A lifted spirit, just when I needed it.

After what started out as a heartbreaking and difficult week, there has finally been a light amidst all of the darkness. Thursday and Friday we had the privilege of visiting an amazing Ghanaian doctor, Dr. Abdulai, at one of his two clinics on the outskirts of Tamale. He has a lot of supporters and receives donations from a lot of various sources. This allows his to be able to perform operations for patients, free of charge. Because of this, the line-ups at his clinic are huge! Needs are assessed and after surgery the patients stay in one of many huts on the compound. Each surrounding village has their own hut, and they are allowed to stay there while the patient recovers as long as they maintain the hut and supply the food for the patient. It is an amazing set up. Jackie and I spent the morning in the operating room with Dr. Abdulai on Thursday and had a really good time. He is such a kind man and very welcoming to having us Canadian nursing students at his clinic and watching us work. His entire approach to care is love, which is a breath of fresh air after what we had been witnessing the days prior. He is very loving to his patients and prays over and blesses their body before and after he performs the surgery. He mainly performs hernia repairs, as they are so common here, but will do other things as well. Despite his amazing skill and expertise, no general anesthetic is used during surgery. Only local anesthetic. This means people are fully awake while their abdomens are being cut open and only have numbing substances injected into the skin (must like when your mouth is frozen). Hey Dad and Uncle Korky - imagine being awake during your hernia repairs....yikes! Oh yeah, and the patients are expected to sit up and move themselves over from the operating table onto the stretcher immediately following the procedure. The people here are so tough! We are huuuge wimps in comparison!

Tonight the 8 of us here is Tamale will be taking a tro-tro (basically a really sketchy van-type thing) out to Mole National Park where we will be staying for the weekend. Tomorrow we will get to go out on a safari and I cannot waaait to hopefully see elephants and maybe even some lions! Apparently at the hotel baboons are plentiful and we have to keep a close eye on our purses as they are notorious for sniping tourists' bags. I'm really looking forward to this fun weekend adventure out of town! I'll tell you all about it when I am back in Tamale!

Hope you all are well.

Love and hugs
-Kels

Learning about suffering, the hard way

Although I have been having an amazing time here in Ghana, this week, finally starting nursing work in the teaching hospital in Tamale, has undoubtedly been one of the hardest and most heartbreaking experiences I have ever had. The patients are the sickest people I have ever seen, especially on the surgical ward that Jackie and I were on for 2 days this week. Most of them were completely emaciated, just skin and bones, and had a listless, hopeless expression. Most often by the time people get to the hospital here it is much too late, and most very sick people will not make it. Pain control is not something that is often practiced here, as people are taught to be strong and not show pain/weakness. Narcotics are frowned upon, therefore never used, and other pain killers, such as ibuprofen are used but very infrequently. The resources and supplies at the hospital are severely limited, and there is not even any running, drinkable water for thirsty patients to drink. Jackie and I have ended up emptying our own water bottles so that some of our patients can have some water. It is heartbreaking. Witnessing anyone suffering and knowing you cannot do much to help is one of the worst feelings, and this is even further magnified when it is a child in pain. For most of the afternoon of our first shift Jackie and I cared for a young man, 18 years old, who had typhoid fever and developed a perforated bowel as a result, leading to a terrible infection and a huge swollen belly. He was definitely going downhill but I think we were able to provide him with some comfort and show him love as best as we could. Sadly, he did not make it through the night and when Jack and I returned to the ward this morning, he was not there. Heartbreaking. So glad Jackie and I had each other there otherwise I don't know how I could have made it through the day! We had to take a few cry breaks to debrief multiple times over the past two days. The style of nursing here is so different than what we are used to and what we are taught in school. People are yelled at for moaning/crying while in pain. Today we were watching a nurse roughly change a dressing on a child who had extensive burns on his face, chest and arms. As no pain killer was used and the nurse was being rough rubbing his wounds, he was screaming out in excruciating pain. The nurse got upset and slapped the boy. Jackie and I had to leave the room and we burst out crying. It is so hard to watch something like that happen and know that we can't do anything about it.

But despite all this I am trying to find the beauty and positive in everything I experience while here. Even though the conditions in the hospital are awful and the treatment is not always great, at least the hospital is there and some people are being treated and getting better. Jackie and I ended the day by handing out canada stickers to teh kids and they seemed to really like that. Nice positive note to end on!

