One of the highlights for me of our clinical experience was the day Bryan and I travelled with Nurse Comfort to a child welfare outreach clinic in the village of Old Akrade. When we arrived at the clinic that morning the midwives asked us if we could canoe. Of course we said “yes!” – and we were soon off on our outreach adventure. (Little did we know that canoeing across the Volta River without a lifejacket would break Global Volunteer policy. We found out – and were scolded! – after the fact, but it was well worth it.) Across the river we hiked the path to the village and arrived to find at least thirty mothers and children already waiting at the clinic...a shaded area under a patch of trees. They brought their own chairs and patiently waited as we got organized. In the Ghanaian health system each child has a booklet in which they keep track of weight, immunizations, and any illnesses the child may experience. The outreach clinic goes to this village only once a month, so it was a busy morning of weighing babies (by hanging them in trees!), giving immunizations, and recording all of this information in each child’s booklet. If a child was not gaining weight properly, the mother was counseled on feeding strategies or the child was referred to the hospital for further care. It was a great day of learning and I was struck with amazement at the great pride and commitment with which mothers care for their children in this part of the world.
--Molly
Monday, June 22, 2009
Travel to Mole National Park
We set off excited for our safari and chance to see some African animals, not fully realizing the travel required in order to get to Mole National Park – or the lasting memories the ten of us would make while spending fifteen hours packed in a small van. Here is a minute-by-minute recap of the day’s events.
7:00am – Breakfast at the St. James Guesthouse.
8:00am – Took a group picture and then departed from Senchi Ferry.
9:02am – Jammed to Kenny Rogers.
9:45am – Tim learns he has to pee.
10:30am – We are offered the chance to stop at a restaurant but decline.
1:05pm – We stop for lunch. Tim goes pee.
2:30pm – After waiting an hour and a half for food, we are finally back on the road.
3:40pm – Filled up with gas with the van still running.
4:00pm – We turn off the highway onto a dirt road…our first “shortcut.”
4:30pm – Spirits were high. Played the movie/actor game.
6:28pm – Still not there.
7:00pm – We place bets on when we will arrive in Mole.
7:30pm – We see a sign that says 136km to Mole. We’re think we are getting close!
7:40pm – We stop and the driver asks directions. “We are going to Mole Park, Mole Mole Park.” Four group members jump out of the van and relieve themselves in the bushes.
7:42pm – We turn the van around 180 degrees. So too does our morale. Our driver decides to take a “shortcut.”
8:04pm – We turn off on another shortcut…another dirt road. Group morale sinks even lower.
8:16pm – Alex tries to crack jokes to lighten the mood. No laughter.
9:35pm – Car sickness strikes the group.
9:55pm – The road turns into pavement. Tentative excitement in the van.
9:58pm – The road becomes dirt again. Group morale sinks to its lowest point yet.
10:10pm – Tessa and Molly see a red flashing light and claim it is the ranger tower in Mole and that we have been circling the park for the last four hours. Tim says it is just a mirage. Molly and Tessa cope by laughing, even though no one else thinks it is funny.
10:28pm – Still not there.
10:34pm – The driver pulls the van over and we all hold our breaths as we suspect a flat tire. Luckily not.
10:46pm – We finally arrive, but the lodge doesn’t have room for all of us. Five of us sleep there and five sleep on the roof. By that point, any place out of the van sounded great!
The next day of elephant hunting, baboon chasing, and sunset watching more than made up for the challenge of getting there…looking back it was good “group bonding time.” :)
7:00am – Breakfast at the St. James Guesthouse.
8:00am – Took a group picture and then departed from Senchi Ferry.
9:02am – Jammed to Kenny Rogers.
9:45am – Tim learns he has to pee.
10:30am – We are offered the chance to stop at a restaurant but decline.
1:05pm – We stop for lunch. Tim goes pee.
2:30pm – After waiting an hour and a half for food, we are finally back on the road.
3:40pm – Filled up with gas with the van still running.
4:00pm – We turn off the highway onto a dirt road…our first “shortcut.”
4:30pm – Spirits were high. Played the movie/actor game.
6:28pm – Still not there.
7:00pm – We place bets on when we will arrive in Mole.
7:30pm – We see a sign that says 136km to Mole. We’re think we are getting close!
7:40pm – We stop and the driver asks directions. “We are going to Mole Park, Mole Mole Park.” Four group members jump out of the van and relieve themselves in the bushes.
7:42pm – We turn the van around 180 degrees. So too does our morale. Our driver decides to take a “shortcut.”
