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Published: November 6th 2006
Wednesday 1st November-Sunday 5th November
What a busy week it has been, I am in the midst of working a 7-day week starting at 0700 and finishing at about 1630 with the hours in between spent in small villages in from Savelugu. I have been lucky enough to be involved in the above-mentioned programme and it has been a really worthwhile and fulfilling experience. Many thanks to the two Austrian nurses working at Savelugu who knew about the programme and set the ball rolling for us to take part.
We had to attend a mandatory training session. I am not sure what training I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t training in any form I am familiar with. It consisted of the director of immunisation talking us through the appropriate forms we would be using and how to fill them in correctly. After 40 minutes we actually had the forms set out before us and I could not take it any longer so I escaped to the ward which had been deserted in the rush to do the training. It was really busy on the ward with very sick children and admissions lining up, the one nurse left on duty was asleep in the staff room while the charge nurse filled out forms. He jumped up when I came in and together we sorted out several patients.
Anyway with the training complete we were told to report for duty on Wed at 0700. We duly arrived at 0700 (me having gotten up at 0530) and there was certainly an air of excitement as we all gathered our various forms, and paraphernalia. It all seemed to be quite organised as we were allocated our teams and our areas for each day. A simple matter then of getting the right teams in the right vehicles to be dropped off…. Two hours later we were still waiting for the final loading of teams and mosquito nets. It was quite frustrating just hanging around listening to various people shouting at various other people but I suppose it all worked because we loaded into the pickups and headed off to our villages. My first village was Kugafong and we were to distribute mosquito nets to children under 2 and vaccinate with polio, measles, give vitamin A and dewormer. Each team consisted of the vaccinator (I had Augustina, medical assistant from the hospital), a recorder (me), a helper (Abaare, in charge of the guinea worm programme at Savelugu) and a volunteer from the village. The first two roles are fairly self explanatory, the helper is very important in making things happen in each village together with the volunteer. When we arrive, bench sets magically appear under the best tree in the village and some sort of table to work on and the pulsing crowd of people turns into something slightly more controllable.
Mothers arrive with the infants and all should have a health card, if they don’t have a card I make a new one with them. This proved to be a very challenging experience and often my pronunciation of names had everyone laughing, but once you pronounce one name they all want you to do it for their children, I have to say at times I felt a bit like a performing animal but we all got a good laugh out of it so I didn’t mind really. At times when I could not understand at all the helper was there to guide me and on the two days he wasn’t with us one of the local children who spoke some English would stand by my side and translate for me.
The three white women (myself included) were all in separate teams and we all took sweeties with us for the children who were given injections. I think the uptake of immunisation for children in these areas was greater in the non-toffee non-white areas!! In some of the villages the children had not seen white people before and they would scream very loudly if we went too near them. Others soon overcame their fear and would simply sit and stare at us, which was slightly off-putting. On my third day we finished the vaccinations at about 1300 but could not be picked up sooner as the inspectors were about so we were told to stay put. I didn’t really understand the logic but stay put we did. Poor Augustina was also working night shift as the only medical person on call and had been really busy so when the clinic finished she shooed the children off her bench and lay down and went to sleep. The helper had to go and ‘ablate’ a dam near Savelugu and the volunteer just disappeared. That left me sitting on the bench with about 15-20 children just watching me, waiting for me to grow horns I suppose.
I started staring back and then making faces and then jumping at them to scare them and then we ended up playing every single childhood game I could think of that did not involve too much speaking or explanation. We played ‘rock, scissors and paper’. I made the rock etc and then chased children with the action, to much laughter. We played guess the hand with the peanut in and once I showed them I then spent many minutes guessing which little hand had the nut in it. I tried tic tac toe but it was a bit beyond them so we then drew things in the dirt. We sang a few songs and did a few dances. I spent over three hours with them and I had a most fantastic time, it was a really wonderful experience. The children were so natural and just loved having a grown up spend time with them playing instead of making them work or be responsible, I have such lovely memories of that afternoon.
