During Vision Quest we all had the opportinity to visit a current volunteer's site and how they live and what they do in their job.
Vision Quest is a program where the new volunteers are sent out to visit the site of a current volunteer whereby experiencing "what it is really like to be a volunteer" from the get-go. It is my understanding that this is the first time that a Vision Quest has been done here in Ghana but it has been successful in other African countries. Kate and Andrew, two current volunteers, were organizing the Vision Quest and they did a great job, Thank You!!!
Before we left we were all very nervous and scared of what was to come. Kate and Andrew encouraged us to think of our Vision Quest as a "Hero's Journey" and what do all hero's journey's have? Of course there's:
The Call
The Challenges
The Abyss
The Threshold
The Revelation
The Transformation
The Return
The Achievement
and so on and so forth...
Well the reality of Vision Quest was that there were definitely challenges. There was the threshold of reaching the site safely. The revelation of what we were in for the next two years and the return to the flock of trainees in the end.
I don't know about the abyss but I definitely experienced a transformation in terms of confidence that I could move around Ghana alone. The Achievement, I suppose was, that none of us got lost or injured.
For my Vision Quest I was sent to visit Kristi Kienast at Abo Abo #2. For me, Vision Quest was a chance to finally relax. Here's my story:
I'm dirty, stinky, and sweating to no end. My clothes are the same clothes I've worn for the past few days. I rode in two trotros, a taxi, and a bus from Valley View University to the sub-office in Kumasi. I am finally starting to get the full experience of being a PCT here in Ghana. I'm still converting cedis to dollars though.
The Kumasi sub-office is a nice house with a full kitchen, running water, electricity, refrigeration, and air-conditioning. They even have chickens that lay eggs for the guests. There are two rooms with 7 beds. There is also a very nice selection of books to read. The have two computers to get work done on as well. There is a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL) that stays at the sub-office and keeps things in order. The PCVL has a private suite and certain other perks.
We had egg sandwiches that we each made for ourselves. I was able to do some laundry and hang it in the air conditioned room overnight to dry. It still was not dry in the morning but at least I had clean moist clothes. After I finished my laundry at ~8:30 PM we all went down to the local spot for beer and kabobs. I was finally able to try the local Guinness Stout and it was good!!! It was smoother and sweeter than the Guinness sold in the US. The kabobs were some type of sausage links sliced on a kabob stick. The Kabobs had some peppery spice on them and they were very good. I think they were 5000 or 7000 cedis each, about the same as the beer. We all chatted for a couple of hours and enjoyed a few beers. We also tried a local malt beverage called Malta that is basically a non-fermented, non-alcoholic, carbonated beer. After hanging out for too long we headed back to the sub-office.
It was late and the traffic along the road home was moving fast. There were quiet a few people along the way back. We met a Asante (a-shan-tee) man that spoke Italian. I don't know how it happened but one of the girls in our group just started up a conversation with him in Italian. The man was a truck driver who while in the Military, spent some time in Italy.
We continued to the office and each had a bed to sleep in. I was in the room with out A/C so I was hot and sweaty. I also lacked a mosquito net on my bed and was getting my ears buzzed by mosquitos which was annoying.
I felt pretty good the next morning after taking a shower. We ended up leaving at about 7:45 AM and we hit traffic pretty hard. We took the bus into Kumasi for 1000 cedis each. It stopped and we walked to the trotro station. I went with Dave and Jackie to Race Course station which was a bit of a walk but not too bad. I told some Ghanaians where I need to go and they helped me buy a ticket (22,000 cedis). We had to wait for the trotro to fill as is usual so I sat there for about 30 or 45 minutes. The trotro I was on had quiet a bit of goods on the roof. We stopped in Berekum to drop some goods including a coffin then we continued on to Dormaa Ahenkro where I was headed first. Fortunately I met a nice Ghanaian girl, Becky, who spoke good English and was able to help me find my way. Had I followed the directions I was given to the site I would have had to walk ~5 miles to Abo Abo #2.
I had not previously met Kristi Kienast but being the only white girl within miles she would be easy to find. Thanks to Becky, the girl I met on the trotro I was able to find a trotro that went to Kristi's village. The driver also knew Kristi as well, so he would help me find her.
The trotro ride from Dorma Ahenkro to Abo Abo #2 was a hell of a rough ride. The road was an unpaved dirt/clay road with channels eroded into it from the rain. This made for a bumpy ride in a trotro that already had horrible suspension.
I arrived at ~3:30 PM. One of Kristi's students met me where the trotro dropped me and took me to meet Kristi. We met Kristi at her friend Dorris' house. Kristi took me to her house and fed me. We then went into town to get some beers. Then we just chatted and played cards. Kristi taught me to play Pinochle. We talked about our families and what we like to do. Kristi is an Idealist (an ENFP). I don't know how this subject came up but when I mentioned it to her, she knew what MTBI theory was and she didn't hesitate to give me her profile. I was sort of surprised that she knew and it caught me off guard. We talked about what we would do while I was there and she said we should go to visit Preston in Berekum a couple of hours away. I was tired of traveling and really didn't want to go but I knew that kristi wanted to go so I said OK. My first impression of Kristi was positive. I didn't really feel attracted to her when we first met but I thought she was cute. ...Will be contiued!!!