Counting Down...

Hey everyone! Only one more week to in Ghana, I cant believe that I have been here for 4 weeks. It feels like I have only been here for a week, time has just blown by. I intend to spend pretty all of the time I have left here at my project and the orphanage. No more crazy excursions just quality time with the ppl at the clinic, the kids at the orphanage and my favorite volunteers. This past week consisted of pretty much just that. The clinic was a pretty slow week but with some interesting twists. One woman came in that had spliced her middle finger in 2! They have no numbing medications so they had to clean and stitch up the wound with the woman screaming in pain. Another woman came into the treatment room that was diagnosed with borderline diabetes I think her FBC was 7 but she doesn’t have the money to afford the appropriate diet. She was pleading with the nurses and trying to see if there was anything she could do but she cant afford real food or any medications. Her diabetes is just going to get worse and worse my guess gangrene then amputations and infections. The most shocking thing that happened was a young girl around 15 came in and told TT that she had just been raped. I wont go into the details because its tough but yeah it happens. There isn’t anything TT can do for her so he told her to go to the police then they will send her to a hospital to get tested for diseases. But I know nothing is going to happen. The police here carry around AK’s and are totally worthless not to mention corrupt. Ive seen the tro tro drivers give them money instead of papers many times. The also lack the technology to do something like a rape test kit and collect semen or blood samples. The girl knows the guy who did it but her father cant afford to take it to court and even if they do that doesn’t mean they’ll win. Ive seen quite a few posters for CSI Miami and it is a relatively popular show here but absolutely none of it applies to their life. That was clinic this week, and it was also weird because this was the first week without Kate =( Even when I get back from clinic I end up doing basic first aid for the kids at the orphanage. The boys are always playing football and scraping up their toes. I had a little girl and boy with huge gashes on the ends of their big toes. The supplies are limited so I do what I can to keep them from becoming infected. Its hard because there are so many kids so I cant monitor each wound and the kids keeping friggin taking the plaster(band-aids) off. Not all of the kids have shoes but the ones that do have sandals that aren’t going to protect their toes. I really happy that gifty’s ringworm has been clearing up. Ive made it my personal mission to wash her head every night. The first night I washed heads her head was unbelievable, now there are only a few traces of it left. The weekend was chill. Friday after clinic I went to Accra to the arts market and on Saturday I went to coco bide, a little beach not to far from the hostel. There were a ton of Rasta guys and it was calm pretty day. I developed a nasty farmers tan that I need to get rid of before I leave. Not a whole lot of action going on, the funniest thing was my friend Caro from Germany paid to get dreads in her hair. I feel like my trip is winding down. I am going to try to make the most of my last week here.

Kate's leeeeavin on a jet plane......

We went to the clinic on Friday july 24th, kate’s last day )= We left around 11 so we could pack and head into accra. It was really difficult to find a place so we ended up at an relatively expensive lodge in osu, accra. It had a flushing toilet, AC and Running hot water!!!! Best shower ever!! Osu is weird because there are good amount of obrunis(whites) around. Were used to ppl staring at us like were weird but here ppl see us as dollar signs and are constantly trying to get us to buy things. We went to the arts market to buy things. I hated the market. Everyone is yelling and grabbing you trying to get you to buy things at ridiculous prices, not fun but I understand this is how they survive and make a living. Afterwards we hung out in our lodge and around osu. Then kate was being picked up the next morning by her missionary friends that live there. Some girls left for the beach but I went back to the hostel. The arts market was enough for me and I wanted a weekend to relax and go to church. Today, Sunday I went to church with Cynthia, one of the school teachers. That was an experience. They are constantly singing and dancing and giving testimonies. It was awkward but in a way im kinda used to it and just go with the flow. The little boy infront of me just kept staring. I swear he didn’t take his eyes off me for a second. I miss Kate already. Her and Julia are my best buddies here and really amazing ppl. We room together and work at the same clinic so over the last 3 weeks we have become super close. I cant believe Kate is gone. Kate is from Georia and is studing nursing at TCU. Julia is from longbeach and studies public health at john Hopkins as an undergrad. Now I intend to relax, catch up on blogging and reading.

