I write a post about the villages

Before I do any writing about our work out in the villages here in northern Ghana, I want to write a

general overview of what these villages are like. The villages that we are currently serving are all of the same tribe, therefore they speak the same language. Driving out to the villages takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on which village we are visiting. We leave our hotel, driving for a while through the city. Along the sides of the road are many little wooden and tin shanties where people are selling different goods. Some sell clothing, purses, baskets, shoes, fruit. Food stands are also found quite frequently. They may serve a whole chicken that's been cooked up, or some sort of Ghanaian food like banku and fish soup.

Soon we'll turn off onto a less developed road and the landscape shifts dramatically. Instead of the green, blue, yellow, pink, orange of the shacks in the city there is a vast expanse of greens and brown. We drive by many, many agricultural fields. The produce planted here is mainly maize, yams, cassava, and rice. The landscape is dotted by many trees, of which many are shea trees. The fruit produced by these trees is eaten, and the seeds are used for their oil to produce products such as shea butter. Some of these trees have termite hills next to them that can tower over seven feet! There are also a lot of sheep and goats, along with their offspring, that are seen everywhere. We see quite a few in town as well, but the number drastically increases as we leave the city behind. Cow herds are also very common, and occasionally we'll be stopped by a herd crossing the road.

A yam field

Speaking of cows, they are herded by the Fulani people. This is a nomadic group that herds cows throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. At times they will settle in or near a village, resulting in a mutualistic partnership between the Fulani and the villagers. The village benefits from having cows' milk available to them, and the Fulani benefit by having a secure place to settle for a while.

After a while of driving we'll begin to see the mud huts that a village consists of. As you can see from the picture below, they are very simple. Most of them are round structures with a slightly sloped roof. These huts are made out of mud mixed with some cement. If they are made well they can last up to ten years. One family will have a collection of huts that are arranged around a central area which contains a large fire and common area. As far as I've observed so far these circles of huts also contain a little room off to the side with a drain to the outside of the center. This is the latrine, but it is strictly for number one (at least that's what we've been told). Anything other than that, well...go find some privacy and dig and bury.

Many of the villages we've visited also contain a mosque, as this is a very Muslim area of Ghana. Another thing that we commonly see is huge patches of the ground covered in either rice or shea nuts being dried after boiling. There are always a number of large metal bowls that are used for carrying water or food lying around as well. Some villages will have a well for drawing water, or there is one nearby.



Shea nuts drying in the hot sun

The people in the villages are strong, beautiful, and very kind. They are always excited to greet us, although at times the smaller children take some time to warm up to us. The women generally wear a brightly colored and patterned piece of fabric wrapped around their waist as a skirt. They also often have a hair covering (such as a scarf). Most of the women carry a baby or small child on their back, tied to them with a scarf. We also see a decent number of elderly men, and often some younger men as well. Each village has a chief, though some village's chiefs are chief over multiple villages and may not actually reside in the village we are in. If the chief is present and wanting to be seen by us, he is given priority over everyone else. Everywhere we look in the villages we see so many children. It's the custom for women to have many children, and it's evident.

Being in the villages is humbling and eye opening. There are things that we as westerners deem "necessities" that these people have no notion of. Their focus is not on the material, but on the necessary. Family, food, water, shelter. Before I came to Africa I had a mental image of what an African village and the people that lived in them were like (as I assume most who haven't seen them do). Before, I felt a sense of superiority, that I had so much in the way of material goods to offer. I could give clothes, money, food, time. I had an image of people who were unable to care for themselves or provide for their children sufficiently (why else would Africa be in so much need, I would wonder?). Boy, was I wrong. Yes, there is poverty and less healthcare. Yes, there are some who can't, or don't know how, to care for themselves. But God and Ghana are showing me that these people are my family, they are my brothers and sisters. I am not above them. In fact, in many ways, they are much wiser than I am. I'm learning, in the most tangible way, that life is more than things, or money, or success.




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!

