This past week has been busy as I realized that my time in Ghana is coming to a close. Thursday I had to say goodbye to the Swedish volunteer I worked with and ate a Ghanaian meal while dreaming of turkey and pumpkin pie (I haven't had dessert in 2 months!). Friday an acquaintance from UCSD, Joeva, came to visit me in Ho from Cape Coast where she works. That night the remaining 6 of us - 2 Americans, 2 Australians and 2 Irishmen - made a "Thanksgiving dinner" of sausage, mashed yam, plantain chips and guacamole. It was so nice (though admittedly rather strange) seeing a familiar face in Ghana and sharing Thanksgiving with a fellow American. I took Joeva around town and showed her the lush surroundings of Ho. We sat at a hotel for hours discussing Ghana, life after college, doing "good" in the world, and the neverending itch to travel. Sunday was my final day at the orphanage. I am going to miss those kids and their energy and excitement for life! I have never felt so attached to children in my life. They are so sweet and loving and playful, it broke my heart to walk away from the 35 of them knowing I may not see them ever again.
So it has come down to the final 36 hours in Ghana. And much like in Florence and at Dartmouth I am not ready to leave the life I have started here, the incredible people I've met and the family that has so kindly welcomed me into their home. I can't say exactly what I expected from this experience but I do know it was beyond anything I could have ever imagined or hoped for. I will miss my host family (and Bea's awesome cooking), the diabetes nurses, the VAF volunteers, my Ghanaian friends, the orphans, the lepers, my town and the slow-paced yet deceiving chaotic life here. I've found that living in a 3rd world country does not equate to living below the poverty line; that aesthetics are not everything and there's no reason to get rid of something before it's broken; that you can live without running water, electricity, internet, TV, a car, a steady income and still be completely happy. I have realized just how lucky I am to come from a place where education, healthcare and a basic amenities are expected, not a privilege. Ghana is only a 53-year-old country and has come much farther than most African countries but it still has a long way to go. I may not have been able to give back as much as I took away from this experience but it is with all my heart I hope I am able to go to grad school and get a job which gives me the resources to help many more people around the world in need of healthcare. I will miss Ghana but I am excited to come home and start working towards a job with greater opportunities.
Take care and see you on the other side
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
World Diabetes Day
This past Sunday the 14th was World Diabetes Day. But because Ghana is a religious country, everything closes down on Sundays (as I sit here the internet cafe is literally the only business open and the man at the front desk asked me why I hadn't gone to church). So a celebration on a Sunday would not be very well attended. I don't know why no one thought to do it on Monday but regardless the national celebration was set for Tuesday in Ho. The diabetes ward was informed a week ahead of time that we needed to help staff the event and that our head nurse Florence would be speaking. However on Monday I saw a TV special on World Diabetes Day and said that the event would be on Thursday, as Tuesday the 16th was a Muslim holiday. Ghana recognizes both Islam and Christianity and the country essentially closes down for both religions' holidays (which is means you get double the days off!) I had to laugh at the fact the no one in Ho or Accra had thought about this conflict until a few days before the event was scheduled. Finally on Thursday we headed over to one of the biggest churches in town which was acting as our venue for the day. Because the whole day had been so poorly planned at the last minute we were not given any supplies. The head nurse brought some of her own test strips so that we could test people's blood glucose levels for free as well as measure their blood pressure, weight, height etc. No one from the capital had thought (or taken the time) to make handouts so we used the ones I had made to give to all the attendees. The program was quite unlike anything you'd see at home. Everyone sat in the church and before beginning they said an opening prayer. There were a number of speakers which were fairly informative, though I have a hard time understanding Ghanaian English sometimes. I had to laugh at the end when they provided everyone with biscuits (kind of like a dry cookie) and soda. What a healthy snack for a whole bunch of diabetics! All in all it was a pretty good day but it definitely stood as a example of the lack of infrastructure, communication and functioning bureaucracy I had already witnessed in the country.
I head home in just 9 days, which is unbelievable. There is much left I feel like I could do if I had more time but I can only hope that I will return in the near future. Hope everyone has a happy, family-filled Thanksgiving! I know I will be missing the turkey and gravy but we are going to make our own hodge podge Thanksgiving dinner with chicken and whatever else we can find at the market. Love!
I head home in just 9 days, which is unbelievable. There is much left I feel like I could do if I had more time but I can only hope that I will return in the near future. Hope everyone has a happy, family-filled Thanksgiving! I know I will be missing the turkey and gravy but we are going to make our own hodge podge Thanksgiving dinner with chicken and whatever else we can find at the market. Love!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
What a week!
It's been a crazy week! Monday started out fairly normal working at the diabetes clinic during the day and heading up to the market for market day (which is absolutely insane but worth seeing all the vendors shouting and trying to convince you to buy their vegetables or dried fish or fabrics). Tuesday we went to village nearby to do another child welfare clinic. I've getting more comfortable with the language so I'm able to talk to more of the people we treat which makes the whole experience more rewarding and they get more from me I'm sure. I even gave some babies the typhoid vaccine. Wednesday another volunteer and I went to a nearby clinic on the outskirts of Ho to shadow a nurse there. She was probably the most progressive woman I've met since I've been and Ghana and I spent several hours with her discussing the major issues facing Ghana's healthcare system - mostly the fact that it lacks any sort of real infrastructure. Thursday is surgery day at the hospital so after working in the diabetes ward in the morning I went to the theatre where I watched the surgeon perform another mastectomy and a C-section. I've never seen a live birth and it was absolutely incredible (and very speedy!) The baby had stopped growing because the mother was pre-eclampsia and so the doctor was forced to do a C-section at 34 weeks. The baby was so tiny but screamed it's little head off, which we were all thankful for. Friday I returned yet again to the leprosy village which is becoming my favorite outreach. I've gotten to know some of the lepers and they have such a happy demeanor regardless of their unfortunate situation. All I can do is tend to their wounds and given them pain medication but I think they appreciate having visitors and a break from the monotony of their lives.
