I never thought I would be so happy to get back to Accra and my room at the Telecentre. We left Adansi on Thursday afternoon after outreach. Overall, the trip was OK, but I will say that we were pretty bored at the hotel after outreach was finished. We didn’t really see that many patients, so that meant we got back to the hotel pretty early in the afternoon (around 2:00PM). We spent the remainder of our days reading, playing cards, watching hours upon hours of soccer matches, and turning in for bed pretty early. I won’t say that the trip was a failure, but I definitely think it could have been more productive had the local volunteers been more organized and if they had planned ahead a little bit more. Despite the setbacks, it was a good chance to see another side of Ghana.
Since this village is so far removed from any other villages, most people in the town don’t see many White people or Westerners. We received a lot of attention as we walked down the streets of Adansi. Many children asked us for money and were so excited to see us at the outreaches. They looked with amazement at the White skin of my fellow volunteers. It was hilarious to watch. However, not all the children were so excited to see us. Several children appeared shocked, frightened, and even began to cry when they saw some of the White volunteers. This just showed me how remote and far removed this community really was. Sadly, I didn’t receive as much attention from the children as the White volunteers since mine and the children’s complexion were so similar. However, I did spark some interest with an adult patient who was so confused when I didn’t understand her native language. I tried to tell her that I was from the U.S., not Ghana, and that I could not speak her language, but she just kept pointing at my skin and then back at hers with a look of confusion and shock on her face. It was pretty funny, and in the end she said that we were friends so I guess it all ended well!
We had an outreach scheduled for the Friday when we returned from Accra, but the tremendous amount of rain that the country has been receiving prevented us from going. Apparently, there was a lot of flooding in the place where we were supposed to be going. So instead of heading to work on Friday, we all headed to the market! More shopping and sight-seeing was done, and it was a great chance to explore some more areas of Accra that hadn’t had the opportunity to see yet. That was a great start to a great weekend.
If you haven’t heard yet, Ghana and the U.S. will be playing in the World Cup this (Saturday) evening! I can’t even describe how excited everyone is for this epic event. How cool is it that we are here in Ghana to watch the game?! We are all so excited and will be heading downtown to Osu to watch the match! I don’t really know who to cheer for, but I’m wearing my new Ghana jersey and I’ll probably cheer whenever both teams score a goal! It’s going to be great!
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