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The last two days have been incredible! Yesterday, I was at Northwestern Eye Clinic again to observe cataract and pterygium surgeries performed by Dr. Michael Gyesi. I showed up with another volunteer, Tom, at around noon and talked with the optometrists and assisted with some visual field assessments until being called into the operating theater at around two. Groups from three outreaches, performed earlier in the week, had been transported to the clinic where they were to have their recommended surgeries and stay the night (on the floor!) for next day post op. The operating suite had two beds, one patient was being operated on while the other was being prepped. Dr. Gyesi knocked out each surgery in about 5-8 minutes and would proceed to swivel his chair over to the next bed to start on the next one. I was given the responsibility of pressing a foot pedal to initiate a cauterizing device whenever the doctor used it and I entered data about each patient for both Unite For Sight and the clinic. The surgeries were very interesting. I was able to observe twelve. We didn't leave the clinic until around nine.

Returning home, I met two more volunteers, Tiffany and Nora, who had been in Kumasi for the previous two weeks. Also, I discovered that another volunteer, Genna, had spent the day at the hospital and was being treated for MALARIA! She was sitting on the couch when I got back and had a fever but was doing alright for the most part. She was given a three day regimen of meds and was told to go for another check-up in three days. Good thing we were required to get international health insurance for this trip!

The night ended on a rooftop bar near our hotel. There was dancing, a little bit of drinking, a fight over Nora, and a semi stalker issue with an admirer of Tiffany which prompted our exit at around 12:30.


Today, I was in Aburi, a quiet, hilly town, which is about an hour tro tro (very packed bus) ride from Accra. I met Nisreen, a med student from U of M who I met on my flight, and two of her classmates for some leisurely bike riding. Little did we know that the casual ride would turn into the most challenging mountain biking I have ever encountered! We rode 12 km through the jungle, up and down steep rocky hills, and into several villages. The children in the village always looked and smiled and yelled out "obruni", an innocent call meaning white foreigner. I took pictures of many of the children. Showing them the pictures always brought a big smile and laughter. If I'm going to get malaria on this trip it will be because of this ride. I periodically applied copious amounts of sunscreen and DEET to protect myself from the elements and fortunately ended up with no sunburn or bug bites, at least to my knowledge.

After the trip we ate at a pizza place (hard to come by in Ghana) run by a former Ghanaian sailor who was stationed in Italy for three years where he learned the art of pizza making. We split one large pizza topped with carrots, cabbage, and mushrooms and it was excellent!

I had to hitch a series of tro tros to get home with the help of some very hospitable Ghanaians, and here I sit at the hotel computer typing this blog.

I am scheduled to go on an outreach with Crystal Eye Clinic tomorrow. Should be another great day!

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