Hi everyone!
I think I was a bit ambitious last week when I thought I could get all of my travel journals caught up and uploaded! I finally have them ready though! Sorry for the wait & I hope you all enjoy reading them!
Just to give an overall update I have started volunteering at a big clinic out in a town called Shama. I went last Thursday to a maternity clinic and will be going back to the maternity clinic tomorrow and Wednesday. Next week I will go to a general health clinic. I really enjoyed my day at the clinic last week and can't wait to go back tomorrow!
I hope you all have a terrific week! I can't believe that June is almost over!
I'll post again soon! Until then here are my journals:
June 11th
Today we had breakfast at the hotel and then Joha’s friend, Emmanuel, came and picked us up to bring us to the bus station. One of the roads we were on to get on the bus station was basically all potholes. There was no way to avoid them so it turned into a bumpy ride! The good thing was that since it is such a rough road not many people use it and we managed to escape all the traffic!
We arrived at the bus station at 11 and we were told the bus would be there at twelve. We sat and waited patiently but the bus did not end up arriving until 130 and we left at 2. We also got stuck in traffic leaving Accra. We were supposed to get to Takoradi at 4pm but did not get there until after 7pm. This was our first introduction to the concept of “Ghanaian time!” My host family was waiting for Caroline and I at the bus station. We went with Davina, Robin, and Heather to find a hotel and have supper. We then said our goodbyes and Caroline and I left with our host family. Davina, Robin, and Heather will be going back to Accra tomorrow. Heather and Robin will be going to their host family and Davina will be going to her own little place. We are all starting our projects on Monday, except for Davina who is our site director and is here as our resource and to meet with other NGO’s to identify projects for next year‘s QPID cooperants.
The drive to my host family’s house was very bumpy and it was pouring rain so the car got stuck right as we were getting onto the dirt road near their house. We got out and walked up the pathway to the house with luggage in hand and water up above our ankles. It felt great to be standing outside in the downpour though!
I am very excited about spending the summer with my host family! I thought it was just one woman but it turns out it is her mother and 5 younger siblings, then there are a few older siblings, and uncles. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming when we arrived. I am looking forward to tomorrow when we are all refreshed and can get to know everyone!
June 12th
Today I phoned my parents bright & early to wish them a happy anniversary. I forgot about the 4 hour time difference so I called them at 7am! Oops! Haha. Today Caroline and I had breakfast and then unpacked our suitcases to get settled into our new home! Afterwards we went out in the living room where we played cards with our host brother, George, and his cousins. It had rained all night and morning so the front of the house looked like a small river!
Today is Sunday and in Ghana this is considered a day of rest. Very few stores are open and if they do open it isn’t until later in the day after church. George ended up taking us out to meet his friends in the afternoon and they took us to the Queen’s Pub. I found this funny as back at home I spend a lot of time at Queen’s Pub and apparently that’s the popular spot here as well! We then went to Vieanna City Beach where I got to see the ocean! It was beautiful! I had my first Ghanaian beer today at the beach and then my second, but I promise I stopped after that! Haha! We then went back home for supper.
Tomorrow we start our work at Friends of the Nation. I am excited to go there and see what I will be doing for the rest of the summer. I am loving it here already! My host family is terrific and they are going out of their way to make us feel at home!
June 13th
Hello! Today marked the first day of my volunteer internship at Friends of the Nation. It is an NGO that is focused on sustainable fisheries but considers many broad areas such as environment, natural resources, and health. This morning Caroline and I had a lot of material to read over but it was all very interesting. I found it overwhelming as I have never dealt with many of these concepts before however its all part of the learning experience! There is a man who works there who is more involved with the health aspect of the organization and how health issues affect environment which is really interesting and an exciting opportunity for me as a nursing student. He told me he would like me to help him with topics related to family planning and maternal health. Tomorrow I believe we have more documents to read and more to learn. This week will be mostly orientation and then we will be given our own projects and work to carry out hopefully by next week.
After our orientation today Caroline and I went for a walk around the area where the office is located. We went by a high school and the school day had just ended so we got to see all of the students! They all wore white uniforms with green sweaters. I did not have my camera today but I will have to take it tomorrow because the gardens and trees around this area are absolutely beautiful!
After work we went home and had supper. They eat supper later here, usually after 7pm. After supper we sat and talked with the family while they were watching a tv program. I am going to bed early tonight because I will be up as soon as the roosters crow in the morning!