Friday night we also had a little party to savor the life in Ghana and each other's company before we all begin to go on our separate ways. Anna, the Swede, leaves next Thursday and then I follow suit the following Tuesday. I can not believe that I am down to almost 2 weeks left! It feels as though the past month has just flown by now that I have settle down into a life here. Had I planned to be here for longer there are quite a few projects I would like to get started on, the main one being creating a system for the hospital in which clinics in the nearby villages check up on patients and do followup appointments. However with only 2 weeks left I will try to accomplish as much as I can. I still would like to observe some traditional medicine as it is estimated that 80% of people in Ghana receive some kind of traditional medicine and some refuse Western treatment. I am trying to take in as much as I can before I have to leave and return to my normal life back in the States.
Friday night we also had a little party to savor the life in Ghana and each other's company before we all begin to go on our separate ways. Anna, the Swede, leaves next Thursday and then I follow suit the following Tuesday. I can not believe that I am down to almost 2 weeks left! It feels as though the past month has just flown by now that I have settle down into a life here. Had I planned to be here for longer there are quite a few projects I would like to get started on, the main one being creating a system for the hospital in which clinics in the nearby villages check up on patients and do followup appointments. However with only 2 weeks left I will try to accomplish as much as I can. I still would like to observe some traditional medicine as it is estimated that 80% of people in Ghana receive some kind of traditional medicine and some refuse Western treatment. I am trying to take in as much as I can before I have to leave and return to my normal life back in the States.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Life on the equator
I don't think I've yet to talk much about the weather or food here so this post will be dedicated to the two things which my life pretty much revolves around here.
Weather: I woke up this morning around 4:30 am and I was sweating. I can't imagine growing up in a place where the coldest temperature you've ever felt in your life is 65 degrees but that's literally the life here. My host brother refuses to go to the internet cafe because he thinks the AC is too cold. The days are usually between 80 and 90 degrees and it's incredibly humid this time of year since it's the rainy season. Which means you basically never stop sweating. At night it might get to be 70 degrees. Maybe. In the afternoons in October until December or January it will just absolutely downpour. Sometimes it lasts until the following morning but it will never rain past about 8 am. And then it's hot all over again. I hear dry season is rough because everything is so dusty and your skin gets cracked so I've been told I'm very lucky to be here this time of year. Which I believe until I'm caught under an overhang waiting out the rain which can last for hours at a time without ceasing and the roads begin to flood.
Food: As I've mentioned before Ghanaian food is primarily carbohydrate-based. But it's not quite like the carbs we know and love at home. The three main dishes you have to try when arriving in Ghana are fufu, banku, and kenkey. Fufu is made from maize and is ground up and made into a sticky dough which is put into a nut or palm oil soup. My first day in Ho, my program head Ash got me to eat fufu but apparently I was eating it wrong and I got scolded by a man (you are supposed to cut the dough, dip it into the soup and eat it. I had skipped the dipping step...). They even tried to give me a soup to eat it with (the majority of dishes are eaten with you right hand).
Banku (aka akple) is similar being fermented corn and cassava cooked in hot water to make a paste and is eaten with a stew or sauce. And then there's kenkey which I actually haven't tried yet but it's essentially banku that's been wrapped in cornhusk and it doesn't taste quite as good.
They love their plantains here, which are like very large bananas. You can either pick them raw and fry them to make plantain chips or you pick them ripe and cook them in oil to have fried plantains. Red red is a bean dish served with fired ripe plantains with the typical red sauce that they put on everything here (it's spicy and kind of salty and you get it with pretty much everything).
The Irish volunteers say they feel at home here because of the amount of potatoes you have with your meals. One lunch option my host mother makes for us several times a week is sweet potatoes, yams, cassava (likes a huge potato originally from South America but grows rampant here) and fried plantains with some stewed vegetables. I have yet to understand the need for 3 different types of potatoes in one meal...
You often find women selling bread on the street - you can get plain bread, tea bread or sugar bread. Since our trip to Cape Coast I've become newly addicted to sugar bread, especially when they sell it fresh from the oven.
Finally you have your rice and pasta. Which, much to the dismay of the Asians and Italians I'm sure, they often serve together in one dish mixed together with the red sauce. You can also get Jollof which is rice cooked in a meat stew. You see chop bars all over town which means meat and fish are served there however meat is fairly expensive here as are vegetables. They have carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and onions but salad is not a part of the traditional dishes and vegetables usually aren't prepared with meals (something I've been having to deal with in the diabetes center).
I have this pineapple lady (she's a diabetic) who chops up whole pineapple with a machete and sells it fresh for a cedi (roughly 70 cents!) It's also the best pineapple I've tasted in my life. My host family continues to give me coconuts from their yard, oranges and of course bananas which are half the size of bananas at home.
You can find pretty much the same variety of 20some snacks all over town. I've recently become addicted to milk sticks which are bread sticks made with coconut milk. I'm not sure if I've mentioned how much they LOVE Obama over here and at the market in town (the kind with stalls where the venders sell fresh foods and fabrics etc) they sell Obama crackers with his face alllll over the package! There is one supermarket in town that has a few more Western goods but it's all rather expensive so I'm just sticking to Ghanaian foods for the time being.
Weather: I woke up this morning around 4:30 am and I was sweating. I can't imagine growing up in a place where the coldest temperature you've ever felt in your life is 65 degrees but that's literally the life here. My host brother refuses to go to the internet cafe because he thinks the AC is too cold. The days are usually between 80 and 90 degrees and it's incredibly humid this time of year since it's the rainy season. Which means you basically never stop sweating. At night it might get to be 70 degrees. Maybe. In the afternoons in October until December or January it will just absolutely downpour. Sometimes it lasts until the following morning but it will never rain past about 8 am. And then it's hot all over again. I hear dry season is rough because everything is so dusty and your skin gets cracked so I've been told I'm very lucky to be here this time of year. Which I believe until I'm caught under an overhang waiting out the rain which can last for hours at a time without ceasing and the roads begin to flood.
