an African Safari

11/16

Today was a Muslim holiday and because Ghana is part Muslim, many people observe this holiday. Including Projects Abroad and we did not do our volunteering today. Instead most of us went into Adom to the internet café and then ate lunch at Vic Baboo’s, which is a “western” style restaurant. They have cheeseburgers, fries-or as they are known here chips, Indian food, fried chicken, mac and cheese….all with a little twist. After lunch I did go into the hospital because I wanted to watch several surgeries that afternoon. The amputation was supposed to occur at 430, but everything is on “Ghana time.” So the amputation started at about 9 that evening because the doctor arrived late and there were 2 other surgeries scheduled. The first was to remove an adipose mass from a 20 something year old man’s thigh. He walked into the operating room and set himself on the table. The procedure was done with local anesthesia and a 2 inch incision. After removing the mass as if he were popping a zit, he asked if I had ever done stitches and wanting me to take over…unfortunately I had not… It doesn’t look too hard though! The next surgery was for the 17 year old post appendectomy. She too walked herself into the operating room hunched over because of the pain and carrying her drainage bag-filled with about 100mL of opaque yellow/green fluid from her abdomen. The anesthesiologist poked her left arm 5 times, her right one twice and decided to start her IV in her neck with no local anesthesia, just straight into her carotid…ouch! He needed me to hold her hands down because she kept reaching for her stomach and/or neck. Once asleep they removed the previous stitches and cut a little further up and down. He then found the intestines to be adhered to themselves from the internal gangrene. He pulled them apart and stitched the large open wounds on the intestine. He then cleaned out her abdomen and sewed her up! The made a new hole for the drainage tube and cut away the previously stitched skin to remove all traces of the infection. Finally the diabetic woman with the gangrenous calf amputation was carried in for her thigh amputation. She was conscious the entire time, only spinal was used. I would not have been able to stand the sound or the movement cause by the saw if it were me! He started by tracing the cut with the back edge of the scalpel. Then he began cutting with the scalpel across the top unitl he knicked the squirting artery. He tied it off then continued the same way on the back. One of the nurses held the leg in the air while he went to the back. He then brought his own large saw blade for the bone wrapped in a towel. He then went back and forth cutting through the bone. Once cut off the leg was thrown in a trashcan and the edge of the remaining bone was smoothed over and then he sewed the skin together and inserted a drainage tube. He said the surgery would be fast and it was…the entire amputation from the time she came in the room until the last stitch took 40 minutes! The clock in the operating room is not accurate, so I changed and gathered my things only to realize it was almost 10 o’clock. I had 5 text messages and 9 missed calls from my host family, roommates, and Projects Abroad workers, all concerned about where I was… oops!! The doctor told me he would not let me take a taxi home. He said that anyone in his operating room needs to go home safely, so he drove me! His name is Dr. Gusyea, pronounced, “Dr. Jessie."

11/18

Today for outreach we went to a kindergarten school. About 3 or 4 of the kids would not come near us because they were terrified of the obroni…white person! They were screaming and running away. Either they had never seen a white person before or they had been told bad things. Others though were so sweet. We set up our table under a huge almond tree. 

Kids at outreach LOVE to have their pictures taken!

at the school checking for ring worm and fungus on the head

cleaning a wound

Afterwards I met Christine and we went out to Ejisu to visit Junior at his school. We met his friends Adelaide and “Bobby Valentino.” Adelaide showed us the girls housing. They have to go out and pump their water everyday. There are about 100 people living in 3 layered bunk beds packed tightly into a little room. We then went to see a university next to The Ejisuman School, where Junior, Adelaide and Bobby attend.

Junior, me, Adelaide, and Christine

11/19

Today Iona, Jamie, Birgit, Jaike, Janni, Stephanie, Cecilia, Amy, Anne, and myself left Kumasi for a trip north to see Tamale and the Mole National Park. We took an STC bus to Tamale. It was an 8 hour drive with stops every 2 hours. The setting sun cancelled the air condition and left us in a hot uncomfortable bus. We got some great pictures of a beautiful sunset. Once in Tamale, we met up with 2 guys, Alhassan and Frederick. They are friends of Gabby-the Kumasi Projects Abroad director. They work for a volunteer organization that builds schools for girls in rural Tamale. In these villages the girls are expected to stay home and raise the family and not go to school, so they are trying to change that way of thinking.  That night was the kickoff for some presidential campaign. It rotates cities every year. It had been 32 years since in Tamale, so it was a big deal. We went to a concert to see Samini-a reggae artist, and some other rappers. The show was at the new soccer stadium built for the World Cup. It was huge and very nice. Everyone in Tamale drives a motor bike—very few with helmets. There are no trotros because most people have their own transportation. That night was stayed at Ticcs Guest House.

a flooded village on the way to Tamale

a perfect sunset

the stadium where the concert was

listening to Samini!

