Making a difference?

Jordan here: Yesterday, Sarah and I took a trip to Tumu to prepare for a day we’ve arranged for the Form 3 students. That is the equivalent of 9th grade and there are 11 of them. 1 out of the 11 has seen a computer before and they are all expected to be able to use and answer test questions on their end of term exam that is the gateway to Senior high school. We came early to get the place set up and ready for them to arrive. We put our faith in my counterpart to see the students onto the vehicle and help get them here. As I sit here at our friend Travis’s place at the training college waiting (praying) our students show up on the vehicle that will hopefully (we’re still praying) showed up on time, knows where to go and gets the students here at a reasonable time, I reflect on some of our thoughts about making a difference as a Volunteer. These thoughts are quite common especially for your first year as a volunteer. The emotional roller coaster of ups and downs is ongoing. One day you think “wow look at the difference I’ve made just by teaching a few students or joining someone at the farm and telling them about planting trees to improve the soil” and the next day “wow, I’ve been sitting around here just wanting to chill at my place and not do anything.”
It turns out I sit at a sub-office a week later, knowing the training in Tumu with the students went great and watching these students interact with a piece of technology they probably thought they wouldn’t get to use was amazing. Even my counterpart was learning for the first time with us. It made me think that my oldest niece Terrina, a 7th grader, can operate skype, types probably 50-60 words a minute, and has a ridiculous Facebook following is on average 4-5 years younger than these kids. Izebella and Olivia, my two younger nieces can play games, operate a mouse, and just recently print a document are several years younger than Terrina. I think we opened some eyes.
All considered, reflecting on the day, one student put it into perspective. He remembered most not the room full of computers, the air conditioning, or the impressive college-level campus, but the flush toilets. I think the quote was “Madame Sarah, the toilets, when you push the handle, the water comes and just takes your $#&^ away!!”
This weekend, I took a friend of mine to Tumu to attend a training on the shea tree. It is an incredibly economic tree especially for women in Northern Ghana and there are many ways their cultivation, management, and processing of the product (shea nuts or oil) can be improved to increase their productivity. Firstly, they could use parklands of well protected shea trees to make collection fast and efficient. No one here plants them. Some say you’ll die if you do, and some just thinking planting a tree that won’t turn profit for 15 years isn’t worth it. That where I come in. Along with shea, I want to manage a massive tree plantation with shea, mango, guava, moringa, cashew, and cassia. If these are protected, each family could improve their nutrition, financial burdens, and perhaps send another child to quality education which in turn (several years down the line) can help to bring the living conditions of the village up a bit. My friend that came to the training with me is super excited, I’ve made the proper contacts with NGOs and now we’ve just got to educate the community about the nursery that will start in April. I plan to write some Peace Corps grants and perhaps open a grant site for interested parties at home to donate small pockets of cash to build strong fencing. However, I’ve got lots of ideas on how to properly use a chunk of change. The hardest part is the sustainability factor. If the community appreciates it and is invested in it, they will use it and protect it when we’re gone. We’ve got our work cut out for us. However, if it were easy, everyone would do it :)