Today (Wed) was amazing.  This morning Ally (another volunteer) ran with me to the internet cafe.  My friend Frances was there so it was really nice to see him.  We left for Ho at 1230 for our two hour tro tro drive.  As anyone who knows me knows that I drink ALOT of water and have a very small bladder which = frequent bathroom visits =) So naturally after being on the road (especially on the tro tro where the ride is VERY bumpy over the very poor African roads) for about an hour I was dying.  They stopped at a gas station for me..now I will NEVER look down on American gas station bathrooms ever again.  So the guy pointed me to the bathroom at the gas station.  It was a concrete ground surrounded by 3 concrete walls and there was literally a moat that goes around that you pee into.  Quite the experience...what I learned on this trip was that this or a bucket is a luxurious bathroom.  Another time on the road during this trip we stopped only to a concrete ground with walls and when you go to the bathroom it hits the concrete and spashes all over your shoes and legs..nice huh.  =)  Anyways enough about bathrooms...we got to Ho..which I was very unimpressed by.  It is a "city" that is crowded and busy.  I like small rural villages like Woe WAY more than a city.  I am soo thankful that I got placed in Woe..which most of the other volunteers were to.  This afternoon we went to this small village with 800 people that subsist completely on their own.  It was fascinating.  They had mud huts, their own fields of food, even made their own gin.  The chief welcomed us and talked to us before we took a tour around.  The children were amazing as soon as we got off the tro tro they jumped in our arms and held our hands the whole time during the tour.  I had a little 3 year old named Georgiania attached to my hip.  She was precious.  I took some great pictures which I can't wait to upload onto my website.  Everyone was so friendly!  I am going to try and come back for a weekend and spend 2 days here with them.  When we got back Yeo (the guy taking us on our trip) talked to us about herbal medicine.  He is a natural medicine healer.  It was quite fascinating.  Then he showed us natural pills that he said if you take 90 seconds later no scorpion or snake in the world will bite you for 6-10 years.  Of course I was the first to volunteer to take it.  I took it and held his poisonous, deadly scorpion..even put it on my face..so it worked!  It was a lot of fun..I figured why not..that way I can feel safe from snakes in the peace corps!  Yeo had one volunteer in the past who did not believe the scorpion would bite him if he didn't take the pills...so he held the scorpion and got bitten immediatly and Yeo had to make an incision in the cut and put a herbal remedy on it to prevent the poison from reaching his heart! Today (Thur) we went to a monkey sanctuary where monkeys ate bananas out of our hands and then hiked around the woods.  Later we drove to this amazingly beautiful waterfall (second highest in Africa) where we could go swimming.  We spent this night in Ho and then left for Cape Coast at 10 on Friday morning.  We stopped at a bead factory where we saw how they make beads (design, put in fire, clean etc) and then of course I bought a ton to bring home for gifts =)  We spent 6 hours on the road in a tro tro and let me just tell you that with the African roads it was more exhausting then 24 hour international plane travel.  By the time we got to our hotel on the Cape Coast we all passed out after dinner.  On Saturday we went to a canopy walk at Kakum national park.  We hiked up to the spot and then walked across 9 VERY loosely hung rope bridges suspended 40 feet over the jungle.  I thought it was great but alot of the girls were super scared and close to panic attacks =)  Unfortunately the humidity up there killed my camera again so I only got one picture.  After this we visited a slave castle and then spent the afternoon on the beach.  On Sunday we made a stop at the cultural market in Accra...and let me just tell you wow that was quite the experience.  They come up to you and make you come into their stores and then when you tell them you don't want something they say "sister just tell me how much you want to pay" or "you promised sister you'd come into my store" you pretty much get harrassed the whole time and end up having to be very rude.  I was happy to leave there!  We ate lunch at this place called Frankies in Accra which is a Western restaurant.  I got hummus and baklava..which I was super excited about.  But its MUCH better in Israel!  Then we went to a grocery store where everyone stocked up on food to bring back to Woe.  We got back to Woe by dinner on Sunday and I was so happy to be home!  I love Woe!  Well today (Monday) I start my blood pressure clinic at 2 pm so I hope it goes well!!

