School's Out For Summer

I'm really hoping that you just sang along to the title of this blog.

Actually, school is NOT out for summer in Ghana. Here, the schools have 3 trimesters, each about 14 weeks, and we are currently in the middle of the 3rd trimester.

What I'm referring to, of course, is US schools. And how did I know that they're out? (aside from looking at my calendar and facebook that is...)

Accra has been inundated with obrunis!

Last weekend, Jamie and I went to pick up the new WPE volunteers from the airport.  We stopped at the mall on the way there for the usual:  a trip to the bathrooms with flushing toilets and milk chocolate from the air-conditioned grocery store.  While we were people-watching in the food court, I realized just how many more young white people were around relative to what we normally see.

It makes sense.  Ghana, as a developing country with a stable government, is the recipient for a lot of volunteers.  And I imagine the vast majority of volunteers are high school and college students who use their summer vacations for the opportunity to travel, to make a difference, to be an agent of change.  As I was preparing for my arrival in September, it seemed like everywhere I turned, someone knew someone who had spent time in Ghana.  And technically, I myself, am a foreign volunteer working in Ghana, one who finds it hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since I graduated from Dartmouth (how did this happen?). So in many ways, I'm not any different from the hordes of people arriving for the summer.

But seeing the many new arrivals made me realize two things.  1)  I've been here (in Ghana) a long time.  Long enough to be able to notice changes in the foreign population. 2) I've really come to see Ghana (specifically, Tema) as one of the places that I could consider "home" (along with Marietta and Hanover).  I have habits about where I buy certain products, I have routines regarding how I spend my time.   It's rare that I do something extremely new or different or something that completely shakes up my world.  For the most part, life here is just life. (And I mean that in a good way -- I have never been a fan of unnecessary excitement or drama).  My time here has made this community a part of my life, a part of me. Even if, to the average Ghanaian, I still look like just another obruni.