I’ll be the first to admit that leaving for Ghana a little over 6 weeks ago, I was pretty nervous. I had been so excited when INMED accepted me into their program and was encouraged as I was able to see all of the preparations falling into place in the weeks before my departure. However, as I sat alone in the airport terminal in St. Louis I was definitely anxious. I had no idea what I would be stepping off the plane into. Was I prepared? Could I do this? I wasn’t even sure I could handle all of the travel details, let alone the work. So, as I sat there, I journaled my thoughts, said a few prayers, and boarded the plane.

I am SO glad that I got on that plane (not that I had ever considered not getting on the plane). The next four weeks of my life were filled with experiences that I will never forget. I was so blessed to meet some amazing people that are dedicated to the support and survival of their community. I was faced with challenges so much greater than anything I’ve ever seen in the states, yet the people facing them still managed to do it with a joy for life that was inspiring. Through the adjustment to a different way of life I found myself growing personally and in my care for patients.

I’ll try to share some of the most special moments and events during my time in Ghana below:

• As evidenced by my several posts about her, one of the experiences that touched my heart the most was caring for the tiny malnourished baby. This baby was the picture of kwashiorkor when she arrived at the hospital–stick-thin arms, swollen abdomen, and lethargic. She was also severely dehydrated and her fontanel as well as her eyes were deeply sunken in. From the first minute that I saw this child, my heart was broken. Here was a young girl who had every reason to be healthy, but mainly because of social issues was stuck in a cycle of chronic malnutrition. Through aggressive treatment, rehydration, nutrition and most importantly education of her caretakers, I hope and pray that we were able to make a permanent change for the better in this little girl’s life. I recently heard from Dr. Jean that the baby had been discharged from the hospital and was to come back for weekly weighings. I still think about and pray for this girl that she will continue to grow stronger and more healthy each day.
• Diseases of poverty: this was actually the title of one of my sections in my pre-trip course. It was interesting to read about all of the diseases that can be directly linked to poverty–tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid, kwashiorkor, etc– and then see them transfer from the pages into real life my first week in Ghana. All around me were men, women, and children, many of whom were suffering from diseases that are rarely if ever seen in the states and were much more severe than they needed to be simply due to lack of access to healthcare and the lack of resources to pay for such treatments. Many of the patients were poorly educated on how they could prevent water and foodborne diseases and many did not know basic precautions against preventing malaria. Even if we were able to teach them basic hygiene and how to combat the mosquito that causes malaria, this was only half the battle. Most patients did not realize the early symptoms of common diseases such as malaria, typhoid, dehydration, upper respiratory infections which led to late diagnoses and more severe complications. Also thwarting our efforts at improving their health were the many home remedies that were tried for days to weeks before finally bringing the patient to the hospital. Oftentimes, by the time they reached our door, they were septic, dehydrated, and on the brink of death due to long periods without adequate medical treatment. I saw several snake bites that were first treated with home pastes and remedies that could contain anything from animal excrement, to soil, to who knows what else. Infections complicated the treatment of many wounds because of these practices. I felt that more of my time was spent educating than actually delivering medical care. I suppose though that this is the best type of treatment that we can give though…education aimed at preventing future illness. What made the education even harder was the fact that most was usually done through an informal translator into the local dialects so I was never quite sure what message was actually reaching the patient and their families. I feel that I learned more about communication and different ways to educate people in the month I was there than I may have been able to communicate to them!
• Throughout all of my experiences there were a lot of difficulties. It took me a while to adapt to the heat, the new culture, the constantly changing environment, and a thousand other things. However, the experiences I had in Ghana will last me a lifetime. I fell in love with the people of northeastern Ghana. They are a hardworking, gracious group of beautiful people that I will never forget. It amazed me that every day I get up and take so many things for granted…the fact that I can just reach in the fridge and find something to eat, or the fact that I can drink water from the tap without fear of getting sick, or a thousand other things….these people get up each day and work incredibly hard to provide food and some form of shelter for their families and hopefully a better life for their children. They have much less to work with than most of us here in the United States, but most still go about their daily lives with a smile on their face and a kind word when you meet them. I was so blessed to be able to work alongside these people for my short stay in Ghana.