Fundraiser

Thursday july 23rd was special, we did not go to the clinic. It was Kates b-day so we paid our cook to bake her a cake and we surprised her in the morning. I do not remember if I mentioned meeting a chief before but well the previous thursday I met a chief and he was particularly fond of me (not in a weird way but in he found having a conversation with me interesting) so my job was to get him to come to the orphanage fund raiser. Chiefs (nana in twi) are a really big deal, kinda like celebrities so ppl will come to see them. He agreed to come and Kate and I were supposed to escort him in. So this Thursday he came to the fundraiser. It was unbelievable. The kids have been practicing for weeks on their dances and we all helped to clean the orphanage and put up tents and decorations. The orphanage did not look like the orphanage and the kids were in their uniforms that had been cleaned and some were in costumes for their dance. Mary is an excellent dancer and looked super cute in her outfit. Naomi(the coordinator) grabbed kate someother volunteers and I and threw us in a room. She dressed us in traditional African clothing and forbid us to leave without the chief. I spent about 2 hours in a hot room with no ventilation in a less then comfortable outfit. The kids also came in to change for their dances, they put on makeup and beads and were super excited. I was about ready to pass out when Nana arrived. He was really glad to see me and took the other chosen volunteers and me to sit and chat. Naomi keeps joking that I am his new wife which was kinda funny at first but now really starting to freak me out. He was really nice about it and gave me a new name. He calls me aba(which is fonti for Thursday, the day I was born on, a common practice in Ghana) and his last name which ill try to learn to spell and post it for you guys. He says I should use it around Ghana and ppl will treat me with respect because that shows them I am a princess. We probably talked for about an hour, he is a very interesting person and has done seen and met amazing things and ppl. His life story is really interesting and his has traveled all over the world and is very knowledgeable about other countries. Then we escorted him in for the festival fundraiser. We sat with nana in special seat, there were a large number of ppl from the town and everyone kept taking our picture. There was also other notable figures in the community and a journalist from the local paper a tv crew and a radio host. The kids preformed and a group from UC davis performed also. The kids were amazing but UC davis was terrible. There was a time set aside for donating and a few speeches and when it was all over we escorted nana out. He has invited me to his palace in kasoa next week so im excited to go plus I like hanging out with him. After nana left we went back inside to find all the kids dancing with the volunteers and UC davis kids. The davis group is a summer class where they perform and donate to orphanages. Although I think its great they never really see what its really like. All they do is come and party with the kids after at events where their true living conditions and spirit of the orphanages are masked. All they see is the show that the staff and kids put on. They were grabbing the kids and I don’t think anyone told them about the ringworm ha ha ha.Oh I forgot to mention last week everyone at the orphanage was tested for HIV and they found 3 more kids that are positive. I don’t think they know about that either.

Thats just the way it is

This whole time in Ghana I have done things that I would never have never fathomed I would do. This week was very relaxed and has become routine. I work at the clinic in the morning and then hang out at the orphanage at night. This week Ive been washing hands and heads at night and drying kids out of the shower in the morning. The morning shift is hard because u have to be up by 5 am. The first morning I helped dry kids was eye opening for me. No one was getting hurt but all the naked kids with kwashikor being shoved into cement rooms and having water poured on them reminded me of pictures from the holocaust. While I was there I saw my friend Caro(from germany) really upset. She was upset because she saw one of the kids getting beat by the ladies that work there. I haven’t seen it myself but it happens a lot. And when I say beat I dont mean light spank I mean BEAT with a stick or piece of wood repeatedly. The women are not evil and care for the kids(at least we think so) but that is how they deal with the kids here. Its sad because the kids mimic the behaviour with eachother. They beat eachother with sticks and such. But they just see it as part of life and they all move on. One person can beat another and within the hour they are buddies again. On a lighter note while I was drying the kids I found Mary. She is fully recovered with a little cough remaining but her light spirit and sweet smile is back. At night I help wash the kids hands before they eat and I wash heads. We wash heads because most if not all of the kids have ringworm on their heads. We wash them with medicated soap and water from the well then apply a medicated cream on the blatantly visible infected areas. Its contagious so I wear gloves and make sure to wash with antibacterial soap after. I wrestled and know what ringworm looks like but this is a different story. The kids itch the infected spots until large yellow infected sores form on their heads. I also need to wash the new boy kobe. He has a severe skin disease, REALLY malnourished and has large sores on his feet. Claire is an EMT and changes the bandages on his feet everyday. Kobe was found last week abandoned by a river. It was obvious he had been living there for a while because of his condition. He doesn’t speak and most staff now believe that he is deaf because you can clap or snap loudly near his ears from behind and he wont even flinch. He has improved so much over the week. This week at the clinic I spent one day with the doctor, taking temp bp and reading lab results/seeing the patients, I spent another day in the lab working with blood and urine samples and then I spent a day in the treatment room. The treatment room is run by women who are not trained nurses but they do the most. That day I learned about some of the types of medicines they give. I also helped prepare IV’s, not starting them but setting them up. I don’t want to be responsible for trying to get the needle in the vein. Most ppl here (especially if they need an IV) are severely dehydrated and their veins are extremely small and difficult to locate. I also gave a few injections. I will not do children because they scream and kick. Kate injected a kid on the first day and the kid gyrated and the needle stuck her thumb, id rather not have that happen to me. I also see other basic wound care situations but its intense wounds that receive little care. Many ppl come in for infected areas of their feet. The nurses take scissors and cut open the areas to drain out the pus. The skin peels right off. Another man came in with the most severe burns I have ever seen on his neck. One man came in with an infected hand with huge gashes. As the nurse was preparing the dressings flies kept landing on his hand and settling in his giant lacerations. The clinic is no where close to clean or sterile. The floor of the treatment room is covered with dirt and glass. To open medications they just break the glass tops and leave the shards on the floor. The IV rooms are small rooms crowded with beds. They never clean the sheets so once a person gets up another lays down. Not to mention they only use one needle per person and the "nurses" never wear gloves. It know i just bashed on TT’s clinic but its one of the best clinics around. He is a really good guy and tries to give the best and most affordable care possible. I am learning a ton at the clinic and really enjoy working with the ppl there. They are always helping us to learn and understand.

