Peace Corps volunteers speak about time in Ghana

When Sarah Panzer was in the seventh grade in Lakeville, Minn., a Peace Corps volunteer spoke to her Spanish class.

 Since then, it was her dream to join the Peace Corps.

  Now Sarah and her husband, Aberdeen native Jordan Wein, are Peace Corps volunteers themselves, serving in Ghana. On Wednesday, the Weins spoke to eighth-graders at Jordan's alma mater, Holgate Middle School, which they hope will inspire a Holgate student to join the Peace Corps down the road.

 Jordan, 28, and Sarah, 27, are glad they joined the Peace Corps. Back in the U.S. for the holidays, they've spent the last 18 months in Ghana. When they return in January, they'll have eight months to go.

 “People in Ghana are very happy,” Sarah said, adding that they are welcoming and giving.

 In fact, Sarah actually misses Ghana. Both the Weins have made many friends in Ghana. By the time they return, Sarah will have been gone for almost two months, so she'll be glad to see a lot of people.

 In America, you always hear about places that are less well-off, she said. Their time in the Peace Corps gives the Weins a chance to live in one of those places.

 Life is definitely different from the U.S. In Tarsor, the northern Ghana community where they live, there is no running water and no electricity.

 The Weins do their cooking on a propane stove, and on Sundays, they do their laundry by hand. Their life in Ghana, she said, is like camping for two years.

 One of their jobs is to teach people about America. In Ghana, women and small children haul water from a pump to their homes. But the Weins tell people that in America, couples share responsibilities. Jordan not only hauls water, but also cleans and cooks.

 The Weins will always remember that their first home together as a married couple was in Ghana.

 They were married in August 2009. They met at North Dakota State University, where Jordan earned a zoology degree and Sarah earned a degree in electrical engineering.

 Jordan, son of Dale and Sue Wein, graduated from Aberdeen Central in 2003.

 In Ghana, Jordan’s work is in agriculture. Sarah teaches math at the school, which is between the communities of Tarsor and Kulfuo. Together, those villages have a population of 2,000 people.

 In that area, the men go hunting and will eat virtually any animal they shoot, including rabbits, antelopes and bush rats.

 When a group of men found a 7-foot python, they cut it up and ate it.

 “Meat is very hard to come by,” Jordan said.

 In some areas, crocodiles are accustomed to humans. At one tourist area, the crocs know if they pose for a photo, they will be rewarded. After the photo session is over, the crocodile is rewarded with a live chicken.

 In Ghana, preparing food for humans takes a lot of time and is very intensive, Jordan said. For the Holgate students, they showed a video of women rhythmically pounding yams. That work goes on for at least half an hour, they said.

 But the food they produce is delicious, the Weins said.