COUNTRY: Ghana
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Health
WRITTEN BY: Shannon Briscoe
We have spent one full week here in Swedru and it is amazing how quickly some of us have settled into the Ghanaian lifestyle. Navigating around town has been quite a challenge seeing as very few of the streets have street names, and if they do, there is no guarantee your taxi driver knows it! Therefore, directions involve something like, "Take a left at the woman selling bananas until you come to a purple building, the a DARK purple not the light purple one and turn right there...".
Grace and Shannon seem to have the trickiest location to find with many twists and turns off the main road. They were advised to use 'Abok School' as a landmark for taxis. On the first day traveling home from the hospital Shannon asked the taxi driver...
Shannon: "Abok school please"
Driver: "You want to go to Abonsway?"
Shannon: "No, A-b-o-k School please"
Driver: "Ooooh, Abeeksa?"
Meanwhile, all 15 of the surrounding Ghanian spectators migrate over eager to help...
Finally, they rang their host sister and handed the driver the phone. After a quick chat, the driver hangs up and says, "Ooooh, you want to go to Abok School!"
Their host sister suggested using 'Rich Guest Host' from now on. So, the next day they trot over to the taxi...
Shannon: "Rich Guest House please."
Driver: "Which one, the old one or the new one?"
THAT is Ghana for you...
Once we successfully mapped out the crucial landmarks around Swedru, we have been able to get around town easily via walking, shared taxi, or tro tro (van-like taxi bus). We have enjoyed catching up all together as a group in town after work to visit the internet cafe (when it is working), grab a cold drink or Fandango (yummy frozen orange drink) and share stories from our day.
Shonae and Imogen have been working incredibly hard at the orphanage (located some distance out of town) but have managed to get a good routine going and developed good relationships with the staff. The nurses (Grace, Shannon, Sara, Laura, and Dan) will visit one afternoon later this week (more about the orphanage in next week's blog!)
Shannon and Laura have found the midwives a bit more engaged this week as far as sharing their knowledge and inclusion for procedures. Laura also observed a Cesarean operation in theatre, which was quite the experience!
Dan has developed a good rapport with nurses in the Men's ward, taking vital signs and administering medications.
Sara reports life on the paediatric ward is slow going but the staff are really nice and she is enjoying it.
Grace has been such a tough cookie in the Emergency Department. She has observed and often assisted with complex wound cares, malaria cases, and many car accident victims.
Weekend planning has been tricky with phone calls often not going through...internet crashing... hotels booking out quickly BUT we managed to suss it out and are very much looking forward to a fun weekend away at Busua Beach for some seafood, walking, and hopefully surfing!
Much love to our friends and family back home!
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