Lake Bosumtwi

May 16:

Today we went to Lake Bosumtwi or Crater Lake. It was our last day in Kumasi and a good way to finish out our stay there. This lake was formed by a meteorite in the late 1600s and is absolutely beautiful. The water is very warm and the surroundings are pretty amazing. I don't know if I have brought this up yet, but one of the best descriptions I have of Ghana would be "Lost", the TV show. Almost everywhere we go, multiple people in the group describe it as "Lost". In Mole we felt like we were staying in the colonies. At this lake the surroundings completely made me feel like I was on the show "Lost". I think part of the reason it feels like the show is because everything is completely foreign to us and we have to figure things out as we go. (If you haven't watched the show, I highly recommend it.) 

 

 One of our first views of the lake.

This man is fishing. There is Tilapia in this lake. The fisherman place nets in the water with plastic bottles tied to them to mark the spot of the net. They fish on these logs that are flat on the top and rounded on the bottom. There is no place to get inside, you just sit on the top and let your feet dangle in the water.

 

Farewell Kumasi, Hello Accra!



Ercom School of Excellence

May 15:

Today we went to Ercom School of Excellence. This is a private primary (preschool-6th grade) school in the Kumasi region. It is actually our driver's brother's school that he started. To go to school here the children have to bring 1 cedi 50 pesewas (pay-sway). This is equal to about 75 cents in America. Going to this school was amazing. They do such a good job at teaching the children and these children are so smart. They have about 300 children enrolled, but when we visited they had just come off break, so some children weren't quite back yet.

 

 

The outside of some of the classrooms.

The inside of the classrooms.

The playground.

 

Here we brought some donations of books, pencils, colored pencils, scissors, and so much more. While we visited we brought different crafts with us to do with the kids. For the younger ones we made paper bag puppets. The middle aged group did wind socks and the oldest group made string bracelets. We also did some basic education on hand washing and nutrition. The kids were so quiet and respectful while we taught and were very responsive after we finished and asked questions. This day was by far one of my favorites.

 

Our table of donations.

The giraffe sack puppets.

 The elephants.

 We did sheep with the youngest.

 This is the wind sock.

 They loved playing with us on the playground and they loved carrying their puppets around.

 Bubbles were a HUGE hit and of course the puppets had to help catch the bubbles.

 This little lady just loved to be held, she would not let us put her down.

Saying goodbye :)



Back to Kumasi

May 12-14:

We are back in Kumasi. On the way back from Mole we stopped at Kintempo Falls, which are some waterfalls. It was very beautiful and a great way to break up the treacherous drive from Mole (Here is a link to a video where a travel journalist films his drive to Mole to give everyone a little bit of an idea http://youtu.be/LjZKevxblTA ). The road to and from Mole is horrible. A good three hours is spent on a dirt road. I still cannot believe we made it in our bus. Something I keep saying is that any vehicle in Ghana is meant for off-roading. Once we got off the dirt road, I have never been so happy to see pavement in my life. I will always be so very grateful for our wonderful roads in America.

 

The first waterfall in the background.

The main waterfall.

Different view of the main waterfall.

 

The day after we got back from Mole was another crazy one. We agreed to help Aninwah with their Mother's day clinic. They switched the day of the clinic and everything so that we could help out. This clinic was held in the Kumasi market and consisted of performing assessments, handing out medication, and then receiving a breast exam. The hospital (Aninwah) that was putting it on sent about four or five of their own staff and all I can is that it was a good thing we were able to help out because I don't know how they would've done it by themselves. There were so many people and with the craziness of the market added to that, it made for a long day. Even though it was such a long day it always feels good knowing you have done something helpful for someone else.

 

After spending the afternoon recuperating from the clinic we were able to go spend time shopping the next day at the wood carving market and where they sell/make Kente cloth. Going to these markets is a different kind of crazy compared to the clinics we do. We stepped off the bus at the wood carving market and immediately were greeted by at least seven sellers all wanting us to come to their shop because their shop is the most unique and of the best quality. It was somewhat overwhelming to say the least. By the end it was no big deal. If you told them your name they would come and find you and tell you that you promised to come to their shop. It was also every sellers birthday. They would tell us their name and that it was their birthday and that they were going to give you a good deal. I enjoyed listening to them trying to sell me on their items it was kind of fun, but these markets need to be enjoyed only for short bouts of time. By the time you leave, you are very ready to leave.

The kids loved us at the Kente cloth market and really enjoyed being in pictures.

They enjoy posing with the peace sign in their pictures too.
 

I definitely enjoyed my time at the markets and am very excited about all of the items I was able to buy.

