Such a different world...
Anne and I arrived in Ghana only 5 days ago, yet we feel like we have been here for much longer. We are living in the nurses' quarters, a group of bungalows located just across the street from Kwahu Government Hospital, where we started work on Monday. Anne lives with a head nurse and her family, and I am living with a nurse named Christy. I am supposed to move in with the nurse matron, but she is out of town and will return after Thursday. Christy is such a kind, giving, wonderful person - she has welcomed me into her home that consists of two rooms, each smaller than my bedroom at home. Her kitchen is located in a separate building accross from her bungalow, and the bathroom and toilet room are just down the way. We share the bathroom and toilet room with others, and there is no running water. Never before have I understood until now how people live without water. She has to walk to collect water from a running faucet, near the hospital about an 8 minute walk. She must cook, wash dishes and clothing, bathe, and flush the toilet with this water. I have taken a bath from a bucket every day, and I am actually becoming very good at conserving water - I can wash my hair every other evening and I am not too hideous by the second day! I saw a cockroach in the toilet room and lots of ants in the bathroom, but so far no rodents.
It is currently the rainy season in Ghana, which means cooler temperatures and it rains for short periods throughout the day. It becomes humid at times, but it is pretty comfortable I think. Ghanaians believe that this weather is cold, so they dress more warmly than we do. September begins the hotter weather, so much more sun and dry heat is to be expected. The first night we arrived, the electricity had been shut off, which happens occasionally, so we used candles. Since that night we have had electricity for our lights, which is useful because it gets dark here around 6pm. I've been going to bed around 9pm because the roosters and chickens start waking us up around 5am.
The people of Ghana are known for their graciousness and kindness - Christy will not let me cook, clean up, or work while I'm at her home. Their tradition is to prepare food and serve their guests a meal, but they do not sit with us to eat. I have convinced her only once to eat with me, otherwise I eat my meals alone and she will either eat later or eat alone in the kitchen. It is a tradition that I do not understand and it is difficult for me to accept. I feel that as a guest in her home I should be giving in return, but they just do not accept that. Anne's family is the same way - she will eat alone while 4 other people wait for her to finish. As for the food, it consists of a lot of rice, starchy vegetables, and most things are prepared in a sauce - for example, white rice with a fish sauce, or plantains and yams dipped into a spicy spinach-like sauce. I am still waiting to try fufu, which is plantains and casava pounded into a pasty mixture, eaten with a sauce of course. We have to do some walking every day, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be gaining some weight here - they serve huge portions (like a heaping plateful of rice) and they're surprised when we can't eat it all.
The hospital is a hard place for me to go every day. They literally have no modern monitoring equipment, the nurses do not have their own stethoscopes, and the conditions are very discouraging. They perform a few simple surgical procedures, but they put the patient under anesthesia with no ventilator - they have an ambu bag to assist in respiration. They have few supplies, so the patient must pay in cash up front for all medicine if they do not have insurance. They literally must walk to the pharmacy to purchase their own medicines during their hospital stay - if they can't walk there, their family or the nurse must do it. We worked on the labour ward today, and a laboring woman had to walk to the lab to have her blood drawn. I am continuously surprised by their way of doing things, by the nurses' lack of knowledge, and by the general poor sanitation of the hospital wards. The wards are separated by male and female and they are true wards with beds lined up on each side of the room, probably 20 beds total in the room with one nurse station. The nurse-patient relationship is very cold, the nurses do not smile and they almost neglect their patients. There is one oxygen tank on the male ward, able to be shared by two patients, but there is no equipment to measure the patient's oxygen level. I want to do so much to make it better for the patients, but I don't even know how to start. In talking with the head doctor, he asked Anne and I to do some small lectures for the nurses and student nurses, so I think that we could definitely educate and make a good contribution there. The scope of practice is so small because they have so little to work with, so until they can acquire some medical equipment, they are making due with the bare minimum. Looking back at the labour ward's records, almost evey day there is an infant death, which far exceeds our death rate in the U.S.
Our experience here in Ghana so far has been very challenging. We have tried to remain open-minded and loving. We are struggling with the conditions at the hospital, yet we know that we will be seeing much worse at the other clinics that we visit. We are feeling very welcomed by all of the people here - we get many stares on the street because we are truly the only white people in town. Kids point to us and laugh, yelling "obruni" which means "white". But of course the people here are so beautiful. I miss the luxuries of home simply for their convenience, but I am really more upset than anything. I don't understand how things are so unfair - In the U.S. we are so wasteful and we take everything for granted, and we all complain daily. Here, they have little and they never once complain, instead they give whatever they have in order to make us comfortable. I am ashamed to tell them what it is like at home, because it is such a disgusting difference. I get discouraged every day and I get tearful as I write this, but this experience is exactly what I have come for - I am trying to humble myself and accept their situation for what it is while trying my best to help improve it.
