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!
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