THE BEST weekend

I apologize to all of you that freaked out because you didnt hear from me for a while. THe internet cafe server was down last week and i ran out of minutes and then when i bought minutes i was in the mountains with no reception. But i am fine and i will make sure that doesnt happen again. I know that I said last weekend was the best weekend ever but it doesn’t even come close to this weekend. I literally had the best day I have ever had in my entire life. We left early on Friday for a 5 hour trip to the volta region. We arrived in tafi atome where the monkey sanctuary is and were immediately surrounded by monkeys. We stayed the night in a decent hostel there and woke up with only a few new bug bites. Super early in the morning we went on a guided tour to feed the monkeys and take a little hike in the Forrest. The monkeys literally ate out of my hand. They would run up peel the banana and take little pieces. Afterward we had breakfast and headed to mountain paradise lodge. The trip to the lodge was an adventure in itself. We shoved all six of us into one taxi and tried to make it up the hill. It was like the Indiana jones ride in real life. At one point the taxi was stuck in a ditch and we had to get out and walk up the hill. We eventually made it to the top and found the nicest lodge that we have seen yet. It had a semi –flushing toilet, relatively clean beds and actual shower heads that cold water could trickle out of, you cannot understand how excited we were about these. But what really made the place awesome was the view. We had a little porch that looked out on the valley and surrounding mountains. It was spectacular like nothing I have ever seen. We decided not to travel to wli to see the waterfalls because of the experience of driving up there so we decided to go early on Sunday. They had a hike to some waterfalls offered from the hotel so we decided to that instead. We were expecting a hike similar to the morning monkey hike which is much more a walk than a hike but we quickly learned that when they said hike they ment hike. We hiked up on the side of the mountain with no path. At one point Claire asked what happens if we fall, the guide looked back and replied in all seriousness “don’t fall”. Towards the end we descended back down to the base of the waterfall.it was soo steep there were ropes tohelpus out. To get to the waterfall we had to climb down a vertical drop of rocks by hanging on to a rope, like real rock climbing without a harness. Only Claire kate and I were brave enough to attempt it and Julia and sarah stayed behind. The grueling hike was totally worth it in the end! It was a little secluded waterfall that fed into a little pond that ran into a river. No one else was there. When we saw it we knew that we had to swim in it. Visitors swim in it all the time so its relatively safe so kate Claire and I jumped in in our underwear. The most amazing thing ever swimming in the pond beneath the waterfall with the trees hanging over. We stayed there for quite some time but cut it short because Julia and sarah were waiting. By the time we arrived back at the lodge we were all exhausted and starving. We showered with running water and ate lunch! Then we sat on the porch talked/rested as it started raining. This was the most clean and rested I have felt since ive arrived in Ghana. There were not kids or street ppl hassling us just quiet and beautiful mountains covered in green all around. That we had dinner and went to bed in the best bed I have slept in in Ghana. That concludes the best day ever. The next day was not as awesome but still nice. We traveled to wli to see the crazy waterfalls which were nice but not as private and secluded as the lodges.then we began our super long trip home. It took about 6-7 hours on crowded tro tros to get home but we made it.