Tomorrow we go to a surgeons clinic on the outskirts of town who performs free surgeries with all the donations he receives from various sources. I have a feeling this will be a bit of a more uplifting experience and I am really looking forward to it!

Love you all!

In love with Africa!

Sorry I have been so bad with keeping up with the whole blog thing! We have been so busy this passed little while that internet has not been a top priority! But I will catch you guys up on what's been going on here.

When I wrote last we were in Accra, the countries capital. We spent two nights there and then travelled a few hours west to Cape Coast. There we visited an old slave castle that the English had built to house their slaves before they were shipped out. We did a tour of the castle and it was crazy how such horrific and disgusting things took place in what is now such an aesthetically beautiful place. I took lots of pictures which I will post when I get the chance.

After one night in Cape Coast we travelled north to Kumasi where we spent two nights. We took an air conditioned bus, and at 23 degrees celsius some people were putting on jackets! There we visited the market which is apparently one of the biggest in the world. It was a crazy experience! Basically little alleyways/streets completely packed with people walking in both directions, often with bowls of something balancing on their heads. On either side of the jam-packed path are vendors selling everything from lentils to gorgeous African fabrics to raw mystery meat. There was so much going on, all the sights and smells, and I definitely felt overwhelmed! Even though it was a neat experience, after an hour of pushing my way through the market, I was ready to have some personal space again!

After 2 nights in Kumasi, we travelled 8 hrs north to Tamale where we have been for 4 nights so far. We are staying at a guesthouse which is a 35 pesewas (probably around 20-25 cents Canadian) taxi ride to downtown. We have done so many amazing things here already! On Thursday we had the privilege of going to visit three different rural villages. A guide named Walisu (like Wally-Sue) first took us to visit a village called Kulaa. As soon as we stepped out of the van we were swarmed by children who wanted to touch us and hold our hands. One little girl, Nasiba, grabbed my hand and refused to leave my side the entire time we were at the village. If we managed to get separated, she would somehow find me! The children were all sooo beautiful and I just wanted to take them home. Even though we definitely saw plenty of sick, thirsty, and malnourished children there, they all had so much love and joy. It's not all as sad as those World Vision commercials, and there's no Sarah Mclachlan playing in the background. The women in the village showed us how they take ground up shea nuts and beat them with one hand in water for hours until it evenutally separates to make shea butter which they sell to provide income for them and their village. We got to try as well! Way harder than it looks. After that the men in the village performed som traditional drumming and dancing for us and even brought some of us up to dance with them! I guess my 13 years of dance training really paid off, as I was able to pick up the steps fairly quickly, but my hips sure don't move like theirs do! One of the elders told me he liked my dancing and that he wanted to "friend me". A few days later he gave Walisu 6 guinea fowl eggs to bring to me as a gift. This is a big deal, as that is a decent amount of food for someone to just give away here. I felt so honoured that this community would welcome us into their culture and their homes so openly and lovingly. My face hurt from smiling so much all day and I definitely teared up a bit more than once!

We then went to a second village called Gbalahi where we got to watch an older woman spinning loose cotton into tight balls of thread that they use to make their garments. We wanted to support her so some of us bought some spools.

After that we went to a final village, Kbawmo, where we got to meet the chief of the village. When you meet a chief you squat, slowly/quietly clap your hands and hum "naaaahhh, naaaah". It's a really good leg workout! Then we got to see the master pottery maker making clay pots and even got to try our hand at it too. After we visited the villages Walisu invited us back to his home where he prepared a traditional dish "pete pete" for us (like pet-a-pet-a). It was kind of like a mashed up yam base with a delicious tomato/fish/spicy sauce on top. I am loving the traditional food here but my stomach is definitely paying the price for it!

Tomorrow is our first day in the hospital here in Tamale and I am really looking forward to getting into some nursey things here. It's been really great to spend time getting introduced to and familiar with the culture first before we dive into the medical realm. Not too sure which area of the hospital I will be working in but I will fill you guys in once I have started!

I am really loving in here in Ghana and feel that I have settled in nicely. It is just so amazing to me how the people here all have so little, materially speaking, but are so joyful and loving and want to give you so much. It is truly incredible. And I want to snatch up all the children and bring them all home with me!

I love you all and miss you very much! Hope you all are well.

-Kels

PS - I am hoping to post pictures soon! HEre is a link to the group blog which has some pics up...