A Day in the Life of a Global Health Intern

The start to most days here in Ghana is exercise. Shelby and I will wake up usually around 6:30am and run for a half hour. This has proven helpful on many occasions to explore whatever area we are in. Culturally, people do not exercise. Especially women. Ghanaian lifestyle is already very active and it’s just not something you would see on the streets, so to have two white girls running around in the morning is a funny sight for lots of people.
The van comes by at 7:30 every morning to head to work (though this is Ghana so it’s usually late). We drive anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours to reach our outreach site. 9 times out of 10 we set up our clinic in a church of some type; whether it be Presbyterian, Catholic, or Pentecostal. Patients come, register, have their eyes tested for visual acuity, see the doctor, and then purchase either eye glasses or medicine or whatever the doctor recommend. As volunteers, our group takes over the registration, visual acuity, and eyeglass/medicine dispensing aspect of the clinic. Those in charge of registering also On average we see about 120 people, but that varies greatly on the community in which we are in. For example, one day we saw 16 people but another day we saw 230.
Clinic stations for Unite For Sight volunteers:
1. Registration

2. Visual Acuity

3. Dispensing

It depends on how many people show up at the outreaches to what time we end work. Sometimes well be back at the hotel at 3:00pm, others it won’t be until 8:00 or 9:00pm. No matter what time we end the first thing on our agenda is to find food. In Kumasi, there are street vendors all over and so we walk only 10 minutes down the road to “chop” (how Ghanaians say eat). We try to be as adventurous as possible (because youre only in Ghana once) and eat only traditional food. Mainly Shelby and I share a plate of fried rice (because its not spicy) and 2 pieces of fried chicken.
Fufu-- a traditional dish here

The rest of the day is spent exploring, finding fruit stand ladies to eat mangos with and chat. Or playing football with the kids that live on our street. We try to be inside by the time it’s dark to avoid anything sketchy. Not that it’s extremely unsafe, it’s just better to be safe than sorry. With the few of us in the hotel, we spend the nights playing cards and other games, washing laundry by hand (which takes forever), and talking.
It’s off to bed around 10:00pm and then the day begins anew the next morning. Everyday has a slight variations and new surprises. I wouldn’t trade any day here for anything/being anywhere else.


Word Count: 521

In Order to be Ghanaian You Must Look Like One

In order to become completely Ghanaian I had to make a few changes... 

First thing I need to dress as they dress here. When packing I was focused on bringing the most lightweight, inexpensive clothing possible. This is mainly because I knew we would be dying in the heat and working in the slums. And for these reasons I feel super grungy looking all the time. And in comparison to the fun bright dresses that Ghanaians wear, I probably am under dressed. I had bought cloth in the markets in Accra and had the opportunity to tailor them into dresses! There are sewing shops everywhere which was very convenient and cheap.

Part 2 of looking like a Ghanaian is having your hair done like one. I threw caution to the wind and decided to get box braids! It was an insane process. I had to go buy 3 bags of super long rapunzel hair and sit patiently for 2 hours as 4 Ghanaians proceeded to braid it all into my head. I don't think I've ever felt cooler though. Most people were fascinated by my normal blonde hair, but now they can't get over the fact that my hair is like theirs. They love it, I love it, not sure if I can show up to the MTC like this but oh well.

Pictures:
1. I woke up super early to watch the sunrise from an abandoned skyscraper...highly recommended
2. Before the braids
3. After!
4. The lady who owned the shop
5. Shelby and I rocking our dresses

Eye Surgery!

Monday was our first day inside the Charity Eye Clinic. Everyday we usually travel to remote areas in the Kumasi area to help people that don't have access to transportation to get to the clinic. At our outreaches we dispense medication and eye glasses, but that won't fix all conditions. A lot of people still require surgery whether it be for Pterygium, Cataract, or Presbyopia.   Medication and glasses come at a small price but through funding Unite For Sight can completely subsidizes all surgeries. It helps so many people that couldn't afford an expensive surgery in the first place. A few years ago Unite For Sight was able to subsidize about 200 surgeries a month per clinic (in Ghana they are partnered with 4 Eye Clinics). However, after the Ebola outbreak (which never even entered Ghana in the first place!!) volunteers and funding dried up. Now, Unite For Sight is only able to pay for only 40 surgeries every month. It's harder too because after only a week we could get that same amount of surgery referrals, so it forces us to pick and choose people.

