Visiting Volta

I did not get around to uploading pictures from last weekend before our departure Saturday morning (clearly I went against the age old adage "under promise, over deliver"...), and I'm still processing this past weekend, particularly our visit to the slave castles, so I figure better late than never on the Volta region update.

I've got tons of pictures, so no need to hear me drone toooo much (can't help myself, have to write a little!)

For context, we spent our second full weekend in the Volta region, which is in the Eastern part of Ghana, bordering Togo.  Our trip out there was part service and part adventure - Saturday was focused on volunteering and working with a village on the border of Togo, Kpetoe, while we hiked and went to a fantastic waterfall on Sunday.

On Saturday, we were working with an organization called Adanu, which works with communities to educate and empower (find out more HERE).  We were there for the breaking ground ceremony for a new 3-Unit classroom, and helped lay the beginning foundation (mixing concrete, new skill?), as well as provide some high-level training to the community's teachers.  Earlier in the morning, we had briefly visited one of the villages Adanu has been working with for several years (some of the pictures are from that) - it's pretty incredible the work they are accomplishing, and it was special to be part of the beginning of the project in Kpetoe.

The village kids loveeeeed pictures, and they were all clamoring to get into the pictures.  The amazing thing was that even if they didn't really speak English, they still knew "selfie," and would all crowd around us to join a picture.

Chrissy got a great picture of the "behind-the-scenes" for this one - the actual selfie couldn't even capture all the little kids attempting to join (also, yes, that is a "Your Global Investment Authority" hat - gotta rep every day 😉  ).

And here's the PIMCO crew!  From left, Mack, Chloe, myself, and Josh - it's been great sharing this opportunity with these guys, and learning about everyone's experience at PIMCO. 

The following are some pictures of the traditional dance the kids performed for us as a welcome, as well as pictures with the village kids.  I have about 100 other pictures like these - the kids were not only fascinated with us, but also with the big DSLR cameras, and kept wanting to learn how to use them.

They also loved teaching us things, with varying success.  For example, they taught us a simple game they play with rocks - a few of us learned, with decent success (took a surprising about of coordination).  The other thing they loved trying to teach us was traditional dancing - this was NOT as successful, but we tried, and certainly laughed throughout the process.

As a note, this is Francisca - we spent much of the day together.  She is clearly super bright, and her English was incredibly strong.  She shared her rocky story with Mack and I, including an abusive step-father and numerous moves.  This was one of the most touching and difficult parts of the day: the opportunities for these kids are just so much more limited, just because they don't have access or resources. Even simple things like food - while we were provided both lunch and dinner, a lot of the kids didn't get lunch and/or dinner.

Francisca gave me her address, and I'm hoping to be able to write her - overall, meeting an intelligent girl like her really makes the difficulties these communities experience real.

Saturday night, there was a big bonfire and one of the village elders told a story - he told it both in the local language as well as in English, thankfully. The ultimate message was about how we are stronger together, and shouldn't try to gain personally by going it alone and by-passing our partners.  It was a powerful message, wrapping up a powerful day.

On Sunday, we did a crazy hike up to Mt Afadjato.  Bismark, our logistics coordinator/fixer/local guide extraordinaire, said it took about 45 minutes to the top - and when we were walking towards the path, I noticed that the path had to be straight up to cover that much ground in 45 minutes.  Andddd that is basically what happened.

As you can see from this pic of team HFFG, it was bloody hot, and by the time we got to the top after about 50 minutes of walking straight uphill, we were pretty effing sweaty.

I'm not sure I've ever hiked in such heat - if I have and it was anything like this, I probably blocked it in my memory...

Here's the whole GHCC crew - everyone made it to the top and no one managed to injure themselves, despite some of us being less than prepared for trail hiking (note to self, Vans are NOT appropriate hiking shoes.)

After the brutal hike, we ended the weekend at this incredible waterfall - I can't begin to describe how refreshing it felt after the morning. There is something so wonderful about being surrounded by nature, and feeling it's power.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but I think Uwe's stance does illustrate the feeling of joy.

As we move into the last week, it's been crazy how quickly the program has flown by.  Been doing a lot of reflecting, so will try to get one or two things out this week before heading to South Africa to meet my parents for our safari glamping adventure 👌

Ghana Update (Finally...)

