Welcome to Enchi!

April 7,8, 9th 2013 - Enchi

After a memorable last day in Tamale, our smaller group (Robyn, Rose, Kirsten and Marisa) headed south on the next part of our African adventure to a smaller town called Enchi, which is in the south west.

Our trip involved a nice luxury bus ride back to Kumasi, where we were warmly welcomed back to our previous guest house and went for a delicious dinner at our 'favourite' local restaurant. We also did some shopping and improved our bartering skills while adding to our growing collection of souvenirs. A big challenge was once again switching languages- just when we were getting used to Dagbani, now it is back to Twi! Luckily Kirsten was very faithful about keeping a notebook with common phrases for us to use.

The next morning we woke up at 4 am and hopped on a tro- tro for the five hour ride to Enchi! When we arrived, we were in awe of the scenery that surrounded us- gone were the busy streets, buildings and noise of the city, and instead there was dense rainforest and rolling hills all around us. We immediately felt at home! Philomena, the director of the Presbyterian Health Centre we will be working at, came to pick us up and quickly adopted us as her 'four new daughters.' And we sure felt like it as we were taken to our cozy guest house (complete with air conditioning and a fridge!!!!!!!) which she had already stocked with snacks and water! She took us for a lunch, where we were introduced to some of the friendly medical staff we will be working with over the next two weeks. Feeling sleepy but very much at home, we settled in for our first night. We unfortunately got a bit too excited about our air conditioning (which we hadn't had since our first night in Ghana) and spent the night shivering under as many blankets as we could find.

Our first day at the clinic was a thorough orientation where we were introduced to all the staff (and patients!). We were given a very warm welcome! For our first taste of the clinic, we decided to sit in on some consultations to familiarize ourselves with the process and common conditions seen in this area. Many of the common complaints included symptoms of malaria, irritation from pollutens, gastrointestinal illness, and antenatal issues. Even though it was our first day, we were involved in the assessments and even got to lead some of the consults!

Now, after our second day we have each began to rotate through the lab, antenatal clinic, medication dispensary, and minor treatment departments. The health centre is refreshingly different from the hospital we were in, as each day they begin by bringing the staff and patients together fora time of worship and prayer where they pray for all the patients, pregnant women, and clinic staff. We can already feel the atmosphere of community and caring in this place and are so excited to be a part of it for a short time!

While we see what positive things this clinic offers to the community, we were saddened to hear of some of the challenges they are facing when we sat in on a staff meeting this morning. These included a struggle with water shortage, lack of available insured medications, and financial challenges. Again, we were made aware of how lucky we are to be able to take these things for granted as nurses in Canada. However, despite these challenges, the staff are positive and dedicated to keeping the clinic running at its best! The meeting ended with laughter as a recent wedding was discussed and the 'wedding torch' was passed to the next most eligible staff members.

Every patient who comes in for care will see a professional, even if it means some skipped lunch breaks and longer days! In the words of one of the staff, 'you will feel your conscience before your empty stomach.' No skipped meals for us though, as in Canada our stomachs have become far too accustomed to our generous and predictable breaks:).

We are all very excited to be in a smaller clinic setting with the strong sense of genuine concern for one another. We're also looking forward to our outreach days where we will accompany nurses to provide health care and immunizations to people in smaller villages in the area.

And because we can't have all work with no play, we will also be going to visit a cocoa farm (one of the main crops in southwest Ghana) as well as a local market to satisfy our shopping cravings.

We are looking forward to getting to know the clinic community better and seeing what the next two weeks will bring! We miss the rest of our Ghana girls but are also enjoying the quiet and serenity of this chapter of our journey.

Football, Feasting, and a Deworming Frenzy!

April 4, 2013 - Tamale

On our second last day in Tamale, the Chanshegu village and a neighbouring village played a lively and entertaining football match in our honour. This match was arranged to represent the growing peace and unity between these two villages, as the health clinic that we have fundraised for and that Wade is helping to construct will be used by both villages. We truly appreciated their sweet gesture, especially since some of the players had just finished a long and hot day of building bricks for this very clinic.

Before the game, we took the challenge of deworming the approximate 150 Chanshegu village children, as it was difficult to communicate to them that the medication was not candy and that everyone was to receive one tablet only. Thinking of the big picture, Robyn also brought deworming medication for the dogs that roam the main compounds where the villagers eat and sleep.