Food: As I've mentioned before Ghanaian food is primarily carbohydrate-based. But it's not quite like the carbs we know and love at home. The three main dishes you have to try when arriving in Ghana are fufu, banku, and kenkey. Fufu is made from maize and is ground up and made into a sticky dough which is put into a nut or palm oil soup. My first day in Ho, my program head Ash got me to eat fufu but apparently I was eating it wrong and I got scolded by a man (you are supposed to cut the dough, dip it into the soup and eat it. I had skipped the dipping step...). They even tried to give me a soup to eat it with (the majority of dishes are eaten with you right hand).
Banku (aka akple) is similar being fermented corn and cassava cooked in hot water to make a paste and is eaten with a stew or sauce. And then there's kenkey which I actually haven't tried yet but it's essentially banku that's been wrapped in cornhusk and it doesn't taste quite as good.
They love their plantains here, which are like very large bananas. You can either pick them raw and fry them to make plantain chips or you pick them ripe and cook them in oil to have fried plantains. Red red is a bean dish served with fired ripe plantains with the typical red sauce that they put on everything here (it's spicy and kind of salty and you get it with pretty much everything).
The Irish volunteers say they feel at home here because of the amount of potatoes you have with your meals. One lunch option my host mother makes for us several times a week is sweet potatoes, yams, cassava (likes a huge potato originally from South America but grows rampant here) and fried plantains with some stewed vegetables. I have yet to understand the need for 3 different types of potatoes in one meal...
You often find women selling bread on the street - you can get plain bread, tea bread or sugar bread. Since our trip to Cape Coast I've become newly addicted to sugar bread, especially when they sell it fresh from the oven.
Finally you have your rice and pasta. Which, much to the dismay of the Asians and Italians I'm sure, they often serve together in one dish mixed together with the red sauce. You can also get Jollof which is rice cooked in a meat stew. You see chop bars all over town which means meat and fish are served there however meat is fairly expensive here as are vegetables. They have carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and onions but salad is not a part of the traditional dishes and vegetables usually aren't prepared with meals (something I've been having to deal with in the diabetes center).
I have this pineapple lady (she's a diabetic) who chops up whole pineapple with a machete and sells it fresh for a cedi (roughly 70 cents!) It's also the best pineapple I've tasted in my life. My host family continues to give me coconuts from their yard, oranges and of course bananas which are half the size of bananas at home.
You can find pretty much the same variety of 20some snacks all over town. I've recently become addicted to milk sticks which are bread sticks made with coconut milk. I'm not sure if I've mentioned how much they LOVE Obama over here and at the market in town (the kind with stalls where the venders sell fresh foods and fabrics etc) they sell Obama crackers with his face alllll over the package! There is one supermarket in town that has a few more Western goods but it's all rather expensive so I'm just sticking to Ghanaian foods for the time being.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Cape Coast
Just got back from a weekend in Cape Coast. We left Thursday morning and finally arrived just in time to watch the sunset on the beach. We spent Friday at the two castles (Cape Coast and Elmina). The dungeons where the slaves were kept for months at a time and the scratch marks on the walls on the death chambers are reminders of the horrific past in Ghana. The buildings themselves are beautiful but the atrocities which occurred within them made me sick to my stomach. It's terrifying when you realize that it was only 200 years ago...
On a brighter note, Saturday we went to Kakum National Park and went on the canopywalk. It's between 30-4o meters above the ground and is pretty much just a board and some ropes. It was incredible though to see the rainforest from up above. I absolutely loved it but the other girl with us turns out to be afraid of heights...she was not quite as excited. We spent the rest of Saturday hanging out by the beach and looking at the various African shops in town. That evening I met up with a girl I went to college with who is working in Cape Coast for the year. It was nice to see a face from home and finally have someone who understands when I say THE GIANTS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!!! (Woooo 3-1 cmon let's pull this off!!) We came back to Ho yesterday afternoon fairly quickly (it only took 3 buses and 6.5 hours) and I had plans to celebrate Halloween however I was asleep by 7 pm. So much for that...I hope the rest of you enjoyed Halloween though! I can't believe its November - I will be heading home in 29 days!
On a brighter note, Saturday we went to Kakum National Park and went on the canopywalk. It's between 30-4o meters above the ground and is pretty much just a board and some ropes. It was incredible though to see the rainforest from up above. I absolutely loved it but the other girl with us turns out to be afraid of heights...she was not quite as excited. We spent the rest of Saturday hanging out by the beach and looking at the various African shops in town. That evening I met up with a girl I went to college with who is working in Cape Coast for the year. It was nice to see a face from home and finally have someone who understands when I say THE GIANTS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!!! (Woooo 3-1 cmon let's pull this off!!) We came back to Ho yesterday afternoon fairly quickly (it only took 3 buses and 6.5 hours) and I had plans to celebrate Halloween however I was asleep by 7 pm. So much for that...I hope the rest of you enjoyed Halloween though! I can't believe its November - I will be heading home in 29 days!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Our cause
Many of you received an email from me earlier this week asking for donations to Volta Aid Foundation. We have several projects in the works which we are in need of further funding for: funding the schooling of two local girls who are to start high school this year, building bunks beds and buying mattresses and mosquito nets for all the children at Drifting Angels Orphanage, and printing 1000 copies of a handout about diabetes management for all the patients I see at the hospital. Thanks to those of you who have already offered to donate - I appreciate more than I could express in words. If you are thinking of donating and would like to know more feel free to contact me via email. I've added a "Donate" button to my blog. I'll keep you all updated on how the projects are coming along in Ho. The people here are so gracious and thankful for everything we do.
Hope all is well at home and GO GIANTS!!
Hope all is well at home and GO GIANTS!!
Monday, October 25, 2010
I haven't showered in a few days...
