Life in Hohoe

These past few days in Ghana have been quite calm. I find that there is not much to do in this small village of Hohoe so most of my time is spent talking with the other volunteers and exploring the different restaurants around town. A few days ago a new volunteer arrived and today another left. I was sad to see her go because it amazing how close you can become to some of the volunteers here, being that most of us have similar interests and are kind, open-hearted people who chose to come to Africa to help. Working at the orphanage has been quite fun and a great learning experience. I am teaching grade 2 right now which is full of ready to learn kids ages 9 - 12. While at times its hard to keep the attention of all 9 of them, I try my best to find clever ways to teach division, telling time, the vowels, and other educational skills that I at time took for granted in the states. I remember learning to tell time with my own personal plastic clock, where I could move the minute and hour hand wherever and whenever I wanted. The educational materials here are very scarce and they really do try to make the best of what they are provided, but drawing several clocks with chalk on the chalk board and constantly erasing what time it is, is starting to test my patience, but not in a negative way. If anything I am learning about how these kids learn and it is so rewarding to see them getting and comprehending what I am saying. I try to change things up and reach each child individually to make sure they all catch on, but of course there is always a couple how need extra help and its unfortunate that many times they do not have the access to extra resources that would aid their learning. All of these children are proof that all you need to get somewhere in life is the ambition and will to move forward and learn. It is unfortunate that so many students in the States don't realize the resources available to them in all parts of the education and how people here are advancing in education with very little and much less then most schools in the States. Being here has taught me to not take so many things that are easily available in the United States for granted. I really do wish the best for all these children. They are all so lovely and kind and want to learn and attended school in hope of reaching their big dreams.

I have talked to some of the locals and the few volunteers and have found somethings out about the HIV/AIDS effects here along with other drug abuse and crime. Ghana seems to be one of the countries in Africa that seems to be least effected by HIV and AIDS. In Hohoe, there is a unit in the hospital that offers education on HIV/AIDS, may it be about prevention, what to do if you do attain it, and about the illness in general. Pregnant mothers here are encouraged to get tested for the virus and if they have the virus are given medicine one month prior to giving birth to prevent mother child transmission. Of the babies tested who did have positive mothers, about 90% tested negative for the virus while only about 10 percent tested positive. This information is about 30 mothers and their babies who were tested last year. Of the 30 babies, only 3 did end up having the virus. I will look into this situation more and keep updates about it.

The drug of choice in the village of Hohoe tends to be marijuana. When I did ask a couple locals about other drugs they replied that other drugs are more expensive and maybe be found in the bigger cities. Marijuana is the drug of choice because it is cheap and easily accessible. While although it is illegal, little law is ever enforced here and there does not to be an attack on marijuana possession coming any time soon. This falls back on how many people mind to themselves in certain situations. The rich are happy rich and many feel no need to help the poor, while the poor make do with what they have as this has been life for them for so long. The police here often don't mind enforcing the law with the poor or with the rich but when they do enforce crime, it seems that there is some type of money factor behind it and the situation could probably be paid off. It is unfortunate and corrupt but people seem satisfied and comfortable with life here. This is just my opinion and at times it is hard to explain, but I do hope I am able to get my point across.

Again, crime often goes unreported here. There seems to be several rape cases that are seen at the hospital, but few are ever reported. Here, women are looked down upon if they are raped and many times it is seen as the woman's fault for putting herself in a situation where she could be raped. Only in certain situations, like a brother raping a sister, an unfortunate situation that I did hear about from a hospital employee, is the male seen at fault. Women are also looked down upon if they abort the babies they conceived and many have to live with the babies they conceived during the act of rape. I can not even imagine how hard it must be to live like that.

I continue to learn many things about the very different culture and country. While many things seem similar, many things are also very different and I am glad I am being able to experience and learn about these situations.