8:04pm – We turn off on another shortcut…another dirt road. Group morale sinks even lower.
8:16pm – Alex tries to crack jokes to lighten the mood. No laughter.
9:35pm – Car sickness strikes the group.
9:55pm – The road turns into pavement. Tentative excitement in the van.
9:58pm – The road becomes dirt again. Group morale sinks to its lowest point yet.
10:10pm – Tessa and Molly see a red flashing light and claim it is the ranger tower in Mole and that we have been circling the park for the last four hours. Tim says it is just a mirage. Molly and Tessa cope by laughing, even though no one else thinks it is funny.
10:28pm – Still not there.
10:34pm – The driver pulls the van over and we all hold our breaths as we suspect a flat tire. Luckily not.
10:46pm – We finally arrive, but the lodge doesn’t have room for all of us. Five of us sleep there and five sleep on the roof. By that point, any place out of the van sounded great!
The next day of elephant hunting, baboon chasing, and sunset watching more than made up for the challenge of getting there…looking back it was good “group bonding time.” :)
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Atimpoku and South Senchi Clinics
Wo ho te sen?
I started my clinic days at Atimpoku with Tim and Kylie (from Loyola Chicago). We quickly found out that Ghana's healthcare system is much more organized than I anticipated. Family planning, prenatal visits, and child welfare clinics take make up most of the clinic time.
Atimpoku is along the river and was the most urban clinic. One day, we walked around the community, visited houses, and told pregnant mothers and sick children to come into the clinic. The next day we participated in the outreach program in which we went to another small village. Here we gave vaccinations and weighed babies. Each child had a book to keep track of his or her weight, vaccinations, and growth chart. It was the most involved that we had been all week and time flew! While one of us hung the baby in a clothe bag from a scale hooked to a tree, others were giving vaccinations or taking the adult's blood pressure. Most of the babies seemed very comfortable with some random Obroni holding them; however, others screamed bloody murder at the sight of me-- yikes.
At South Senchi, quite a few more patients came into the clinic. The nurses here also involved us in their record keeping and prescription writing. They diagnosed a lot of malaria and upper respiratory infections. This clinic was also staffed with a midwife, who helped with a delivery almost every night. I practically begged her to come get me in the middle of the night sometime, but she never did.
One day while I was at S. Senchi with Anne, a 13 year old boy came in with an abscess on the sole of his foot. The nurse, Janet, started off with good disinfecting technique, but then it took a downturn. There was no anesthetic. Janet started off by cutting away the skin, which looked pretty painful, then she took a scalpel blade and jabbed it into the abscess multiple times. The boy was trying very hard not to move his foot, but on multiple occassions he pulled it back. It looked extremely painful! I had to look away for a while because he was in so much pain. When she started to clean up, she would wipe disinfectant over his wound, which was good, but then she would wipe blood from the stool that his foot was on and go back to the wound with the same cotton swab! The foot was wrapped up, the boy was given a 100mg parecetamol, and then he was given a shot of antibiotic. He would be coming back everyother day for another shot and re-wrapping.
Maa che
-- Sara
I started my clinic days at Atimpoku with Tim and Kylie (from Loyola Chicago). We quickly found out that Ghana's healthcare system is much more organized than I anticipated. Family planning, prenatal visits, and child welfare clinics take make up most of the clinic time.
Atimpoku is along the river and was the most urban clinic. One day, we walked around the community, visited houses, and told pregnant mothers and sick children to come into the clinic. The next day we participated in the outreach program in which we went to another small village. Here we gave vaccinations and weighed babies. Each child had a book to keep track of his or her weight, vaccinations, and growth chart. It was the most involved that we had been all week and time flew! While one of us hung the baby in a clothe bag from a scale hooked to a tree, others were giving vaccinations or taking the adult's blood pressure. Most of the babies seemed very comfortable with some random Obroni holding them; however, others screamed bloody murder at the sight of me-- yikes.
At South Senchi, quite a few more patients came into the clinic. The nurses here also involved us in their record keeping and prescription writing. They diagnosed a lot of malaria and upper respiratory infections. This clinic was also staffed with a midwife, who helped with a delivery almost every night. I practically begged her to come get me in the middle of the night sometime, but she never did.
