Three Days in Accra; Tomorrow, Winneba and Cape Coast

7/9/17

Sunday, a trip to the mall for money, cell phone minutes and most importantly ICED COFFEE! After a morning of reading and writing at the cafe we meandered over to SkyBar. A ritzy bar in one of the tallest building in Ghana. The students discovered the bar and convinced Michael, our Accura guide, to take us over. It had a fabulous view of the city. We enjoyed watching airplanes take off from the international airport and the students taking selfies.  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera, again. I had planned to stay at the cafe to get more work done. I did get a few nice panoramic shots with my iPhone. The rest of the day was spent writing and doing laundry.

7/10/17

Today was another good day— in part because it was the first day that we had more sun than clouds. What a glorious blue blue day! We had a relativity easy day— a brief lecture and interaction with a wonderful woman named Gifty.. After a our daily commute to Korle Blu we had a lecture from the the director of the National AIDS Control Program. He was a fantastic lecturer. Before he started he took, a bit more time than necessary to get to know each student. We learned later that he was stalling for his boss who never showed up. However, he took what he learned about each of us and incorporated it into the feature as well as getting folks on their feat to demonstrate how HIV works. I now have a basic understanding of how the virus works and the basic strategies they are employing to defeat it. Primarily by focusing on the four areas HIV/AIDS effects and affects society. They focus on the economic, educaitonal, social and health aspects. While one person may be infected their community is affected by that impact. I would have lived to have heard more specific details about the education strategies they are employing to combat some of the some of the stigma around condom use. It sounds like their primary strategy is to take care of all the mothers which seems to be leaving a large number of undiagnosed men in the world/country. 

After the lecture Gifty shared her words of wisdom. She was quiet an inspiration. Two brief quotes that stood out to me were: “It is not the illness that defeats us but out mindset. When we change our mindset we change ourselves,” and “In this life, no one will do it for you, or make you happy, you have to happy yourself.” She serves as a reminder that you have a choice in how you approach life many challenges— and there are many in the world with more on their shoulders than you. 

After the lecture I enjoyed sitting next to Michaela as she got to know a sweet waiter who dotted on her throughout the lunch. Eventually he asked her if she had a moment, if she would come speak to him later. Apparently on previous trips a large number of the women would get purposed to by many of the men- but this is one of the first times that we’ve had a young man ask for her contact information, with grace. After dinner we went to an amazing art studio— they had an incredible breadth of artwork, wood carvings, books, beaded necklaces, prints and dynamic paintings ranging from abstracts, scenic silhouettes to portraits of Obama. It was certainly a highlight— particularly for someone who isn’t thrilled about all the medical lectures.  

Full of beauty, next to the ocean!

Aoife, Adrian and Claire

And next door to the museum, a small dump. The sea is also full of trash.

7/11/17

Tuesday was another eventful day— we visited two markets including the artisan market where many students were overwhelmed on our second day in the city. This time we were prepared and many of the students did well bartering. The first market we went to was predominantly a fabric market. We bought brightly colored fabrics adorned with broad, bold patterns. In the stalls are reams of cloth hanging from stall windows and stacked like wood cabins reflecting light like bright candy. Many of the students are hoping to get the fabric made into parachute pants, skirts and shirts by various local artisans who Dr. Johnson has met over the years and has come visit us at the University Guest House. 

Everyone is tired after a busy morning of haggling...

After exploring the two markets we headed back to the University of Ghana for a lecture on Substance Abuse Treatment and Policy. It was give by a Bio-Medical Engineering Professor who used to do research (and probably teach) at Northeastern. Unfortunately, his lecture focused primarily on the scientific reasons for addiction and a drug that he has researched and helped to develop that antagonizes the brain so that you no longer have cravings. It was a disappointment. All in all, it was a lovely day.

Friday; Painting, Dancing and Board Games

7/7/17

Friday was a wonderful day— we spent the day at a school for the deaf. The drive to the school took us along a ridge line, up into the foothills overlooking Accra. 

The culverts.

Our bus, a fairly standard sized bus by US standards, is massive compared to every vehicle on the road. It’s a bright orange-red, adorned with Psalm  86:17 in giant yellow font across the windshield. We sit in red, stuffed leather chairs with extending leg rests. The seats recline to approximately 45 degrees (135 might be more accurate— it’s been to long since I’ve taken geometry!) 

Regardless, this bus is made for sleeping—and there are very few trips that don’t see approximately half of it’s passengers zonked out. On the other trips it’s a much higher ratio.  The driver and his assistant maneuver this beast on roads not designed for this behemoth.

