Engineers Without Borders Canada

I spent Monday evening with a group of volunteers from Engineers w/o Borders Canada. Sara and I took Susan's MIT class together this past spring and she is conducting a survey for the home office about volunteer experiences in a number of African nations. She is a public policy graduate student at the Kennedy School- Harvard School of Government.

I have to say that I didn't know much about Canadian politics, but it was interesting to learn about some of the issues on the minds of our neighbors to the north.

Their volunteers spend 10-12 months doing mostly capacity building with district assemblies and the agricultural ministries.

It's great to go out with other foreigners who have been in the country longer than I have. I am learning that it is appropriate to speak in Ghanaian English so that the locals are able to understand you better. This involves leaving out any contractions and pronouncing your t's. As well as saying things like, "Brother, you will take care of my sister," when being sent off in a taxi in the evening. I have not found that people here at World Vision have difficulty with my accent, and I feel somewhat ridiculous speaking in Ghanaian English- but if that's what's best, then I'll be happy to adjust my accent while I'm here!

Weekend Plans

I am off to Dipali this weekend where the PC volunteer Jessica is located. She has a graduation ceremony for the first part of a training that she is conduting in the community on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully she will be able to send the bike out to the road, otherwise I'll get up early to take a car about 45 minutes north of Tamale and then hike 6 miles to reach the community. Located on the White Volta River, this is the site where they harvest river sand to sell at the hardware stores for construction projects. (I know nothing about harvesting sand from the river for construction projects- it's bad for the health of the river, but it is free.)

It will be great to get out of the city for a day or two!