Start of work

Yesterday, Sunday, was a fairly lazy day. In the morning, Paakow showed me how to do the washing. In the afternoon, Stefanie and Maira organized some painting with the neighbourhood kids. We painted thank-you cards for their friends back home who donated money (more on Stefanie and Maira later in this entry).

Central Regional Hospital: I had my first day of work today. My first impression of the hospital was that it really is fairly modern; the buildings actually look newer than some hospitals at home. But, they just don’t have the equipment to do much. On our tour of the hospital today we were shown the mortuary. I have never seen a morgue in Canada, so a Ghanaian morgue was probably not the best example to start with. Like many things here, it was filthy with a sickly number of flies milling about. Our tour guide gladly showed us the room for the autopsies and the room where the bodies are brought in, both were covered with dried blood. The freezer room is definitely a sight I could have done without. The bodies were piled on top of each other on their freezer drawers, with three “fresh” bodies in the middle of the room. The first thing I saw as we walked in was a fat black arm sticking out from under a metal box. Our guide lifted the box to reveal a large, naked, dead black woman and then asked Brad (another volunteer who started at the hospital today too) if he fancied her. The lack of respect for the dead is amazing in this situation, especially given how religious and respectful the Ghanaian people usually are. We were extended an invitation to watch an autopsy tomorrow, but there is no way I could stomach it; the smell of the bodies today in the heat was more than enough. Tomorrow we start in the Pediatrics department and meet the doctors for rounds.

Human Service Trust Orphanage: The orphanage that Stefanie has been working at is very poorly run and the kids have very little. So, Stefanie and Maira have raised a bunch of money from their friends in Austria and New Zealand and have bought the kids bunk beds, sheets, towels, bowls and cups, and food. Of even greater value though, they have spent hours with them every afternoon working on homework, playing, and teaching basic social skills. These kids are so far behind where they should be; a good comparison can be made with the neighborhood kids who come by to hang out with the “obrunis” (white people). We finished at the hospital early today so I went along for the afternoon and helped deliver rice, chicken, and fish to the orphanage. Tomorrow and the next day we hope to take the kids to a pool. The kids are gorgeous and really respond well to the presence of volunteers. Today we had them writing thank-you letters to the people who donated money. The notes will go into the cards that we painted yesterday. Stefanie and Maira have really done amazing things with these kids and they certainly bring a different level of experience and maturity in handling these placements. It’s too bad that they’re both leaving so soon and I won’t get to spend more time with them.

Last night I went out for a drink with Veronica (the other volunteer at our house; there are four of us right now) and got to meet the other volunteers with Projects Abroad. They all seem really nice. I was mildly surprised to find out that most of them are British and are here as part of a gap year before University. It is odd to be one of the older volunteers here. They were very friendly though and I like the way Projects Abroad has arranged things so that the people here are always changing. Almost every week someone leaves and someone new arrives.