This weekend came and went too quickly! Saturday morning Regine (the German volunteer), Senyo (my host brother) and I all went to the village of Ziavi which is about 15 minutes by shared taxi. I'm not sure if I've talked about taxis yet but they are pretty great. You can get a ride to anywhere with in the town for 35 pesowas (roughly 20 cents) and if you want to go outside the town it costs you about 50 pesowas. It also means like the trotros you'll be fitting as many people in as possible. I've done 6 passengers not including the driver (and these cars are like really old, small mazdas). But I digress...the three of us went to Ziavi to check out the cocoa plantations. We didn't get much of a tour of the plantations as there really isn't much to see but we ended up at the chief's house (each tribe has a chief) drinking palm wine. We then walked around the village, saw a wedding, met a few locals and headed on home. It was a fun little outing though much like everything in Ghana you could not have expected where the day would take you (YOLO).
A good friend once told me (*cough* Lauren Shanley *cough*) that it takes 3 weeks to break a habit or addiction. Well I can tell you that I don't believe it! I have now gone 3 weeks without eating chocolate and I think I crave it as much if not more than before. Since most plantations are family owned, all the cocoa beans here are dried for a week and then sold to the government who then sells it to chocolate manufacturing companies all over the world. Cocoa is Ghana's biggest export, their cash crop so to speak, yet they don't produce any chocolate. Ironic and for me very sad!
Sunday I went to church here for the first time (honestly for the first time all year). I have heard Ghanaian church is something to be experienced and I have to say it was a little crazy! I think the best likeness would be gospel church on steroids. There's so much singing and dancing and drums and keyboard - it's great! I didn't understand much of what the pastor said but it was still enjoyable. After church a few of us went to Tsito, a nearby village where some volunteers from my program work and live at an orphanage. When we walked down the path the children came running out, grabbing my hand and giving me hugs. They were incredible sweet and wanted to play and talk to you and be your friend. There are 30 kids ranging from 2-19 years and some of their stories are heartbreaking. But you'd never know it from their faces. I'm not sure if it's just the trusting nature of children or the fact that these kids just wanted to be loved and cared for but they were some of the most welcoming and friendly people I have ever met - always laughing, always smiling. It yet again struck me just how lucky I and those around me have been...
On a different note, we have no electricity and no water (the internet cafe has a backup generator). I knew coming to Africa I may not have either of those luxuries but now that I've been accustomed to them this is quite a pain. Bucket showers, flashlight reading, candlelight dinner etc etc. I'm not a fan of bucket showers so I've put off taking one and just wash my face and whatnot. As we say here I'm Ghana clean. I think tonight I am going to cave and do the bucket shower. Bah. Our generator at the hospital failed today which meant 200+ people just waiting to see one of the three doctors. I've heard it can be like this for a week at a time - I hope it's not the case this time!
A good friend once told me (*cough* Lauren Shanley *cough*) that it takes 3 weeks to break a habit or addiction. Well I can tell you that I don't believe it! I have now gone 3 weeks without eating chocolate and I think I crave it as much if not more than before. Since most plantations are family owned, all the cocoa beans here are dried for a week and then sold to the government who then sells it to chocolate manufacturing companies all over the world. Cocoa is Ghana's biggest export, their cash crop so to speak, yet they don't produce any chocolate. Ironic and for me very sad!
Sunday I went to church here for the first time (honestly for the first time all year). I have heard Ghanaian church is something to be experienced and I have to say it was a little crazy! I think the best likeness would be gospel church on steroids. There's so much singing and dancing and drums and keyboard - it's great! I didn't understand much of what the pastor said but it was still enjoyable. After church a few of us went to Tsito, a nearby village where some volunteers from my program work and live at an orphanage. When we walked down the path the children came running out, grabbing my hand and giving me hugs. They were incredible sweet and wanted to play and talk to you and be your friend. There are 30 kids ranging from 2-19 years and some of their stories are heartbreaking. But you'd never know it from their faces. I'm not sure if it's just the trusting nature of children or the fact that these kids just wanted to be loved and cared for but they were some of the most welcoming and friendly people I have ever met - always laughing, always smiling. It yet again struck me just how lucky I and those around me have been...
On a different note, we have no electricity and no water (the internet cafe has a backup generator). I knew coming to Africa I may not have either of those luxuries but now that I've been accustomed to them this is quite a pain. Bucket showers, flashlight reading, candlelight dinner etc etc. I'm not a fan of bucket showers so I've put off taking one and just wash my face and whatnot. As we say here I'm Ghana clean. I think tonight I am going to cave and do the bucket shower. Bah. Our generator at the hospital failed today which meant 200+ people just waiting to see one of the three doctors. I've heard it can be like this for a week at a time - I hope it's not the case this time!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Stream of consciousness
It's been a while since I've written but life has gotten busy here. Plus most of my internet time is devoted to Skype and emails. But to catch you all up, last weekend I went with 5 other volunteers to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary about an hour north of here. It lies about 5 km west of the main road so we had to take motorcycles to the actually village. The village itself is pretty simple but we watched some kente weaving which is the local craft around here. It looks extremely complex but the guy said I could probably learn it in about two weeks if I tried. In the morning, we got to feed the monkeys bananas which was incredible! They jumped onto us and could peel the bananas themselves. They are such curious animals.
This week I spent focusing on a diabetes handout for the ward. They have nothing to give the new patients so another volunteer and I made a 3 page handout which explains diabetes and the complications which can occur. Wednesday was spent at a nearby village where we set up a clinic for the day. We look blood pressure and weighed the young babies as well as gave them vaccines. Most of the town doesn't have running water and live in huts so we had to explain why standing water can be a problem especially with malaria and why you shouldn't let your goats drink from the water you drink...
Have I mentioned the machetes yet? Everyone here has one and they use them for pretty much anything and everything. My little brother in the house (who is 10 mind you) used this huge one to cut open coconuts for us while his mother watched. It makes me nervous to watch especially because no one wears glasses here but a good percentage of the population needs them. I've heard it's not uncommon to see children come to see the doctor having cut their hand on a knife (there is no ER or triage - you have to wait your turn like the rest). Also, its funny because everyone here has 3 or 4 cell phones. There are 4 main providers and cell phones are so cheap (I bought mine for about $15 US dollars) and you don't have a contract its actually a better deal to have more than one depending on which service your friend has. Which then I find strange because everyone would then have every service provider. I haven't quite figured this one out.
