a big part of my life computers and internet are. And I don't think that's a bad thing, because communication is great - as is having access to the news (bbc.com is open in another window). I just do want to really make sure I'm present here and that I'm still immersing myself and taking advantage of my last couple of months in Ghana. It's great to be able to reconnect and start to face that transition of coming home...I just need to find a balance.
That being said, I will blog again soon because I really do want to share my experiences and in particular to start sharing some of the work AFAWI's doing and some of the social justice issues they are addressing, as well as those I see around me. So, stay tuned!
Jac
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