Christmas in March

March 23, Chanshegu Village

Saturday we travelled back to Chanshegu to deliver small gift bags to each of the orphans (37in all) each bag was hand made with bright fabric by (Jess's mom) and consisted of a book, toothbrush, tooth paste, underwear, candy (which they have never heard of) and skipping rope for girls and a dinosaur for the boys. Sinbad organized the boys and girls so we could easily pass out the bags. In the beginning they were just so excited to receive the bag that we had to demonstrate exploring the bag and that there were more fun things inside. Once the kids caught on the excitement elevated ; looking at animal picture books and reading out the animal names, bouncy ball dribbling, and skipping rope tricks. It was so much fun spending the afternoon with the children and watching them enjoy their goodies.

The chief of the village has asked for these orphans to specifically receive these gifts, helping them to feel special and valued as they are taken in by other families and often don't receive these things of their own. It is inspiring to see this sense of unity in the community and we were happy to play a small part!

Water falls and Kirsten falls!

March 24- Kintempo

On Sunday we headed off to Kintempo Falls which is about three hours away. It's always a balancing act when we go on trips as its so hot and we need to drink water, but also having to pee on bumpy roads is no fun :).

We arrived at the falls which looked like chocolate milk from all the rain the day before. It was a blast for the first five minutes but then we lost Kirsten to the slippery rocks. Initially we thought she meant to go sliding down and were all cheering, but then she took out Marisa and came up holding her chin. She got a nasty gash on it but what better company to be in. We put our nursing skills to practice and patched her up in no time. We had a picnic there and got to meet some of the other Ghanaians that were there. It was fun to meet some people who had heard about the falls all their lives but were just now getting a chance to visit.

Shortly before we left we had yet another chance to fix somebody up. A man cut his thumb on a can so we nursed him up and made him keep his arm elevated. It was cute to see him with his hand in the air while playing around in the water.

We had an overall relaxing day but were happy to see our "home" and hit the hay after our long day traveling and in the sun.

Night out in Tamale!!

March 22, Tamale

On Friday night we headed downtown to a rooftop patio for some dancing. We were joined again by the traditional dancers and a few other friends. The cool breeze and city views were so refreshing. We didn't know any of the songs and definitely didn't know the moves, but had a blast all the same. We got our own dance lessons and a few of us really picked it up, haha but not all of us... We also got to see how the locals dance. In a word - close. We were laughing as we were often pulled in multiple directions or moved around like puppets as they were trying to teach us some dances.

Our First Day at the Tamale Teaching Hospital

March 21, Tamale

We are all feeling a bit shell shocked after our first few days of clinical in the hospital. Definitely an eye opening experience which leaves a lot of room for reflection. We want to be sensitive in our descriptors of the hospital as we are truly privileged to be welcomed in, but we were all shook up after our first shift. To sum it up, pain medications are all but absent, supplies are meager, and privacy is extremely limited. We found ourselves in low spirits so we decided to have some simple fun together that evening. We all crowded around Megan's laptop and watched Wedding Crashers. It feels a bit trite to feel sorry for ourselves over what were seeing and not even having to experience but Muriel encouraged us in saying that this is normal for us as we've all tried to develop empathy during this degree. We realized that we would be helping no one by wallowing in sadness, although we also don't want to turn a blind eye. To that end we went back for our second day feeling more prepared and ready to help in the little ways we could. It's hard to not want to overhaul entire units, but we chose to focus on advocacy and attempted to humbly show by example. At post-conference the mood was noticeably lighter. We all looked for the positives and strengths that day and were surprised by what we found. We are starting to settle in and find our voices as nurses here.

Welcome to Tamale

March 18-20, Tamale


Well here we find ourselves in Tamale, our destination for the next 3 weeks. We spent the first day settling in to our new surroundings - again we feel really lucky with our guest house. We're feeling especially spoiled as we have bathrooms in our rooms, luxury!!

The next day we were the guests of honor in Chanshegu Village - where Sinbad and his family are originally from (they live in Tamale now). We were picked up from our guest house in a giant van complete with traveling rooftop entertainment. The whole ride out we had drummers on the roof treating us to traditional Ghanaian drumming. We were enthusiastically welcomed by around 150 beautiful children. They ran after our van and we were quickly claimed by at least three children each. We stood around for a while before deciding to teach the kids some Canadian songs - the chicken dance was a big hit!

We eventually sat in a circle with most of the villagers and awaited the big event - the cultural dancing and drumming. It was phenomenal and we couldn't believe the intricacy and length of the dances. They went for about an hour and a half in easily plus 40 weather. At the end we each got a turn to show off our moves, or lack thereof :). The chief then formally welcomed us into his village. Muriel introduced Lisa, Kristen, and Jessica who raised $3,000 to help build the health clinic that Wade and Sinbad are working on. The chief asked us to come back the next day so we could be introduced to the elders.