Larabunga

May 10-11:

While in Mole we visited a nearby community called Larabunga. This community consists of 4,000-5,000 people who are all muslim. This community has the oldest Mosque in West Africa. We were able to go on a little tour of the community. All of the houses are mud huts and maybe 30% of the popluation have electricity.

This is the mosque. The only people allowed inside are the men and then women who were above a certain age, so we could only see it from the outside.

A couple views of the community.

 

In Larabunga they make authentic shea butter (which is amazing). I couldn't believe all the work that goes into making it. The best part of our visit to Larabunga was the cultural presentation they put on for us. They had us come back at night and they had made a fire and presented us with four dances. After they performed the dances the girls choose a partner to then come do the dances again with them. It was so much fun! This has by far been one of my most favorite activities. The people of Larabunga were so happy to have us there and to have us participate, I absolutely loved it!

 

At the cultural presentation.

My friend Sara from Larabunga.

We also did a clinic in Larabunga where we assessed and taught about 260 people in a span of about 3-4 hours. This clinic was crazy! This one has by far been one of the most memorable just by the amount of people that came and stayed to hang out with us. We performed our clinic and their clinic. This clinic was one tiny building that consisted of maybe three-four rooms where they did everything. While we were doing our clinic they had a mother in one of the rooms who was laboring. Health care is just very different from America, it is still hard to get used to.

The yellow building is the actual clinic.

Another viewpoint of all the people at the clinic.

After this clinic, the last hoorah for Mole was getting to spend the night in a tree house. This was such a memorable experience. When you decide to do it they assign a guard to you, they give you a yoga mat, and a mosquito net. It wasn't the best sleep I have ever gotten, but it was such an amazing experience being able to sleep outside under the stars and hearing the animals all around. I absolutely loved this! It was a great way to end our Mole adventure.

The treehouse.

Mole (moh-lay)

We spent the weekend in Mole (May 9-12). It was pretty amazing. We actually stayed inside the park at the motel. Lets just say it was a new experience. It was here we got to experience bathing out of buckets as well as flushing the toilet with buckets of water. They only run the water for a couple of hours in the morning and at night, so if we weren't going to be around during those times you had to make sure your buckets were always full.

Here is a picture showing our blue buckets that we always had to keep full.

  Here is the view from our motel.

You can see the elephants in this picture from the motel.
 

The first day, we went on a walking safari. We got up close to more monkeys, wild boars, antelope, and elephants. It was such an incredible experience. We were able to get within at least 25 feet of the elephants.

These are red monkeys.

Some boar.

 



 

 

 

Mole has been incredible so far!

Boabeng Monkey Sanctuary

May 9, 2013

We are off to Mole National Park for the weekend. To split up the very long bus ride we stopped off at Boabeng Monkey Sanctuary. This was such an amazing place. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to come here. At this sanctuary they have two different kinds of monkeys.

 

These monkeys are called Mona monkeys.

 

These are the Colobus monkeys.

 

Here is a history I found on the internet (the pictures are from the internet as well since uploading is still a joke here in Kumasi) about the  monkey sanctuary:

A local folklore has it that a hunter, who once lived in Boabeng, came into contact with a spirit being called Daworo sometime around 1842. In the course of the relationship he went to the forest one day and saw five monkeys gathered around a pot covered with calico. The hunter was mesmerised and could not shoot them. When he consulted Daworo it told him to treat the monkeys as relatives. Dawuro asked the hunter to take the calico home and when he did that the monkeys followed him home. With time the number of the monkeys increased and the fortunes of the hunter also increased. The hunter attributed his improved material condition to his association with the monkeys and this led to a symbiotic relationship that has persisted to this day. Any monkey that died was buried and funeral rites held for it just as human beings.

 

To sum it up... these monkeys have a close relationship with the people in the village. When the monkeys are going to die they come back to the village to die among the people instead of dying in the forest nearby. When you visit this sanctuary you can buy bananas and are able to feed the Mona monkeys (the Colobus monkeys only eat leaves and stay high up in the trees). You can feed them right out of your hand. They come right up to you, will hang on to you until you are ready to give them the banana. It is incredible. Another interesting fact about this sancturay mentioned above is that they bury the monkeys, so there is a monkey cemetery. I loved getting to come here.

It was very hard to take pictures feeding the monkeys. They are so fast getting those bananas! This one is trying to patiently wait while I got its banana.

Here we have the monkey cemetery.

 



Random Tidbits

To welcome us the people here say, "You are most welcome." When we got to Mole National Park the sign said, "You are welcome to Mole" instead of "Welcome to Mole."