There were other times that were not so memorable or perhaps were memorable but I don’t want to remember. In the UK immunisations are done in a quiet little room with an anxious mother and a usually gentle nurse and it is expected that the child will probably cry and make a bit of a fuss. Well, obviously, not so here. Firstly we sit under the local shady tree and all the children are sitting on their mother’s laps waiting their turns. Some of the children aged only three are sent out with a sister or even on their own, clutching their little card trying so hard to be brave and grown up. Seeing the fear on their little faces was quite a wake up, when it was their turn many of the little ones would make their bid for escape, realising this would be impossible they decided noise was the best option. At this point if too much noise was made everyone thought they had a duty to make the child quiet, this could involve clamping a hand over their mouths, hitting them with a switch, smacking them on the heads. The adults thought it very funny when I made disapproving noises and tried to offer a little comfort. One child was absolutely furious with his mother when he had his injection and turned on her to beat her back when he was let down. Many hands from the crowd reached out to slap him down and he backed off a bit with everyone laughing at him. He then came back to continue giving his mother a hard time and someone picked up the packing ties and started beating him around the legs and arms with it, he soon took off. Unfortunately his survival instinct was not very well tuned because he came back yet again and an elder picked up a very sturdy switch and started beating into him again. When I tried to intervene I was told he had a very strong will and he must learn to control it. There are so many mixed messages in relation to the children of these people. On the one hand they are cosseted and kept close to the mother and fed well into their third to fourth year. Some of this is necessity but love must be a factor, yet it is alright to beat them and expect them to understand adult concepts. There are so many new ideas and ways that we are being introduced to that it would be great to be here for a much longer time so we could begin to try and understand some of these ways, life is so different here and very alien to us but we hope we are learning something every day.
While I have been so busy with my work, Richard and the children have been keeping the home fires burning. Marc and Huw went out and bought themselves a cutlass, yes you read correctly!! They bought themselves a two-foot long cutlass, ‘to help with the gardening’!!!!! After we recovered from the shock of them buying such a lethal weapon, Richard found them jobs to do around the house clearing land, grass and bushes and they have been in their element. It is incredibly hot and hard work but they have had a little gang of helpers from the surrounding houses and all have had a great time. Marc and Huw are really enjoying their independence and responsibility and I have a feeling it will be a bit of a shock to them when we reach civilisation again and they have to abide by rules once more….
They have both been grounded this weekend, and that is a big deal because they love the swimming pool more than anyone and they are currently sitting outside while Sian is at the pool. On Thursday night Huw decided to give Marc a haircut. Not too bad, in fact he did quite a good job and a manly Marc emerged. Marc then decided to return the favour. Considering that Huw had recently had a haircut in town we did not know this second haircut was happening, until Asiah came in saying, ‘Marc is removing all of Huw’s hair’. Richard and I dashed outside but it was too late, the damage was already done. Huw was sporting a shaved streak down one side of his head and Marc stood over him with my razor in his hand. Threats and punishments were thrown at the boys and we left Marc to finish the job. Unfortunately it was late so Marc decided to give Huw a ‘Marine style haircut’ and finish the rest later….The rest has now been removed and looks horrible but at least it will grow back, hopefully before we reach Australia to see grandparents!! They realised they had got it wrong and were very repentant on Friday doing all their chores without nagging!
Sian has been busy spending a little money on material and has Asiah working quite hard making shorts, tops and skirts for her. I also have a few dresses in the making and Richard has had a lovely dressing gown and some shirts made. The boys have had some great trousers made and a couple of African loose shirts. It is quite thrilling to receive clothes back from material you have purchased.
Richard is Richard and never sits still for long. He has found countless jobs to do and is enjoying fixing up bits around the house and of course has to be quite imaginative at times when looking for the tools for a job. He was quite upset the other day because someone had taken his hammer, a specially hand picked stone from the garden which worked really well. He is also taking over some of the cooking from Asiah and again has to be quite imaginative in what he prepares. Although there is lots of food about it is not always what you want to eat and we tend to get a bit full and bloated on all the African food even though it is very good on the whole. Richard is cooking roast chicken tonight, I think the chicken came from France!!!
Only 4 weeks left, it is hard to believe we are in our last month. We have had so many great adventures and I am sure we will fit in a few more before we leave.
As always we love and miss you all and look forward to seeing you again soon. Keep your messages coming it is great to hear from you.
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Dave
non-member comment
only 4 weeks left
yes, dosn't time dissapear. looking back through your adventure though, your time has not been wasted. and then we have monty pythons always look on the bright side of life. dont know why i mentioned that, oh well, lots of love, dave.