African Mud Bath

Well, you probably thought the title of my blog would be “African Safari”, but we had a different kind of adventure yesterday. Soon after we got to Nazinga it was time to go out for the evening safari. The way it works there is you take your own vehicle and pay for a guide to go with you. We start out our tour with Abel, our guide, handing us a picture guide of animals we might see and not saying anything except “turn right”, “go straight”. So we drove for about 20 minutes through tall grass wondering what in the world we're supposed to be looking for. Our animal search came to a screeching halt when we got stuck. Yes, we got stuck in the mud on an African safari. So, Megan, Matt, our guide and I all get out to push while Angela drives. But it did not budge... since there is no way to call anyone we begin the task of getting us out. Matt & Abel get out the tire jack and begin jacking up the front wheels while Megan & I walk around collecting sticks and rocks to put under the tires. Did I mention that our guide, Abel, does not speak any English and Megan only knows a little French. So with hand motions and a few words, we worked together (and laughed cause what else can you do when you're stuck in the mud in Africa?). Once we got that done, we all pushed the car out. I wish someone could have videoed us pushing because it was quite a site. We were at the beginning of the “small river” when we got stuck, so we still had to go through it. We all push again as Angela guns the gas and are running after the vehicle to keep pushing it. In the process though, I fall into the muddy water (not once but twice!), lose my flip flops (yes, I should have worn my chacos but didn't expect to be walking through rivers!) and get up only to find we're stuck again. So we got out the jack, put the rocks under and pushed again... and finally we were out! By that time though it was almost dark and we had to drive back to the ranch. The only animal we saw on our safari was a some type of deer that I think they called a water buck (and some baboons, some birds and a turtle on our drive in). Not one elephant! So basically we paid money for an African mud bath adventure!

                                             All muddy but at least we're out!
                                               Matt & our guide trying to get us out

Trip to Nazinga Game Ranch

There is no way not to have adventures in Africa, even if they are different than what you expected. We are now safely in the guesthouse in Ouagadougou, but have definitely had an adventure the past 2 days. We left Nalerigu early yesterday morning and it took us nearly 8 hours to get to the Nazinga Game Ranch, where we expected to see elephants. The roads are so bad - almost 100 km in dirt roads where there are huge craters and mud puddles and you can't go over 10 miles an hour in some places! Plus, you have to go through the border, which takes over an hour (nothing is easy here), but thankfully we got through before they closed for their 3 hour lunch break. Our lunch was a “picnic” on the side of the road. We tried to pick a spot where there weren't many people around, but I guess there's no way that white people can't draw attention here. :) By the time we were leaving, we had a small crowd of people just watching us eat.

It is the end of rainy season and apparently not the right time to see animals at Nazinga (yes, useful information to know before you drive 8 hours in Africa but what could we do at that point?). The grass is so tall that you really can't see much of anything. The other problem is the puddles (and small rivers) in the road... which proved to be a bigger problem on our safari. We did make it to the ranch, to our “mud huts”. We thought we had reserved a 3 room chalet but we got 2 small huts with a lock that took 5 mins to open, two twin beds with rock hard mattresses, and electricity from 6-10 pm... pretty rustic but at least it had a toilet and shower. Sleeping was interesting... after the power cut turned our fan off, Angela & kept hearing animal sounds. We couldn't go to sleep because it was so loud so we finally went outside to have a look around (probably not the best idea in Africa but the noises stopped when we walked outside). We finally decided that there must be monkeys or baboons in the tree. I slept off and on – the monkey sounds, the feeling that bugs were crawling on me (although I never saw any), and having a hard mattress. It definitely could have been worse conditions, but we were all thankful to leave this morning.  

Wednesday Update

Well it's Wednesday and I realized I still haven't written anything yet this week. And it's mostly because I've been too busy to write. It's been a long few days in clinic, especially since most of the other volunteers have left. Monday was a 12 hour day and with hospital rounds and the outpatient clinic, Andy & I both saw over 100 patients! I have been mostly seeing kids and am amazed at the number of malaria cases we continue to see. Over 75% of what I treat every day is malaria. Continue to pray for strength and endurance. Andy leaves tomorrow and the rest of the time I am here I think there are only surgical volunteers (meaning there are going to be many more long days in clinic). But I get to take a trip to Burkina Faso for a few days for vacation before it's back to hard work until December. We leave tomorrow and are going to a game park to see elephants and then on to Ouagadougou for a few days. Yeah! I think I will have internet in Ouaga so I will try to update y'all once we get there, but please pray for safe journeys and for a refreshing time for all of us. Thanks!   