Bye for now!
June 14th
At work I read a big manual - it was about 140 pages on methods used to educate youth on topics involving sexual health, reproduction, and the environment. It was very interesting. I am not sure if I will actually get to run any of these workshops at this time but I would love to! I also read an article about family planning and the environment. Towards the end of the day Caroline and I switched manuals so I now I have a lot of reading ahead of me again tomorrow. Its all very interesting but I am anxious to actually receive our summer project and to start working on it.
After work we went to see a friend of our host family, Georgina, who is a seamstress. She took both mine and Caroline’s measurements because she wants to make us traditional African dresses to wear to church on Sundays. I’m excited to see what fabric she chooses and to try them on!
TTFN!
June 15th
Good evening! I had an exciting day at work today! I went in and began reading the manual that I did not have time to finish yesterday and I was expecting to be sitting there doing that all morning but much to my surprise the coordinators at friends of the nation brought all of the interns outside for the morning and gave us a debriefing on some of the projects they are running in various small communities. Then we got to go on the bus and go do some field work!
First we went to Esei lagoon where they are doing a mongrove project. Apparently sometime this month we will be going out to plant mongroves down near the lagoon to try and promote the restoration of that ecosystem. The lagoon we went to was beautiful as right where we were standing you could see the mouth of it opening up out into the ocean. There was a lot of pollution on the ground which Kwesi, one of the coordinators at Friends of the nation claims is garbage from upstream that is being brought downstream from the heavy rains at this time of year.
After leaving the mongrove project site we went over to a small community area called Ngyeresia. Back in 2009 Friends of the Nation started a project with this community to improve health and sanitation. Since they are a poor community they do not have access to good water and have improper sewage disposal. Over the past 2 years FON has worked to install toilets for families in the community so that they can have their own toilet and not have to use the one public toilet which is approximately 67 years old and it is estimated that 4500 people use it a day! Today we went and interviewed families to get their input on the changes that have been made, if they’ve had any problems with the toilets, and just any additional comments or concerns. After this we went back to the office where we took a little lunch break and attempted to cool down. It was very hot outside today!
Caroline and I each had to write up a brief report discussing the data we collected today and submit it to the coordinator. I was also given some documents and reports about this project to read to further my understanding of this community and the projects they started there.
I almost forgot to mention some of the sights I saw while in the village! The village is 2.5 miles² and in that small area there is a population of approximately 4752 people! There is one road but it is in bad condition and no car would be able to drive on it. There were many homes and small pathways everywhere. There were also goats and chickens roaming about. Many people were cooking outside at the time when we were there so you could smell smoked fish and see all of the women preparing different meals. Everyone was very friendly and welcomed us to their home and to Ghana. Two little girls lead the way for me and showed me how to get to all of the homes I needed to go to. I love how well everyone knows each other within the community, its like a big family!
Tonight I am going to bed early! I’m tuckered out from all the heat!
Talk to you tomorrow!
June 16th
This morning I woke up and found a small spider crawling up the wall near my bed. I killed it hoping it would bring a day of rain to cool things down! Then as I was getting ready I saw a cockroach! I went to grab my camera to take a picture of it and by the time I got back it had scurried away! Oh yikes! I am sure I’ll have sweet dreams tonight knowing that it is around my room somewhere! Haha!
The power was out at work this morning. Power outages are very common here. Normally it will flick back on within a few minutes but after the power had not returned for awhile Caro & I decided to go for a walk and explore the small community nearby. We Climbed a few hills and found a very wealthy area. Their were 2-storey homes with Lincolns parked in the yards! The houses either had barbed wire fences or cement walls surrounding them with broken glass bottles around the top of the walls. Many people greeted us and spoke to us as we passed by. Everywhere we go the people are so friendly and hospitable. They always say welcome and wish you a good day.
After our walk we returned to work. I finally finished reading the huge binder of articles. There were 56 so that helped pass my time! They never ended up getting the power back meaning everyone at the office took a lazy day. We ended up going for another walk in the afternoon over to Kwesi’s house. He is a man who works with us at Friends of the Nation. We also passed through a small “forest” as he called it and found the railway tracks. It was a beautiful walk and it was very nice of him to show us around the area.
