This past summer I went on a 6 week medical observational internship in Ghana, Africa with the Abusua Foundation (an NGO run out of Ghana). I went to gain experience in a hospital and see if medicine is really what I want to do with my life. I lived in the small village of Kwaprow, in the coastal fishing town of Cape Coast. I worked in two hospitals: Cape Coast District (smaller, less modern)and Central Regional (larger, more modern). I also taught English and Science to young children of my village at the BCL after-school program.
While there, I wrote a journal about my experiences in the hospital, teaching at the after-school program, and general life in Ghana. Since being home, some people have expressed an interest in reading the journal, so I figured the easiest thing to do was to post the journal here for anyone who is interested in reading it. Any patient names mentioned have been changed to ensure confidentiality.
It should be noted that because this is a blog site, the postings are in reverse order of when they occurred (which I can't change). So, to read the entries in order you should start from the oldest posts at the bottom of this page.
About Ghana Ghana is a coastal country in West Africa. The national language of Ghana is English. The capital of Ghana is Accra. Ghana is considered the safest country in Africa (according to global peace index; see Global Peace Index map at the bottom).In terms of development, Ghana is ranked in the middle tier of African countries and 152 out of 182 in the world by the Human Development Index.
I left Toronto airport (Figure 1) early on July 2 and arrived in Accra, Ghana (Figure 2) on July 3 at 2:30 local time (4 hours ahead of eastern standard).
Figure 1. Leaving Toronto.
Figure 2. Arriving in Accra, Ghana.
I was greeted at the airport by Paige, a program coordinator for Abusua. We left Accra right away on a tro-tro (cramped van that holds 14 people and is the cheapest form of public transportation; Figure 3). From what I saw of Accra, it seemed a very hectic city.
Figure 3. Tro-tro.
We arrived in Cape Coast, the main city I will be staying in for the next 6 weeks, at about 6:00 P.M. (Figure 4). Cape Coast is a fishing town, and is one of the larger towns in Ghana. The streets of downtown Cape Coast were very busy (Figure 5).
Figure 4. Cape Coast, wide-shot.
Figure 5. Busy streets of dowtown Cape Coast.
We left downtown Cape Coast soon after to go to the village I will be staying in, Kwaprow (Figure 6). Kwaprow is on the University of Cape Coast (UCC) campus. UCC campus is about 22 km in size and contains many buildings (and entire villages) that are not owned by the university.
Figure 6. Kwaprow village, on Unversity of Cape Coast (UCC) campus.
In Kwaprow, the Abusua foundation rents a house, which is where I will be living (Figure 7). The Abusua house seems very nice by Ghanaian standards, as some of the other houses in my village are mud huts (Figure 8).
Figure 7. Abusua house, where I lived.
Figure 8. Mud hut in Kwaprow.
In the Abusua house there is a large living room with a tv (Figure 9), dining area, and kitchen. There are 10 bedrooms where the volunteers sleep typically two to a room.
Figure 9. Abusua house living room.
I share a room (Figure 10) with Rob, my friend from STFX, who arrived a week earlier. Our room has its own bathroom . There is running water some of the time, but the water is not safe to drink. There are no showers as they are usually known, instead we use “bucket showers”, in which one fills a bucket with water and pours water over oneself (Figure 11). The room is not too glamous, but it works.
Figure 10.Bedroom. My bed on the right, Rob’s on the left.
Figure 11. Bathroom with bucket shower.
I met some of the other house-mates, and we went out for drinks at a local beach bar/restaurant, Oasis, which caters mostly to tourists. The other house-mates seemed very nice.
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