So, who added Kenney Chesney as one of my Blog Followers?!! Given how much money I have spent on that man he better be interested in my travels!! I luv u KC & can't wait 'til August to see u again! :)
Although the rainy season has arrived a little early, it doesn't do anything to quell the temperatures - our room still holds a steady 87-91 degrees (day and night) and the outdoor temps still average around 118 degrees during the day, although today is 127.5!
In an attempt to alter some of my experiences here, I changed hospitals a couple of weeks ago with the hopes of finding more of what I was looking for: the need and desire for assistance, along with the willingness of the staff to learn and teach. Although I thought I was successful at first, no such luck. I moved to St. Patrick's, a much smaller hospital, more dilapidated, with far fewer resources/supplies, with 28 beds and 4 doctors. There is a general women's/children's ward, a men's ward and a very small maternity ward. There is very little equipment and supplies are extremely limited - while I've been here there have been days where the hospital did not have any gloves or alcohol/swabs (so thank you Dave A. for your donation!). In my western mind that is a huge problem, however they do not seemed bothered by it at all! This hospital is privately owned and compared to the last hospital I volunteered at, it is much more expensive (however still only a fraction of the cost of US health care) for less trained nurses and far fewer resources/supplies. My first day was very hopeful -the doctors' English was pretty good, the nurses were very friendly, there were far fewer nurses and no nursing students. Most of this should have equated to 'yea! Kim will be able to communicate and participate'! However, the patients do not speak much English and therefore the nurses need to be involved in just about everything. The pace is still incredibly slow and again there is still not enough work for the number of health care workers present. After a few days, the same scenario occurred where much more of my time was spent staring at the walls than doing anything of substance. Even when attempting to create a project or organize something, it was not well received.
However, a work highlight that I have enjoyed is that I've been teaching CPR. Barely anyone here has ever heard of CPR, never mind know how to do it! First, I had to build/make a portable chalk board, which in this environment was a project in itself! I set up a schedule for all employees of the first hospital I volunteered at, Margret Marquart, which includes about 150people - head of the hospital even wanted administration and maintenance employees to attend. At first I did not have a CPR dummy so I was demonstrating CPR on a pillow! Crazy! Fortunately though, after the first week, the Administrator was able to locate a real, legitimate CPR dummy. And keep in mind that there are no AED/defibrillators here so it's an interesting concept to teach when the "end goal" isn't even available. This has been an enjoyable, unexpected twist, but it's a bit impractical here. People do not die from cardiac arrest; they primarily die from auto accidents, malaria and HIV. The impracticality is evidenced by the fact that none of the nurses/nursing students have ever been trained in CPR!
I've also been volunteering more at the orphanage, Hardthaven Children's Home, in the afternoon. Prior to my arrival, I was told that on my days at the home I would be there 8 hours a day. However, in actuality, volunteers are only allowed at the home between 3 and 5pm! Fortunately I am at the hospital in the morning, but many volunteers have come here just to work at the Home, so this is a huge point of contention for many. The home could certainly be in much better condition and actually there is another home currently being built (goal is to remove the renting factor to own instead). There are 35 kids who live here ranging from 2-17 along with 4 House Mothers. Fortunately all of the kids really appear happy and healthy. As my Mom says, "you really don't miss what you never had". And even though 6 of the kids have HIV, and many have lost their parents to HIV, there does not seem to be any segregation in the home. I also don't think any of the kids even know that some of the others are sick. The rooms are small, dark and dingy and numerous children are cramped into bunk beds side by side. The house Mothers sleep on the floor in between the bunks; boys and girls are separated. Very sad to see, but again, they see to accept the conditions without complaint. The Home does not have any running water so the kids walk to the town well every day to fetch water and carry back home on their heads.
The culture here has bred the kids to be very self sufficient - this is at the Home as well as all of the children I've seen/met here. The youngest kids feed themselves, dress themselves, fetch water and participate in household chores. There still is a good amount of time where they get to "be kids", that is, until they reach 10 years old or so. Then much of their free time is spent taking care of the compound (wherever they live), the household chores of cooking, cleaning and laundry as well as taking care of the younger kids. The lack of modern conveniences such as a washing machine, sanitary running water and cooking appliances makes the daily chores take forever!
Of course the kids are adorable, and yes, there are 3 in particular that I'd like to take home, but this makes watching their traditions all that more difficult. The form of punishment is caining - it is an extremely rare occasion where I've seen an adult speak to a child and have a conversation about the particular behavior in question. Instead, there is yelling and hitting. The biggest problem that I see is that this is a way of life for all here. The adults cain the older kids and the older kids cain the younger kids. It is heartbreaking to see these 12-17 year olds have the responsibility of "disciplining/caining" the younger children. With this involvement the cycle will never end. And I can see it in the younger kids: when they are mad at a fellow child they will yell and instinctively hit them hard, repeatedly. And unfortunately, I have even seen this among the teen boys and girls.
In addition to my volunteer work, I've also been enjoying some travel lately. Along with some other volunteers, I've enjoyed trips to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary - a bamboo forest where monkeys live in the wild. A guide walks you through and makes "monkey" sounds and voila! they all come running to eat bananas out of your hand! It is seriously cute - while hanging onto the banana, the monkey will peel it and negotiate to get your hand out of the way so that he can take the whole thing out of the peel! (See the pictures that I posted previously.)
We also did a weekend trip to Wlii Falls - one of the more "famous" touristy things to do in Ghana. We were required to hire a guide who led us to the upper falls and then to the lower falls. I generally consider myself to be in decent shape but I swear, I thought this was going to kill me! It only took about an hour and a half to reach the top but it was one of the most difficult hikes I've ever done! The seriously vertical climb on extremely rough, overgrown terrain was almost more than I could manage!! But it was definitely worth it! Absolutely beautiful with white lilies blooming everywhere around the falls and the basin! The forest was so dense and lush and green - quite a difference from the populated, dirty brown of Kpando proper! (See the pictures that I posted previously.)
Another weekend trip was to Ho Hoe..not so far away but a popular spot for Westerners to visit for some R&R. A hotel there offers "western" food along with a pool, lounge chairs, a bar and most importantly, indoor plumbing of a toilet and a shower! So we anticipated helping ourselves to some posh relaxation. Only problem was that there really wasn't any "western" food (mostly more of the same fried African starchy food we get at home), it started to downpour and thunder about an hour after we settled into our lounge chairs at the pool, and although our toilet was fabulous, the shower didn't provide more than a trickle so we still had to resort to a bucket shower... but I guess it was indoors....oh, and we had Air Conditioning!
Tomorrow I am leaving with another volunteer to explore Cape Coast - a beach town area about 8 hours from here, even though it's probably less than 200 miles away. Gotta love dirt, bumpy roads and not so great vehicles! We'll be staying there for 5 days and will be enjoying some beach R&R as well as exploring some of the castles from the slave trade era as well as a national park for some hiking.
Every week I am growing more fond of Ghana and especially it's people. Every day I am still affected by the extreme poverty here and the perseverance of the people. It is so refreshing to see that they are friendlier and potentially happier than many I have seen elsewhere in my travels. Again, perhaps they don't miss what they don't know....
Until the next time,
Kim
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