I find it hilarious that aside from the monkeys I saw at the sanctuary the only true wildlife I've seen are goats, sheep and roosters. Not exactly what people imagine when they think of Africa. There are elephants up north but it would take about 15 hours to go see them so I'm not sure that's going to happen while I'm here.
I'm starting to learn a bit of the language and can say a few sentences but I have realized that nothing really has a direct translation and most phrases have two or three meanings. It's all about context. A common saying is "Be sure you're back on time" or "Will you be back on time" which is funny because I still have yet to figure out what "on time" means for Ghanaians. Nothing runs on time in fact I'm not sure many pay much attention to the time. Living by the equator you can often just tell the time by the sun - apparently it sets at 6 pm year round.
What's more interesting though is that Ewe was first written by the Germans and you'll never see it written. All newspapers, even the local ones, are in English. Funny since only maybe 1 in 5 can read English decently. The younger kids are better but the education system is a problem here. Most schools are public but you still need to pay to go (registration alone for high school is 300C about $215). Teachers often don't show up or sleep during class. And those that do teach aren't always doing the best job. My little brother showed me his homework the other day and he had copied down from the board "Give three excampules of uses of soil."
Anyway enough rambling - I'm headed to a cocoa plantation this weekend and then next week we're going to Cape Coast from Thurs-Sun. I'm sure I'll have plenty of more exciting things to talk about then - mia dogo!
This week I spent focusing on a diabetes handout for the ward. They have nothing to give the new patients so another volunteer and I made a 3 page handout which explains diabetes and the complications which can occur. Wednesday was spent at a nearby village where we set up a clinic for the day. We look blood pressure and weighed the young babies as well as gave them vaccines. Most of the town doesn't have running water and live in huts so we had to explain why standing water can be a problem especially with malaria and why you shouldn't let your goats drink from the water you drink...
Have I mentioned the machetes yet? Everyone here has one and they use them for pretty much anything and everything. My little brother in the house (who is 10 mind you) used this huge one to cut open coconuts for us while his mother watched. It makes me nervous to watch especially because no one wears glasses here but a good percentage of the population needs them. I've heard it's not uncommon to see children come to see the doctor having cut their hand on a knife (there is no ER or triage - you have to wait your turn like the rest). Also, its funny because everyone here has 3 or 4 cell phones. There are 4 main providers and cell phones are so cheap (I bought mine for about $15 US dollars) and you don't have a contract its actually a better deal to have more than one depending on which service your friend has. Which then I find strange because everyone would then have every service provider. I haven't quite figured this one out.
I find it hilarious that aside from the monkeys I saw at the sanctuary the only true wildlife I've seen are goats, sheep and roosters. Not exactly what people imagine when they think of Africa. There are elephants up north but it would take about 15 hours to go see them so I'm not sure that's going to happen while I'm here.
I'm starting to learn a bit of the language and can say a few sentences but I have realized that nothing really has a direct translation and most phrases have two or three meanings. It's all about context. A common saying is "Be sure you're back on time" or "Will you be back on time" which is funny because I still have yet to figure out what "on time" means for Ghanaians. Nothing runs on time in fact I'm not sure many pay much attention to the time. Living by the equator you can often just tell the time by the sun - apparently it sets at 6 pm year round.
What's more interesting though is that Ewe was first written by the Germans and you'll never see it written. All newspapers, even the local ones, are in English. Funny since only maybe 1 in 5 can read English decently. The younger kids are better but the education system is a problem here. Most schools are public but you still need to pay to go (registration alone for high school is 300C about $215). Teachers often don't show up or sleep during class. And those that do teach aren't always doing the best job. My little brother showed me his homework the other day and he had copied down from the board "Give three excampules of uses of soil."
Anyway enough rambling - I'm headed to a cocoa plantation this weekend and then next week we're going to Cape Coast from Thurs-Sun. I'm sure I'll have plenty of more exciting things to talk about then - mia dogo!
Friday, October 15, 2010
The last 24 hours
It's been a crazy last 24 hours. Yesterday I worked in the diabetes ward as usual. After the morning rush I headed over to the maternity ward where I spend most of my free time. Thursday is surgery day so the nurse offered to let me and another volunteer, Elisa, sit in. So we threw on some scrubs and I was able to watch 2 different surgeries. The first was a hysterectomy of a woman about 50 years old who had a problem with excessive bleeding and was past child bearing age. The second the removal of a mass near the uterus which was literally the size of twins. I thought the woman was pregnant! She had been trying to use local herbal medicine for 2 years but it had grown so large she could no longer eat and breathing was difficult. We were standing no more than 5 feet from the table watching the Ghanaian surgeon do his work. It is definitely very different from home (for example they only make a small incision and then with their HANDS rip apart the skin. I got chills watching...). But the doctor was very knowledgeable and explained to us what was going on. He even started singing the Star Spangled Banner in my honor (everyone LOVES Obama and therefore America here). It was probably the coolest thing I've seen since I've been here.
This morning we went to the leprosy village. The people there are cured lepers but they still have wounds and due to the stigma many cannot go home. Beyond that the disease causes toes and fingers to fall off so many could not work if they were to go home. The wounds are pretty gruesome in some cases, the size of nearly the entire foot while others are not so bad. They live fairly primitively - the government gave them land and an NGO built their houses but there's no running water or electricity and the government only gives them 3C50 a day (which is less than $2). They all have such great spirits and are so happy to talk to us and thankful for our work. It was really incredible to see how they could have so little and yet joke around with us Yavoos. It's something for me to think more about as I head home now, how lucky we all are...
