Andy's adventures in Ghana as a Peace Corps Volunteer
Incinerator Update & Snippets III
Disclaimer: “The content of this website is mine alone and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Ghanaian Government.”
June 29, 2026
Incinerator Update
First and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you! The hospital community and I are very grateful for all your generous donations. We reached the fundraising goal for the incinerator and have now sorted out the legal paperwork required for the project. The builder is scheduled to arrive with his crew next weekend and begin work right away. With a little bit of luck, it will be completed by the end of July. I’ll post photos here as the work progresses.
Meanwhile …
Clean laundry is laid out to dry in the sun behind the Children’s Ward at the hospital. Almost everyone who is admitted to a hospital is accompanied by someone who will bring them food and water, fetch medicine from the hospital pharmacy (it’s pay-as-you-go), and wash their clothes.
Project for the next volunteer here: Increase the supply of clean water, upgrade the water distribution system, and replace several septic tanks.
Snippets III
As I spend more time in Ghana, new experiences that previously would have left me shaking my head in wonder or disbelief tend to become the norm. Or I can’t remember whether or not I’ve already written about a topic and I don’t want to repeat myself. Consequently, I feel there’s less and less that you would find interesting. But images make me think about the stories behind them. I suppose it all comes back to daydreaming. Here are a few …
I was excited to see this sign just around the corner from the market in my town, where I have never been able to buy anything other than instant Nescafe. I don’t think of myself as a coffee snob, but I do like a good, hot cup of coffee every morning (preferably from freshly ground beans). When I saw this sign I immediately envisioned a steady supply of locally grown and roasted coffee beans. I was rapidly brought back to reality when someone sitting nearby told me that the Volta Regional Coffee Producer’s Association went defunct long ago. Perhaps I should have known based on the Yahoo.com email address. Ah well, for the past six months or so I’ve usually been able to find good coffee beans in a city that I often pass through going to and from Accra.I believe all formal wear in Ghana (for baptisms, weddings, funerals, and other important occasions) is custom made by local tailors and seamstresses. The seamstress who makes shirts for me has several apprentices who she teaches daily. Here are two of their primary tools: the Butterfly (made in India) and the New Butterfly (made in China). Both are hand-powered.
There’s off-the-rack clothing available too:
Are you a diehard fan with a once-prized jersey emblazoned with the name and number of a former hometown hero who is now a scoundrel? Are you having trouble burning that jersey like you swore you would do? If it has a name and a number on it, and looks like a jersey, Ghanaians will happily take it off your hands! By far, the most popular name/number combination is Jordan, 23.I was walking faster than this fellow. As I caught up to him, I began to make out the words on his shirt. New Ulm? There’s a New Ulm in Minnesota. Then I began to read the names of their opponents in smaller print. After recognizing all but one of the opponents’ names, I concluded with certainty that this fellow must have played high school football in Minnesota in 2018. Or perhaps not.
August 30 September 7 September 14 September 21 September 28 October 5 October 12 October 17
Waseca @ New Ulm @Worthington @Tri-City United Marshall @ New Ulm @St. Peter Belle Plaine @ New Ulm Jordan @ New Ulm @Fairmont
Sisters on their way to school. There’s so much to see along the way that just walking to school is an educational experience.
This looks like a quaint little spot and I love the name, but I’ve never been in. It’s located in a town that’s about 90 minutes from where I live, so I’m always passing by in the middle of the afternoon on my way back and forth between the trotro station a good grocery store nearby.To be sure, this place has rice, noodles, sardines, eggs, chicken, and fish, but probably not the meth that you’re thinking of. I can only conclude that Meth is the name of the proprietor. The claim of Fast Food is almost certainly accurate: the women who operate these roadside stands can serve up food pretty quickly – they would hate to lose a customer because of slow service.The stack of beer cases outside the warehouse starts to rival the church’s steeple.
At first glance, these look like the rear ends of a pair of hippos. In fact, they are appropriately named Hippo polytanks (for water storage).
The hippo is taking a leak.A mechanic’s improvisation.An unidentified vehicle. Needs work. Note the righthand drive.This vehicle might have been placed here strategically: it’s parked right across the street from a hostel that is popular with people of all ages from around the world. Surely it will catch the covetous eye of someone staying there one day.Hmmm. I wonder what’s in that big trunk.You can always find someplace cheap to watch a football match. Admission fee is GH¢ 3 (about 30¢); I haven’t checked to see if there’s a premium price for World Cup matches.
GOATS!
Hanging out on a comfortable roadside perch.Not a care in the world.Feed me, mom!
13 responses to “Incinerator Update & Snippets III”
K Schroeder
Andy… that is wild! I am from New Ulm, MN. A little farm town in S. Central, MN. Not known for a significant African-American contingent, so really crazy to see someone wearing that shirt halfway around the world!