One day while I was at S. Senchi with Anne, a 13 year old boy came in with an abscess on the sole of his foot. The nurse, Janet, started off with good disinfecting technique, but then it took a downturn. There was no anesthetic. Janet started off by cutting away the skin, which looked pretty painful, then she took a scalpel blade and jabbed it into the abscess multiple times. The boy was trying very hard not to move his foot, but on multiple occassions he pulled it back. It looked extremely painful! I had to look away for a while because he was in so much pain. When she started to clean up, she would wipe disinfectant over his wound, which was good, but then she would wipe blood from the stool that his foot was on and go back to the wound with the same cotton swab! The foot was wrapped up, the boy was given a 100mg parecetamol, and then he was given a shot of antibiotic. He would be coming back everyother day for another shot and re-wrapping.
Maa che
-- Sara
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Akwaaba from Ghana!
Akwaaba means 'welcome' in the Twi language which is spoken in Ghana.
Our entire team arrived safely in the town of New Senchi where we have been helping in local clinics for the past two weeks. We haven't had access to the Internet, so I haven't been able to update the blog, but we have been having a great time in Ghana.
For the past two days we have been helping with National Immunization Day, part of the WHO's plan to eradicate polio. It has been interesting to go from house to house and to the local schools giving the polio vaccine to every child under the age of five.
Last weekend, we traveled to Mole National Park; it was a long trip, but we were able to see some amazing animals. We also visited a local market and saw how Ghanaians make glass beads.
So far, our trip has been amazing. I'm sorry we haven't been able to update the blog regularly, but when we return to a place with regular Internet access, I will add a post about everything we have done.
Medasee (Thanks)
--Anne Goshgarian and Team Ghana
Our entire team arrived safely in the town of New Senchi where we have been helping in local clinics for the past two weeks. We haven't had access to the Internet, so I haven't been able to update the blog, but we have been having a great time in Ghana.
For the past two days we have been helping with National Immunization Day, part of the WHO's plan to eradicate polio. It has been interesting to go from house to house and to the local schools giving the polio vaccine to every child under the age of five.
Last weekend, we traveled to Mole National Park; it was a long trip, but we were able to see some amazing animals. We also visited a local market and saw how Ghanaians make glass beads.
So far, our trip has been amazing. I'm sorry we haven't been able to update the blog regularly, but when we return to a place with regular Internet access, I will add a post about everything we have done.
Medasee (Thanks)
--Anne Goshgarian and Team Ghana
Monday, April 27, 2009
Brief Update!!!
We have less than 4 weeks until we depart for Ghana!!!
Yesterday we visited Fr. Anthony who works at St. Pius and grew up in Ghana. He is extremely kind and told us about Ghana. First we went to an African market here in Omaha. He showed us all sorts of different foods and told us how they are prepared. They put red pepper in most of their dishes and eat a lot of stews and fish. He made us Gari, which is ground up and roasted cassava, to which he added milk. It's a very quick dish, much like a porridge, so many students eat it on the run. Then he made us fried salmon with stew and rice. The stew was delicious!! He sautéed some onions in oil, then added freshly pureed tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Then he added a spoonful of ground red pepper, to which he said, “I’m just adding a tiny bit, for flavor, but not too much because I don’t want it to be hot for you!” It sure had a kick!! I can tell already that I am going to love the food!
Fr. Anthony also taught us some Twi. The official language of Ghana is English, but most of the people in Ghana speak Twi. He taught us the days of the week and how to say “how are you?” People in Ghana will call someone by the day of the week that they were born on. For example, I was born on Saturday so I could introduce myself as Ama. Here is a list if you would like to know your name!!!:
Day of Week Female Male
Sunday Asi Akwasi
Monday Adjoa Kodjo
Tuesday Abena Kwabena
Wednesday Akua Kweku?
Thursday Yaa Yaw
Friday Afua Kofi
Saturday Ama Kwame
What is your name? Wo din de sen? or Ye fre wo sen?
my name is X me din de X or ye fre me X
how are you? wo ho te sen?
I am well me ho ye (may ho yay -- pronunciation)
I really enjoy learning different languages and talking to people in their native language; so I hope to learn much more!!
It definitely hasn’t hit me yet that we leave in less than a month. Our team has been preparing all year, and we have all the necessary items, but mentally preparing is a different story.
To prepare for our trip to Ghana, each of us chose a topic and taught everyone else about it. For example, Molly told us about the history of Ghana itself while Tim did current issues within Ghana; Danny and Jenni picked current issues within Africa. We discussed cultural issues, and luckily Ghanaians are friendly kind people, because Annie G. and I are left handed – gesturing with your left hand in Ghana is considered insulting. Fr. Anthony assures us that if we just mention that we do not mean harm by it that they will be happy that we tried to learn the culture before we came and will not take offense to it. Plus, we will already know some Twi; so we can embarrass ourselves by trying to speak it, and they can just laugh at us for that! I am already getting excited for it!!
