Midsummer Retreat!

Hello everyone!

I had an incredible time on the weekend in Cape Coast with Team Ghana! We toured Cape Coast Castle and walked across the canopy bridge at Kakum National Park! I have my diaries about the weekend which are filled with stories that I want to share with all of you!

Here they are! Happy reading! :)

July 14th,

I went to work at the office today. Davina came down from Accra to meet with our coordinators at Friends of the Nation to discuss the plan for us for the rest of the summer. She will be leaving for Canada on Tuesday. I can’t believe her 6 week stay went by so quickly! I wrote my midsummer report today. It will be sent out as a newsletter to all of QPID’s sponsors with a little section from each of the cooperants. It will include 5 stories from Ghana, 5 from Botswana, and 2 from Nunavut!

After work I went and picked up my dress from the seamstress on my road, Janet. It turned out really nice! It has many different colours in it and I am excited to wear it to Cape Coast tomorrow! We also picked up a fresh pineapple and a mango on our way home which we devoured the second we cut them open!

Before supper tonight we had a football match with the kids and Davina. We had a lot of fun but since it is the rainy season we got very muddy and somehow nurse Sara got stuck sponge bathing Davina’s feet! Haha. I was hoping that sucking up to my site director would keep her in Ghana with us longer!

We had fufu for supper! I was worried about missing fufu Friday since I will be travelling to Cape Coast but I was happy to discover that my family made it for us tonight instead! Caro got to help pound the cassava which she was saying was very hard to do! Fufu is made from cassava which looks like a huge potato. To ground it up into fufu they pound it with a large wooden club called “the pounder.” You put the cassava in a big bowl on the ground and stand up above it and pound it repetitively until it is nothing but small pieces. I’m sure if I started doing that everyday I would have awesome biceps in no time!

After supper we went with George & Aminu to Queen’s Pub. We wanted to take Davina out so we walked there and had a drink. Then we went back to our house and packed for Cape Coast. I can’t believe tomorrow is midsummer retreat!

Da yie! Sleep well!

July 15th,

We woke up at 7 this morning for breakfast. Then we got dressed and left for the tro-tro station. We took a tro-tro to Cape Coast which took no time at all! Before we left we bought fanice (a packet of vanilla ice cream) from a man who was selling them at the side of the tro-tro and that kept us happy for the roadtrip!

Once we arrived in Cape Coast we went to Hoops Care International. Davina had scheduled an appointment with them earlier on in the week to do project identification. We meet with organizations while we are here to try and get partnerships for QPID cooperants next year. This organization was amazing! They promote educational health initiatives through sport, particularly basketball. We met with them and heard all about their current projects and established an idea of what cooperants would be doing next year if they were to go there for volunteer internships. Then they brought us to a school where they delivered mosquito nets to the students. They are currently focusing their attention and monetary donations on malaria prevention. While we were at the school we noticed how few children were there. The man explained to us that it is one woman that runs this school and she charges 20 cedis per semester ($13.34 Canadian) per child. Due to this expense many families can’t afford to send their children so she has seen a large drop in her students according to the director of Hoops Care International. He wants to establish sponsors for the children so that they can go to school. The director of this organization appears to put his heart & soul into his work and we really enjoyed meeting with him! He brought us to our hostel - “Oasis Beach Resort” after we left the school. He also showed us the basketball court that they use for their after school programs with the children which was conveniently right beside where we were staying!

We met up with Robin and Heather and put all of our backpacks in the dorm. Once we were settled in and pumped for an amazing weekend we went out for lunch. We ate at “The Castle Restaurant” which was beside Cape Coast Castle and also overlooked the ocean. We all had a delicious lunch. Caro & I split a pizza with cheese and pineapple. I miss pizza so this was a nice treat! We also ordered delicious fruit smoothies made with banana, pineapple, & mango!

After lunch we walked over to Cape Coast Castle and took a tour. I thought we were going to Elmina Castle this weekend which is another castle where they did slave trade however I misunderstood! Cape Coast Castle is bigger than Elmina and is right beside Oasis.

The tour of the castle was very sad. It is hard to even begin to imagine what these people went through. The tour began with a walk through a small museum where we could view pictures and read about the transatlantic trade. Ghana used to be referred to as “the gold coast”. Europeans would come and export gold, ivory, and slaves to the Americas (both North & South) where they would work as slave labourers on plantations. Then the Americas would send the goods produced to Europe. They referred to it as the “Triangle Trade”.

After going through the museum we joined a group and a guide took us through the castle. We went down into both the male and female dungeons where approximately 300 people would be held for a period of 3 months. The dungeons were dark and very small. There were no windows and it was very hot inside. The guide told us horrific stories about how they would rape the women and showed us a small cell they would bring them to if they refused to sleep with the men. They would be kept there for several days with no food and water as a punishment. We also went down into the prison cell. We saw shackels on the wall where people would be locked up and left to starve. The guide said many of the slaves would die before they were even loaded on the ships due to disease from human waste and starvation down in the dungeons.

I was happy that I went to see this but it is probably the most unimaginable experience to put yourself into. No matter how much I try to picture how these people suffered I really have no idea. You would never know fully unless you had lived it. There were a few men in our group that were very rude and mocking the situation which I found unbelievable. They were laughing at how the women were raped and how women would have to sit in their soiled clothing during their menstrual cycles. They were also laughing when the guide explained that when the slaves were exported on the ships they were piled up like sardines and the ones on the bottom would be trampled from the weight above. The tour guide told us that over half the people on the ships would die from disease or from being suffocated. Long story short I was embarrassed by these 3 men who kept laughing and making comments. I found them very disrespectful and I felt bad for the tour guide.

After the tour we sat in the courtyard of the castle and talked about the tour and how we were feeling after going through and learning the details about what went on at Cape Coast Castle.

After the castle we went back to Oasis. On the way we joined in a basketball game with some teenagers. Once we were all huffing and puffing we went to the outdoor restaurant at our hostel and ordered a nice cold soft drink. We had a discussion about all of our experiences so far at our partner organizations and shared some of our personal accomplishments and things we have learned about ourselves.

After our debrief as a group we went and lounged by the beach. Then we had supper at the Oasis restaurant. We all ordered a drink and I decided to be brave and have African bitters. It was a shot made with mandingo and Herb Afrik. It tasted like rubbing alcohol mixed with perfume and mosquito spray! I could barely take a sip let alone finish the double shot! I tried adding coke but not even that could save it! We all took a sip and thought it was terrible, except for Robin! I don’t know how he enjoyed it! Our supper was delicious and there was a drum performance while we were eating which made it all the more enjoyable!