Chad tells a story, I buy stale biscuits, and we all go a little crazy

Monday (July 6) came with an early wakeup call at 5 a.m. The night before we had laid out giant rat traps for this rat that some people had seen scuttling around the kitchen. We were really hoping that we'd caught him before we were going to leave, but no such luck. Here's hoping he has been caught in our absence! Michelle was right on time with the van to pick up us and our luggage. We rendezvoused with the boys at Lee and Michelle's, and we departed Accra shortly after 6.
We were told to expect a 12 hour drive. While most of those from the US wouldn't balk too much at a 10 hour road trip, our friends from the UK definitely do. Rachel (one of the UK interns) had done a long road trip before, but John (the other UK intern) had not and as a result spent much time mentally and emotionally preparing for the drive. We passed the time by listening to (and singing along loudly) to a variety of music, talking, and napping. Lee (who was our driver the whole way) was a champ! He sang along with us, and picked out a few of his own songs like "Bleeding Love".

Our fearless leader!

There was a good chunk of the trip when we girls were telling first kiss stories (I know, I know) and we encouraged the guys to share as well. Chad absolutely refused, but John's turned out to be the best story of anyone's in the van! And Chad rewarded us a while later with a smashing story about an unfortunate pick-up line experience. Lee shared about how he proposed to Michelle also, which was fun to hear!

One of the quirks of Ghana that we've noticed is that every now and then a bag of crackers or box of biscuits (especially imported ones) will be in some state of staleness when it is purchased. I experienced my first stale biscuits on our road trip, when I bought some Digestives on one of our stops. Besides our few stops for fuel, snacks, and toilets, we chugged along with no interruptions and ended up taking only 10.5 hours to complete the trip. Oh, I forgot to mention that the doctors, Michelle, and a few other staff people flew north instead of driving with us. So they had all had a late wake-up call, a short plane ride, and an afternoon of relaxing at our hotel by the time we reached our destination. But they’re the ones who really missed out! Our road trip really was fun, and it was sort of a unique thing to be able to experience Ghana by vehicle like that.
 

I think by this point we've all lost a little sanity.

 After everyone was settled into their rooms, we had dinner (all of our meals here are served by the hotel), and then one of Lee’s friends who lives up north came to introduce us to this part of Ghana and give us pointers on how to act respectfully. One of the main things he spoke about was how to act properly in the presence of a chief. Most of the villages we’d be visiting would have a chief (likely that we’d be seeing in the clinic), so it was important information to learn. We haven’t yet been formerly introduced to a chief, but we learned that you’re never supposed to have your head above the chief’s, so it’s proper to squat in his presence and to clap very quietly. Chiefs don’t speak to people, they talk through a linguist who is always with them. The chiefs we’ve seen thus far have seemed (to me) to be a bit relaxed on some of these rules.

It was ironic to hear Lee’s friend talking about how to act towards a chief, because he then revealed that he’d actually been made a chief recently in the area that he lives. Lee jokingly calls him “the Great White Chief of the North” because he is literally the chief of all the white people that live in and come into that area.

 After the talk, the interns came to Meg, Helen, and my room to hang out together for a while before heading to bed. It really is crazy that we’ve only known each other for a week and a half. It really feels like we’ve all been friends for quite a long time. Things that happened last week feel like a lifetime ago. On the other hand, some days it feels like I just arrived in Ghana yesterday. I’m really taken with this place, and the people I’m experiencing it with. Ghana is captivating to me. The Ghanaian people, the land, the “quirks” like stale biscuits and powdered milk, the goats and sheep, everything here seems to draw me in a little more every day. I’m so thankful that I’ve been given the opportunity to have this experience and to make these memories.

I sweat a river, Laura ponders her life choices, and we all eat at DNR

On Sunday (July 5) we attended church at Legon Interdenominational Church (LIC) which is located on the University of Ghana campus. The service was really joyful and inspiring. The Mass Choir sang, which was fantastic. Probably about the first hour of the service was worship, which was led by the choir. Someone in our group commented afterwards that the words we sang were so simple, yet so powerful and full of praise. It really was an experience to be in a church where everyone is dancing—even the offering was danced to the front of church—and so clearly passionate about Jesus. The only negative point was sweating out a couple gallons of sweat during the service! What’s crazy is that right now it’s rainy season in Africa, so it’s not nearly as hot as it gets in February/March.
 