There are still so many needs in Saboba. The hospital has just been informed that they will have a separate children’s ward built which is a huge blessing! This way the men’s and children’s wards can be separated and more patients can be taken care of in this region which desparately needs it! The hospital still needs another physician. Currently Dr. Jean is the only physician at SMC. This means that she is on call 24/7 and her only time away is when she has to leave town for medical meetings or other events. She is constantly operating, seeing patients, and being woken up in the middle of the night with emergencies. One person can’t take all of this stress and this schedule! Pray that someone else will see the need in Saboba and fall in love with the community and dedicate their lives to serving here as well. They also do not have much imaging capabilities at SMC. A bedside ultrasound machine was just donated which is incredibly helpful. However, the hospital does not even have a basic x-ray unit. When we would get trauma victims in, all we had to rely on was our physical exam and bedrest. Being uncertain whether a patient has a spinal fracture, hip fracture, or a variety of other pathologies makes treatment difficult. An x-ray unit would greatly help in diagnosis and management/transfer of patients to other facilities.

There are many other needs and I wouldn’t be able to name them all here. I am so grateful for the time I had in Saboba.  I was speaking with my mom about the trip, and she asked if the trip was what I thought it would be. The best way I can describe my time in Ghana is “It’s not the trip I expected, but it was the trip I needed.” I grew and was stretched in so many ways. My eyes were opened to the living conditions and problems of those halfway across the world. My heart was broken for children growing up in such conditions, not really knowing how old they might live to be. I was reminded of how blessed I am to have been able to get an education, have access to healthcare, and other basic things that we take for granted every single day. My heart was changed….I know I’ll travel again. I don’t know where God might lead me. I may find myself in Ghana again, or some other location around the world, but I realize that there is a huge need in the world that I can have a small role in filling. I have been blessed with an education and a love for medicine…now I have the opportunity to use that gift to help others around me, which in my mind, is the only logical thing to do.

Thank you to all of you that supported me through prayer, financially and through encouragment before I went, while I was there, and now that I am home. I have been so blessed by each of you and this experience would not have been possible without all of you. I love you and am so blessed to have each one of you in my life!

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.–Jude 2

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.–Luke 12:48b

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi59OLragBg

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59RZpGfwg4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrkQcS9plLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2MUd8BEXgs

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOm0s11dRUI

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3snXUKC7_zk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFLmYwqjNdM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsMV6wU0n4A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fwEg9yx41Y

I’ll write more thoughts once my brain has recovered from the time difference!

Much love,

Melissa

Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1134&id=224000057&l=663a47dacc

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1135&id=224000057&l=e9ccc8a232

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1136&id=224000057&l=15b76c88f8

The reason for the title is, when I arrived at the theater, a scrub nurse showed me where I would change into scrubs. In the states I’m used to wearing the scrub pants and a top. Here I had a thin sleeveless dress that fell just below my knees and flip-flops to wear! The surgeon and his scrub tech were both wearing shorts and a scrub top! (And these were more like 1970s basketball shorts… ) There was air conditioning in the theater, which meant I was FREEZING in my little dress….apparently they were fine in their shorts, but it still looked funny to me.

It was actually a fairly short day following Dr. Abdulai but that was OK because I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days. On Monday, Bob and I ate lunch at a restaurant in downtown Tamale and I think I might have picked something up there because over the last two days I have been feeling worse and worse. I started my Cipro and some Flagyl this morning so hopefully I won’t have to deal with all of this on the flights back home. If anything else, it makes me grateful that for the most part, it is a rare occurrence to pick something up via food or water at home. Here it happens every day!

In Tamale I have been staying with Dr. William and Dr. Patricia Turner. They are physicians who originally trained in the UK, although Bill is originally a Ghanaian. It has been great staying with them. They are so friendly and hospitable and have such great stories! It’s been great to be able to relax some this week before I head back home on Friday.

Tomorrow, as long as Antrak (the in country airline) flies I will fly from Tamale to Accra and then on Friday evening I will fly out of Accra for the first flight on my trip home. My time here in Ghana has been amazing and I’m sure I’ll be processing all I’ve seen and learned for a long time after I get home. Once I’ve had a few days to think about it all and process it some more, I’ll post a final post on here. Thank you all for all of your love, support, and prayers. I couldn’t have done any of this without all of you!