By the time we finished dinner it was after 9pm and we made a group decision to hit the hay! When I went back to our dorm there was someone else’s stuff on my bed so I had to move to another dorm. I am now staying with 4 German guys and an English guy. Not complaining! Haha. Their names are Sam, Felix, Taustin, George, and I haven‘t met the other German guy yet. Caro & I are going to bunk in their dorm for the night.

Well I better get to sleep! We are getting up at 6am to go to the canopy bridge in Kakum!

Until tomorrow! Enocho!


July 16th,

Last night I heard everyone single person coming in and out of the dorm but somehow I slept through a marching band that everyone else was complaining woke them up this morning! I definitely have selective hearing!

We left for Kakum shortly after 6am. We had to take a taxi to the tro-tro station and then we took a tro-tro out to Kakum. We arrived at 7:40 but they weren’t giving tours until 8 so we went across the road to a small coffee shop. It was very “Rasta”. The small shack was painted red, yellow, and green and inside the tables were made from trees and there were turtle shells on the table. Pictures of Bob Marley, Lucky Dube and other reggae legends covered the walls. Heather and I both ordered milo to get our sugar and chocolate kick but Caro, Dav, & Robin got coffee which really had a strong taste! It smelled almost like chai tea. We finished up our coffee shortly after 8 and went over to the canopy walk for our big adventure!

Our tour for the canopy walk was guided by a man called “Still Alive”. That was reassuring at least! Haha. He led us up to the canopy walk which was a steep climb. The canopy was made of 7 wooden swinging bridges 140 feet above the rainforest. In the early morning you can apparently see birds, small forest elephants, and monkeys but we didn’t see any of that. I think they were all sleeping by the time we got there because our guide said most of the animals around are nocturnal. Also we were a noisy group so I’m sure we may have had something to do with scaring them off! The canopy walk was still incredible even though I didn’t see any wildlife. Just to be up that high and see all of the trees and look way out into the distance was absolutely beautiful! I was very nervous about this swinging bridge until Still Alive told us that it was designed and built by Canadian engineers! We love the engineers!

I met a woman on this tour who was from Casselman, Ontario which is not far from Cornwall! She was an older woman and was in Ghana volunteering with projects abroad. She was so excited to meet someone who knew Casselman and had me say hello to her husband on her video camera because she said he would never believe her that she met someone from Cornwall over in Ghana!

After the canopy walk we decided that we did not have enough adventure yet so me, Caro, Rob, & Dav went on a hike with Still Alive. He showed us many different trees that were in the forest and explained the function of each one. It was neat to see how some of the trees adapt to the animals. One had spikes around the bottom so that elephants can’t lean up against it. There is also one that has its roots elevated below the ground and if you are ever stranded in the woods you can cut a root open and have fresh spring water. With all of this knowledge its no wonder our guide is Still Alive!

At one point during the hike Dav & I were chatting away and Caro shouted at us to walk fast and to watch out for the ants. We had no idea what she was talking about as we had fallen behind. We were so busy talking and then we stumbled into a small area that was somehow raining ants! They were everywhere! They were scurrying around the trail by the thousands and must have been scaling the trees and falling off onto us. Trust me, Dav & I picked up the pace once we realized what Caro was talking about!! The ants bit and somehow would just latch on and stay there so once we made it out of the ant attack we all had to remove them from us. I still feel like they are on me!

After our lovely hike in the forest we went to “The Canopy Restaurant”. we all had a nice big lunch after our morning of exploring and then went back to Cape Coast. the tro-tro ride back to Cape was interesting! It only had 3 spots but 5 of us needed on so we just sat on top of other people and played musical chairs for a few stops until we eventually all had a seat.

Once we got back to the hostel we split up and had some free time. I attempted to go for a swim in the ocean with Davina and Heather but the tide was high and the waves were very rough! I ended up just sitting by the water and talking to the many children that passed by. I also joined in a football game with some kids.

After we all had a chance to relax and do our own thing we met up to have more discussions about our work experiences in Ghana so far and to make a plan for the next half of the summer. Our discussion ended at the perfect time because as I was walking away from the table that we were sitting at I found a guy who had a gash right above his eyelid. He was trying to hold it shut and it was bleeding everywhere. I ended up getting my first aid kit and cleaning it for him. I put steri strips over it to help seal it shut. He was playing rugby with some children but one of his friends shoved him and that’s when this happened. He was from Ireland and had a really strong accent and of course was very good looking (I’ll be honest haha)!

After my friend got his eye all bandaged up he went off to the bar to drink his pain away. A true Irishman I’d say! Me, Heather, Caro, Rob, and Dav went out for a walk in search of a restaurant but we didn’t have much luck so we went back and ate at the restaurant at our hostel. It is actually really good there! While we ate we watched a theatre group put on a drum & dance show!

After the show ended we all sat down by the ocean and also attempted to dance at the bar. It was an amazing day! I don’t want tomorrow to come because I don’t want to leave Cape Coast!

Bye for now!

July 17th,

Caro & I woke up early this morning and snuck out to get a going away/ thank you gift for Davina. We had to be extra stealth since Davina was sleeping on the top bunk of the bed right next to me! We wanted to get her a mango since that’s her favourite but apparently mango season is over now! We couldn’t find a single mango anywhere! We ended up getting her a coconut. Each of us signed it with a sharpie and then we gave it to her. She was surprised although I think she knew something was up when she came out to the table this morning and I ran away when I saw her with a huge object under my shirt!

We went for a walk this morning to Baobob Restaurant. We read about it in Caro’s travel guide and it is apparently a very good vegetarian snack bar and has delicious fruit smoothies! Unfortunately it is Sunday and it was closed. We ended up eating back at our hostel. After breakfast we had our last discussion as a group about our projects. We each wrote goals for the next 6 weeks and specific details about who we need to help us attain those, what materials, etc. Then we had some fun and played a cheesy game! We had 3 colours of string and we had to form a web by saying nice things about each other. It was actually a lot of fun and encouraging before we all split up again!

After the game I ended up taking a dance lesson. There is a cement platform at the restaurant where the drum and dance group perform every night. They were outside practicing this morning and I just couldn’t resist joining! I ended up learning a few routines and getting a good bit of cardio! One of the guys was teasing me that I never stood still in between dances and I was telling him its because I can’t. If I kept my feet on the ground too long they would fry! My little feet aren’t good for standing on cement in the sun like their feet are! I ended up buying all of them a water sachet for teaching me how to dance! Now hopefully I don’t forget what they taught me!

