Category Archives: Uncategorized

Last week, I finally pulled the trigger and bought a car in Tamale. This is both good and bad news. Good, because I now have more mobility and safety and no longer need to rely on yellow yellows to get around places (especially after dark when it’s not a great idea to catch ones offContinue reading “Beware: White Woman on Wheels”

Greetings on the last day of the year! After coming home for the holidays, I returned to Ghana yesterday. For the moment I am in Accra, spending a few days here as a buffer to ease the transition from Chicago back to Tamale (and also to squeeze in some last minute shopping). Returning home hasContinue reading “Resolute”

The title above is the mission statement of the organization I work for here in Tamale, Innovations for Poverty Action or, as it is more commonly called, IPA (people in the NGO world love acronyms!) In broad terms, what we do at IPA is partner with other development NGOs or country governments (e.g. the governmentContinue reading “More evidence, less poverty”

Whether it’s because work has been building up or because, as the holidays approach, I long to be home with family, I have lately felt overcome with a lot of doubt. Doubt about whether I am strong enough to do this, doubt about whether this was the right career move, doubt about whether I willContinue reading “The U-curve of cultural adaptation”

I want to write about the process of finding community in a place that feels far from home. I am sure that loneliness is not an uncommon experience among expats – it is easy to feel isolated living away from your friends and family, trying to navigate new and often challenging environments. I myself haveContinue reading “Home away from home”

I finally committed to writing a blog about my time here in Ghana because I thought that the exercise of recounting my experiences and telling them in some sort of reflective, even comedic, way might help me to feel more accepting of them myself. First, a little background for those who don’t know. In August,Continue reading “Greetings, from Ghana!”