Day Trip to Tamale

Yesterday we took a day trip to the nearest “city” so we could go to the ATM and the grocery store. I was looking forward to being out of Nalerigu for the second time in the 10 weeks I've been here. Well, this day trip took 9 hours with over 6 hours in the car. Tamale is only 100 miles away but it takes 3 hours to get there because of the dirt roads filled with pot holes, sheep, goats and people. Traveling is an adventure even when we don't have to use public transportation!

Our first stop was a restaurant for lunch... I was looking forward to eating at a restaurant for the first time since arriving in Ghana! It was good, although we were overwhelmed at having so many choices and our food was really spicy. So I'm still looking forward to Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden & the Mexican Restaurant when I get back to Atlanta! :)

We went to the bank and I was able to use to ATM to withdraw money but then the machine took Annie & Angela's cards when they tried after me. Which is bad because the bank is closed on Saturday... so they have to do the trip all over again on Monday so they can get their debit cards back! It's crazy being 3 hours away from the nearest ATM!

I was excited about going “shopping”, although I didn't expect it to be like the States or even Brasil. The other missionaries always go to Tamale to go to the grocery store and talk about how much it has. So I had this picture of a decent size store with a variety of things... You can imagine my surprise when we get there and it's only one little room with 2 aisles! The padaria (bakery in Brasil) right by my house in Rio had more food than this store! Very disappointing after the 3 hour trip. I bought Coca Light, a can of Pringles and an ice cream bar. And I got some apples from the “Fruit & Vegetable Market” - it was just stands on the side of the road. After that we drove the 3 hours again and got to Nalerigu right after dark. You know, I never liked going to the grocery store in Rio and would always get annoyed at the check-out people because they seemed to take forever. But at least they had lots of good food, air condition, cash registers that accept credit cards and it was only 5 minutes from our house!! Our Tamale adventure made me realize even more how different the way of life is here!

Ghanaian Food

We have a cook that cooks lunch and dinner for us every day. Most of the food is American style with an African twist – hot dogs/hamburgers with homemade buns and fries, soft tacos without sour cream or salsa, chicken pot pie and cabbage salad. This week we decided we wanted to try typical Ghanaian food. Caroline, a Peace Corps Volunteer went and got it for lunch for us... closest to delivery we'll ever have here. :) We had fufu, ground nut soup and guinea fowl. Fufu is made from ghanaian yams that they pound and mix together in a big pot with a wooden spoon. It looks like mashed potatoes but is sticky and honestly has absolutely no taste and is the weirdest consistency. You eat it by dipping it in the ground nut soup (with your hand of course!) I liked the soup, although it was a little spicy. It is made from peanut, which they call ground nut. The soup came in a black plastic bag – no such thing as a disposable bowl here. The guinea fowl, which I thought I wouldn't like at all was my favorite of all and tasted like turkey. The pictures are of me pouring my soup from the plastic bag and of the meal. This was after I had already eaten half of it. All of that for only $1!! I will say that I am glad that I don't have to eat fufu everyday, but it was a fun experience!

     

Caring for Sick Kids

It's been a nonstop past 2 days in the hospital. Yesterday I worked in clinic all day and saw many patients. A bus showed up mid-morning, filled to the max inside and people on top (see the picture below). I continued to be amazed at the extremes people will go to receive medical care here.

Andy and I were on call last night and had the busiest night I've ever had on call. We didn't get to eat dinner until almost 8 (we usually eat around 6 pm) and only slept from 1:30-3:00 and 4:00-7:00 am. They knocked on the door at 3 am calling us back in for a patient that was not doing well. Besides having to get up in the middle of the night, it's always scary to be called back in and you just pray that you will know what to do to help the patient. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done. Thankfully we were able to help the woman, but in pediatrics 2 kids died while we were there, even after we had done all we could do. The suffering and sickness is so overwhelming.

