Hello from Tamale!

Jordan here: I'm finishing up off site technical training all around Ghana. We started in Techiman. We stayed at a monestary with sweet rock trails. It reminded me of Moab slickrock in many places but in the rainforest :) We went hiking on them every sunrise and sunset. The views were amazing but since I don't have my transfer cable, I can't upload pictures. Be patient and eventually you'll get a huge influx, I promise. The food was amazing and I wish I could've found the cook to find out how to make it all. Oh well. We visited an organic farm and learned how to make plant tea (basically liquid plant food) liquid manure (liquid nutrients leached from cow manure) and how to do large scale composting. We also checked out a cashew farm and went on a rugged mountain hike as an example of an eco-tourism project. The views were amazing! We also visited a mushroom cultivation farm (even though our area will be too dry to grow them) and it was really interesting! We also got training on how to use moringa trees. Apparently these are pretty much a miracle tree here. They grow in dry climates, they grow fast, they're super nutritious, they're medicinal, it fixes nitrogen into the soil, and they cure AIDS (okay not the last one although after a week of educating junior high school students about HIV and AIDS, some still think it can be cured...). I hope to get my community putting moringa leaves in food and tea and also making it into soap and skin creams to use and sell. Our sector is always looking for ALPs or alternative livelihood projects aka other ways to make money to bring people out of poverty. Then we travelled to Bolgatanga in the Upper West Region. We stayed at a spiritual renewal center which was super nice with electricity, running water, and nice beds! There, we visited a commerce center and chatted with GoG or Governments of Ghana to make connections with groups that could potentially help us with projects. These groups included: the forestry department, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Business Advisory Council, and the district assembly. We also had a presentation about Village Savings and Loans Associations teaching us how to start or help organize ways for villages to start businesses or make purchases on credit from within the community. Our community already has one of these set up, but it was awesome to learn how it all works. Then we visited an agroprocessing company. It just so happened that it was a pito brewer and we got to see how everything was brewed, and of course how different varieties tasted :) We also got to learn about how to start a beekeeping project at our communities for honey and wax harvest and to increase crop yields with naturally pollination. I got to jump into the bee protection suit to model for everyone (pretty steamy when covered head to toe in Africa). I think we'll definitely want to start beekeeping at our community. Also, I learned how to build a rabbit rearing hutch and how to propogate them. Sarah's been trying to get me to commit to keeping just about every animal she's seen in Ghana, so some bunnies at our site are hopefully in the future at our site as well. Oh yeah, did I mention we got to go all the way up to the northern border of the country at Paga and go to a crocodile pond!! We met up with the water and sanitation crew and got to see the crocs up close. and I mean CLOSE!! One came out and waited and gave us all individual chances to stradle it and touch its back and take pictures! Crazy! Then as a reward for being so calm, the guide fed him a chicken. Then he sauntered lazily back into the pond to digest his meal. AWESOME! Then we travelled to Tamale and went right into training on Food Security. Peace Corps is making a big push for this in Ghana this year. We will be looked at as the experts since most of our jobs are to produce more food while maintaining the integrity of natural resources, specifically trees. Shea trees are very prevalent around our community. Our neighbor Jonathan about 3 km from our site has been working on connecting the women's groups with other buyers to solidify fair prices for their products and I hope to help him organize training sessions for other volunteers. We had some extensive training today about shea tree planting, grafting (taking the fruiting part of a mature tree and growing it on the root stock of an immature tree to grow shea fruits faster), and how to connect the small groups across Ghana to improve their product. I'm very excited! Shea nuts can be eaten as fruits, turned into shea butter, used in chocolate additives, cosmetics, and cooking oil. We also got to visit a giant organic mango plantation and learn about they're whole process and their massive tree nursery! Tomorrow we get to go and learn about vetiver grass which is a grass used to control soil erosion. It has a massively deep root system the holds soil well. Perhaps I will get a chance to use it on some of the roads around our place to help in the rainy season when the roads wash away! Then we take the 10 hour trip from Tamale back to my beautiful wife waiting for me :) We miss each other, but absence makes the hear grow stronger right? Then we have 2 weeks of language training and testing and then we head to Accra for the big signing in event! We still don't know who the guest of honor will be, but I hope its someone fantastic.
thanks so much for following the blog and writing comments. We miss everyone like crazy, but are having a great time here. We're just excited to finally settle in at our new home in a few weeks. Hopefully we'll get to post pictures very soon.
Love to everyone at home!