Please pray for Anne and I and for our stay here in Ghana, pray for the people here as they work so hard every day. I miss everyone at home and I hope you are all well. Internet access is in a town down the mountain, so I may not blog more than once a week, but please be faithful in reading it as I would love to share this experience with all of you. Until next time...
It is currently the rainy season in Ghana, which means cooler temperatures and it rains for short periods throughout the day. It becomes humid at times, but it is pretty comfortable I think. Ghanaians believe that this weather is cold, so they dress more warmly than we do. September begins the hotter weather, so much more sun and dry heat is to be expected. The first night we arrived, the electricity had been shut off, which happens occasionally, so we used candles. Since that night we have had electricity for our lights, which is useful because it gets dark here around 6pm. I've been going to bed around 9pm because the roosters and chickens start waking us up around 5am.
The people of Ghana are known for their graciousness and kindness - Christy will not let me cook, clean up, or work while I'm at her home. Their tradition is to prepare food and serve their guests a meal, but they do not sit with us to eat. I have convinced her only once to eat with me, otherwise I eat my meals alone and she will either eat later or eat alone in the kitchen. It is a tradition that I do not understand and it is difficult for me to accept. I feel that as a guest in her home I should be giving in return, but they just do not accept that. Anne's family is the same way - she will eat alone while 4 other people wait for her to finish. As for the food, it consists of a lot of rice, starchy vegetables, and most things are prepared in a sauce - for example, white rice with a fish sauce, or plantains and yams dipped into a spicy spinach-like sauce. I am still waiting to try fufu, which is plantains and casava pounded into a pasty mixture, eaten with a sauce of course. We have to do some walking every day, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be gaining some weight here - they serve huge portions (like a heaping plateful of rice) and they're surprised when we can't eat it all.
The hospital is a hard place for me to go every day. They literally have no modern monitoring equipment, the nurses do not have their own stethoscopes, and the conditions are very discouraging. They perform a few simple surgical procedures, but they put the patient under anesthesia with no ventilator - they have an ambu bag to assist in respiration. They have few supplies, so the patient must pay in cash up front for all medicine if they do not have insurance. They literally must walk to the pharmacy to purchase their own medicines during their hospital stay - if they can't walk there, their family or the nurse must do it. We worked on the labour ward today, and a laboring woman had to walk to the lab to have her blood drawn. I am continuously surprised by their way of doing things, by the nurses' lack of knowledge, and by the general poor sanitation of the hospital wards. The wards are separated by male and female and they are true wards with beds lined up on each side of the room, probably 20 beds total in the room with one nurse station. The nurse-patient relationship is very cold, the nurses do not smile and they almost neglect their patients. There is one oxygen tank on the male ward, able to be shared by two patients, but there is no equipment to measure the patient's oxygen level. I want to do so much to make it better for the patients, but I don't even know how to start. In talking with the head doctor, he asked Anne and I to do some small lectures for the nurses and student nurses, so I think that we could definitely educate and make a good contribution there. The scope of practice is so small because they have so little to work with, so until they can acquire some medical equipment, they are making due with the bare minimum. Looking back at the labour ward's records, almost evey day there is an infant death, which far exceeds our death rate in the U.S.
Our experience here in Ghana so far has been very challenging. We have tried to remain open-minded and loving. We are struggling with the conditions at the hospital, yet we know that we will be seeing much worse at the other clinics that we visit. We are feeling very welcomed by all of the people here - we get many stares on the street because we are truly the only white people in town. Kids point to us and laugh, yelling "obruni" which means "white". But of course the people here are so beautiful. I miss the luxuries of home simply for their convenience, but I am really more upset than anything. I don't understand how things are so unfair - In the U.S. we are so wasteful and we take everything for granted, and we all complain daily. Here, they have little and they never once complain, instead they give whatever they have in order to make us comfortable. I am ashamed to tell them what it is like at home, because it is such a disgusting difference. I get discouraged every day and I get tearful as I write this, but this experience is exactly what I have come for - I am trying to humble myself and accept their situation for what it is while trying my best to help improve it.
Please pray for Anne and I and for our stay here in Ghana, pray for the people here as they work so hard every day. I miss everyone at home and I hope you are all well. Internet access is in a town down the mountain, so I may not blog more than once a week, but please be faithful in reading it as I would love to share this experience with all of you. Until next time...
posted by Sarah @ 8:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home