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!
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