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 Amazing People

Sept. 18/19

 

Ghanian people are really the most wonderful group of people I have ever met.  Yesterday when I was running, a guy named Gidon joined me for the whole 5 miles to the internet cafe.  Then when I was running today an older woman joined me for 5 minutes, running in her skirt and flip flops!  Towards the end of my run two 12 year old boys ran with me the last mile to the internet cafe.  In Ghana this is a significant act because running is just not done here.  It is so funny to see how different two societies are.  How in America people have to exerise to stay healthy and not get fat because we eat too much and sit around all day at our jobs, while Ghanians work so hard and walk all day they struggle to eat enough to keep up with their energy expenditure.  While I pass people on the street most of them do look at me like I'm crazy...kinda the way we would look at a purple dinosaur doing cart-wheels on 5th avenue =) I notice that their inital reaction is to stare at me with caution and distrust.  But it's funny because as soon as I smile at them and say good morning, their faces beam with a smile and you can see the immense kindness in their eyes when they return the greeting.  My friend Francis asked me Sunday, "Why are you so friendly?"...I said, "What do you mean?"  and he replied, "Most yavus do not talk much to us when they come here, but you want to talk to everyone!"  So I am finding it fun trying to show people here that yavus are kind and do want to be friends...which ends up in me saying "Good morning" about 600 times on my morning jogs =)  I have found that smiling really is the universal language of kindness.  Today we went to the market (which is in Angola every 4 days) and again I splurged on fabric.  I just love the colors and the culture that it represents.  One of the older volunteers who is here for his second time lent me his digital camera to use so I got some great pictures!  He is going to make me a file on his computer and download all my pictures onto a disc before I leave! YAY!  I have spent the last two days making posters and handouts for my blood pressure clinic and mother education class.  I tried to make them very colorful and creative with pictures.  I wrote them in Ewe in case people do not understand my English.  I hope that the next volunteer will use my visual tools when she continues this project.  Tomorrow we leave for 5 days to go Ho and the Cape Coast so I'm sure I will have interesting stories when I get back.  I have gotten a few emails from people wanting to donate supplies here and I just wanted to say thank you so much for opening your hearts to Ghanians.  Thats all for now.  Take care and God bless!

Sept 16 & 17

Today all the volunteers from Woe, Akachi, and Ho came together to travel through Woe and Keta.  Everyone is very nice.  First we went to go see a "dam" they use to let sea water into the lagoon when the sea gets really violent to prevent flooding.  Then we went to the Keta weaving school.  It was fascinating to see them at work.  It takes ALOT of creativity and 2-3 years to learn how to weave.  It is a very difficult, intriguing process.  The patterns they made were absolutely beautiful.  Then we went to Fort Prizenstein.  This is a place where slaves were held.  To be at a place where slavery started, where people were torn from their homes, families, and countries was deeply saddening.  The Danish built 14 forts throughout Ghana to collect slaves and hold them in deplorable conditions until they were to be shipped off to Europe or the Americas.  Many died from insanity which I can understand after what I saw.  The women were only allowed to bath during their menses, and in the same water that they had to drink out of.  The colonel would watch the women and pick the ones he wanted as sex slaves.  If they got pregnant they were moved to mulatto villages.  Food was thrown through the windows of the cells and water poured under the cracks of the doors which they had to lick off the ground.  They were weighed and if they lost weighed, weights were tied around their necks and they were thrown into the ocean.  Men were kept in dungeons so small they had to stay bent over, and most went blind because there was only a crack for ventilation to let minimal sunshine in.  The Danish only took 1 slave from each of the 14 forts at a time so that the slaves all spoke different languages so they could not rebel.  I met the Royal family of Keta.  One of the sons asked me for my email address so I might end up corresponding with Ghanian royalty =)  Whenever I ask Ghanians if they are angry at white people over slavery they say no its in the past.  What a beautiful answer.  Today we picked up the chief of Keta and he took us to a big stone circe you go in that has a carved story of slavery on the walls.  It was very fascinating.  He explained it was not only the white people fault for buying slaves because many of the Africa chiefs sold their own people for alcohol and cigars.  So it was just a mistake of humanity not a racial blaming.  Very true.  I love their perspectives here.  Then we went to meet a herbal bone healer.  That was truely fascinating.  She was a merchant and had dreams from god telling her how to heal peoples bones with herbs.  She was resistant at first but after 4 successful healing using the herbs and methods God told her to do, and with the insistence of her neighbors she opened a clinic.  She pushes the bone in place, and can feel where it is broken and how only with her hands (no xrays) then she wraps it with gauze to immobilize and wraps her herbs around in.  No pills, no surgeries, no casts....she has healed everyone that has ever come to her.  Very fascinating.  God can work wonders through people.  Next we went to see where the lagoon meets the ocean.  Later I decided to wash clothes which is quite a bit of work.  You have to hand wash them and hang them to dry in the sun.  But then you have to iron EVERYTHING, bras socks underwear...all...because bugs lay eggs in your clothes so you have to use the iron to kill them. yum yum huh? So i'll probably be rewearing alot of shirts before I decide to wash them =) mm..smelly Anyways I plan to go back to the house for dinner...I have been reading a lot.  I have finished 3 books so far this week.  It is a very calm relaxed environment at the house at night.  I love it.

