The Sickly One

I’ve been sick twice now since I’ve been here. Much more sick than the usual headache from dehydration, and occasional diarrhea from too much palm oil. (Things are about to get graphic, but I feel like future PCT’s should know what to expect)The first time I probably hit up the toilet 10 times in one day. And this literally came out of nowhere. One minute I was fine, and the next, the port-a-potty was my new residence. I had to give the medical doctor a MIF kit sample (poop sample). And let me tell you, nothing is worse than collecting a poop sample when you have the runs! A couple hours after all that hit me, I started getting really achy and developed a fever. The fever went from 101 to 103 in less than an hour. I was feeling really irritable and hot at that point, so things began to get a little fuzzy. Anyway, my fever broke on the way back to homestay and I was fine for a couple more hours. The next thing I knew, I was basically delirious with an even higher fever. So I fell asleep because I was too sore and weak to do anything else. The next morning I woke up feeling fine. It seemed like I dreamed the entire thing! If only!

The next time I got sick was about a week after my first illness. We had started our technical training and we were in transit to our Counterpart workshop (where we would be meeting our contact person from our site). My stomach started hurting right below the rib cage and was getting worse by the hour; it sort of felt like a pulled muscle. But I knew I hadn’t done much of anything the week before since I was studying for the language exam (which I passed!), much less physical activity! So that night I had Chau and Ryan study the “When there is No Doctor” book and perform an appendix test on me. We all came to the conclusion that my appendix was about to rupture because I was in so much pain. Chau was scared that I was going to die in my sleep and said she didn’t want to wake up with a dead body next to her. So I promised her that if I began to die I would crawl out into the woods and die by myself like an animal. We got a good laugh out of that which hurt ALOT and made me think I was on the verge of death. Anyway, long story short, I did not die. It was just ANOTHER 24 hr virus! 

A Re-evaluation

It’s been a while since the last blog. Internet is really hard to get over here. Sometimes I have to travel an hour to get to an Internet Café and only use the computer for 2 hours. That’s only once every two to three weeks. For those of you with easy internet access, be thankful!

It’s crazy to think that we have been in Ghana for nearly two months. The hours here seem to crawl by, but like other PCVs in the past have said, the week and months fly by. Getting older seems to make time go by faster and faster. At least it does for me. I can’t believe how much I’ve already learned and experienced in this short amount of time. I feel like before this I haven’t really been living. There are so many more issues in the world, than the latest Facebook update, or new style of clothing. Sorry everyone, I’m going to vent a little. Hopefully instead of getting offended, you will re-evaluate the things you may take for granted.

These are SOME of the MANY issues Ghanaians (and other developing countries face):

•     REALLY bad roads: The drivers here are not crazy or bad drivers. They just have terrible roads because they can’t get the funding for repair. Many of the “best” roads here are probably worst than the “worst” roads where you live
•     Trash: Trash is EVERYWHERE. You might ask: Why not throw it away? Because there is nowhere to put it! There are no garbage men here, and many communities do not have dumpsters or even trashcans. Other communities try to burn trash every few days, but then they run into the problem of releasing toxins in the air. So again, make sure you thank your local sanitation worker. You’re probably in better shape than half the world.
•     Water: Water here is really hard to come by. Some people have a pipe system or well outside their house, others have to travel a mile or more to get ONE bucket of water. Some communities are on a scheduled time frame and only a portion of the community has access to water at their house for a few weeks at a time before it rotates to the next.  On top of accessibility… some people have rivers and streams close to their house, but they can’t drink or bathe from it without a possibility of getting Guinea worm or schistosomiosis. If you don’t know what either of these are, look them up. They are something you never want to get!

I swear, if I read another Facebook status of someone complaining about how movie tickets were sold- out or that, you were late for work, or that your favorite team lost a game, I will “un-friend” you. Maybe it’s because I have been out of the loop for 2 months now, or because all of that is literally irrelevant in the bigger world issues. Anyway I’m tired of hearing about these silly complaints.

Whew! I feel a lot better now. 

Boti Falls

On March 4th we took a field trip to Boti Falls. It was a nice break from the monotony of language lessons 6 hours a day.

Not much else to say about it other than we hiked 45 minutes up one side of a mountain and down the other. We were gross and sweaty by lunchtime...but when are we not gross and sweaty here? AND we had a slice of PIZZA for lunch! YUMMMMM!

Here are a few pics of our adventure:

The Greeting Gauntlet

Ghanaians like to greet. There's no other way to put it. Sometimes up to three times a day. This is very different from the majority of American culture. When in Ghana, one MUST greet. This is how it usually goes:

"Good morning. How are you?"

"I am fine. And you?"

"Fine."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to school/home."

"Ok go and come."

Sometimes these greetings get humorous, especially with the younger kids. Sometimes I say "Goodmorning," and they reply "I am fine." I always think this is funny ...like, "just so you know, I'm doing great over here!"

On one hand they are very blunt and straight to the point... like "Hi i'm fine, now I have to go." And the escape from greetings are never awkward. You just tell someone you have to go, where you are going, and promise to come back. That's it!

BUT, on the other hand, greetings can be VERY tiring... which is why one PCT deemed it The Greeting Gauntlet. Greetings are finally starting to feel normal now, but imagine stopping to talk on the way to work/school, home for lunch, back to work/school, and at the end of the day. Now multiply that by 30 people each way. A walk that would normally take 15 minutes, now takes around 30. And, that's what we do here every day.

One reason for this, is that in the Ghanaian culture, a sense of community and respect are very important. So when a younger person passes an elderly person, the younger one is expected to greet first. Another reason is to show that you genuinely care about the person's well being. Ghanaians love knowing that others are feeling good and happy. Just knowing this makes them really happy.

Although it can get tiring at times, I've already noticed that I get excited to greet certain people and see a familiar face. When the people I usually greet are in a bad or not there that day, my day starts out bad. It's strange to see how contagious the sense of community is here.