Day Four….Part Two

January 20th, 2009 Posted in INMED Blogs, Uncategorized | No Comments »

After leaving the hospital yesterday Junior helped Kim and I get Ghanaian SIM cards for our cell phones.  We had our phone companies email us directions for unlocking our phones.  We each now have a local phone number which is nice for contacting drivers when we need to go somewhere. (The phone in the mission house doesn’t work.)  Also with the prepaid credits you buy here for cell phone service we can call home and it is cheaper than the $2.49/min we were paying previously when we called using our American numbers. We both enjoyed getting to talk to family yesterday! We got back to the mission house with enough time to read and rest a bit before changing clothes and heading out with Kaitlyn and Emily to eat  dinner at the home of a missionary family that Emily knows. The Corum’s were very friendly and their house was beautiful.  We had a wonderful dinner….tacos, fresh fruit, banana bread, and even a fresh brewed cup of coffee! We spent a lot of time just sitting around the table and sharing stories.  We left their house around 8:30pm and headed back to the mission house.  On the way home we stopped to get bananas from Emily’s “banana lady”, Elizabeth.  Emily’s family always bought bananas from her when they lived here. Elizabeth gave us four bunches of bananas and she wouldn’t let us give her any money…..guess it pays to know people who know people. ;) We ate a banana when we got home and it was the best banana I have ever put in my mouth!! After that it was time for bed!

Day Four…Our First Day of Work

January 19th, 2009 Posted in INMED Blogs, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Wow, I’m finally caught up!! This morning was our first morning of work at Manna Mission Hospital. We arrived at 8 am for a short devotion and then we went to work. I was told I would be working in the pharmacy the first week and Kim was assigned to the lab.  Next week we will switch.  They want us to become familiar with the drugs and labs available to us before we start seeing patients.  The hospital was very busy today and Kim unfortunately had to do a lot of watching.  I was put to work right away.  They must have seen me and my OCD ways coming from a mile away because they had me go through boxes of medications and supplies that people send them for their rural clinics.  I wrote down the contents of all the boxes and reorganized them so they would know where everything was.  We did half today and we will do the other half tomorrow.  The hospital operates on shifts and the first shift is from 8am-2pm so we were surprised to be done so early.  However, I have some homework assignments to work on.  I am going to type up the lists of the contents of the boxes for rural clinics and the pharmacist asked me if I would take the pamphlets from the antimalarial medications they use here and write simple prescribing instructions for the American doctors that come here to work.  I will be a busy girl for the rest of the afternoon.  It’s weird not to be able to go back to the house and type these things up.  I have grown so accustomed to having my laptop with me all the time that I feel sort of lost without it. Well I better get busy!! I love everyone and miss you very much! I can receive text messages on my cell phone for free so feel free to shoot me a text message to say hello.  I should also be able to check my email during the week and I hope to get some pictures on here tomorrow.  Hope all is well back home!!

Day Three

January 19th, 2009 Posted in INMED Blogs, Uncategorized | No Comments »

It was tough getting out of bed so early on Sunday, but at least we had both slept very soundly the night before.  We walked to church service with Emily and Kaitlyn.  The service was wonderful.  It was amazing to hear so many voices praising God not only in English, but also in the local language of Ga. The two pastors delivered their sermons in English, which everyone here speaks, so we were able to understand it and I actually was blessed beyond belief by their words. I had to laugh because I honestly didn’t expect to get much out of it, yet it seemed that God was speaking directly to me through the message.  I guess sometimes you have to travel to the other side of the world before you really listen to what God is telling you. All of the people were very welcoming and friendly. After church we went back to the house to change clothes and get ready to go to the beach. About 11:30am Junior, Dr.Ablorh’s son, called and said we were ready to head out.  We met him outside and walked to the hospital to pick up the mission car. We drove to the beach that was supposed to be about an hour away but due to some insane traffic it took us about 2 and 1/2 hours.  The beach was nice and fairly private.  We paid 5 cedis to get in and we received a free soda.  We had to take a little boat to get to the beach. We enjoyed just relaxing, reading, and playing in the water.  We did have to fend off a few marriage proposals,which is becoming a daily occurence around here. About 5:30pm we headed back to Teshie.  We stopped in Accra at Papayae and picked up some rotisserie chicken and fried rice and took it back to Junior’s house.  He and his wife, Linda, live in the compound and are just a short walk from the mission house.  We had a good time chatting and looking at pictures from Junior and Linda’s wedding.  We headed home around 8pm, showered, and hit the sack.  We needed a good night’s sleep before our first day at the hospital.

