picture from saturday

So this is a picture of me in front of the Black Star by Independence Square. I learned something this day...Ghana was liberated in 1957. Thought that was pretty interesting!!!

Monday Outreach to Aklamador

Hello all!

Just got back an hour or so ago from our outreach today. We went to a little village named Aklamador in the Volta region of Ghana. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive from Accra. I honestly think we spent more hours in the van than working!!! But it was still a very good day!! There were tons of kids in the village that were so sweet, and some of the other volunteers brought some bubbles and beach balls to give to the kids and they went NUTS!! It was awesome! A man in the village also got my address and asked me to be his 10 year old daughter's pen-pal! I was like for sure!!! I worked the glasses and medication dispensary today with Ryan and a translator. We only saw about 67 patients today, so all in all it was a light day. They people of Aklamador were so sweet. They cooked us lunch and gave it to us when we were all finished. We had tilapia and rice with this good red sauce. We also had some homemade cheese...and I'm thinking that maybe the cheese was not a smart idea...but I hated to be rude...they made it for us! My stomach is not too happy with me right now...oh well I'll get over it!!

On the way home we went a different way than we went on the way there and we drove by the coast! It was so pretty! The area we were in is called Tema and I think I heard someone saying that it's the largest port in West Africa..and I believe it! There were tons of huge ships out in the ocean! It was a neat sight. I also saw a bunch of cows today....I know that's super random... We also drove by Labadi beach and this big nice hotel called La Palm Hotel and Beach Resort (i think...) Nick was saying it's super nice and that Queen Elizabeth used to or does stay there when she comes to Ghana....pretty sweet.

It was a good day...not too long so I'm not really too worn out. Not much more to write right now....

OH! I did see something neat today. Robert examined a lady that had a traumatic corneal laceration. He made me bring my camera in and take a picture of it. It was so sad..it looked SOOO painful. Apparently this lady was walking by a tree and some kids were throwing stones into the tree for some reason and one happened to hit her in the eye.... SOOOO SAD!!

Monday

Well...beginning of my second week here. Back to work today. Going on outreach to the Volta region. Should be a good day....not looking forward to the 2 hr car ride I have ahead of me though...BLAH!!! Went to the beach yesterday...and another market...and this place called Independence Square. Ryan got into a scuffle on the beach b/c he took a picture of some guys playing soccer and they got realllllly angry....they took his camera and I didn't think they were going to give it back!!! He got it back tho... will update more later....gotta go eat breakfast!

kids

So I just realized that I keep writing about kids... I hope I don't end up bringing one home with me! HAHA

to the market

Yesterday we all went to the market! It was so much fun!!! I bought some souvenirs and some cool gifts for people! It was a crazy experience...the vendors would basically drag you into their stalls and try to sell you things. They were VERY persistent. After we were done shopping I was still waiting on a couple of ppl from the group to get done and some of us were kind of sitting on these stairs and these 3 little kids came up to us and sat down with us. I had on my Grateful Dead shirt and one of the little girls told me she liked it! haha...prob b/c it's so colorful!!! The little boy was 3 yrs old and his name was David!! he was absolutely precious!!! The three of them kept singing happy birthday to us! It was the funniest thing...I got it on video.

After the market we went for an early dinner at the chinese place again...yum.... and then we just hung around the Telecentre...played cards....chatted....it was a good time! Not sure what anyone is doing today..but I really want to get out and do something!

peace out.

Friday night

So yesterday I pretty much relaxed and took it easy...read some of my book... rested...

Then around 6 or so Erica and I went to get dinner b/c we were starving...we went to Chinese..again..that place is so good! I had beef with fried noodles. Probably shouldn't eat beef, but it was so good actually!! haha... let's see if I am still saying that later on!!!

After we finished eating dinner we went to T&C to meet up with everyone else...all of the other volunteers were back and they were all eating dinner. Then everyone except Kaitlyn and Jessica went to Roof Top, a bar/club. It's on the roof of this building, and it's completely open to the night sky. It was so much fun! (We went for Osman's birthday) We stayed about 2 and a half hours... just dancing the night away! haha... it really was a good time. Ghanaian men kept trying to teach us (the girls, well and some of the guys for that matter, haha) how to dance like them... it was HILARIOUS!!! All in all, a realy fun night!!! Roof Top is a pretty sweet place.

cute little girl at school

PiCtUrEs!

The picture on the left is of me sitting in the classroom during School Health yesterday. The one on the right is of the class we taught! Tons of kids!!

lazy day....