Upon departure and arrival to our destination they constantly hop in and out of the bus to check angles, drive into bushes along the sides of the road or conduct 17 point turns. The roads themselves are lined with narrow concrete culverts. These seem to serve as plumbing for some of the schools. They criss cross yards near the dormitories. They are so steep that any vehicle that allows its wheel to catch the edge will find itself stuck, wheels spinning helplessly. We’ve yet to see this happen. However, whenever we disembark from the bus and I look down into the cavernous culverts, my imagination immediately begins to run rampant. I’m happy I’m not driving! 

In the morning we toured the lower school and helped to paint one of their buildings. As we sit and listen to a brief orientation and history of the school, a few children sneak up to the short, concrete wall surrounding the gazebo we sit in. They peak over the edge, grinning at the abrinnis (white people; a term that also refers to our accents), the children wave and some of them even approach and gesture at our cameras as they strike poses.

Getting ready to paint!

These two followed us around on the tour.

A classroom wall.

In every class room their were inspirational quotes and photos.

For lunch I had boiled yam and pavola sauce. Pavola is spinach boiled with onion, tomato and chili pepper. It is earthy with a healthy kick. I had forgotten how much I LOVE onions when I found a few slices. They were sweet and delicious. The Pavola reminds me of Indian food. It is served with a whole fish— head and all. You slice the boiled yam and then slather it in the sauce. The boiled yams have a light, crisp mushy texture. Some of the students have described them as the insides of french fries.

Boiled yams.

Alvaro, the tasty sweet local soda.

In the afternoon we taught the upper school how to play a number of board games and then observed their prowess at the various games. We brought Connect Four, Trouble and Operation. They picked up the rules quickly and were both enthusiastic and fierce competitors. After the games we headed outside to take a group photo— the students loved taking pictures with us and one of the students danced for us. He had some serious moves.

One of the groups who played connect four. 

Showing off his dance moves!

One of the dormitories

That evening the students went clubbing. This meant I was a chaperone… it went about as well as could be expected and returning to bed was delicious. 

Medical School

Today was suddenly much warmer. We traveled to Ku Berle Lu School of Nursing and Mid-Wifery. We had a brief presentation and learned about it’s founding in the mid-20th century. It has evolved from providing initial licenses to providing full degrees in Nursing. Up until two or there years ago the nursing program was free and the students received a stipend to live on while they were in school. After graduating they were required to work for 5 years in one of the governmental hospitals. However, they recently changed that so that students can choose where they work when they graduate. however, the students now have to finance the education themselves. Apparently this change occurred with the election of a new government.

The school offers Initial licenses after three years of course work. When you graduate you can work as an auxiliary nurses. After that period you can return to the school to earn a full diploma. They also have a hybrid program that runs in the summer for Nurses who earned their certificate and have worked for at least three (I think) years as Auxiliary Nurses. I believe the program runs 12 weeks for two summers— many of the days course work starts at 6:00 am and go until 6:00 pm with an hour break for lunch. These students are determined! 

Two of our students on the tour

Student Hostels where they stay during the school year.

While the school is made up of both men and women the principle noted that the gentlemen are always destroying things or causing general mayhem. After the presentation we took an elongated walking tour of the facilities and then we were able to spend about a half an hour meeting with some of the nursing students. I spoke with Ester. She is 28 and has worked for the past five years in two or three different Hospitals as an Auxiliary Nurse. She is originally from Northern Ghana and has now worked in nearly every region of the country.   The student my group met with were all in their final year of the summer program and were fairly quiet. However, the other groups met with some younger students who were very enthusiastic and wanted to take photos with everyone.

We had a visitor at lunch...

After a late lunch (which is quickly becoming normal) we headed over to the University of Ghana Medical school where we met with four or five different medical school students. In Ghana to become a doctor most students elect to attend medical school right out of high school. They spend three years studying the core sciences (a period they call pre-lab* I can’t remember the word). After three years they move on to the core medical school courses and work along side doctors in the hospitals. Often after they graduate medical school they work for one or two years as interns at one of the four or five teaching hospitals in Ghana. When the medical school opened about 10% of the students were women. Today that number has grown to 50%. 

Some of our students with one of the medical school students. They loved getting to know her.

After meeting with these students we went to dinner at an expensive place called Honeysuckle. It’s Ghana’s version of an American Sports Bar. I watched some tennis while enjoying some spaghetti and some sort of fake meat sauce. The tomato based sauces all have the distinct flavor of a chili fusion; spicy but tasty.

 Tomorrow will be another full day— so until then— good night.

Day Three! Guess what... I had more fried fish! There is a NEU sponsored blog for those of you who'd like more information about what we are doing every day-- it will be written by a different student every day. If I fail to post one day and you want to know what's going on across the sea-- check it out! (I wrote today's post so check it out for details. Otherwise-- enjoy a few photos from the past few days...)

https://ghanasummer2.wordpress.com (Edit: updated the link).

The students.