After speeches were made and handshakes were exchanged, we waved good-bye to all the children running after our vehicles before grabbing some tasty Ghanaian street food in town for a potluck dinner at the guesthouse. Another fun filled day!

Another Ghanaian Birthday

April 5th - Tamale

Well we had another birthday in Tamale. Crystal joined Megan in her 30's! Her birthday was actually on Thursday but we had a full day so we decided to celebrate on Friday.

We had our last day at TTH in the morning and had fun giving donations and treats to the units. Afterwards we did some last minute running around in Tamale before heading over to a pool with a few of our local friends. Crystal had her favourite birthday cake to date - a bunch of dough balls (like donuts) covered in Nutella and pineapple, all served on a plastic bag! We had so much fun splashing around and trying to teach our friends to swim.

Afterwards Wade took us all out for dinner as it was our last night all together. Most of us have had dresses made for us so we took a bunch of group photos which we can hopefully post later on.

One last night of dancing at the rooftop club and then it was off to home to do some last minute packing and say some goodbyes. We're all excited to head out to some smaller sites but we'll all miss each other until we meet again in Bolga in two weeks.

The adventure continues!

A Big Hello From Kaleo/Wa

April - Kaleo/Wa

Well we have separated into our smaller clinical groups so this message is from Lisa, Jessica, Kristen, and Crystal. We are currently sitting with our friends in Wa after finishing another day at the Immaculate Conception Health Centre in Kaleo. On Saturday morning (at 330 a.m.!) we went to the bus station to start our journey to the Upper West region of Ghana. Goodbye luxury buses, hello 7.5 hours on a bumpy road. We all looked much worse for wear when we arrived in Wa, but we were so happy to see our friend Hassan and meet another new friend Kamal. Hassan showed us around Wa and we were thrilled to buy some groceries for ourselves and explore the local market. After a short ride we were at our new home for the next two weeks. We met Sister Edith who showed us our new digs. We have a fridge!!!!! And a propane cook stove!!!! This is so exciting for us as it gives us some freedom to cook for ourselves.

The next morning we headed off to the local Catholic Church for morning mass. We love the colourful culture here, the clothes, the music, the buildings - it's all beautiful.

It is now Thursday and we've had a full week. We're making friends with the staff at the clinic. They love our afternoon popcorn breaks (we pop a pot before heading back from lunch break). We've also been lucky enough to see some babies being born- the count is at 2 so far . Sister Edith is liberal with her praise and says we are excellent assistants :)

We are hoping to head off to a hippo reserve this weekend and are looking forward to a visit from Muriel on Sunday. We'll keep in touch, bye for now!!

Mole National Park - Safari adventures

March 30-3, Mole National Park

After four hours travelling 15 km/hr on a washboard road in a van ( that may have had some holes in the floor), we arrived in mole looking five shades darker due to the thick layers of dirt that coated us from the ride. Especially Rose, who looked a little like a spray-tanned Malibu Barbie.

We then hopped on the roof of a safari jeep for a personal tour through the large national reserve park. Many of our childhood dreams came true as we spotted warthogs, baboons, and a handful of other exotic animals that we had only seen in our favourite Disney movies. We were just thinking it couldn't get any more exciting when we walked out of the forest just in time to see five large elephants coming towards us for a mud bath! We stood in awe watching these animals so enjoying covering themselves in mud. Made us wonder why we were stressing about how dirty we were- maybe these elephants have the right idea! Many of us were also surprised to know that the elephants are actually deep black in colour before getting their mud-baths. Another fun fact we learnt about the savanna elephant is that they are the second fastest land mammal only after the cheetah!

We then went to enjoy an afternoon frolicking in the pool - much needed after our week of hospital work! We spent the night in a quaint little guest house down the street and despite the lack of air conditioning and the swarms of bugs, we were soothed to sleep listening to Stuart McLean's stories (courtesy of Crystal's podcast downloads!) and awoke the next morning for day two of our safari adventure. This time, we took a nature hike through the woods, enjoying the peace and serenity of the forest and glimpsing more exotic animals. We would probably have seen more if not for the high pitch sqeals that we let out in spite of ourselves each time we saw something new. We lost count of all the Lion King references that were made over the weekend! Led by our handy tour guide (who carried an alarmingly long rifle), we tracked elephants to their water hole where we were again surprised to find seven more elephants having their baths! We could have watched them all day and would have joined them in a heartbeat if not for the abundance of crocodiles and an assurance that we would be in "bad business" if we did.

