This will be my last post in Ghana! I flew from Tamale to Accra yesterday and will leave Accra tonight at around 9:35 pm. These last few days have been bittersweet as I've said goodbye to my Ghana friends. Nikki took the 12 hour bus ride from Tamale to Accra yesterday and we met at the Baptist Guest House. Nikki and I will say goodbye today and I'm really dreading this.
The Youngs, Nikki, and I drove to Tamale this past Wednesday. It is a two hour drive from Saboba and the roads are terrible. A car could fall into a pot hole and never be seen again! By the time we reached Tamale, I was desperate to get out of the truck. Bob and Dr. Jean may be used to the roads but I would have liked to have taken them a little slower. Once we reached Tamale everyone split up to run their errands. Nikki and I went to the cultural center to get a little shopping in. The center is a huge open area where a select few vendors are able to set up shop. It is really nice because no one was harrassing us to buy from their shops. I only wanted to buy a peice of artwork and I found the best studio! The artist was so proud of his work and he took Nikki and I through his studio. He painted abstract art (which I usually don't like) and you were able to feel his emotion when you looked at his paintings. I passed by one painting and just couldn't stop looking at it...so of course I bought it. The painting is called the weeping widow. It so reminded me of several women that I met in Saboba. The woman is staring straight at you with intensely sad eyes. Her head is covered with a mourning wrap. In Ghana, there is nothing worse than being a childless widow. The woman is considered cursed and it would be better if she had died. The painting reminded me of when Jesus spoke in the bible about caring for the widows and how precious even they are to Him. This painting will definitely hang on my wall at home.
While we were walking through the shops Nikki and I noticed several game boards. The shopkeepers offered to teach us how to play the game Owari. Of course this was an offer we couldn't refuse! At first the game seemed really simple but I found out that a person needed to always think 5 moves ahead in order to win...I lost every game that I played. There are two trays with little bowls to hold the rocks. There are six bowls and each bowl holds 4 rocks. In order to begin the game one player picks the rocks out of a bowl and moves their hand to the right placing one rock in each bowl. A person scores if they are able to place a rock on the opposing player's side and the total number in the bowl equals 2 or 3. The bowl must be the last one you place a rock in order to be able to score. So for the whole game you must keep track of how many rocks are in each bowl and also try to move your own rocks so the opposing player isn't able to score. I wasn't very good at this concept. Luckily the man took pity on me and he didn't beat me too bad. Every time the man would have to get up to serve a customer a couple of men would lean over and tell me what moves to make next. Even with their help I still couldn't beat this guy! We had a great afternoon visiting with the shopkeepers. It was the perfect way to end my time in the northern region.
Thursday morning I flew out of Tamale and landed in Accra. What a difference a few miles make! Accra is very westernized and I wasn't used to the number of people or the hustle and bustle. Another girl and I went to a grocery store. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into the store...there was a produce section! I'm ashamed to admit that I almost knocked over an elderly lady in my rush to reach the oranges. I bought two oranges at $2.50 each and they were the best oranges I have ever eaten. The cook at the guest house made vegetable soup, cornbread, and a salad last night....Nikki and I were shocked at the vegetables. We were not able to buy vegetables or fruit in Sababo, so we have been on an all carb diet. I never thought that I would be burned out on carbohydrates. As I'm typing this post I can smell the sweet rolls and sausage cooking for breakfast....so this mean I'm ending the post. Time to eat!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
April 11
Soon I will be home! Tomorrow is my last day in Saboba; I'm both excited and sad at the thought of leaving Saboba. Today I spent the morning working in the lab...well I use the term working loosely. I mainly sat and was entertained by Jacob and Nikki. Isaiah was also in the lab, but he is a really quiet, shy man who works really hard so he basically just worked around us. Jacob is a huge Celine Dion fan and knows all of her songs and he is not ashamed to just start belting out a Celine Dion song. You just haven't lived until you have heard a Ghanaian man singing Celine Dion from the heart. He and Nikki sang a duet while I recorded the whole episode. While they were singing the wound care nurse walked in and he of course started singing "Young Love". Seriously, I couldn't have set up a funnier scene than the three of them singing together. I wish I could upload the video to this blog but I would arrive home before the video finished loading because the Internet connection is so slow. It takes hours just to upload pictures.
