Day Seven: 5/30/2010

Time to leave our little paradise and head on home, but before we left we took a boat tour of the river and the other land around, and got a tour of a run factory. Which really in a couple of separated places on a farm, but it really cool to see how they made rum (see pictures below), and then at the end of the tour we all took a shot of this rum  It was really good, spicy and strong but definitely different from any other rum that I have had before, so my roommate and I got a big bottle of it for 10 cedi (about $7), you can see the picture below of us holding the bottle. After our boat tour we caught another Tro back to Medina so we could get another Tro back home.

Day Six: 5/29/2010

I wake up about 4:30am everyone morning in Ghana, so I decided to get up and go watch the sunrise and get a look at everything in the daylight. Here are some pictures from the place, it was amazing!! It is like a tropical paradise and in terms of American dollars really cheap, people would pay thousands of dollars to have this kind of experience and I maybe paid $50. This “resort” is located between the ocean and the Volta River (there is a place at the end of the beach where the river meets the ocean), but the ocean and some pretty wicked waves and a really dangerous undertow so Projects Abroad really advised against swimming in the ocean, but the river side is really calm and the water is so warm and amazing. I went with a group of 11, so we took advantage of our day off and went swimming and played water polo with some older South Koreans that showed up for the day, had lunch, laid in hammocks, took naps, ate dinner, etc. It was just so relaxing there, we were really the only group of people staying there so we pretty much had the entire “resort” to ourselves. I will let the pictures describe how absolutely amazing this place is 

Day Five: 5/28/2010

Just another day at the OPD, but I left early because some friends and I are traveling to a beach called Adafo.

We all took a Tro to Accra Tro Station where we transferred to another Tro to get to the beach, it took about another 2 hours to get there so it was pretty dark when we got to the place, but there was a full moon out so it lit the way. And let me say this place is PARADISE!!! We had to walk about 20 minutes through this village to get to the “resort” but it was so beautiful. Once we got there we were greeted by the ocean waves crashing against the beach and beautiful white sandy beach that was really wide and so long. I can’t even really describe how beautiful it was and it was night time, but with the full moon out with was breath taking. We got to the place and had some dinner and found out grass huts and went to bed.

Day Four 5/27/2010:

Every Thursday at the OPD, is a HIV/AIDS clinic so anyone that needs to get a routine check-up, more medication, counseling etc usually come on this day. So anyone that is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS gets a patient folder that looks similar to the regular ones but it is bigger and they get this big green booklet in it (that book is used to keep track of their disease). I was in-charge of opening up lab orders and marking in the booklet, and it was a really weird experience to open up my first lab order and see the words, POSITIVE, red, all caps ink. It changes their life forever and there were about 40 patients coming to get a check-up another 5-10 that were just getting diagnosed. It was really overwhelming at times.

For the patients that were getting routine check-ups, the doctor would ask them a series of questions and look for other signs and one questions that asked “are you sexually active? Yes or no,” if they say yes, we move on to sub-questions that asked “are you letting your partner know you are infected? Yes or no,” and about 15 said yes to being sexually active and no to letting their partner know because they are too embarrassed. I was so mad and frustrated, I mean I’m sure it’s the same problem in the rest of the world, but in a Africa were so maybe individuals are infected it is almost impossible to stop. I was glad I got to be a part of this clinic, but the stigma associated with this disease really prevents people from being open with their sexual partners and it really made me look at my own life and realize how truly lucky I am.

Day Three 5/26/2010:

It was a national holiday in Ghana, so I didn’t have to work so one of my roommates and some other volunteers went to a near by town called Aburi to a wood market. It was about 20 stands that lined a road and had a lot of different wood carvings. Masks and figurines of all sizes, I brought 3 things, but I really wish I could have gotten more. But I have to fly home with already over weight baggage, plus I really want a huge mask or figurine which definitely won’t fit  We spent about 3 hours there and then went to have lunch in the town next to it. In Ghana, you have to get use to other people getting their food way ahead of you. One of my friends waited over an hour after us to finally get his food! After that, stopped at a fruit market (just some stands on the road) and got some oranges (that are green  ), pineapple (which is amazing), and some bananas (also amazing), the we headed back home.

We took a Tro-Tro to get back, they are this huge vans that have all this seating that are very cheap to take to places far away, but they are the scariest things I have ever been in. They definitely don’t care what side of the road they drive on, they use their horns to let other drivers know they are near or passing instead of a blinker, they drive fast and they probably could fit 10 comfortably plus the driver and the mate, but they will cram as many as 14-16 in them. But they are cheap so we go  Once we got to our junction, we got out and were greeted by a huge down pour of rain, so my roommate and I had to run under a shops porch for about 15 minutes and wait until it passed. Then just went to the internet café, walked around, went to a football game (soccer), came home and went to bed.

Day Two 5/25/2010:

I am working in the Out Patient Department (OPD) for now and I will switch to maternity, then surgery. The OPD is very crazy and busy, they have about 150 people coming in and most times only 2 doctors on staff. So for my first day I was basically just thrown into the pit and started working. I am doing want all the nurses are doing, so I work in the cubical type space (3 pieces of dirty white work), with a card table and 3 chairs, along with my blood pressure equipment, thermometer, cotton balls and a pen. So for about 5 hours I just did vitals and it was overwhelming to say the least. I haven’t actually done BP measurements in about 3 years and it is so loud in there and there are people all around you that is so hard to hear the beats of the heart, plus according to all the nurses I write like an American. So instead of saying “difficulty breathing” I put “trouble breathing.” So it was crazy and I feel totally unqualified to do this job since I didn’t actually do my undergrad study in nursing. It’s weird how I am totally unqualified to do this job in America, but very qualified to do this job here.

Along with being a nurse, I was taken aback by the sanitary conditions that are practiced there. As you can see in some of my pictures, the hospital is far from sterile and clean. I had one thermometer to use for all my patients and I only had dry cotton balls to clean them off with. I don’t know why I was so surprised, but I was and I was grossed out by the lack of just clean equipment. I know they are doing their best, but it just sooooo different from any of the hospitals in the states. Which is exactly why I came, after just one hour in this place I realize how damn lucky we are. So my day came to close and I really just wanted to cry because I was so stressed out and overwhelmed and I don’t like being bad at things (I am getting better at taking BP), but the nurse I am working with is just so sweet, so it definitely makes things better.

I came home, ate dinner and went to bed at 8:30pm.

Day One 5/24/2010:

It was quite an experience getting to Ghana, but I finally made it. I had the worst flight of my life and I can assure you that I will never fly with Delta Airlines internationally again. But that is all behind me because I am finally HERE!!

I had to the sleep at the Projects Abroad headquarters because I arrived so late (around midnight). So I was greeted by some very muggy weather and I hadn’t showered in 2 days, so once I arrived I quickly took my first African shower. Even through the water was more cold then warm and the pressure was almost zero it felt amazing!! I was so hot and tired that anything at that point felt amazing. After that I went to bed and quickly found out that my phone’s alarm clock doesn’t work anymore (I suspended my contract with AT&T while I am gone). So I kinda woke up late for my meeting with my taxi driver (he was driving me an hour north to Mampong), but he was very kind and didn’t care. So I left Accra and headed north and in the first 5 seconds of being in that car I realized that there is NO code for driving, no real rules, and everyone just does what they want. It was a little scary, but I am alive and here.

I meant my host family and their 3 young children, there are also 2 other girls staying here (other volunteers) which is nice because we work at the same hospital (which is across the street from where we live). I start work tomorrow, so I am excited to see what I will be doing.