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| Eva and Belinda |
After nearly 6 hours of travel, I arrived to my new home in Akropong-Akuapem Hills, Eastern Region, Ghana! It's no wonder where the name comes from as the climb up the mountain side was absolutely beautiful, looking out over the small cities below. Immediately I noticed the slight drop in temperature, which for me was nice, as well as the lush green surroundings. The house is like a compound of different buildings all sharing a common courtyard in the middle. My room is on its own block and is shared with two Australians named Jess and Harriet (both 18). It is very small, only allowing room for our three beds, a shelf for belongings, and lock box each. The ceiling is made of tin and the floor is concrete. I thought I would be spending the afternoon unpacking but turns out there is no wardrobe so I am literally living out of a suitcase. On the plus, I didn't have to figure out how to hang my bednet as the family has provided one pre-hung! My pillow is extremely comfortable which I guess makes up for the poor quality mattress. It has no cushion and I can feel every wooden plank down my back. The kitchen is a small room with a stove and coal pot. Next to it is our dining room. For breakfast everyday we get slices of bread with jam, tea or coffee, and sometimes an egg. Lunch and dinner is usually noodles, rice, chicken, and some kind of local stew. There is then another block that has our toilet (if you can call it that), washroom, and an open concrete cubby where dishes are washed and I brush my teeth as there is no sink. We have no use for one because there is no running water. We fetch our water out of a large barrel. This is used to wash dishes and take bucket showers. I have learned to become really conservative with the water. Three "tasty tom tomato paste" cans full is enough for a quick rinse but if it's a day to wash my hair and shave, I take 6 cans full. For brushing my teeth and washing my face in the morning, a 500 ml pure water sachet will do the job, even leaving about 1/3 of the bag for me to drink. The toilet is just a raised platform with a hole cut in the top, which leads down to a sewage tank, then a wood lid to cover. You throw the toilet paper away in a box. Electricity is not reliable so some nights I get around by flashlight. You also must learn to take advantage of it when we do have light and charge your phone, ipod, or camera. The nearby town has internet cafes which are slow and often cut out with the power. Thus I will be traveling one hour away to the bigger city of Koforidua for high speed connection, the post office, supermarket, bank access or western union money transfer, immigration services, etc. It's a nice drive though as you pass through extremely rural villages in the hills before arriving to the bustle of the city. My family is quite large with people always coming and going. Dina is the host mom, then there is a grandma, aunt, Eva, Kweku, Jessica, Belinda, Nancy, Kwesi, and others... I am happy to be writing this after spending almost a week in my new living conditions because it has given me a short amount of time to adjust and try to think positive. These people live like this on a daily basis and I will be here for just one month. Every time I go to wash or use the restroom, I think to myself in disbelief that I am actually living in Africa as most of the locals do. It is luxury to have access to clean, running water therefore I must embrace this experience for all it's worth. In a way, I actually am beginning to find it as a fun challenge!
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| My Toilet |
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| Kitchen |
I am the only medical volunteer at the moment located in the hills. My work placement is about 20 minutes taxi ride away to a town called Mampong. The Tettah Quarshie Memorial Hospital is in similar conditions as the Central Regional Hospital in Cape Coast so it wasn't much of a shock to me. The staff seemed more welcoming though and the medical director for Projects Abroad was really efficient, getting me an official document showing which wards I will be working in, for which time frames, and requiring the head doctor of the unit to sign saying they will assist in making the best for my learning experience. I could tell immediately I would be involved in observations and direct patient care. The first two weeks will be in maternity. I work three morning shifts and two afternoon shifts per week. The nurses and midwives here seem to provide better care than in Cape. They actually had me check vital signs every four hours, carried out doctor orders in a timely manner considering Ghanaian time, did required treatment, and initiated IV drips with oxytocin to augment a woman's labor. They have an automatic BP cuff as well as a heat lamp in which the baby is placed after delivery. The ward has two main rooms: a 12 bed suite for those antepartum or recovering from gynecological procedures and a 10 bed suite for those postpartum. On the other side of the ward is the three bed delivery room, theater, and for some reason a totally isolated room with two beds for patients with eclampsia or PIH.
Unfortunately the first birth I attended at this hospital was another one of those crazy and sad moments to observe where I felt so bad for how the patient was being treated. She was being slapped on the thighs, yelled at, poked at with scissors- literally in tears but the midwife just laughed and mocked her cry. The only thing I understood was "Madam I am trying my best!" After the birth, the midwife needed to suture a small tear but the patient wouldn't keep her thighs apart and feared the anesthetic block. She tried to convince her further by holding up a handful of the expelled ping pong ball sized blood clots! I offered to let her squeeze my hand but she still refused. When the staff left I apologized for how they were treating her. It's very sad to see that the whole birthing process here isn't practiced to be comfortable for the mother or at all a happy moment bringing a new life into the world.
Care of the baby is much the same as anywhere else. It gets weighed and measured, given a warm bath (in which hot water is heated on a giant hot plate), and swaddled to present to the mother. Surprisingly within maybe 30 minutes from birth the new mom is encouraged to breastfeed. It's nice to see best practice being implemented as much as it can under these conditions. This was the first time I also saw family come visit their loved ones during a set visiting hour. They mostly brought food and enjoyed a meal together or came to drop off medications from pharmacy and pay the due fees. At discharge, which is frequently the next day after delivery or possibly even the same day if the birth occurred early in the morning, they must pay. If they can't afford the costs though, the hospital will cover them. I saw a sign posted on the bulletin board entitled data collection tool. It monitors trends from month to month and records things like number of admissions, deliveries, live births, stillbirths, newborn deaths, low birth weight, PPH, eclampsia, malaria, anemia, and ectopic pregnancies. How they actually use the stats I am not sure but I was surprised to see they keep track.
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| Sign in Accra Mall Bathroom (for you Shadee !) |
Your heart is the most important part of who you are. It is the center of your being, where the "real" you resides. The heart of man reflects man. As a person thinks in his heart, so is he! ~Proverbs 23:7
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