See you soon!! :)

Melissa

“Mercy, Peace, and Love be yours in abundance”–Jude 2

On Wednesday I plan on getting the rest of my last minute thing and souvenir shopping done. Then EARLY Thursday morning Bob will take me to the Tamale airport and if all goes as planned (which it often doesn’t) my flight will leave Tamale for Accra at approximately 7:30am….of course, Clint’s flight was at the same time and he didn’t leave Tamale until the late afternoon. We’ll just see what happens. This is why I’m flying out of Tamale a full day and a half before my international flight leaves so if something gets delayed I shouldn’t miss my flight home. I’ll spend the night and the first half of Friday in Accra and then on Friday night I’ll fly from Accra to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Chicago, and Chicago to St. Louis!

It has been a busy last few days here in Saboba. I’ll try to update on the highlights.

1) Malnourished Baby–the child is a little better but not much has changed. There have been some minor setbacks. Two days ago the baby was even more dehydrated than the day before and we had to remind the grandmother, father and nursing staff just how much this child should be getting each day. Also, some tape had been stuck on the baby..this is a problem with a malnourished, dehydrated child because when we took the tape off, a lot of her skin came off with it so now she has open sores as well that she has to deal with. I know I won’t see the outcome of this child before I leave but I’m going to continue to pray that she does well and grows stronger each day!

2) The good thing among all of this is there have been several children who have gotten much better! It is so encouraging to see when children who came in so sick and dehydrated leave the hospital a few days to a week or so later and are doing much better!

3)There was a woman who came in earlier in the week with a complaint of vaginal bleeding. She was in her early fifties and apparently had been bleeding for about 7 months. When we checked her hemoglobin it was only 5.2!! She got 3 blood transfusions and we decided it was time for her to have a hysterectomy. Unfortunately, what was found on surgery was advanced cervical cancer that had eroded through the bottom of her uterus and into the wall as well. Dr. Jean took out as much tumor as she could but without chemotherapy or any way to follow the progression of this cancer, I can only pray she gets better. During the surgery the cord that connected to the piece that grounds the electrocautery unit broke off. The bovie (electrocautery) would have to be used a lot during this surgery! They were trying to find the man who could fix this while Dr. Jean went on with the surgery. Since I wasn’t scrubbed, I looked at the wires, stripped part of the wire to the electrocautery unit, tied the ends of the wires together, and taped it back up. It worked!! Thanks dad for letting me watch you do all the electrical stuff when I was growing up! Who knew I’d have to be a makeshift electrician halfway across the world a decade later??

I said a lot of my goodbyes to the hospital leaders yesterday and then this morning went to Pastor Jonah’s church again. It was really encouraging to be there. They prayed for safe travel for me and blessings as I go home. It is so encouraging to see their faith in the middle of all that they face daily. Tonight I’ll go to the council of pastor’s meeting and say my goodbyes to all of them.

Well, that’s all the updates that I can think of for now! I’ll try to write more this week if I get a chance, but I don’t know if I’ll have an internet connection in Tamale or not. I hope you all are doing well, and thank you so much for the support, prayers, encouragement, and notes you’ve sent since I’ve been here! I really do appreciate it!

Melissa

First of all, thanks so much for all of the prayers for the baby I talked about in the last post. It has been a frustrating uphill battle for the last few days, but I think we’re making small differences. The grandmother still has no interest in feeding the baby and I’m pretty sure she hates me. I’m OK with that though, as long as this baby is fed! The baby is still severely malnourished, but has been eating more (only because I’m stopping by every few hours to make sure she’s fed!!). It’s frustrating because often the message doesn’t get passed on to the nursing staff of the next shift and/or they just don’t care to check on this child as much as they should. Today I made a log sheet for the baby to be fed 60mls of the protein solution every two hours and it is to be logged. There have been marks made on the log sheet…whether or not the baby is actually getting the food I don’t know, but it’s at least a start.

The baby looks slightly better. The abdomen is not as distended and while the fontanel is still sunken (from being dehydrated) it is not as bad as it was. It will take several weeks of refeeding to get this baby back to health, but hopefully with good care she will be healthy again. I did find out that her mother is sick with HIV but apparently was on antiretroviral medications. Hopefully the baby did not contract this through delivery or breast milk. Unfortunately, due to the antibodies that are present in babies from their mothers you can’t get an accurate test for HIV until they are a little older, so we just don’t know at this point if the baby is HIV positive or not.

As far as pictures, yes, with the grandmother’s permission I took pictures of the baby yesterday. The baby still looks sick in these pictures but not nearly what she had the day before. I will try to take pictures before I leave Saboba so I can see what progress the baby has made. I can’t give out the name for two reasons: 1) since she’s a patient in the hospital, even though this is rural Ghana I have to respect her privacy, and 2) even if I could give it out I don’t think I could pronounce it, much less spell it.

