Day #8

May 8, 2010

We got up early (6:30) to get ready to leave and for breakfast. Breakfast was an omelet, juice, hot chocolate, and a slice of toast with raspberry jelly. Much better than the day before when I had only had half an orange and a granola bar. We had to eat early because we had to head out for our first health clinic.We got to the stake center around 8:15 and no one was there except some teenagers playing basketball. Around 8:45 a member of the stake finally showed up and we went in to set up. The lesson I had prepared before leaving for Ghana was handwashing, so I just ended up taking a lot of blood pressures and playing with the children for 3 hours. The playing with the children was the fun part. They gave us some juice and crackers once we were done and it ended up being our lunch...I thought I might starve later that day.After we finished teaching and cleaning up, it was off to the Kakum Rainforest for the tree canopy! It was SO beautiful there. It was also very hot and humid (go figure). At the top of a trail was the tree bridges that swing from seven tall trees. Apparently it was built by the Canadians. It was very col to be 200+ feet off the ground, but it was scary too. I thought I was going to fall. Turns out I'm a little more afraid of heights than I thought I was. I survived however, thankfully.

Lindsay's well matched outfit

Probably the coolest tree leaves I've ever seen.

Why would anyone want to camp in the RAIN FOREST?

After the rain forest we got into the van and drove for hours. I thought it would never end. We finally stopped at Shoprite in Accra to get more groceries for the next week. Because it was so late we didn't get to exchange money, but good thing Lindsay and I had enough. We also had to buy our own dinner, which was lame because our instructors were supposed to provide dinner as part of the program cost.
Then we drove for 4 hours in traffic to get back to Abomosu. It was a miserable ride, but we made it back before midnight. I was never so grateful to see the house.

Day #7

May 7, 2010 = Play Day!

This day started at 6 am because we were supposed to be on the road by 6:30. Surprise, we didn't leave until 7:15 am. I had the unfortunate seat of the very back in the van. It's fun on short rides because you can get airborne when you hit bumps in the road (which are everywhere in Ghana because there are few pave roads), but on long rides I would have rather been elsewhere. The back row had 4 people while the other seats only had 3. It took about 4.5 hours to get to Cape Coast, which was our destination, from Abomosu. Most of the time I read (it's very hard to sleep in the van), but towards the end we played a game about naming all the movies we can think of for an actor or actress and seeing which team can name the most.

View of Cape Coast from the van

The first thing we did was visit Cape Coast Castle.

When we were getting out the of car, a group of young men surrounded us to sell jewelry and other things. I had to say "No" what seemed like a million times before we finally got inside the gate of the castle. Those of us who wanted to bring our cameras in had to pay 50 pesewas (less than 50 cents in USD). From there we explored the courtyard for awhile. Then we went on a tour that seemed to last forever. It was interesting to learn about the castle though. It was built in the 1600s as a fort and became a slave castle in the 1700s. There were underground dungeons for both male and female slaves. At first the slaves were vagabonds, criminals, etc, but as the slave trade took off it became anyone. Most of the African slaves came from western Africa. The male slave dungeon had five chambers that held 200 men in each. Which means 1000 slaves at once. The chambers were not very big. The male slaves would be shackled together for 3 months in the same chamber (the ships came every three months to take them to Europe or the Americas). They lived in their own excrement. There were little light in the chambers. It was similar for the female slaves, except their dungeon only had two chambers that held 150 women in each. Those who would not give the guards and the soldiers sexual favors were put in the "punishment cell." There they would stay for 7 days and then their behavior would be reevaluated. All the slaves that refused to cooperate were put in a room with three doors that had no light or air flow. They were shackled together and basically suffocated/starved to death in that room. It was cool to see that castle and learn about its history, but it was disgusting to see what "humanity" is capable of. We also visited the museum in the castle and took a bunch of silly pictures.

Some tribal ritual head piece...

