And so it begins

August 1, 5:30pm

After yet another Calgary-Toronto flight completed, I am now at the EWB House in Toronto. The house is reminiscent of the days I spent living in the Queens Ghetto. I feel like I have a fairly good understanding of where I'm going, and know that what I have right now is eons above anything anyone will have in my town. The difference is, I'm in Toronto, where I've lived for the last 5 years, and can't shake the feeling of what I'm "supposed" to have while living in Toronto.

Once the other JFs arrive, we’ll kick our pre-departure training off with a welcome and intro session this evening, and then the “fun” will officially begin tomorrow morning. From the schedule I’ve seen so far, it looks like we have sessions on understanding poverty, EWB strategy and methods, some agricultural case studies, and lots of reading. Wednesday afternoon we will head out on our trans-Atlantic flights.

I’ve received a few more details of my actual placement with MoFA. I won’t be working with the AAB Program as I previously thought (although several of my colleagues will still be). Instead, I will supporting the Farmers Innovation Challenge in the Upper West Region. And by Upper West, they really do mean the Upper West. I will be based out of the Lawra District, which is as far up and west as you can go before leaving Ghana.

Upper West Region, Ghana. The green district in the top left corner is officially my district now.

In one sentence, the Farmer Innovation Challenge is a way for farmers to share new technologies and best practices with each other, and gain both financial and methodology support from MoFA.

August 1, 9:00 pm

I have my passport back now, with a Ghanaian Visa pasted in, and people were talking about plane tickets this evening too. I guess this means I’m really going.

August 2, 8:00 am

As soon as everyone is ready, we’ll be heading over to the U of Toronto campus for today’s learning sessions. The sky’s look like they’re ready to rain on us, but I hope it holds off so we can get there dry. It seems weird to be back in Toronto without my car but I guess living without one is something I’m going to have to get used to.

And so it all begins …