ANYWAYS....

Monday instead of going out to an outreach we went to the Charity Eye Clinic because it was surgery day. There were a little more than 40 surgeries scheduled. Unfortunately because of the start of Ramadan, only 4 people showed up. Even with the small number we were still able to watch Dr. Twumasi perform 2 Cataract and 2 Pterygium surgeries. Everyone else in our group had prior experience watching surgery or something similar, except me. It was very hard to watch. Dr. Twumasi put a camera right up close to the operating eye so every detail was in high definition. Maybe I felt so queasy because the eye is such a tender part of the body. Plus the person being operated on would see everything which is really weird. For the cataract surgery we watched as he cut the side of the eye take out a foggy lens and insert a clear one. And with the Pterygium surgery he scrapped off all extra growth on the eye and then stitch it back up. I didn't even know you could put stitches on an eye! As cool as it was, I think I confirmed my desire to never be a doctor-- way too intense.

Pictures:
1. Before surgery!!
2. Dr. Twumasi and our BYU group... I swear he was happy it's just no one smiles in pictures!

Why Crashing a Ghanaian Wedding is a Good Idea

I don't think I can count the amount of marriage proposals Shelby and I have gotten since being here in Ghana... it's basically a daily occurance.

Typical conversation with random people we meet on the street:
Ghanaian: "Heyyy Eta Sain???" (How are you?)
Me: "oh Boko pahh" (I'm super chill)
Ghanaian: (in english) "You are so beautiful, I will marry you"
Me as I start to walk away quickly: "Oh so sorry I don't understand you"
... yep its the good life. Even today at work Shelby and I were in a precarious situation to give out our contact info. The clear answer was to give the man the BYU Police number. Hopefully he won't be too disappointed.

Saturday, we had the opportunity to go to a Ghanaian wedding! Dont worry it wasnt mine. A doctor that we worked with in Accra, Ernest, told us he was going to a wedding near us and said he could pick us up! It was one of Ernest's best friends from University that was getting married. Apparently the two biggest events in any community here are weddings and funerals, and everyone gets involved. Basically  just imagine a huge, extravagant party. On Friday is when their traditional Ghanaian ceremony happened, but on Saturday is the more western white wedding. We were in a big church complete with two choirs, a live band, and a whole lot of dancing people singing praises to God Almighty. Twice everyone had to get in a Congo line to dance to the front to give an  offering and then dance back to their seats. I loved it. They had wedding party pictures outside the church afterwards which we of course got in.

As if that wasn't extravagant enough, the reception was wild. You could tell that the couple getting married had money because everything was super fancy. Ernest was a champaign popper which was really funny to see. Also most of the "champaign" was actually just sparkling grape juice so it was fun to join the toasts as well. Between events the DJ played hard core dance music in which I took the opportunity to dance my heart away. Everytime we obrunee (white people) danced, everyone went crazy and filmed us. I know for a fact the wedding photographer has so many random pictures of my great American dance moves. I just keep imagining this couple in like 30 years looking through their pictures and seeing two random white girls that they do not know at all.

Converting to Islam and Blessing the Rain

Today I felt cold... it was 80 degrees outside...

We've been on a week long outreach with Charity Eye Clinic in a place called Sunyani. It's more in the country than Kumasi and so beautiful here. It's been super fun hanging out with the other clinic workers after our daily outreaches and have small adventures here. 

So a couple fun stories... 

I'm about 75% positive I became a Muslim yesterday. Not really haha. Our clinic set up next to a Mosque in the heart of the Islam district in Sunyani. I was in charge of registration that day which always becomes pretty tiring after a while. No one speaks any English so registering people for the clinic is the hardest job because it means about 4 hours of straight up speaking a mixture of Twi, hand gestures, and speaking loudly in English. It's mostly effective. Anyways, there was a lull in registration and I noticed lots of people coming in and out of the Mosque. I asked one of our workers, Prempee, if I could go inside. He called over some guy next to the church, and had a conversation in Twi in which I had no idea what they said. 