Well, it's around 12:30 here... Supposedly the water is out at the Telecentre...I wouldn't know b/c I took my shower last night. I slept in today..til about 10...then had breakfast. Then Erica and I went to exchange some money and we stopped at some little shops/stalls on the side of the road to buy fanta, crackers (or biscuits as they are called here), and Erica bought some bread. Oh and we also bought some phone cards. We haven't really decided if we're going to do anything during the day today. Everyone is just kinda chillin out and reading in their rooms. All of the other volunteers (Max, Jessica, Kaitlyn, Valarie, Gina, Ryan, and Jerson) come back today from their overnight outreach. It's going to be so weird to have all of them back!

Well... guess I'm going to go read...or maybe study for the OAT...haha. peace.

one more for tonight!

So I just realized that I haven't mentioned too much about what I've actually been doing for "work" everyday. I mean I know I said we went to the school, but I didn't tell you what I actually do. Today I taught the kids about Glaucoma, Cataracts, and how to maintain good eye health. I also told them things they shouldn't do to treat their eyes. In Ghana, some people will put seawater, urine, tomato juice, herbs, breast milk, sugar water, and other things along those lines in their eyes!!!!!! I couldn't believe all of this when I heard it. Kartee asked the kids what were some things they would put in their eyes when they had pink eye or something and the kids actually said all of these things!! Man saltwater and urine would burn so bad!!! Oh and onion juice also. And breast milk....? Ew.... These kids need to hear what we are saying and go home and teach their parents and siblings.

Just thought I should actually say something that I've been doing that actually concerns the eye!!!!

Night :)

more about today...

It's about 11 pm right now and I am TRYING to get ready to go to bed. I accidentally took a nap today for about an hour and a half... so I'm not too tired. I just actually found out though that we all have tomorrow off b/c something is wrong with John's (our driver) car... I think there's a leak in the fuel line/tank or something. SOOOO I can sleep in! And go to sleep whenever I want! This also mean I have a 3 day weekend!! I can't believe it.... Nick and Erica and I may try to head out to the beach or the market or something tomorrow. Also tomorrow is Osman's 25th birthday, so we will probably go out with him at night. (Osman is the brother of someone who works in the Telecentre Guest House so he hangs out here a lot, and he's super nice. He's taking us to a market on Saturday.)

So today Erica and I went with Kartee (another ophthalmic nurse) to a school to do school health. I thought we were going to get in so many wrecks on the way there...I could NEVER drive a car here... people drive EVERYWHERE...they like make their own roads through market-type places and everything...and people will just cross oncoming traffic when a car is like 2 feet away from you...it is insane.. if I make it out of here w/o having a heart attack it will be a miracle!!

So we finally made it to the school. It was a very big compound.. 3 schools in 1. Tons of kids everywhere. We taught in a classroom of maybe 70-80 kids... I think it was 2 or 3 classes combined. The kids got a little restless during our presentation and started chattering away. But it's so funny, if you stand in front of the class and say "Hello" the kids will all answer back in unison "HI!" and if you say "Hi" they all say "HELLO!" It's the neatest thing. The kids are all really polite. After school health we screened their teachers who were having trouble with reading and gave them glasses. After we were done screening, someone from the school brought us a drink. Now, theres this drink that's popular here called Malta. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it yet...but here goes. Malta is the NASTIEST thing I have ever put into my body. It's a carbonated drink, made by Guinness, but it is non-alcoholic. It has hops and barley in it, and honestly it tastes like you are drinking Special-K (yes, the cereal!!) YUCK YUCK YUCK!!! Well I hate to be rude when someone goes out and buys me a drink, so Erica and I tried so hard to drink it, but I literally felt like I was going to vomit. (Oh and supposedly Malta gives you energy...and there's malt in it.) Well we drank a little bit of it, then we started walking around the schoolyard and found some little boys to give it away too, b/c they love Malta. The 1st little boy that I tried to give my Malta too was named Samuel. Samuel told us that he likes Malta, but that he was "satisfied right now". HOW ADORABLE IS THAT?!? He was SATISFIED, so he didn't want any malta. I have to start saying that. We finally found some little boys to give the malta to, and they were so happy. The little boy I gave mine to was sooo short. I thought he was maybe 6 or 7 at most, but he told me that he was 11!!! ELEVEN!! HAHA!!!

We finally left the school, and John and Kartee dropped us back at the guest house around 3ish. Erica and I then walked across the street to a little shop to buy some FANTA and water. On our way a FAT goat was walking towards us, then just walked around us. I think is was pregnant b/c only it's belly was super fat. Then we came back to the hotel and napped a bit. When Nick got back from the Crystal Eye Clinic, we all got ready to go out to dinner....Chinese again... it was delish. After dinner we saw that they had ice cream so we got some, and it was DELICIOUS as well!!!! SWEETS!!!!