Well I figured out a way to post blogs on my website and since there is so much to say about Ghana, and I don't want to burden people with so many emails...I am going to start posting my daily journal on my website (laurengreenwald.spaces.live.com) and just sending out general updates via group email every few weeks.  So if you want to hear about daily life..check out my website.  =)

 

The other day I went to turn on my camera to take a picture and discovered my camera is broken.  Other volunteers said sometimes the humidity brakes cameras here..so that stinks.  I am frustrated about this because there is so much here that I want to capture by photograph.  The CCS staff says I might be able to find a disposable camera when we travel to Ho (the nearest city) on Wednesday...so keep your fingers crossed for me =)

 

I spent this week on the pediatric ward and it was really an astounding experience.  Here is how it works here: A child goes the outpatient center (like ER) and waits many hours to be seen by someone (NO triage system here), then they have to pay 5000 cedis to even be seen ($0.50) which most people don't have so they just have to go home sick.  If they get admitted the on doctor for the hospital will see them and write orders.  The nurse gives this to the parent and they have to go to the dispensary (pharmacy) and pay for the medicine and supplies (IV fluid, tubing, gauze, EVERYTHING).  If they can not afford it they have two choices: go home without treatment or maybe only buy 1 out of the 4 medicines prescribed, or get them all and have to stay at the hospital until the bill is paid.  We have one little girl who was treated for malaria TWO months ago but her parents cannot afford the bill (750,000 cedis=$75) so she can't go home.  Keep in mind a professional nurse in Ghana only make $65 a month, and most only $1/day so $75 is ALOT of money here.  The ward is very depressing with nothing for the children to do but lay there all day.  If they want food the parents have to bring them food.  The equipment on the floor is pathetic.  No blood pressure cuffs, no stethoscopes, one mercury thermometer (remember the 80's), no alcohol, no gauze, no towels to dry hands after washing them. Unbelievable.  In between taking axillary temperatures they clean the thermometers off with DRY gauze...sounds effective huh!?  I sat in on a unit meeting though and it was really interesting how they are trying to implement the same nursing standards as in the west (infection control, patient rights etc.) unfortunately they do not have the means to carry out much of anything here. 

 

I gave them my supplies that were donated to me from Athens Regional, Athens Nurses Clinic, and other volunteers, which felt great.  The nurses kept saying akba ka ka ka (thank you very much).  I gave them gloves, masks, a ton of syringes, gauze, IV start kits, antibacterial sanitizer, and their favorite..a digital thermometer!  I am going to give my stethoscope away before I leave.  It felt great giving the stuff not necessarily to the hospital, but more for knowing that by donating gauze I was saving several patients from choosing between gauze and food.  Other than giving supplies though I feel pretty helpless here. The nurses do not really need my help, they need supplies and money.  And there is an abundance of nurses and no doctors.  What I find myself thinking is whether I should be a nurse practioner.  While I love patient care and really don't want to take on the "only prescribing" role of a doctor, I see how much of an incredibly big help I could be here if I could diagnose and prescribe (and even give free medicine donated from pharmaceutical companies)...so I have alot to think about when I get home from the Peace Corps.

