I feel the best way to describe an EWB Overseas Volunteer Staff's (OVS) daily life is that it is dynamic and full of contrast- Wayne and I were recently remarking on the fact that in one day you can go from the field- wearing wellington boots, knee high in water, working with farmers, to an office- in high heels, typing on a laptop. Our days are anything but "ordinary" (in Canadian terms), and this day is by no means indicative of what every OVS does, or what I always do, but I thought it might be interesting to share with you nonetheless.
Hopefully this helps to demystify what it is actually like to be living and working in a country foreign to our Canadian upbringing.
**Time** **Activity**
530-630 Wake up, go from hut to hut to greet my whole family, the chief, the 3 wives, and countless children. Eat breakfast, take a bucket bath.
630-7 Moto to meet Mustapha- a very dedicated and inspiring Extension Agent **(MoFA OVS get to ride motos!!)**
7-720 Travel to Taha (OVS spend a lot of time moto-ing here and there, which results in an incredible(?) moto-tan)
740-840 Coach AEA through the facilitation of Agriculture as a Business Card 2: improving group meetings
8:40-10 Moto to another community to monitor the harvesting of Expanded Rice program, walk through fields, observe farmers harvesting, thrashing, hear their concerns about the low yield, take a video of the AEA and farmer describing the effects of flooding. **(OVS get to work hand in hand with farmers, in beautiful fields, and try their best to relay these experiences to engage Canadians- and need SERIOUS patience to actually upload these videos)**
10-1045 Travel back to town, eat some egg and bread
1045-1110 Travel to MoFA district office
11-12 Greet everyone at the office, sit in on an emergency meeting re: the rice surveys, where Director informed everyone that the next few months will be extremely busy before National Farmers Day and that there are still no funds for fuel money- but they should all be encouraged and continue to go to the field as much as possible to complete projects **(OVS can (and DO)go from being dirty and sweaty in the field, to dressy and formal in an office meeting)**
1-2 Go home and wash some clothes by hand so I can be "clean" tomorrow when I travel to pong-tamale to work with Carissa (ProJF) at the Vet. College **(OVS can have poor time management skills, and often wear clothes that aren't entirely clean)**
2-3 Back at office, work on computer- set goals for the week- what do I need to accomplish by weeks end? what needs to happen to get me there? **(OVS placements are pretty self directed and you have to drive your own schedule and accomplishments)**
3-6 Meet with Sarah Grant-our team MoFA incredible Team Lead, for coaching and feedback on my current strategy and initiatives **(OVS excel when they have great coaches, and EWBers are overly reflective and OVS can think and analyze as much, (sometimes more), than they DO)** .
6-8 Moto home, greet everyone again, spend time singing and clapping with kids, have a quick nap with Sule- my fav. little baby boy, take a refreshingly cool bucket shower, and eat a big bowl of TZ with my VERY BIG (and incredible) family in Wamale. **(OVS, though they are physically separated from their biological family members in Canada, can form incredibly close bonds with their local family members)**
8-10 Work in my mud hut (that has electricity!) on some presentations, and talk on the phone to my best friend in Canada. **(Straddling Canadian/Ghanaian relationships is an interesting balance but allows for beautiful interactions with very unique and diverse people; a 2 year old Ghanaian boy who knows 10 English words, to a 23 year old Masters student in Canada)**
10- Fall asleep comfortably- with my fan blowing on my face and my mosquito net engulfing my still-sweaty body.
So what do you think? What have you been up to lately in Canada, or wherever you find yourself on this vast earth? Were you surprised by anything above or was this pretty much in line with your perception of what I've been doing?
Love Robin
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