After a short night's sleep, it was a busy day in the pediatrics clinic. I admitted 12 patients to the peds ward today (On average I usually admit 3 or 4 daily). And these kids were all really sick – malaria with anemia or convulsions, dehydration and malnutrition, pneumonia with respiratory distress. Below is a picture of a little boy that I admitted today with malnutrition and dehydration. The peds ward is full but we continue to admit. There are probably 15 kids and their moms on the floor because there are no more beds.

I was reading this weekend in Exodus 36 and it talks about the “skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out the work just as the Lord commanded”. God reminded me that He has given me skill and asks for my obedience to do the work He has called me to do... even when it's not fun or I'm exhausted or would rather be doing something easier. It is God that calls us and God that gives us His strength to carry out the work. Thank you for your continued prayers!

The Jewelry Women

We went back out to Gambaga Witch Village to see the women making the jewelry. It was a lot more fun with some of the women actually being there. It was really cool to see these “outcasts” with smiles on their faces. There were 7 of us that went and we were all taking pictures and praising their work. It was neat to be able to encourage them in the beginning of their jewelry business. And I loved looking at all the jewelry and watching them make it. They asked my opinion about one of the necklaces they were making it and I told them it was great, so great that I wanted to buy it! Below is a picture of the women at work and me with the woman who designed and made my necklace.

  

More pictures

I've posted more pictures on facebook.  Here are the links to the pics:  

Failes Goodbye Weekend -   

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116940&id=517652235&l=de614b89ba 

Hanging out in Nalerigu -  

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117733&id=517652235&l=836050ff8e  

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!

Water Sachets

It's Friday and we've survived another week of clinic. It was a busy and hot day today. Let me try to describe our “office” today... Imagine a hot room with a fan that barely works, 3 doctors, 1 interpreter for all of us and an endless flow of sick kids. It was the first day I forgot to bring my water bottle and at 3 pm I was starting to feel dehydrated. Someone went and bought me a water sachet, AKA water in a bag. It's really the only way to find cold, pure water outside of our house. There is a talent to drinking these water sachets, that I apparently lacked this afternoon. I bit a hole on the corner, which ended up being too big, and squeezed too hard... which resulted in water all over me! And it was even funnier because there was a roomful of African women and their kids all laughing at me. I know they were thinking, “This crazy girl can't even drink water right!”    

A tribute to Dr. Chuck Miller

After spending 2 months here at BMC, Dr. Miller left this morning and we were all sad to see him go. He has been an inspiration and encouragement to all of us. Chuck will celebrate his 80^th birthday next month and for the past 10 years has been spending half of each year volunteering at mission hospitals all over the world. It has been amazing to hear of his stories and to see how God changed his life and gave him a special calling during this season of his life. His stamina, his compassion & his knowledge were noted by all. And he was so patient to teach us about pediatrics and how to treat the children. We already miss him but know that what he taught us will help us care for children here and in our future jobs. My life was definitely blessed by the time I was able to spend working with him. I told him that I hope I have half of his energy when I'm almost 80! What an example of a life committed to the Lord.

Jewelry and Witches

Today I visited the Witch's Village of Gambaga. It's a village where woman live who are accused of being a witch. In reality, none of the women are witches like we would think of them. In this culture if you accuse someone of being a witch for whatever reason she is sent out of her village. Common reasons: 1) I have a dream that you are trying to kill me so I accuse you of being a witch. 2) You and I are both wives of the same man. You have children and I don't; so you are a witch because you are robbing me of my chance to have children. 3) You have a prosperous business but mine is not doing well so you are a witch. Which all sounds crazy to us as Americans, but woman are sent out of their village because of this. There is a village supported by the Ghanaian Presbyterian Church where the “witches” can go. Presently there are 70 woman there. Many debate whether the village is helping or merely allowing the witchcraft accusal to continue, but woman that don't have a place like this to go to are killed or forced to hide and struggle to survive.

Caroline, a Peace Corps volunteer, is working to help create income for these women by teaching them to make jewelry. We went today to see the woman and help them in their jewelry making. We got there, though and the woman had gone to farm the chief's land. They broke their commitment to us and did what is better for them today but not necessarily good for their future. It is hard to get the woman to think long-term and work hard today to receive money in a few weeks or months. The visit was still good because the four of us picked out colors and beads and separated them for the women to make later this week. The plan is to sell them to volunteers and in the States so we know better than the women what colors the Americans like. It was fun spending a couple of hours playing with beads and jewelry and I can't wait to see the finished products!