After the service (which was 2 hours 15 minutes by the way) we had lunch at a restaurant called “DNR: Turkish Restaurant”. Earlier that morning I had asked Dr. Joe where we were getting lunch and he said it was some place called “DNR”. Immediately Helen and I both said “Do Not Resuscitate!” Of course we weren’t the first two to say this either. I guess that’s what you get when you’re traveling with a bunch of pre-med students!

 Sunday afternoon was a great relaxation time. We were supposed to all be packing for our trek up north on Monday, but the boys came over to the girls’ house and we spent the afternoon counting medicine and talking. After dinner at Lee and Michelle’s we had a worship time in the living room, with us interns leading everyone in song. It was really a cool time to connect spiritually with the team. Near the end of our worship time Lee shared that he would be leaving the team on Tuesday to fly to the States for some family business. We were all crushed, but we got to say prayers for his journey and we had the promise of a 10+ hour drive up north the next day with him to lessen the tough news!

 
Back at the girls’ house after dinner we had a rough time focusing on our packing! We had an intense Taylor Swift jam session and went dancing around the house to “Shake it Off”. This may or may not have been the moment when Laura questioned what she’d gotten herself into by being our house mom! But even with the Taylor Swift and the M&M’s we broke into, we did eventually get all prepped for our trip the next day.

John eats "Chicken Mexican", Steve grills, and we all jump off a rock

On Saturday (July 4) we went to Till's Beach for a day of fun and relaxation. It was a really great place to recharge from our busy week. We set off pretty early the morning to avoid traffic, and got to the beach around 9:30. We played some football, did some body boarding, swam around in the waves, and some folks did some sunbathing and reading as well.

 

We enjoyed a really nice lunch served by the hotel on whose beach we were visiting. Poor John was feeling pretty sick, but that didn't deter him from ordering a big plate of "Chicken Mexican", a decision which I believe he came to regret. Helen and I shared some joloff rice with our chicken. Joloff rice is a dish served throughout West Africa, though it's done differently in each country. Ghana's version is rice with tomatoes, onions, and often some sort of meat as well. It can be spicy, but the joloff we had that day wasn't at all. We also drank some fresh coconut water with our lunch. I personally am not a huge fan, but it was a cool thing to try!

 

After lunch quite a few of us decided to crash on the beach for a nap. I was awoken from my nap by a large splash of water on my back. When I looked up to see who would dare do such a thing, I saw Michelle! (Michelle is the wife of Lee, who I believe I mentioned before is the Reach Beyond Regional Director of Sub-Saharan Africa). I couldn't resist spreading the mischief, so Steve received some water to the face by me during his snooze.

 

Before leaving, we interns were required to join in on the tradition of taking a photo jumping off a rock on Till's Beach. The rock was quite large, and while we did get a great picture, Megan got a nasty ouchy on her ankle! But have no fear, folks--her foot is still attached and she's doing well! On our way back from the picture-taking, Helen "triple-dog dared" me to run into this circle of Ghanaian girls and start dancing. I told her I'd do it if she did too, so we ran down the beach and started "dancing" (AKA wiggling around like silly white girls) in the midst of this group. After their initial shock, they joined in with us and we had a poppin' spontaneous dance party on the beach! It was really a pretty cool moment--they didn't question it, they just joined in and were yelling and moving around with us. I think that this incident is a cool image of what the Ghanaian people are like in general. All those that we have met have been so welcoming and friendly. They are happy to see us, and are so inviting and kind.

 

We ended our day with a cookout for the 4th of July (hamburgers grilled to perfection thanks to the brilliant Dr. Steve), and a group sing of the Star Spangled Banner. A few games of Mafia rounded out the day as well.

 



Chad enjoys some Charles Dickens

Chai (Lee & Michelle's puppy) gallivanting on the beach!

  

John recovering some strength after his "Chicken Mexican"



The "bromance"

Me spreading the love



The girls! Helen, me, Megan, Rachel, Jules







Helen and I getting down




Rachel sipping coconut water

One of John's infamous selfies

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.

I get my hair pet, Jules leads a game, and we all sing some hymns

I'm writing this post with my tail between my legs (much like Max the guard dog when he escaped the gate and ran for freedom only to be caught and chastised by Laura!) as I'm feeling a bit abashed at not having caught up on blogging yet. I am also quite ashamed at how unimaginative my title is. I blame it on my exhaustion from the beach today. For those of you sticking with my ramblings, please bear with me. We're nearly caught up on all the grand adventures in Ghana!