After dancing we all packed up and left Oasis. We went for a walk along the road to look at different shops. We all bought some souvenirs after a lot of bargaining with the people at the shops! Heather, Dav, & Robin left for Accra and Caro & I kept shopping. They had a further trip home then we did.

Caro & I ended up going back to Oasis and having a late lunch after browsing around Cape Coast. Then we left, although we really didn’t want to! It only took a little over an hour for us to get back to the Tak! We unpacked and talked with our host family about our weekend for awhile.

I am very sleepy all of a sudden!

Good night!

Thanks for reading! I'll update again soon! <3

It's only a day away!

Maadwo!

I just wanted to say hello! I just finished packing for the weekend! I am leaving tomorrow for Cape Coast and I can hardly wait! I have heard so much about how beautiful it is there and I am anxious to explore! I will have tons of stories to share with you all when I come back on Sunday!

I have caught up on my diaries! I'm uploading a bunch but I promise they are worth the read! :)

Thank you all for following my blog! Can you believe my trip is half over? I was so nervous that three months in Ghana would be hard and that I wouldn't be able to be away from home for that long but time seems to be flying by! I do miss my friends and family but I know we will be together soon!

I hope you all have a great & relaxing weekend!

Much love,
Sara :)



July 4th,

I had a hard time waking up this morning to go to the office after such a fun & busy weekend! Today I went to a primary school and to a junior high school with the other interns from Friends of the Nation to discuss scheduling activities at the school for education. I am going to be doing a health talk for the students in 2 weeks time.

Today I had to do course selection for the fall. Luckily in nursing all of our mandatory courses are scheduled for us. All I had to do was put in my elective which I wanted to be intermediate Spanish but solus wouldn’t let me add it in because it conflicts with my clinical. I’m sad it won’t work because that conflict was never a problem in the past years. Now I have to go back to the drawing board and try to find an elective. If I am unsuccessful I may just stay here in Ghana and enjoy the sunshine and fresh mangos!

Well Caro & I are going to have our nightly tea party!

Goodnight!


July 5th,

I went to the office this morning where I began working on my health presentation. I also fought with solus for a little while and ended up in a research class. I still hope to find a way to sneak into Spanish!

One of the co-ordinators at my work, Kyei had me edit some documents for him. Since English is both mine & Caro’s first language they often ask us to read over reports and newsletters before they send them out.

Later on in the day I went out with Kyei, Aly, & Caro to 3 different fishing communities. The chief fishermen were taking oaths to not engage in harmful fishing practices such as the use of light, chemicals, and/or dynamite. They would say their oath and then dig a small hold in the sand along the beach and pour schnapps into it. Then they would all scoop it up and drink it. Seeing all of the fishermen do this was actually really interesting! Also judging by the looks on their faces I don’t think schnapps & saltwater mix well together! I really enjoyed spending the day in the communities and seeing the fishing canoes as well as all of the people and houses.

After work I went to see Georgina to see if my nursing dress that she is making me is ready but it wasn’t quite done yet! I got a sneak peak of it though!

Anyway I should go get some rest before the clinic tomorrow!

Da Yie (sleep well)!

July 6th,

I went to the clinic today. The tro-tro was almost empty heading there this morning which was really strange. Normally they are jam-packed! They are almost like a minivan but they sit 12-16 people, depending how many they can squeeze in!

At the clinic I went to the general health site. I sat out in the waiting room and took the vitals of all of the patients that came in that way when the nurse called them in to be seen she would already have the vitals written down and could carry on with the rest of her assessment. When I was taking blood pressures it took all of my concentration because the stethoscope didn’t work very well. Also I was in a waiting room filled with people and children which made it even harder to focus.

I gave a needle to a man who had malaria. It was an IM. I have been very nervous about giving needles here because I don’t want to hurt anyone since I can’t communicate well with them and I also don’t want them to dislike the white girl. I did one today and it went really well. I’ll give some here and there slowly until I get more comfortable with it.

I tro-troed part of the way back but then when I got to Sekondi where I would normally have to switch to another tro-tro I decided to walk back to the office. It was a long walk, but it was such a beautiful day and I was in a great mood after having such a great day at the clinic! Being in Ghana just makes me smile! As I was walking children would come up and say hello. There was a man walking in front of me singing away and the sun was out. It was the perfect day to be out walking!

Then to make the day even better I got ice cream and my nursing dress! I am anxious to wear it to the clinic tomorrow! I know the nurses there will get a kick out of it!

July 7th-

I felt like a real nurse today at the clinic with my dress. I went to the general health site again. Today I saw mostly children at the clinic. The majority that I saw were diagnosed with malaria and had to get 2 IM needles in the buttocks to treat it. I didn’t give any of these needles because the site is a risky area with the sciatic nerve and the children were so young and quite resistant to the point that they would jump and tense up. I did give one to an adult today though. One of the children had severe malaria and was barely able to keep focused. We started an IV for her to help get her electrolytes up.

I got to do two dressings today. The first one was for an elderly man with an infected right foot. For the sakes of grossing people out I won’t describe it but it was interesting because I love doing dressings! The second dressing I did was on a little boy. He had four open wounds on his feet that were infected. I got one clean but with a lot of force and then he finally escaped me and the other nurse and ran away! His dad came back to get him and we had to explain that he ran off. The father never brought his son back to the clinic but I hope he will as the infection was bad and I fear he will end up losing both of his feet if it is left untreated or end up with sepsis.

I like being at the general health site because I get to practice a lot of different nursing skills as well as work with many different age groups. All of the nurses at the clinic today loved my dress and hope that I will wear it when I nurse back in Canada.

After the clinic I went back to Friends of the Nation for a few hours. From where I get off the tro-tro I have to walk down a long road to get back to the office but that road is one of my favourite places in Ghana. The people all greet me and I am starting to know a lot of them by name so I love walking by in the morning and wishing them a good day and then coming back from the clinic at night and wishing them a good evening. I also love the afternoon because the children are all heading home from school and they all look adorable in their school uniforms!

After work I went home. The same taxi driver comes for Caro & I every morning and every night. His name is James and he loves music so our half hour car rides are always fun and you never know what cd he will have playing! Today he had hits from the 80’s just blasting!

I tried red-red for supper tonight. It is another Ghanaian dish. It is fried plantain with beans and fish. It was pretty good. I definitely loved the plantain part!

After supper I talked with my host family and had tea. Now I am just working on some things for QNSC- Queen’s Student Nursing Conference. I am the fundraising co-ordinator so I am trying to get organized because I know September will sneak up quickly!

