Chasing Opportunity- Ghana - Blog

Making An Impact

Sat, 19 Jul 2014 16:15:51 +0000

· For the final time, I climbed into a TroTro with my fellow interns awaiting our bumpy journey for Impact Project at a local village. As a continuation of the project last month, we all worked together to finish the foundation for the villages community center. This time was slightly different from the start. As we piled out of our TroTros the heads of the village, founding Chief, and current Chief sat in a line awaiting for us all to appear. Isaac (our project coordinator) said some introductions to the villagers and then the Chief announced that he would like to teach us a traditional way to greet Chief’s. Since the founding Chief of the village was there just for us (which was very rare), we complied. We all lined up and walked past each of the head villagers and Chief’s and shook their hands thanking them for allowing us into their village. Then they did the same in return, and shook all of our hands to thank us for our service to them. Once the introduction was done we began our work. It was the same as last month, just two hours of carrying buckets of dirt on our heads and dumping them onto the centers foundation. Once we had gotten a decent work out in, the villagers had yet another surprise for us. They had collected coconuts to give to use as refreshments. We all lined up again one by one and received a freshly cut coconut to drink the milk out of. Once finished, they cracked the coconut open for us to eat its flesh. It was just the perfect treat to replenish all the energy we relinquished with our hard work. Once we all finished our treat, we said our final goodbyes and climbed back into the TroTro. With this also being my last day in Cape Coast, I had to say my final goodbyes to the interns who have become some of my very close friends. Theactrice and Shelby climbed out of the TroTro with me to give me a final hug and bid me goodbye, then I was off to spend my final days here, at my home in Asikuma. It was such a sad goodbye, but I am so glad to have met everyone of them.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:39:05 +0000

· Today was the day I had to give my Capstone presentation to signify my last day of work at OLGH and the end of my time here in Africa. Capstone presentations entail creating a power-point presentation containing important info about your stay in Ghana such as project overview, things you have learned, suggestions for new interns, suggestions for the project site.. you get the idea. Once the power-point is complete we must invite key people that we worked with to our presentation. Attendees at my presentation included my Twi instructor Lawrence, the head nurse in Charge Sister Edwige, two coworkers from the lab, Isaac from ProWorld, as well as my Sister BB from my homestay. They all sat along a long conference table watching me intently through my entire presentation. When I was done flipping through the slide they gave me a large round of applause and congratulated me for completing my program. When it was time for questions, I was pleasantly surprised with what came up. I was surprised only because after any presentation in college, you rarely get any questions, maybe one or two if you are lucky. It was Roger from the lab who started off the questions and it was a waterfall effect from there. They all mentioned how observant I was in regards to the concerns I raised about the hospital. My coworkers took notes and said they will implement solutions to these concerns starting this upcoming week. They agreed with everything that I stated and were very eager to fix things. It was so amazing to see that they genuinely cared in improving their facility and that they were willing to do anything to move forward. Once questions were over, they all applauded one last time and headed back to work. When I got here I felt like my two months would never end, but after I got my feet wet, boy did time fly. I have had such an amazing experience learning new things and meeting amazing people here. Ghana will be missed deeply. I have only six mere days to soak up any last memories, so I better use my time wisely.

A Forgotten Moment

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 09:54:32 +0000

· I nearly forgot to share one of my exciting moments here in Ghana. Twice a month I get together with Lawrence who teaches me the local dialect, Twi. Normally we go out to dinner, but for my last lesson he allowed me to make an American dinner for the family, him and I to eat. I of course chose to make breakfast for dinner. I taught the family how to make French Toast and fried eggs. They had never had or even heard either of these things to my surprise! Normally their eggs are boiled or scrambled only. I was not sure how the family would react to my meal, because NONE of their food contains sugar or cinnamon. I was afraid it may be too sweet for them, even if they opted to not use syrup (and yes I did have Hungry Jack syrup, yumm). When I was finished cooking I was able to convince my family to all sit down together and enjoy the meal at my giant table that I usually sit alone at. It was so amazing to se the effect of eating together. Even little Miss Petra was being talkative when she is normally a girl of very few words. It really made me believe in the quality of family dinners together. Everyone was conversing, smiling, and enjoying the food. The family even LOVED the food! My Auntie Maggie ensured that I would reteach her how to make it before I leave. I surprised her one evening while making my own dinner, and made her extra French Toast. I served it to her while she was making her bread, and she stopped what she was doing, did a little dance, and accepted the food gratefully with a smile on her face. I am glad they will have a slice of America whenever Auntie Maggie makes French toast in the future. Maybe she will even surprise upcoming interns with her new ability to cook such an amazing breakfast food.