We left off last on Wednesday evening (July 1). After our Bible study we girls went home, readied ourselves for bed, and got to sleep at a respectable hour. NOT. When we're all in a room together, no matter how early our morning wake up call is, we can't resist talking. It's really fun to all be so comfortable and friendly so soon--that is, until our alarms go off at 6:00 in the morning. Thursday we headed off to a village quite near Accra. We set up our clinic area in a shaded spot near the village school. There was also a large grassy field perfect for playing with kids!

The clinic!

I was especially glad about this, as I was on children's ministry with Jules that day. We began to kick a football (soccer ball) around between the two of us and Laura (sidebar: Laura is a missionary in Ghana, and she's our house mom and one of the children's ministry leaders for us!). We attracted a couple of kids, things were going smoothly. And then the schoolchildren went on break. KIDS ON KIDS ON KIDS. We're not sure how many actually attend the school, but at one point I heard from Laura that she'd heard a number like 700 or so from a teacher there. We had two footballs and a beach ball. All three were immediately swept up by different groups of kids. While this was happening, Jules and I were being mobbed by children. We played some different games with them. A modified version of "Duck, Duck, Goose" using the beach ball was really enjoyed, as was a game of "Simon Says" that Jules got going later on. Throughout the day the school had breaks from lessons, so during those times we had the hundreds of children wanting to play with us; at other times it was much calmer, and we were able to do some Bible stories and coloring.

Though it's likely that these kids had seen an "obroni" (foreigner) before, they were really intrigued by our skin and hair. The girls especially wanted to touch and feel our hair. It would start with one child tentatively reaching out to hold my hand. When I made it clear that I was okay with holding a hand, giving a high-five, or a fist-bump, it encouraged the others to crowd in and grab my arms, rub my hands, pet my hair. A few times when I was holding some girls' hands, others would come up to have their turn holding it, but the ones in possession would fight them off. If only I could sprout another arm or two for this trip! The kids were so joyful, and curious, and bold. They are beautiful, inside and out. Recalling their smiling faces brings a smile to my face. It's truly an honor to be someone who potentially leaves a mark on their life.

While Jules and I were sweating all over the place with the kids, our team was working hard on the medical side. Chad was the vital taking champion of the day--he was so diligent about his job, and forged through the day with a lot of determination! John and Rachel (recently graduated from pharmacy school, and in pharmacy school, respectively) again headed up the pharmacy with Sheila (one of our leaders). Helen and Megan shadowed our fabulous doctors. I believe we saw about 140 patients that day.

That evening I was informed that we interns were in charge of heading up a worship time this Sunday evening and we decided to head to the mission office after dinner to practice our singing. Before we got started, however, rain began to fall. Helen, Jules, and I decided to run outside and jump around in it. Upon returning, sopping wet, to the office, we found our fellow interns singing "How He Loves" in the dark (the rain had caused a power outage). We all joined in for what was, in my opinion, a stellar rendition of the song. We went on to sing other worship songs, and Lee broke out the hymnals for us to use as well. We spent a good 45 minutes in the office that evening, praising, laughing, and trying out some really hilarious singing voices. This evening time with my intern family was really special to me. Just as Christ was a relational being, so too are we, and sharing silly moments (like running around in the rain), heartfelt ones (like singing "How He Loves" in the darkness together), and all those in between are not only bringing me closer to my team here, but to my God. Though the acceptance and love I feel from my team is but a glimpse of that which I receive through Christ, it still encourages me to pour out love and acceptance on others, such as the Ghanaian people.

---For those of you who are unfamiliar with the power issues in Accra, let me fill you in. Accra doesn't really have enough electricity. What this means is that everyone is on a schedule for when and how long they receive power. Right now we're on 12 hours with power/24 hours without. We're blessed to have a generator. We do turn the generator off late at night until early morning, however, in the interest of conserving its gas,etc. So right now there's no power, and the generator just shut off (fingers crossed that it was turned off by our night guard and didn't break down)! In addition to this situation, I'm about out of juice on my tablet, which means I'll leave off posting about our final day of clinic this week (Friday) and our day at the beach (today) for tomorrow.---