I’ll keep you all updated on things as they progress, but I just wanted to thank you all for the prayers and let you know that God is working here! Keep praying that the hearts of the grandmother and father will be changed and they will start to want to take care of this child. Also pray that the nursing staff will take some responsibility for this patient and give her the care she needs. Lastly, pray that the child will grow stronger each day so that she can finally be healthy again!

Thanks again so much guys! I really appreciate it more than I can say.

Melissa

This morning, Dr. Jean and I were rounding in the men’s and children’s ward and the first patient we came to was a 3 month old female. As I’ve talked about before, I love the kids here. I literally can’t get enough of them. I’m holding babies and playing with kids I can’t even communicate with because of the language barrier every chance I get. The fantastic thing about kids is that they’re fighters…their bodies are still growing and are usually strong. So even when children are sick they usually still have enough reserve to cry, fuss, or move around. Even though they don’t feel well, I feel good about these children because I know they’ll have a chance to get better fairly  quickly with proper treatment. This baby was different. When I walked up to the bed I noticed the baby was lying flat on her back, her eyes were sunken and barely open, and she was trying to cry but was too weak to make more than a few noises. On closer inspection I noticed that her fontanel (”soft spot”) on the top of her head was severely sunken in, her belly was swollen, and every single rib, vertebrae, and bone in her body was showing. This child is SEVERELY malnourished and dehydrated. The mother of the baby is apparently sick and so the grandmother is “taking care” of the child. I use that term somewhat loosely because they are not adequately feeding the child, not giving the baby adequate amounts of fluids and the child is slowly dying from malnutrition.

My heart breaks every time I look at the baby. At 3 months the baby is only about 6 kilos (a little over 12 pounds) and frail. There is NOTHING else wrong with this baby other than the fact that she is underfed! Through a translator, I tried talking to the grandmother about the importance of feeding the baby the oral rehydration solution and nutrition supplements we were giving her. She had many questions, first saying that the baby’s belly was large and so she must be full (never mind the fact that if you put a bottle anywhere near this child she’ll gulp it down). I explained to her that this was not food in the belly, but “water around the belly” (best I could do with the language barrier) and the child was actually starving. She then said she couldn’t take care of the baby because the father wasn’t there.

Essentially what ended up happening is that every half an hour to one hour I have been going over to the ward, checking on the baby and instructing the nurses to check on the baby hourly. Oftentimes though the message does not get spread to the night staff or the day staff doesn’t take it as seriously as they should. I am hoping and praying that this baby makes it through the night. I am heartbroken every time I look at this child, knowing that with good nutrition and hydration the baby would be healthy like all of the other children!

I was talking to Dr. Young about my frustrations regarding the grandmother’s not wanting to feed the child and how I would do everything I could to make sure this child lived. She had a great quote…she said, “You can’t save every baby from this, but God sent you this child and you can do everything in your power to help this child.” Right now I am the best friend and hope that this baby has so I am determined to do everything necessary, even if it means taking the child hourly and feeding it myself!!) to try to nurse this baby back. Who knew that working here and trying to help others would change my own heart in the process?

Other than that, it has been fairly busy around here. Dr. Jean has had upwards of 8 cases per day in the OR along with rounding and other responsibilities. I have been doing the daily tasks in the wards after rounds so she can operate which has been busy.

On Saturday we traveled to Yendi with a few of the pastors and attended a funeral of another local pastor. He was so young, only 55, and died of a hypertensive stroke, leaving several children behind. It was interesting to see how the funerals are done here and I also got to witness some dancing afterwards!

I had a dress made today by a local seamstress. It is BEAUTIFUL and only cost about 17 Ghana Cedi (a little less than $15). I am having another one made that will be ready by Sunday and that was about the same price as well.

Other than that, this is my last full week in Saboba. Next Monday morning we are heading to Tamale. Dr. Jean has a conference that week. I am going to follow a friend of hers who is a Ghanaian doctor who runs 2 free clinics for the poor and also for lepers. I am excited to see what he does. I will fly out of Tamale (as long as the flight isn’t canceled…which happens a lot) on Thursday to Accra. I will stay overnight in Accra and on Friday fly out of Accra, headed for the states.

Well, no other new news to report. Please, please pray for this little baby that she will make it through the next few days and start gaining strength!

