Day 21: Sunday, July 20th
This morning we got up early with the plan to attend church with Janet and Poppo. We got to Janet’s house shortly after 8 to find out that she had become quite sick overnight. Given the living conditions in Ghana it is quite common for people to become sick. We found out from George that Janet had a really bad headache, body pains, and fever. We suggested that she see a doctor as it sounded like it could be malaria and they said that they would if her condition worsened. Despite Janet being ill breakfast was still ready for us when we arrived and included bananas and oatmeal. The bananas in Ghana are different than the ones we get at home as they are a lot smaller and a bit sweeter. We ate our breakfast and soon after Sarah started to feel ill and had to run outside to throw up. We weren’t sure what it was that made her sick…possibly fish that she had eaten the night before. With both Janet and Sarah not feeling well we decided not to attend church today. I should note that church would have been quite the experience as we were told that the service can last between 2.5 to 3.5 hours and includes a lot of singing. We were disappointed that we would not be able to attend a service during our stay in Ghana.
After breakfast we went back to our guesthouse to spend the day. Sarah rested and I went up on the rooftop to get some sun and do some readings. We spent the afternoon and evening working on our research paper.
As Janet’s condition did not improve during the day she went to see a doctor or medical assistant (we are not sure which) at the clinic in Nsuta. She was given medication for high blood pressure, as well as, antimalarial medications. It is unfortunate here in Ghana that testing for malaria is not often done (even though rapid diagnostic tests that take less than 5 minutes are available) and almost everyone that presents to a healthcare facility is treated blindly for malaria, which can result in appropriate and overuse of antimalarials.
Janet’s friend, Vi, prepared our dinner for us and was completing Janet’s other household chores (ie. washing dishes outside, sweeping the floor (dirt around where we sat), etc.). We had asked if we could have fried eggs on bread for dinner as it appealed to Sarah. They were so good! Vi was younger, maybe 30, and brought her beautiful one year old daughter, Stephanie with her. Stephanie was really cute and quite smart for her age. We learned that the cellphone addiction in Ghana starts at a very young age. For example, Poppo would pretend to call Vi’s phone and then hand it to Stephanie and she already knew to put it up to her ear.
Day 22: Monday, July 21st
Today was a busy trying to wrap up everything at the hospital and say goodbye to everyone. As Janet was still not feeling well Poppo prepared us breakfast…French toast! It was pretty good although he didn’t cook some of it all the way through so it was a bit gooey.
At work we spent our morning working on our research project and the afternoon on our inventory audit. We were able to (finally!) get all of the data we needed for our audit from the Pharmacy Stores manager. Sometimes getting things done in Ghana requires a lot of persistence and continued questioning. At 4:00pm Kyle called us to do a therapeutic discussion on traveller’s diarrhea. It was interesting to hear Kyle’s stories about different infections he has had on past visits to Ghana…thank goodness for medication!
After work we biked into Mampong to get our dresses. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the seamstresses to finish our dresses. We sat outside of the sewing shop on lawn chairs and enjoyed our daily dose of FanIce while waiting. One lady working in the shop called Kat (the pharmacist who had taken us to the shop last week) to come and watch us try on our dresses. Once she arrived we took turns trying our new African attire on. At first we were afraid that the dresses were going to be much too tight as they were really difficult to put on. We were told that the fabric would stretch a bit with wear. Overall we were happy with the designs and couldn’t really complain given the price.. we each paid 32 cedis for the fabric and 18 cedis for the tailoring (~$17/dress).
After we biked back to Nsuta we went straight to Janet’s house for dinner. Janet was feeling a bit better and had prepared our dinner of plain rice and red sauce. After supper everyone gathered around the small cooking pit to make our ground nut cake. It was quite the process to make the cake. First the ground nuts (peanuts) were roasted in a large pot over the fire. Then they are cooled before they are crushed in a large mortar and pestle (the same one that is used to make fufu). The next step is to melt sugar in a pot until it is a golden liquid and then stir in the crushed nuts. The nuts and sugar are stirred together and then the mixture is spread out on a board to cool and cut into squares. It was delicious and tasted very similar to peanut brittle.
