Day 78-85

Be happy! When you don't have what you want, want what you have. Make do! That's a well kept secret of contentment.

Throughout my time in the hills, I have learned to be content with what I have. Although I may not have running water, food I can't wait to eat, electricity at times, my personal car, and so on, I still have more than what some Ghanaians can say for themselves. I have grown to love what I do have: a safe place to sleep, welcoming family and organization, and sense of belonging at the hospital.


So many things have happened since I wrote last and I can't possibly write about them all. I finished my stay in the maternity ward by feeling like I truely benefited the staff. I basically did all of the rounds independently and the nurses allowed me to help with new admissions and initiate IV drips. There were two elective c-sections so I juggled tasks of being the one in charge of post-op monitoring for the mothers and entering into the OR to watch the actual birth of both babies. This time, the anesthetist chose general anesthesia so neither mother got to actually enjoy their child's first cry. Instead they had to be knocked out with an oral airway in place. When questioned, he said he chose that method because the first was already in active labor so she needed to be more comfortable and the second case was a woman with a condition known as elephantitis. She had large tumors on both legs and foot and hand deformities. Apparently you are born with the condition and their is no cure. A procedure I have watched before but never completely understood the process turned out to be manual vacuum extraction- used to terminate pregnancies for those less than 12 week gestation. A Projects Abroad staff member based out of the UK visited me in the ward to discuss PRO voulunteer program development. It was really nice to share ideas on what could improve the experience for those who are qualifying medical professionals.

All of the volunteers in the area decided to go out and enjoy the Odwira festival. We arrived just as the President of Ghana was leaving, but still got to watch the procession of fancy SUV's, police escorts, and sirens. Then there were about a dozen or more chiefs from surrounding villages who were escorted out, walking underneath dressed up umbrellas. All were dressed in kente cloth, wore gold plated jewelry, and had either drummers or dancers leading them out of the crowd. The stool was carried away by being held up in the air along with a golden cane. The police and military personnel walked around carrying rifles around their shoulders instead of handguns in a holster. At one point it got fired into the air to give way. Walking around and enjoying the music, feeling like part of the cultural celebration was a wonderful way to spend a Friday night.  Unfortunately for concerns about being mugged, I didn't have a camera with me to capture my experience in film.

I got to watch Kweku slaughter two chickens in our yard. He tied their legs together and took a knife to their throats to pour out the blood. One of them started to flop around afterward and painted a perfect picture to the phrase, "running around like a chicken with its head cut off"! He then went on to hold the entire bird over an open flame on the stove. What a great start to my day. Also this week, I had the experience of the light going out at night while I was taking my bucket shower. Luckily I wasn't in the middle of washing my hair and I was wise enough to think of this being a potential to happen so I had my flashlight at hand. Over the course of the week, I have gotten to know my host family better. I am always the first volunteer awake in the morning, which gives me the chance to talk to Dina alone. I have learned more about how everyone is related and a bit of her personal history working as a nursery school teacher. Jessica and I now have a date every night where we sit outside and I help her with her homework. She even mentioned she has never had a friend like me and doesn't want me to leave so soon.

Main OPD after closing

I have started work in the pediatrics department and I must say I am really impressed with the arrangement. One room is for ages 1-3 months, one for 3 months-3 years, and one for older than 3 years. They also have a two bed ICU room and even a playroom! Although it was pretty empty of toys, I was just amazed they had space for the slightest introduction of fun! A place where kids can be kids even when in the hospital and even when living in Ghana. With the hospital pharmacy on strike for salary complaints, many patients are choosing not to be admitted due to the extra hassle of having to go to a different pharmacy and pay higher costs for their medications. Because of this, there are very few patients actually on the ward. I tend to spend most my time next door in the pediatric outpatient department (OPD). After just two days, I basically run the entire clinic independently other than the few cases that come in where language creates a barrier in documenting the chief complaint. The visit includes taking vital signs, weight, writing in their file the symptoms, and registering them in the consultation book. Most are minor cases of fever, cough, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea, rashes, conjunctivitis, respiratory tract infections, and of course malaria complicated with anemia. It's always entertaining to see the reaction of mothers and children alike as they enter to find an oburoni running the show. There have only been a couple of cases where the child is afraid of me because of my skin color. It wasn't until having to take their pulse that I realized how long 30 seconds could be when a child is screaming, crying, and pulling away in fear. If the child requires an injection, they use the hug technique to restrain them and then expose their butt in front of everyone. Most are incredibly brave for their age and rarely cry. A medication given for malaria causes the child to vomit after receiving the injection. The staff just sit there and direct the family to the mop to clean up the mess on their own. I used some free time to make conversion charts for degrees farenheit to degrees celcius as some of their thermometers record in F and they have to use phones for each conversion. Then they don't count respiration but rather use 1/4 of the pulse rate, so I also created a chart for an easy method to obtain the value. It was clear such an easy task was much appreciated as both charts immediately got taped above the check in station for easy access. There has only been one case that I was very thankful I wasn't around for. It was a 7 year old girl admitted through the OPD at 1030 am already in an unconscious state, hypothermic, and having shallow respirations. The cause: ingestion of a large quantity of Akpeteshi (a local alcoholic beverage) which attempted to be treated for at home with herbal medicine. The only management was 10% dextrose IVF, hydrocortisone, lasix, and oxygen. There is no such thing available here as a double lumen salem sump NG tube that could be pumping fluids in one end and continually suctioning out the contents through the other. Only prn suction was available and when it came down to it, no resuscitation efforts were provided. She died at 4:10 pm. Even though I wasn't around to know how severe of a condition she arrived in, it's always sad to think that a child died from something that may have been easily managed in the Western world.

My medical outreach this week included traveling to the small village where Wonderful Love Daycare is located. We began our day with dressing the wounds of perhaps 30 school children. Again, all related to infected mosquito bites or fungal infections on their heads. It's always so cute as some come up to you with the smallest of cut often times already scabbed over or sometimes even scarred, just to receive a little extra attention and try to get a bandaid out of you. Next we sat up stations in the open room: one for check in, weight, blood pressure, and taking of blood. It was focused on the parents of the community. We tested the blood for Hepatitis B and later listened to an educational seminar on how you get HepB, symptoms, treatment, ways to protect yourself, long term complications, and casual contact. I felt slightly rude but I wanted to put more advanced nursing skills to use and held my ground to be the one taking the blood samples instead of being stuck checking vital signs once again. In all, we tested 41 adults and only one came back with a positive result. I really enjoyed participating in a community outreach program as our service was a holistic approach, offering not only screening and results but also bits of education. The entire village benefited as well; from children to adults. I always feel like my time is well invested and leave every outreach with a smile on my face! A little extra thing I did this week was go to the primary school directly outside my house and participate in a reading program. It is just for 45 minutes after school closes where some children choose to stay behind and practice reading in English. I was assigned to class 2 students who actually read really well for it being in a second language. The only problem is they have a very short attention span.

I am sad to say my journey with Projects Abroad is quickly coming to an end. I have just one week remaining at my current placement and so much more to learn and experience. I am very thankful for the staff at the hospital as well as Gifty, the medical coordinator, for making me feel welcome and organizing various outreach programs for me to participate in. I feel my time here has been 100% worthwhile.




Life isn't about days and years. It's what you do with time and with all the goodness and grace that's inside you. Make a beautiful life... the kind of life you deserve!