Alas, I knew this would happen - three drafted posts, yet no updated blog.  As we end the third week of our adventure here in Ghana, we've spent a lot of time reflecting, and I plan on sharing some of those reflections over the next week or so.  But before bussing off to Cape Coast tomorrow, I wanted to share some pictures from our field visit to Brong Ahafo last week and then the team's trip to the Volta region over last weekend.

I’ll start with posting pictures from Brong Ahafo, with some select comments this evening, and try to get the Volta pictures up before we leave for Cape Coast in the morning (6:50 am departure, we shall see how aggressive I can be haha).

Our trip to Brong Ahafo was a field visit, and thus organized by the NGO we are working with - it was just Uwe, Rahul and I, along with the new IT Officer, Isaac, and the HR Manager, Yaw.  We spent time primarily in Sunyani, the capital of the Brong Ahafo region, which is north of the Ashanti region, bordering Ivory Coast.  

Our time in the region was driven by a desire to see how data was collected in the field, and the interaction of field offices in the project process - in addition to speaking with staff based in the region, we were able to join one of the field ambassadors in the field as he educated community members about malaria. 

We were also able to meet a few of HFFG’s external stakeholders, including members of the Sunyani municipal office, the municipal health director, and one of the Queen Mothers for Sunyani.  We also spent some time in one of the field offices in Berekum, where HFFG is running a project on HIV/STIs, targeting female sex workers.

Overall the field visit was incredibly useful for our project, allowing us to understand the data collection process, as well as the connectivity to HQ in Accra.

  

We also had our fair share of memorable moments, like when one of the women HFFG’s ambassador was educating offered me her son to marry (in Ghanaian, so I only got the brief translations - I’m sure there was more to this, since the Ghanaian men we were with were DYING), or when one of the peer educators in Berekum (who are part of the FSW target population) took a particular interest in Rahul. 

We also got to spend eight hours in an SUV driving each way - a thrilling ride, particularly when sitting in the middle seat… fortunately, Rahul and I split time in the middle, but that didn’t prevent my legs from being sore for at least two days after.  The drive did offer an extensive amount of time to learn about the differences between bananas and plantains though!

A Dose of Perspective

What a whirlwind week!  We've been hard at work on learning about our organizations and revising our Scopes of Work for the next three weeks, which turned out to not only be time-consuming (we thought we would only need 20-minute introduction meetings for each department of HFFG, when we really needed about 2.5 hours per dept....), but also exhausting.  Plus the heat here really saps the energy!  Most nights we get back, maybe go out to dinner, and pass out - just don't have the brain power to do more at that point.  However, the projects seem to be chugging along, and I think we have a pretty clear idea at this point of how we need to spend the next three weeks.  Hopefully we can stick to that!

In that vein, my team is heading out to the field early tomorrow - we'll be in the Brong Ahafo region until Wednesday, meeting with the regional coordinators and field staff to discuss a few of the projects they are working on (notably, sexual reproductive health (SRH) and malaria prevention).  But before leaving, I wanted to share a few pictures from our visit to Jamestown, a fishing village within Accra located in one of the old British parts of the city.

It certainly was a healthy dose of perspective - it's not the images you see most of the time, and is a true reminder of why what we are working on with these NGOs is so important.  But it also reminds you that economic development and global citizenship is ultimately about improving the lives of individuals.

These two kids were my favorite part - the smiles, the simple joy on their faces as they posed, and then the delightful screeches when they saw the tiny picture on my camera.  How can we not want to help?  How can we not do our best to give these boys the opportunities to grow up and lead a sustainable life?

xx

Here We Go Again - Adult-ing Version!

I like to think it was only a matter of time before I re-visited this blog. I guess I probably thought it would be sooner than 4 years later.

But here we are, on the brink of a new adventure abroad - so I'm back. But this time is for pro bono work, not studying, so kind of like the adult-ing version?

So, what is this pro bono assignment I've wriggled myself into?

On February 17th, I'll be flying from New York City to Accra, Ghana (through my favorite, London Heathrow), as part of a multi-company pro bono consulting cohort.  Run by PYXERA Global in partnership with USAID and the Public Health Institute, thirteen "consultants" from PIMCO, Dow Chemical, SAP, and WE Communications will work on consulting projects with four Ghanaian health non-profits in an effort to assist them streamline and expand.  For four weeks, we will lay down our jobs and lives back home, and work with our team to develop relationships with our partner organizations, learn about the space they operate, and provide sustainable recommendations for them.