It is much cooler on the coast than in Abomosu, which was refreshing. After the castle, we went to our hotel, Alberta's palace. There were many buildings with 4 rooms in each. The hotel had air conditioning, it was a welcome amenity. Then we changed into our swim suits, ordered dinner, and went to frolic on the beach. Once the people around here know there are obruni in the area, they come swarming to see us. Some came to swim with us while others just brought coconuts. The coconuts in Ghana don't have milk in them, but rather water. I didn't like the taste. We were then later on accused of asking them to bring us coconuts, which of course we didn't. I still don't know if we ended up paying for them or not.

After dinner and showers, it was only around 7:30 and we weren't ready for bed yet. So Alison, Stephanie, and I decided to break the rules (we aren't supposed to be out after dark) and venture out to talk to the people for awhile. JoAnn and Karen were in a different building so they didn't know the difference. We walked along the beach for awhile and then decided to see if they had any ice cream at the bar. They did and we ended up talking to the people who worked there. They were all about our age. We got them to turn on some Ghanaian music and show us how they dance for a bit. It was quite the site to see us trying to imitate them. Let's face it: white people don't have any rhythm, but black people just do naturally. Around 9:15 we decided to go back in because some guys started asking us to come to their room. We weren't going to deal with that.

And that ends Day #7.

Day #6

May 6, 2010

Once again, 7 am came too quickly. This was only the beginning of sleepless nights.

Clinic at 8 am. I was on record duty in the record room at first. The record room is arguably the HOTTEST place at the clinic. When the power is not on, there are no fans = no airflow. There are no windows and it gets very dark if it's stormy outside because sunlight can't get in through the doorway when the clouds are covering it. Thank goodness it wasn't stormy. I sorted charts for about 2 hours. At the Abomosu clinic they have paper charts for everyone. They each have a number. Before we got there, they did not have anything organized. They just threw charts in the room. I don't know how they ever found anything. So we get straight to organizing those charts to hopefully help things run more smoothly at the clinic. After the records were done, I helped Lindsay with take blood pressures, temperatures, and pulses.

Lunch: PB&J and an apple. PB&J quickly became the staple lunch food. Gloria brought over some fried plantains. Those were really good. Then....the power came back on, YAY, YAY, YAY!! However the water was gone because Yow, our driver, backed over the water pipe. Oops. It only took a couple of hours to fix. Some workers also came to put in the plumbing for the washer and dryer.

For dinner we were invited to Stephen Abu's for dinner. We had fufu, peanut butter soup, spiced rice (jollof), and pineapple. Fufu is mashed plantains and kasava (first both have to be boiled), which is very sticky and almost tasteless. You pinch off a piece, dip it in soup, and then pop it in your mouth and just swallow. It was tricky to get the hang of, but I quite enjoyed it. I don't know how it's made, but peanut butter soup is my favorite Ghanaian soup. The rice was almost like spanish rice minus the tomatoes. The pineapple in Ghana is very good. Much better than the pineapple that is shipped to the US. It's very sweet and juicy and not very sour. We all loved it. In Ghana you eat everything with your hands. My right hand (the hand that you are supposed to eat with anyways) was covered in fufu and peanut butter soup. Well worth it though for the delicious dinner. The Abu's didn't eat with us, but I wish they had. I'm grateful for their hospitality. The Abu's are simply amazing.

Stephanie, Lindsay, and Alison eating their fufu, peanut butter soup, pineapple and rice

Mmmm...mmmm...good

After dinner most people went to institute, but Alison, Stephanie, and I decided to stay home and just go next week. I had already been once anyways. After Lindsay and I took our respective showers, the four of us sat down and watch Vantage Point. It was nice to have a little time to ourselves and the house was MUCH cooler with fewer bodies.

Day #5

May 5, 2010

I went to the clinic for the morning shift. It was so much better because it was cooler and a lot busier. I was supposed to be in the maternity side of the clinic, but I ended up being at a malaria testing station. Everyone who comes into the clinic is tested for malaria because it is so common. They had little disposable tests that take about 15 minutes to read.

What I did: Swab a finger with alcohol. Stick that finger or thumb with a lancet (no nice safety lancets). Put blood into the correct hole on the test with a plastic stick. Clean the finger. Give the patient some cotton (seriously, I just tore off a piece of cotton from a big sheet of it) to stop the bleeding. Send the patient to the next "station" to be "triaged."