This morning we went to the leprosy village. The people there are cured lepers but they still have wounds and due to the stigma many cannot go home. Beyond that the disease causes toes and fingers to fall off so many could not work if they were to go home. The wounds are pretty gruesome in some cases, the size of nearly the entire foot while others are not so bad. They live fairly primitively - the government gave them land and an NGO built their houses but there's no running water or electricity and the government only gives them 3C50 a day (which is less than $2). They all have such great spirits and are so happy to talk to us and thankful for our work. It was really incredible to see how they could have so little and yet joke around with us Yavoos. It's something for me to think more about as I head home now, how lucky we all are...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
What you never knew about Ghana
1. Watch out for taxis - they don't stop for pedestrians. Also they honk constantly either meaning "Get out of the way!" or "Do you want a ride?" or "Hello friend!" You pick which interpretation fits the situation...
2. Ghanaians are extremely early risers as I mentioned previously. They go to bed before 10 and wake up by 5:30
3. Part of the reason they wake up early is the roosters! They are in the villages, towns and main cities and start crowing at 4 am. And did you know that roosters continue to crow throughout the day? Well they do...
4. Religion is a huge part of life here. In the south the majority are Christian and in the north Muslim however they live harmoniously. And you see the religion everywhere - store names (Count Your Blessings, Holy Father's Inn, God's Finger's Tailoring, etc) and in the names of people (Charity, Bless, Remembrance, I even met a Forgive the other day!)
5. Football is the third religion. Most children haven't even heard of other sports.
6. Ghanaians have incredible posture, even the elderly. They carry literally everything on their heads - water, goods they're selling, clothing, I even saw a woman in labor carrying her pain med IV on her head to the delivery room (note she was WALKING to the delivery room)
7. This brings me to my next topic - the hospital. All the patients must purchase their own cotton swabs, razor blades, spirits (disinfecting alcohol), etc. Most wards do no provide these unless you buy from them.
8. Throughout Ghana, though differing between peoples, the babies are given several names - a surname, a Christian name, and a local name. The local name refers to the day of the week you were born, for example I'm born on a Thursday so I introduce myself as Jawa.
9. Left hand = toilet hand. You hand everything to each other and eat with your right hand. No exception.
10. The women carry the babies on their backs by wrapping cloth around their waists' and tying it so the baby stays up. It's so cute, the baby is in a cocoon and falls right asleep.
11. In 2007, they changed their currency since it had been so devalued. So 10,000 Cedi became 1C. But people, even very young children, use to old currency so they may say something is 5,000 C which ironically means 5C (notice the conversion is not correct). Or they may say something is worth 12 which actually means 10 Cedi 20 Pesowas. But everyone understands what's implied. I have yet to catch on!
12. The Ghanaians are very self-sufficient. The trees in our front yard provide the family with plantains, bananas, nuts which also give oil, juice which can be made into wine, coconuts, etc. There was garden with vegetables but the grass cutters ate it.
13. Grass cutters. They look like really big rats (the size of an American football) and they eat the tough sugar cane. My host father breeds them so there are about 30 some running around at night.
14. You can buy cold pure water on the streets for 5 pesowas pretty much every where you go. That's about 3 cents. It comes it a square plastic bag about 5x5 in.
15. There is this interesting combination of Western and traditional clothing. Many people where the colorful prints but it is not uncommon to see jeans and even American Tshirts (I saw a shirt for UCLA the other day!)
16. Every where we go we hear YAVOO YAVOO! which means white person in Ewe. The kids wave and call to us, even the adults are amused. It's funny to say the least.
17. People are extremely friendly. It is considered rude not to say "Efwa?" (how are you) before asking for some kind of service. And most strangers you pass on the street will say it.
2. Ghanaians are extremely early risers as I mentioned previously. They go to bed before 10 and wake up by 5:30
3. Part of the reason they wake up early is the roosters! They are in the villages, towns and main cities and start crowing at 4 am. And did you know that roosters continue to crow throughout the day? Well they do...
4. Religion is a huge part of life here. In the south the majority are Christian and in the north Muslim however they live harmoniously. And you see the religion everywhere - store names (Count Your Blessings, Holy Father's Inn, God's Finger's Tailoring, etc) and in the names of people (Charity, Bless, Remembrance, I even met a Forgive the other day!)
5. Football is the third religion. Most children haven't even heard of other sports.
6. Ghanaians have incredible posture, even the elderly. They carry literally everything on their heads - water, goods they're selling, clothing, I even saw a woman in labor carrying her pain med IV on her head to the delivery room (note she was WALKING to the delivery room)
7. This brings me to my next topic - the hospital. All the patients must purchase their own cotton swabs, razor blades, spirits (disinfecting alcohol), etc. Most wards do no provide these unless you buy from them.
8. Throughout Ghana, though differing between peoples, the babies are given several names - a surname, a Christian name, and a local name. The local name refers to the day of the week you were born, for example I'm born on a Thursday so I introduce myself as Jawa.
9. Left hand = toilet hand. You hand everything to each other and eat with your right hand. No exception.
10. The women carry the babies on their backs by wrapping cloth around their waists' and tying it so the baby stays up. It's so cute, the baby is in a cocoon and falls right asleep.
11. In 2007, they changed their currency since it had been so devalued. So 10,000 Cedi became 1C. But people, even very young children, use to old currency so they may say something is 5,000 C which ironically means 5C (notice the conversion is not correct). Or they may say something is worth 12 which actually means 10 Cedi 20 Pesowas. But everyone understands what's implied. I have yet to catch on!
12. The Ghanaians are very self-sufficient. The trees in our front yard provide the family with plantains, bananas, nuts which also give oil, juice which can be made into wine, coconuts, etc. There was garden with vegetables but the grass cutters ate it.
13. Grass cutters. They look like really big rats (the size of an American football) and they eat the tough sugar cane. My host father breeds them so there are about 30 some running around at night.
14. You can buy cold pure water on the streets for 5 pesowas pretty much every where you go. That's about 3 cents. It comes it a square plastic bag about 5x5 in.
15. There is this interesting combination of Western and traditional clothing. Many people where the colorful prints but it is not uncommon to see jeans and even American Tshirts (I saw a shirt for UCLA the other day!)
