finally getting settled

Junior, Delphine and I waiting for a taxi after the club

Christine, me, Birgit, and Jaika

11/7

We had Banku for dinner tonight. It is a squishy ball made of corn dropped into a bowl of spicy red stew with cow meat. You eat it all with your hands…and we had to eat it all. The taste was not so bad, but the texture was a little stomach turning. After dinner it started to pour down rain. There was lots of lightening but no thunder. Junior, Delf, Christine and I sat on the porch and played cards. He taught us some games and I taught them hearts. Junior told us more about his school. Most high schools here he said are boarding schools. So this past week he had been on “holiday” but starting Monday he would go back to the school and live there all week until Christmas break. He said we can come visit him though on weekends and afternoons. He also said that at the end of our placements we can come to the school and teach for a few days. I would teach either English or Math.

Christine and I waiting out the rain...

our house

the entrance to our house

one of the dogs had puppies!!!!

the kitchen

our living room...notice the Obama poster on the right

the porch

this is what our lunch is packed in every day

lizards are EVERYWHERE!

the side of our house and the faucet where we do laundry

some ghana money

11/8

Today was my first day at the hospital!  I went on ward rounds with the doctor at about 930am. He looked at the patients recent labs, asked how they were feeling and quizzed me on the patients background and information. At Atesamanso Hospital there is only one doctor, Dr. Boeteng. The patient’s “chart” is a small booklet with thin papers. The labs, procedures, doctors note, prescriptions, everything is recorded here. Vitals are kept on graph paper and plotted every 6 hours. I took pulse, temperature and respirations. The hospital has 2 female and 2 male wards, each with about 10 beds, one children’s ward with 5 beds, one maternity ward with 5 beds, 1 labor room, and 4 special wards. The special wards are single rooms with a bathroom and TV for people who want to pay more and have their own room. I will be rotating between the different wards every couple of weeks. This week I am in the Female ward. Atesamanso Hospital is a private hospital, meaning people have to pay out of pocket, but they do take the national health insurance for some cases. There were only a handful of patients that spoke English and I was able to talk with them. I also read through each patients booklet. There is a large book that has the daily logs that I was able to read through as well.

11/9

Today was similar to yesterday but I got to watch 2 surgeries. The operating room is called the “theatre.” Inside the theatre there are 2 recovery rooms, a wash room with a huge shower for washing the crocs we wear into the actual theatre and then the theatre itself with a door directly to the outside! The theatre is air conditioned to maybe 75^o. Everything is rusted, the doctor’s gown and patients gowns are cloth as well as the drape that covers everywhere but the operation site. Only the cotton balls are thrown away. An anesthesiologist and urologist/gynecologist drive in to perform the surgery from the general public hospital. They performed a myomectomy and an appendectomy. They do not have the technology or equipment to perform laparoscopic procedures, so these were done with a very large incision. Other than the crude equipment the doctors were very competent and had 2 successful procedures for what tools they had. There are steps into every ward and throughout the hospital, so there are no wheelchairs and no wheelchair access. The patient walked into the theatre themselves then sat themselves on the table. The patients will be discharged after 4 days. While in the theatre, a man 34 years old in the male ward had a MI and died. The log book stated, “All was done by the doctor and nurses on duty to recover the patient. May his soul rest in perfect peace Amen. RIP.”

11/10

There was a spider in the Female ward this morning. I told the nurse and pointed it out. I asked if she could kill it. She pointed to it and said, “nonono domestic animal.” Ahhhhh! This afternoon we picked up our dresses!!! They are so fun! We then went to the Projects Abroad office for our weekly meeting. They had hired traditional Ghanaian drummers and dancers to teach us. Some of us then went to dinner at Chopstix, a Chinese restaurant. They also served pizza and burgers…I finally felt full after my meal! I got a huge blister on my foot from a pair of new shoes. I was told to pop it at night so it could dry for the next day. Being on my foot I was afraid it would get infected after walking through the mud and dirty water…we will see!

The dresses we had made!

The drummers

learning to dance

this kid was so serious when teaching us to dance

He then put on the traditional clothes

11/11

For outreach today we went to an orphanage. There were about 50 kids there. They all wear uniforms. Some of the younger kids were so sad looking. The youngest one there is a very malnourished 8 month old little girl. The little ones just wanted to be held. They were some of the sweetest kids. For snack time they had “Obama Biscuits”!! Haha I also learned how to do laundry this morning. Washing a weeks worth of sweaty clothes by hand was difficult! The water was BROWN afterwards because of all the dust on my clothes. 

kids at the orphanage

my favorite little boy...his shorts were so long they looked like pants

he would not let me put him down

obama biscuits!

the kids loved to be held