The people were very stoic for the most part. Some of the ladies cried out a little bit, but most didn't even flinch. The children often do very well. I have a suspicion it depends on how sick they are, however. The sicker you, the more you tend to not know or care what is going on. One little girl just screamed and screamed though, and squirmed a lot. I got blood all over her fingers because she wouldn't hold still. I did manage to finish, but I felt bad because I could not comfort her.

A baby was born at the clinic. I didn't even know the woman in the maternity side of the clinic was in active labor because she was so quiet. All I heard was a cry of a newborn baby. I did see the newborn, she was tiny and beautiful. The mother was up and walking around while the baby was on the bed in a blanket covered with a mosquito net. Childbirth is so much different in Ghana.

On the way home from the clinic we topped in town to buy some more sachets of water. THey cost 70 pesewas (cheap) for probably 25 bags of 500 ml of water.

The power was out when we were home. Once the afternoon shift girls came back we decided to go to a town called Anymana with the Terry's to buy ice cream. On the way to Anymana, Sister Terry pointed out a man who sits at a bus stop who looks like he only has half a face. Apparently he had a boil on the right side of his face. Someone from America gave him money, so he went to the hospital to have it taken care of. They didn't do a very good job because that side of his face is just folds of skin that hangs down to his shoulder. It was a sad sight to see.

The ice cream was very good!! Definitely a treat. It's called FanIce and like everything else comes in a bag. I got chocolate and strawberry. The chocolate tasted like a fudgesicle, but the strawberry was actually frozen yogurt and tasted like a frozen Gogurt with less sugar. We got back into our van just in time for it to start raining torrentially. On the way back to Abomosu we so children playing naked in the rain. Hysterical. Tried to get a picture, but we were driving too fast. As usual.

Anymana

FanIce!

Very nice treat for such a hot day

The power was still off when we got back to the house. Because of the rain. The rain around Abomosu is bittersweet. It cools everything off and I love the rain, but the power always goes out when it rains. After dinner it was dark again and we didn't know what to do because it was only 6:30. We ended up crowding around Lindsay's DVD player (tiny screen) to watch a movie. This would become a ritual when the power went out. We always made sure that DVD player was charged.

Day #4

May 4, 2010

One thing I forgot to mention about the children. The first day they discovered obruni were in town, they swarmed the house because they were so excited to see us. They leaned on the screens and moved them. Which meant A LOT of disgusting bugs in the house the night before. I knew that bugs were a part of life before I went to Ghana, but that never meant I grew to like them. So the new rule became that the children are not allowed on the porch and could not be out in the yard unless we were playing with them. It seemed hard to enforce at this time because I didn't want to be mean, but it was for the best.

A little bit about daily life: At this point, I had only successfully flushed the toilet maybe twice. I ended up having to leave my waste and hope the next person would have better luck. The water was tempermental. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it was an icky brown color and sometimes it was clear. Because we couldn't drink water from the tap, we have to drink bottled/bagged water. We finished all the bottled water we had on May 2, but we did find that they sell water in bags in town. We just have to soak the water bags--sachets--in chlorox water before we can open them to put water in our water bottles.

We split into two groups: 6 people went to the clinic in the morning while the other 6 stayed at the house and worked on modules (homework). Then we switched around noon. I was in the group that went to the clinic in the afternoon. We stayed at the clinic for 3 hours. I worked at the "triage" station. Basically all we did was take blood pressures, pules, weight, and with the help of a translator, got a brief complaint/reason for coming to the clinic. I saw a lot of children sick with malaria. The patients who come to the clinic start coming early, sometimes even at 6 am (sunrise) and stay all day to be seen. The clinic is supposed to be open from 8-5, but I can definitely see the present-oriented mind set. Sometimes the doctor (really more of a medical assistant who can only diagnose a small number of conditions by the book and only give prescriptions by the book) doesn't even arrive until 9 or 9:30 am. It gets hot at the clinic. I was amazed by the patience of the people.

Jasmine working triage at the clinic with me

They can sleep anywhere!