Next thing I know, Shelby and I are being led to a well where we performed ablution, which was a cleaning ceremony. We had to wash our hands, feet, hair, face, and forearms. The man then covered our heads with scarves and led us inside. In very serious, broken English he told us to say exactly what he did, stay behind him, and make the same movements. So we did this prayer ritual in which the words I understood were "Allah Akbar". Afterwards we looked up the ritual for being inducted to the Islamic faith...oddly similar haha. Good times, good times. Don't worry everyone Im still planning to serve a mission!!

Today was our last day in the Sunyani area, which made me quite sad. Not only do I no longer feel as if I'm going to be killed by a creepy Ghanaian hotel owner like i do in Kumasi but this area is so beautiful. This afternoon I was sitting on the wall of this hostel looking out to the street when a bunch of kids started talking to me. They took us to a field closeby to play soccer which was so fun! Michael, Shelby, Prempee and I were on a team and to my surprise won 5-4. I'm pretty sure the goalie for their team was about 6 years old but all the other kids were mid to high teens and meant business so I'm pretty proud of the goals I made. 

From what I have come to understand, "rainy season" does not mean it rains all the time. Rainy season means at night there is thunder and lightening and pelts of rain that feels heavy enough to knock down a building. Then during the daytime the humidity only intensifies. Shelby and I took tonights storm as an opportunity to, as Toto suggests, bless the rains here in Africa. We put on our swimsuits and washed our hair in the downpour. Best shower ever. 

Pictures:

1. The Mosque next to our clinic 

2. View from our hostel, doesn't quite capture the raw beauty of this area 

3/4. Blessing the rains here in Ghana 

5/6. Playing football with our neighbors Ellen, Ephraim, and Hymas... they were pretty impressed that we beat them... or maybe they just said that because we bought them Fanice afterward 

Dimitri the Mouse and Kente Cloth

Sometimes I think that I'm accustomed to being here, but then something happens that throws a curve ball.

For example, earlier this week my roommate Shelby and I realized that we had a new member to our room. His name was Dimitri. He was a mouse. After his discovery, we really didn't think much about precautions beyond making sure our suitcases were off the ground and food tightly packed away. Yesterday as we came back from work, however, we realized that mice can climb. And they climb very well. For fear of catching disease or an unwanted bedmate, Shelby and I decided our time with Dimitri had to end. Last night we slept with all the lights on and music playing thinking thats a logical way for a mouse not to come into our beds while we sleep. According to our knowledge it worked. So we bought a trap today and placed it under our bed thinking it'll turn up by sometime tomorrow. Maybe he really liked the smell of stale bread or something because in under 10 minutes there he was, still alive, squirming in mousetrap glue. I'll spare everyone the further gruesome details of the last moments of Dimitri the Mouse, but know that I'm scarred. 

As far as work goes, it remains consistent day to day. It's been really interesting to compare Charity Eye Clinic here in Kumasi to Crystal Eye Clinic back in Accra. Both are partially funded by Unite For Sight, but function pretty differently. We see a lot smaller crowds than we did last week, therefore there's a lot more free time at nights since we get back at 3 or 4 in the afternoon compared to 8 or 9 like last week. 

On one hand, it's a little frustrating that we aren't working as much, but it has allowed us to experience more of Kumasi and Ghana which is a plus. After yesterday's outreach, we were able to go to Adonwase, a Kente weaving compound. 

Kente is a traditional cloth that is made here in Ghana. Odds are that when you think of African patterns and designs, you think of Kente. Original Kente is very very expensive, mainly because it's all handwoven.  Traditionally, only chiefs, kings or royalty wear Kente. And even today if I wanted a dress made purely out of Kente, it would be a couple hundred of dollars. At Adonwase, we were able to learn how to weave traditionally and the different meanings behind different types of patterns. It was super interesting! I was able to purchase small pieces of the cloths too with different patterns on them. 