The people of Saboba have completely made this trip for me. Pastor Jidoh taught me everything there is to know about eating dogs. When I told him that people in the U.S. spent hundreds of dollars grooming their pets, he promptly announced that he would send a resume home with me. He promised that he would take good care of the dog and would even take care of the burial...in his stomach of course!
I don't know if I have mentioned Pastor Jonah before. He is such a great man of God. Jonah heard that a neighboring village had never heard of Jesus. He and another man promised that they would go out to the village on Sundays to teach about God. Even though Jonah is a pastor, he receives no money from his church; he supports his family by farming. He doesn't have enough money for a motorcycle to travel to the village but he is able to borrow one from a friend. Jonah is a man who gives money willingly and he never holds anything back. He managed to save enough money to buy land to be used for God's work in the future. He just completely acts in faith and feels that God has a strong purpose for his life. There have been many nights when Jonah has walked into the house and sat down with his bible to teach Nikki and I. He will retell the sermon from church. The people here have church Sunday morning and night, Wednesday night, and Friday night....and we complain in the U.S.
It is amazing to think that less than 100 years ago there were no churches in Saboba. The people had never heard of Jesus or God. Christianity has really taken off here but there are still issues that need to be resolved. Many people still practice sacrificing to the lesser gods. These lesser gods can be anything from a tree, stone, or special place. You can be walking down a path and will see a gift left on a stone next to the path. That was a sacrifice to the lesser god. So many people believe in God and will even attend church on Sunday but they still practice sacrificing to the lesser gods also. They just believe that God is over the lesser gods. The people will sacrifice things like fowl, goats, dogs, or cows. The churches are trying to teach the people that this belief is wrong but they are making slow progress. It was actually addressed in Sunday school this week. A woman brought up that people would attend church but make sacrifices when they returned home and that this was wrong. Thankfully there are men of God who are teaching the truth. It has taken many weeks for me to understand that this was being practiced because on the surface it appears that everyone goes to church and believes in God. One major advantage is that there are only two white missionaries here, Bob and Dr. Jean. The people are completely taking the lead on spreading the gospel and teaching the truth. I have met many men who are true scholars of the bible and are constantly studying. Just like Pastor Jonah, they are always eager to share what they have recently studied in the Bible. I've been challenged by them!
The people of Saboba have completely made this trip for me. Pastor Jidoh taught me everything there is to know about eating dogs. When I told him that people in the U.S. spent hundreds of dollars grooming their pets, he promptly announced that he would send a resume home with me. He promised that he would take good care of the dog and would even take care of the burial...in his stomach of course!
I don't know if I have mentioned Pastor Jonah before. He is such a great man of God. Jonah heard that a neighboring village had never heard of Jesus. He and another man promised that they would go out to the village on Sundays to teach about God. Even though Jonah is a pastor, he receives no money from his church; he supports his family by farming. He doesn't have enough money for a motorcycle to travel to the village but he is able to borrow one from a friend. Jonah is a man who gives money willingly and he never holds anything back. He managed to save enough money to buy land to be used for God's work in the future. He just completely acts in faith and feels that God has a strong purpose for his life. There have been many nights when Jonah has walked into the house and sat down with his bible to teach Nikki and I. He will retell the sermon from church. The people here have church Sunday morning and night, Wednesday night, and Friday night....and we complain in the U.S.
It is amazing to think that less than 100 years ago there were no churches in Saboba. The people had never heard of Jesus or God. Christianity has really taken off here but there are still issues that need to be resolved. Many people still practice sacrificing to the lesser gods. These lesser gods can be anything from a tree, stone, or special place. You can be walking down a path and will see a gift left on a stone next to the path. That was a sacrifice to the lesser god. So many people believe in God and will even attend church on Sunday but they still practice sacrificing to the lesser gods also. They just believe that God is over the lesser gods. The people will sacrifice things like fowl, goats, dogs, or cows. The churches are trying to teach the people that this belief is wrong but they are making slow progress. It was actually addressed in Sunday school this week. A woman brought up that people would attend church but make sacrifices when they returned home and that this was wrong. Thankfully there are men of God who are teaching the truth. It has taken many weeks for me to understand that this was being practiced because on the surface it appears that everyone goes to church and believes in God. One major advantage is that there are only two white missionaries here, Bob and Dr. Jean. The people are completely taking the lead on spreading the gospel and teaching the truth. I have met many men who are true scholars of the bible and are constantly studying. Just like Pastor Jonah, they are always eager to share what they have recently studied in the Bible. I've been challenged by them!