Karl, I’m glad you enjoyed that photo. As we get older, the reservoir of memories that we can draw on grows as well. One that comes to mind was a shirt for Carphone Warehouse. Carphone? Was that 40 years ago? How long has that shirt been in hibernation? Come to Ghana to relive your youth!
Andy, I posted the photograph of the young man in the t-shirt to a FB group I belong to… “New Ulm Strong”. I got a response from a woman who told me that there is an immigrant family living in New Ulm, that (she believed) still has relatives in Ghana. There is a possibility that one, or more of the boys could be visiting family there this summer.She said that her son had gone to New Ulm H.S. with the boys from this immigrant family, and that “the back of this boy looked like the 17 year old that played soccer with her son”. She also said that one of the boys had done some volunteer work in Ghana that had impressed Stanford. She told me the name of the person who could be the young man’s mother. I sent a FB message to her (with the photo) to inquire. I will let you know!
So, there may actually be an actual personal connection here— as opposed to a piece of unsold thrift store clothing randomly finding its way to Ghana, West Africa!
Andy, I have been doing a bit of sleuthing about the photograph of the young man wearing the New Ulm Eagles football t-shirt. I posted the photograph with a little description in a FB group I belong to called “New Ulm Strong”. I got a response back from a women who lives in New Ulm, and knows of an immigrant family who lives there now, and, she believes, still has family living in Ghana.
She said that her son went to school with the boys from this family, and said that, “the back of the man in the photo looked like the 17 year old boy from this family that played soccer with her son”. She also said that one of the older boys had done some voltmeter work in Ghana (which had impressed Stanford University), and that one, or more of the boys could be visiting family in Ghana this summer. I got the name of the person who may have been the young man’s mother and sent her a FB message (along with the picture). Unfortunately, I was not able to close the circle on the story. She responded,
“I think it’s a shirt from some one and not my boys, I don’t recognize it please 🙏”
Too bad… it would have been fun to put a personal connection to this sighting… as opposed to just an article of unsold thrift store clothing finding its way randomly to Ghana, West Africa.
What city (where were you) when you took this picture?
Thanks for sharing this story. Your effort in posting the photo to FB and trying to find an active connection between Ghana and New Ulm is truly in the spirit of Peace Corps.
I took the photo last week in Accra, the capitol city.
FYI, your respondent’s use of the word please, followed by the praying hands emoji is very characteristic of Ghana!
Hello Jeff! I’ll be returning in September with a long list of tasks needing immediate attention: housing, registering to vote, buying a car, and my elder daughter’s wedding in DC in October, just for starters. I hope all is well with you and Becky!
Can you see my smile? Love all your comments and the pictures!!! Really!!! Your pictures remind me of those take by my friend Marita who lived on a sailboat and sailed the world for 7 years. A different perspective. Isn’t it amazing what one can experience outside the USA?
I’ve gone into Google maps after looking at your rides in Strava. VERY different country you are living in. WOW!!!
Christine and family arrive tomorrow for a week. Luckily we just had our 31 year old furnace/AC replaced as the heat index will be over 100. But the kids love the toys on our basement. Will we get them out? A treat to get to spend time with them. Christine said you are returning in September. If you need a place to stay while goong through Ohio, do not hesitate to stop. Not kidding!!!
Last night, before going to bed, I received a message from a guy who lives in Bloomington, MN, whose mother (who currently resides lives in New Ulm and is a member of the FB group) had forwarded my initial post with the photo to him. He confirmed that the young man is indeed a graduate of NUHS by sending the photo to his older brother who was a track and soccer athlete and with whom he graduated in 2017. He commented that they do have family in Ghana, and travel back and forth frequently.
The mother, I think, must have been referring to the shirt when she says she didn’t recognize it.
So there is a real connection! A crazy thought, indeed, that you should cross paths with someone from your country and state, halfway around the world.
I’m sorry I didn’t strike up a conversation with him, even if I don’t know much about New Ulm. I’m sure he would have been very welcoming. I confess that I’ve become jaded about the possibility of making connections based on tenuous links like t-shirt messages. A more common experience is what happened on my last trip to the barbershop. There was a young guy wearing a nice, new black jersey with a sharp looking gold applique touting IOWA on the front. When I complimented him on it, he smiled, said thanks, and asked what it meant. “Is it from Germany?” he asked. I gave him a brief description of US geography, Iowa, and Minnesota. He was grateful for the info, if only because he was now prepared to talk knowledgeably about it in the future in case anyone asks about it.
If you do happen to connect with the subject of my photo, here’s some more info about where I saw him: We were both walking southwest on Fifth Circular Road in the Cantonments area of Accra at about 9:30 on the morning of June 22.
Not A Typical Day 
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