July 8th-

I spent the day working on my health presentation about sexually transmitted infections and malaria. I was supposed to go to the junior high school to watch one of the interns, Joel, do his presentation on coastal issues but I was in a meeting with Kyei and missed it. Hopefully I will make it to the one next week so that I have a better idea of what I should do for mine.

After work Caro & I did a few errands. We walked home from one of the stores nearby. I did some of my laundry and hung it out on the line. I also got into my Spanish class! Yay!!!

Today is Friday which means Fufu! Our family prepared the fufu with crab today, which I have never tried before but I really liked the taste of it!

Tonight we are going out to the karaoke bar “Champs” with our host brother George and his friends Josafe and Aminu. My friend Jerry who I work with at the clinic is also going to be there so it should be a fun night!

July 9th,

I woke up bright & early for breakfast. I had fun last night but they never played mine & Caro’s song - Tiny Dancer by Elton John. Oh well, it’s probably for the best that I didn’t sing! Haha!

Caro & I just wanted to explore Takoradi today. We walked and found a tro-tro station near our house. Then we took a tro-tro downtown to market circle. We walked around market circle and observed all of the people and shops. Then we met up with our friend from work, Juliet. Caro & I bought some fabric that we are going to bring to Georgina to make into dresses.

Then we found a hair salon and decided to braid our hair. We have seen so many women here with their hair braided nicely or styled with extensions that we thought why not! It took 5 ½ hours to complete my braids. I was very antsy during the last three hours of it haha! After our braids were complete we went home on a tro-tro. Once we got off the tro-tro we walked back to our house. We stopped and bought a soccer ball from our friend Cecilia so we are hoping we can get the children to play “football” with us! Supper was delicious tonight! We were very hungry as we missed lunch to get our hair braided!

While I was getting my hair done I did a lot of sight-seeing because I was sitting on a chair outside. I got to watch all of the people walking up and down the road. I also got to see children playing and running around. Another thing that caught my interest was the lizards scaling the walls of a nearby building. I think my favourite sight of all was out of nowhere when a lady walked by with a huge stainless steel bowl on her head filled with dead chickens. The chickens that were roaming around the street at the time were not too impressed!

After supper I spent the rest of the night whipping my hair! It is soooo long with the extensions they put in it! We will be going to church with our host family in the morning!

Bye for now!

July 10th,

This morning we woke up early to go to church. I had a hard time sleeping on my braids last night. They are a bit sore but it will get better over time! The best part is to protect them you have to sleep with a hairnet. I feel like a cute old lady! Hehe!

Today we went to “Our Lady of the Sea church”. It is the big open concept one that we went to a few weeks ago. We saw a white man at church and Caro & I got excited. We almost wanted to shout “obronni” like the Ghanaians do when they get excited about seeing us!

After church we went back to our house. We had fish and chips for lunch today! We got a whole fish- head, eyes the whole deal with fresh potatoes that our host mom cut and deep-fried with oil. It was really delicious! This is the first time our family serves us a whole fish so I guess they figure we can handle it now!

Later in the afternoon Caro & I went for a walk and bought ice cream for our family. The children were very excited! Caro & I were excited too! We love ice cream!

We had a very lazy day today. It poured rain most of the day so we sat with our family and watched a movie on tv. I also got to talk to a few of my friends on face book chat. It was so exciting to hear from them!

Well that’s all I have to report!

Bye for now!

July 11th,

I went to the office today where I worked on my health talk all day. There is a lady who comes to the office everyday with a bucket full of rice and chicken that she sells but she didn’t come today so Caro & I went out for a walk to find food. We ended up finding a “fast food place“ as the sign said but they serve fried rice, chicken, and macaroni (which is actually spaghetti noodles). We also got alvero as a treat! Alvero is a non-alcoholic malt and it is sweetened with fruit flavours. Its really good! Then we returned to work. I finished writing out my presentation. Tomorrow and Wednesday I will go to the clinic and then Thursday I will put my presentation onto big flipchart paper using markers and diagrams to make it exciting and more interactive for the children.

After work Caro & I went to market circle. We walked around and bought more fabric. We went to see Georgina to give her our fabric because she makes beautiful dresses but she was closed. After roaming around for awhile we went home for supper.

I’m off to bed! Nighty-night!


July 12th,

I went to the maternity site at the clinic today. One of the nurses was seeing patients and then after they would go see her they would come see me for malaria pills. At this clinic they give all of the pregnant women 3 tablets of sulfaxdoxine mixed with pyremethamine three times throughout their pregnancy. They are anti- malarial tablets, so they are given to protect the mother and the fetus. They receive their first dose at anytime after 16 weeks, then 1 month after the first dose , then again after another month. To give the tablets today I had to learn a little dialogue in Fante in order to ask them questions and be able to communicate with the patients. They all got a kick out of seeing a white girl speaking their language and would smile or sometimes even break out into laughter. I would say good morning which is “maakye” and then say their name. Then I would ask the woman if she had eaten which is pronounced “ way - dee- dee?” If she said “aane” I could give her the pills and “nsu” which is water and ensure that she took all three in front of me. If they answered “daabi” which means no, I had to send them to eat something and to come back which is “wo co di”. The pills would make them very nauscious if they were taken on an empty stomach. I was reading about this pill and apparently it is contradicted during pregnancy but I suppose the risks outweigh the benefits. There are other anti-malarials available in the area but one of them has been known to have developed some resistance now so they don’t use it as much.

There were 38 women at the clinic when I arrived there this morning. The midwife was telling me that they run this same antenatal clinic every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and that each day it is a different group of women that come in. It is definitely a busy clinic since they have to do vitals, HIV screening, tetanus shots, palpation, and give malaria pills to each of these women.

A young girl was admitted to the clinic this afternoon. She had been throwing up and was going into labour. She reported that she had been throwing up all day so the nurse initiated an IV of Ringer’s Lactate to try to replenish her electrolytes. I did not insert the IV but I helped hold her arm still for the nurse and put a dressing on it to keep it secure.

Later on that afternoon she had her baby. It was a girl! Here a baby receives two names. One will be their everyday name, for example Mary. Then there second name will be their Ghanaian name which is given according to the day they were born. This little baby’s name will be “Abina” meaning Tuesday born. Nurses at the clinic often refer to me as “Sister Aba” which is Thursday born (I believe that is the day I was born anyway haha). The baby was 2.4 kg (5.3lbs) . After me and one of the nursing assistants cleaned her up I took her for awhile and held her while the midwife delivered the placenta for the mother.

