Christ Outreach Orphanage/Kasoa Health Center

First, I apologize for the extended delay. It's due essentially to laziness--the heat drains us so much. There are internet cafes here and there in Kasoa, but I don't expect them to be very fast.

Anyway, so on three weeks ago tomorrow we went to our homestay in Kasoa. It's a 40-45 minute drive from Accra (when there is zero traffic, otherwise it usually takes us 1 1/2 hours). We had hired a car to take us there because we had so much luggage making it impossible to take a tro-tro. About three-quarters of the way there, there was a police barricade. Of course our car got waved to the side (as everyone else was waved through). A police officer carrying a semi-automatic rifle came up and started yelling at the driver at the top of his lungs. He said that we weren't wearing our seat belts (99.9% of people here don't, and they don't even work in most cars anyway). Then he berated the driver for wearing sandals while driving. When he asked our driver for his license he said he didn't have it on him. So the officer asked him to get out of the car. Then the volunteer abroad country director, Kersten, had to get out and explain what we were doing and where we were going. We were finally able to leave after she gave the police officer her "phone number." We had heard stories of police corruption here and I was expecting to have to pay a bribe. Luckily we didn't, although I know other volunteers who have.

Our host family is very nice and they have a lovely home in Kasoa. Eric and Jemimah are married and Jemimah's 13 year old sister Akousua lives with them. Mom and I share a room in their reasonably large house (we also share the room with numerous cochroaches and lizards and mosquitoes). Were really not sure what Eric does for a living, but Jemimah works in Accra in a salon. She is also 4 months pregnant. They seem to have one of two things for dinner, neither of which we find particularly appealing--okra and red fish stew with banku (fermented dough) or okra and red fish stew with fofu (plantain that is pounded and mixed with some water to create a dough like substance). Usually they cook us our own meal, which is usually jollof rice and a boiled egg. We've had quite an assortment of Ghanaian food, and it is generally incredibly hot and spicy. I've enjoyed wayche, jollof rice, fofu with ground nut (peanut) soup, but mom hasn't taken quite as readily to the food. Both of us have lost a significant amount of weight though. I've lost 15 pounds in just over a month (i can't believe we've been here that long!) and mom has lost just over 10 pounds. The heat just kills our appetites in general, but i can't really afford to lose anymore weight.

Mom's placement, at the orphanage is interesting to say the least. The conditions for the children there are quite horrible. When she arrived there was no money for food, no clean water for drinking or for bathing, the sleeping arrangements were deplorable, as was the condition of the outhouse. Many of the children were also very sick. Mom's first priority was to take the children to the clinic. The youngest one, two year old Nana, had malaria, a severe chest infection, and anemia. Many of the children had various infections and sicknesses that until she arrived, were not being attended to. Many of the boys had been swimming in a stagnant pool of water, and as a result got schistosomiasis. Also, the accounting situation is in shambles. The owner of the orphanage, Auntie Rose, is 67 years old and really not in a position to run the orphanage whatsoever. But mom has done what she can and she loves the children, and they have certainly taken to her as well. Nana cries when she leaves and has started calling her Mama haha. Like most things in Ghana, a lot of things are talked about, but nothing gets done and this has frustrated my mother a great deal. But she's getting along and doing really well.

The clinic that I work at is about a 10 minute tro-tro ride away from our homestay. It has about 6 beds in it, a maternity ward, an RCH ward, a lab, and 'emergency'. The first week I was in the lab. Let me tell you, it was much different than the lab i was used to at BioMedica! We had three pieces of electrical equipment--a basic light microscope, a single channel spectrophotometer for testing blood hemaglobin, and a small centrifuge. We perform only about 15 different tests, most using dip sticks. By far the most common one is malaria (followed by typhoid fever), which is tested by staining a blood smear on a slide and looking for parasites under the microscope. I've been able to try my hand at pretty much every single lab test (none are difficult whatsoever) Obviously we take blood in the lab as well. Sometimes gloves are worn, but not more than half of the time (and only by those who are taking blood, not those even working with blood). Also gloves are not changed between patients. These are shocking health care practices, especially where HIV/AIDS is such a huge problem here in Ghana. I was actually being made fun of because I was wearing gloves at all times when I was working--unbelievable, but it didn't bother me. But the people in the lab were fantastic and the all call me by my Ghanaian nickname, Kwesi and ask me all sorts of questions. I also had about 10 marriage proposals during my time at the clinic so far haha (even one from the head nurse and one of the primary hospital administrators). When I say that I have a girlfriend, they say they don't care and that they're willing to share-hilarious. No one hear speaks english as a first language, so everyone around us (mom and i) is speaking Twi, which is frustrating at times, especially when you know they're talking about you. But I'm used to it now and I don't care--I usually just laugh. For the past two weeks I've been working with the nurses at the entrance to the clinic who take vital signs of every patient who comes in (blood pressure, temp, pulse, weight). It's very simple work but I get to meet a lot of people. I've also familiarized myself with how the Ghanaian health care system works (all the paper work, insurance, etc.). I have to say though, that the pace of work in Ghana is very, very slow compared to home. Efficiency is a word that doesn't seem to carry much weight hear. I have a lot of time to sit around, but somehow, everyone else does too. This seems to go for all businesses we have come in contact with haha, and it definately takes some getting used to. If you have a meeting with some scheduled for 10 am, it's likely they won't show up anywhere near 10 or 11, and maybe not at all. But i'm getting used to it now. I've been lucky to observe many different procedures here as well, all fairly minor but good experience nonetheless. I will mention one thing that really shocked me though. While I was working last week, a taxi sped up to the clinic and the driver carried out a boy whose left foot was hanging by a thread--the bone was clearly visible and the tissue damage was outrageous. He was also losing lots of blood. I was the first one to great them and they rushed inside. The resources at our clinic are very limited though. We have no plasma or blood products of any kind (no refridgeration). They tried to stem the bleeding as best they could but could do little else. The boy was still there when I left an hour after he came in. I found out the next day that he had no health insurance and no next of kin or relatives could be contacted. So instead of referring him to a hospital in Accra, he WAS SENT HOME! He had lost an outrageous amount of blood and his foot certainly had to be amputated. There is no way I can see him surviving. Thinking about it now still shakes me.

Anywho, I have so much more to say but i'm running out of minutes on the internet here. We've gone on a few weekend getaways around Ghana, which i have been extremely eye-opening and interesting, but I'll update about it this week (i promise). And i know i shortchanged my mom's placement a bit, but it's just because i'm writing it and she's not--but i'll get her to put her two cents in soon. Overall, we're doing really well. I'm extremely comfortable here now, i'd say i'm at home and mom is coming around ahah, i can't tell you how impressed i am with here!

Lastly, i was absolutely ecstatic to find out that i got into memorial medical school in st john's. i was on the waiting list for about 2 weeks, but found out early this week that i had been accepted. it definately made my day (to say the least). i'm really excited for this fall. Hope everything is going well with everyone back in Canada!