Mike Schultz
I'll be spending the majority of September in Ghana volunteering with Unite For Sight for a portion of my stay and then touring around for the rest. I've decided to attempt a little blogging while I'm away to document and share my experiences.Mike Schultz
Travel Blog Posts
September 13th 2010
Well I've been away from the blog for a couple days now and have a few new adventures under my belt. On Friday after a short outreach in a nearby village, I took a cab to the Accra Mall where I was to be picked up by a Czech woman, Martina, whom I had met at dinner on the previous Tuesday. While waiting I went inside the very westernized shopping center and had a very western cheeseburger, fries and coke. This was a nice change from the typical Ghanaian rice and fish. I was eventually picked up by Martina in her company owned 4x4 pickup and was additionally accompanied by Hafen, an atmospheric scientist originally from California. The three and a half hour drive took us outside the hustle and bustle on Accra and into the ... read more
First Outreaches and Italian Dining
Published: September 8th 2010Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » AccraSeptember 7th 2010
Yesterday morning began with a quick breakfast at the hotel with some of the volunteers followed by a 2 hour van ride east of Accra into the Volta region for my first outreach. I was accompanied on this trip by Ernest, an optometrist, Dennis and Jerome, ophthalmic nurses, and John and Bismark, our drivers. The outreach took place in the church of a small village. We had 79 people come for screenings with 14 referred for cataract and pterygium surgeries to be performed next week. My task was to enter registration data into a spreadsheet. I wish I had a little more direct patient interaction but I'm sure that will come in the near future. This particular village has been visited by Unite For Sight many times in the past so all the locals knew the ... read more
September 5th 2010
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 ... read more
September 3rd 2010
Well yesterday morning began abruptly. I did not set an alarm for my 7:30 wake up time and instead relied on my roommates phone alarm to wake me up. I think I slept through a couple of snooze rounds and ended up waking at 7:58 for a scheduled 8:00 pick up. My roommate, Christian from Dartmouth, was assuring me that we're on "Ghana Time" now and it was alright as I rushed around the room to get my backpack packed for my first outreach. Turns out, he was right. I ran downstairs, walked outside to see the car waiting for me and then waited another 30 minutes before we took off. Everything here is so laid back with a definite exception being made for driving. When not stuck in traffic, taxi drivers here are incredibly aggressive. ... read more
September 1st 2010
I arrived in Ghana today! My 11 hour flight landed just outside of Accra at approximately 2:30 pm and I exited the plane to weather that was actually a little more bearable than what I was experiencing in Michigan during the previous week. The flight was pretty rough with no leg room and chills throughout the night thanks to the shorts and flip flops I decided to wear. The woman sitting across the aisle from me happened to bring some authentic Ghanaian jollof rice with chicken for her two year old and graciously offered me some. Even before we touched down I was already experiencing the Ghanaian hospitality I had read a lot about. There was also a girl on the place in her 4th year of med school at U of M. She will be ... read more
August 30th 2010
Well, I've decided to blog my upcoming adventure to Ghana. I've done this before and am not sure how regularly I will update this but let's give it a shot. Today is my last full day in the States and it's been busy so far filled with last minute shopping, laundry, goodbyes, packing etc. I'm hoping I can stay under the 50 lb/bag limit for the two large suitcase I'm allowed to bring. So far my 500 pairs of glasses occupies the majority of one piece of luggage and weighs in at about 38 lbs. My new iPod and camera are charging up and I'm slowly but surely eliminating the residual items from my "To Do" list. Can't believe this day is finally here! Hope I don't forget anything!... read more
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