Rain, Rain, Go away, and come back another day. Is not a song that is sung here. And for good reason. The interesting and most valuable lesson I have come to learn, has shown itself only through time. As the seasons changed from Rainy to Dry, from Dry to Rainy, I realized the most important lesson. Water is life. This may seem obvious, and is not a new concept or idea or breakthrough. But this realization is something that I can only hope to explain from my experiences in the Northern Region, Ghana. --------------------------- Around April I remember sitting in my [View Full Entry]

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[url='/Videos/2976.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2976.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] Dancers in Singa "Kristy! It's been a long time." I greet Chief Zack, never has he approached me to greet me. He is a chief, and as tradition goes, he is supposed to be greeted first, normally lower then him with your hands closed. I don't really apply to these rules but try my best to show respect. He is one person that I trust and respect fully in Ghana. I admire him and his life. I only wish I had more time to learn from him. He tells me about an NGO that will be hosting a [View Full Entry]

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To Benin and Back In Africa that is the way it is. I almost forgot. In an attempt to extend my Ghanaian Visa, I had to physically leave the country and return. I thought I was lucky to be so close to a border with some very spectacular mountains that I often daydream about looking out of my window. I was excited to get closer to them and maybe get a peak inside Togo - a place I knew relatively nothing about. I set out with a friend on the back of a motorbike to the border, on the way wondering [View Full Entry]

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Photographs from Ghana. [View Full Entry]

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School I never thought that a topic like education could be such a huge issue in development. I guess I had the assumption before I came that if there were more school facilities and teachers that anyone could learn and a country would be well on its way. I made some very simplistic assumptions, which I am learning the hard answers to now. At home in Canada, if I think back to my grade school days, I remember getting up and being walked to school by my mom or older school kids, I remember going to school and feeling like I [View Full Entry]

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It is one thing to be overseas in terms of actually over an ocean away from your home country, but the overseas I am talking about is just as out of reach, out of mind and out of sight. The “overseas” areas I am talking about are here, contained in Ghana, but for me specifically in East Gonja. There are no seas or oceans that run through Ghana, but when the rainy season hits Ghana it cuts off communities from their District Assembly (local government), and roads to market and hospital facilities. The rainy season is usually from May until [View Full Entry]

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In the month of Ramadan, where Muslims observe fasting from daylight to sunset, the EWB volunteers in Tamale, Ghana decided why not try and hold our own Stand Up event, right here in Tamale. It was a challenge to organize and recruit people in Ghana to come to the event. Imagine handing out flyers and explaining to your friends, family and colleagues in Tamale about the event and why they should come. It was not an easy task, but definitely great for raising awareness and it forced me to answer some very difficult questions about the MDGs, my perspective on [View Full Entry]

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Desiba! As I am getting into the “regular” routine of going to work, I know that I will be leaving the office and staying in a district in the Northern region. It will only be a couple weeks until I move for 3-4 months to the district of choice, commuting back to Tamale as required. I will be working with the Planning Officer and doing capacity building in the District, as well as documenting the current process and using it as a model or pilot district. “Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme (NORPREP) seeks to improve the livelihoods and living conditions of [View Full Entry]

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Have you ever been to some place that is breathtaking? That you never imagined, that you had never seen before? I have been to many places and seen many breathtaking sights, but this feeling is different. Something that was beautiful, but only for a moment to me. For everyone it is a sight that is worrisome. Where did the water go? Where are the fish? What will happen in the dry season? How will these communities endure? My holiday is over. [View Full Entry]

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That is right. I am in the vacation period of culture shock, and loving every minute of it. Is that bad? Well who cares I am having a great time! It does not help that I arrived in Zabzugu yesterday only to be surprised by the shape of blue mountains on the horizon, the green of the grass and the ever red of the dirt. I was promptly greeted at the District Assembly and placed at their guesthouse, my room across from where the President stays when he visits. Spoiled. And to top things off they bring my meals to me [View Full Entry]

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