Week 6 - Yendi and our house

I had a really great week. On Monday we got to our office and found out that our bosses were still in Accra so we decided to go ahead and make plans to visit Yendi (one of the WUSC districts) on Tuesday even though we would not be accompanied by Madame Linda (who was going to introduce us and translate for us) and a driver. So Tuesday morning we woke up at 4 am to catch a bus at 5 am to Yendi. The ride was pleasant enough, except for it being so early. We got to Yendi and went to have breakfast with Jess and Billie, the two interns that are working there. They have a really cute place right by the military barracks, so it is weird, but not uncommon to see tanks and soldiers with huge guns passing by. Actually there was a conflict in Yendi a few years ago and the chief and the better part of his family were all killed, so there is a little bit of tension there, but no one talks about it. After breakfast we went to the Ghana Education Service office for the district of Yendi and met some of the staff there. The long term volunteer, Sheena, is really friendly and smart so she was a great person to talk to. She was really helpful for both me and Patrick and helped us set up some other meetings for this upcoming week, when we will return to Yendi. We also talked to the Girls Education Officer there and got some really great reports to look over. We got a ton of information in that first morning, so I’m really excited about getting back there and to the other districts. It’s too bad that we waited so long to take the initiative to do these visits on our own, but in the end it worked out really well.
After lunch we ran a few errands and I got to see a bit of the town from the back of Billie’s bicycle. It is a pretty small town where any foreigners get a lot of attention, but people seemed really nice, and the atmosphere was super laid back. They’re really enjoying it and I think they have a pretty good set up. Then we had dinner with Sheena and a really interesting and funny Cuban doctor named Leuby.
Billie and Jessica have rats and/or bats living in their ceiling, so when we went to sleep you could hear the high pitched sounds of bats and these scuttling sounds of mice or rats or something in the roof. Then I woke up at 5 to get a bus back at 7 am. When I got back to Tamale I was super exhausted. There are 2 interns that came up from Accra and are going to be working at the GEU as well. Cassey and Gershon. Tomorrow we are moving into a house with Cassey. I am so excited to have a fridge! We’ll each have our own rooms and there is a nice sitting area so it will be really nice.
I am really happy to be getting into our research. One of my worries when I was here is that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to contribute anything and accomplish anything while I was here. But now I feel like I might actually be able to get something useful done. Time has gone by fast and I feel like we’re only really getting settled and our time here is already half over. 3 months sounded like a long time, but it really isn’t. I’m really looking forward to next week. We’re going to go back to Yendi in Tuesday and then we’re going to stay there over night and then continue onto Zabzugu. I’m really hoping to get to visit a club in Yendi.
Thursday we attended an all day workshop about domestic violence where most of the girls education officers from the three northern regions were in attendance. It was not directly related to our research but it was still interesting to here about some of the laws and practice that exist regarding domestic violence.
We moved into our house Friday morning, where we all have our own rooms, and we have a kitchen and a fridge and a living room, which is super exciting. Then we went to the office with Cassey and Gershon so they could see it and meet the people they’ll be working with.
Saturday I woke up really early and did a bunch of work. Then Cassey and I went to see a football match in the afternoon which was really cool. It was the Tamale RTUs vs. the Accra Great Olympics. It was my first professional soccer game and it was really fun. Tamale won 2-1, but both teams had a goal disallowed. It was exciting and even though the crowd was small, they were loud and super into the game.
Later that evening, we hung out with the American girls that we met in Mole Park and they had met a group of dancers and drummer that came over to their house and performed a bit for us. It was super cool, and they were really friendly. There were three of them so they did some songs where they drummed and sang and then some where they took turns drumming and dancing. It was really neat to see the traditional dances and songs. They wanted to do an exchange and learn some Canadian dances, and I would’ve taught them some line dances, but unfortunately no one had any country music. Maybe next time.