Merry Christmas - Don't Eat the Hot Dogs

December 5th - 11th

This week was spent in Kumasi for our first In Service Training (IST). First thins is first...the week begins with the 5th and the 7th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND REESIE!!!
This is the first time I have been to the office in Kumasi...I feel us northerners got a bit jipped. The office in Kumasi is nice and dangerously enough runs a “store” in which volunteers sell goods from their communities and various projects. I picked a few bars of moringa soap and some earrings made at one of the schools for the deaf (the art teachers have got these kids doing some amazing work).
This week we learned about the various grants that are available to PCVs and my counterparts eyes lit up like it was Christmas. I know I will have to reign in some of his ideas back to what is actually within the realm of doable, but I have to admit I am excited at the prospect of getting some funded projects going. (We are going to try a poultry farm and moringa tree nursery to help supplement the nutrition center both in terms of food and money).
We also learned this week about the amazing moringa tree and its many uses. They never end! Look this tree up people. Nutrition in the leaves, pain killer in the roots, oil in the seeds, and one hundred uses. We were given some seeds and I hope to try to grow some little seedlings before attempting the tree nursery...start small aim big.
I am looking forward to applying a lot of the things we covered in training in the upcoming months. I am even excited about growing the mushrooms from the kit I got!


December 16th
FIRE FESTIVAL! One of the bigger holidays in the Northern Region is the fire festival which takes place nine days after the new moon. Today is the day...or night rather. I arranged for someone from the center to walk me through town. The scene was spectacular and the feeling of the night in comparison is like a roller coaster – awesome but at the same time a little terryifying. Little children throwing firecrackers at your feet, adults setting off a fire cracker that sounds like a bomb. Children and adults running through the streets with flaming torches and cutlasses. A large group of children saw me coming and ran towards me, cutlasses in hand, and I immediately adopted the deer in headlights look hoping to walk away unscathed...no one means any harm but accidents have been known to happen. All in all the festival was spectacular. I tried to take some pictures which I will put on facebook.

December 24th
Merry Christmas Eve! I am celebrating the holiday in Tamale. I have successfully downloaded Miracle on 34th St onto my ipod. The church across the street had a choir singing christmas themed religious songs....and then something that made me smile they sang Feliz Navidad! Not a very religious song and they probably dont understand the Spanish, but it brought a little bit of home to the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a good holiday. Miss you lots.


December 25th
Merry Christmas! I miss and Love you all. Here is hoping that you all had a wonderful holiday and that santa came to visit...according to the online santa tracker Ghana got skipped...but we made due. Happy New Year...19 months to go.