Much love,

Melissa

Clint is flying from Tamale to Accra tomorrow and then out of the country on Friday. Dr. Young, her husband Bob, Clint and myself all headed down to Tamale this morning and attending a morning conference at Tamale teaching hospital. It was a great conference and great to hear some good med ed again. Dr. Young had a meeting to go to this afternoon so Clint, Bob, and I ran some errands, and then visited with friends of the Youngs in Tamale. It was great to be able to spend the last day together as a little group and say our goodbyes.

It’s been a great last week and a half of being here. It has involved HUGE adjustments, but it was so great to have the team from Buffalo here to socialize with and help gradually adjust to the culture alongside others. Clint was a huge help to me, since I was figuring out really basic things like when we rounded, how to use the water in the house, to more complicated things like the diagnosis and treatment of malaria/typhoid and other tropical diseases which I’ve never seen. It was great to learn with him and figure things out. Also, it helped to have someone else to just laugh with and relax when things were stressful or you just needed to unwind.

But now it was time for him to go home. I wish him all the best and know he’s going to do amazing things with his life. I have mixed feelings about the next few weeks. While I’m a little bit anxious about being the “only one left” I know it is an opportunity for a lot of growth and that will be awesome. I have to become a lot more independent in my diagnosis and treatment plans and also I have to learn how to cope and lean on God when I’m all by myself and feel like I have no other outlet. I know it’s going to be difficult at times with the schedules we keep and the intensity of it all, but that’s half the reason I came here right? To see if I could hack it. I know it’s going to be amazing and in a few weeks I know I’ll look back at this as one of the most defining and amazing experiences of my life. I just hope I can work hard and help out here while I’m still here!

Thanks for all of the encouragement, prayers and support. You don’t know how much your comments, emails and other forms of communication brighten my day. I know people say that but I’m serious! I look forward to looking in my inbox and seeing new mail or on here and seeing new comments! I hope you all are doing great and can’t wait to catch up in person!

Love and blessings,
Melissa

That being said, the only part of medicine that was ruled out more quickly than pediatrics for me was OB/Gyn. I am so thankful for those friends of mine out there who love OB/Gyn and want to deliver babies and do gyne surgeries for the rest of their lives…awesome. It’s just not for me. Some of you know my theory on OB/Gyn. Anyway, since here in Saboba, there is only 1 doctor that translates into being on call 24/7/365. That’s a lot! Well, I had finally fallen asleep and was happily off in Melissaland when I heard my name being called at about 2am on Tuesday morning. It was Dr. Jean. “We’ve got c-section and it’s twins.” Uh-oh. I am DEAD tired. It was an incredibly long day on Monday, but such is life. I stumble out of bed, knocking several things over just to find my contacts, throw on some scrubs and we’re out the door. The problem with OB here is that many of these women labor for so long in the villages given all sorts of herbal/plant concoctions that you have no idea what state they’re going to come in. Also, communication here is not the best, so you’re often not given a history before you get to the hospital as to what’s going on and why you’re being called in.

We got to the hospital and Dr. Jean went to go prep the theater and Clint and I headed over to the maternity section of the women’s ward. The midwife was there and showed us that the woman had had an ultrasound at the end of February showing one of the babies was in vertex position (head down) and the other was breech. This meant that she had to have a c-section. She is brought over to the OR and Clint and Dr. Jean scrub in and start the case. I waited with the midwife to receive the babies once they were delivered. Twin #1 was brought over first and I started drying her suctioning her nose and mouth and she started letting out big cries….huge sigh of relief. A crying baby is a breathing baby, always a good thing. Twin #2 however, came out floppy, somewhat blue, and not breathing much on her own. The midwife brought her over next to the other twin and was suctioning and stimulating her, but still nothing. I started to get really concerned as the one baby just laid there motionless. I started praying and begging that this baby would make it, but not knowing how long this woman had been in labor and the fact that there was meconium were not good signs. The midwife started ventilating the baby and doing chest compressions for a few minutes and stopped. I was almost sure that twin #2 hadn’t made it. Then, about 30 seconds later, I saw the baby grimace and start weakly crying. It was seriously the best sound I think I’ve heard in my whole life. We took the babies back to the ward as Clint and Dr. Young closed up the mother and we finally got out of the OR around 4am. I checked on the mom and babies the next morning and all are doing well. The babies were moving around and crying and as cute as could be! I was SO SO thankful!