Photo-shoot to Reality

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 09:54:04 +0000

· Today was no different than any other recent day at work. Between 8am and Noon there were very few samples to collect and run tests on. My morning routine now consists of small talk with my coworkers, followed by Facebook and email on my computer. As you can imagine, this gets old very fast, so today I made a change. Since I only have one week left now, I brought my camera to the hospital. At first I was unsure how the lab guys would react when I asked them to take pictures. I never would have guessed the reaction that I got. They all were so excited to take pictures of me with everyone, as well as get photos taken of themselves. They were so hilarious because every time I asked one of them if I could have a photo of them, they said “One moment, let me get my lab coat” or “Hold on, this coat it dirty, I need to put a fresh one on”. It was so funny to see how concerned they were that they may not look perfect. They all loved the camera and had a great time taking photos. It really brought me to the reality that I will not see these people again after next week. Although I am very excited to return home, I will also miss the people here dearly. It is going to be a bitter sweet moment upon my departure but I must leave knowing I made a difference and hope that one day I can return.

Beach Bums

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:42:05 +0000

· With our last days soon approaching, Charli and I had a relaxing day on the beaches of the Oasis Resort. We picked a nice spot far away from the tide and took a nap on the sand. Of course, with our luck, the tide quickly crept up on us. It came up in one swift motion drenching us up to our knees and jolting us upright on our towels. We re-located many times after that due to the same reason. About two hours alter, there were no safe spots to lay and our towels were thoroughly wet from our encounters with the high tide. We called it a day and headed off to dinner with some friends. The restaurant, as usual, had a great view of the ocean and made for a pleasant dinner with our fellow interns. After eating WAY too much food, we all waddled down town to pick up a cab to take home. Charli and I took a quick power nap, in hopes of sleeping of our food babies, but failed. Regardless, we got ready and headed back to town for our last night at Oasis. We danced the night away, making great memories with the interns that have become so close to us. It is safe to say that I will have many people to miss, even when I do return home.

One Africa

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:41:38 +0000

· Although I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Ghana, I do find great excitement in things that remind me of home. The interns all gathered tonight with our coordinators at One Africa, a restaurant in town that has amazing American food. We all look forward to our nights at one Africa because of the great food and not to mention, its beautiful view of the ocean. While I awaited for my salad (very hard to find here), me and Charli had some adventures, as usual. Of course, they were not with out struggle. Before we set off on an adventure to the ocean, I decided to try and conquer one of the many hammocks near our table. Shelby climbed into one like a champ and rested peacefully. My encounter was not as seamless. I plopped into the mesh hammock very ungracefully and quickly became entangled in the netting. Once free of the net, I looked over at my counterpart and saw Shelby resting on her stomach, swaying away. Lets just say I never did make it over to my stomach. After enough hardship, me and Charli took off our shoes, logically, and headed to climb the rocks at the oceans edge. Oh, and not to worry, Mama Theactrice was close behind to snap photos and make sure we did not injure ourselves too badly. During our climb over the damp rocks we discovered numerous creatures. We saw barnacles stuck on the sides of rocks, tadpoles in pools of water, hermit crabs, larger blue crabs, and even black sea urchins. After doing the Jungle Book’s “Bear Necessities” walk across the top of the rocks, we headed back for food. We all ate in silence as we engulfed our delightful dinner. Then it was off to our homestays for a good nights rest.

Empty Hallways

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:41:12 +0000

· A full week has gone by since the beginning of the hospitals strike against the government. The hallways have become very empty, sometimes totally barren at points in the day. The people who can afford to pay for care out of pocket are few and far between, and decreasing. It seems as if each day there are less and less patients to see, thus less and less work to do. My last three days at work have been cut nearly 3 hours short each, due to the limited work available. So far there has been no news of any future resolve. For now, the hospital intends to remain on strike until they get reimbursement from the government. No one knows exactly how long it will take, but we are all hoping for sooner rather than later.

