John cracks a joke, I give the papers their due respect, and we all get cotton mouth

Tuesday (July 7) ended up being a more relaxed day for all of us. We got to sleep in some and then we had an orientation time with our partner that we're working with up here in the north. They gave us more info on etiquette, etc. One of the tips that we thought was particularly interesting was when praying for someone who is demon possessed, it's imperative to keep your eyes open or they will slap you in the face. They expanded a bit on our lesson the night before about how to act towards a chief as well. We got to meet some of the translators that we're working with, all of whom are super amazing guys. It's really been a blessing to have them with us, not only for the obvious reason that they are our way of communicating to the people, but also for their love for Christ, their enthusiasm, and their knowledge of northern Ghana and the people here.

After our orientation time we said goodbye to our fearless leader, Lee. We were really sad to see him leave. We felt like he was the father of the group! A lot of Ghanaians have asked us for our contact information and we've always had Lee (who stands over six foot) to point to and say "no our dad doesn't allow that". He was the one who taught us how to speak our first Twi (pronounced Tchwee) phrases in Accra. One of his personal favorites is "Ah Dain!" which means "why". We've adopted it a little bit, and every once in a while I'll hear one of my fellow interns saying "Ah Dain! Ah Dain!" (Lee, if you're reading this, we miss you and we are so grateful we got to spend the time with you that we did!)

Lee and us interns!

Lunch was an interesting experience on Tuesday. The hotel hadn't been expecting us for that one meal, so we were served a platter of fish sandwiches and muffins which we were a bit dry. It really was tasty food, but it was a lot of dense breading to eat at one meal. I don't want to say our mouths were as dry as the Sahara but...they were a bit dry! After we had lunch we did a mini clinic at the hotel that we're staying at for the staff here and for some people who came from the surrounding area. I was on pharmacy for the first time that day. I got lucky being introduced to the pharmacy on a slower day. Usually the pharmacy people are working their tails off all day with not much rest. At one point there was a man who needed a shot of ceftriaxone for gonorrhea. He was sitting by the pharmacy with his eyes glued (in what you might say was terror) on Sheila as she prepped the shot. When John realized what Sheila was making up he told her he'd "give it a crack". Sheila replied "no, not the crack". For those of you who don't understand the humor here, ceftriaxone is a shot given in the upper right quadrant of the buttocks.



Steve numbing an abscess before lancing it.

I know I've talked a bit about our clinic setup before, but I'll go into a bit more detail here. We have these papers that we number each day from 1-120+ (the number depends on the number of patients we're seeing on a given day). The papers are quite coveted; they're almost sacred, really. At the registration point someone takes down the patient (or patients, as often we get a mother or grandmother with a group of anywhere from two to five children) name(s), age(s), and the community we're in. Each human that is seen by a doctor MUST have a paper. Once they've gotten their own paper, people wait in line to get their vitals taken (BP, temp, weight, pulse, etc.). They then wait to see the doctor. Because of the paper numbering we do, people are seen in the order that they arrive at the registration table. After they've seen the doctor they take their paper (which now has a diagnosis and prescription on it) to the pharmacy, where they wait for it to be filled. This whole process can take a while at times, but people are always patient and gracious about having to wait.

After dinner on Tuesday night Chad informed Helen, John, and I that he thought someone had broken into he and John's room and was hiding in the bathroom. The three of us went up the stairs Mission Impossible style to check out the scene. Chad had told us that when he came to the room the front door was wide open but the bathroom door was shut. Upon arriving at the room we pushed open the front door and Chad turned on some lights. He and John shoved open the bathroom door to find...nothing. Probably the cleaning staff had left the front door unlatched or something. But amidst this excitement John pointed to the toilet and informed us that that was where "it" had happened. (His first solid poo in a few days time. He'd previously been quite sick and clearly having some bowel issues). We're quite an open group at this point. Apologies to any readers who decided to catch up on the blog during lunch. When the other girls had joined us we played a few games of Mafia before we dispersed for bedtime. While Mafia is a really fun game to play, it sure does bring out the mischievous in each of us. We always have a good laugh at poor Chad when he attempts to defend himself during an accusation. He just can't keep a straight face! It actually seems to be pretty often that his response to being asked if he wants to make a defense for himself is just "no". I think it's hard for us to kill him off, though, as he's really a sweet guy!