July 6, 2010

I will take this moment to talk about the taxi system in Ghana. There are 2 types of taxis: shared or drop. Shared taxis are like a bus (they go along a fixed route and you get off and on as you please), while drop taxis are like a normal taxi (driver takes you where you want for a negotiated rate). The best bet for getting a shared or drop taxi is to go to a station (Figure 14), but you can also catch a taxi along the road (provided it is not already full). Shared taxis are much cheaper than drop taxis for one person (about a 0.3 Cedi shared = 2 Cedi drop), but a drop taxi may be worth it if you need to get somewhere fast, or you are travelling with a group. The catch with shared taxis is that because you must wait for a shared taxi to fill, the time needed to get anywhere in a shared taxi can vary, depending on your luck with other passengers.

Figure 14. Taxi-station.

Already, driving in Ghana seems as dangerous as I had been warned about.  It is very common to see a taxi and tro-tro driver pass cars using the oncoming lane, while only narrowly missing oncoming traffic.  It is also a common sight to see cars stuck on the side of the road (Figure 15), apparently after swerving to miss an oncoming car. 

Figure 15. Tro-tro ran off the road.

To get to the hospital, I have to take 3 shared taxis and it can take anywhere between 25-45 minutes to get there.

 

At the hospital today, I checked vitals of the patients in the paediatric ward.  As I was about to take the vitals of one girl suffering from malaria, the mother asked if I could wait because her child needed to vomit.  There were no available buckets nearby, so the girl puked on the floor.  All the other nurses and patients acted as if this was no uncommon thing.  I looked around for cleaning supplies, but couldn’t find any.  Finally, I asked whose responsibility it was to clean the vomit.  I was surprised to learn that it is the mother’s responsibility to clean up their child’s vomit.

 

The next child I checked was an 11 year old boy also suffering from malaria.  He was sweating profusely and somewhat delirious, his temperature was 40º C, a dangerously high temperature.  I ran and got one of the nurses.  They said the child had already been given the necessary medication an hour ago and the temperature would soon go down.

After the hospital, I went for a jog around UCC campus to blow off steam, and then relaxed with the other volunteers at the house.