Day Two

January 19th, 2009 Posted in INMED Blogs, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Our second day in Africa started quite early….sort of! At 1 am I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.  After tossing and turning for a few minutes I sat up in bed and found Kim to be awake as well. We sat up and chatted for a little while. We had to laugh because both of us were hungry and awake in the middle of the night.  I guess you can’t blame our bodies’ b/c back it home it was dinner time! We were finally able to go back to sleep around 4.  We woke up at 8, showered, packed a bag for our shopping trip, and headed downstairs to meet Kaitlyn and Emily.  Gilbert, our driver, arrived promptly at 10 am.  We have found that nothing here happens on time or as it seems it should and that morning was no different.  We went to get the mission car and found it had been taken to have the insurance renewed.  After about an hour of calling and walking around we finally decided just to take Gilbert’s truck and pay him for the fuel.  So we headed off to the city (Accra) to do some shopping.  Our first adventure was at the bureau where we exchanged some money…..it is always nice to feel like you are getting more back than what you gave them.  The currency here is Ghana Cedis. Now time to shop….We stopped at a jewelry store, an art gallery, and a leather shop…..we found lots of good gifts and souveneirs!! (Kim and I never have a problem shopping!) Then we went to a food court for lunch….this is what Kim and I were worried about, but it worked out great.  They served pizza, grilled chicken, burgers, and even french fries….we were happy to see that but still always cautious of what we ate and drank. After lunch we stopped by the grocery store in the city.  It is called Koala.  They had a good bit of imported items, including things from the states but they were expensive. We got some bags of pasta and bottles of marinara sauce….we decided we could live on that for quite a while. :) We also picked up some Coca-Cola Light!!! We only got a few  because they are very expensive, but every medical student needs their caffeine! Our final stop was at the Artist Alliance Gallery which was amazing! We got some great locally handcrafted items.  We finally made it home around 6pm and we were wiped out.  Kim and I made pasta for dinner and played a few games of Phase Ten Dice.  We settled into bed around 9, but spent some time writing in our journals before calling it a night.  We were ready for a good night’s sleep and would be getting up early the next morning for the 7 am church service then a trip to the beach!!  

Finally…internet access!! (Day One)

January 19th, 2009 Posted in INMED Blogs, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Kim and Ash on plane before leaving New York De-icing machine in New York After “sleeping” on the plane…about to land in Accra

Hi all!! We made it on Friday but this is the first real chance we have had to use the internet. When we arrived on Friday we were met at the airport by one of the bible students from Manna Mission. We were immediately surrounded by 6 or 8 guys and we honestly weren’t sure who was in the group picking us up and who wasn’t.  The took our bags and carried them to the car then they started asking for money….it didn’t take us long to figure out that David (the bible student) was the only one from Manna. After we each gave away about $50 we were finally able to get in the car. Our ride to the mission was a little scary. There are no speed limits and very few traffic laws here….and the ones they have aren’t enforced. The car did have air conditioning which was a surprise.  We found out later that the car was donated from the US to Manna Mission. When we arrived at the mission house (our home for the next month).  We met Vida, the housekeeper, and she showed us to our room. Kim and I are sharing a room with a set of bunk beds and a queen size bed.  The house doesn’t have air conditioning, but the individual rooms do have window unit air conditioners so with the door closed our room stays pretty cool. After we got our luggage up to our room, Vida showed us to the kitchen where she had a cold bottle of Coca-Cola waiting on each of us….a refreshing touch of home! :) When we finished our drinks Vida walked us over to the hospital to meet Dr. Ablorh. When we arrived in Dr. Ablorh’s office we found out that there are two other students already here.  Emily is a nursing student and lived here at Manna Mission for 2 years while her dad served as one of the physicians at the hospital.  Kaitlyn is a pre-med student that goes to school with Emily. It was nice to meet people from the states!! Emily gave us the hospital tour then the four of us walked back to the mission house.  Emily and Kaitlyn already had plans for the afternoon and evening so Kim and I took a short nap.  We were awakened by a knock at our door.  It was one of the ladies from the mission, Grace, and she was letting us know that she had prepared fried chicken and rice for us for lunch….that was a great surprise!! After lunch Kim and I showered then went for a walk around the mission compound. It got dark quickly and we weren’t sure if it was safe to stay out after dark so we headed back to the house. Vida had prepared “spaghetti” for us and left it on the table, but we quickly discovered that our idea of spaghetti was a bit different than what was waiting for us. We decided to make one of the “just add water and bake” dinners I brough with me.  How hard could that be right….we had filtered water and a stove….hahaha!! After scavenging around for a non-rusted pan and washing it with bottled water we prepared the mix and went to pop it in the oven.  But to our surprise the oven wasn’t hot despite being turned on.  We turned on every switch in the house but nothing worked….defeat!! After some peanut butter and graham crackers we were revived and decided to try again.  We got out our flashlight and explored the oven…..turns out it was a gas oven! After a few expensive cell phone calls to the US for help we figured out how to light the oven and had a great meal.  We felt like we had really accomplished something! :) After a little unpacking and writing in our journals, Emily and Kaitlyn arrived at the house around 9 pm. They told us they had plans to go shopping the next day and we were welcome to tag along.  The driver Emily’s family used was going to be driving us because he already knew all of Emily’s favorite shopping places!! At about 10pm we decided to call it a night…we were exhausted!!!

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