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.