The Peace Corps of the 1960s was probably considerably different from what I imagine it to be nowadays. We did three months as pcTs----"Don't sell your house or car yet, you're *only* peace corps Trainees." "What house?" we said, "and anyway the bank owns the car." "De-selection" was the dirtiest word in our vocabulary. Worse even than "Navrongo". We knew that attrition rates during training could be very high. Sometimes as high as 75%. We learned excellent team skills during training---protecting the vulnerable, ganging up on the thought-masters, etc. (There are some very long stories enshrouded in that one tiny "etc".) We started with about 75 and only lost three involuntarily. Come to think of it, that was a stunning achievement.

We were given wide-ranging psych tests. I'm certain they were searching out those of us who might have had a closet penchant for young boys. We owe a hell of a debt to Gene Ashby, and to Jim Marvin. Jim was a fellow pcT. One of the shrink tests they gave us was called the MMPI, a very long multiple choice affair. Prior to us taking the test Jim gave us all a little private tuition: never lie (because there are hidden questions that check for consistency of response), but never ever admit to stomach trouble of any kind. We all came out with nice flat graphs: we were normal! Uh-huh. The thought-meisters never twigged that Jim had gone to the University of Minnesota and that he had had a vacation job grading other people's Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality Inventories=MMPI. To this day I have never ever admitted to any stomach trouble. Look where it's gotten me! Thanks, Jim.

They didn't tell us where we were going to be posted until we arrived in Accra. Gary Johnson drew the Navrongo short straw and we all commiserated with him. But somebody (I think it was Jan Ems) got posted to Lawra. "Jesus, where's that? Oh shit, you have to go to Navrongo first just to get to Lawra." Is my geography right? Gets a bit hazy after 30 years. But Larry Wolfson and Gayle Weller actually got sent to Bawku. When I saw Gayle after he had been in Bawku for a year he told me that his predecessor told him he was standing by the window of his classroom one day and a guy stumbled out of the bush onto the school soccer field with an arrow sticking out of his back!

I expect these days that even the wars fought for territory in isolated places like northern Ghana use heavy weaponry. I was disgusted to discover recently that the biggest arms dealing country is not Switzerland but the United States. I've lived in New Zealand for over 25 years and it's times like this that I do not regret moving here.

I came to love the north. I spent all my school vacations (I was a teacher in a tiny village in Brong Ahafo called Acherensua) in Burkina Faso aka Upper Volta, Niger and Mali. I would go back in a flash (but never to Accra), and am intending to do so when I retire. What's the current Peace Corps policy on recruiting older volunteers?

Thanks for the reveries.

Byebye Safe Journey from:

John Beauregard, Ghana 1966-1968
29 January 1998

BRAVO!!!

I remember bringing sacks of sugar & dried yeast back from the south in my Land Rover for Kwesi, my cook, to make akpeteshie (spelling?) in his compound. Also remember a very fine young man Stanislaus Kaditi, who I believe later trained to be a teacher.

Ah, those were the days - when there were plenty of crates of Club & Star to stack into the kerosene-run fridges, & we would sit on the verandah of the bungalow of an evening watching an approaching storm, smelling the rain before it fell, and the mad rush to close the windows when the storm finally broke.

Would much like to get in touch again with my old Navasco friends - I have taken early retirement from teaching, so plenty of time to chat!

Pete

Pete

I hope you enjoyed your trip. i have visted the North of Ghana myself all the way up to BOlga in the NE and Wa in th NW, THe land is stark and yet rather beautiful in an intriguing sort of way.

I plan to make another trip with my family, when I visit Ghana soon with my American friends.

I've many familar PCV name and e-mailed them all!!!

Africans all over the diaspora can write me @ my e-mail address. I want to link (like the world wide web) to my people. peace!!!!!!!!!

We are planning a return trip in February '98 and are looking foward to spending some time in Ghana also and this home page has given us a lot of tips.

Thanks for the page.

Wilma Smith & Deborah Miller