My Final Days in Tamale

I must apologize for the length of time it has been since I’ve last blogged. I’ve been writing so much in my personal journal that I have forgotten to update my blog! There has been a lot going on since I last wrote, so I will try to touch on as many things as possible!

Health: Last week Saturday I fell very ill with a terrible cough, chest congestion, and a pretty high fever. The fever lasted well into Monday, but by Monday evening it began to break. For all of Saturday and Sunday, I remained in bed dozing in and out. I did manage to read four books in between Saturday and Monday though J On Tuesday morning, Chief and Prof’s friend, Doctor Turner, came by to examine Chief and me (since Chief had been sick since two day before I fell ill). Dr. Turner said Chief’s illness was doing better and gave her some exercises to help get rid of the cough. He said that since I still had a fever, he believe I had acute bronchitis on top of a common cold and prescribed me an antibiotic. That seemed to help, and by the end of the week I was doing much better. However, that weekend when we took a road trip, Chief’s health took a turn for the worse. On the drive home, she started experiencing extreme vertigo that led to her getting sick very often. Unfortunately, we had a bumpy 4 hour drive home that didn’t help her sickness. After a while, she was able to nap for short periods of time which seemed to help, and eventually we made it home. Dr. Turner came over that night and got her some medicine which seemed to help. Now she is doing much better.

Travel: While we are somewhat on the topic. Last weekend, I accompanied Chief and Prof on a road trip to Binaba, which is a town about 160 Km away I believe. We left very early Saturday morning (7:30) and—due to the quality of the road—arrived at their friend’s house in Binaba at about 11:30. The scenery was very pretty on the way there. We caught a glimpse of the Tong hills and the White Volta and witnessed a slight change in scenery as things grew a bit grassier and hillier. We chatted and had lunch at their friend’s house. I cannot remember his name, but I know is a retired bishop from the area. For lunch, his daughter made Red Red (fried plantains and beans) along with rice and ground nut soup (ground nuts are another name for peanuts). I would give it a definite 5 stars (that kind of falls under the food category). Then, the bishop showed Prof and me around town. Chief wasn’t feeling well so she stayed back and rested. At about 2 o’clock, we decided to head home since we had a bit of trip ahead of us. On the way out to the car, Chief got sick in the yard L. However, I believe she really wanted to get home if possible so that she could be in her own bed and seek medical attention, so we started the journey. We stopped at the market in Bolgatanga so that Prof and I could do a little shopping and so that Chief could rest peacefully without the bumps from the potholes and speedbumps in the road. They make very neat baskets in Bolgatanga, and I had a hard time not buying every single one in sight. It took a great deal of self-control, but since I only had a certain amount of cash, I was forced to control my spendings J Eventually, we started back on the road and unfortunately, Chief wasn’t feeling any better. We arrived back at the palace a little after 7:30 (a mighty long ride in what is not a very comfortable truck!) and Prof and Razak ushered her inside and called Dr. Turner. Since there wasn’t much I could do (besides make Prof and I dinner), I made dinner and went to bed.  If you factor out the cramped travel arrangements and Chief’s awful sickness, the trip was nice!

Health Work: I spent the last week observing the activities of the nurses at Kalpohin Health Clinic. All of the nurses there are SUPER nice and helpful and I had a great time working with them. Each day they placed me at a different station so that I could get a glimpse of all the different aspects of the clinic. I have found that child and maternal health is of the utmost importance in Ghana, and so, while it is not my number one interest personally, I have definitely been introduced to the importance of it in the health field in Ghana.

The first day, I sat in the family planning room which is where ladies can come for birth control. They offer two different sets of pills and two different shots. The pills are taken daily for three weeks. One of the shots is administered monthly and the other is administered every 3 months. The nurse explains the options to the women, and they are able to decide which type of birth control they want. However, before they are given any of the drugs, they must take a pregnancy test, because, I found out, many of them that come in for the pills are already pregnant and are under the impression that the pills will take care of that.

The next day, I observed the immunizations table which was basically the exact same as the one at Tamale Central. 12 immunizations are offered and each one ends the same way…with a screaming baby L Although I LOVE children, this is my absolute least favorite section of the clinic, because not only am I not able to play with any of the kids, but I have to sit there and watch them scream and cry L

On Friday, I went out with two of the nurses to do house visits. They said usually they carry some vaccines and such with them in case a child is in need of one, but that day they didn’t have enough, so we just did some routine check-ups. This consisted of going to random houses and asking if there were any children in the house. If there were, then we collected their health record book (which is given to them by the clinic for free when they have a child). We checked to make sure all of the immunizations were up to date, and then asked the mom some questions about her health and the child’s health. The nurses explained to me that sometimes the mothers won’t come to the clinic if they have problems because there are so many people around, so the nurses make house visits so that the mothers have more privacy and so that the nurses can impress upon them how important it is to keep their children up to date on vaccinations! I enjoyed the visits because it provided a change of scenery and it felt a bit more personal than the clinic. The thing I dislike the most about the clinics is how impersonal and mechanical it feels. While the nurses are very chatty and friendly amongst each other, they aren’t so much so towards the mothers and children. Not that they are mean or rude by any means, but they just don’t smile and show a real concern towards the patients. I know by now that is just a part of the culture because service is like that everywhere in Ghana, but it is something that I have a hard time getting used to since I’m so acquainted with the high customer service expectations of America.

Monday I went with some nurses to one of the schools to give a presentation on the importance of hand washing. We gave one presentation to the P1 and P2 classes combined, and then we gave another to the P3 students. (P stands for primary). The nurses really stressed using CLEAN water AND soap and ALWAYS washing hands AFTER going to the bathroom and BEFORE eating!! They explained to the kids that they can get diseases such as Cholera and rotavirus if they fail to wash their hands properly.