After work we had supper and then sat and watched a tv show with the family. Most of the children in my home are still very shy but the oldest daughter is warming up to us. I am hoping that by the end of the month they will be playful, hyper children around us! I have always wanted a younger sibling and now I have 5 so I just can’t wait to play the role of big sister!
Over the past few days Caro & I have noticed that the family never eats with us for any meals. We found this strange as in Canada mealtime is when the family is able to get together and take a break from our busy lives. We kept telling them we want to be a part of the family and that they don’t have to serve us separately however we still eat alone. Caro & I were really confused but Kwesi at work explained to us that it is common here when people have guests to serve them first and serve them a very nice meal. Then usually the adults will eat and then the children will eat afterwards. He spoke about this in such a normal manner but Caro & I were shocked by this tradition. I guess we will have to get used to our “dinner dates for two!”
June 17th,
The week has come to an end already! We went to work bright and early this morning. There was still no electricity and they don’t think they’ll have it fixed until Monday morning. Today we went to Mark’s house. He is the director of the Coastal Resources Centre which shares an office with Friends of the Nation. They are currently partnering on a project right now called Hen Mpoano which means “our coast”. It is a governance project to stop illegal fishing practices and enhance the protection of the seascape and surrounding ecosystems. Today they had a big team meeting to discuss what had been done last month and what each person needed to do this month in order to keep this project moving forward. It was interesting to here everything that has been going on and what is coming up this month.
We ended up having lunch there. I wish we got to go have meetings at Mark’s house everyday! It was so beautiful! His house is up on a hill overlooking the ocean. You can see the big “fishing canoes” from his wrap around porch!
I got a ride back to work on Kwesi’s motorcycle. My parents used to drive motorcycles when I was young and I always loved going out on them. My step dad had a goldwing though and it was so comfy that I used to fall asleep on the back of it on long trips. Let’s just say I would never fall asleep on a bike here! I had to hold on for dear life with all the potholes! It was so much fun though!
After work today I went and bought a wireless internet modem. They are really popular here and I’ve seen a lot of people with them so I decided it would be great to buy one so that I could have internet access over the summer! Its a usb stick and when you plug it in you can access this wireless network from anywhere in the country!
Tonight I got to try Fufu for supper! This is a famous Ghanaian dish. It is made from kasaba which is basically a funny-looking potato and then you serve it with soup and chicken. The soup is very spicy but goes well with the kasaba. To eat this you have to scoop up the kasaba with your right hand and pat a little indent in your hand with your fingers and then scoop soup into the indent. I struggled to eat this tonight because you have to eat it with your right hand and I am left-handed. Not to mention that I am already a messy eater and tend to spill a lot! It was sooo delicious! I can’t wait to have it again!
After supper Caro & I had tea. Grace, a cousin of our host sister Hilda came over for a visit. After she left we watched a tv program for a little while with our host mom, Alice and our host sister, Hilda. Then I went back to my room to catch up on emails & blogging.
We’re going into town tomorrow with our family. It should be a nice day! Also our host brother and his friends are taking us to the ocean on Sunday after church!
TTFN!
June 18th,
Caroline and I stayed up late last night and it wasn’t because we were out or doing anything exciting but because we were playing a game on our cell-phones called F1 racing. We are actually addicted to it so its a bit of a problem!
We were up early for breakfast. Then we went to Hilda’s friend Peter’s house. Caro & I went out for lunch and then all of us went to the ocean. Another one of Hilda’s friends, Austin, joined us at the ocean. Caro & I were very excited to go swimming and we ran right into the water. A bunch of men came up to us and said hello and we were being friendly so we said hi but then we got surrounded by them and there were people with cameras and they were all pulling and grabbing at us. It was not a fun situation and I was glad when we finally got away from all of them. We ended up walking down to another beach and swimming there. It was more private and no one bothered us. We’ve never had a problem like this before but we’re both ok which we’re thankful for and now we know not to go swimming at Last Hour beach! Something I found funny was at that beach there were only men in the water. All the women were up sitting on the beach and then of course me and Caro, two young white girls went running into the water. Live & learn!
That night after I skyped with my parents & my Granny. It was great to be able to see them & hear their voices! Then Hilda gave Caro & I our dresses that Georgina had made us for church. They are white with navy blue in them and they match. Caro & I were laughing because not only will we be the only white people in the church tomorrow, we are going to match hahah!
