I'm getting a Dog!

Life in Jeyiri is one that goes by moment by moment. I can try to make a list of what I want to do throughout the day, but it never seems to work and is not as fun.  Maybe I’ll go greet the 6 new training teachers at the school. What actually happens is that I get roped into teaching a class. I started talking about malaria and then went into life in America. Some of the questions were: Is it easier to live in America? Does

America have night and day? Do you have a plane? I also told them that there is poor in America where schools don’t have books or supplies. We spent most of the time talking about farms. Their minds were blown to here that we have farms; however, they are under the impression that they are all massive and computers run them. I hope that it opened the children (actually teenagers) to come to me with more questions. The third goal of Peace Corps is to share American culture with Ghanaians. Check.

Another instance of doing something completely unexpected occurred yesterday. I thought it would be a day of mostly relaxing because it was too hot and the village was at farm. In the afternoon a nice new white truck pulls in front of the clinic. The men get out and call me over. They were scientists from Ghana Health Services. They are collecting flies in the town down the rode that cause River Blindness.  They want collect the DNA from the flies and see if they are still carrying the disease or are becoming resistant to the drug that they are giving the people.  The community health nurse, Paulina, will be monitoring the fly collectors. I told the men that I studied biochemistry and I would like to help in any way I can. Unfortunately they were from the Upper East Region and not the Upper West so I won’t be very close to do any of the heavy science things. I will help Paulina out in the fieldwork collecting and recording data. We all piled into the air-conditioned truck and took a ride to the most remote village that happens to be in Mole National Park and has monkeys and if you go into the bush a small ways you will see elephants.  It is beautiful going down the red dirt road with tall green grass on both sides. When I start running at 4 in the morning I will definitely go down this road.

In order to make my house a little homier I have decided to get a dog. When I went to market I walked with Naama (Chief’s mother), the PCV next to me, to go pick my dog out of a litter of six 8-day-old puppies. I choose the only black one. It has a white belly and tail. Keeping up with the tradition of naming pets after American food that we miss, the little boy is called Master P. The idea came to me after we ate pork in the market and I brought my Masterpiece BBQ sauce to put on it. I can’t wait to here the Ghanaians yelling, “Master P wa wa wa [come come come]!” All the dogs here are about the same medium size with short hair. Most of the dogs are a brown red color. If it happens that I fall in love with this dog and bring it back to America (yes mom welcome this possibility J), than I will tell everyone that Master P is an African dingo.

I hope all is well with you all readers and you are enjoying the beginning of the change in seasons. Ghana is really making me appreciate America. Here are some things Naama and I discussed:
1.   Teachers that take that job because they want to educate and not because the job is available (generalization)

2.     Free public flush toilets, even in McDonalds

3.     Malaria is eradicated

4.     Parents don’t yell/forbid for kids to go to school (generalization)

5.     A woman can tell off a man if he calls her “Woman” even if he knows her name

6.     Free Internet in libraries

7.     Abundance and diversity of food (generalization)

8.     Washing machines

9.     Running water