Just chillin' waiting to be seen at the clinic

Taxi

Erica

Afternoon adventure: crossing the Brim River and seeing the gold mine. Elder and Sister Terry took us there and of course our posse of children followed us wanting to hold everyone's hand. It was quite the trek to get there through the jungle. I would have gotten lost if I had tried to find it again. One of the little boys holding my hand told me that I have beautiful skin. How sweet, right? It's funny because I think that their skin is so beautiful. But I guess anything that is different can be beautiful. Once we got to the river we paid a man who canoed across the river to take us across. It took 3 trips because there were so many of us, 14! Don't worry, the canoe was a little leaky. There were two construction hats in the canoe that we used to bail the water out of the canoe so we wouldn't sink. As we were waiting for everyone to get across Stephanie found what we named the "Avatar plant." When someone touches it blows on the little leaves, it closes. One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

Elder Terry

Walking along the jungle paths to get to the Brim River

Canoe Man in his canoe

Crossing the Brim

Notice no one is sitting because the canoe is filling with water

Waiting for our turn

Avatar plant!

You can see how well we minded the sign in the above picture

This shows a picture of what I dub "THE African tree"

Final cross to get back to the other side of the Brim

The Terry's took us on a tour of the "Wyoming" mine. Seriously the mining company was from Wyoming. I tell you they must be getting a good amount of gold out of there or they would never be able to mine Abomosu. The machinery and all that takes to run it are expensive.

Dinner that night: good ol' mac and cheese! With a side of pineapple and some corn. The corn in Abomosu is not the same as in America, it is chewy and pretty tasteless. Don't worry, I finished it all, but I don't think I'll ever want to eat it again.

Soon after dinner Katie, Lindsay, and I quickly changed to go with the Terry's to institute in a little village called Asunafo about 15 minutes away. Institute lasted for 1.5 hours and was quite interesting. There were probably about 10 people there including all the obruni. The people ask some interesting questions (Like: Why were the plates found in New York?), but the instructor, Brother Isaac, was able to answer them nicely (Answer: We don't know, the Lord does things that we may find strange, but we don't know His ways.). Another interesting question that I'd never thought of before that was brought up while reading of the stripling warriors: What should we teach our children so they're not afraid to die? Basically we should teach them the Gospel; especially the plan of salvation. I wondered why this question was asked, but then I realized that death is a very real part of life in the villages. Remember in the last post I said that they have a high infant mortality rate in the villages in Ghana. I realize that I often times fear death, and that I shouldn't. Death is actually a wonderful thing, if you are ready of course, to be able to rejoin our Heavenly Parents.

Another interesting cultural tradition I learned: in all the big buildings they have a closet where you can find big rugs. These rugs are used to put the sleepy children on to sleep so they aren't disruptive and distracting to others. The children at institute were so well behaved, I was amazed because that's something you definitely wouldn't see in the States. I wonder if it's because they have so much parental contact during the first year. Mother's in Ghana carry their babies on their back wrapped in a cloth. The children develop very astute observation skills because of it.

On the way back from institute the Terry's taught us some interesting cultural/historical information. Abomosu was the first place in Ghana to accept the Gospel. It has the oldest chapel in Ghana. The Church was abolished for about a year and a half in the early 80's because the government thought the LDS church was involved with the CIA somehow. What's interesting is that the other churches in Ghana petitioned to bring it back. They thought that they might be next. During the freeze, Stephen Abu spent time in jail for being one of the "leaders." At present time everything is great, and the members of the LDS church are pretty respected in Abomosu.

The power was out when we got back from institute and I still needed to shower (it had been 5 days! Since the Friday before we left for Africa. I know, G.R.O.S.S.). So I showered by the light of a flashlight. It was quite the experience. I had to drown a few bugs before I would get in the shower, but if felt good to be clean afterwards.

Day #3

May 3, 2010

So sleeping on that first night was a joke. We had no power all night, which means no fans, making it hot. Cooler than during the day, but not much really. Bugs were still able to get through the screens and I was worried I would get bit. Honestly, I should've brought a mosquito net to sleep under. So much for believing that the screens would really work. I sprayed on bug spray, got under the sheet and tried to sleep. So, around 5 am the jungle starts to wake up with lots of sounds. Birds, monkeys, and other things I don't know. The rooster is the most annoying thing, we definitely didn't need an alarm clock.