 

With the doctors on strike, the government told the people that they were bringing doctors in from Cuba. It is almost a daily occurence that we are asked, "You are doctors from Cuba?"

 

We also have been asked if we are Chinese. Apparently they do not like the Chinese in Ghana at the moment because the Chinese are coming to mine for gold and are doing so illegaly.

 

As you can tell from the previous two, the people love to ask us where we are from. Once we say America sometimes they like to know exactly which state, so we say Utah. Most of them do not know where Utah is, but when we respond saying Utah they will say, "Oh I have a friend in Kentucky/Chicago." They say this in such a way as if these places where right next to Utah.

 

They love to ask our names. At Aninwah a nurse asked me my name and I stated that it was Emily she then said, "Oh I am going to name my child Emily, I love that name."

 

They do not always know their birthday, which is a very foreign concept to us in America. What they do know is the day of the week they are born on, which is not something we would know in America. They are given a Twi (one of the dialects spoken here) name which is the day of the week they were born on. So, yes people will have the same name. I found out my Twi name is Afia, I was born on a Friday.

 

They love to shake our hands and hold our hands.

 

I was asked one day if my freckles were a skin disorder/disease. I tried to explain that they weren't, but I still think this man was a little concerned.

 

They also all want to be our friends. I have been greeted and immediately following that they will ask me if I will be their friend. Of course I say yes, I don't think it is possible to not be their friends.

 

They love hand sanitizer and are always try to take the hand sanitizer off our bags.

 

They also love gum and constantly ask us for our gum.

 

To get our attention or anyone person's attention they make hissing and kissing sounds. The hissing sound is also what they use to quiet people, whereas we say shh.

Komfo Anoyke

Today (May 8, 2013) we went to Komfo Anoyke. This hospital is the main hospital for the northern region of Ghana. Here they have a trauma center (like an Emergency Room) and an actual ICU (Intensive Care Unit). The new part of this hospital was pretty amazing; it opened about five years ago. The trauma center is set up basically like an ER at home. They triage patients and then see them based off of how they are triaged. In the trauma center they have the red are which is the resuscitation area. Here they have the capabilities of being able to monitor up to six patients, but if they have to take more they do and just aren't able to monitor all of them. Even though this hospital is more advanced they still have to reuse a lot of equipment. Bags and masks are reused, intubation tubes are reused, basically everything besides needles are reused.

Komfo Anoyke's Trauma Center entrance.

The monitoring used in the resuscitation area.

The bags and masks they have to use whenever they needs them.

 

The interesting part about this day was that the doctors were on strike so the hospital was very empty. The nurses told us that if the doctors had admitted a patient before they went on strike they continued caring for that patient but they would refuse to take any more in. The doctors were supposed to be resuming practice that night, so the staff said that the night was going to be crazy. The said that when this (the doctors going on strike) happens many patients have to be taken care of at the smaller hospitals where they just do not get the same kind of care, meaning that by the time they come to Komfo Anoyke they have many complications. Even with the impending chaos everyone was still in pretty good spirits. They would say that yes it was going to get busy, but they would manage. The people here always have the best attitudes.

I was able to talk one on one with a nurse in the ICU. Here in the ICU they had maybe 8 beds with monitoring capabilities. They also had about that many vents. In the ICU they don't have intensivists (ICU specific doctors). They only have nurses and then anesthesiologists. I asked the nurse what training she had to complete to work in the ICU. She stated that they complete their nursing degree which I believe takes four years. After completing that degree they then work in the ICU for two years after which they go back to school for one year and three months. They have them work in the ICU for that amount of time so that when they go back to school they are able to better understand what they are being taught. It was at this hospital that I first saw nurses wearing scrubs, like you would see in America. Everywhere else they are in a dress and have to wear a little hat.

A bed in the ICU.

The crash cart in the ICU.
 

To finish our visit at this hospital we visited the Pediatric Ward. We brought toys and candy with us to pass out and it was a very special experience being able to hand a little toy car or bead necklace to these kids and see their face light up. Their whole demeanor changed. It was a very memorable experience.

After the hospital we had the opportunity to go to a football (soccer) game. It was very fun, I'm glad we were able to experience this aspect of Ghanaian culture. They really love their football and they get very heated over it. Towards the end of the game many of the spectators were getting very upset with the refs and started throwing water bottles and water bags (in Ghana most of the water the people buy are in bags where they just bite off a corner and drink, it is very interesting). At the end of the game the score was 0-0, no one won. Even though the game was very anti-climatic it was a very enjoyable event.

The football stadium in Kumasi, I still can't believe how big it is.