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





August 12, 2010

I spent today saying good bye to people around town and trying to do all the things I had been meaning to do, but had put off, such as visiting Kakum national park.  I said good bye to Doctors Kudoh and Kwarteng at the District hospital, as well as other people I had gotten to know there.  When saying goodbye to Francis, the medical student I had became friends with, I mentioned that I was going to Kakum later and he said he would like to come. 
Kakum national park is a rainforest reserve that is a 30 minute tro-tro away.  Kakum is well known for its Canopy Walk, in which visitors walk along platforms suspended 60 m up in the canopy of trees in the rain forest (Figure 35). 
The canopy walk was my main reason for wanting to go to Kakum, so Francis and I did that.  The platforms were a bit sketchy (Figure 36), but they held up and Francis and I had a great time (Figure 37).
Figure 35. Kakum canopy walk.

Figure 36. Sketchy platform.
Figure 37. Francis and I after the canopy walk.
For my last day at the after-school program I played games with the kids and gave out the remaining items I had left.  The kids seemed to really enjoy it, and so did I.  I am really going to miss the kids of the after-school program.  I gave Kojo a gift for himself personally (an American Eagle polo), to show my appreciation for his hard work. Kojo led the kids in a big thank you prayer for my time at the school and the kids all said goodbye (Figure 38). 
Figure 38. BCL kids saying goodbye.
    
It turns out Paige and Sossah, the program coordinator and director for Abusua, respectively, had received some praise from kids, parents, and other adults of the Kwaprow community about my work with the after-school program.  Because of this they decided to direct some Abusua funds into the after-school program for text books and classroom rent payments.  Paige also asked me to write a pamphlet guide for future volunteers who will work at BCL, so that future volunteers can pick up where I left off.  It is very satisfying to know that my work at the after-school program was appreciated and the program will continue to develop after I am gone.
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