PICTURES:

1. Cute girls at an outreach that asked to have a picture taken 

2.  Dimitri the Mouse. Rest in peace 

3. Kente Weaver

4. Traditional clothing. All the workers called me Princess Abena (Abena means Tuesday which was the day of the week I was born and now my Ghanaian name)

Temple Blessings and Tower of Terror Hotel

Close your eyes. Imagine a steamroom-- extra steamy. Now add in some trees, dirt and a blazing sun and that's Ghana in a nutshell. It would be funny if it weren't so accurate.

But despite the heat, Ghana is drawing my affection more and more just from being here. Everyday I meet so many people, each with a different story, and they want to share their experiences!  I feel like most people back home it takes a while to show any signs of vulnerability, especially when talking to someone you've just met. Here, however, if you ask someone, "how are you?" You might as well sit down because you'll be there for a while. I love listening to people's stories, background, religion-- everything. And the best part is how willing they are to share.

Work continued on in the same routine for the rest of the week. The biggest variations were just food, outreach location and how many people we see, which ranges from 70 to over 230. Starting today, 4 of our group are at a new clinic called Charity Eye Clinic which is based in Kumasi, about 4 hours north of Accra.  We'll be here for about 3 weeks. Judging from the work today it's essentially the same process but different workers.

But Saturday was our fun day because we didn't have to work! Also meaning doing whatever we wanted. My roommate Shelby and I weren't sure how much time we were going to have in Accra because we were both moving to Kumasi, so we really wanted to spend all day downtown exploring this city. Everyone else in our group wanted to go to the beach, which might be been fun but YOIGO (You're Only In Ghana Once) and we could go to a beach anywhere. Naturally we made the smart decision to try to tackle Accra by ourselves. 2 white girls, alone in Accra-- really smart I know. We woke up early and got a driver from the place we were staying to take us to the Accra LDS Temple so we could do a session there. In order to enter a temple you need to have a valid reccommend issued from our church. As we got there though, Shelby realized hers had expired! So she had to wait outside for a couple hours while I did a session. Despite being by myself it was still an amazing experience and I could feel the faith of those around me.

After the temple though, we had a dilemma. We don't know Accra at all. We don't speak Twi. How were we supposed to get around?? It was quite a blessing. Last semester we took a preparation class for this trip and during one class, 2 return missionaries came in to talk to us about Ghanaian culture. As we finished taking pictures at the temple, those same two guys from BYU came up and said hi to us! It was such a miracle! Their flight had just landed and had plans at night but were free for the whole day to just spend in Accra and then asked if we wanted to get lunch and show us around the city. We were able to get the full experience of Accra. They spoke Twi and were able to bargain for us at the market and in taxis, show us around historical parts of the city. Plus they knew these street drummers that gave us a tutorial, and we got really good food that was only a little spicy haha. I highly recommend everything.

Shelby, me and two others from our group named Dallin and Michael arrived in Kumasi yesterday afternoon. While in Accra we were in a little bed and breakfast type of place and boy oh boy do we already miss it. For those of you who have ridden the Tower of Terror, I swear this place we're staying in now is that hotel. It was built sometime in the 40's, everything is out of order and really rustic and gloomy looking. Also it's owned by this 90 year old man that sleeps on a couch in the lobby and I swear we are the only people staying here! But it's okay if I die of a ghost attack or some Juju magic at least you all know the truth. Also we slept here last night and I'm still alive so it should be fine.


Pictures:
1/2. Accra temple
3. A little boy that I might just steal because he was so cute. His name is Nii.
4. Out hotel hallway. This is during the daytime too!! Please send prayers haha

Akwabaa Brunee!!

Akwabaa brunee!!
^ pretty much the most common phrase we hear no matter where we go, it means "Welcome White People!"

Boy oh boy, where to start? Today is my 4th day of being in this wonderful country but it feels like I've been here for years. Saturday a small group of us arrived in Accra in which we were immediately engulfed with a big sweaty hug (aka the humidity) that hit us hard. It is almost unbelievably hot here. Even inside you can feel the water in the air stick to every part of your body. BUT it's okay!! June and July are Ghana's rainy season and since we've been here its already rained a bunch of times cooling down the heat a little bit.... but it also adds to the humidity haha.