We got back to our place around 8:30pm and spent the evening packing our bags. It was hard to believe that it was time to pack everything up already. We had planned to say goodbye to Sampson and take him some groundnut cake but unfortunately we found out he had gone to Kumasi for a few days. When we called him he was quite upset to find out that we would not be able to say goodbye in person.
Day 23: Tuesday, July 22nd
This morning we were a bit “late” for work (arrived at 8:30 and still beat most people) as we had to say goodbye to everyone after breakfast. It felt so strange to say goodbye to so many people that we may never see again. Poppo was excited that we would be leaving our bicycles behind for him and future volunteers to use.
When we first got to work, wearing our new dresses, everyone was excited to see us embracing the African culture and wanted to take pictures with us. After the photo session the Ghanaian PharmD students led Sarah and I in a teaching session on malaria. They did a great job and we were excited that we might have helped to initiate their interest in teaching through our previous presentations. After the discussion Kat asked the other students to go around the room and say one thing they learned from Sarah and I over our month at Mampong Government Hospital. It was great to hear their feedback and learn what they thought of us. Some of their feedback was:
o “I like their curiosity. They are always curious as to what is going on around them and ask many questions. I think we should be interested and curious like them”
o “They taught us a lot about HIV and the Canadian Healthcare System. I was very impressed”
o “I learned a lot about HIV from them. They were good at sharing information”
o “Kate and Sarah are very focused. They don’t just play around. They focus and get things done.”
o “They are hardworking”
o “They have fun at work and I like their smiles. They are always smiling”
o “ I like how they ride their bicycles and go exploring around”
The feedback session was a great way to end our time at Mampong Hospital. At noon we met Poppo at the trotro station in Mampong and the three of us caught a tro for 4 cedis each to Kumasi. Kumasi was crazy as ever and we were so thankful to have Poppo with us to help us navigate the crowds. He got us to the VIP bus station where we had to pay a 35 cedis each (this seemed a lot too us after paying for the trotros which is a lot cheaper) to get Accra. We said a quick goodbye to Poppo and got on our very fancy, air conditioned bus to Accra. Sarah and I sat at the back, which was good as the first hour of the ride involved a very long and LOUD religious sermon in Twii. We had no idea what they were talking about as we could not understand the language and it got a bit uncomfortable at times. After the sermon the ride was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Accra at 8pm.
James met us at the VIP bus station and he was so excited to see us. We caught a cab to Joska Lodge (where we each paid 85 cedis (so expensive in the city!) for our individual rooms- we again could not share a bed at Joska). The three of us then walked to a local fast food joint where we indulged in pizza and ice cream. A delicious and welcome break, after a month of Ghanaian food.
Day 24: Wednesday, July 23rd
Sarah and I got up at 7 this morning so that we could have early start on our trip to Ada Foah. The plan was to leave Joska at 8 but, of course, things went a bit slower than planned as the restaurant at Joska ran out of bread and had to go and buy some to make our breakfast and when James arrived he wanted to visit for a bit. We left Joska around 9:30 and went to exchange money and buy a new SD card for my camera. I purchased a 4GB card for 21 cedis, which I felt was much cheaper than at home. We also stopped for smoothies at the smoothie shop Kyle recommended before heading for the tro station.
James helped us get a cab to the tro station that would take us to Ada Foah, where we would be spending the next two days. The tro ride lasted for about 2.5 hours and it was interesting to see just how big Accra is as we drove out of the city going east. There were a lot of very big houses that had to be owned by millionaires. It seems as though there is a huge divide between the wealthy and poor here in Ghana, in especially in the larger centers.
When we got to Ada Foah we got directions to the market and made our way there by foot. We met our boat driver at the market, and went to few shops with him to collect items for the beach camp. We then got in the boat, which he had parked at the edge of the river, and headed towards Marnathana Beach Camp. Sarah asked if she could drive the boat and the drive was okay with this. The beach camp is situated on a peninsula that has the Volta River (the largest river in Ghana) on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. As soon as we arrived we knew we would enjoy our stay…it was beautiful!