April 10
This Sunday we went to Pastor Jidoh's church, Arise and Shine Christian Church. Bob and Dr. Jean were able to go with Nikki and I which was a nice surprise. Of course, all of the people were welcoming and one member volunteered to translate for us. This is the first church where I have really enjoyed the music. It was extremely loud (of course) but they played more traditional songs. My friend Joseph played the drum set and two other men played the traditional drums. There was a large open area in front of the pulpit where people were able to dance. The women would file out by age groups and dance together in a circle. They had so much joy in their faces, it was wonderful to watch. As I stood watching I thought of how wonderful heaven will be and wondered what kind of music would be sung. How amazing to think of every ethnic group all gathered worshiping God. I have never stopped to think how God is worshipped all across the world...just amazing.
Tonight we said goodbye to Joseph. It is time for him to return to nursing school in Damongo. We exchanged email addresses and will keep in touch through facebook. Now I'm a really reserved person and I don't wear my feelings on my sleeve...sometimes people think I'm just too reserved. I made it through saying goodbye without becoming teary eyed, but I woke up at 3:30 am thinking about Joseph. Before he said goodbye last night he asked Nikki when she thought the three of us would all be together again. Nikki's response was "probably in heaven". I saw tears come to Jo's eyes and I had to look away or else I would have started to cry also. I lay in bed thinking about what Nikki had said. The odds are that I will never see Jo again on this earth. Our lives are in two separate worlds and we'll both get involved in our careers and families and will never cross paths again. It is really difficult to say goodbye to a person when you know the odds of seeing them again are almost non-existent. But at least we have the assurance that we will see each other again in heaven...maybe his mansion will be next to mine.
Tonight we said goodbye to Joseph. It is time for him to return to nursing school in Damongo. We exchanged email addresses and will keep in touch through facebook. Now I'm a really reserved person and I don't wear my feelings on my sleeve...sometimes people think I'm just too reserved. I made it through saying goodbye without becoming teary eyed, but I woke up at 3:30 am thinking about Joseph. Before he said goodbye last night he asked Nikki when she thought the three of us would all be together again. Nikki's response was "probably in heaven". I saw tears come to Jo's eyes and I had to look away or else I would have started to cry also. I lay in bed thinking about what Nikki had said. The odds are that I will never see Jo again on this earth. Our lives are in two separate worlds and we'll both get involved in our careers and families and will never cross paths again. It is really difficult to say goodbye to a person when you know the odds of seeing them again are almost non-existent. But at least we have the assurance that we will see each other again in heaven...maybe his mansion will be next to mine.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Saturday April 9
I'm continueing to feel better everyday. I have visited the hospital and a few friends around town. I'm still struggling with building up my stamina after being so sick, but it will improve with time.
Since I haven't been doing rounds at the hospital I have very little to write. I'll just leave you with a few Ghana facts...
1) Love is a luxery that most women don't have a chance to experience. There is a practice called "bride swap" that used to be very prevalent in this part of Ghana. Thankfully, dedicated people have worked to eradicate this practice and it has decreased considerably. Here is how a bride swap works...apparently baby girls are promised to men who are 20 years their senior. The man may give a certain number of animals per year to the father until the girl is of age. When the girl reaches her mid-teens she is sent to marry the man. If she refuses she could be killed as this would shame the entire family. If the girl runs away with a lover then they are both at risk of death. What I don't understand is why a man would want a wife who is 20 years younger than him. Why would he want to wait until his 40s for a wife? I asked a friend this and he said the men are very promiscuious during the years they are waiting for the girl to mature. When I asked "who are the men sleeping with if all of the girls are promised?" His answer was that the girls could sleep with whoever they wanted before their marriage. They could have as many lovers as they wanted as long as they ended up marrying the man their father had made the arrangement with. I guess this system makes sense to someone...certainly not me. At least this practice has fallen out of favor.