Breakfast: bread, peanut butter, and bananas.

Plan for today: community assessment, clean the house, figure out where we'll get more water (we had finished all of our bottled water already), and I still needed to unpack.

So at 7 am I finished unpacking and some of the girls who had gone running came back. The children didn't have school this week so they followed the runners back to the house. We all went out to take pictures and play with them for a little while. They call us "obruni" which means white person. They think it's hilarious when we call them "obibini" in return which means black person. The children were so enthusiastic.

Next, the water went out. Stephen Abu, Sr--the man in charge of our house, part of the World Joy organization, and lived right next door--came over and told us what was going on with the water situation. They had turned it off because another person was being connected to the system. While that was being handled we went on a drive by tour of the village and the clinics we'll be working at, what we call a "windshield survey." It was a fun ride with lots of bumps and potholes. Good thing I don't get carsick. I became excited to work in the clinics because at the time I felt like there was a lot we could do to help. Some people in Abomosu just don't know what to do first aid wise. I remember thinking that I hope that no matter how miserable I am in the heat that'll I'd be able to remember that I was there to help the people, not be comfy and be on vacation all day.

People waiting to be seen at the clinic

An ambulance at the clinic that they have never used...

Once we returned from the tour, Stephen Abu invited us over to see the plants on his farm. Boy, he has a lot: cocoa, banana, plantain, and cashew trees, pepper plants, pineapple bushes (which they call white people palm because it was brought over by the English), and oil palms (where they get their palm oil to make alcohol) just to name a few of the one he pointed out to us. He showed us the entire process of getting cocoa beans ready to make chocolate. The grow on trees and come in a pod. The pods mostly grow off the trunk, although there were a few in the branches among the leaves. To get them ready for chocolate you harvest a pod, open it up and spread the beans inside banana leaves. Then you fold the banana leaves over the top and let it sit for 7 days. After 7 days you take it to the drying rack andn spread the beans out there in the open. They dry there for another 7 days. Once they are completely dried and a dark brown color, they are ready to be sold. I tasted the chocolate inside the beans and it tasted like dark chocolate. Very cool, eh?

Cocoa tree

Cocoa beans inside the pod

Cocoa beans completely dried and what they will become after processing

CHOCOLATE!

Then it was playing time with the children. We learned some of their games (dancing games) and soccer (here on called football). First we tried playing in our back yard, but that resulted in the ball being wedged on the roof. IT took several attempts with different ladder lengths to get the ball down. Once we retrieved the ball (Stephanie did on a tall ladder using a mop stick) we trekked to the school to play on the "field." We played there for a bit til Steph and I got really hot and knew we needed water quick. We left the ball with a responsible girl named Reta to bring back to us when they were done playing. It took awhile to cool down from that little excursion. I got my first sunburn, but it didn't end up being too bad.

Then we did some homework: the modules. It was long and boring, but we did learn a lot about Ghanaian culture from Gloria, a woman who was living with the Abu's and hired to be our housekeeper.

The people are present oriented, with a different regard for time than Americans. Basically they'll get there when they get there.

Herb use is strong in Ghanaian culture and they may see their "medicineman" of sorts before going to the clinics.

Infant mortality is high in Ghana, so the families can be rather large. Some families have around 15 children. It is also useful to have more children to help with the farming and other various jobs.

Once girls reach puberty they have a maturation celebration which means they become eligable to marry and have children. Many marry around age 18, although it can be earlier.

When women become pregnant, they may not seek medical car until they feel life (around 4-5 months) or not at all. It's seen as a normal part of life, and not quite like the "disease" we treat it as in the US.

Brides do come with a price: either cows if they are muslim, or whatever is on the "list" must be given to the bride/family before a man and woman can wed.

The concept of space is pretty similar to an American sense of space: about 2 ft away fro strangers, and closer with family and friends. However they are used to living in closer living spaces. Some families only have a one room shack. For 15 people!! It blows my mind.