Sunday morning we all woke up early and walked about 15 minutes to a LDS church building that we found. There is 1 girl here who is not Mormon but decided to tag along as well. Attending church here was so fun! Everyone loves talking to and getting to know the "brunees" (white people).  Experiencing church in a different culture is such a testament to me of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It really doesn't matter where you are, who you are, what language you speak or anything really-- the gospel is the unifier for all things. My heart grew so much for these people who have such a strong conviction for something they know is true and the way they go about worshiping their beliefs. By the end of the meetings all of the women were calling us their daughters and inviting us to more activities. You could really feel the love. Just amazing.

But that not what we came to do!

Yesterday is when the real work began. Workers from United For Sight sorted out our group of 12 in half-- sending 6 to a different location with a clinic named Saint Thomas until Thursday night. The other 6 (including me) stayed in Accra to work for the Crystal Eye Clinic.

The way this works is everyday you attend a different location in an area (e.g. Accra) that previously had been advertised for people to come. Our team arrives at churches, community centers, abandoned buildings, etc. to set up shop. One of the workers explains to the crowd (literally hundreds) of people the process of what will happen in their native tongue (usually Twi, but there are hundreds of tribal languages, like today we learned Gha). First the patients get registered and then are testing for visual acuity. We volunteers do the acuity testing which consists of standing about 6 meters away with your eye reader sheet. The patients then go to the doctors, who test, prescribe medicine, and in some cases make referrals for surgery. We handle check out by distributing medication and glasses and record all transaction and patient history.

....and that's exactly what we do all day every day. It's such fulfilling work though. A remarkable amount of people's visual acuity registers as NPL (no light perception) and it's very clear they have cataracts from just looking at their eye, which we can provide a surgery to COMPLETELY RESTORE their blindness. Which is incredible! All surgeries are subsided by Unite For Sight, so they get cured for free!

I am learning so much from the people and just being surrounded by the culture. Some things I have learned thus far....
1. DO NOT take malaria pills with food in your stomach!! About 2 hours after arriving in Ghana and right after eating I thought that would be a good time...it wasnt. I ended up throwing up on the street next to like 5 little kids who laughed...a lot.
2. Saying small phrases in native languages makes you sounds stupid, but will make almost every Ghanaian laugh very very hard. So do it a lot.
3. All the food is spicy. All the food consists of mainly rice and chicken.
4. Plantain chips are bomb.
5. Fanice is the best invention (IT'S ICE CREAM AND ONLY ABOUT 40 CENTS BUT I STILL MIGHT JUST SPEND ALL MY MONEY)
6. Cold showers are amazing and the only time you aren't sweating
7. "Shower" is a loose term. Very loose. It pretty much consists of 2 buckets and pouring it on your body.
8. Ghanaians are the happiest people on the planet! I am convinced. Today, I asked an old man today why he was so nice to us brunees. His response: "We love strangers"




pictures:

• Deborah and Amy-- school girls i met today from Sege. They TRIED to teach me how to dance (they are much better than me)
• The building where we set up shop on the first day. We saw over 230 people that day 
• Excited for the first day of work!!
• The church building and the street it was on. (Don't be fooled by the rain clouds, they came and went in like an hour)

Welcome!!

My dearest friends, family, loved ones, random acquaintances... really anyone who actually takes the time to read this,

In just a few days I will be packing my bags and traveling to Accra, Ghana to work for a nonprofit called Unite For Sight. During my fall semester at BYU, I applied, interviewed, and was accepted to work as an intern for the next 6 weeks. Unite For Sight is a 501(c) nonprofit with the goal of delivering eye-care to impoverished areas. The crazy thing is that 80% of ALL visual impairments can be cured or prevented! This means that 80% percent of people with that have to deal with eye sight loss don't have the tools or means available to do a basic function of life. So that's is the goal-- deliver care in the most efficient way possible to allow people to "see the light". Literally.

This mission is much much bigger than myself or any singular organization. If you want to look more into the nitty gritty of what Unite For Sight does and how they do it go to www.uniteforsight.org. The best part (at least to me) is 100% of donations go straight to care delivery. And no where else. But I am not here to get people to donate. I am writing because this is what will give me an academic internship credit at BYU. So here I am to tell of my adventures, what I am doing, and what I am learning. Please follow if you want to stay updated!

Thanks to all who have helped me be the person I am today!