Anyway, its an early day tomorrow so I better get to bed!
Good night!
June 19th,
Me, Caro, Hilda, Alice, and Hilda Jr. went to church today. I was very excited to wear my dress! It was a bit hard to walk in at first because it goes tight around the bottom of your legs, almost like a mermaid! The ceremony was a lot of fun. It was a Roman Catholic service. The choir was amazing and everyone danced and sang along! They also dance when they go up to put offering in the basket.
In the afternoon we went over to my host aunt’s house. It was her twin daughters’ (Joyce & Joyce-Lynn) birthday today so they had a dinner party for them in the afternoon. These little girls were adorable! They dress the same, do their hair the same, look the same, and pretty much have the same name! it was their tenth birthday! There were many family members there and a lot of children. My host aunt told the kids they couldn’t eat until they danced so everyone danced and then we had a meal. The children all got a soda and the adults got wine. Can you guess what drink I had? Haha! Then we went with our host brother George and his cousin Josafe to the beach. It was a lot of fun! We taught them how to play King’s cup!
Later that night we went home and had supper. We had redfish which is mine & Caro’s favourite fish here! Well I’m off to bed now! I have to go to the office bright and early in the morning!
Nighty-night!
June 20th,
This morning our regular taxi driver couldn’t make it so we had to go get one at the station. The driver ended up getting mixed up once we got really close to our work because he took an extra turn. Caro and I told him not to worry, we knew where we were and that we would be fine to just walk the rest of the way. Unfortunately we “thought” we knew where we were. We were at the top of the hill near our work and were by the high school but the pathway down the hill looked completely different. After we took a few minutes to orient ourselves we ended up backtracking down the hill we were on and walking down the road until we came to a sign for our work and then we were on our way! We passed through a small community though before we got to a busier road and everyone was shouting “bruni” which means white person. I literally felt like Caro & I had just jumped off of a spaceship and landed in this town! Everyone would stop what they were doing as we would walk by and stare at us, especially young children. We got to work half an hour late but people were very entertained by our story and impressed that we eventually found our way!
Many of the businesses around have very religious titles and Caro & I enjoy watching for new ones. Today we found our favourite one yet when we were “lost”. It was called ‘The blood of Christ barber salon’ some of our other personal favourites are ‘Christ in you chemicals’ & ‘ To God be the Glory cosmetics’.
Today at work Caro & I read articles and reports about Ngyeresia (the “slum” as they call it that we visited last week). This proposal should help illustratewhat has been done and what needs to happen next to improve upon the project.
Kwesi brought Caro & I a tangerine today. They are green here and are more sour tasting but they are very fresh and delicious!
Caro & I went for a walk. We had hoped to find ice cream on the weekend but we never had the chance so today on our lunch break we decided it was time to explore! We ended up running into Kwesi along the way who brought us with him to a quick meeting at CHF (our partnership organization for the Ngyeresia project) and then we all went for ice cream! Mission accomplished!
The power was still out at work today and it made for a very slow day, but hopefully tomorrow we will be in business!
We went home after work and had fufu again for supper! Caro & I are actually getting the hang of eating this now! Mmmmm its so delicious! Later that night I had a tea with Caro and then went to bed!
Until tomorrow!
June 21st,
This morning me, Caro, Kwesi, and the other 3 interns went to a presentation at CHF. We waited around for awhile and it still hadn’t started and Kwesi had to leave so we didn’t end up getting to stay for the presentation. We met a Canadian girl from Winnipeg while we were waiting. She is here for the summer volunteering for the journal on human rights.
Later that day I went out to a clinic in Shama with Kwesi on his motorcycle. It became official today that I will spend one or two days a week volunteering as a nurse at this clinic that is affiliated with friends of the nation and then the rest of my week I am to go out to various communities and collect data so that I can create resources for the communities regarding family planning, maternal & infant health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS prevention. I was originally supposed to be with Caro on a fisheries project but when Kwesi found out I was a nursing student he really wanted me to help him out with his project -PHE (population, health, environment). I am really happy about this because it will be an amazing learning opportunity for me and I will feel more confident doing this project then I would at the fisheries. I’ll probably still be involved with some of the fisheries projects though if I have downtime.
