COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Community Health Work
WRITTEN BY: Becky Nelson
"Ma ha" (good afternoon) from Ghana! Beck here.
We've all been in Ghana for a week now and are settling in nicely. Our first couple of days at the hostel in Accra involved getting to know the other international volunteers as well as the Ghanaian culture. All of the volunteers were adjusting to jet lag, I for one, waking up at 2:30am the first day, cam and angus sleeping through breakfast the second, and all of us struggling in the nights to stay awake. Monday involved an introduction to the culture and way of life over here, with some tips and tricks on things like taxi fares, the markets, food and language. We then went and had traditional drumming and dancing lessons, followed by a trip to the beach, and after dinner, we went back and watched our 'teachers' perform for us!
Tuesday included a visit to the art markets where most of us snapped up a bargain or two. We quickly found out that the traffic in Accra is ridiculous, even though most people use shared taxis or vans called tro-tro's. We also experienced the high convenience of road travel, with people walking among the traffic selling everything and anything - food, toilet paper, phone chargers, shirts, car mats and socks to name a few! We also went to the largest market in Accra, where we came across many local foods (and smells)!
After lunch, we headed out in two cars to be dropped off in our pairs (or lonesome for angus) to our host families in Swedru, and settled in with a home cooked meal for the night.
Wednesday saw the beginning of our volunteer placements for the majority of us as we were introduced into our working environments. We all met up in the afternoon at a bar thats affectionately known as 'obroni bar' on wednesdays (obroni = loving, non racist term for any non-ghanian, mostly whites). It's where the obroni volunteers across Swedru come to meet up and swap stories.
Thursday came and went as we started to settle in to our daily lifestyle, and Friday we . At the hospital, in my first couple of days, I was shown how to and then performed a cannulation, I helped give out meds, assisted with an NG tube placement and did rounds with some visiting American neurologists - assisting them in taking blood pressures and performing some abdominal, heart and lung exams.
Gee Ling and Evelyn, who were volunteering at the orphanage, had a very intensive and tiring first couple of days with the kids so excited of their presence, but have loved getting to know the kids and their needs.
Mel and cam were thrown in the deep end at the school and were both given a class to teach from scratch, but have enjoyed the challenge!
On Friday all of the volunteers left work early and caught a couple tro tro's (the vans for public transport here) and a few hairy taxi rides to get to a resort on the beach in Butre. The journey took around 7 hours and was full of interesting roads through the jungle, a breakdown in the dark, 9 people in one taxi, including Mel and I in the back, and a very seedy bridge! But we got there safe and sound without any stress, all a great African experience!
Saturday, a few of us woke up to watch the beautiful sunrise over the ocean. We spent the day relaxing on the beach, swimming in the ocean, chatting, playing cards and bananagrams. We also went on a canoe ride in the lake and spotted a few native wildlife, even a baby croc. We all enjoyed a little taste of western food, banana pancakes the favourite. Also enjoyed eating delicious lobster for $12.50 Aussie! Sunday was another day of relaxing on the beach, then we returned back to Swedru, with a less eventful journey, and back with our host families for dinner.
Week 2 in Ghana
Beck here again,
This was an eventful week for myself and Jami! I was sick on Monday and we both stayed home from the hospital, but on Tuesday we travelled in to Accra to get me to hospital and treated for malaria! We were both very thankful for Alison and Tina being just a phone call away and coming to our aid! We definitely learnt a lot about the healthcare system in Ghana, and all about malaria. Definitely something that you want to avoid though, and even though I did all the right things regarding prophylaxis and repellant, it can still happen, but they still significantly reduce your chances - so future volunteers, take your tablets!
It was a standard first half of the week for the rest of the crew, but they met up on Wednesday and travelled to cape coast in order to beat any potential traffic coming up for the presidential election that was happening on Friday. They visited the Elmina slave castle on Thursday and learnt a bit about Ghanaian history and enjoyed relaxing by the beach.
Jam and I met up with everyone at the oasis hotel on Friday and we had a nice relaxing day catching up. I played and danced with, and was tackled by a heap of gorgeous kids on the beach. And we also were able to watch a beautiful sunset over the ocean.
Friday night
We went to kakum national park on Saturday and did the really killer canopy walks on these bridges suspended over the trees. We also stopped for lunch at Hans cottage, which has a couple crocodile residences, and I even got to touch one/and a photo for a humble 2 cedi ($1).
Sunday was another day of hanging and walking around, snatching up some Christmas pressies at the local markets. Jam and I were able to go to a church service, which was stereotypically loud, flamboyant and very loving - an awesome experience to try out for sure!
And, we just found out the new president (well now the repeat president) is John Mahama and people have been celebrating along the streets.(I'm stoked as he was my favourite! :p)
Until next time!
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