Just another Monday in Ghana

Today was Monday clinic, which is always a busy day. One of the med students, Lindsay, and I shared a room and an interpreter. After getting to the point of being able to communicate with all my patients in Brasil, the language barrier here is difficult at times. I am trying to learn to say more and attempting to call patients to come into the room (I've learning some of the accent and have found if I yell and stress certain syllables, they will understand. And if not, it makes everyone laugh so at least I'm entertaining them. :)

It's been really hot the past few days (Estou com saudades da praia!!). I thought it was the end of rainy season, but apparently it's not over yet. Tonight we had a thunderstorm and Lindsay and I happened to be stuck in the schoolhouse. Well, first the internet went out and then the power went out and we didn't know how long it would last. Plus, we were already late for dinner and really hungry. So we decided to face the rain and run to House 6. Lindsay didn't have an umbrella so I wore my windbreaker and let her use my umbrella. Oh, and did I mention it's pitch black so I'm holding my flashlight inside my windbreaker trying to see where to run. So we start running and all the sudden I'm running through a river – a muddy river. So we're running, screaming, through puddles in the downpour and thunder. We finally get to the house, completely soaked. But it was worth the rain because we had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner! You know you've been overseas when you jump for joy over things like garlic bread! And dessert was homemade coconut cream pie. It turned out to be a good day after all. :)

A relaxing Saturday

I took today off and had a wonderful, relaxing day. After a woman knocked at our door at 7:30 am trying to sell bananas, I was able to go back to sleep enjoy a few more hours. Angela and I made french toast (with Ghanian bread and syrup someone sent her from the States) for breakfast. It was so good!! We also made banana bread muffins to eat for breakfast during the week. It's funny to me what I end up doing in my free time here. Having a roommate that loves to cook has rubbed off on me I guess, and it's been fun to see all the fun stuff we can make.

I can now add hairdresser to my resume. :) In this last 2 weeks I have cut two people's hair! Andy, one of the med students, begged me a couple of weeks ago until I said yes (I told him I had never done it before but I think I was the only person that would try, haha). And his hair actually turned out well. And then today Angela asked me to cut hers and hers looks good too. I don't plan on changing careers once I get back to the US, but I love all the things I get to do overseas that I would never do in the States.

We watched a movie this afternoon, but the power went off 3 times during it and the bad thing is that Angela's remote doesn't allow you to do scene selection so we have to fast forward from the beginning. Nothing is ordinary here in Africa! Hope y'all are having a great weekend!   

Our pet monkey

Yes, we really do have a pet monkey! The Failes had a monkey, Mambora, for 14 years, and when they left a few weeks ago they couldn't find anyone to take her so she moved to House 6 and became the volunteer monkey. I was so excited about having a monkey to feed and play with but all my dreams came crashing down on the first day when she jumped at me and would have attacked me if she hadn't been to the end of her rope. I thought that she was just having a bad day because her family had left her. Andy & James said they fed her and even pet her so I thought I would try again. A couple days later I went out to try to feed Monkey a banana and she went crazy, jumping at me and making all these noises. I was told that since she is a female that she doesn't really like girls, but she seems to hate me even more. Everyone else thinks it's hilarious and took a video of Monkey and me; As for me, I've decided that it's ok that she doesn't like me and it's her loss, not mine. :)

I'm really in Africa!!!

You know those moments that it just hits you all of the sudden and you think “Am I really here or am I just dreaming?” I had one of those moments yesterday afternoon. My roommate, Angela & I rode into town on our bikes. (BTW, I have a bike now... thanks to one of my friends who bought me one... it's not pink or fancy or new, but it works and it has a basket!) So, there I was, riding a bike (in a skirt of course) on the dirt roads of Nalerigu, maneuvering between goats, motorbikes & puddles, passing mud huts and children yelling, “Saliminga, Hello!” and it hits me, “Nothing about this screams normal, but it seems just normal now. I'm in Africa!” What an experience this has been!