The midwife that came in this afternoon spoke English very well which was exciting because I had a few questions I wanted to ask her about the deliveries that I have seen here. She told me about how it is a cultural custom here for the woman to keep her placenta after it is delivered and take it home with her to bury it. Apparently they have a small ceremony and celebrate the new life. She also told me that they don’t practice putting the baby to the mom’s chest right away after birth like we do in Canada as they believe it will induce shock in the woman. She said that they take the baby and clean it and keep it separate from the mother until the mother is all cleaned and is in a ward bed comfortably resting. They also don’t tell the mother if it is a boy or a girl when it is born because they feel that too may induce shock. I found that very interesting since at school I was taught how putting the baby to the mom’s chest right after birth was important for attachment and for regulating the baby’s temperature to the new environment. She asked me if we gave the mom the baby right away in Canada and I told her that from what I have seen they do and that I was taught in school that it was beneficial. She just could not get over that so it was fun to compare our cultural practices!

After I finished up at the maternity clinic I went over to the general health site to say hello to the nurses before I left to go back to the office. They all loved my braided hair! One nurse told me that I looked like a Ghanaian woman with my hair and dress and asked me to sing a Ghanaian song. I started singing a rap song called “that thing” which I hear often here and they all died of laughter! I don’t think they knew a little white girl could rap such sick beats haha! On my way back to the office I stopped at a seamstress and gave her one of the fabrics I bought the other day. She is making a dress for me with it and she said it will be ready by Thursday night which means I will be able to wear it this weekend when I go away to Cape Coast! Woohoo!

Today after work I played soccer or “football” with the kids! It was so intense! They all have such fancy footwork! Right now after playing for over an hour I think I will be lucky if I can get out of bed in the morning! Haha.

We had fish and macaroni for supper. The macaroni is spaghetti noodles with vegetables and spices. I keep telling my host uncle that I want cooking lessons from him because everything he makes is so delicious!

I had to scrub my nursing dress tonight and I am hoping it will be dry for the morning! It is impossible to keep a white dress clean here! I am going back to the clinic tomorrow. I will be going to the maternity site again but they will be running a postnatal clinic. I have not been there when they run that one yet so I am super-duper excited right now! It will be mothers and their newborn babies! Yay!!

Until tomorrow!

July 13th,

I had an excellent day at the postnatal clinic! Many women were there to get injections for their babies. They are given a combination vaccine at 6 weeks to prevent diptheria, typhoid, pertussis, and Hep. B. They receive yellow fever at 9 months. I had a lot of fun holding babies. Mothers loved giving them to me so that they could say an “obronni” held their baby. I wish I could have taken one because they were all so cute! One of the nurses, Eunice, started the clinic this morning by doing a talk on breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months. She was saying that it used to be practiced in older generations where they would give the baby water sometimes but they want to discourage that now and teach them the benefits of the new guidelines.

The postnatal clinic finished early and there were no admissions on the ward so it made for a quieter day. A woman came in reporting that she had fallen a month ago but never sought treatment at the time. At this time she was 28 weeks along in her pregnancy. I did palpation on her to locate the fetal head and back. I then had to listen for the fetal heart beats. To listen to the fetal heartbeat here they use a “peena” stethoscope. It is a small piece of steal that looks like a wine glass. You put the big bell part to the woman’s belly and then put your ear against the other end. I could not hear any fetal heartbeats but I thought maybe it was just because I wasn’t used to using this stethoscope so I had the midwife doublecheck and she couldn’t hear any either. We decided to send the woman to the hospital to have a scan to followup with the baby. She told me it still kicks sometimes but not as often.

I worked with the same midwife today as I did yesterday, her name is Kate. She is really good for explaining things to me. She was telling me about a policy that they have in Ghana where pregnant women receive free healthcare from government hospitals. She was also talking to me about private hospitals vs. government hospitals and clinics. It was good for me to get a better understanding about how the healthcare system is arranged here.

I promised one of the nurses, Rita, that I would take her baby for awhile today and hold it the way I have seen many Ghanaian women do. She laughed yesterday when I said it but I was serious. Once the clinic got quiet I went over to the general health site to get her daughter, Abrefie. The nurses had to help me with this but I put her on my back and then tied a piece of fabric around my self to hold her there. I see women all the time going up and down the road with their babies on their back and I wanted to try it to see how it felt. I actually think it is a good idea because the baby is right up against the mom and can feel her breathing and also feels her hips moving when she walks. I was nervous though because I was afraid my knot on the fabric wasn’t tight enough and that Abrefie would fall. Rita always brings Abrefie to work so I am hoping to take her again sometime. It will build up my back muscles! Haha.

A nurse named Catherine gave me “besab“. It is a drink that looks like fruit punch. It is made with pineapple, lemon/lime juice, ginger, hibiscus flower, and sugar. It was delicious!

I played football with my little host brothers and one of their cousins tonight. We had fun! I am excited for tomorrow because Davina is coming from Accra so with all of the children plus me and Caro we should be able to get a good football game going!

Well I must go scrub my nursing dress!

Bye!

Stay tuned for more diaries next week after my weekend of adventures in Cape Coast! :) Wahoo!

Mangos, hair braids, & sunshine = I love Ghana!

Hello! I fell behind on my travel diaries last week. Oops! I’ll get them posted soon though!

In the meantime I just wanted to give a little update! On the weekend Caro & I took a tro-tro into the downtown portion of Takoradi called Market Circle. It is a very busy area! There is a lot of traffic and people but it is fun to walk around and see the little stands set up selling fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish. We bought fabric that our friend Georgina is going to use to make some dresses and skirts for us. We also ended up getting our hair braided! It took 5 hours to complete but it was worth it!

I stayed at the office today and worked on a presentation that I am doing next week on STI’s and malaria at a local junior high school. Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be going to the clinic in Shama. I am going back to the maternity site this week at the clinic. I was at the general health site last week. I am just going to keep rotating between the two that way I can learn and see as much as possible! I also officially own a nursing dress! All of the nurses I have seen here so far wear beige or white dresses. My host mom, Alice is a nurse and I always see her in her beautiful white dress in the morning so I decided to have one made to match hers. It is super cute! I might even try to wear it to work when I go back home!