When I was in Shama I got to see Fort Sebastian which was built in the early 1500’s! we were on the bike so I didn’t get to go tour it but now that I know it is there I really want to go back and go through it! We also drove through 4 different small communities. Everywhere we went on the motorcycle all I could hear was children chanting as I went by “oh bruni how are you, oh bruni how are you?!”
I had my first Ghanaian pineapple today. It was white in colour and was the best pineapple I have ever tasted! I just want another one right now!
Well that’s all for now folks!
June 22nd,
Work was very slow today. Caro & I went for our lunchtime walk. We met a girl named Ivy. She runs a small little store selling candies, vegetables, drinks, fish, and many other little things. Overall it was a very quiet day. Caro & I both did some more reading on PHE. I was trying to make a plan for how I was going to split my time between the clinic and the office each week. I am very anxious right now to go to the clinic tomorrow!
Good night!
June 23rd,
Our taxi did not show up this morning so Caro & I walked out to the main road to find an another one. It is still the rainy season here and when it rains it comes down in buckets! It was pouring this morning and Caro & I were walking through this dirt path from our home to the main road. There were people along the way killing themselves laughing at us. They probably wondered what the two crazy white girls were doing trying to walk through a slippery dirt path in the rain. We were sliding everywhere! Then we had to cross a small rickety wooden bridge and I slipped and ended up crawling across it. I knew if I walked I would have fallen right off into the water!
I had an incredible first day at the clinic today! I did not nurse today, I was more of an observer but I still enjoyed it! The clinic that they ran today began by taking everyone’s vital signs. Then certain women had to receive their tetanus vaccine. There were 24 women at this clinic and they were all seated in a large room. They would come up for their vitals and their needle when their name was called. Then once all of this was done all of the women, including the nurses and the midwives stood up and sang a song and then said a prayer together. It was really neat because it helped the women know that they aren’t in this alone as everyone else in the room is going through this with them and then by praying they feel they have the strength to go forward with their pregnancy and childbirth.
After they sang the head midwife did a speech. It was in Twi so I couldn’t understand. Then they did HIV testing on each of the women and that was the end of the clinic.
Later on in the afternoon a women who had been admitted earlier that day had a baby. I got to watch the delivery! The woman had a baby girl! I never got the name because the mother was in a lot of pain and was very tired after. I got to hold the baby though! I was actually the first one to hold it because they didn’t put it right to the mom’s chest after it was born. We weighed it and cleaned it up and then one of the nurses put it on a table and this little girl was the perfect little bundle so I took her while the midwife delivered the placenta and tended to the mother.
For all my nursing friends reading this I noticed a lot of differences today during this delivery but I don’t know if they are standard practice here or if it was just in this mother’s case, such as not getting the immediate contact with the baby. Next week I will be going back to the clinic and hopefully I will see more deliveries so that I can make a fair comparison! Something I did learn is that they base their dose of vitamin k on the weight of the baby at birth. They also give the mom oxytocin following the delivery through an IM injection in the thigh. I have never seen that before, both the deliveries I saw in Kingston received IV oxytocin before the delivery.
I took a tro-tro from Shama back to Friends of the nation. This was my first time on the tro-tro which is basically a van that they fill with people but it is a very fast and cheap way to travel!
Once I got off the tro-tro I had to walk down a long road back to the office. Luckily all I had to do was go straight, otherwise probably would have gotten myself lost! During this little walk many people along the street were asking me where I came from. They were surprised, excited, and confused about why a little white girl was walking down the road haha! I stopped and visited my friend at her store and bought fried plantain. Once I got back to the office Caro & I had a meeting with Kwesi and Donkris and sorted out the final details of our projects at FON for this summer.
After work we went home. It was a rainy day today and the ceiling above Caro’s bed was leaking. Someone is going to come fix it tomorrow though.
We had pepsi with our supper tonight which is the first pepsi I have seen here. Everywhere you go they sell coke. There are also advertisements for coke on almost every busy road. All of the soft drinks here come in the old-fashioned glass bottles. I forgot to mention that one of the nurses today had me try malt which is a non-alcoholic beer from what I understand but I don’t know how to describe the taste of it. At first it tasted like coke mixed with coffee but then there was a bit of an aftertaste. I guess a beer isn’t good without alcohol! :P
Well this week flew by! I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already!
Good night!
I hope you enjoyed reading these daily diaries! There will be more coming soon!
Love Sara xoxo :)
The girls! Eating fufu with our host sister Hilda!