My project

So my project on HIV/AIDS that I came here for doesn’t exist really but I really enjoy what they set me up with. I work at a little(by our standards but average/large of Ghana) rural clinic run by doctor T.T. There are 2 treatment rooms 2 rooms to see a doctor and a nurse and a lab. nurses here are like nurse practitioners at home and the jobs of nurses at home are done by regular ladies. TT is a great guy and totally accommodating and tries his best to help us learn. I am stationed there with my 2 roommates Kate and Julia, my third roommate Kendra works at the orphanage, she really nice but I do not see her much. At the clinic we have 3 different jobs that we are switching off. Ive worked with the doctor, with taking blood pressure, taking temperature and filling out med sheets and lab request, here I have the chance to interact with patients and learn how to interpret results and symptoms into a diagnosis and I have also worked in the lab. In the lab I work with blood and urine samples doing all sorts of tests. Its pretty awesome because I learned how to do all of these procedures in bio lab and I now have a real life application for my knowledge. I have seen 3 different types of malaria parasites in ppls blood as well as sickle cell and can use electrophoresis to determine the genotype. The lab can be monotonous at times but at the same time its an awesome opportunity. After the clinic I usually head over to the orphanage to help out over there. I have 3 favorites out of the 140 or so kids there. I just found out yesterday that my favorite kid that I see everyday and usually put to bed has malaria. She became more quiet and then I didn’t see her for 2 days then I was told that they took her to see a doctor. Malaria is treatable, but its still sad and there is a chance that something goes wrong. This weekend a couple other volunteers and I are heading to see the falls and the monkey sanctuary. It should be another awesome trip, ill blog about it later.

What its like

Alrighty I am typing my blog in my and hooking my laptop up at the internet café in order to save time. I going to try to explain what life is like here and my current living conditions. Ghanans are really chill, I mean REALLY chill. Market people will hassle you if you are an Obruni(white) but its no big deal. It takes hours to get things done and there are no solid plans, everything is up in the air and I am constantly being told not to worry about it. For example when my friends and I go out to eat it literally takes at least an hour to get your food and sometimes after about 45 minutes the cook/waitress will come out and tell you they don’t have the necessary ingredients and they cant make it or they improvise part of your dish. Its not a big deal to me because we’re never in a hurry but the US seems to run at a different speed. My living conditions are well… lets just say laura would not make it here. The “hostel” I am staying at is literally next door to an orphanage which is really awesome. I live in the “green house” which really isn’t a house or a hostel at all it’s a type of ghanian apartment complex. 3 apartments are part of the organization. One for the office, where I spent the first night and the other two have 2 rooms each and make up the dormish area where the volunteers sleep. There are about 16 volunteers living here and about 20 total. I now live in one of the backrooms with 3 other girls. Each room has 2 bunk beds that barely fit not to mention all of our luggage and stuff that we shove into any open space. I ended up with the jenkey bunks. I sleep on the top but there is not ladder to get up and its really difficult because there is a fan over my head that I have to be careful not to get hit by or catch my mosquito net in. But I prefer the top because the few random boards we have “supporting” us donot quite fit to they pop out all the time and fall on the people below them. One of my roommates kate moved and about 4 of her boards fell on Julia(my other roommate). Luckily julias bed net caught them but kate was holing on to the sides of the bed because the mattress had begun to fall and there was nothing to support her. Mind you this all occurred at about 2 in the morning, which brings me to my next topic of sleeping. Everyone goes to bed at around 8-9pm 9 being on the late side.and wakes up at 6 naturally. Once the sun goes down at about 7 there isn’t much else to do. There are frogs right outside the hostel that are unbelievably loud. Ask my parents they have heard them over the phone. There must be hundreds of frogs out there to produce noise like that. They live in the marshish bushes that run along the road. They only are noticeable at night and occasionally you see one hopping across the road. As I said before I shower out of a bucket that I use to retrieve well water with and I also do my laundry the same way. The bathroom is a toilet that sits over a hole in the ground and is covered and has a door that doesn’t close not to mention doesn’t lock. Food is actually pretty good. We have a woman named Joyce come over and cook for us. She makes all kinds of Ghanaian dishes that us obruni’s can handle and will like. Most dishes have a lot of carbs and little nutritious value. I wish I had brought vitamins. Despite what you all may be thinking about what I just wrote I really enjoy living here. All of the lets say non-ideal parts of our living conditions bring the volunteers closer together.

