Ghananana

Wow! What a past 2 days it has been! I feel like a whole week has gone by, so much has happened! I guess I will just start from Monday.

Monday was my first day at Mary Marquart Catholic Hospital, which began in the 1960s by a female German physician. There were 3 other new volunteers coming with me and the 2 interns that have been here for the past 3 weeks were also working there. We started by getting a tour of the facility. The campus is quite beautiful. Each ward has its own building and there are little areas of grass and outside seating between each ward. The areas I saw were the maternity, children’s, surgical theatre, and physical therapy. We met with the head nun in charge, and then she assigned us to our wards. I was put in Maternity this week and was not at all prepared for what I got myself into. To be honest, it was a horrifying and eye opening few hours. 

            When I arrived back at maternity I was shown (and by shown I mean wondered because no one wanted to help me) into a room with three examination tables. On the farthest one from the door laid a women completely naked and uncovered who was obviously in pain. She was in the middle of a contraction when I walked in but no one was caring for her. As I observed the situation, one of the physicians, a Cuban Gynecologist who does not speak the local language, walked in and started aggressively poking and prodding at this woman. The thing that struck me most was that he had not interacted with her and when she was obviously in excruciating pain was given nothing except and slap on the leg from his so she would stop moving.  At this point I was really feeling uneasy and asked one of the nurses if I could observe him for a while. I followed him into a room with 6 beds and he told me that all of the women were recovering from C-sections and that I could clean their stitches. I was taken aback because I have no medical experience and he just wanted me to jump in. I told him this and he said I could assist him and later on I could do it on my own. Later, he was giving a woman antibiotics and said that I could do it. At this point I reached my breaking point and told him that I REALLY had no experience and should not be administering shots on the first day. He understood but said that I would do it later. By this time, it was time for me to leave for the day and I left feeling overwhelmed and so unsure of what I was doing there. I talked to the other two interns at lunch and they told me that that was the norm and although they are both nurses, I should be able to find other ways that I can help and not to be discouraged by one day. I heard what they said, but Monday was still a very hard day for me. Not only was I completely unfamiliar with the Ghanaian health system and the way things are run here, but I also felt like I was completely useless unless I risked hurting a patient by trying to perform a task I am definitely not trained to perform.

After lunch I was happily distracted by our trip to the market. The market in Hohoe is where people from the surrounding villages come to sell food and goods on Mondays and Fridays. It is the typical scene that one may think of when they envision Africa with each person having their own little hut/stand. Much of the food included smoke fish laid in the hot sun, cassava roots, plantains, mango, dried fufu, and then the fabrics! All of the fabrics are so beautiful and colorful and honestly I think it is where Lily Pulitzer gets its inspiration. I walked around with one of the girls that works at our house and I purchased a beautiful aqua and tangerine colored fabric that we took to the seamstress to be made into a dress. I could not believe the operation the seamstress had. She works out of this little tiny wooden shack and has an apprentice work by her side. On of the other interns, Lindsey said she has already had 8 dress made by her and they are all so beautiful and different! Once we got back to the house we played the fiercest game of volleyball I have ever been in!  The workers got really into it and were so good! I tried to do my part but I think I was more of a hindrance than helpful.

This morning I started my day with a run at 6:15am! It was such a nice way to start the day, but it was super hot. It was so funny to watch the expressions of the locals. There were 5 of us that went and it was entertaining to see them do a double take and then you could tell they were thinking, "What are they doing?!" It is actually a super hard workout to do here, not only because of the heat, but also because it is really hilly. If I keep running, I am going to be in great shape for mild Michigan! 

After breakfast we headed back to the hospital and on the way Lindsey and Anna (the other intern) gave me a little pep talk, which helped my state of mind when we arrived. I started in the maternity ward today, but it was pretty quiet. No one was in labor or about to be except one woman who was having twins. The policy here, however, is that anyone who is giving birth to twins must have a C-section. So she was being prepped and brought over to the theatre. I then helped my friend the male nurse with the C-section stitches cleaning again. And this time I did it all on my own! It really wasn’t bad at all, but the system here for keeping things sanitary is pretty bad and Jerry (my nurse friend) told me that if you are not touching the patient i.e. you are using forceps (like I did when I was cleaning the stitches) you do not need to wear gloves… So I was a bit skeptical on how effective and safe that idea really is, but that is life here.

After we finished with this I decided to head over to the children’s ward and I colored with some of the kids there. This was also a bit sad because one of the boys would not interact at all, and although many of the children did not speak English they would at least color with me, but he would not do anything. This other little girl thankfully became my friend even though she wouldn’t talk to me and we colored and then played stacking games with the crayons. It really is too bad that we cannot leave donations at our worksites (although understandable in the long run because it makes organizations depend too much on gifts) because we bring activities when we come, but besides that the children in the hospital really have nothing to do for the rest of the day. Today went so much better than Monday and I can see that there are things for me to do here that does that involve performing medical procedures.

After lunch today, the other interns and I went to a spiritual healing church service. This was quite interesting because we had to leave the city and could only drive a little way than had to walk to this little hut made of dried grass and logs. We were late to the service and one of the guards had to talk to our intern supervisor before he would let us in. We had to take our shoes off and once we walked in all eyes were on us, 3 young white women and a Ghanaian man walking in late.. I’m sure it was quite a site! Once we had taken our seats in the front, the “prophet” continued. He was talking in Ewe so our supervisor George had to translate. It was pretty interesting from a Christian perspective because they quote the bible a lot. Halfway through all of the leaders left the hut so that they could call the spirit into the “prophet” and when they returned he was wearing a bright orange choir robe. He stood at the front of the hut and began to rock back and forth and then would say something like “Someone in this room has a husband who is not caring for his children,” and then someone would walk up and listen to the leaders and “prophet” talk to her. Something to this effect went on for well over an hour when George told us we should go. We got up to leave and said our goodbyes. The prophet stopped us and said we had to be told our futures. So we all took turns listening to him as a pastor type person translated. He gave us all a bible verse and but a cross of oil on our chest. It was definitely an interesting experience. George said that the reason it is so far out of the city is because some people view it more as the practice of Voodoo, which is more traditional and is not accepted in a super Christian country like Ghana. The reason they view it like this is because the people that attend this church do not believe in doctors and think that the lord will heal whatever ailments they may encounter.

So after this adventure, when we got back to the house, a representative of the Ghana health system spoke to our group about the way the health system is run here. It was pretty interesting and also seems a bit inefficient. To simplify it, you pretty much have to keep getting referred up to the next best facility until you feel like you have the care you need. After this we had yet another activity to our day which included a traditional dancing and singing group with drums and to my surprise, a trumpet come to our house and teach us how to dance. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately had to be cut short by the rain. A huge storm passed through tonight and we lost power for a little while, but thankfully it is back on!

Well now you know about my whirlwind of a last few days. If you made it to the end of this post, congrats!

Until later my friends!

Elizabeth