Anyways, the next thing we did was reflect and get to know each other! We have had a few meeting to discuss logistics of everything and necessary documents, vaccinations etc. So at the end of the meetings we will discuss our expectations, previous travel experiences, and fundraiser ideas.
Although I feel our best bonding time was when we did our “taster” run for Savor the Flavor! Tim and I went shopping for the groceries, and then everyone met at my house to cook. Food does bring people closer together! Not necessarily because of the food, but the process of making it and having to work together to prepare something that hopefully everyone enjoys. Plus, getting ready to eat is a relaxing time when discussions flow naturally and people (at least our group) are more open. We made fried plantains and groundnut stew! It was delicious! When we served it at Savor people seemed to love it as well. If you want to try it, here is the recipe:
Groundnut (peanut) stew
INGREDIENTS (multiply by 8 --- but only use the onion we have—cuz they’re big)1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium-size yellow onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 or 2 hot or minced chiles, to your taste, seeded and chopped 1 ½ teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger ½ tablespoon light brown sugar ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (I added this to the recipe, you may need more)2 carrots, chopped
1 green pepper, sliced1 ½ cups water ¼ cup creamy natural peanut butter Salt and freshly-ground black pepper 1 ½ cups cooled black-eyed peas or one 15-ounce can (see Note), drained and rinsed ½ cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chiles, ginger, brown sugar, cinnamon, red pepper, and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add the carrots and pepper and stir to coat with the spices. Add 1 ¼ cup of the water and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.
2. Put the peanut butter in a small bowl and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup water, stirring until smooth.
3 Stir the peanut butter mixture into the stew, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Allow 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the black-eyed peas and peanuts and simmer until heated through. Before serving, taste to adjust the seasonings.
Kelewele (Fried Plantains)
6 large ripe plantains
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
2 Tablespoons water
3 cups oil or shortening
Procedure
Peel the plantain and cut crosswise into ½-inch slices, removing any woody parts from the center.
Mix ginger, salt, and red pepper with water in a mixing bowl.
Drop plantain slices into mixture and turn them to coat.
Heat oil or shortening in a large skillet and fry the mixture-coated slices until golden brown.
We had a hard time deciding which meals to make. We decided on these because they were relatively easy to serve. However, we also looked into serving Fufu or Jollof Rice.
Tessa was in charge of the Savor the Flavor event that I keep referring to, and she did a great job! She organized many items to be auctioned off, and coordinated all the Project CURA groups to get together and present their trips to the guests. She can tell you way more about it than I can. All I know is that we had a great time at the Ghana table!!
Well, believe it or not, this is just a quick summary of all the things we have been doing to prepare for Ghana! I hope you're ready for lots of stories in a few weeks!!
Yesterday we visited Fr. Anthony who works at St. Pius and grew up in Ghana. He is extremely kind and told us about Ghana. First we went to an African market here in Omaha. He showed us all sorts of different foods and told us how they are prepared. They put red pepper in most of their dishes and eat a lot of stews and fish. He made us Gari, which is ground up and roasted cassava, to which he added milk. It's a very quick dish, much like a porridge, so many students eat it on the run. Then he made us fried salmon with stew and rice. The stew was delicious!! He sautéed some onions in oil, then added freshly pureed tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Then he added a spoonful of ground red pepper, to which he said, “I’m just adding a tiny bit, for flavor, but not too much because I don’t want it to be hot for you!” It sure had a kick!! I can tell already that I am going to love the food!
Fr. Anthony also taught us some Twi. The official language of Ghana is English, but most of the people in Ghana speak Twi. He taught us the days of the week and how to say “how are you?” People in Ghana will call someone by the day of the week that they were born on. For example, I was born on Saturday so I could introduce myself as Ama. Here is a list if you would like to know your name!!!:
Day of Week Female Male
Sunday Asi Akwasi
Monday Adjoa Kodjo
Tuesday Abena Kwabena
Wednesday Akua Kweku?
Thursday Yaa Yaw
Friday Afua Kofi
Saturday Ama Kwame
What is your name? Wo din de sen? or Ye fre wo sen?
my name is X me din de X or ye fre me X
how are you? wo ho te sen?
