Change, it is a coming!

I have found that as I get older, different things start to mean more to me and other things have lost their pull on me.  For instance, I now know that wherever I am, is home to me, whether this be for 2 days or 2 years, when I get to a place where I know I am safe and solid, it becomes my home. Just ask any of the Peace Corps Volunteers that I stay with; I set my bag down and it explodes, where within an hour, it looks like I have been living with them for the past 2 weeks. Some might think this is a bad thing, but I think it shows how Adaptable (Peace Corps Key Word!!!!!) and comfortable I am with myself and the person I am staying with! I have also learned the valuable lesson that I can’t do everything by myself; in fact I SHOULDN’T do everything by myself. I have learned so much more by asking other for help and input. This sounds like an easy thing to do, asking for help, but let me tell you, it wasn’t! Pride can be a virtue, until it kicks your ass, and your standing in a puddle of mud, which you can’t get out of. Thank goodness I have learned this lesson and now put trust into others to do what needs to be done.

Something that has lost its pull on me is food, this is not to say that I have lost the need and WANT to eat American food…all the time….but it now does not take up as much time on my daily schedule as it used to.  Food and I have never gotten along, well other then the fact that it was made to be eaten and I was made to eat. More, it was that I did not have control on how much I ate and it just kept being a temptress and making me weak with want. But no more!!!! I have more control of my body and my mind.

I have always been good at moving around, meeting new people, starting a new life, but not always good at keep contact with those in my past. Since moving to Africa, I have learned that family comes in many different forms and it takes work to keep a family together. I have had many families in my past: camp families, blood family, school family, theater family and now Peace Corps family. Each of these families hold a different part of me, and that part will always be there. I have depended on each of these families at different times in my past, and I know that I can always count on each of them when I need their help. Since being in the Peace Corps, I have come to rely on them more and more, and don’t know what I would have done without them. Never turn down a family, because even if you leave them physically, they will still have you and you will still have them as well.

Change….It happens, no one can stop it, so I say embrace what happens and go with it, cause if you don’t, life is going to take LOONNNGGG time for you!

How is stay clean in Africa....

How I stay clean in Africa!

Here is the run down on how I stay clean in Ghana and how most Ghanaians keep clean as well.

There are no showers here, so to stay clean here these are the steps I take:

Step 1: Get a med. Sized bucket

Step 2: Fill bucket with water

Step 3: Get a med. Sized cup

Step 4: Place cut into bucket and fill with water

Step 5: With cup in hand, rise hand above your head, and tilt down

Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 till clean

There are no sinks here to clean my teeth, so here are the steps that I take:

Step 1: Fill a med. Sized cup with water

Step 2: Put toothpaste on toothbrush

Step 3: Walk outside your room to a place where you can spit, for me this is outside my room near a tree

Step 4: Brush teeth

Step 5: With cup of water, wash out your mouth and spit

*Side note: Some Ghanaians don’t use toothbrushes, they use a chew stick, which is a small stick from the Neem tree which grows throughout Ghana and has an anti-bacterial property, to clean their teeth.*

There are of course no laundry machines here, so I use two buckets to clean my clothes:

Step 1: Fill both buckets with clean water

 

Step 2: Put washing powder (like OMO, tide or any of the others) in one of the buckets

Step 3: Place dirty clothes in bucket with washing powder

Step 4: Wash each piece of clothing separately by hand in a circular motion, while dunking the clothes back into the soapy water

Step 5: Once washed, ring out clothing and place into the clean bucket of water

Step 6: Repeat steps 4-5 till all clothes are washed

Step 7: With the already washed clothes in the clean bucket of water, take each piece separately and agitate them in the clean water to remove the excess soap

Step 8: Ring the clean clothes out of water

Step 9: Turn inside out and hang on line to dry

 

*I want to challenge all of you, to see if you can also stay clean with such little water!*