1st weekend!

Sooo I realize i have been slacking on the blogging so hopefully i can sum up the last week. The culture in ghana is really different. The way time goes here is the days move slow but the weeks fly by. Nothing really exciting happened until thursday. All i did was learn a little twi(local language) and hang out at the orphanage. On thursday i traveled to Accra, the capital with a guide and some volunteers. I expected it to be a little more advanced and developed but it wasnt. It was the same informal street markets, no sanitation or any type of infrastructure within the city. Every was was screaming obama at us because he was to arrive in accra the next day. I saw independence square, the art market and the national history museum. All of it was not very exciting. Then friday began my weekend. Some other volunteers and i planned our own weekend outing to cape coast and turned out to be one of the most awesome weekends ever! Friday morning i helped take the babies from the orphanage to a clinic to be weighed. It was difficult to get them there because it was pouring rain in the morning and rain in africa is not like anything ive ever seeen. when it rains it POURS. So we came back from the clinic and headed to cape coast around 3. it takes about 3 hours to get there by tro tro. Transportation in ghana is really easy and really cheap. tro tros are large buses that are like taxis that you hop on and hop off, no worries i took pictures. It get dark around 7 so we wanted to leave asap. The ride was long and hot but totally worth it. We stayed at a cheap hostel where i was eaten alive by bugs. This was the only place open because obama was coming to cape coast on saturday so people were coming from all over. saturday morning we walked around cape coast and observed the masses of ppl gathered there to see obama. then we took a taxi(which is also super cheap) to ELMINA castle. We(as in kate, claire, peter, alicia, julia and carol and myself) took a tour there. it was amazing it used to be used as a slave fort and has a lot of history. some of the rooms and things the guide was explaining gave me the chills after that we traveled back into town where it was complete madness. Everyone was dressed in obama gear and there was a festval going on for his arrival. It was way too hot and some of my friends wanted to head back to the hostel so we did. We had lunch ontop of a hotel and saw obamas car drive by. Later we went out to a place called oasis and met some other volunteers and locals to hang out with. We went to bed early because we woke up super early the next morning. Sunday morning we woke up and traveled to kukum national park. Highlight of the trip! its a rainforrest with a tour. You are guided on a hike up to the begining of 7 canopy bridges. The bridges are wooden planks supported by rope that hang above the canopies so you can see the whole forrest below. that was so much fun. After the park we went to have lunch at a crocodile restraunt that serves 'american" food. While we were there i pet and sat on one of the live crocodiles there. (no worries i have pictures of everything this weekend). after lunch we began our three hour tro tro ride home. when we arrived back at the hostel i showered and hung out at the orphanage. There is no way that this post does anything i witnessed or did justice but i have about 5 minutes left on my time limit.

First few days

Its hilarious because the first thing i saw when i finished with customs was a big poster of obama and his wife. He is coming to speak on thursday or friday. The car ride from Accra to offakor was eye opening and the driving terrifying. The traffic lights do not work, not that that would make a difference because car come within inches of eachother. All around us are slums and people stand in the streets trying to sell you things and ask for money. it gets kinda awkward when you are stopped. I love all the random animals walking around. chickens oxlike things dogs and goats, lots of goats. When I first rolled up to the hostel i couldnt believe that was where i was staying. the connditions are unbelievable, i wont go into detail but in a nut shell all there is is the bare essentials. I kinda like living this way its simple but the days are long and time moves sooooo slow. My time on the internet is running low so i am not going into much detail. Everyone at the "hostel" is really nice and helpful. And ajacent to the hostel is the orphanage affilated with it. I kill as much time as i can there. The kids are so nice and starving for attention. they run up to you with arms open asking you to pick them up and once you do they wont let you put them back down. There are the cutest kids and they all ask "whats your name?" over and over again. I am slowly getting settled here but im pretty adjusted to the weather and time difference. Yesterday it rained, i have never experienced anything like it. Alrighty my time is running low so i am going to end this post with 2 things i thought were friggin awesome: 1. Lady gaga officially made it to ghana, someone was blasting it onthe radio while i was in town yesterday and 2. twlight also made it here. RIchard, one of the natives that helps us out is reading it. Thats right alex and caity even in the remote parts of africa where there isnt even running water there is twilight. alright ill try and keep you all posted.