To be honest, it's both incredibly exciting and modestly frightening.

The exiting part is easier to discuss.  I've never been to Africa, and have been eager to find a way there.  And to be honest, consulting in developing markets was something I always envisioned myself doing in the long run - a combination of my love for traveling, other cultures, economic development, and helping people. Plus, how often can one find the time to live and work in another country for four weeks, let alone find a company willing to sponsor and support it?  Learning about the PIMCO Foundation's global pro bono work was one of PIMCO's selling points four years ago when I interned in Newport Beach - it's relatively unique, and a brilliant way to encourage global citizenship and cognitive diversity among employees.  To be able to be a part of it feels like a blessing.

And, as I've spent more time volunteering at Memorial Sloan Kettering, I've become increasingly interested in the health sector - perhaps too late to change career paths (finance to medicine, not the easiest transition), but this project is an opportunity to lend my skills (whatever those may be) to help individuals be safe and healthy.

But now, considering this type of consulting is what I wanted, why modestly frightening?

One, it's easy to fall into a trap of thinking we are going in to "save" someone.  These are incredibly successful individuals - the organization I'll be working with is led by a board of incredibly competent and high achieving Ghanaians.  Their organization is already quite accomplished. The truth is, we are just as much there to learn from them as we are to help them.  As Ernesto Sirolli discusses in his TED talk "Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!", listening is essential in helping someone. And listening, really listening, isn't always easy - it's a hard skill to develop, and that makes it a little frightening.   

But it's also weird to think about just putting your life down for over a month.  Having a consistent job, going to the gym, seeing friends and family - it's comforting having a routine.  And while a month will pass in a blink of an eye, it's not always easy to hit PAUSE, and leave behind comfort and embrace something unknown.

But thankfully, excitement overcomes most days 😊

I will not promise to post every day - I did learn something about my blogging experience while studying abroad.  But for those interested in keeping up with our work, I'll do my best to post updates and pictures.  For more timely updates, follow me on Instagram at liv.hipkins!

Also, for those interested in another fascinating view on foreign aid, there's a documentary called Poverty Inc. available on Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, which discusses the impacts, both positive and negative, of developed countries' aid on emerging economies.

1 week equals 7 days...

As I sit here in the Paris Beauvais airport (en route to Krakow and Warsaw – first time in Poland!), I can’t really believe how quick this year has gone.  I finished my last exam this morning and in exactly one week, I will be flying high above the Atlantic ocean on my way back to the US.  Perhaps that isn’t the strange part.  The strange part is that I’m not coming back here – when I get on the plane, that’s it, just packing up my life here and moving back to the US.  It almost seems like a joke – every time my host mom brings it up, I laugh it off, saying “Annie, t’inquietes pas, je vais revenir!” 

I think I’m in denial.  It feels like next Tuesday is no different from today, just a trip and then I’ll be back home.

And there it is, the key phrase : back home.

Earlier this semester, I wrote a post about feeling a bit lost, as if I was afloat in the sea with no real roots.  It felt like I had no home, because nothing felt permanent, not San Diego, not Middlebury and not Paris.  But somehow in the last few months, that’s changed.  Home kind of snuck up on me, and suddenly I find myself struggling to come to terms with the fact that this is, in fact, not permanent.

The truth is, I can’t actually imagine what it’s going to be like to get on that plane – checking my bags, walking through security, the voice of the desk attendant calling out the departure, sitting and watching out the window as the tarmac of the Charles de Gaulle airport fades into the clouds…

I can already imagine the moment it will truly hit me because the same thing struck me when I was in New York for a few days earlier this spring ; whether it be on the plane when the flight attendants switch from announcing in French to announcing in English, or when I step off the plane in San Francisco, it will be the fact that everyone is speaking English.  American English.

First thought?  Ugh, freaking tourists, just pipe down.

Except they won’t be tourists. 

And I’ll just be another American, getting off a plane from Par-ee, that place with the Eye-fill tower and the Ark duh Tri-umph.  Signs in English will glare at me, with big bold letters greeting me to the land of the free, the land of the brave. 

The customs agent will welcome me “home”. 

And there it is again, home.

