Day 2 at the clinic. Today was BUSY because it’s market day
so everyone was at the clinic. I assume that most of the patients coming in are
for malaria because I saw temperatures around 39.7 degrees Celsius. It must be
so miserable for these babies to have fevers in this HOT climate yet you hardly
hear any crying. I left the clinic with my friends around 2:15. Cassie and I
needed some groceries so we ventured out into the Wiamoase market for the first
time alone. This is not a small task for the abrunis. We were on the lookout
for any fruits and vegetables. It is very hard to get the necessary components
of the food pyramid into our diet. Dairy is non-existent, carbs are abundant,
protein intake is manageable, fruits and veggies are ok, and sweets are hard to
find. We bought 10 mangos for 50 pesewa ($0.30) 4 HUGE avocados for 1 cedi
($0.60), a pineapple for 2 cedi ($1.20), green bell peppers 2 cedi ($1.20),
pasta for 2 cedi ($1.20), and plantains for 3 cedi ($1.80). The traders in the
market are so friendly and hilarious. They would leave their stands to help us
find mangos or would send their kids to help us find good avocados. I went home
and made pasta with tomato stew on top that tasted exactly like spaghetti with
red sauce. It’s one thing that I can make here without messing up!
Today was AMAZING! I had my usual throng of children follow
me around Wiamoase as I walked to the clinic to begin my first day of work.
Each morning they begin the day with a staff meeting filled with prayer,
scriptures, and announcements. The Captain spoke mainly in Twi but she did make
a comment that hit a chord with me. She said “Whether you are weeding,
scrubbing, cooking, or administrating, in the end it makes a mighty ocean”.
Sometimes being a medical professional isn’t the most glamorous job and we have
to be ok with doing the dirty work because it’s what needs to be done for the
health of the patients. One of the administrators, Vicky, is from the UK and is
absolutely hilarious. She has been here for almost a year and is really trying
to immerse herself in this culture like I will. She discussed the differences
between the cultures and shared some pretty interesting experiences that went
on during funerals and weddings in Ghana. I began the day in the Out Patient
Department (O.P.D.) recording the numbers of temperature, weight, blood
pressure, and pulse. After about 45 minutes the head nurse left to administer
immunizations and so I was left to run the O.P.D. on my own. Temperature is
taken in the armpit, blood pressure and pulse are taken with an at home
machine, and the weight is on a Kilogram scale. I stayed there until the nurse
returned around 12. I went to the Antenatal clinic to do some observations with
Dr. Kate. I stood in the corner while she evaluated 6 patients one at a time.
She palpated the stomachs, told me how far along they were and then proceeded
to use an ultrasound machine without the screen I’m used to seeing. They were
out of ultrasound gel so she was improvising with petroleum jelly. She told me
that Wednesday was for all of the Wiamoase patients, Thursday for surrounding
city patients, and Friday for all the 14-24 year old patients. After about 45 minutes
I went back to OPD and finished my day taking vitals. My new friend Kosi, the
lab technician, kept me company when things got slow. We walked home together
while he told me of all the delicious Ghanaian dishes I need to eat before I
leave. He offered to come over and teach Cassie and I some dinners. Cassie and
I went back out in the town to pick up our dresses and socialize with
people.We met some cocoa farmers
playing the fastest game of checkers I’ve ever seen. As we were walking home we
heard our names being shouted by little kids but couldn’t see anyone around us.
We then looked about 30 feet up in the mango trees and little boys had climbed
up there to fetch mangos from the very top. I can’t keep their names straight
so whenever I see them I just call them Mango. We came home to attempt at
making tomato stew that flopped miserably so we’ll have to keep practicing our
cooking. Life is good and I love every minute I have here.
It’s important while I’m here to focus on my work and the
experience I’m in right now. This week our days should begin to seem shorter
now that we have something to fill them up with. Tomorrow I begin work at the
clinic. I am very excited about this rare opportunity to volunteer in the
Wiamoase Clinic and learn about the clinic and begin my research on why mothers
choose that as their primary health care plan for their children.
Cassie and I had dresses made for
us out of fabric from Rosemary’s shop! It cost us 12 cedi for the fabric and 7
cedi for them to make it! On the first Saturday they have all the funerals of
people who died the month before. Jackie and Lauren came over so we could go to
one together. We went exploring all over Wiamose again and despite putting on
70 spf I got burned pretty bad. The funerals on Saturday last around 6 hours.
