A ride from Deme

Yesterday, after a week of frustratingly long days at the clinic, a bunch of us took the day off to visit Saviefe Deme, where a few other volunteers are teaching and building a school. There was no building that day due to a lack of materials, and also no teaching because class was cancelled so the kids could help their parents on the farms, so needless to say we didn't have much to do. We ended up walking around the village, visiting the different schools where we worked, running into friends along the way. Saviefe Deme is everyone's favorite place to visit because the people are so friendly and hospitable. Sammy, a 60 something year old who loves to guide us around town and always seems a little drunk on akpeteshi, feeds us coconuts cut straight from the tree and bananas by the bundle. George, another neighborhood face, took us on a long walk that ended in an antelope and palm wine tasting. They show us how coal is made, introduce us to their pigs, and always make sure we're well fed (and the akpeteshi is always flowing. Anytime you're brought into someone's home, it's customary for the host to "wash the feet," of the guest, which translates into opening up their liquor cabinets and playing bartender). In the late afternoon we decided to head back, but calling for a cab would have meant waiting a good 40 or 50 minutes because Deme is a tiny village off the beaten path, and taxis don't generally drive down the winding dirt road unless they're called for. Instead, villagers get to the main road (about a ten minute drive) by paying 1 cedi to ride the back of a motorcycle. Which is what we did. Helmets were not provided, the speedometer was broken (so I had no idea how fast we were going), and the road was so holey that the only way we could maintain a smooth path was by swerving back and forth between the pot holes. I was gripping my drivers shirt so hard my hands were sweating (especially when he took out his cell and started making phone calls while steering one handed), but when in Ghana, do as the Ghanaians do. I was uncertain I would even make the ride until I saw an old woman straddling the back of a motorcycle in her traditional long skirt. If she could do it, so could I. And once I got past the fear of falling to my rocky death, it was actually quite enjoyable. The scenery here can't be beat.

Today started sadly, as Julie, Jess, and Rosie all left for home. They will be sorely missed here, but we already have a Bickford's date set for when I get back to the states. And today was one of the first days that I really enjoyed working at the clinic with the med students. I started off at bp, which now also involved taking people's temperature via the armpit. The babies really hated it, and would cry and wriggle everytime you came at them with the thermometer. One baby was so horrified he was screaming his head off and struggling out of his mother's arms. But she settled it quickly. She simply reached into her shirt, took out one of her breasts, and popped it into his mouth. That shut him up. I also had to try taking the temperature of a 90 year old woman who couldn't remember to keep her arm tight against her body, so the thermometer kept dropping into her shirt, getting lost in folds of wrinkled skin and cloth. I switched to research for the second half of the day, and after observing a few by a med student, ended up conducting survey interviews by myself (with the help of a translator) to randomly selected villagers in order to find out about their knowledge and awareness of malaria, how to prevent and treat it, and what they think should be done to combat it. That was really fun. The younger generation tended to be more well informed, and much more willing to go to a hospital if they got sick. But most people seemed to understand that it was spread by mosquitoes, and that the best preventative measure is bed nets, which we were also giving out at the clinic.

Finally, tomorrow the clinic volunteers are going on a one night trip to Accra with the med students to observe cataract surgery! More on that later. I'm very excited, although not for the three hour drive (my ipod seems to be broken, and I'm running out of books. But maybe I'll catch up on sleep...) Can't believe I'm starting my last week tomorrow!

Anna