Answered Prayer

I don't think it's just a coincidence that the morning after I asked you guys to pray for balance, Dr. Hewitt shows up at my house at 7 am to say that he heard that I hadn't been feeling great and since we had so many volunteers here, that I should take the day off. What a blessing to have an extra day to sleep and relax! Yesterday he had a meeting with all of the volunteers (currently there are 8 of us) and said that we can start taking a days off or trading off rounds on the weekend so we don't all have to work 7 days a week. That was definitely an answer to prayer for me to hear that it's ok to take time to rest and that I should take advantage of the fact that more volunteers are here now because there probably won't be as many in November and December. Thanks for all the prayers and continue to pray for health, strength and wisdom for all of us.    

Carrying things on your head

Even after being here for 6 weeks, I am still amazed at what these women are able to carry on their heads! It's not just light stuff either but some seriously heavy things! I have seem women with baskets on their head filled with coal, with firewood, and one that was filled with canned food! The funniest though was a few weeks ago when I was walking around town and saw a woman carrying a rolling suitcase on her head! What's the point in having a rolling suitcase if you're not gonna roll it? :) I am convinced that some of the neck pain and back pain (which people here call waist pain) has to be from years of carrying such heavy things on their heads, but none of my patients will agree with me. I guess it could possibly be since they start at such a young age that they get used to it. I am determined to learn how to carry something on my head, but we'll see if I actually succeed. Until then I will go on being fascinated with the women and the babies on their back and baskets filled to the top on their heads.

Thoughts after a restful weekend

After a really busy week, it's been nice to have a pretty relaxing weekend. Friday night we had a Girl's Night at our place with the other female missionaries and volunteers. We had strawberry cupcakes and watched a girly movie and did pedicures! Yesterday Angela and I mostly just chilled and watched movies but this afternoon we were very productive. We made strawberry jam! My first time – I'm learning lots of things here in Africa! You have to be really creative here because there's so much you can't get. Tonite we made an Italian dish and it was really good! We were talking about how good garlic bread would be, but the Ghanian bread is sweet so it won't really work. How I miss my padaria (bakery in Brasil) and all the tasty bread we used to get!

I've been thinking and praying a lot this week about finding a balance of work and play here. The work is never-ending at the hospital and the lines of sick patients seem to grow longer week after week. How do you find time to rest and relax when there's always people that are in desperate need of your care? Where is the balance between taking care of them and taking care of yourself so you're able to continue doing the work? How do you get away and relax when you're in the middle of Africa and to go anywhere means traveling at least 2 tiring hours on a dirt road? In Rio, I had the beach, massages, friends and Sharon, who always gave me a day off when she thought I needed it even before I would ask. But here, everyone works 7 days a week and the permanent doctors work even longer and harder hours than I do. How do they do it? I was talking with another volunteer about how there's no way you can continue on in a place like this were it not for God and the sense of His calling to do His work. I can't imagine where I would be if God were not real and always present in my life. I praise Him for all that He has done in me and through me since I've been here. Please continue to lift me up in prayer and specifically for His wisdom to find that balance and for His strength to continue on day after day.    

Busier day after day

This week was probably the busiest yet. I worked with Dr. Miller all week in pediatrics. The two of us saw around 750 kids in the outpatient clinic and when you add the inpatients we saw on morning and afternoon rounds, the total is over 100 children! We broke our daily record 3 different times this week – 157 on Monday, 163 on Wednesday and 178 on Friday! The thing is that most of these kids are really sick and really need medicine. There were 21 patients admitted to the pediatric ward yesterday and there were patients on the floor because they didn't have any more empty beds. Every week the number of patients increases and we are exhausted. Thankfully, 4 new volunteers arrived this week – two 4^th year medical students and two family practice residents. Please continue to pray for us and for the strength and endurance to keep going day after day.

Goat Kabobs

When I first got here I was surprised at how many goats there were. I guess it's just not the first animal you think about being in Africa, but they are everywhere in Nalerigu. The guys got this idea that we should have goat for James' going away party. Well, our cook went to market and bought one – alive – and the goat was tied up at the schoolhouse for 2 days. The problem was that the goat was really cute and there was a debate at dinner one night as to whether we should really eat him instead of just keeping him as a pet. We all took pictures of him and everything. In the end, though, we were forced to go ahead with the original plan and on Tuesday night we had goat kabobs. The meat was interesting, a little tough and a weird after-taste... apparently if you don't take the goat by surprise it makes the meat really tough. Poor little goat...