We all piled back into the van (with our travelling drummers of course) and headed back into Tamale for dinner at Sinbad's mother's house. We got to watch the women prepare the traditional meal of Fufu with ground nut soup and chicken. It is such an involved process as Fufu is made of yams that are boiled and then beat until they are smooth and stretchy like dough. Some of the dancers joined us for dinner and taught us some of the local language Dagboni. After we were done eating as much as we could ( the food was amazingly delicious), there was a second sitting for dinner. The neighborhood children took over our spots and dug into the leftovers. It was adorable.

On our 3rd day here we went to the hospital for orientation. Even Muriel wasn't sure what expect as they had built a new tower during the last year. There was quite the range of wards and equipment as the older parts of the hospital are still in use. After our tour we all picked the areas we wanted to work in which ranged from Surgical to NICU to Pediatrics to Labour and Delivery to name a few. We were all excited if not a bit apprehensive.

We headed back out to Chanshegu to meet with the villagers again. We were all so touched as we listened to person after person profusely thank us for building them this clinic. They spoke repeatedly about the peace and unity this will bring to the area as surrounding villages will also have access to clinic. One of the chief's wives told us that they have been crying for this clinic and we are wiping their tears. It was a humbling experience and yet another reminder of how privileged we are. We got to see the land that was gifted to Muriel by the chief and will house the clinic. We capped off the day with pizza and ice cream in celebration of Megan's birthday.

Inland to Kumasi

March 16-17, 2013 - Kumasi

We're sitting in a restaurant waiting for our food and have decided that this will become one of our blog times as we're all together with plenty of time. Meal times tend to be an extended affair. After finally selecting from a 19 page menu (which is the norm) all the food is freshly prepared and therefore comes when it's ready, making for staggered eating! Yesterday we arrived in Kumasi after a 4 hr bus trip on which we tried to catch up on sleep. This proved interesting as we got our first experience with Ghanaian tv at full blast :) as well as experiencing the driver dodging both potholes and oncoming traffic- we were happy to reach the bus station! We hiked up to our guest house which is beautiful - we love the green grass and shady trees. After settling in, it was off to the Chief's palace to learn about the traditional Ashanti tribe people and try to catch a peak at the current king. Our guide invited to introduce Kirsten to the king in hopes of becoming one of his wives, she politely declined :). This morning we went to the local Presbyterian church. It would have been handy to know that the first service was in English, but we got treated to the Twi service instead which was so fun and the congregation really welcomed us in. They brought us to the front, Muriel introduced us, and then they prayed for us (mostly that we'd survive the heat). After lunch we're heading off to the local market and cultural centre for our last day of tourism before heading to Tamale and settling in.

Jungle Fun - Kakum National Park

March 15, Cape Coast/ Kakum National Park


Today was a new day and we enjoyed some lighthearted fun. We went for a jungle hike - both on ground and in the air. We walked through the lush forest and our tour guide expertly pointed out the various trees and their traditional uses. The ingenuity on the traditional forest people is incredible. The fact that one tree can cloth you, heal you, and shelter you is so cool. Other uses were primitive telephones (hitting on hollow bark with rocks), tooth brushes, mosquito repellant, fashion canoes, shoe glue, and make your stomach "flat" after pregnancy!! There were hundreds of students at the park and we were celebrities for the afternoon. One group was guessing our ages as we walked by, most of us were 14 except for Rose who was 15 (for those who don't know, Rose is 6 feet talk). We got tons of high fives, photos, and a few marriage proposals - Robyn was quite the hit with the Ghanaian teachers. We made it safely over the canopy rope bridges. They ranged from 18-40 metres above the ground although the forest is so dense we could never see the ground. All the views were impressive but one in particular stands out as we saw an endless expanse of tree tops. We were sad to learn though that this conservation area is one of the few remaining "old forests" with much of the forests in Ghana having been logged or clear cut for agriculture use or poaching. The weather was cooler than the previous day and we were treated to an African rain storm on the drive home (accompanied by some Toto). We are missing rainy season here but caught a brief glimpse as red rivers formed on either side of the road.

Back at our hotel we took advantage of the main attraction - the crocodiles!! We took turns getting our pictures with one and thankfully all walked away fully limbed and full of giggles and adrenaline. A few of us took a dip in the pool but got mobbed by various school groups coming to see the crocs.

As we write this we are out to dinner at a beautiful beachside restaurant. We are enjoying the ocean breeze and the waves one last time before we head inland (most of us have wet bums from playing in the surf). At the end of dinner we got to enjoy an amazing performance by a young man and a little boy. They did a mix of cultural dancing, acrobatics, and fire tricks. The show had cameos by a few beautiful girls in our group - Tori got to help with some of the fire show, Lisa showed off her jump roping skills, and Megan got called up for some pictures at the end. We're heading home soon to pack and have a quick rest before getting up at 330 to catch our next bus to Kumasi. Bye for now!