Togbloku

Togbloku
Today we went to an outreach clinic in Togbloku, Ghana. It was about a 2 hour ride each way. We basically were on paved road for ½ the time and dust/dirt road for the other half, just like yesterday. Our driver had never been to the village, so it probably took a little while longer. John ended up asking for directions from various villages. When we finally arrived at the church, in which the outreach was set up, we saw many patients already waiting for us in the pews. We unpacked all the glasses, medicine, etc and after the introduction set up the stations. It was the same as yesterday, a visual acuity station, dispensing of eyeglasses/medicine and an examination by Dennis. I was assigned to the visual acuity test again. We definitely had more patients today than yesterday. Along with the village patients, the school children, with their bright yellow outfits, were also there to get their exam. After the orientation, patients first received the visual acuity test, then stood in line for the exam and then proceeded to the eyeglass/medication table. The visual test went fairly well, however at the exam line, the line tended to bottleneck. Dennis was the only one who could give the exams, so we felt bad we could not help. I was not there for the episode, but others told me about it. A villager, in a pink dress, became angry she had to wait so long and John had to calm her down. Trust me, she was the only one, everyone was so patiently waiting, don’t know if I could wait so long. In the end, it was about a 5-6 hour wait for an eye exam. All went really well, I even met a villager who told us his son lived in Maryland and was very excited to hear we were from America. Another gal Jessica, told us she has always wanted to visit the USA. Most people did not speak English; if they did it was words here and there. One of the villagers prepared lunch for us and brought it to the church, these meals are so good, but I love spicy food. The kids were another story, they loved cameras! Good for me. I would show them their picture after I took it and they would giggle and laugh. Then I would hear “Madame, Madame, and Madame” over and over, because they wanted me to take their picture. Very cute. Later on, they took me to the water pump where a vendor was sitting. I chatted a while with her and bought some Obama biscuits from her. I had to; a big picture of Obama was on the biscuit packaging.
Throughout the village there were a lot of goats, cows, pigs and chickens, roaming everywhere. So yesterday I mentioned how impressed I was with the Ghanaian posture, well today I saw just the opposite. We had a couple of patients who were walking with a stick and their posture was literally at a 90 degree angle. It looked so painful.
We finally winded down when it started getting dark, hopped in the car and headed back to Accra. On the way back, we had a detour to John, our drivers, home. He lives in Accra during the week and at home on the weekend; the outreach clinic was close to his home. So after him visiting his family, we headed towards Accra. We finally arrived at the hotel at 8pm. After we arrived we headed out for a drink. One of the volunteers was here last year, so took us to a place to eat. Unfortunately, the woman who was running it wasn’t expecting us. She invited us into her courtyard area and asked what we wanted to eat tomorrow, so she gave us our options and we will head there tomorrow. The menu sounded delicious: red red beans, plantains, chicken, rice and some spicy sauce. We ended up going to an outdoor “highway bar” and had a beer, then headed home. Tomorrow, I will be working in Crystal Clinic and will be observing cataract surgeries. In order for Crystal Clinic to get funded for the surgeries, Unite for Sight requires us to observe and signoff on the surgeries. More tomorrow.......

Agogo

Today was a rough start, only because I had been up for over 24 hours and couldn’t sleep last night. I was running on 4 hours of sleep. Our drivers picked us up and we were headed to an outreach clinic in Agogo. Before we officially headed out “on the road” a few errands had to be taken care of. Dennis, the ophthalmic nurse, had to visit his cousin at the electric company to settle a bill. After that, John, our driver had to put some pressure in the tires and get some gas. After that, Dennis had to stop to get breakfast, some donuts and porridge. So we were now set to go. Dennis had warned us that Ghanaians run on a different time, and that G.M.T. actually stood for Ghanaian Man Time. Trust me I would rather have a laid back situation then the opposite. So we were off. The drive was about 3 hours long, ½ of the road were paved and ½ were covered with a burnt orange (think Grand Canyon color) type of dirt dust. Our driver was doing a slalom drive trying to avoid the potholes on these roads. The scenery was beautiful. We passed many smaller villages, in which vendors sell everything on the street, including caskets! The one thing I have found so amazing is how the Ghanaian women can carry such heavy loads on their heads and to top it off they have the most amazing posture you have ever seen. The items stacked on their heads have ranged from trays stacked with fruit to big bins of water. As we were driving, we also saw men walking the roads with machetes; of course I hadn’t realized yet at this point how many banana and mango trees were around. They use these machetes to clear the way and when getting the fruit and also to cut down any other items needed. The weather was overcast so you could barely make out the hillside above, it rather looked like floating silhouettes of trees in the sky. For some reason, I was thinking of the movie “Gorillas in the mist” …I digress :) So we arrived in town and had about 40 patients waiting in the local church. John and Dennis introduced themselves and explained who we were and all about Unite for Sight. After that we introduced ourselves. So then the signing in procedure began. After everyone was signed in, they first took their visual acuity test, which I was ½ assigned to. The charts are quite different here. In the states, we have different letters in the alphabet on the chart; here it is just the letter E. But the letter E is printed in various positions: up, down, left, right. The different languages around Ghana make it easier to do it this way. After noting their sight, they were sent over to Dennis for an eye exam and then to John for dispensing of glasses or medicine. The glasses they receive are the ones we brought with us and they are charged 1 Cedi for them. After completing the visual test, we sat outside and played with the kids. I was talking to the kids, when I heard a huge bang behind me. The truck carrying a huge vat of water to the school had tipped over on its side as it was trying to make it up the hill. From what was heard the vat was not securely centered on the truck, so more weight was on the left side, causing it to tip. Luckily, both driver and passenger were fine. The village men all came around discussing what to do. They finally somehow hooked up some ropes to the truck and pulled it back upright. Guess we really should appreciate our tow trucks. After that incident, we starting packing up and had another 3 hours back. We picked up some other workers so had the car stuffed, I was pretty much squeezed next to the stick shift (since 2 of us were sitting in the passenger seat). Got back to the hotel late and ran out to get some jollof rice and chicken. Off to bed for tomorrow, heading for another long ride… More tomorrow.

