This is what I get to wake up to EVERYDAY!
Halloween Night at a local spot

My friend Michael and I on our way to the Ambassador's house for a reception. He's going to be my nearest neighbor for the next 2 years in the Upper West!


We created a wood fire stove out of mud. We got muddy and dirty for this, it was great!
Just a random picture of some of the domestic wildlife in Ghana. Goats, Chickens, and Cows just roam around everyone's houses. The chickens and goats love to stand in front of my window and make noises at 4 AM every morning, which wake me up. Some of the volunteers that have been here for a yr. reassure me that you get used to the sounds and after a yr. it won't even wake you. I'm waiting very patiently for that day.
Our Trainers took us out for a day of fun. We went to these waterfalls that were so breathtaking. There are signs posted everywhere that say, "You have been warned not to swim, stay alive," we of course didn't listen and jumped right in! It was so fun and the water was so refreshing and cold. The trainers practically had to drag us out! We went hiking afterwards up to the top of the mountain. It was an arduous hike, but well worth it because the view was incredible!

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had an African Thanksgiving, which included a fried turkey that was killed and prepared personally by a couple of people in the group. We also had sweet potatoes with marshmallow peeps that were sent in someone's package from Halloween, and we had our own version of plantain chips and salsa. The feast was great, filled with dancing and no learning, and everyone was beyond stuffed!

I apologize for not updating sooner, but we've been doing so much, so I'll try not to leave anything out! So we are still in the training phase, where we are learning our target languages and also a lot of cross cultural lessons. We just got back this week from site visit, where we all visited our respected sites that we'll be at for two years after we're finished with training. The trip was very eye opening and I was nervous to go because I had to go in with the mentality that this place was going to be my home for the next two years. The trip started out with a 13 hour bus ride to the Upper West, where I sat in a seat that had absolutely no leg room, so my friend Michael and I took turns sprawling our legs out into the aisle. I got to visit the hospitals that I would be working at and met some of the District Health Management Team that I'll be working with. I also got to meet some of the people in the NGOs that I'll be working with, such as JICA and Unicef. All in all, I'm pretty excited about my site and I'm especially excited about the projects that I'll be involved with. My primary project will be working with Adolescent Health and trying to raise awareness in malnutrition. My other project is to be working with the District Health Management Team and trying to get them going. My town has recently became the District Capital, so all the other towns its foreseeing has clinics that need a lot of assistance, and that's where I come in. I have some secondary projects too, which involved HIV/AIDS awareness and also School Health Lessons. My town is pretty rural, a population of under 2000, and majority Muslim.

I forgot to mention about the field trip we had a month back. The three sectors: Small Enterprise Development (SED), Environment, and Health/ Water Sanitation (that's me) went to various regions to visit active volunteers in our respected sectors to see the work that they are partaking in. My group went up to the Northern Region, where it is the least developed, which means the roads are unpaved. So 16 of us sat in a van (which would never in a million yrs meet Safety Standards in America) for 15 hours trying to get to our destination, and when we finally got there, we were all covered in dust from head to toe, which made us look like oompa loompas. To create a lighter moment in a tense situation, we started doing the oompa loompa dance and took crazy pictures, that I will NOT be posting for everyone to see. But just imagine me in my previously white Mariners shirt stained brown and a spray tan gone wrong. (I'm pretty upset about my Mariners shirt because it's beyond ruined!) Besides the travel part, the experience was amazing. We got to follow volunteers that have primary projects involving Guinea Worm Surveillance and Eradication. Guinea Worm is pretty endemic in the Northern Region, and there are strong efforts to eradicate it, and organizations such as the Carter Center (founded by Jimmy Carter) are working hard to rid of it, by providing free nets to every household and education about it. The nets are highly effective and so easy to use, they filter out the cyclops that harbor the guinea worm, it's basically a piece of cloth with a netting in the middle, that goes over the water barrels. So after people fetch water from the dams, they put the water through the net and it catches all the cyclops and is 100% effective when used. We got to partake in the surveillance action, in which we went to each household and checked their nets to make sure they were still viable and if they weren't, they are given a brand new one. The efforts are really paying off because a couple of years ago they reported about 1000 cases of Guinea Worm, but this year there has been less than 500, which is great progress!

Ghana has their Presidential elections on December 7th, which is so exciting for us to be in another country that will hold a major election. There are great campaigns for a peaceful election, since there has been quite a few incidents of political violence, and because of this the Peace Corps is pulling all 150 volunteer all over Ghana 2 days before and after the elections together in a town called Bunso to make sure of our safety. The elections here are pretty heated and tight, there are 8 major candidates competing for the Presidency.

Well I hope everyone is well and I hope that many of you are not affected too much by the economic downfall that's taking place. Please take care!

A Quick Update...

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know what I've been up to for the past week. I have been relocated to a host family in a town called Old Tafo. They have taken me in for the next 9 weeks until we finish training. It has been an interesting experience because they speak no English whatsoever and we can only converse in Twi. I will post more details about them later and post some pictures. I also have some news..... We have all received our site assignments and I will be heading to the Upper West Region to a town called Wechiau where I will be mainly working to build up the Health Clinics. The language of the region is called Dagaare, and I have been learning it for the past week! It has been so difficult because I have been going to language classes for Dagaare in the morning and than I have to head home to a family that only speaks Twi, I don't recommend learning two completely different languages at one time on anybody!
Also, I have posted my address here in Ghana in a earlier post, but I think I may have made a mistake and forgot the Ghana part, so here it is again:
Sinae Hong, PCT
Peace Corps Ghana
P.O. Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa

but if the carrier doesn't P.O. boxes the address is:
Sinae Hong, PCT
26 West Cantonments
Switch Back Lane
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa

Oh, I also have a phone here, the number is 011233240685458. You need to dial this exact number (I have added the country code and everything). I will try to make some calls out too, but even receiving a text message from y'all would make me the happiest girl in the world!
Well I hope everyone is doing well, more to come soon!
Love, Sinae

Pictures!

