Julie Myhren’s Blog

A Trip to Market and a Busy Monday!

Unfortunately, church in the bush was deferred to next Sunday…  I woke up early and felt a bit sick (I didn’t think Andy was THAT much of a prophet when he said, “You’re here for six weeks?  Yeah, you’ll get this…”)  I played the pharmacology card early, slept most of the morning, and was in fine shape again by dinner.  Disaster averted.

We decided to trek to market in the afternoon which was quite an experience!  I walked around with Carolyn most of the time, since she’s much more of a native to this scene than me.  As part of the Peace Corps, she lives in a compound with a family, eats the local food, etc.  So, we went grocery shopping and to the electonics store–not like home at all!  But, for 1.30 Ghana cedis (a bit more than $1.30), she got tomatoes, okra, onions, bread, and mangoes.  I bought fabric for a few skirts at roughly $2/yard, and we’re visiting Jesus’s wife (pronounced Eesu) tomorrow so I can get measured, pick out what I’d like, etc.  And then, according to Carolyn, I show up in three days, pay $3, and I magically have new clothes.  Pretty sweet! 

It’s almost impossible to describe market in words.  I don’t even think pictures will come close to doing it justice!  It’s a mess of people, food, fabric, electronics, phone cards (Mom, I’m calling soon, I promise), farming tools, witch doctor stuff, and flies semi-organized into sections of booths with stick roofs and dirt floors.  As the company of foreigners, we had an entourage of children following us pretty much everywhere.  I had a few little girls come up just to touch my barely tanned arm (rainy season is not helping my hopes for a tan).  It was an adventure, and we get to go again every three days!

Today at the hospital was clinic day and it was BUSY.  At 7am, I walked into staff devotions and it took me a few minutes to realize that they were singing “What a Mighty God We Serve” in English,  but then I joined in for the very end.  Mark led the devotional from John 17 which was translated by one of the chaplains into Mampruli.

At the pharmacy, I counted ALL DAY, but, as my pharmacy friends will find interesting, I had a chair AND a lunch break!  I have no idea how many patients came through or how many orders we filled, but at lunch, Andy and Oli informed me that every single patient they’d seen that morning had malaria (and usually something else).  The guys in the pharmacy started teaching me Mampruli greetings–it is super important to greet everyone.  While I have trouble initiating the greetings (I’ve got “Good morning”down and that’s about it), the response is always “Naa”.  So, when in doubt, “Naa”.  The whole thing usually ends in laughing, anyway, but I guess that’s how it goes when you’re the rookie.  I was able to talk to Yossif for quite a while this afternoon.  He’s just finished pharmacy school here in Ghana and is doing his year of clerkship before he can take his licensing exam.  This afternoon, Jane and I discussed some possible pharmacy organization projects–surprise, surprise, Julie’s organizing!!  I love that though–it invests.

Well, time to go, but I will write again soon!