Guaman Lowdown

I have just returned from visiting my site Guaman, Volta. I thought that I would share a couple quick notes about my home for the next two years (I'll actually move in about a month from now, in mid-August).

Language: I was sweating bullets before I got to my site. Everyone around me was learning Ewe, and I was the only one learning Twi. I was positive that that was a mistake, and I was going to be linguistically SOL when I got to my site. My fears were further intensified when I met my counterpart and supervisor, who told me that the language I should have learned was Buem. This did not sit well with me, and I was sure that I would get to my site, and my Twi would be met with nothing but blank stares. These feelings of dread were exacerbated when I got to Hohoe (the city nearest to my site), and everyone spoke Ewe. Everyone. Ewe is to Twi as German is to English. I was terrified, not to mention completely confused.

All my fears were unfounded, and I soon realized that, while Buem is the local language, Twi is so widely spoken, that it will serve me perfectly in my work over the next two years.

Utilities: I was lead to believe that I would be without water or electricity. That is incorrect. I have electricity. In fact, my supervisor said that the electricity works more than 90% of the time. In fact, I am using that very electricity to write this blog post. There is cell service in Guaman, but I will have to switch networks (so please send me an email if you want my new phone number). By extension, the cell provider in town also provides mobile internet, but nothing that fits into a PCV budget, so don't start expecting daily emails.

All this having been said, I will still be showering with rainwater.

Transportation: Guaman is very near the road that connects Hohoe to Nkwanta, so it is never too difficult to catch a taxi out of town.

Friends: I intend to build close relationships in Guaman, but I am still lucky enough to have two of my good friends within an hour or two of me, and about five friends will live within a reasonable distance from Hohoe, so I may see them there when I go to town to shop or blog.

Size: According to my site description, Guaman is about 2500 people. However, when I told that to my supervisor, he laughed. He said Guaman is probably about 600-800. Now that I have visited... well, 600 may be highballing it. Which leads me to my next point.

Food: As previously mentioned, Guaman is only about 600 people, and they are all farming all day, so the idea of a restaurant never really took off here. At all. No such thing as a restaurant in Guaman. Looks like Uncle D will be making his own fufu from here on out.

All in all, Guaman is an amazing town. Everyone there greeted me with open arms (and open bottles of apateshi, but I'll save that story for a different blog post). I have hundreds of pictures and dozens of videos to help give a glimpse into my life here. I will try to distill those down to the few that I can upload on a Ghanaian connection.

Until then, keep trying to give peace a chance.