Kath, there's a Deloitte in Accra! It made me think of you!
This is the new Presidential Palace, it's supposed to look like a stool on the top of the building
The 6th graders in Agoue Fie

Everyone wanted to be included in the shot! This definately made me think of home back in the PNW! When it rains here, it REALLY rains!

This is just the beginning

Hey Everyone! This is my first official blog post from Ghana! I just wanted you all to know that I'm doing well and I have officially fallen in love...... with Africa of course and all it has to offer! This past week has been such a whirlwind and so much has happened. I promise to post some pictures soon, but I'm currently at an internet cafe with not much time to spare. Here is a brief recap of my journey so far...
We landed in Accra and did a couple days of training there, just basic language and safety lessons. On the third day, we were sent out with a partner to explore the city and boy was it scary! Here in Ghana, they travel in minivans called tro-tros that go fast and if you're not careful it will start driving whether you're fully in the car or not! Every driver on the road has the most aggressive road rage I have ever seen! People are honking left and right, and no one pays attention to speed limits or pedestrians/bikers for that matter!
After Accra, we all were sent out on a vision quest where we were to follow a current Peace Corps Volunteer in their village or town for four days. I was sent to a town called Agoue Fie, which is in the outskirts of the Volta region and about 9 hours away from Accra. It was survival of the fittest and each man its own because everyone was expected to figure out their own way to the site they are to be at. I personally, had to ride a 4 hour tro ride to a town called Ho Hoe and then take another tro from Ho Hoe to Nkwanta. Here in Ghana, there are NO bus schedules so the buses only leave when it is full, so I had to wait 3 hours for the bus to get a move on and when it finally did, it took about 3 hours to get to Nkwanta on unpaved roads. At Nkwanta I was greeted by my host volunteer and from there we waited another 3 hours and had to convince a driver to take us to Agoue Fie, which is in the middle of nowhere and cars only drive through twice a week! Agoue Fie is a small village composed of multiple tribes, with no running water, no electricity, and no shower. So I was forced to take bucket baths, use a latrine, and sit by candlelight and listen to the BBC on a battery powered radio for entertainment. We were asleep by 9 and awake by 6, since the sun sets at approx 6.30 and rises at 6 every day and night! Being in Agoue Fie has really reinforced my desire and passion for joining the Peace Corps in the first place because I really got to experience firsthand the great things volunteers are doing here and the sense of real world perspective he has attained by living in this village. I got to see the community latrines that he has installed with the help of the villagers, learned about the malaria and family planning campaigns that he has headed, and also visited the local school where health lessons are taught at. I got to have a try at the teaching, so I taught the kids about diseases that could be contracted without the use of shoes or sandals. What can I say about the village kids? They are absolutely wonderful, they are well mannered, curious, and always so eager to learn. I have a lot of pictures to post of the kids, because they are obsessed with the camera! Every time, I take out my camera, kids from all corners will come out of nowhere to swarm to the focal point, so they could be included in the shoot. The next obstacle was figuring out how I was supposed to get back to our next training site in Kukurantumi. We waited for hours for any car to pass through town, but we had no luck, so the Peace Corps van had to personally come get me the next morning.
Now, I am in a town called Kukurantumi for 10 weeks where I will be completing my training and then on December 13th, depending on whether I pass all the tests or not, I will be officially sworn in as a volunteer and then the next day I will be sent out to my site where I will be for 2 years!
I just want to thank everyone for their emails, I promise to reply to them the next time I have some time, but please keep writing me because they make me feel soooo loved and make me feel at home! I miss you all and am thinking of you always!
Love, Sinae

P.S. Here is my address where I can receive mail,
Sinae Hong, PCV
Peace Corps Ghana
P.O. Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa

but if you plan to mail me something through a carrier that doesn't deliver to P.O. Boxes, here is an alternative address,
Sinae Hong, PCV
26 West Cantonments
Switch Back Lane
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa

Hello-Goodbye!

Hello everyone!
I just wanted to start off my blog with a goodbye! This is my last night in the States until I head off to Ghana with my Peace Corps group. I have been in Philladelphia for the last couple of days for orientation and to meet the other volunteers in my group. There are about 30 of us, and everyone is so great and passionate about the work they'll be doing in Ghana. Many of you may know already what my task is in Ghana, but for those of you who don't, I will be working in the health sector as a health, water, and sanitation educator. I am basically going to be living in a rural community for two years and educate them on safe living practices and will also be doing some public health work. I am really excited about the experience and nervous at the same time. I'm also worried because as most of you may know, I, Sinae Hong, does NOT do well in hot weather!
I will be in the capital of Ghana known as Accra for a couple of months for training and they are a bit more advanced in technology, so I will have some internet and some wireless coverage for my phone that I'm bringing with me from home, so please send me many emails, pictures, and messages (even if it's a simple hi), I would love to hear from you all, expecially since I will, and already am sooo homesick and miss you all very much! Until the next time, take care everyone, I love you all!
Love, Sinae