Once I got back to Kpando last week, I took it easy on Thursday and Friday. I need to do wash and email some of the people I met on the trip! I have a lot to coordinate over the next 9 weeks so I was able to figure some of that out last week.
Over the weekend I went to the Isaac's home village. Isaac had me accompany him to his village on Friday night. His brother was in town this weekend for a campaign meeting. His brother is running for MP of Kpando state. I think it would be equivalent to the county leader in the US. He has a very large house in Isaac’s village. As we were driving to the village around 9 pm they started saying, “Kari, will you survive, lights out!” At first I didn’t understand what they meant, then I realized that none of the villages we drove past had power. I told them the power can go out in the US too if there is a large storm so I’d survive.
Once we got to the house we used candles and flashlights to
find our way. It wasn’t too bad. I think the house had about 5 bedrooms! Its
layout was very Ghanaian but it was much larger than most US homes! Their home
in Accra, I guess, is even larger!!! Around 1 am, I was rudely awakened by the
power coming back on. I guess the light was turned on in the room and so it
woke me up! After that I was able to turn on the AC though! That was so nice!!
In the morning, I walked around the village with Isaac’s
brother’s personal assistant/campaign manager. He kept making me laugh since he
told me he was going to marry me about a hundred times. I told him I needed to
get to know him better so I would not accept any proposal at this time. I can’t
even count the number of proposals I’ve gotten. The funny thing is I think most
of the men are truly serious, because they want a green card. Haha!
For lunch, Isaac’s brother’s wife made bamko with tilapia in
a light soup. It was pretty tasty. She served me the head of the fish. I guess
that is the best part. She did not realize I was a silly American who cannot
stand the look of a dead fish head. Isaac’s brother promptly corrected her and
she gave me the body of the fish. I’m getting pretty good at eating it without
stabbing fish bones into the roof of my mouth anymore. Isaac’s brother and I
talked about the difference between life in Ghana and life in the US while we
ate. He said he loves vacationing in the US, but he could never work there. He
said people in the US live to work and spend money. They do not enjoy their
time beyond that. I can’t disagree with him on that statement.
After lunch, Isaac and I stuck around the village for a few
more hours. Isaac had to do his rounds. He has to say hello to everyone
otherwise he will hear about it. Also, he has to give quite a few people money
since he is better off than them. Isaac showed me the goat we were taking back
to Kpando with us. He said he was going to kill it tomorrow. He said he’d make
sure I wasn’t around. He knows Americans well enough to know we won’t eat it if
we watch it getting killed! Haha! The goats are so tiny here. It looked like a
baby to me. It seems too cute to eat!
Issac killed the goat sunday morning. I made sure to stay in
the house when that was occurring. I will not be able to eat any goat the rest
of my stay if I see one being killed!
Today (monday), I went to Ho to get my visa renewed. Also, I stopped by to visit a man named Nelson. He is a school teacher in Kpando and tudor at the orphanage. He recently had his leg amputated. From what I was told, he broke his leg playing soccer. It did not heal correctly so he had an above knee amputation. I had been told that it was still healing and that he did not have any equipment; however, since the time I heard about him his leg has healed and he has crutches. He is in the process of figuring out how to get a prosthesis. I told him I'd help him with that if his connections fell through. He didn't really need my help, but I gave him a few pointers and provided him with my phone number if he had any questions.
The visa renewal is not finished. I had to pay the money of course and then leave my passport and information there until friday. The visa is only good for 60 days. My 60 day mark is Feb 7th! It's hard to believe I've been here for as long as I have.
It will be nice to go to the hospital tomorrow. I stopped by briefly this morning to talk to Celestine. I saw one patient with her. It was heart wrenching! A little boy around one and half went too close to a fire when he was cold. He ended up with severe burns over his whole body. I instructed Celestine on how to properly do range of motion (ROM) on him to ensure he does not develop limb contractures. I did not get to see the burns without the dressings on to determine if they were 3rd or 2nd degree. I'm praying that it's not 3rd degree over his body. There are no skin grafts here. Also, they do not have enough wound dressings to change the bandages daily so his risk of infection is so high! What do you do besides pray in this situation? The prognosis is probably not good so I feel horrible causing him so much pain during ROM! I will just make sure the nurses provide him with plenty of pain medication next time!! I will keep you updated on the little guy. :(
On a positive note, my patient who I was seeing before I left Kpando, who had a mild CVA and was dancing during our last session together, keeps making good progress!! I'm excited to see her again. Her family was just going to brush her off as being too old to walk or move again, but we showed them that she can still have quality of life, she just needed to get her strength back!!
Hopefully, I will not have trouble with blogger anymore! I sort of combined 2 posts into 1! My grammar is horrible, but I just want everyone to have something to read!!!
Love, Kari
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