ok, I'm here!

My biggest disappointment of the trip to date came on the night that we checked into our first hotel in Accra and I realized I was not going to have internet service to update my family and friends in real time during this trip. I have gone to a lot of trouble to procure instruments that would allow me to conveniently communicate with America and they are useless to me as of right now. However, I will try to keep a journal on this computer so that when I am able I can post this to whoever would like to read it.

The flights to Africa were long, good and uneventful. I met some nice people that coincidentally I saw later in Accra. I didn’t sleep well on the flight to Amsterdam having only taken a half sleeping pill and realizing too late that it didn’t cut the mustard and taking the other half only led to a half sleep state. Thus, I was very groggy when we deplaned in Amsterdam yet determined to start my mission of taking a train into the city. It was a process of changing $50 USD into 30 something euro’s and then finding the train station to purchase a ticket into the city. After this was accomplished I found the platform and waited a few short minutes for the correct train to arrive. I had only waited a minute or two when a girl about my age came up to me and asked if this was the correct downtown train. I told her that I believed so but I wasn’t from here and couldn’t tell her for sure. The next thing she said to me blew my mind and I think you’ll be surprised as well. She said “We aren’t from here either” gesturing to a group of guys behind us “we’re from Waco, Texas and we want to go see the city before we head to Accra, Ghana”. It turned out they were with a church group going to Kumasi to build basketball courts, the first ones ever in the city. When they found out I was alone they asked me to join them and they totally took me under their wing as we walked around the city. However, I was the only one who had researched what to do…so I was the one who told them where to go. It was so foggy in Amsterdam and I know it marred my sightseeing a little bit, but it gave the architecture of the city such a cool creepy feel that I’m not really disappointed in my time there.

The flight from Amsterdam to Accra was so long! I was lucky enough, though, to spy an empty row in the Exit section and was able to sit in there after takeoff and stretch my legs. Landing in Accra was when the real action started. We had to exit on the tarmac and then take a bus to the terminal and as soon as I left the plane this intense heat and humidity hit me and I had to strip out of my coat and sweater that were so needed in Amsterdam. We were lucky to make it relatively easy through customs and then found the man from our hotel who was waiting with a bus to take us away. A strange situation developed, though, because there was not enough room for us all to go at once so three of us had to stay behind and it fell to me and two other girls. I’m not sure why, as were shouldn’t have been left alone in our first hour in Africa. The porters were very nice to us and there were about 5 guys who stayed with us, welcoming us profusely to their country. And then, they started asking for money. I gave them the only cash I had handy, which was 5 euro’s and he still wanted more. I knew that they were swindling us and I refused to pay more but the girl I was with ended up giving them $20 which I thought was pretty stupid. Eventually, the bus came and we got to our hotel, had an African beer, and promptly went to bed.

I met most of the group the next morning as we ate breakfast and then checked out. Checkout was hectic and confusing and took forever. It was my first taste of how slow and frustrating things can be here. After about 2 hours of us all trying to pay for our rooms we finally boarded a “bus”…(really a large minivan, type thing) and rode for a total of 5 hours up from Accra to Kumasi. I got to know some of the people in the group and had a really good time just viewing the sites and the people on the side of the road. It is amazing here. It’s just like the movies only about 10 times more fascinating. I will try but won’t come close to describing how wonderfuly different it is here in Ghana. People are everywhere even in the more rural areas. On our bus trip up t Kumasi there were constantly people on the side of the road. Some were walking and some had stands and were selling oils, cooking pans, fruits, etc. But a lot of people seem always just to be waiting and 4 days in I have yet to figure out what they are waiting for.

Our hotel in Kumasi is very nice. There is a pool and a nice restaurant where you can eat inside or outside by the pool. There are two bars which we use heavily. The group that I am in is comprised of so many interesting people. Most of the group is from Portland , Oregon. That is where the founder of Cardiostart operates and thus the bulk of the volunteers have had a lot of advertisement of the group. Some people are like me and have found the group through the internet. I am sharing a room with an anesthesiologist from London and I quite think I may have a spot of a British accent by the time I return home. There is another anesthesiologist from Italy who is practicing in London and that totals 3 from there because one cardiac surgeon also resides in the UK.

We take a bus every morning from the hotel to the hospital. It is only about a 10 minute drive and on the way we pass a school and it is so much fun to see all the children in their uniforms walking into class with their backpacks.

The hospital is very nice! The section we are in is only about 2 years old. There are four operating theatres (as they call them) and from what I can tell they do mostly small accidents and I have seen quite a few burn patients going in for surgery. The operating theatre we are in (#4) is not frequently used and was empty of supplies when we arrived. We had a storage room full of boxes that we had to unload our first day and delegate spots for them, either in the ICU or the OR. I think at the end of day 2 we are halfway through the room and have completely filled every spot possible with all kinds of donated items. And I shudder to stay that a large container has just arrived by boat today and some unlucky volunteers will be unloading it tomorrow. I will be scrubbing in on our first mitral valve, however, teaching my Ghanaian counterpart the in’s and out’s of cardiac surgery. I’ve also been told that I am in charge of showing the Ghana resident the proper techniques for assisting and that is going to be a fun challenge. I love bossing residents around!

We have stayed at the hotel for dinner the last three nights and I think tomorrow, Wednesday, we are going to go out on the town for something to eat because we are a fun group and are all getting antsy just drinking by the pool.

The only other thing of note I can think to tell you about what I’ve seen in Africa so far is that there are fires everywhere. Small fires on the side of the road that are just burning and nobody seems to care about them. The smell of smoke is always in the air but especially at night and I assume this is because of cooking fires. On the way to the hospital yesterday morning we passed a fire station. It was a large area of land with a fence around the perimeter and just inside the fence I saw three unmanned fires!!!!! I don’t know! Also, there are chickens and goats running free everywhere. I don’t know if they share them here, or they all know where to go to get fed.

Today is Thursday...I think and we have done two surgeries. Both were mitral valves, the first one we replaced and the girl today was a repair. She was only 13 years old and weighed about 50 pounds and was very sick. I want to write more and will give a better description but I can't tonight as internet time is short. I also have some great pictures to show you.....in a few days!!!

I love you guys and miss you but I don't think i want to leave here just yet! :)