Teaching Hospital Tour

7/4/17

Another seemingly simple day still felt full. We all woke up just before 7:00 am to start the day with a little African cardio dance. Many of the students were disappointed it wasn’t a more traditional dance class— it was a fairly basic but fun cardio class set to pumped up Afro-pop with a positive up beat instructor. We shimmied our way around the grassy common area and for about 20 minutes got our hearts beating and then got mini-massages before breakfast. 

There are so many of us that the breakfast cooks are having trouble keeping up with our desire for eggs! They are quiet tasty and the passionfruit juice was a nice zesty way to start the day. However, many students were left wanting more— luckily for them lunch was another overloaded meal. I ended up having jalof again because I couldn’t quiet here what the waitress said when she listed the menu. Throughout the meal we had a few little companions watching— flies and a little boy with a bright smile who loved posing just outside the fence that surrounded the patio where we were sitting. I kept dinner simple with some sort of spicy fish soup— the broth was a thick red stock with giant chunks of white fish— after pulling out the bones it was fresh, tender and sweet providing a nice counter to the spicy base.

We had two lectures in the morning on Health Care Systems and Health Sector Objectives that gave the students an overview of health care in Ghana. It sounds like they’ve done a good job of integrating traditional homeopathic medicine with western medicine— this has led to a strong community centered healthcare. Ghana has national health insurance and—46% of the ovulation is enrolled in the national plan and as a result  97% of the population has access to primary care. However, there are various reports and it was hard to verify the actual numbers. Regardless, Ghana is a leader in healthcare in Africa.  

In the afternoon we had a nice walking tour of the teaching hospital— it was great to get out of the bus and move around. I’m feeling a bit antsy with all the driving around the city. When we returned to the guest houses we had our small group meetings— it was fun to sit down and chat— to hear about the students purpose for coming on the trip and hear about what they are excited about. Everyone has enjoyed getting to know the locals and hope to spend more time getting to know some of the small children. 

I also spent a fair amount of time getting ready for my presentation on Occupational, Physical and Environmental Wellbeing. Fingers crossed it’ll go smoothly tomorrow. (Signing off for the evening but I will try to upload photos from today tomorrow).

Danny

A Day of Introductions

7/3/2017

Today was a day of introductions— an orientation to the local university from our hosts, and a more formal introduction to the food, history (always one of my personal highlights) and the market. It was the first time in my life I remember being referred to as an international student. Most of the day is blurred by dragging eye lids and smiling faces. Luckily, there were several key moments marked by food; Breakfast with sweet mango juice and tangy jam on round white rolls, fresh iced espresso and frozen yogurt for lunch and jalof and friend fish for dinner. I will need to monitor my intake of fried foods— two days in a row of fried fish is more than I usually have in a month! The jalof is a rice dish cooked in tomato and chile sauce— it has a round earthy flavor marked by a salty sharp spice. 

The air has been moist and warm— we feel consistently sticky but thus far not hot. 

Our first foray into the marketplace was full of smiles, handshakes and swarming vendors hawking their wears. We were told they love to haggle— and it is clear they strive to swindle and sell with a smile. They are all surrounded with genuinely pretty items. Their are bargains to be had. Some stalls were brimming with hand carvings, drums and paintings while others were filled by bright bursts of colorful cloth. Many of the students found items— paintings, small drums and skirts that they happily purchased— Moses showed me hand carved bowls and taught me to drum. I was happy to sit and learn— and walked away rich in spirit without buying a thing! 

Seeking a moment of freedom from the shouting vendors I meandered out of the back of the market and onto a short street marked by tires sunk into the sand, a little girl in a red and white dress hopped from tire to tire in her own world as motorcycles putt putted by and seagulls cried. 

I continued along the path a short ways and stumbled upon a hazy blue skyline— the sea frothing and white edged by the red earth as it runs into the gray-white sand. A man walks along the cliff that overlooks the beach, neatly stacked on his head are nearly two dozen hats.

Despite an itinerary seemingly somewhat empty— it felt packed and we are all drifting in and out of sleep on the short bus ride home. There will be many more days of exploration, shopping, tomorrow will be filled with lectures— and food. Until then, I will sleep.

(I tried to post this yesterday but our internet was unable to upload any of the photos-- I will update as often as I can.)

Ghana Bound

Boston, viewed from Thompson Island on July 14, 2016.

On the road again! This evening, Saturday July 1st, at approximately 6:20 pm I will depart this city on a hill and start the next, short, adventure. We are heading to Ghana. I am helping lead a short term study abroad trip. The undergraduates will explore various health services in Ghana and will gain knowledge of health policy, prevention, care and remedial health education. We will visit various schools, medical facilities and work on several service learning projects. I will also be taking a couple of graduate level courses, while getting to know another corner of the world.

Wifi will be sparing so I will not update regularly. However, I will have a least a photo per day and a few short lines to keep you up to speed the our day to day.

An elevator full of bags with supplies and donations for our adventures!

See you in Ghana!