There is another practice called "sister swap". This practice is not set up by the fathers but by the girl's brother. If one man is attracted to a woman he will ask his friend if he could swap his sister for her. Once again the girl has no choice.
2) Polygamy is alive and well in northern Ghana. Many men have at least 2 wives. It is also common to have a girlfriend in a nearby village. I have gotten to know several women but I have never heard them mention their husbands. Nikki asked on woman where her husband was and she said in another town. Nikki asked if he would come back to live with her and she said "No, this is Africa. Out of sight out of mind". This woman had two children and she never expected to see the father.
I'm just thankful that I live in a culture where women are valued and my father encourages me to choose my husband.
Since I haven't been doing rounds at the hospital I have very little to write. I'll just leave you with a few Ghana facts...
1) Love is a luxery that most women don't have a chance to experience. There is a practice called "bride swap" that used to be very prevalent in this part of Ghana. Thankfully, dedicated people have worked to eradicate this practice and it has decreased considerably. Here is how a bride swap works...apparently baby girls are promised to men who are 20 years their senior. The man may give a certain number of animals per year to the father until the girl is of age. When the girl reaches her mid-teens she is sent to marry the man. If she refuses she could be killed as this would shame the entire family. If the girl runs away with a lover then they are both at risk of death. What I don't understand is why a man would want a wife who is 20 years younger than him. Why would he want to wait until his 40s for a wife? I asked a friend this and he said the men are very promiscuious during the years they are waiting for the girl to mature. When I asked "who are the men sleeping with if all of the girls are promised?" His answer was that the girls could sleep with whoever they wanted before their marriage. They could have as many lovers as they wanted as long as they ended up marrying the man their father had made the arrangement with. I guess this system makes sense to someone...certainly not me. At least this practice has fallen out of favor.
There is another practice called "sister swap". This practice is not set up by the fathers but by the girl's brother. If one man is attracted to a woman he will ask his friend if he could swap his sister for her. Once again the girl has no choice.
2) Polygamy is alive and well in northern Ghana. Many men have at least 2 wives. It is also common to have a girlfriend in a nearby village. I have gotten to know several women but I have never heard them mention their husbands. Nikki asked on woman where her husband was and she said in another town. Nikki asked if he would come back to live with her and she said "No, this is Africa. Out of sight out of mind". This woman had two children and she never expected to see the father.
I'm just thankful that I live in a culture where women are valued and my father encourages me to choose my husband.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
April 6
So, it's been several days since I have written and I've had quite a few emails questioning why that is...here's why...I have had typhoid and malaria.
Before I begin my tale of horror I should probably describe what typhoid is and how it is spread. I think most people had a good understanding of malaria, but typhoid is not quite as common. In the medical books Typhoid is described as being transfered by the fecal-to-oral route. Typhoid lives in the intestinal tract and a person can catch it by drinking dirty water, shaking hands, handling money, or countless other ways. I'm sure that I caught it at the hospital by caring for the typhoid patients. Typhoid can cause a wide range of symptoms. Some are as mild as depression to as severe as bowel perforation that requires surgery. Most of the time it presents with vomiting and diarrhea. It can take weeks for a person to fully recover from a bad case of typhoid. Thankfully we don't see this disease in the U.S. because of good sanitation standards. This is a disease that I never want to see (or have) again.
My typhoid encounter...
I woke at 6 am on Friday morning feeling ill and had to make an immediate run to the bathroom. Not only did my stomach hurt but I felt achy all over and light headed. I felt that I had better consult the expert and went to find Dr. Jean. She suggested that I start taking anti-malarial tablets right away and just to be safe to take Ciprofloxacin in case I had typhoid. I did all of this in the hopes that I would start to feel better soon and wouldn't get sick...wrong! Dr. Jean went on to the hospital and I stayed at home. By 9am I started vomiting, and I'm not talking about just a little bit. By noon I was having difficulty walking to the bathroom due to extreme dizziness. I decided that I needed intravenous (IV) fluids so I called Dr. Jean and she immediately sent reinforcements over in the form of Matron Rose (the head nurse of the hospital).
