Helen falls in love, I administer a shot, and we all eat banku

So onward we move with the backtracking. Power is running today, so there should be nothing to stop me from catching up completely this time! Yay!

Friday (July 3) brought an early morning. Our takeoff was 6:30. For us at the girls' house this was preceded (once again) by a somewhat late night of chatting. Regardless, we all made departure on time. Our drive was a bit further outside of Accra than it was on Thursday. We decided to pass the time with some singing. Unfortunately our repertoire of songs we all know and sing well isn't HUGE, so we mostly sang "It Is Well With My Soul" on repeat. Lee had told us that if we opened our windows that Ghanaians on the street or in other cars would join us. We tested this out while sitting in some traffic. Unfortunately the gentlemen in the van next to us didn't feel like joining in..but we did get some smiles and a thumbs up at least.

Upon arrival to the village we were greeted by a large group of cows and a young man bathing himself in the community "bathhouse". This was simply four wooden posts with some metal wrapped around. It seems to be a trend that we catch people (men in particular) bathing in very public places. While this instance in the village isn't necessarily one (as he was enclosed in the bathing structure), we did see a man on the side of the highway lathering himself up for an afternoon wash later that day. We also witnessed a bathing taking place behind the gas station that we stopped at on Saturday.

The cows that greeted us.

Anyway, back to Friday! The doctors and pharmacy were able to set up shop in the small village church, while registration and vitals set up right outside under a large tent. It rained a bit off and on in the morning, so having the shelter from it was really nice. I shadowed Steve again, which was quite fun! John was my fellow shadowee that day, though he was stolen away for a while to join the pharmacy team (Rachel and Megan were the pharmacy interns that day). The adorable children were loved on by Chad and Helen all day, and Jules took vitals! From what I was seeing on the doctor side of things, it seemed to be a really smooth day. We saw a lot of people complaining of "waist pain", which is almost always lower back pain. There are also lots of headaches and stomachaches, as well as a fair amount of malaria. Steve and I saw two young men who had what seemed to be STDs. Unfortunately for them this meant a shot of ceftriaxone, which I hear is quite painful. I got to observe Sheila administer the first, and then later on got to administer the second myself! Steve and I also saw a woman with a blood pressure of about 220/180!! (For those of unfamiliar with BP, this is VERY high. Normal is 120/80 range).

Our lunch was served to us by the village.

Banku (on the left) along with the fish stew.

We had banku, which is a mixture of corn and cassava that is pounded into a really thick mixture and fermented for three days. These were served with a sort of fish and okra stew. I was not a fan of the banku, but the stew was quite good. To the chagrin of many of my teammates, however, it didn't seem to agree too well with our fragile obroni stomachs.

Aside from the doctoring that was going on inside the church building, Helen was outside falling in love. She formed a quick bond with an adorable little boy. I also had my heartstrings pulled by a little girl who Steve and I saw, and another little girl attached herself to Jules and wouldn't let go. Megan was also smitten with a little girl, whom she ended up giving her headband to. Chad worked the reverse equation, and had a small mob of children following him around all day.

After returning to the mission house we enjoyed a delicious meal by Eva the Great, and then we headed back to the girls' house for a few games of Mafia. (If you are unaware of what this game is, click here to read about it and learn how to play!). Essentially there is a town vs. a group of mafia. The mafia know who each other are, but no one else is aware of others' identities. The games got quite heated, especially when Helen pulled a stellar performance a few games in, and convinced most of us that she was not mafia when she really was. I was one of those who was absolutely convinced of her identity as a townsperson and as a result she chose to kill me off. I'm still recovering from the betrayal.