Goats and a dragonfly

Its not all about goats and dragonflies but here are some pictures of them. I just want to say that I am well and healthy. Things are going well I am working on bee boxes so that people will have another source of income but first I will test the waters with one box so that I can see how many people are interested. I am also making a tree nursery in that I hope to nurse 15thousand trees for the community but we will see how many seeds I get and go from there. I would like to thank everyone for always asking of me, I am always thinking about everyone. I hope all is well back home I know jobs suck right now but if you have the need to see somethings else then join the Peace Corps I mean why not. Well I am sorry for not being as recent as I have been in the past with the blog but the internet is not always working and sometimes there is just not enough time to do anything besides check email. I wish everyone the best and can honestly tell you that this is probably the best thing I have ever done so far.
Peace Love and all that good stuff
Austin

So last month another volunteer and I planned a soccer tournament to help educate for HIV/AIDS. We were able to use all of our testing kits enabling 150 people to know their status which happened to be negative for all 150. We also had videos playing for children to watch and a lady living with HIV to come and talk with everyone. I am proud of everyone who helped and I consider this to be a success for HIV/AIDS education. I started out being a ref but soon realized that I could not be official enough for the teams and I respectfully let one of the nurses take the job. This was just the first of I hope many tournaments I will plan but volunteers have been using soccer to educate for many years so I am by all means not the first. Maybe next time I will be playing for the home team.

Been Good

Hello just wanted to say that I am fine sorry haven't been able to post anything the internet has been slow, I promise pictures are coming soon and updates about projects but I am fine and healthy enjoying life to the fullest. Hope everyone is good I miss you all and it is hard to believe that I am already a quarter of the way through my service.

Peace, Love , and all that good stuff

Austin

Hippobottomus

So this a story about a boy or really a man that saw a hippo walk by his house one day and so like any curious person would do he followed. Now this individual started to gather a following of children who could have been following him more than the hippo but we will never really know. So the hippo leaves the main road and heads into some tall grass, so naturally everyone follows each other down a small path. With no hippo in sight the hero of our story starts to look around behind him and to the sides. While he is doing this the hippo reappears in the path, the children scatter and now our man finds himself alone with a hippo bearing down on him. I want to add this side note that it was only a year ago that people stopped hunting hippo's for their meat, so for the hippo this was purely self defense. So our hero after overcoming the shock of hippo starts to run but without getting far he trips and falls to the ground. He gets up with the hippo still coming at him, being that this is a very scary thing his fright took over flight. Yes I do mean fright and not fight. This resulting in another fall to the ground that ended with his rear end getting bit. Now the lesson of this story is the hippo is a very dangerous animal and just because it likes the water does not mean that it is not also just as dangerous on the land. The individual in this story gave me permission to write about it and he is ok after getting some stitches leaving a scar that will always have a good story.
So I went to the hippo sanctuary recently which involves riding in a dugout canoe on the black volta and looking at the hippos in the water. I saw six just swimming around but none really emerging to show themselves to me but it was fun. It may not be as good of a story but I didn't have to get stitches in my butt either.

hello

mullet

America?

So I have had a few lingering thoughts about life and that kind of stuff, I mean I can't help but to think about such things and when you are in another culture it becomes a new window to look at your own culture so to speak. I am constantly made aware of how our American culture radiates around the world or at least to Ghana and other countries like it where the youth are watching movies from the states or even the latest season of Heroes. The thing that troubles me is the same as when I was back home to see a whole culture portrayed in a way that so completely and inaccurately describes what a true American is like. However when Americans go about mocking and acting the way that people do in the movies and music videos then I could be wrong. I know that this is not our culture however and yet it is being passed off to others as being what America is. It is just as troubling to elder in a village who sees a youth wearing his pants down at his knees and sporting chains around his neck, both which cost a substantial amount of money and yet the boy has no job and complains that he is going to move to the city where things are better. Well that was a little rant now wasn't it? The point that I think I was trying to make is that the world sees America through a different set lenses and we wonder how can anyone not like us. Well I know that if everyone was given the chance to actually meet us then yes they would change their minds but as long as Hollywood and the music industry are advertising for us people will continue to think that all Americans are rich, greedy, Godless, and selfish not to say that these people don't exist because they do all over the world. I just like to think that of most of the people I know this hardly does justice in describing an actual American. So now that, that is off my chest I would like to say that I am well and healthy. I am excited about the projects that I will be doing with my community, from building latrines to digging fish ponds. Even the smaller ones like painting a world map at the school to having a HIV AIDS awareness soccer matches. So life is good just as you may have noticed plenty of time to be critical yet anyone who knows me would say that I have always had time for that. So I hope everyone is fine and that life is also good.
Peace, Love, and all that Good stuff,

Austin McCain