April 23rd, 2019 by Galit Rudelson

Just wrapped up my first weekend in Ghana, and I am EXHAUSTED. It was a blur of interesting and fun experiences.
Friday morning I went to the OBGYN outpatient clinic as usual. We had a lot more patients than any other day. But I was finally in my comfort zone. I breezed through the vitals quickly. I was able to read off the patient names, and although they still laugh when I try to say their names, they at least understand who I am calling. I was able to small talk my way through vitals (and by small I mean SMALL, “Goodmorning”, How are you”, “I am fine”, “Where do you come from.”) Dorcas has been teaching me small talk phrases. Everyday in the middle of outpatient clinic, everything stops, and someone does a talk to the women about some topic. This weeks topic was personal hygiene. I don’t really know what they were saying throughout most of it, and the clinic took off at full speed afterwards, so I was never able to ask for a translation. But I was impressed with the apt attention everyone listened with, and the number of questions people asked. They seemed to be learning a lot.
On Saturday I had a jam packed day, as promised. First we went to a wedding. Rachel picked me up a little past 10:30, with her youngest child, Owua, in tow. Rachel was dressed beautifully, and seemed very pleased when I marveled at her dress and newly braided hair. We drove a couple minutes to the church. We were one of the first there for an 11:00am start time. The church was nicely decorated with clothes hanging on the celling, and Christmas lights blinking at the front. The groom (dressed in white), sat at the front under a white awning. There was live music playing, and ppl mingling in. The ceremony was filled with lots of singing, live music, and prayer. It was mostly in Twi, so I couldn’t not understand. But a portion about what made a good wife and husband was in English. I enjoyed listening to the reverend discuss positive qualities about both the husband and the wife. Not much segregation of sexes. Both had to be “reasonable people” and “know how to be respectful in society.” Near the end there was a procession to donate to the church. Loud music started playing, and everyone got up and danced in a line around the church, to the front, to drop a Ghanian Cedis (about 20 cents) into the bucket at front. This then transformed into a giant dance party. People were happily jumping up and down, spinning, and the music was blaring. I was pulled out to dance as well (which usually is my nightmare). But this dancing was so fun and easy (just jumping up and down excitedly). Of course, when the only Abruni (white person) in the village is dancing, everyone wants a video. So instantly every phone was directed me (with the flash on, because Ghanian skin is so dark, it is difficult to get good quality images without flash). I was very literally my nightmare come true, but for some reason I was very relaxed and had fun the whole time. Afterwards a large “Mr. and Mrs.” Wedding cake was brought out, and the couple ate the first piece, and the rest was shared with everyone else.
From there we stopped by Rachel’s home, and changed into our funeral clothes. I wore black pants and a black shirt. Rachel wore a nice maroon and black dress. She told me that when someone passes away, you have a one week celebration the next week. Then months later (even up to half a year later) you have the actual funeral. On Friday is the vigil, where people sit with the body throughout the night. On Saturday is the paying of respect, where everyone dresses in red and black. You go through a line of people sitting in chairs and shake their hands. Then you sit down in chairs. The people coming after you down the line then shake your hands as well. We sit there for about 5-10 minutes, then leave! The whole time I was sitting there I thought we were waiting for the funeral to start. But it turns out I was at it. Then on Sunday people wear black and white, and there is the burial ceremony and church service (which I did not attend).
Finally, in the evening we attend a party. For certain University degrees (such as nursing) you are required to do a year of service to Ghana (usually in your field). This weekend was the end of the yearlong nursing rotation that was at the hospital. So they threw a large party to celebrate. This was held in a hotel about an hour away. I was nervous to go because I have so much anxiety associated with dancing. Rachel said she would come get me at 7pm, since that is when the party starts. She arrived around 8 and we arrived to the party at 9. They said they were not ready, so Rachel and I sat in the car and talked for over an hour. She commented that “everything in Ghana runs on Ghana time, that if you say you are meeting at 8, you maybe waiting there for 2 hours for the person to come.” Then she offhandedly commented “you Americans are always on time. You are very strict with time.”
The party was a typical party. There was alcohol flowing everywhere. People were dancing (but I must say, much better than the dancing I see in our bars in America). But there was a couple added bonuses. Firstly: the music was not too loud, so your ears did not ring afterwards (and the music was fantastic, very upbeat, great for dancing). Second, nobody dragged me out on the dancefloor to dance. I was invited several times, but when I declined, nobody dragged me, which I was beyond appreciative of. It was much more enjoyable to be able to watch amazing dancers and relax. And lastly, there was A LOT of food everywhere, and people were sharing it. It was such a great atmosphere. We ended up getting home around 1am. At the end of the night Rachel said she would come by in the “late morning, around 8am” with her children the next day!
Although this is just Saturday, I feel that this was the best part of the weekend, and this post has been much too long already. Sunday was spent playing with the kids all day, although fun, does not make for great story time. So I will end today here.
Next week I am expecting to do one day in the operating room with the OBGYN, and then the rest of the week in the emergency department.