Matron Rose started the IV fluids and gave a dose of Ceftriaxone. At this point I wasn't too aware of what was happening since my fever had started to climb. I remember very little of the rest of Friday and early Saturday. I spent most of the time Friday afternoon hallucinating. A good friend Pastor Jonah stopped by and prayed for me, but I can't remember this clearly. They later told me that I received at least 2 liters of fluid that day to replace the amount of fluid that I had lost that morning.
It took another two days to fully stop the vomiting and diarrhea but at least they had slowed enough that I was able to stay ahead of my fluid loss. I'm amazed at how quickly I lost my strength from this one illness. I have always been blessed with good health and I've never experienced anything more serious than the flu. Even the flu was mild compared to this illness. Only yesterday was I able to sit upright for longer than a few minutes at a time without becoming so dizzy that I would need to lay flat. I'm still taking IV ceftriaxone and will continue until Friday evening.
This has been an incredibly humbling experience. I have never been "the patient", I've always been the one standing at the foot of the bed. I've done quite a bit of praying to get through this episode and I don't have the answer as to why I had to be the one to get sick. I'll probably never know on this side of heaven. But there is a purpose even for this and I'm not going to be bitter about it. I just feel blessed to be alive.
Before I begin my tale of horror I should probably describe what typhoid is and how it is spread. I think most people had a good understanding of malaria, but typhoid is not quite as common. In the medical books Typhoid is described as being transfered by the fecal-to-oral route. Typhoid lives in the intestinal tract and a person can catch it by drinking dirty water, shaking hands, handling money, or countless other ways. I'm sure that I caught it at the hospital by caring for the typhoid patients. Typhoid can cause a wide range of symptoms. Some are as mild as depression to as severe as bowel perforation that requires surgery. Most of the time it presents with vomiting and diarrhea. It can take weeks for a person to fully recover from a bad case of typhoid. Thankfully we don't see this disease in the U.S. because of good sanitation standards. This is a disease that I never want to see (or have) again.
My typhoid encounter...
I woke at 6 am on Friday morning feeling ill and had to make an immediate run to the bathroom. Not only did my stomach hurt but I felt achy all over and light headed. I felt that I had better consult the expert and went to find Dr. Jean. She suggested that I start taking anti-malarial tablets right away and just to be safe to take Ciprofloxacin in case I had typhoid. I did all of this in the hopes that I would start to feel better soon and wouldn't get sick...wrong! Dr. Jean went on to the hospital and I stayed at home. By 9am I started vomiting, and I'm not talking about just a little bit. By noon I was having difficulty walking to the bathroom due to extreme dizziness. I decided that I needed intravenous (IV) fluids so I called Dr. Jean and she immediately sent reinforcements over in the form of Matron Rose (the head nurse of the hospital).
Matron Rose started the IV fluids and gave a dose of Ceftriaxone. At this point I wasn't too aware of what was happening since my fever had started to climb. I remember very little of the rest of Friday and early Saturday. I spent most of the time Friday afternoon hallucinating. A good friend Pastor Jonah stopped by and prayed for me, but I can't remember this clearly. They later told me that I received at least 2 liters of fluid that day to replace the amount of fluid that I had lost that morning.
It took another two days to fully stop the vomiting and diarrhea but at least they had slowed enough that I was able to stay ahead of my fluid loss. I'm amazed at how quickly I lost my strength from this one illness. I have always been blessed with good health and I've never experienced anything more serious than the flu. Even the flu was mild compared to this illness. Only yesterday was I able to sit upright for longer than a few minutes at a time without becoming so dizzy that I would need to lay flat. I'm still taking IV ceftriaxone and will continue until Friday evening.
This has been an incredibly humbling experience. I have never been "the patient", I've always been the one standing at the foot of the bed. I've done quite a bit of praying to get through this episode and I don't have the answer as to why I had to be the one to get sick. I'll probably never know on this side of heaven. But there is a purpose even for this and I'm not going to be bitter about it. I just feel blessed to be alive.
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