16. Every where we go we hear YAVOO YAVOO! which means white person in Ewe. The kids wave and call to us, even the adults are amused. It's funny to say the least.
17. People are extremely friendly. It is considered rude not to say "Efwa?" (how are you) before asking for some kind of service. And most strangers you pass on the street will say it.
Monday, October 11, 2010
My first African adventure - complete!
This weekend the other volunteer in my house, Regine, and decided to go to the Wli (vlee) waterfalls which are northeast of Ho on the Togolese border. As instructed by my host brother we left the house late (meaning a little before 7 AM!) and headed to the tros-tros station. A tros-tros is larger than a minivan but smaller than a bus and can fit about 16 people (uncomfortably), sometimes more. We rode to Ho-Hoe (Ho-Hoy) where we had to get a taxi out to the tourist center for the falls. We got totally jipped and ended up paying 20 Cedis for the ride, which really isn't much money but we could have paid 1C for the same ride in a tros-tros. A guide then took us up to the lower falls which are fabulous, I took lots of pictures. Because of all the rain you can't go up to the upper falls this time of year. But the hike was just as worthwhile if not more so. All around the path were trees and plants I've never seen before - I even saw a coffee plant and a cacoa tree! Apparently the cacoa is ripe when the fruit is yellow and then you can pick it. Inside you see these white beans which you can suck and they're very sweet and fruity. Inside of that is the cacoa which is purple actually! Once dried it is ready to be made into chocolate. I now know where the love of my life comes from :) I posted picture (not one I took) to the right...
After the hike we got lunch at a lodge right need the tourist center which is owned by a German couple. Just as we were leaving the skies decided they could hold it no longer and it began to pour. We were extremely fortunate that a truck drove by just then and took pity on us and the men kindly drove us back to Ho-Hoe. We were home in time for dinner!
This weekend there are tentative plans to head down to Cape Coast, a 6 hour tros-tros ride away. Either way I'll keep you updated! Hope all is well back in the states, it is SO hot here today. I'm actually praying for rain (once I've made it safely home, you don't want to get caught outside in the rain here).
After the hike we got lunch at a lodge right need the tourist center which is owned by a German couple. Just as we were leaving the skies decided they could hold it no longer and it began to pour. We were extremely fortunate that a truck drove by just then and took pity on us and the men kindly drove us back to Ho-Hoe. We were home in time for dinner!
This weekend there are tentative plans to head down to Cape Coast, a 6 hour tros-tros ride away. Either way I'll keep you updated! Hope all is well back in the states, it is SO hot here today. I'm actually praying for rain (once I've made it safely home, you don't want to get caught outside in the rain here).
Friday, October 8, 2010
A typical day...
So my typical day thus far is something like this:
I wake up around 6:15 (Ghanaians are very early risers) and eat breakfast which usually consists of bread, peanut butter (tastes like the natural kind you buy at Trader Joe's), and a banana from the tree outside. I leave the house around 6:50 and walk between the houses to the street (there is no street that takes you directly to our house) heading to work. I arrive at the hospital around 7 and immediately start taking blood glucose levels of the patients, some of whom have been waiting a half hour already. I take FBG levels for about 2 hours and then, depending on how many volunteers are in the ward that day, we take turns taking blood pressure & patient history, entering prescriptions into the computer and talking with the patients. I enjoy talking to the patients best. Ghanaians are extremely friendly and are very curious about where you are from and how you like their lovely country. And they love to laugh - especially at my atrocious accent when calling out their names or trying to speak Ewe.
I leave the hospital between 12 and 1 pm (I sometimes stay later if something is going on in the other wards) and then stop by the internet cafe (mostly because it has AC which most Ghanaians think is much too cold ha!) and then head home for lunch around 2pm. Lunch is usually rice or fufu - a native dish which is kinda of like a ball of dough in a very spicy soup (an acquired taste...). Then I spend the afternoons either wandering the city, at the market or, if it is raining, I sit on the porch with my host father and host brother while they give me Ewe lessons and we discuss America, Ghana, traveling, the meaning of life, etc. I have spent hours on the porch and met many neighbors and friends of the family. People don't have TVs or computers so their form of entertainment is a bit of fashioned - spending time together!
Dinner is usually served around 7 and is a variety of things - fried yams, Ghanaian salad (nothing like ours), beans, rice, sweet potatoes...the list goes on. I'll take picture of their foods so you all can see. After dinner is more time to hang out, read and talk. I turn in around 8 to work on grad school applications and GRE studying (ha!) and go to bed before 10 - I have truly turned into my parents!
I am looking forward to doing some outreach projects such as going to orphanages and the leprosy village in the upcoming weeks as well as traveling the country. Tomorrow the other volunteers from a nearby village are coming to Ho and we are going out to dinner and to get a drink! Speaking of drink, I tried Ghanaian wine - veryyyy different. I liked it but it tastes...fruity.
More stories to come, but now its time for lunch and the market. I think I'm going to buy some fabric to be tailored into a tradition outfit :) I won't be mistaken for a Yavoo (white person) soon!
I wake up around 6:15 (Ghanaians are very early risers) and eat breakfast which usually consists of bread, peanut butter (tastes like the natural kind you buy at Trader Joe's), and a banana from the tree outside. I leave the house around 6:50 and walk between the houses to the street (there is no street that takes you directly to our house) heading to work. I arrive at the hospital around 7 and immediately start taking blood glucose levels of the patients, some of whom have been waiting a half hour already. I take FBG levels for about 2 hours and then, depending on how many volunteers are in the ward that day, we take turns taking blood pressure & patient history, entering prescriptions into the computer and talking with the patients. I enjoy talking to the patients best. Ghanaians are extremely friendly and are very curious about where you are from and how you like their lovely country. And they love to laugh - especially at my atrocious accent when calling out their names or trying to speak Ewe.