This coming weekend is our QPID midsummer retreat! All 5 of us will be going to Cape Coast for the weekend. We have to do a bit of work such as going over our midsummer report that will be sent out to family and QPID sponsors as well as our goals for the rest of the summer. We are also going to do some exploring! We are planning to go to Elmina Castle which is where gold and slave trade was carried out many moons ago by the Portuguese. This castle was built in 1482! I’ll attach a link with all of the history about it http://www.castles.nl/gh/em/em.html We will also be going to Kakum where we will see wildlife! Yay! Its only 4 days away!

Well that’s all for now!

I’ll post again soon!

I love long weekends!

Hola amigos!

I had a blast this weekend! It was so much fun to be with all of QPID’s team Ghana and to travel for the long weekend! We had tons of adventures and I made so many memories! I wrote all about it in my travel diaries so read on for details!! Yay!

My favourite day of the weekend was Saturday. We went biking and I think that is truly the best way to see Ghana! We passed through hilly areas where we saw all kinds of trees and beautiful butterflies. We also biked through villages where we could see people and their homes as well as children running and playing. The best part was the waterfall that we all stopped and swam in! then we went back to Davina’s and had birthday cake for Caroline!

Now that our long weekend is over we are back to work! Both Caro & I are keeping busy! I was out visiting fishing communities today and tomorrow I will be volunteering at a clinic for general health issues. I love the variety in my work here; every day is a new adventure!

Until next time!

-Sara
xoxo


June 24th,

Work was extremely quiet today. I think everyone was in the weekend mindset! Caro & I went for a walk on our lunch break and bought cookies! I have been deprived of high-sugar snacks! Its probably a bad thing that I discovered these cookies today though! During our walk children kept following us. They were dressed in their school uniforms and they kept trying to offer us help to find a taxi. Everyone who sees us assumes we’re lost or something haha!

Afterwards we went back to work. We finally got our summer projects all sorted out. Then we went home and had Fufu for supper! Mmm there is no better way to ring in the weekend then with a big bowl of fufu!

Later in the evening we went out with George, Josafe, & Aminu. First we went to a small outdoor bar where we sat and talked. Then we went to Champs, which is a karaoke bar. There were a lot of tourists at this bar. We sang Sweet Caroline (as if we didn’t stand out enough already) and it was 100% the most painful performance ever haha. Then we went home and went to bed! I am very excited for tomorrow because Davina & Heather are coming to visit!!

June 25th,

Caro wasn’t feeling well this morning so once Davina and Heather arrived we told her to rest. Next weekend is her birthday and we are travelling to Accra so she needs to be in tip-top shape!

I went to the bus station to meet up with Davina and Heather. Then I took them to Vieanna City Beach. They had a late lunch- chicken and rice. We all got a bottle of blue skies pineapple juice. It was so delicious! This juice is very fresh and doesn’t contain any preservatives like in Canada so it only lasts for a maximum of 5 days!

After lunch we went for a nice walk along the beach and found a bunch of rocks to climb on. Davina was in heaven! Then we went downtown to market circle. It’s a very busy area filled with people and little shops. Everywhere you walk people constantly call you over to their stand to buy their product. Also the traffic in this area is very hectic! Overall it’s a congested area but its fun to see! I tasted kelly-welly which is an evening snack street vendors sell. Its deep-fried plantain with boiled peanuts on top! Mmm so tasty!

After market circle we went back to my house for the night. Caro was feeling much better at this time. We had supper and then Heather and Davina got to meet my host family. We had a little tea party in the living room and talked for hours. Then we went to bed early because we had to go to church in the morning!


June 26th,

This morning we all woke up early for church. We went to a different church this week than last week. It was absolutely beautiful inside! The church was huge and there were several arches running down the sides making it very bright inside! I look forward to going to church every week just to see all of the women’s dresses! People really get dressed up and wear their best attire for church so you see women in traditional dresses of all styles and colours and little boys all dressed up in suit pants and dress shirts. Its really nice to see!

After church we went back to the house. We went for a walk down our road to show Heather and Davina our stomping grounds. We had fufu for lunch which was Davina’s first time having fufu! It was very good! She also really enjoyed it! Then Davina and Heather left to go catch their bus back to Accra. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time and it was wonderful to see them!

Later in the afternoon Caro & I decided we were on another ice cream mission. We went for a long walk down our road and explored some other roads. We ended up finding frozen chocolate milk which was soo good! It was a block of ice when we bought it but after a few minutes out in the sun it was in its drinkable form. It was called fanchoco and it came in a little package so you just tear off the corner and drink it.

Caro & I had a nice lazy day today in preparation for work tomorrow. I’m going to work in the office tomorrow and then I will be at the clinic Tuesday & Wednesday. Tuesday I will be volunteering for the same clinic I did last Thursday but Wednesday I will be going to a general health clinic. I’m very excited for Tuesday right now just to see babies! I better get some self-control though or else I might leave with one! : p Caroline will be travelling to a town called Half Assini with work this week. She will be going to various communities with Kwesi to do data collection. I will be lost without my sister!

June 27th,

Today I went to work at the office where I mostly spent the day doing research for PHE. Caro & I went for our lunchtime walk. People still shout “bruni” when we walk down the road and children run all around to find their friends and then they all come to the road and watch us. We’re hoping by the end of the summer they will get bored of seeing the two white girls walk by everyday, but I’m not really sure if they ever will. We had a woman come to our work today selling bananas. Here they sell bananas with a small handful of peanuts for the sweet & salty effect. Later in the afternoon I went for another walk to get an orange fanta at my friend Ivy’s store. I love going to see her! Since most soft drinks here come in glass bottles they always ask that you return it that way they can get a refund on the bottle so that gave me an excuse to go for another walk to see Ivy again! When I went back to Ivy’s it was close to when the office closed so her daughter was home from school. Her name was Precious and she is the most adorable little girl! She kept wanting to give me hugs and wasn’t shy at all! Many of the young children here are nervous of Caro & I but she had no fear and kept touching my arm almost as if she was trying to see if it was real. Caroline left around 4pm. She has gone to a town called Half Assini which is in the western region of Ghana near the Ivory Coast.

After supper I sat with the children at my house while they did their homework. Then my host uncles, Abe & Emmanuel ended up giving me a Twi lesson. I learned a lot of basic phrases and also the alphabet. I’d upload a video of me singing it but no matter what language I sing in it isn’t nice on the ears haha so you will just have to take my word for it that I know how to sing it! J Emmanuel also got the children to show me different traditional dances. They are getting a lot less shy but I really just want them to be my best friends haha so I have my work cut out for me!

Well it was a fun day but I better get to sleep. I am going to be spending the day at the maternity clinic tomorrow! Crossing my fingers to see more deliveries!

