Kim Reaves’ Blog

Day 12 in Africa (only 18 or so to go)

Hello again,

We made it to Coco beach yesterday. Junior was nice enough to take us to the Ramada Inn on the beach so we could have dinner. I joked about it being our romantic dinner because we were able to eat at a table that overlooked the beach. I was very excited about dinner because we weren’t able to eat more than a snack for lunch. I ordered spicy chicken with jolof rice. I keep meaning to try more of the local cuisine but I was so hungry and didn’t want to take chances. The dinner was great. It was hard to see over the ocean because of the haze which I have been meaning to explain…Ghana is very dusty during this time of year because of the “Habatan” which is basically a dust storm that comes down from the sahara desert. It is very noticeable from in my pictures.  Yesterday it gave the illusion that it was going to rain but we aer not that lucky.  The rainy season happens around May so we will miss it completely.  After dinner, we took a taxi back to the mission hospital which was a very short drive. I was asleep by 8:15 and I am not completely sure why I was so exhausted. I am feeling a little better today. I hope that I am not getting sick because that would be very unfortunate.

Today was a good morning.  Ashley and I sat in with Dr. Akosua again and were able to do more physical exams and to chime in more on the differential diagnosis. We had several children which Ashley was very excited about (as am I). We also had a lady with Parkinson’s Disease and a man with a pretty significant Inguinal hernia.  We also had several people follow up from yesterday.  We finished early which means Ashley and I are going to find the beach again. I am very surprised at my ability to get a pretty good tan going while I am in Africa. The beach has been a nice surprise.

I have to say that I am adjusting much better to being in Africa. The biggest change has actually been not having trasportation and not having the internet at all times. Everyone is very nice and we feel very safe here. Dr. Akosua has reminded us not to trust people so no worries we will be constantly aware of our surroundings. Please send me any messages when you get time. I hope all is well.

Love,

Kim