It is 8:40 Eastern standard time and I am currently in Washington, Dulles airport on a lay-over to Toronto. It has been a long trip home (25 hours so far), but smooth, with no notable problems. I have about 5 hours left till I reach Toronto. I will use some of this time to reflect on my time in Ghana.
Some important questions I can think to reflect upon include:
Do I still want to be a doctor? If so, what kind?
After working in the hospitals in Ghana, I want to become a doctor more than ever. Seeing sick people in the hospitals, but not being able to do anything because I was not trained, made me desire more than ever to receive training as a doctor so that I can know what to do to best aid the patient.
Interestingly, although I had no strong interest in becoming a surgeon before my experience in Ghana, after seeing some surgeries, I now think I would like to become a surgeon. As a surgeon you get to work a lot with your hands and get to see the results of your work (for good or bad) very directly, which I think I would like. Because I am still very interested in the brain, right now I am thinking I would like to be a neurosurgeon. Of course this could easily change as I get more exposure to different specialties however.
What was my general impression of the development state of Ghana?
Compared to Canada, Ghana was obviously much less developed. Even in fairly large towns such as Cape Coast there were major deficiencies in infrastructure, such as lack of clean running water, few paved roads, and absent sanitation. School systems and health care were also far behind Canada (though less actually than I had imagined). There were also many human rights violations I that I heard about in Ghana, such as people awaiting trial being detained for up to 10 years in prison.
That being said, with money, you could easily find modern amenities, such as electricity, running water, and television. This made Ghana seem much more developed than you may imagine a typical “African” country would be. Ghana was also very safe (even for white tourists), which I think is an important difference between Ghana and many other developing countries.
What were my general impressions of the Ghanaian people and culture?
Foremost, I found Ghanaians to be extremely friendly and willing to help others in need. For example, if lost, most Ghanaians would go out of their way to help you find what you were looking for.
I also found the Ghanaian people to be much more open and direct with strangers. After asking how my day was going, it was not unordinary to be asked by strangers if I was married, or what my religious views were.
I also found that Ghanaians have a very strong sense of family. From talking to Ghanaians, it was never the case that somebody did not plan to get married and start a family.
Additionally, Ghanaians all seemed to have a very strong sense of community. For example, any time a Ghanaian was eating in a group, he or she would ask others around to share their food using the characteristic expression of, “You are invited”, while nodding at their food.
Ghanaians are also extremely religious. Whether Christian, or Muslim, everybody I met attended church, and listened and watched to religious media. A bit surprisingly, Christians and Muslims all got along well together. Both groups seemed to hold a respect for the other for having faith in religion, which deterred any conflict.
A big shock to me about Ghanaian culture was how prominent traditional African beliefs in witchcraft and healing were. Because modern information and communication tools (phones, internet, TV, radio, etc.) are fairly common in Ghana, I expected that Ghanaians would be more aware of up to date scientific information, which would dispel belief in fictitious traditional views. Overwhelmingly, however, this was not the case. Even young, scientifically educated people, such as the nurses from the Ankful psychiatric hospital, believed strongly in the authenticity of witchcraft and traditional healing practises.
What are some things I appreciate more about Canada after my time in Ghana?
After seeing severe poverty in Ghana, the largest thing I appreciate about Canada is how well even the poorest people have it compared to a lot of people in Ghana. In Canada if you do not have money or family members to help you, government funded programs will ensure that you at least have something to eat and somewhere to sleep at night. In Ghana, if you do not have money or family to help you, you do not eat and you die. A chilling thought, is that Ghana is in the middle tierof sub-Saharan African countries as far as poverty goes, so I can only imagine how bad poverty may be in the lower ranking countries.
What experiences (good and bad) stand out most in my memory?
I will start with the bad, or difficult, experiences that stand out in my mind. At the hospitals, I saw patients that I had come to know become sicker and sometimes die, which was difficult to experience. Most prominently, the death of the young boy Abraham from cardiac failure is a painful memory that sticks out. Another difficult experience was seeing people chained up and starved at the Edumfa Prayer camp.
The good experiences from my time in Ghana stand out far more clearly than the difficult however. Watching Philip Kofi, a young boy who was very sick with malaria, get better and be discharged was a very good memory that stands out. Getting to know the kids at the afterschool program was another great memory. Getting to know the other volunteers and going on trips with them was another enjoyable experience. From the night-life in Accra, to the picturesque wilderness of the Volta region my weekend excursions with the other volunteers were definitely a highlight of my time in Ghana.
Did I see any of the “big African” animals?
No, I did not unfortunately see any of the “big African” animals (lions, elephants, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, crocodiles, monkeys, hyenas, antelope, snakes etc.). Monkeys, crocodiles, antelope, large snakes, and forest elephants were found around where I was staying in Ghana, however, I was not lucky (or unlucky, depending on the animal) enough to see them. The other animals are mostly isolated to the savannahs of East Africa. Savannah elephants can be seen in Northern Ghana; however, I did not travel there, so didn’t see them.
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