Da yie! (Sleep well!)

June 28th,

This morning I went to Friends of the Nation briefly and then I left for the clinic. I took the tro-tro (its like a mini-bus). I had to take one tro-tro to Sekondi and then catch another one to Shama. Today was my first time getting there alone, but I made it and once I do it a few times I will get to know the stops for the tro-tro.

I had a busy day at the clinic! I got to give a tetanus shot which was exciting! I was very nervous to do it though and I was shaking uncontrollably. I am scared to hurt someone and then every patient at the clinic won’t like the white girl! I watched my friend Jerry do many tetanus shots though and he kept saying ok you do the next one but I kept chickening out and making excuses. When it came down to the last patient I finally did it! Another nurse was doing HIV testing so I watched her doing that for awhile. I also witnessed 3 deliveries today! 2 of the deliveries were boys and 1 was a girl! The poor midwife at the clinic must have been exhausted!


The first baby that was born today was a little boy. This was my first time seeing the delivery of a boy and he was so tiny and cute that I became attached to him almost instantly! He weighed 1.5 kg (3lbs) and was premature. His mother was only 30 weeks along but she came to the clinic with severe abdominal pain and ended up going into labour. The baby did not survive very long after birth. He was having difficulty breathing. We suctioned his nose with a bulb syringe and patted his back to help him clear his airway but it didn’t help him. The midwife put him down on a table and I kept wanting to go and try to intervene but she told me its no use because they don’t have the resources. She said without an incubator he’ll never make it. The mother was resting but the father came in with their daughter and I felt terribly for them. The hardest part about this situation for me was knowing that if this clinic had more resources and better equipment this baby would still be alive.

The second delivery which occurred almost instantly after the premature boy was a baby girl. She was 2.5 kg (5.5lbs). There are 2 delivery beds at the clinic and they are both in the same room. Basically the first woman was delivering her baby and then as he was being born the other woman came in and went into labour as well. There is one midwife and a few assistants so the scene became very hectic and crowded, not to mention stressful because the first baby that was born was not fairing well. Then right before shift change another woman went into labour and had a little boy. He weighed 2.9 kg (6.4 lbs).

I noticed that when a woman is in labour here a very common comfort and form of distraction is prayer. I have witnessed 4 deliveries now and for every one of them the woman has prayed and asked God to give them the strength to get through because they are in so much pain. One of the women was throwing up during her labour and it was really challenging to make her comfortable. Another thing I have noticed is that no men or family are in the room during the deliveries. Maybe it happens in the private hospitals but in this clinic the woman seems to come alone. There was only one woman that I have seen who came with her husband but he waited outside of the clinic. Lastly they do not put the baby to the mom’s chest after the delivery. They take it and clean it right away, wrap it and put it down. Then they deliver the placenta and bring the mother into the ward room. Once she is lying in bed comfortably they bring the baby to her. I am not sure why they keep them separate for so long. I find it interesting but I really want to share with them next time what I was taught in clinical about putting the baby to the mom’s chest right away and the benefits of doing so.

After the little girl was born I left the clinic and took the tro-tro back to the office. I worked at Friends of the Nation for awhile and then I went home. I had Fufu for supper, which was delicious as always! Then I watched a bit of a movie with the children. It wasn’t in English so I had no idea what was going on!

I am now just relaxing in my room. I am thinking a lot about the little baby boy that passed away today. It is not an easy thing to see and what makes it really hard is knowing that if we were at a different facility and if these people had more resources there would have been more hope for the baby. What scares me is how calm the midwives and assistants all were. I think they see this often and I don’t know how I will learn to cope with seeing something like that.

June 29th,

Today I went back to the clinic but I went to the general health section instead of the maternity. Before starting today I was sitting in the staff room with the nurses. They are all so friendly and I love them all, even though they laugh at me haha! One of the nurses brought her daughter in at the beginning of the day. Her name was Abrefie. I was holding her and she kept touching my face almost like she was confused about why it was a different colour than hers!

Being at the general health clinic was very interesting! We saw approximately 65 patients in between 9am-2pm. The patients ranged from newborn babies to the elderly. The most frequent diagnoses I saw were malaria and chronic cough. There was a child who presented with malaria and anaemia. He could barely keep his eyes open because he was so weak. We put him on a bed and I held him still while a nurse inserted an IV. We gave him IV fluids but once his blood results came back we learned that he had terribly low haemoglobin and he was sent to the hospital for further treatment.

I also saw a patient today who had slipped and dropped her baby. Both of them were fine but we had to clean up the baby who had a lot of cuts and scrapes from the fall.

After my day at the clinic ended I took a tro-tro back to the office. I was speaking with one of the other interns and she asked me to put together some information on STD’s and to join her and one of the other interns to do a talk at a primary school and a junior high school in a few weeks about STD’s.

After work I went to my friend Georgina’s shop. She is a seamstress and she is currently working on making me a nursing dress to wear to the clinic. It wasn’t ready today because her power was out, but she said it will be ready next week. I am so excited to wear it!

Tonight I ate supper with all of the children at my house. Before I had mentioned the way meals are served here and how Caro & I eat, then the adults, then the children but since Caro was away I didn’t want to eat alone so I asked if I could join the children. It was exciting to sit at a table with 5 children and I am hoping that they will let us eat supper with them from now on. After supper I sat with the children in the living room while they watched the animated version of sleepy hollow. I have a photo album I made with pictures of my family, friends, and my house that I showed to Emmanuel & the children. They then showed me their photo albums and we had a lot of fun sitting and swapping pictures and stories.

Well it is getting late and I am leaving for Accra tomorrow so I better go pack!

Bye for now!

June 30th,

I woke up early today to get ready and have breakfast. I did not have to go to work today so I was spoiled with a 4 day weekend! Once Caro returned from working out in Half Assini we left for Accra.

The bus station was very busy & chaotic when we got there. We were able to find a mini-bus that was heading from Takoradi to Accra and hop on it. While we were sitting in the van waiting for it to fill up various people came by the windows trying to sell us different things. Some of them were very practical like drinks and snacks but some of the other items are very random, such as placemats and inflatable animals so I really don’t know who buys them. I bought a fanyogo (strawberry yogourt) which I savoured for the first part of the drive. It only took us 3 ½ hours to get to Accra. Davina came to meet us at the station when we arrived. We were all hungry so we bought corn on the cob from a woman who was selling it on the street. It was roasted and it tasted quite different than the way we make it at home but it was still good!