I leave the hospital between 12 and 1 pm (I sometimes stay later if something is going on in the other wards) and then stop by the internet cafe (mostly because it has AC which most Ghanaians think is much too cold ha!) and then head home for lunch around 2pm. Lunch is usually rice or fufu - a native dish which is kinda of like a ball of dough in a very spicy soup (an acquired taste...). Then I spend the afternoons either wandering the city, at the market or, if it is raining, I sit on the porch with my host father and host brother while they give me Ewe lessons and we discuss America, Ghana, traveling, the meaning of life, etc. I have spent hours on the porch and met many neighbors and friends of the family. People don't have TVs or computers so their form of entertainment is a bit of fashioned - spending time together!
Dinner is usually served around 7 and is a variety of things - fried yams, Ghanaian salad (nothing like ours), beans, rice, sweet potatoes...the list goes on. I'll take picture of their foods so you all can see. After dinner is more time to hang out, read and talk. I turn in around 8 to work on grad school applications and GRE studying (ha!) and go to bed before 10 - I have truly turned into my parents!
I am looking forward to doing some outreach projects such as going to orphanages and the leprosy village in the upcoming weeks as well as traveling the country. Tomorrow the other volunteers from a nearby village are coming to Ho and we are going out to dinner and to get a drink! Speaking of drink, I tried Ghanaian wine - veryyyy different. I liked it but it tastes...fruity.
More stories to come, but now its time for lunch and the market. I think I'm going to buy some fabric to be tailored into a tradition outfit :) I won't be mistaken for a Yavoo (white person) soon!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Living in Ho on Ghana time
I arrived in Accra, the capital of Ghana on Sunday night and was picked up by one of the heads of my program (Volta Aid Foundation). We stayed the night in a hotel and then headed to Ho early Monday morning with another volunteer, Regina, who is a 44-year-old woman from Germany. The drive took 2 1/2 hours and we drove through many small villages along the way - some just groups of huts.
In Ho, I'm staying with a host family with Regina at their home. I have my own room which is fairly large and all cement with a twin foam mattress on the floor and a small plastic table and chair. There is one bathroom in the house that has a toilet and shower (no sink) and we do have running water. My host mother, Beatrice, had her whole family visiting so there were many people in the house, including an adorable 2-year-old boy, Clinton. Aside from Beatrice, there is also my host father Sena and their 10-year-old son Senya. Senya is very mature for his age and helps out quite a lot around the house. In general Bea will be making my meals but for the next week we are trying the local cuisine with my program head, Ash (actually a white guy from Australia). Yesterday I had fufu which is basically dough in a very spicy soup. It's not so bad but I think their food is an acquired taste. The trees all along our house are coconut so I have had many of them as well as fresh pineapple and oranges (which ironically are green).
During the day I work at the hospital in the diabetes ward. Diabetes is a big problem in Ghana because their diet is full of carbohydrates and they don't exercise much (if you lived in this heat you wouldn't either trust me). Because many patients don't have a glucose monitor at home we take their fasting glucose levels in the morning. So I prick their fingers and take the reading and then help record the patient history and chief complaints as well as entering their prescriptions into the computer. I will be doing some one-on-one time with the patients informing them about their condition and how they should monitor it. Many people here do not understand how diabetes works or the fact their their diet is an essential part of maintaining their health.
When things get slow (after about 12 pm) I can go to the other wards to see who all needs help. Today we were going to watch a C-section that was supposed to start at noon however they were on Ghana time and I had to leave before they began. The people here don't make set plans far ahead and they are not prompt (so when someone says they'll meet you at 8 that could mean 8:30 or 9 or whenever they decide to show up). Initially, as a punctual individual, this bothered me but I've settled into this slower lifestyle. I still have yet to walk at a more casual pace but some habits die hard. I am much less busy here than I expected to be but that is just their way of life, again something to get used to.
I have much to explore in the next few weeks and have made plans to go to the monkey sanctuaries, the waterfalls as well as Cape Coast where there are relics of the slave trade. I will update you more later this week as there is so much to explain but now my internet time is running out. Mia dogo!
In Ho, I'm staying with a host family with Regina at their home. I have my own room which is fairly large and all cement with a twin foam mattress on the floor and a small plastic table and chair. There is one bathroom in the house that has a toilet and shower (no sink) and we do have running water. My host mother, Beatrice, had her whole family visiting so there were many people in the house, including an adorable 2-year-old boy, Clinton. Aside from Beatrice, there is also my host father Sena and their 10-year-old son Senya. Senya is very mature for his age and helps out quite a lot around the house. In general Bea will be making my meals but for the next week we are trying the local cuisine with my program head, Ash (actually a white guy from Australia). Yesterday I had fufu which is basically dough in a very spicy soup. It's not so bad but I think their food is an acquired taste. The trees all along our house are coconut so I have had many of them as well as fresh pineapple and oranges (which ironically are green).
During the day I work at the hospital in the diabetes ward. Diabetes is a big problem in Ghana because their diet is full of carbohydrates and they don't exercise much (if you lived in this heat you wouldn't either trust me). Because many patients don't have a glucose monitor at home we take their fasting glucose levels in the morning. So I prick their fingers and take the reading and then help record the patient history and chief complaints as well as entering their prescriptions into the computer. I will be doing some one-on-one time with the patients informing them about their condition and how they should monitor it. Many people here do not understand how diabetes works or the fact their their diet is an essential part of maintaining their health.
When things get slow (after about 12 pm) I can go to the other wards to see who all needs help. Today we were going to watch a C-section that was supposed to start at noon however they were on Ghana time and I had to leave before they began. The people here don't make set plans far ahead and they are not prompt (so when someone says they'll meet you at 8 that could mean 8:30 or 9 or whenever they decide to show up). Initially, as a punctual individual, this bothered me but I've settled into this slower lifestyle. I still have yet to walk at a more casual pace but some habits die hard. I am much less busy here than I expected to be but that is just their way of life, again something to get used to.
I have much to explore in the next few weeks and have made plans to go to the monkey sanctuaries, the waterfalls as well as Cape Coast where there are relics of the slave trade. I will update you more later this week as there is so much to explain but now my internet time is running out. Mia dogo!
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