We got back to the guest house and just hung around in Nick's room a bit... then Erica and I came upstairs and that's when she saw that she had a missed call from Robert so she called him back and we found out that we have tomorrow off!!

So here I am. I just took a shower (with HORRIBLE water pressure-but it was hot at least) and now I am about to read some of my book and just pass out!! Hopefully the 3 of us will figure out sumn neat to do tomorrow! They've both been here since July 1 so they kinda know the neat things around Accra!!



OHHHH I just remembered something random... I saw some cows today. Up until today I had only seen sheep, goats, chicken, and lizards. Also some creepy dogs. The cows were very sad looking. So skinny. I guess I should've expected it.

Also have I mentioned that the sewage is above ground? In ditches along the sides of the paved roads? Kinda smelly when you're walking around sometimes....

Well...goodnight for now!!!!
Peace

school health #2

So there were a couple of kids standing around and I asked Erica to take my picture. As soon as she was ready to take the picture, these kids started flocking to me. It was neat, but I almost couldn't stand up!!! They were so cute that I didn't care though!

Going to dinner now....Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant... update later :) PeACE

school health

This is a picture of me on Tuesday at the Salvation Army School. This was the 1st School Health I went on, and it was so much fun. The kids here LOVE to take pictures!!!!

PICTURE!!

Well, I finally got a picture to upload on here!! Still sitting around waiting on Robert to pick us up...

This is me yesterday (Wednesday) at outreach getting ready to do visual acuity. Lots of fun, but man my arm gets tired b/c you have to point to every E... (oh and I thought this was a weird chart... but the ppl point which way the E is facing)

adios!

dusty

it's thursday morning and i am waiting on robert to come pick me and erica up to go do school health. but while i was waiting... i wanted to write down a couple of interesting/funny things... first of all, Accra is the DUSTIEST place I have ever been, and everyone rides with the car windows down..always....and the exhaust from cars will kill you :/

there are goats and chickens EVERYWHERE...the middle of the road, the side of the road, everywhere..... also saw some random sheep yesterday...verrrry strange

almost every little shop on the side of the road is named after Jesus or God... like God's Favour Hair Salon, or God's Chosen whatever store- it's crazy how many place have the word God in the name .... oh and I saw an electronics store named "Look and Take Electronics"...i'm not sure why but I found it HILARIOUS...

Just some little things I thought were kind of interesting :)

peace out

busy busy busy....

well, there is so much that has happened in the past 2 days, but i am not so sure that i can get it all into a blog before i pass out!

so yesterday, nick and i went with Robert (an ophthalmic nurse from Liberia) to a school to do School Health. we basically taught one class about their eyes: how they see, eye anatomy, eye diseases, things they can do to take care of their eyes. it was so much fun. at first i was a bit nervous because 1st of all it was my first real "job" with unite for sight and 2nd of all, i get nervous when talking in front of ppl. these kids were so great though!! it was a blast, and i actually get to do it again tomorrow with Erica. after the class (which was like junior high kids--age 15 or so) we screened the teachers. then we left and went to another school where we just screened more teachers. it was all a lot of fun.

we then headed off to the crystal eye clinic to observe Dr. Clarke performing surgery. we arrived around 2 pm. nick and i sat around for a while (which happens every now and again) and then someone brought us lunch- chicken and fried rice for me (i've had that like 3 times since i have been in ghana! haha) after lunch we digested a bit and finally went into surgery. we had to put on a robe thing, surgical mask, and a little surgical cap. the weirdest thing to me tho was that they make everyone who goes into surgery wear flip-flops, even the patients. oh and the OR is called the theatre. so we went into surgery, and i got dizzy watching the 1st one... i didn't feel sick really, just dizzy. i stuck it out for a bit tho, and sat down in a chair. then robert took me out of the room to have a drink and sit for a while. when we finally returned to the "theatre" about 30 mins later i was totally fine, and was able to watch all the surgeries. nick and i were so tired though. we stayed there til about 7ish, then the driver brought us back to the telecentre. me erica and nick then walked to this chinese restaurant that was actually really good.

oh and one more thing about surgery. it is so crazy to watch how he does it. first he makes his incision, then he goes in with a needle and detaches the lens. then he injects so much vitreous fluid that is forces the lens with the cataract out of the incision. it just pops right out!!! it is nuttttttttts to watch, but soooo cool.

