Mama Africa

Ok folks.....two weeks in and this is my first time I'm jumping on a computer for an extended amount of time. Where to begin? Um, yeah....I'm LOVING it here!!! Slow paced life, beautiful scenery, beautiful people....nice vibes.

I arrived here on Tuesday the 3rd and (as my intuitive self told myself) there wasn't actually anyone there to meet me at the airport. In all the hubbub of my visa fiasco before I left there was a breakdown of communication between myself and the organization. No worries though...one of the airport security people helped me out and I was retrieved by the organization's secretary and put straight on a bus to the town of Cape Coast where I was then met by our fabulous house hostess, Lucy, and taken to Elmina. Elmina is a colonial fishing town that boasts one of largest slave castles right on the waterfront. The town itself is pretty rough around the edges and the residents are surprisingly fascinated by us walking through town even though this is one of the major tourist destinations in Ghana. So, that being said, Elmina so far isn't my favorite spot to cruise around in and instead I've been spending more time in the neighboring town of Cape Coast. For some reason the energy over here in Cape Coast seems a little more friendly and I don't feel quite as much as a source of facination as in Elmina.

Ghana is definitely a poor country, but the people are overwhelmingly friendly and seemingly happy. Common sights when walking around include goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, and children roaming the streets freely (true "free-range"). Women carrying their babies on their ba ck strapped tight with intricately patterned cloth. Women and children carrying immense loads in silver tubs on top of their heads.

This past weekend I linked with Paapa Wasik's crew (my reggae family in Ghana) and I spent time butted up against the Kakum national forest. Totally beautiful and lush out there. Felt like a rain forest. We hiked some of the trail behind Paapa's Mommi's house (where we stayed), ate fresh picked sugarcane and amazingly yummy ital food prepared by my personal chef and escort Kenya, visited the water treatment facility that happened to be close, and generally enjoyed the scenery. I'm definitely blessed to have some friendly connection here because I'm being treated to some "off the beaten path" types of locations and vibes. Definitely not getting harrassed as a white woman roaming around with two rasta escorts. :)

And now onto clinic work -- right now there are three of us volunteers visiting, but I will be staying the longest. One volunteer is an MD completing his residency in Manhattan and the other is a first year medical student who is Ghanaian born, but raised in the US (and very shy to his own country and to life in general it seems - he's young, but still.....gotta get out and experience life!) So...of course my intention was all about the pregnancy and babies, but so far that's actually not been the most exciting work there at the clinic. I've been sitting in on a bunch of antenatal (prenatal) exams, but since I don't speak Fante or Twi there's only so much that I'm getting out of it. Interestingly enough woking with this visiting MD has been great and I've already learned a lot from him since he is currently the only licensed MD that the clinic has right now (and he's leaving in a week!). We've seen LOTS of cases of malaria in childeren, some typhois, dehydration, upper respiratory infections...pretty much anything you can think of. On Monday we did "home visits" into the town of Elmina and spotted some kids that were in a really bad way...we had them come into the clinic and despite my personal thoughts on paying for treatment in a country where people just can't afford it, the MD and the medical assistant actually paid for the entire course of treatment to save the child's life. I personally was skeptical that the child would actually make it, but in the end we pumped him full of fluids, shipped him off to the Cape Coast Hospital and went to visit him the next day after he had received some blood, quinine, more fluids....and he acutally made it. So, I learned some lessons there about what people are able to recover from given treatment, but I'm still torn about the circumstance of this MD and medical student paying for the treatment. We definitely have big differences in opinon and in being sensitive to what people are acutally capable of as far as paying for treatments in this country (yep...Modeling and Role Modeling in Africa), but these guys are only here for a few weeks and it was their choice to proceed as they did. Of course...as I predicted...more kids came in today that needed treatement beyond the means of the parents and of course...the parents left without receiving the treatment the MD wanted to give them. He can't understand it and even put a lot of blame on these parents as being bad parents, but I just cannot accept that view - every parent wants what's best for their child, but in this country you have to pay up front or you're not getting crap from medical land.

Ok....a little more on the clinic work. On Wed. I went with the public health nurses and did community outreach. It consisted of weighing and immunizing kids and I was impressed and pleased to see that they have this program in place and that so many mothers were so on top of bringing thier kids in to be checked. I'm definitely planning to head back out with them again this coming week.

So, that's the first update I can give. I'm really enjoying myself. All apprehension went out the window and I'm feeling full and welcome and loved by Ghana. More love, more stregth, more positivity! Bless.