“While the rest of the world has been improving technology, Ghana has been improving the quality of man’s humanity to man.”
This was one of those put a mirror under her nose to see if she is alive mornings. My mother would have said I must have needed it. The dogs slept in with me then they waited on the stairs to make sure I was up and moving. I was, barely.
The weather has been amazing, but today starts a bit of a heatwave, a Cape Cod heatwave. It was be in the high 70’s and low 80’s through the weekend. The nights have been in the 50’s, but that too is disappearing. Nights in the mid to high 60’s will make a comeback. I know those of you living in states with 3 digit temperatures are probably thinking how silly it is that I am complaining, but weather is relative. If we hit 3 digits here, it would mean the end of the world.
In two years, I will be 80. I hope. My plan is to visit Ghana that year for what I figure is the last time. Starting in a few months, I have to live frugally to save my money. I was asked why I go back to Ghana. It isn’t as if I lived there long, only two years. I tried to explain. I talked about how Ghana became home, how Ghanaians became my friends. It was there I found my love of teaching. I was as comfortable in Ghana as I had been anywhere. I woke up happy every day. I found life-long friends among the volunteers. We shared the same feelings and experiences in Ghana. They get it. I wrote the following a long while back. Maybe I should have read it to her.
It didn’t take long after training to realize the best part of Peace Corps isn’t Peace Corps. It is just living every day because that’s what Peace Corps comes down to, just living your best life in a place you couldn’t imagine. It is living on your own in a village or at a school. It is teaching every day. It is shopping in the market every three days. It is taking joy in speaking the language you learned in training. It is wearing Ghanaian cloth dresses and relegating the clothes you brought with you to the moldy suitcases. It is loving people and a country with all of your heart from breakfast to bed and forever after. Peace Corps doesn’t tell you that part, the loving part, but I expect they know it will be there.
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August 7, 2025 at 2:01 pm
Two years is a long time at that young age and having that intense an experience. It’s no wonder that you have such a strong connection to Ghana. It was a big part of who you became.
I was a slug this morning, too. I didn’t wake up until after 7AM which is about 3 hours later than normal. Piki Dog slept in, too. He’s not feeling well today. He might have tummy issues. He ate too much watermelon yesterday. It’s warming up here and most of the Canadian wildfire haze has cleared out. The real heat hits on Sunday.
August 7, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Caryn,
I never thought of it that way, but you are right. I was twenty-one when I arrived in Ghana and twenty three when I left. Once I finished training, though, the two years seemed to whiz by. That experience did give me so much and has stayed with me even now. My friends would tell you that same thing: that experience changed them forever too.
I chuckled when I read your sleeping in this morning. I woke up at 11. I didn’t turn off the light until nearly 4 so I hope I get a pass on the 11.
Poor Piki Dog. I hope he’ll feel better as the day gets older. I noticed the same things about Sunday. It could reach 86°.