11/20

Frederick and Alhassan showed us some of the villages near Tamale before our bus left for Mole. They showed us one village where the school is under construction. Some of the villagers were weaving baskets and we got to try. We then went to another village about 5 miles off the main road, which was about 10 miles from Tamale. The people have to walk all the way into town every morning to sell their goods! Most houses in Tamale and the surrounding villages were little coumpounds. There was one hut for the male, little huts for all his wives and an even smaller one for the animals. Most of the kids did not have clothes on…They were so happy though. We went into the classroom in the village and they taught us how to sing, “he’s got the whole world in his hands” in their language. We then went to meet more people and meet the chief. One of the women put her baby on my back for me to carry. It is so comfortable and cheap…everyone should do it! The kids loved to hold our hands. They would play with and stare at our white fingers. Haha Inside the chief’s hut there was a cow hide and you must take your shoes off. There were crickets on the walls and on the rock I was supposed to sit on…Dad, you would be proud!! I brushed them away with my hand and then a giant spider started crawling up my leg…I was the first one out of the hut! We said goodbye and drove into Tamale to eat lunch and shop before heading to Mole. A woman brought over some candy for us to try in hopes we would buy something. It was all amazing!! She had, and we bought, balls of coconut and honey, peanut and honey flat cookie things, and milk sticks-they tasted like chocolate/caramel/milk…so yuumy…Many of the people in Tamale and in the northern region have marks on their faces. Some are symmetrical some vertical, horizontal, some have many marks some just 2…Alhassan has 2 vertical ones, one on each cheek. He said they were from when he was little and got sick. They cut the marks and used them to give him medicine. Others mean what family they are from. In the Ashanti region, where Kumasi is, they do not do that unless they are from another region and move down. We then hopped on a metro mass bus to Mole. It was a 4 hour drive with 3 hours of the trip on dirt roads filled with pot holes. The bus seats 3 to one side and 2 on the other. Then people stand in the aisle…it was very crowded and there is no A/C. Once it was night it was cooler, but then it was hard to see the road…we slammed on the brakes several times to avoid goats, dogs and people. We finally arrived in the Mole national Park at about 7:30. We went straight to the canteen for food, but because we had not ordered our dinner at 2 or 3 we had to eat what was already prepared which was rice, chicken or fries. The chicken had very little meat on it. We headed to our rooms for the night. Beside our door was a warthog! Then a frog and lizard joined our room. We got the frog out after it hissed at us, but the lizard was not to be found.

weaving a basket

people live in there!!

this is how everyone sweeps! talk about back problems

beautiful little girl

singing with the kids

on the cow rug

our babies

walking through the village

me with the chief

he said he was our husband and those were our children...

11/21

We woke up this morning at 530 to start our morning safari. We borrowed boots to protect our legs from grasses and our feet from the stinging soldier ants. Just before we started the safari about 50 baboons ran in front of us. They were so funny! The babies either ride on the moms back like a horse or they hang from her belly. We started off on the safari on a dirt road then veered off into the bush. The trees and grasses were typical, like acacia trees and the flowy grass that looks like it is painted on the ground. We saw lots of cob, which are like deer, and bushbacks and antelope. We also saw many more baboons and warthogs. We also saw vultures, eagles, partridges, but NO elephants…L We walked by the watering hole as well where they usually congregate. The guide said usually they are everywhere, but they have not seen any in 3 days and they have been very scarce in the months of October and November the past few years. The national park is about 4500 km², which is not that big for over 600 elephants to just disappear, but whatever! We went for breakfast back at the canteen and had bread, jam and eggs…yes I ate the eggs! The eggs here do not have a yellow center, instead it is white, so the whole egg looks like it is just white, but it tastes pretty good and I am glad I ate it because I needed some sort of protein, as I did not eat lunch. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries for lunch…there was not a whole lot of good looking food on the menu…I have hada  burger in Kumasi and it is just a frozen flat burger but tastes better than some of the Ghanaian food. BUT when I got this burger it was NOT cow! It looked, tasted, smelled, and felt like goat. Plus there was goat cheese on top. I was very disappointed and could not eat more than 1 bite. I went to the waitor and asked if it was cow. He sent me to ask the chef. The woman looked and me like an idiot and said of course it was cow. I said that it was not what I thought it was going to be and asked for some fruit instead. She said, and I quote, “how can I take this back and serve it to someone else if you have already taken a bite. You should have brought it back before you ate it.” At this point I had my first meltdown in Africa. It was so unfair. I am used to people being able to return anything!! In America it is always about customer satisfaction. I sat back down at the table crying and the waitor came back and gave us the bill. My friends all piped up and said we were not paying for the burger. He brought it back to us and started yelling at me and then asking all the other customers if they would take back already eaten food…I think it was more the principle and the fact that I was so hungry and tired. We all took a nap after lunch and went on a riding safari that night. We rode in an old Land Rover. We took turns riding on the roof to look for elephants. We spotted more birds and one other species of monkey, but still no elephants. I decided I will come back in January and hopefully see some elephants! For dinner I had more rice and some soup, which actually was not that bad.

me with an elephant skull...

our guide

a warthog behind me

warthogs

termite mound

ant eater, hyena, snake, lion pit...we dont know what was inside! :)

all of us walking through the bush

me overlooking the watering hole

before the riding safari

baboon

our boots

baboons playing

stinging soldier ants

at the watering hole

view from the canteen

another sunset :)

11/22

The next day we woke up at 3:30 to catch the morning metro mass back to Tamale then another back to Kumasi. We rode on the bus for about 12 hours…We finally got home and for dinner we had more rice! J

11/23

Today I went in to the hospital and have rotated to the male ward. The woman who had the amputation died this weekend from complications with the anesthesia. I do not think her prognosis was good either way but that was one reason the doctor did not want to operate to begin with, but another doctor knew the leg had to go or the gangrene and infection would kill her. In the male ward one man has his foot covered in infection and gangrene from poor care of his diabetes. He asked to be discharged so he could go home and use his homeopathic remedies. Either way I think his foot will have to go. Another man has sarcoma on his ankle. It looks like 2 protruding fists on his leg oozing with blood. He is 34 and is a soccer player. He claims it was a cut, then a boyle and progressed into that. It was surgically removed today so hopefully I will get to see his leg without it tomorrow. One woman went into labor today, but they think she will probably have to have a c-section. Another woman had a baby this weekend and she let me hold him for a little while. His name was Henry. The babies are born so pale. They look like mixed babies.