I feel very lucky to have been placed in Ghana. When I hear of safety and security issued faced by volunteers in other countries I can't imagine how they stick it out. I remember being on an online forum discussing what I should expect as a Peace Corps volunteer. One person said I "won the Peace Corps lottery" with my placement to Ghana. It's peaceful, welcoming, generally tolerable weather, and the people are very friendly (too friendly, at times). I have definitely adjusted well and feel at home. Sometimes I think about getting visitors from the states and what a terrible tour guide I would be. Things that seemed strange and unreal when I first arrived are just part of the day-to-day now. I wouldn't share the same excitement that a first time visitor would feel.
But as comfortable as it is the past few weeks have brought some unsettling reality checks. I am a foreigner, I am a target, and I am definitely far from 'home'. I just recieved news of a volunteer that has chosen to quit service early due to 'not feeling safe at site'. I definitely felt that at first after two early incidents of theft shortly after arriving but my community rallied behind me and feel more than safe now. Another volunteer was recently a victim of a sexual assault, something that has never happened in Peace Corps Ghana. Five volunteers I know were recently medically evacuated to the US or to Morocco for treatment. And the worst and scariest of all was the death of a fellow volunteer, Danielle 'Dani' Dunlap.
Danielle's story is, as much as I hate to say it, every Peace Corps parents' worst fear. Danielle was less than one month away from closing service and heading home for good. She was only 24. She was an only child. She had a scholarship to Emory and would start graduate school soon after arriving home. She was also the ideal volunteer. Many volunteers, especially in health and agriculture sectors struggle to keep busy or find projects. Danielle was not that person. She always had something, or several things working. She was starting a clinic in her village, she was a trainer to new volunteers, and she was attached and involved in her community. Everyone saw her as a leader and her death hit volunteers and Peace Corps staff very hard. It is still unclear what actually happened to Danielle. All we were told officially is that she became ill on a Friday and passed away Sunday.
As foreigners, our immune system is weaker than an infant's to endemic diseases. Infants get some antibodies from their mothers breast-milk. We are essentially naked when it comes to protection from tropical diseases.
As much as Danni's death has brought tears to our eyes, and questions about our own well being here in Ghana, it also brought us all together and gave many of us a refreshing approach to our peace corps service. We want to honor Danni by going out with guns blazing and making our service as meaningful as possible to ourselves and especially our communities.
The service was really beautiful. I knew Danni but you couldn't say we were close. I loved hearing everyone's stories about the impact she was making. It was also amazing to see how willing Ghanaians are to help people in times of need. Danni loved Dr. Pepper. She had a batik stamp made of the Dr. Pepper logo (batik is a unique printing of fabric in which you wax stamp the fabric before dipping it in different dyes and the stamped areas retain the color of the first dye after washing off the wax, pretty cool) She wasn't able to get her batik made before she passed so a batik maker in Accra cleared her schedule and within 24 hours made 200 yards of black and red Dr. Pepper batik for us to wear to the service. She also worked with multiple tailors and many of had shirts/dresses/skirts to wear in Danni's special commemorative fabric. It felt good to do something that was all about Danni together.
This is Danni's special batik
A photo collage of Danni in Ghana
And the pretty girl.....
Danni's influence will be left on her communities and in the future work of all the volunteers here in Ghana. My deepest condolences to her family and friends in US. She will always be warmly remembered.