I suppose as someone who hopes to move and travel quite frequently, this revelation, that home is such a difficult term to define, is timely.  Will the US always be home purely because I am an American citizen?  Or could a place like Paris be home?  Can one have multiple homes?  Or will that just lead to a perpetual cycle of wishing one was elsewhere?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to being back in Solana Beach with my family; but I know that I will so many things about the life that I have created here : jumping on the bus, grabbing a glass of wine at the nearest bar with a friend, Annie’s incredible cooking, and discussing French politics with Annie’s friends.

Because the truth is, Paris, you have become home, and leaving you will not be easy.

Time

"Work is hard.  Distractions are plentiful.  And time is short."

- Adam Hochschild

I feel like there just isn't enough time these days.  Not that time-management was ever a strong point for me, but the last few weeks have flown by.  Each day, I feel like I'm constantly astounded by how quickly time flys by.

Sunday night, I pulled an all-nighter working on a 10 page paper - there just wasn't enough time to sleep.  Today, I ended up writing one sentence for one of my 13 short answer questions for my history test.  Why?  Because I didn't have nearly enough time to answer each question to demonstrate what I knew.  Somehow, I found myself with only 5 questions answered after an hour had passed, with 8 to answer in 30 minutes.  The same issue arose last week with both of my Economics exams.  Who knew that I would be pressed for time after being given 3 hours to answer 4 questions on my monetary relations exam?  And luckily I had memorized all the formulas for my finance exam, since I was hard pressed to complete that exam in the allotted 2 hours.

But the time issue is also playing into other aspects of my life, besides testing.  When I go to the gym nowadays, suddenly 45 minutes have gone by.  I went to ballet class this evening, and I felt like we'd only gone through half of the exercises when the teacher was suddenly ending the class - it had already been an hour.  Even commuting seems quick these days - I jump on the metro, pull out my book and suddenly I'm rushing to get my stuff together and off the train before I miss my stop.  It's not that I'm in a rush - actually quite the opposite.  I spend most of my life rushing from location to location due to my penchant for running eternally late; its almost as if life has finally decided to match my pace.

I guess the final aspect comes down to this : I have less than one month left in Paris.  All year I've had this concept of my time here as long; surely not indefinite, since I knew that I would eventually be returning to the US, but long enough.  And now, everything is winding down - final exams, evaluations, goodbye parties... It was that moment when a friend and I had to actually plan the next and possibly last time we'll see each other here (obviously we'll be able to see each other in the States, but you know what I mean).  When I see posters of events, shows or exhibitions I want to go to, and then realize I will no longer be here.

It's that moment when my host mom says she doesn't even want to think about how soon I leave, that she's avoiding it.

The quote above rings so true at this moment for me, even though I imagine the author meant it in a somewhat different context.  But I shall make it my own, since it rings true nonetheless.  The work this year was hard.  I've definitely pulled the most all-nighters of my life, had the most nervous breakdowns in a year, and felt the worst, academically, that I've ever felt.  Luckily there were plenty of distractions provided by Paris and Europe as well as by the amazing people I've met here.  The distractions surely both helped and hurt with the work dilemma.  But in the end, time is short.  I feel like I have so much left to do and to see, and the reality is that this little adventure is almost over.

Visiting the... Circus Museum?

I've done and seen a lot of cool things this year in Paris and around Europe.  Chateaux, art museums, ancient ruins and beautiful churches are all part of the experience.  But today, I definitely visited the strangest (in a good way) place yet; it's called the Musée des Arts Forains.  It's a private museum, with tours only by reservation, in the Bercy area of Paris, housed in a series of old wine halls.  And what is it full of?  Vintage circus and carnival objects, including but not limited to moving organs, vintage carrousels, moving and singing venetian carnivale figures, and typical carnival games.

It was pretty bizarre, and our guide was quite a personality, interspersing his tour with various magic tricks.  It's not a place I'd like to be walking around alone at night, but on the other hand it would make for an excellent party setting, say a masked ball in the Venetian rooms, or a 20's party à la Midnight in Paris (it actually is the location where they filmed the scene with the carrousel!)

At 14 euros a person and tours by reservation only, it's definitely off the beaten tourist path - but I've got to say, it was one of the cooler experiences I've had in Paris.  Perhaps that's because it was so unusual and unique; I mean, where else could I have ridden a bike carrousel, propelled by those on it, from the 19th century?
I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the least bit interested; the tour was in French, the guide is wonderful, and it really is such a cool and weird place.


Musée des Arts Forains, 53 Avenue des Terroirs de France, 75012 Paris (Mètro : ligne 14, Cour Saint-Émilion)