Arrived

After a long flight, I landed in Ghana. As I stepped out of the airplane, the heat hit me. The walk to the terminal was not too long, inside beautiful painted murals decked the walls. There were also remnants left of Christmas: Christmas lights, red arches, stars. Or maybe this was part of the normal decoration, who knows. I got thru customs pretty quickly and my luggage came 5 minutes after I got to the baggage claim. I walked out of the terminal and saw “Joe” holding the UNITED FOR SIGHT sign. Phew. I made it. One of the volunteers was on the same flight as me, was already waiting and another would be coming shortly. When the last volunteer came, we heading to load all our luggage in what I believe was a Subaru. I have never seen so many suitcases stuffed in one trunk. We all squeezed in, Jerome and Joe, and us three volunteers.
The drive to the hotel was quite interesting. Lets’ just say there is lots of honking and maneuvering into lanes. Ghanaians cross the busy roads all the time, so you hear lots of cars honking for the pedestrians to be warned. Then the merging is another interesting thing. I only saw one lane, but somehow that one lane became a 3 lane road. Our driver was amazing; we were literally within inches of the car next to us. So among all these lanes are vendors trying to sell their wares. They walk between the cars, when there is room, and sell everything you can imagine. The women balance the big bins of their wares on their head. Quite amazing. We finally arrived at our hotel. After checking in, getting our cell phones, vodaphone cards, we finally relaxed a little in our room. We, the volunteers, plan on grabbing something to eat at 7. Hope I can stay up until then. My room is decent, can’t complain. The thing I love is I can hear the roosters from my room. Tomorrow, I am heading to an outreach, looking forward to it. More later.

On my way

Today has been quite interesting. I was set to take off from John Wayne Airport this morning and found out from the attendant that my Denver leg of the flight was delayed by 3 hours. That meant that I would miss my connecting flight to Ghana. Ugh. So my option was to rush to LAX in the hopes of making a flight from there. Tim ran to get the car, while Amelie and myself went with all my luggage curbside to wait for me. When we finally loaded all the luggage into the car, we were in a mad rush to get to LAX. Luckily, we did not encounter much traffic on the freeway, a rarity in the LAX area :). After quickily checking my luggage in I said my quick goodbyes to my family, who I will dearly miss, and headed straight for the security line. Luckily, I got through the line in no time and had 10 minutes to spare before I needed to board the plane. Whew. So as I am approaching the gate, the attendant asks me if I changed my seats. I said 'no'. He responded with someone changed it, and issued me my new boarding pass. To my pleasant surprise, the seat was change to business class. I think some sweet soul was looking out for me, thank you! Now I am sitting in Dulles waiting for my flight to Ghana. 2 hours to spare. More when I arrive in Ghana...

Day before departure

Saturday night and I am thinking I am complete with my packing. It was a real challenge today trying to pack my clothes among 700 pairs of sunglasses. My clothes are dispersed among my 2 suitcases and carryon, hoping I didn't forget anything. Most of my time was spent on packing all my camera gear, recharging all the batteries, charging the camcorder, not forgetting any cords and trying to figure out how I can somehow squeeze another electronic device in my carry on. Not to mention that I lost my phone for a day. I was a little stressed out to say the least, but my husband, the rationale one, was able to calm my nerves somewhat :). I ended up finding my phone at the library this morning. Whew. Another device to take with me to Ghana :)
Seriously, I am so looking forward to this trip and can't wait to work with the doctors, nurses and patients in Accra. I'll be able to post pictures when I return, but will continually update my blog while I am in Ghana. I leave tomorrow morning from John Wayne. Updates later.

Volunteer Experience Unite For Sight - Ghana

Jan 2, 2011

One week until I depart for Accra, Ghana. After all the preparations of immunizations, collecting eyeglasses and monetary donations, I am hoping I am set to go next week.

Today, I attempted to pack the 600 + sunglasses that I received from Tifosi Optics (Georgia). I soon realized I needed to buy a second bigger suitcase for all to fit. I found one that luckily was able to hold a big share of the glasses. So I have 2 huge suitcases, packed to the rim with glasses. I am hoping to squeeze my clothes in there somewhere ;).

This week I also received my schedule for Accra. I'll be working in Crystal Eye Clinic, Northwestern Eye Centre, along with outreaches to Jasikan. I land on Monday, January 10, and will begin work on Tuesday. Truly looking forward to it. I thank everyone for all the donations (Total $2130) for the eye care services while in Ghana and the donation from Tifosi Optics.