so today we went to a village called kpone-bawaleshie. weird name, i know. it was a new village for unite for sight. there was a very good response. we saw 102 patients. i did visual acuity for a while, then switched to registering patients. all in all a good day. the ppl were so nice.

when we got back from outreach tonight, me and erica and nick got ready to go to dinner. we decided to go to Osu, which is in Accra. it's downtown and is very busy and has tons of restaurants/bars/etc. we ate at a place called frankie's that was very americanized and is also a hotel. it was so great tho. they had a huge selection. i had a margherita pizza. YUM. it was the best meal i've had so far, hands down!!! it was kind of pricey though. not too bad, just not what i would've expected here. i mean, my pizza was like 9.60 cedis, or 9.60 dollars. it was a nicer restaurant tho. and it was delicious!!!

so i am about to crash b/c i am exhausted... hopefully tomorrow i can write in more detail!!

peace :)))

2 crazy days...

SO....
I could not update this last night because it rained yesterday and apparently when it rains it messes up the electricity, the tv, and the internet. yesterday was awesome though! also verrrrry long....but good. I slept like a rock last night.

anywho, I am about to go to dinner with Nick and Erica (2 other vounteers)....I think we're going somewhere in downtown Accra.. all I know is it's far enough away to take a taxi. So far all of the other places we've gone have been within walking distance of our "guest house." So I will get on later and try to give some details of my past 2 INSANE days :)))



PEACE

Monday

So today is Monday. This is my first full day here. Nothing too exciting has happened yet. Woke up early, around 6:45. Had breakfast, and waited around with they group of us that arrived yesterday to be picked up to go to orientation. Well, since everyone here runs on GMT (Ghana Man Time), we didn't get picked up til somewhere between 11 and 11:30. (GMT simply means if someone tells you they will be somewhere at a specific time, you can almost always expect to see them at least 2 hrs later..haha) So while we waited, the 6 of us (Gina, Valerie, Kaitlyn, Jerson, Ryan, and me) went for a nice walk around town. We had to cross a busy intersection, and let me tell you, there are like no driving rules here. It is insane...kind of like in Ecuador. CRAZY! I felt like I was going to be hit by a car. In fact, someone (I think Kaitlyn), told us that traffic accidents are like a major cause of death here! So we just kinda walked around a while. Took tons of good pictures. I got a cute one with Valerie and this little girl on the street carrying stuff on her head. I can't believe they can actually do that! I'm WAY too clumsy to EVER attempt doing that! HAHA! Then when we were almost back to the Telecentre, we ran into 4 school girls on the street and we took pictures with them. (I'm going to try and upload it on here, but the internet connection is pretty slow, especially when trying to upload pics!) The girls names were Sofia, Unity, Barbara, and Stella. They were so nice!

We then got back to the Telecentre and headed off to the Telecentre Eye Screening Clinic (different place, same name) where our orientation was held. It went well, pretty much a lot of things we've heard at some point before. Kartee conducted our orientation. He's from Liberia, and he seems really awesome. (He is an ophthalmic nurse working for UFS.)

After the orientation, we came back to the hotel and the 6 other volunteers that arrived yesterday or today packed up to go on an overnight outreach at Adansi South. They will return Friday. I wasn't on the schedule to go with them b/c I am staying longer than all of them, so I will apparently have an opportunity to go on another overnight outreach to a place called Kumasi. So after I said goodbye to all of my new friends, I hung out in my room a bit, then I hung out with Melissa (who just actually left to go to the airport to go home). We sat and talked with Dorkas (yes, that's REALLY her name). She works here at the Telecentre, and is so funny. Melissa was teaching her things in Spanish, and she taught us how to say some things in Twi (one of the languages here). Madasi (spelling?) is thank you in Twi.

Then Melissa and I went off for an early dinner. We walked to the Town and Country (T&C) Restaurant. I had fried chicken and fried rice, pretty tasty. Then we just walked back to the Telecentre. Overall a pretty low-key day for me, but tomorrow I am going to the Crystal Eye Clinic to observe surgeries. I'm pretty excited to finally get to do something!! YAY!!!

Will update more later, when there is more to tell!!!!

xoxo, Haley

arrival day!

So I am officially in Ghana! I've never done a blog before, but I think I'm going to try and keep this up.

I arrived in Accra around 8:30 Ghana time (3:30 am Bama time). Today has been super laid back since it is Sunday, so I really don't have too much to tell. All of the other volunteers seem really nice. All of the people here in Ghana are so welcoming! I don't have any bad things to say yet!! haha! I have orientation in the morning, then I will be at the Telecentre Clinic all day.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have much more to write about!

Peace