 

Because my ability to help at the hospital is so very limited, I have decided to change my placement.  A volunteer nurse last March ran a blood pressure clinic that hundreds of Ghanians came to, and asked them to follow up hoping another volunteer would continue it.  But noone ever did and villagers have been coming to the CCS house wanting their blood pressure clinic and haven't been able to have it taken.  So I am unbelievably excited about what I plan to do.  There are 12 villages in Woe.  I am going to spend Mon. and Tues. researching, making handouts, posters etc.  Then we go to Cape Coast Wed-Sun. so I will start this clinic the week after next..so that leave me 12 villages to cover in 6 weeks.  They are going to broadcast my clinics by public announcements at night so people know when I am coming to their village.  I am going to spend 2-3 days in each village doing a clinic in the afternoons.  If their bp is moderately high I am going to educated about ways to modify diet and lifestyle and if it is really high I am going to refer them to Keta hospital.  I am also going to teach a "Childhood Disease Prevention" class in each village to moms about how to prevent malaria, anemia, jiggers and other common problems in children.  I am hoping to train one of the new voluteers coming before I leave so they can carry out the follow-up clinics.  I can't describe how excited I am about getting out into the community and really making a differnce through education.  This feels like a dream come true.  In the mornings on M, W, F I would like to bring coloring books to the children's ward and play with the kids there and hopefully Tue. and Thur. helping the Tegbi clinic do their well-children clinics...but I don't know for sure what all I will have time for on top of my clinics...

 

Many people have asked about the food here.  It is very good, but very spicy.  The vegetable are amazing.  I have never tasted better spinach, okra, cabbages dishes in my life.  Here are the typical things we have served to us: breakfast: eggs, coffee, bread, marmalade, chocolate spread  lunch: potatoes (Sweet and reg), chicken, cassava, salad dinner: fish soup, peanut butter soup, rice, pineapple.  Our cook does not cook many traditional Ghanian dishes because I guess past volunteers have not liked them. I have had no stomach problems so far =)

 

People here are unbelievable friendly.  While at the internet cafe I always have a group of teens sitting around me reading my email with me and wanting to be my friend =)  I had one girl name Rejoice ask me to her house...which I went to today.  I met her mom and brother...who were both very sweet.  Her mom gave me two necklaces and her brother (24) asked me to marry him =)  The owner the internet cafe, mike, who has become a good friend asked me to his uncles funeral this weekend (which is like a celebration here) but we are traveling this weekend so I couldn't.  I go running down the one street in Woe during the day and although some people look at me funny because people don't run here (they sometimes say who are u running from or why are you running) or some of the children have never seen a white person before, but they ALL always smile and say good morning!  Such wonderful people.  Or I'll be walking home and a group of children will run up to me and hug me and walk with me holding my hand.  By the way...after we started Charles on his antibiotic his Toe looks 100% better...YAY,..now we just need to figure out how to keep shoes on him.

 

Many of you have asked if you can send money or supplies.  I appreciate the though and it very kind of you, but not necessary.  Although if you still feel the need to help I have a list of things that are really needed.  I would like to have a "craft cart" at the hospital with coloring books, markers, beads, toy cars etc. for the kids to have something to do when at the hospital.  Also these are the supplies that are needed at the hospital and Tegbi clinic:

 

-2 adult blood pressure cuffs and 1 pediatric blood pressure cuff

-2 stethoscopes (can be cheap kind..just as long as it works)

-Gauze (2x2 and 4x4)

-Alcohol wipes and cavi-wipes

 

Don't feel obligated to send anything but if you really want to give one of these things let me know.  Since packages are taxed so high here it would be best if all this stuff were sent together in one or two packages.  Anyways thats all for now.  I will post my journals about my travels this week on my website today.   Again sorry for the big email.

 

Lots of love and hugs from Ghana,

Lauren