Jordan here: I know its been a long time since we last wrote something on the blog. We’ve come to realize that some of the grandeur of new eye-opening things are happening more seldom than in our first year here in Ghana. It doesn’t mean we’re not busy, or nothing’s happening. Perhaps its actually a testament to our integration? Either way, we are feeling quite torn. While we have learned our routine here, understand the culture very well, speak the language well enough to get by, and have established many contacts within our and the surrounding communities. We have enjoyed all the different kinds of food, seen every region, visited all the interesting sites, and feel like welcoming other Ghanaians to our village when they visit from even a few kilometres away. We feel quite comfortable with our surroundings and the people we deal with. On the contrary, we’ve never felt more itching to move on to our next chapters in life and to get back to our family and friends in the USA (and Canada, just for you Kels). So much is happening that we want to get back for, that we’ve started the countdown of everything possible: days in Ghana, days at our site, number of times we have to wash clothes, number of nights of food we have left, how many baby weighings left, number of rains left, times we will have to ride in Ghanaian tro tros, nights of fufu left, number of times to fetch water from a hand pump, and nights of needing headlamps constantly strapped to our heads.
Our prayers before meals always include asking God to guide us and remind us not to get too ahead of ourselves, and help us to cherish every day we have left here in our village. This experience has been like no other and will be an incredibly unique chapter in our lives together. To resort only thinking of our days after Peace Corps before they’ve finished just seems like bad karma.
As we see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel approaching quickly, we try to look for signs that our time and service here will last and actually made a difference, even if very small. A really interesting thing happened on the way to the garden last week. Issah and I were walking along the path and about 5 feet in front of us, I saw a chameleon walking as if leading us to our work. Issah stopped us and quickly explained to me this was some kind of omen. He said the chameleon is a symbol of chiefs and leaders of the past. The way they walk resembles the slow, thought-out work of the chiefs. They always take their time to be sure to make the best decision. Anyway, their forefathers told them that if ever a chameleon was seen ahead of your path leading you, it shows the chiefs of the past and the Almighty are blessing whatever you are on your way to do. After walking some distance on the path, the chameleon scurried along and went on his way up a tree. As we continued we analyzed what we saw and interpreted that this project and work that Issah and I have always been passing this way to do must be blessed by the Almighty. As if with new energy had just been allocated, we started talking about how to move forward with our work and make sure it never dies. Because now we had God on our side ;)