  They also touched on the proper places to go to the bathroom. Since many of the schools (the one near Kalpohin health clinic being one of them) and most houses do not have private bathroom facilities, people will go to the bathroom wherever suits them. This is oftentimes in a grassy patch of a yard. Obviously, this can lead to MANY problems, a major one being the spread of disease. Apparently this is something that has to be stressed upon the children very often. It’s amazing to me how limited bathroom facilities are in the area. Most families do not have a bathroom in their house. Instead, there are “public” bathrooms located somewhere in town or villages where people can go to the bathroom in pits or holes that have been dug inside a building. However, considering those facilities are not right next to every person’s house or a school, many people resort to going in a bushy area or something of the sort! That was very eye-opening for me.

 My favorite part of the presentation came when the nurse was reviewing her talk with the kids and asked “So what will happen if you don’t properly wash your hands before eating or after going to the bathroom?” One of the P1 students raised his hand in answered, in earnest, “You’ll get AIDS!” All of the adults got a bit of a laugh from that, but it was then explained to the kids that that was not the way one could get AIDS, however, one could acquire many other diseases from improper hand washing.

My last day at the clinic, I observed the antenatal room where the midwife explained their process for examining the pregnant ladies. Since they don’t have any high-tech machines or anything, they can only do very basic examinations. However, they refer the women to the Teaching Hospital to get an ultrasound and they also give referrals to a nearby lab to get blood, urine, and stool tests. I was able to feel the fetuses of a few of the women and I also heard a few heartbeats through this little cone type thing they used. That part was pretty neat J

My time at the health clinic served as a very eye-opening experience for me. Although I’m aware that I would have to spend years here to encounter and understand even a portion of the problems that some people face here, I believe I have a much better understanding of the difficulties that arise in the area of sanitation and health in under-developed countries. I often find myself wishing I had they money or means to build proper bathrooms for each family and school I visit or wishing I could help all the beggars on the side of the road that are missing limbs or clearly suffering from some sort of disease. Although it is discouraging that, at the moment, I don’t really have the ability to do any such thing, it is slightly encouraging that I have chosen a profession that will someday, hopefully, allow me to do such a thing. If nothing else, this trip has helped me to validate my choice of a future career in the Health Field J

Food: My favorite topic J Yesterday, I ate at Mariama’s restaurant and she made me fufu and light soup. Fufu is basically a huge dumpling made of yam (my favorite!!) and I’m not sure what is in light soup exactly, but I do know that it has quite a kick! Overall, I would give it four out of five stars! I ate the whole huge bowl of it and enjoyed every bit, however I would have to say that I actually like banku better than fufu. Not that I wouldn’t eat fufu a thousand more time before I left, but I would probably eat banku a thousand and one more times ;)

As I mentioned earlier, when we were at the bishop’s house, his daughter made red-red and rice with groundnut soup and I can say that, without a doubt, it was my favorite meal I’ve had since I’ve been in Ghana. Probably because I LOVE groundnut soup (since it is essentially warm, soupy peanut butter) and fried plantains are to die for!! Yuuuuummmyy!!

Gifts: This week, Fatimata finished making the two dresses that I gave her cloth to make for me. They are both very, very cute! Although I might look a little goofy wearing one around in the United States, I fit in wonderfully wearing one here. Now, I have had three dresses made for me (I bought the cloth and then paid someone to sew the dress for me). Plus, two days ago, Madame Fati and Mariama had me pick out a third dress (which is a different style than the other three I have…which are all different styles themselves) that they gave to me as a gift from SCT. And yesterday, two of the teachers and one of the students from the JSS I taught at brought me a dress as a gift from the school (it was yet a different style than the other four!!). So, I now have more dresses than I think I’ve owned at one time in my life. Haha!! They are all very cute and I believe that my sister will probably want to be borrowing them when I get back ;) I also gave all of the gifts I brought from home to the people here that have helped me during my trip! That included Bro Zee and Fatimata and their children, Jehanfo, Madame Fati, Mariama, Razak, Kintampo, and Jon. And I’m pretty sure they all absolutely loved them J Madame Fati actually screeched and did a little dance, haha!! It made my day to see how happy they all were to get their gifts J I love giving people gifts, especially when they have helped me as much as everyone here has!!

I know my mom is probably wondering, so I will let her know that, yes, I have gotten gifts for almost everyone back home now ;) Madame Fati and Mariama took me to the Cultural center yesterday and a neat little shop called Colwood that sells a bunch of gifts that are made of tie-dyed fabric! It’s a very neat store J So, as long as I can fit everything in my suitcase, I will have lots of nice gifts for  my family upon my return. I made sure to save a bit of room in case I find some things in Accra that strike my fancy ;)

That leads me to my last topic: Final Plans: Tomorrow is my last full day in Tamale! And it will end with a potluck dinner for the SCT members (which I will allow to double as a small going away party!). Sunday I leave bright and early (boarding time 6-7:30 a.m) for Accra!!! I’ve already talked with Solomon who said he will be waiting for me at the airport (this time I vow not to panic if he is not there immediately when I land, and since I now know what he looks like that will make things much easier too). Between Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, I will get in as much touristy activities as possible (I’m leaving the scheduling up to Solomon) and Wednesday evening I will depart for home!!!

While I am going to be very sad to leave all the wonderful people I have met here in Ghana, I cannot say that I am not also extremely excited to see my family again and sleep in my nice, comfy bed (without tucking in a mosquito net ;) )!! I look forward to all these last few days hold and plan to make the most of every moment J!