Another few hours frolicking in the pool and then we braced ourselves for the trek back to Tamale. Still just as bumpy but we are learning to enjoy these unconventional rides, playing 20 questions over the noise of the rattling trotro includes a lot of shouting, repeating and bonus questions! Some of us have even longer rides ahead of us to get to our smaller towns so we will consider this a warm up!

We all had such fun and many our African dreams were fulfilled. The beauty of the endless view of forest and nature are such a stark contrast to the busy bustle of the city that it is hard to believe we were in the same country. When we close our eyes and think of Africa, I think many of us will see Mole park and the magical things we saw this weekend. We are all heading into the next week looking a bit dirty and sunburned but ready to face any new adventures that the week may hold.

Chanshegu Village Pioneers Adventures (Robyn, Marisa, Rose)

March 27- Chanshegu Village

We 3 girls were the first to embark on the overnight village adventure. Due to Muriel's king status in the village, we were warmly welcomed to spend a day living as they do. This included spending the night in a traditional thatched grass roof hut, eating homemade FuFu and groundnut (peanut) soup with only our hands, and spending lots of time getting to know the people, especially the children!

Upon arrival, we were delighted to discover that the chief's wives had cleared a hut especially for us, as they are normally not accustomed to having foreigners stay the night. Having limited Dagbani vocabulary, we were very grateful to have the chief''s son and one of the other villagers there with us to help settle us in and facilitate communication with the other villagers. These 2 young men were able to describe the process of making FuFu and the significance behind such an offering. The fufu is a traditional Ghanaian dish made from pounding cooked yams until it forms a glutenous dough, which is then used to scoop up the groundnut soup. As we overcame the challenge of eating our delicious meal with our right hand (especially for Rose, who is left handed!), we got to embrace the sense of community as we all sat together under the stars. For the astronomy enthusiast (Robyn, or Robyn's dad), we found it interesting to pick out all the upside down constellations . With a bright full moon to light the way, our new friends took us on a tour of the village. It was a very peaceful experience, although comical to come across a generator on the outskirts of the village attached to a power bar with several cell phones plugged in charging!

We were astonished by the endless energy of the 50+ children laughing and playing until well past 11:00 pm!

We woke several times through the night with the sound of pounding rain and thunder on the grass roof. Those Ghanaians sure know how to build a solid hut, as we did not feel a drop! We were particularly amused when we heard that the guesthouse roof had leaked on the girls staying back in Tamale! :)

As the next day was Holy Thursday, a day off of school for the children, we awoke to cheerful sounds of the lively village around us. By being personally greeted by each of the village elders, we spent a memorable day playing with the many village children!

Being the first group to spend the night, we were able to share with our fellow students how comfortable we felt, how warmly we were welcomed, and how peaceful the simplicities of community living is. Despite our cultural differences and linguistic barriers, we still felt able to learn from and connect with such friendly and generous hosts!

Dr. Abduli's Health Clinic

April 2, Tamale

This week Muriel gave us a treat. We had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Abdullai, a local Ghanaian doctor who runs two clinics here in Tamale (you can find his website at www.shekhinaclinic.org). He did some of his training in England but returned to Ghana to serve his people. We had heard so much about him but, as Rose so fittingly said, you just know he's someone special when you're in his presence.

We were all invited into the operating theatre and got to watch him perform numerous hernia repairs. He starts and finishes each surgery with a private prayer for the patient. Not being one to draw attention to himself, he quietly signs the cross over the surgical site. He explained to us that all the people who work at his clinics believe in the divine.

We haven't mentioned yet that all the clinic staff work for free. They rely entirely on donations and have learned to live with the assurance that what they need will be provided. We were privileged enough to be a part of this provision. Some of the staff were smiling as they unpacked the donations we brought. They had needed a specific item for that day but did not have it in stock. One of the nurses wanted to go and buy it but the other one said that it would come. Sure enough, not a day too early or late, the item came.

They run multiple programs through their clinics and provide everything completely for free. There are huts on the clinic grounds for surgical patients to recover in. They also focus on caring for people with mental illnesses as they are neglected by the health care system here. We could go on and on about all the wonderful things but to sum it up, we really saw love in action this week. It is an experience we will never forget ( especially because we got to wear scrub shorts and flip flops in the OR!)