Accra is a huge city and all of the traffic and congestion makes getting around the city a very lengthy process. We took a taxi from the bus station to Davina’s place and it took over an hour! Our taxi driver was our best friend though. His name was Sammy and he enjoyed laughing at us. He also got a kick out of Davina who pointed out all of her favourite shops, her seamstress, the place where she buys her pineapple, the place where she buys mango, etc. during the drive.

Once we got to Davina’s we got a quick tour but since it took us a long time to get there and the traffic was heavy we had to leave right away to go the BBQ at the Canadian embassy. The taxi driver that took us to the embassy was very mean and kept yelling at us for more money because of the traffic and because we stopped to pick up Heather and Robin. He wasn’t our best friend like Sammy.

We had a lot of fun at the Canadian embassy!I felt like I was at home to celebrate Canada day! There was a BBQ, Canadian trivia, Tim Horton’s coffee giveaway, poutine, & a big cake! We all stood for the national anthem as well! I had a lot of fun and it was really amazing to meet other people who were originally from Canada and now living in Ghana or other students who had travelled to Ghana to volunteer for the summer. One of my favourite people that we met was a chiropractor. She was from Canada but got a job in Ghana. She was slightly intoxicated though and came up to us out of no where and said, “I was deaf until I was 7..but then I became a chiropractor” hahaha. We also made a friend named John who was from Chatham, Ontario. When we first got there he started talking to us but we were anxious to go get a drink so we told him we just had to go to the bar first and that we would be right back and he congratulated us on keeping up Queen’s reputation!

After a night of fun with Canadians we were all super tired and went back to Davina’s to sleep.

Good night!

July 1st-

Happy Canada Day!

This morning we left bright and early for Boti Falls. It was Republic Day in Ghana which is a big celebration! Apparently the place to celebrate Republic day for thousands of Ghanaians is at Boti Falls! We went ane were shocked at how many people were there and how impossible it was to move! We went on a hike to see Umbrella Rock and The 3 Headed Palm Tree. The hike was stressful because people kept shouting at us “oh bruni you’re too tired!” But we weren’t tired! We were hiking it just fine! People here seem to think white people are lazy and that we can’t do anything strenuous but we can! The hiking trail was packed like a mosh pit and there were several parts where it was just a pile up of people with no one moving because people were shoving and trying to go up and down on the same path. At one point my head got stepped on. I still don’t know how it was possible but it happened haha! We stayed strong and made it up to see the 3-headed palm tree and umbrella rock. You could climb both of these and sit on them but there were so many people pushing and shoving to do so that we decided to hike back down. We bought corn on the cob from someone in a small village that we passed through on our hike to give us a bit of an energy boost for the way down.

Once we got back to the main section of the park where everyone was singing and dancing we decided that we still wanted to hike down to see the falls. Our plans changed quickly however once we started going down the steps that led to the falls. There were 250 steps but after about 10 we could not move at all and we were so tired of every person that saw us saying “you’re too tired” and “oh bruni are you sure you can do this?“ that we just left. We could see the top of the falls and that was enough for us. It was just impossible to move and it probably would have taken us hours to go down those stairs due to all the people on them. Once we left the park we found a school bus that was heading back to town. They had taken the children to the falls for the day. The teachers must have felt bad for us because we were having trouble finding a bus to take us back so they let us hop on with them.

When we got back to Accra we went to a restaurant near Davina’s called “Stages.” We chugged water and had a nice big plate of chicken & rice. It hit the spot after all of our hiking! After the restaurant our plan was to go out but once we got back to Davina’s we decided we wanted to call it a night!

Stay classy Canada! <3 Good night!

July 2-

Happy Birthday Caro!

This morning we woke up and lived the life of Davina! We strolled down the road and bought a fresh pineapple, a mango, and bananas. We then went back to Dav’s appartment to make a birthday breakfast for Caro! Our original plan was to make banana pancakes but the mix we found in the cupboard was moldy. Emily, Davina’s roommate, came to our rescue with her famous French toast! Davina went across the road and bought a loaf of fresh bread and then we were in business! Emily makes her French toast with a hint of rum. It was delicious, especially with all of the fresh fruit! After our nice big breakfast we said bye to Emily who left today to head back to Canada. She has been in Ghana for two months on an internship for Ottawa U.

Me, Caro, Dav, Heather, Robin, and our friend Chloe from France went biking in Arburi today. We had such an amazing time! We were with a group of Americans and our guide, Spider. We went out on a trail and biked for awhile. Then we stopped and hiked down to a waterfall. We stayed at the waterfall for awhile to swim and relax in the sun. Spider found sugar cane for us and we all got to try a bite! I really enjoyed swimming in the waterfall and was sad when we had to start heading back!

Something strange happened on the bike ride back and I somehow managed to lose the entire group! It’s a typical Sara move though hahaha. I was with Robin and Chloe but for some reason I thought the rest of the group was behind us. I lost Robin and Chloe after biking up a huge hill so I must have made a wrong turn. All I know was that I was in a corn field and there was no one around! I just kept pedalling and every time I found a fork in the road I would follow whichever one seemed to have more bike trail marks. I eventually found my way back and was surprised to be the last one back haha. Apparently I made my own path through the corn field though because no one else went through it! Oops! The best part of this was that today was the one time I didn’t have my cell phone with me, so when I was all alone I had no way of finding anyone! Oops again!


One of the guides at the bike place, Joe, really wanted Caro’s eyebrow ring and kept touching it. We took a nice group photo with the guys at the bike place before we left. We had a blast today!!

Once we arrived in Accra we went to pick up some things for dinner as well as Caro’s birthday cake! We had a fabulous dinner! We started with kelly-welly (deep-fried plantain & peanuts) & beer. Then we had avocado alfredo. Then to top it all off we had birthday cake!


Since it was Caro’s birthday we had to celebrate with a night on the town! We ended up going to a small outdoor bar called “This is Africa” where we sat and talked for hours. At first there was a man who came and sat with us and wouldn’t go away but once we told him that we were all married and not interested we were good to go! We decided to head back to Davina’s though once we began to see the “ladies of the night” coming out!


July 3rd-

We slept in this morning since we were up late last night! We had a nice breakfast with Davina- oatmeal with fresh mango and banana while we watched glee. Then we had birthday cake! Afterwards Caro & I packed up our things and left for Takoradi. It took us 4 ½ hours to get back to Tak. We spent 1 hour stuck in traffic in Accra. Caro & I were both feeling nauscious on the ride back and we were relieved when we got home! We had a nice big supper and went right to bed!

I hope you enjoyed the diaries! I will post more again soon! Have a good night!