Ashley Shira’s Blog

Day Twenty-eight and Twenty-nine

Day Twenty-eight

Kim, Andrew, and I were scheduled to be off today since we are working on Dr. Akosua’s schedule so we made plans to visit Chad and Julie at the orphanage.  Some of the other students wanted to go too so ChiChi, Leigh Ann, and Mike decided to take the day off as well. Izzi worked in antenatal as usual and Adam shadowed one of the docs at Manna.  Chad and Julie had meetings at the orphanage until 3pm so we decided to do some shopping until then.  All 6 of us crammed into a taxi and headed to the art gallery at the trade fair.  After that we again piled into a taxi and headed to the Artist Alliance Gallery.  I bought a few last minute items, but I mainly just enjoyed seeing the other students discover all the cool things we have already seen.  From there we headed to Osu to have lunch at Frankie’s.  It was wonderful! Who knew you could find hummus in Africa….it was sooo good! We also had a hamburger there because we heard they made a great hamburger….they lived up to the expectations and it was the first bite of red meat we have had since we left the states. After lunch we did a little shopping in Osu then crammed into a taxi one last time for the ride home.  We dropped our purchases at the mission house then met Julie, Chad, and another volunteer from the orphanage, Alli, in front of the hospital.  Julie was complaining of some pretty severe ear pain so I brought along my otoscope to check in her ears.  She definitely had an ear infection and I was able to get her some Augmentin from the pharmacy.  I’m glad I was able to help her because I know ear infections aren’t fun.  With all the “doctoring” for the day complete we got a couple of taxis and set out for the Hands of Mercy Orphanage. As soon as we got out of the cars we were swarmed by children.  They all had huge smiles on their faces and I fell in love with all of them immediately!!  After introducing myself to a few children I quickly learned that there was an orphan at the home named Ashley and in a matter of minutes they brought her to meet me.  She was an adorable 6 year old and we bonded instantly.  She spent the rest of the day at my side and wearing my sunglasses.  From the minute she took the sunglasses from my head and put them on she was a ham…striking poses for the camera and walking like a supermodel.  The kids were so excited to have so many paying attention to them and loving on them.  I could have stayed forever, but after a couple of hours it was time to say goodbye.  We took a few taxis over to Coco Beach to have dinner with Chad, Julie, and Alli.  As soon as we got there Leigh Ann and I walked down to the beach to look for Adam and Junior….they were there playing in a soccer game on the beach.  When we found them we were glad to see that Izzi was there with them because we hadn’t been able to get in touch with her to tell her about the dinner plans.  After watching a little of the soccer game, I walked down the beach to watch a church service that was taking place on the beach.  It was the most amazing thing…I stood with my feet in the sand and water of an African beach, closed my eyes, and listened to voices praising God in a tribal language I didn’t understand….does it get any more amazing than that?? When the game was over we headed up to the hotel and ate dinner.  We spent the evening getting to know Chad, Julie, and Alli better and just laughing a lot.  It was very relaxing.  We got back to the mission house around 9pm and headed straight for the shower…..we got quite dirty and sweaty playing with all the kids!

Day Twenty-nine

Today was our last day at the hospital. After devotion they called us to the front and presented Kim and I with Kente scarves (for lack of a better term) that said well done and had our names on them.  (The spelled Shirah without the “h” on the end but that’s ok) We got to say thank you to everyone and then they all came by and hugged us or shook our hands.  It was very sweet.  All the students had to stay at Manna today so Dr. Akosua said we were officially graduates of her program and wouldn’t be working today.  We went around the hospital and handed out thank you notes then headed to the lab to be retested for malaria.  Unfortunately, the parasite is still in our blood.  The half life of the medicine we took is 6 days so there is still a chance the treatment we already had will clear the remaining parasites.  We are feeling completely well, but will probably bring another course of treatment home with us in case we need it.  This afternoon when the others are done with clinic, David is going to go with us to the Art/Cultural Center which is a huge open-air market.  We have been told to take a Ghanaian with us to help us bargain so we are excited David agreed to be our escort.  Tonight we are going to have a big group dinner at the house and just play cards and hang out.  We are planning to get up very early tomorrow morning so we can see the sunrise on the beach.  We are excited that the other students have decided to delay their trip to Cape Coast by a week and spend our last day in Ghana with us.  We will spend the morning on the beach, then we are going to a wedding here at Manna at 1pm.  We have been told many times we should witness a Ghanaian wedding so we are excited about it.  We should be able to pick up our dresses from Gilbert’s wife in the morning so hopefully we can wear them to the wedding. I guess this will be my last chance to blog in Ghana, but I will be sure to blog when I arrive in the states just to let everyone know we made it home safely.  Our flight leaves Accra at 10:20 am Sunday morning and we will arrive in New York around 5pm and in Birmingham at 11:35pm.  I can’t believe how quickly this trip has gone by!! I love everyone and will see you soon!!

P.S. I added some pictures to the blogs from the past few days!