Surfs Up

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:40:55 +0000

· What do you get when you put two clumsy girls, and another who can’t swim into surf lessons? A hot mess. At our last day in Busua we decided to pay for surf lessons. Mama Theactrice is not a fan of swimming so her lesson consisted of posing with the board while we snapped some photos. She then took the role of watching after mine and Charli’s safety and also doubled as our personal photographer. During our “warm-up” we ran and did some stretches before we got our boards. At this point, if I recall correctly, both me and Charli had already tripped at least once each. Then began our lesson on the beach first to get the basics. Theactrice made sure to capture many photos of our confused faces and subpar surf stances. Once we were confident on land, well as close to confident as we could get, we headed to the water. This was not with grace, of course. Charli with her short arms could not hold the board and may have fallen a few times on the beach… don’t worry, Mama T was able to grab a few photos for evidence. Once I picked Charli back up onto her feet, we battled the angry waves and pulling tide. Our instructor told us to first begin to body board a few times to shore to get use to catching waves, then stand up later. After a couple mouthfuls of gross Ghana water, we passed the body boarding stage. It was time to stand. In my head I was saying “I got this, you can TOTALLY surf. You were meant for this”. When n reality, I believe I looked like a giraffe trying to stand for the first time, followed immediately by the look of a gasping goldfish upon tumbling into the water off of my board. It was a rough experience to say the least. After barely 15 minutes of struggle, me and Charli noticed that we no longer had our trainer by our side telling us pointers. Instead he gave up on us and headed for the beach. Despite our doubtful trainer, me and Charli chugged along at Theactrice got a good laugh watching and taking photos of us, safely on the beach. Although the lesson was supposed to last and hour and a half, we gave up the struggles after 45minutes of battling the waves. Even though we did not master surfing, we headed home knowing we tried our best and enjoyed every bit of it.

The 4th in Ghana

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:40:30 +0000

· My holiday did not have parties, fireworks, or stars and stripes. So how did I celebrate, you might ask? Instead of partying and listening to music, I spent the fourth walking the beaches of Busua, listening to the waves crash at my feet. Instead of fireworks, we got to see the stars light up the night sky for the first time since we arrived. Instead of stars and stripes, we got a blue ocean and green palm trees. It was a night full of beauty. Considering the usual endless noise of Ghana, our night at Busua was extraordinarily peaceful. There were no roosters, no cars honking, and no people trying to sell you products. Just Charlie, Theactrice and I sitting on a beach with our toes in the sand, talking the night away. I could not have imagined a better way to celebrate my independence while millions of miles away from home.

Going On Strike

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 11:46:07 +0000

· Let me begin with a little history about Ghana’s government. For over a year now, insurance companies have not paid the government their dues. However, insurance holders have been permitted to use their coverage to receive healthcare during this time. The government finally had enough and eventually stopped paying the hospital. Therefore, any patient using insurance (which is nearly all patients) was getting care for “free” because the government did not have the funds to reimburse the hospital due to the insurance companies lack of compliance. On top of that, the government also failed to pay the employees monthly salaries since the month of May 2014. You would think employees would cease to show up for their shifts, but this was not the case. The people of Ghana are in this fight together and are going to make the best of their lives until the government gets straightened out.

The OLOG Hospital went on strike beginning July 2^nd, 2014. They stopped accepting any form of health insurance so all patients who wished to receive care were required to pay cash up front. Running procedures this way completely cut out the governments role in the hospital. Unfortunately, not many people in Ghana can afford to pay for care in cash. This resulted in an extreme rush of patients on Monday June 30^th, using their health insurance for the last time, followed by empty hallways by Wednesday July 2^nd. I heard about the hospitals plans to strike in advanced, but never believed that they would go through with it. Boy, was I wrong. Normally by 9am the halls to the hospital are filled with people trying to be admitted. On Wednesday, the halls remained silent the entire morning.

It was very sad to know that all the people who once filled the hall in need of care were now at home suffering. It was also hard to know that the employees hard at work have not been paid for nearly two months now. One of my co-workers said to me “we must all suffer through these times and pray that it will get better in the new election. Until then, we will live the best we can with what we have”. It was so inspiring to see how positive my co-workers were about the falling government. The next election is not until 2016 and I hope the government comes to some kind of resolve long before then.