Kristi Goes to Ghana

The end of my first week…

Feb 5

Today was the day of gifts!  This morning Dr. Jean took me to meet another Chief, and to welcome me to Saboba, he had someone catch me a guinea fowl.  Tradition here is that the native people like to feed/dine with visitors.  If it is inconvenient, then they give a gift of food so that you can dine later.  Not too sure how I feel about watching a couple men chase around the birds until they finally caught one.  Kind of made me sad, but, I’m sure I will eat it when it is prepared.  We will wait until next week to prepare it because tomorrow morning we are headed to Kumasi for the weekend. 

We leave tomorrow at 5:30am because it is a long drive (more than 6 hours) on dirt roads.  We will be there for the weekend, and head back Monday morning.  We have to leave early in the morning because you can’t drive in the dark because the dirt roads are filled with potholes and man-made speed bumps and there are no street lights!  I plan to take lots of Dramamine! 

The other gift I received was from Dr. Jean and Bob.  They had a traditional African dress made for me!  It is beautiful and I am excited to wear it to church on Sunday!  It was made at a place called Colwod in Tamale.  This place brings in women from prostitution and teaches them skills and gives them an opportunity to learn a trade and have a place to sell items to make money for their families.

The rest of the day I hung out on the Children/Men’s Ward helping admit new patients and perform injections/nursing duties.  I rounded with Dr. Jean this afternoon and saw a few surgical patients in follow-up or who may need surgery.  Then I went back to the ward to hang out with the nurses and help them with their duties.

On a sad note, a 52 year old man was brought in unconscious this morning and was thought to be unconscious from alcohol poisoning.  He was completely unresponsive to pain and Dr. Jean was concerned for possible meningitis.  We performed a LP and it turns out he had meningiococcal meningitis, and he passed away this afternoon.  It was sad to witness and his family is not wealthy, from far away, and they now have to figure out how to get the body back to his home town, or have him buried here in Saboba. 

Feb 4

Today was a great day in Saboba!  I am starting to feel more comfortable here with the culture and even the language!  This morning I rounded with Dr. Jean, then she had a morning meeting so I went to the Outpatient Area.  I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working with Frances, a medical professional (similar to a PA in the
US).  In just four hours or less we saw at least 25-30 patients! 

After leaving the outpatient center around 2pm, I went over to the Children’s Ward to help the nursing staff.  Again I helped give medications/injections and socialized.  I really like one of men working this afternoon- David.  He was very nice and chatted with me about Saboba, the US and his upcoming trip to Italy!

Now, for the two best parts of my day-

As I was walking home from the hospital to the house for dinner, there was a group of 3 girls, ages around 3, 5, and 7. I smiled, waved to them and said “Good evening” in Konkumba (yes, I am learning some Konkumba! …Very little) And they responded and kept talking to me, which I didn’t understand, and the youngest one of the group came up and hugged my leg! It was such a great moment for me! I of course hugged her back and then she held my hand for a few moments while we smiled at each other and tried to communicate further, without success. That moment made me feel more welcome and liked here; a feeling that I hadn’t been receiving from most of the children. Dr. Jean says they are scared of me because I am white and give injections!

The second best part of the day was this evening.  Dr. Jean and I went out after dinner so she could introduce me to some more people.  While we were at a Pastor’s home, sitting outside chatting, his dog came up and I got to pet him!  It was so nice to be able to pet a dog again, as I have been missing Cohle a lot!  I wasn’t sure if it was a stray, or had diseases at first, but after Dr. Jean began to pet him, I knew it would be okay if I did too.  When I stopped petting him for a few moments, he even pushed my hand with his snout to get me to keep petting him, just like Cohle does!  :)  It was great!