The whole entire town dresses in black and red. The family sits in a huge U
under tents while the townspeople go from funeral to funeral shaking the hands
of the family members, dancing, and giving donations. We got up at one point
and started dancing with some older woman. Sunday morning was a bit scary
because as we were leaving for church I threw up. It ended up being an effect
from my doxy but it made me nervous so I stayed home from church. I ended up
being completely fine after I slept so I was bummed that I missed church. Next
week is General Conference here but I suppose it will be in Twi. On Monday we
went to the Kumasi market and it was crazy! I don’t really like it too much.
People were grabbing us and pulling us. Thankfully we had Mama Esther’s son
King to help us out but I don’t think I’ll be looking forward to our return to
Kumasi soon. Cassie, my roommates, LOVES crowds like that and can’t wait to go
back. I bought a phone! So I’ll be able to call soon! We actually had a really
nice experience and found a store similar to a tiny Walmart. I bought some
American type food that we don’t see anywhere. I bought a Dr. Sammy soda as my
birthday present for myself. Apparently it’s the African version of Dr. Pepper!
We went back to Asamang and ate dinner at Mama Doris’ house but as we were
leaving it started POURING. We ran through the town to get to the station at
night. The Ghanaians were laughing so hard at us.I left all my stuff at their house so it
wouldn’t get wet and also left our room key! Thankfully Esther had an extra and
I was able to change into dry clothes but they think we are such helpless
Abrunis.
I am hoping to start working in the
clinic on Wednesday. I am very anxious to begin my research project and get a
clear focus on things. Living in the culture for 9 days already has shown me
the changes I need to make to my project. The Wiamoase clinic is amazing. I
can’t wait to start working with the nurses and doctors. Most speak English
really well so finding a translator shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. I
went through my course contract material and realized I have a long road ahead
of me but the material is exciting and I’m ready to learn!
Still alive! Today was extremely productive.
This morning I woke up drenched in my own sweat around 7. Matilda who rents a
room next to mine was yelling “cockroach!” because there was a HUGE cockroach
about 4 inches that came out behind the stove as she was sweeping. Emmanuel
started preparing a delicious breakfast for us. We had fried eggs and oatmeal.
The stove we cook on is a gas four burner stove top. We add canned milk and a
little bit of sugar to it. Emmanuel also cut 4 mangos for us. Those, like
everything else, taste much better here than it does in the states. Today was
our first day out in the town and I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE. I honestly don’t know
how I’m going to leave them already. My heart is so full with love for them.
They have so little and share so much. The friendliness and community aspect
makes me think twice about my life and how blessed I am.
Today was HOT. I woke up sweating
and haven’t stopped since. Even at night sweat just rolls down my back.
Esther’s house is right behind the primary school and today they were out
playing. They yell “Abruni” at us ALL the time. I love it. Our conversation
goes like this: Etesan (How are you?) Elle (Fine) Wo din de sen (What is your
name) Me din de sen (My name is….). We walked uphill to the town and we got SO
much attention. The first place on our way was to the clinic. OH MY GOODNESS. I
may never come home. The clinic has about 10 wards. Gideon the pharmaceutical
man showed me around the whole clinic. We went to the lab, records office, OPD
(Out Patient Department), Exam Room 1 & 2, Maternal, Female & Male,
Post Natal, Rehab, Eye, and Pediatrics. We met Samuel Baffour (Esther’s
Husband) outside the pediatric clinic. Next we went through the market and
caused again quite a commotion. We walked past a cocoa shed and stopped in to
ask him a couple of questions. Bakro gave me a bite of cola? which is
apparently the main ingredient in diet supplements. He said it would make me
very full and thirsty if I ate a lot of it. It tasted like dried up garlic and
was very bitter. I don’t want to eat that anymore. He kissed our hands and we
went on our way. It was only about 9:15 at this point and I felt like the day
was almost half over because we had accomplished so much already. We took a
taxi to our next stop. We stopped off at a cocoa farm so Cassie could see what
they look like. Then we went to the Secondary School or High School for ages
13-18. We took our taxi back to the market place and Emmanuel showed us where
to buy fabrics to have skirts made. Rose Mary is the shop owner and the fabrics
are GORGEOUS. All hand dyed with beautiful African prints. She sells them for 4
cedi per yard in bundles of about 3 yards each. That equals about 2.25 USD a
yard! We also stopped by the cemetery and we saw an empty spot because someone
is dying and will be buried there by the end of the week. A lot of Ghanaians
are superstitious about Ghosts and don’t go in there. Emmanuel called up his
Aunt Nana’s daughter Christiana because she could help us go around the market
and prepare our dinner. She used to cook for the other BYU students. She took
us into the market and Emmanuel told her to take us on the back roads because
we cause a lot of commotion and don’t get to places very fast because of the
little kids greeting us. We tried the back roads and about 10 minutes into our
walk we ran into about 12 kids in absolute rags but were so happy to see
Abrunis. They were yelling “How are you?” and laughed every time we began
speaking Twi. They followed us and held our hands for about 50 feet. We said
bye bye but they kept following us. I can’t believe how many people were
smiling and waving at us. They have so much love for complete strangers. The
kids here run around in rags and sometimes naked but have no care in the world.
