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.
This past Saturday, I and some other volunteers went to Ko-Sa beach for the day. Ko-Sa is a beautiful beach about 30 minutes away from Cape Coast, which has rocky outcrops about 30 meters out in the water which blocks the rip-tide and makes it safe to swim (Figure 22). We spent the day swimming and relaxing on the beach.
Figure 22. Ko-sa beach.
After Ko-Sa, we went to Elmina Night club for some dancing. From my experience so far, it seems that every Ghanaian (guy or girl, young or old) is a good dancer. Ghanianas also seem to really be able to cut loose and have some fun, even if they are going through tough times.
On Sunday, I went downtown with Rob to get some fabric for a tailored shirt to be made (this can be done very cheaply in Ghana). Later, I played a fun game of soccer with some of the Kwaprow village kids.
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