I took pictures of the babies and will post them when I get home in May. I would never have thought that some of my favorite parts of Ghana would be pediatrics, but that is what I’ve been most drawn to here. It just kills me to see so many kids sick with malaria, meningitis, typhoid, and even severely sick with dehydration and other common illnesses. I love seeing when they turn around though and recover quickly!

Well more to post later, but I thought I’d share this awesome story!
Love you and miss you all!
Melissa

Talk about the experience of a lifetime. Here’s how it all happened:
The group from Buffalo was leaving on Friday. Their plans were to head out about 1p and make the 3 hour drive to Tamale where they would stay overnight. On Saturday, they were going to drive about 3 hours to Mole (moe-lay) National Park which is an animal reservation and see the animals there. In talking to Dr. Young, she suggested that Clint and I go along, since she wants us to experience all we can on this trip. We decided we would go with them, and Moossa (I’m not sure if I spelled that right, but he is an older teen that’s in school and lives with the Youngs) would go with us.

On Friday, with all of the luggage piled high on top of the van, all 11 of us including our driver piled into the van and headed out for Tamale. The drive as always was bumpy and the van had no air conditioning. We made it to Tamale in decent time (although our driver kept stopping for various errands!)exchanged our money and then did some shopping. One of our stops was at the culture center. This is a big outdoor market with various souvenirs and goods. It was interesting watching Azziz (our driver) barter for things for us. I walked into a few shops and would look at things. I asked how much a few of them were and they told me the price. When I would say no thank you, they would keep asking, “well how much would you pay for it?” I had one guy that literally followed me back to the van with goods asking how much I would pay for it. It was a little intense but a fun experience.

The next morning we got up and left at about 4:30a to head to Mole. Only a short portion of road was paved and the rest was VERY VERY bumpy dirt roads. I thought the roads leading to Saboba were bad….this was like a GIANT dirt rumble strip….for about 3 hours. The other thing about dirt roads and no air conditioning is that with the windows open, you get VERY dirty very fast. Donna (who is blond) looked like a red-head with a bad sunburn by the time we got to where we were going! When we arrived, we met Zach, one of the head rangers there. Apparently, Dr. Young had treated his son who had severe asthma. Normally he does not serve as a safari guide, but when Dr. Young told him we were coming, he cleared his schedule and took our group out.

Part of the safari was in the van. As we drove through the roads (still dirt roads J ) we saw a lot of antelope, some warthogs, and a few other things. We would stop at various places along the way and he would teach us some things….I never knew termites could be so interesting! :)  He showed us some plants that have a natural antibiotic that is supposedly stronger than levaquin or chloroquine and also that lavender is made from! There were some amazing views of the savannah and the watering holes.

At one point we got out and walked a ways, looking for elephants. We were able to find them and were probably within a hundred yards of them! We had to be very quiet and stay behind our guide so they wouldn’t be threatened. I got some amazing videos and pictures of them as well. On our way back to the place we started we also saw baboons as well.

After the safari we ate at the hotel on the preserve and even got to swim quickly in their pool!  Even with the chlorine so strong it burned your skin, I don’t think I ever enjoyed time in the pool more! The view from the pool was amazing as it sat on a hill and overlooked the savannah.

One thing I forgot to mention was what happened on the way to the park!! We were driving down the road and suddenly our driver started to slow down. On the side of the road was a wreck with a motorcycle and an SUV. The SUV was very badly damaged and I’m not sure what happened to the person on the motorcycle. They flagged us down and asked if we could take someone to the hospital. We ended up taking one person to the hospital nearby (thankfully Moosa was familiar with the area and knew where it was!). I have to say that had to be God’s timing though…if I was in an accident on a dirt road in Ghana, I’d definitely want a van with 2 docs, 3 nurses, and other medical professionals to show up!

Once back in Tamale, we all cleaned up, got some dinner and said our goodbyes as Clint, Moosa and I had to leave at 4:30 in the morning to catch our bus back to Yendi (Bob was picking us up and driving us back to Saboba). It was so great getting to know each person on this team, and even though it was only a week that we knew each other, it felt like so much longer.

Well, I’ve written enough of a novel for now. The bus ride from Tamale to Yendi was interesting to say the least. I did have a kind of bad fall on the bus though and banged up my knee pretty badly. I’m going to have Clint and Dr. Young look at it tonight. I think I may have tweaked my meniscus…nothing that won’t heal though.  For now I’m icing and elevating it and looking at the lovely colors of bruises and all of the swelling that is coming in. Should be fun!

Miss you and love you all!

Melissa