Blogs from Volta, Ghana, Africa - page 10

Woke up and went to Christ Orphanage. Mark, a previous CCS volunteer returned and also went to Christ. He is the first volunteer to actually come back and see the progress that has been made there. Maria, Diana, Matt, Jahwill and I left Hohoe for the weekend to travel to Benin which is two countries over on the east side of Ghana, right after Togo. We left Hohoe with little time to get to Ho before the border/visa place closed. Diana was feeling really sick. When they finally approved our visas they made us pay a "processing" fee of $5.00 extra. We ran into a missionary there that urged us to take Diana to the hospital. He even gave us a ride in his truck and offered to take us to an American hospital in Togo. ... read more

Woke up and went to observe HIV Counseling at Hohoe District Hospital for placement. It was so interesting. To be tested for HIV it costs 50 pesewa (about 50 US cents) and results are read within 15 minutes. Believe me, it's a long 15 minutes. They make you sit in the room and you basically stare at the test with the nurse. I was able to sit in on three different tests and you literally sit there in silence for 15 minutes If results are read as positive, a second saliva test is given. If the second deems positive, counseling is immediately given to the patient. I was actually pretty impressed with their counseling program. I observed a girl in the clinic who couldn't have been older than 16. She tested HIV positive. It was really ... read more

Woke up at 11:00 which was super amazing! We took a two day trip to Mountail Paradise Lodge, the place where I spent Saturday of last weekend. Diana, Maria, Rebecca, Emily, Hope and I were all in desparate need of a girls weekend, one with NO drama and total relaxation. We all shared a taxi and had such a wonderful weekend. At night on the mountaintop it does get fairly cold (about 70 degrees) so it was really nice to wear sweatpants for once. Our "girls girls" weekend consisted of laying and round and talking nonstop. We ate dinner, laid around, and went to bed early which was super nice. Saturday morning Rebecca and I woke up at 7:30 planning to go on a nature hike. It's funny that back at home 7:30 is treacherous, but ... read more

The uncle of Raymond, the headmaster of Christ Orphanage died last night so none of us went to placement at Christ. I went to the herbalist/bone cutter instead. At the bone setter we saw an injured baby and multiple people with broken bones, bed sores, etc. Nothing was too disturbing which was a minor letdown. We went out and had a Coca Cola with the bone setter while he had a beer instead...and went back to work being a doctor right after. Every ailment is treated with the same herb. Errands ALL afternoon which got pretty annoying. Played pool at Malaysias right after. So much drama here right now with this curfew stuff you wouldn't believe!... read more

Today was really challenging. The kids in my class really didn't care to listen to anything I had to say. After lunch, Emily and I went back to the orphanage to pick up the oldest four girls to have a girls day. Sistofe, Patience, Togbe Rachel, and Esinu are all between 6-8 years old and never get to act like kids. They are constantly caring for other kids at the orphanage. When we arrived in the blue van they were really excited to see us. When they found out that they got to leave with us they had really confused looks on their faces and were ecstatic. I told Sistofe to get her shoes and she told me she didn't have shoes. We all piled into the van and it was nonstop chatter from thereon. Dela ... read more