I am well me ho ye (may ho yay -- pronunciation)
I really enjoy learning different languages and talking to people in their native language; so I hope to learn much more!!
It definitely hasn’t hit me yet that we leave in less than a month. Our team has been preparing all year, and we have all the necessary items, but mentally preparing is a different story.
To prepare for our trip to Ghana, each of us chose a topic and taught everyone else about it. For example, Molly told us about the history of Ghana itself while Tim did current issues within Ghana; Danny and Jenni picked current issues within Africa. We discussed cultural issues, and luckily Ghanaians are friendly kind people, because Annie G. and I are left handed – gesturing with your left hand in Ghana is considered insulting. Fr. Anthony assures us that if we just mention that we do not mean harm by it that they will be happy that we tried to learn the culture before we came and will not take offense to it. Plus, we will already know some Twi; so we can embarrass ourselves by trying to speak it, and they can just laugh at us for that! I am already getting excited for it!!
Anyways, the next thing we did was reflect and get to know each other! We have had a few meeting to discuss logistics of everything and necessary documents, vaccinations etc. So at the end of the meetings we will discuss our expectations, previous travel experiences, and fundraiser ideas.
Although I feel our best bonding time was when we did our “taster” run for Savor the Flavor! Tim and I went shopping for the groceries, and then everyone met at my house to cook. Food does bring people closer together! Not necessarily because of the food, but the process of making it and having to work together to prepare something that hopefully everyone enjoys. Plus, getting ready to eat is a relaxing time when discussions flow naturally and people (at least our group) are more open. We made fried plantains and groundnut stew! It was delicious! When we served it at Savor people seemed to love it as well. If you want to try it, here is the recipe:
Groundnut (peanut) stew
INGREDIENTS (multiply by 8 --- but only use the onion we have—cuz they’re big)1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium-size yellow onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 or 2 hot or minced chiles, to your taste, seeded and chopped 1 ½ teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger ½ tablespoon light brown sugar ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (I added this to the recipe, you may need more)2 carrots, chopped
1 green pepper, sliced1 ½ cups water ¼ cup creamy natural peanut butter Salt and freshly-ground black pepper 1 ½ cups cooled black-eyed peas or one 15-ounce can (see Note), drained and rinsed ½ cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chiles, ginger, brown sugar, cinnamon, red pepper, and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add the carrots and pepper and stir to coat with the spices. Add 1 ¼ cup of the water and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.
2. Put the peanut butter in a small bowl and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup water, stirring until smooth.
3 Stir the peanut butter mixture into the stew, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Allow 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the black-eyed peas and peanuts and simmer until heated through. Before serving, taste to adjust the seasonings.
Kelewele (Fried Plantains)
6 large ripe plantains
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
2 Tablespoons water
3 cups oil or shortening
Procedure
Peel the plantain and cut crosswise into ½-inch slices, removing any woody parts from the center.
Mix ginger, salt, and red pepper with water in a mixing bowl.
Drop plantain slices into mixture and turn them to coat.
Heat oil or shortening in a large skillet and fry the mixture-coated slices until golden brown.
We had a hard time deciding which meals to make. We decided on these because they were relatively easy to serve. However, we also looked into serving Fufu or Jollof Rice.
Tessa was in charge of the Savor the Flavor event that I keep referring to, and she did a great job! She organized many items to be auctioned off, and coordinated all the Project CURA groups to get together and present their trips to the guests. She can tell you way more about it than I can. All I know is that we had a great time at the Ghana table!!
Well, believe it or not, this is just a quick summary of all the things we have been doing to prepare for Ghana! I hope you're ready for lots of stories in a few weeks!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to the official blog for the Project CURA trip to Ghana with Creighton School of Medicine. This summer, ten first year medical students will be traveling to Akrade, Ghana to volunteer in a Ghanaian village. We will be working with an organization called Global Volunteers to provide assistance with health care, education and construction within the community. We decided to start this blog as a way to keep family and friends updated on our trip progress and to share some of the stories and photographs of our experiences.
Our trip to Ghana has been organized by our group leader, Sara Walz. The other students attending are: Tim Dickhudt, Danny Hames, Bryan Huter, Jennifer Kumasaki, Molly Moriarty, Christina Rea, Alex Wilkes, Tessa Wyborny, and I am Anne Goshgarian. I have volunteered to be the manager of this blog, but my intention is to have everyone contribute by posting their stories throughout the trip.
Again, welcome to our blog and thanks for reading!
--Anne Goshgarian
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