Somehow I've been busy lately!

I work with a beekeeping group and things have been going very well. We produce three basic types of honey: cocoa honey, palm oil honey, and wild bush honey. Because everyone here has a cocoa farm (or two, or ten), we produce a lot of cocoa honey. This is good because cocoa honey tastes like a lottery win. It has a medium rich brown color and surprisingly tastes nothing like cocoa at all, with a consistency that's just perfect. It's also a sinful honey, a honey of thieves if you will. Honey bees are not capable of pollinating cocoa trees, but can still access the nectar and pollen. This means that as you enjoy this honey, you should think of all the hard photosynthesis the cocoa tree put into making it without the benefit of a sex reward (pollination, that is.) Didn't know you were such a tease, did you? Don't worry, it comes as a shock to us all. Palm oil honey comes from bees that were housed in oil palm farms. It's golden color is like liquid dreams and and is considered by the FDA a more addictive substance than cocaine. It is best served out of empty Chianti bottles to maximize awe. Bush honey. Beyond the obvious crude sexual reference, bush honey is actually quite like making love with a stranger. It's good, you want it, and you have no idea where it came from. True, it can vary in quality, but you always desire it and want more! Occasionally we make medicinal honey, where bees have been housed around specific trees or shrubs. It tends to taste like a parent's gentle scolding: a bit of a bite, but you know it's good for you.

We've also been making soap! The soap contains these things: honey, beeswax, moringa, neem, aloe vera, and love.Bathing with it is like bathing in children’s un-ironic hope for the future. It foams well and leaves you moisturized and ready for the day (or the evening, you lucky dog you!) I’ve been told that it’s the best soap in Ghana, but that’s only the biased opinion of everyone whose ever used it.

One other small project was I gifted five moringa trees each to all the churches in my village. The idea is they will care for them, and people can come and take seeds to plant their own if they want to. I think it will work because no one wants to be the “bad” church that screwed up the moringa! Competition is always a great motivator.

In other news, I just returned from the All Volunteers conference in Ho, Volta Region. It was a blast to see all the vols from all over the country and relax in a nice hotel with a pool. But don’t think it was all party: this conference was like a mullet. There was business up front the whole week, most of it HIV/AIDS related. But really, it was the relaxing that was the best! We had a prom, talent show, and more. And it was always a pool party. But for some reason, people kept throwing me in the pool!!! Annoying, but who cares! Forgive, and party on!