update-blog

Living our Ghanaian Adventure

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:44:14 +0100

We have been here over 3 weeks now and have (and still are) adapting to the vastly different culture of Ghana. We are living with a host family in Ho, the capital town of the eastern most Volta region. Ho has a population of approximately 7000 people (however, this number is sure to be grossly inaccurate given what we have seen regarding the recording of births and deaths, and in fact any medical information for that matter!). The streets are slum-like; most people live in derelict mud or corrugated iron huts with access to running water, although no local can seem to explain the piping/sanitation system of Ho to us! Its probably best not to think about it! We are very lucky in that we are living in a host family that has a toilet which flushes as well as a shower! This disappointed us initially, as we wanted to experience the whole rustic experience of squatting over a drop toilet and washing with a bucket of water which we fetched out of a well, but our days at the hospital battling the great heat and humidity leave us tired and grateful for the luxuries which we have.

The hospital experience so far has been immensely challenging, confronting, amazing, horrifying, saddening all rolled into one! We have seen heart-breaking cases which have really tested us emotionally. One 30 year-old woman was tied up by her father to prevent her from going to a festival which he forbid. However he left the ropes on her hands for just under 12 hours, resulting in this woman having to have multiple finger amputations! We have witnessed a patient die in the waiting room. It was the very 1st time i have experienced the emotion of looking into a patients eyes and seeing fixed, dilated pupils ( indicative of death). We have participated in the HIV-aids clinic, seen mothers who have transmitted their infections to their newborns. We have witnessed patients being told they have HIV, showing no emotion, shedding no tears. Because in Ghana, death is a constant, people die of Malaria after suffering for 2 days. HIV is considered a "mild" illness in comparison, given that the average age of death after diagnosis is 12 years.

Despite all of these confronting experiences, we are facing a lot of hospital bureaucracy in terms of getting the hospital staff to allow us to DO rather than just observe. In spite of this, the things we are experiencing through pure observation have been amazing learning opportunities, ones which we will bring home with us.

Despite the struggle for everyday survival, Ghanaian's seem to be constantly smiling. They see death as an inevitable part of life and they find comfort in religion. They do what they can to get by each day and they are content with that. They live day by day, hour by hour. They don't "sweat the small stuff" here, and thats certainly a lesson that we will bring home with us.

5 days and counting!!

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:04:43 +0100

Hey all - so we are 5 days away from take off!! both getting very excited!! We are running around like headless chickens or somethings trying to source free medical supplies and equipment to take with us as well as making sure we've got all the appropriate gear and insurance etc... life's hectic and imagine it'll only keep going but can't wait for the 45 hrs of sitting still on a plane should be just enough...well rather more than enough time to recover from this madness and be ready to hit the ground running!! Anyway i wanted to post a message here asking for your help...we're rather keen to take a supply of PEP's antiretrovirals with us due to the risks of needle stick injury etc.. we've contacted anyone and everyone and have had little success at gaining it for free...usually costs around $1600 for a months supply... anyway if you know anyone that may be able to help us out it'd be much appreciated and or if you know someone, who may know someone elses uncle, who's next door neighbour knows someone who could help us it'd still be appreciated!! you get the gist! We're both getting good at playing phone tag. anyway that's the latest from us - take care all xoxo

2/3'ds of way there!!

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:00:52 +0100

Hey everyone!! great news today - we have flights on their way and we hav reached 2/3'ds of our initial budget!! we are getting extremely excited as you may be able to tell and want to thank everyone for their very generous support!!!
Keep your eyes peeled for up coming fundraising events!! maybe some Ghanian food, dance and fun!... xoxo

1/3 of the way there!!

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:40:19 +0100

Hey everyone,

We are super excited to announce we have raised 1/3 of the funds we require to make this dream a reality!! We're still working with some other organizations for further funding, but at 1/3 of the way there this is becoming more and more of a reality each day!! VERY EXCITING!
Hope everyone had a great weekend! xoxo

The grand plan

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:58:19 +0100

To keep everyone up to date with how we're going at fundraising etc and then later on how its all going... planning...actual experiences etc we'll blog here... so keep ur eyes open for updates xoxo