Blog Description

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.

Monetary exchange:
$1.40 CAN = 1 Cedi, 1 Cedi = 100 Pesewas





July 7, 2010


At the hospital, the 11 year old boy with the severe fever still looked in bad condition, but was holding in. 
Me and Rob visited the hospital lab and were shown how the blood tests were done (antigens for B, A, and Rh added to identify whether the patient is A, AB, O and positive or negative for Rh factor or not).
From some of the student nurses, I learned that the nursing program is 3 years, which is undertaken after completion of senior high school.  Students in the nursing program alternate between practical (in the hospital) and theoretical (lecture) learning, followed by tests in each.  Students rotate between the district and regional hospital.  Students live in dorm-style housing near the hospitals.
After the hospital, I met with the director of the BCL after-school program, Kojo.  Kojo grew up and lives in Kwaprow, is in his final year of a BSC in math at UCC, and runs BCL in his spare time.  BCL was named after the first letters of Kojo’s last name (Bode), as well as 2 other former volunteers (Chantal and Lakai) who helped co-found the program.
The BCL after-school program started in 2006 with a mission statement to further the education of willing youths from Kwaprow village in English, math, science and international languages.  Kojo said another important goal of the program is to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble.   Classes are held Monday – Friday, from 4 - 6 P.M.  Students attend two classes which run for approximately 55 minutes each.  Class length may change however due to late arrival of students or teachers.  Students are separated into three grades based on approximate academic level: primary 5 (age 9-10), primary 6 (10-11), and junior high school 1 (11-13).
In the Ghanaian school system, kids start primary school usually at age 7 (though this may change due to the situation of the family), after 2 years of kindergarten.  Primary school goes from grades 1 – 6.   After primary school, kids attend 3 years of junior high school, followed by three years of senior high school or trade school.  After trade school, a student may enter the work force.  After senior high school, children may attend university (4 years), or a professional program, such as medicine (6 years), or nursing (3 years).
Kojo wants me to teach English to class 5 and 6, Monday, Wednseday, and Thursday from 4 – 6P.M.  He was a bit unclear about what topics exactly to cover, but said he will drop off the kids English work book, so that I can figure out what to teach from there.
On a side note, I learned that the name Kojo is a Ghanaian name for anyone born on Monday.  Ghanaian names are given depending on the day of the week one is born.  Because newborns commonly do not make it past the first week of life, a temporary name is given to a newborn, which is later changed (usually) when the newborn becomes older.   My Ghanaian name is Kwame because I was born on a Saturday.  Below is a list of Ghanaian names (Table 1):
Table 1. Ghanaian names.
Day of birth    Female                         Male
Monday           Adwoa(ajua)               Kwadwoo, Kojo
Tuesday           Abena                         Kobena, Kwabina
Wednesday     Ekua, Ekuwa               Kweku (kwayku)
Thursday         Yaa                             Yaw, Ekow
Friday             Efua, Afua                    Kofi
Saturday          Ama                            Kwame
Sunday            Esi, Akosua                 Kwesi, Akwasi          
At night, I and the other volunteers went to a local bar called The Goil to watch the semi-final World Cup game (Spain vs. Germany).  The Goil caters mostly to the local Ghanaians.  It is part of a gas station that has a bar and food area outside.  There was a large projection screen to show the game, which many locals came to watch even though they weren’t buying anything.  Beer at the Goil was the cheapest I have seen, 2 Cedi for 675 mL (the standard size beer comes in :) ).
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