When we got to Marnathana we checked into our room which was a beach hut. The hut was constructed out of wood and woven palm branches and had a sand floor. There was a small bed with a mosquito net for Sarah and I to share. From the room you could hear the Atlantic Ocean. We paid a total of 50 cedis for our 2 nights stay in our little hut.
We ordered Kelawele (our favorite Ghanaian dish- fried plantain hashbrowns with different spices), Jamaican chicken and a pineapple pancake for dessert. The food was quite tasty. Unfortunately soon after eating it started to rain. We decided to take a nap in our hut as we both hadn’t slept well the night before. We must have been tired as we slept from 4:00 pm to 9:30 pm. When we awoke we quickly learned that everything at the camp was closed (we were the only guests for the night) and that it was very very dark out (no electricity). We were able to find one of the staff members and get access to the kitchen. We made an evening snack of PB&J sandwiches before going back to bed for the night.
Day 25: Thursday, July 24th
Today was a great day. After our intense napping the previous day we awoke at 7:30 am to the sound of the ocean. We had a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. We learned that the pancakes at the camp are literally cake cooked in a pan (or at least they tasted very much like cake). We spent the morning lounging on the beach before heading on a boat tour to Rum Island.
Three of the staff members from the camp drove us by boat to a nearby island on the Volta River where rum is manufactured. The owner took us on a tour of the plantation and described to us all of the steps involved in producing rum. Unfortunately, he could not speak English so one of our guides from the camp had to interpret everything for us. We learned that they make two kinds of rum: 1) a clear white rum 2) a darker, red rum flavoured with mahogany. The mahogany is used in African medicine and is purposed to have all sorts of magical healing properties: healing aches, malaria, arthritis, and providing man and woman power. We were given samples of the different rums and, of course, were encouraged to buy some. The rum was very strong although they stated it met the legal limit of 45% alcohol. We each bought a small 500 ml bottle for 10 cedis.
After our tour of rum island we made our way back to the beach camp by boat. When we got back to shore we were told to go quickly to the ocean side of the peninsula. We walked the ~300 metres quickly to the other side where we were shocked to see a beached whale. I should point out that, similar to other areas in Ghana, the beach was sadly COVERED in garbage. The garbage added to the horrible sight of the beached whale and I wouldn’t be surprised if pollution and garbage in the water contributed to the death of the poor whale. The local people from the nearby village spent the entire day pulling the whale onto shore with a rope and then chopping the whale up into smaller parts to use for meat. Sarah and I both agreed that eating the meat was likely not the best plan as the whale did not look overly healthy. However, it was very clear that the villagers were extremely excited for the amount of meat that had landed itself on their beach.
The rest of the day was spent swimming and lounging in the sun followed by an early dinner of Red, red and fried plantain. Before bed we went for a bath in the river, which felt great after our month of cold showers. The river was so warm!
Day 26: Friday, July 25th
Home time! We left the beach camp at 8:30 am to head for Accra by tro. Unfortunately, before getting on the trotro I went to pee behind a bush and stepped in a pile of warm human feces. I almost vomited. I tried to clean it off as best I could with water from my water bottle but had to rush, as the tro was ready to leave. I spent a good portion of the trip spraying my foot with rubbing alcohol and trying not to think about what had happened. As soon as we got to Accra I thoroughly washed my feet and sandals. James met us at the bus stop and took us by taxi to the largest hospital in Ghana, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. It is a ~6000 bed tertiary hospital on the outskirts of Accra. We walked around the hospital grounds and discussed the similarities and differences between hospitals in Ghana and Canada.
After our tour we went back to Joska to collect our luggage and organize everything for our trip home. We took a taxi to the airport and had our last FanIce along the way. We said goodbye to James at the entrance to the airport and then made our way to check in for our flight home. What an adventure we have had in Ghana!