It really humbles me when I see how little people have and can be completely
happy with all of it. We finally got to the market place after stopping every
minute to greet a smiling face and shake the hands of the happiest kids I’ve
ever seen. We were getting ingredients to prepare Tomato Stew for dinner that
night. We bought 3 onions, spices, curry powder, 2 green bell pepper, a handful
of spicy red peppers, garlic, and ginger all for 3 cedi 50 pesewa (roughly 1.80
USD). We made a quick stop to buy chicken and then we continued our journey
into the station to buy our oil, sugar, milk, Milo, rice, and tin tomato. We
came back to the house around 5 and began preparing the food. Christiana
wouldn’t let us help too much because she wanted us to just sit and watch her
prepare it. Two little neighborhood boys Kofi and Kobi just sat and ate their
dinner in Esther’s back porch and we talked to them in our limited Twi. We sat
and talked about America and Ghana with Emmanuel and Christiana. They used to
like Obama but are very disappointed in him but are in love with Beyonce and
Oprah Winfrey. Emmanuel likes Rihanna too, haha. After dinner we did our dishes
and walked back into town to buy more water. We made it back to our place all
by ourselves for the first time! Honestly I am BLESSED. The place I am staying
is 100x more than what I was expecting and the people here are so friendly and
hospitable. I was offered about 10 meals from strangers. I am grateful for this
opportunity to spend time with these people.
Today is the first day of May and Ghanaians
celebrate it someway, it looked like a pretty normal busy day. We woke up
around 5 to take a bus to Kumasi at 6. There were so many people out walking
because they get up around 3 or 4 to avoid doing heavy labor in the middle of
the day when it’s the hottest. The bus that was going to leave at 6 was too
full so they told us to wait for the next bus. We sat and waited, and waited,
and waited. We made friends with a man that helped us speak Twi more properly.
We bought our huge Voltic water bottles and left around 8:15. Our friend sat
right next to us so we still got to ask him all of our questions. So far I feel
like Ghana has an amazing Live and Let Live kind of policy. No one gets into
your business they’ll do anything for you. The selfless attitude I see is
humbling. I feel as though I will have countless humbling experiences while I’m
here. On our bus we had a Christian preacher that gave us a mini sacrament. We started
out with a beautiful prayer and hymn then he began preaching. I was soaking it
up. He was a very passionate preacher, screaming at some points. He said “Your
destiny is in your hands because you make choices that decide your fate so be
mindful of your mind and thoughtful of your thoughts.” Justin Bieber’s song
Boyfriend came on which reminded me of home and made me sad for a little bit
that I won’t be able to see anyone for a long time but I am already so in love
with the people here I am not as homesick as I thought. We had to fill up on
gas 20 minutes later where I had my first public bathroom experience in Ghana.
I’m going to say it now, I am thankful for indoor plumbing and toilets. This
was a room with a raised ledge that you stand on, squat, and go! Our bus
apparently broke down so we waited an extra hour just sitting. The bus was very
comfortable but the roads were pretty bad. I fell asleep most of the time woke
up around 4 and we were in Kumasi. We took a taxi that takes around 1 hour and
40 minutes to get to Wiamoase from Kumasi. It took a little longer because we
got caught behind a bad accident. We pulled up in front of the Wiamoase police
station because Esther lives right next to it. Emmanuel helped carry our
luggage to the door greeted us. We then met Mama Esther. I am already in love
with her. Cassie and I are both in the same room. She had dinner ready for us
in our room. It was a spiced rice with hard boiled egg because she wasn’t sure
if we ate meat. Afterwards we went into her house and sat and talked. She told
us she has four kids her oldest daughter (I don’t remember her name) just got
married, then Emmanuel, David, and Grace. She asked us if we wanted to call our
mamas because I’m sure they are very worried about us. It was such a bummer
because it was 2:30 in Houston which meant everyone was probably out but I was
able to leave a message so at least everyone knew I was safe with my new
family. I can’t wait till Thursday to get a phone and call them for a little
bit. It’s about a 5 hour difference and I’ll be able to call them on Sundays
once their out of church. We went to bed around 10.
