What a busy week! I can hardly believe another week has gone by already. I am very sorry about the lack of communication lately, but I seriously have been busy that I haven’t touched the computer since my last blog entry. To make up for it, I will try and get the computer to allow me to upload a few photos. This week I spent Monday through Wednesday in consulting, which I already spoke of, and then Thursday and Friday I took vitals. I really enjoyed my two days in vitals because I felt like I was doing medicine. J With my CNA training, I learned how to take blood pressure and temperature is pretty self explanatory along with weight. At first, I helped the nurse take temperature, and recorded blood pressure and weights. Pretty soon I was doing more to help out when we were busy, and then when it was slower I spent some time solo. I would call the names, tell them to stand on the scale, and take their blood pressure or temperature if they were under 18 years of age. All in Twi! One aspect that is different is that after calling their name they come to the front of the waiting room for their vitals. The scale is like a bathroom scale, and the thermometer is the typical under the arm one. Except here we have kilograms and Celsius. Children with temperatures are immediately given what is referred to as p’mol either orally or rectally if 5 or under. On Thursday a little girl came in with her mother with a pretty high temperature and looked close to convulsions. I brought her folder and her and her mother straight into the consulting room, and she was admitted with severe malaria. I saw her after my lunch break in the children’s ward with an I.V., but that night at dinner the nurse I was eating with told me she had passed away later that afternoon. It made me more aware of how serious Malaria can be, and a greater realization as to how many children die each year from Malaria. There is talk of a new Malaria vaccine in the making. Even though it is only found to have 50% success rate, they say it might still be used just because that is still 50% less children dying each year from Malaria.

Megan and Larry came Thursday from Roanoke, Virginia. Megan is a first year medical student from Virginia Tech doing some research on Caesarean sections and their prevalence in the hospital here. She is looking into how often they are done, and whether or not there is a difference in rate from America. Here Caesareans are done with local aneshetic or a spinal aenesthesia, but not an epidural. She is looking at whether or not this reduces their rate compared to their commonality in the States. Larry is her research advisor’s husband who comes here with his wife every September and is known by many here. They are leaving tomorrow, but it was nice to talk with them and share some meals. I also enjoyed their gift from Dr. John. (See below.)

Saturday we went to Fiema Monkey Sanctuary by Nkoranza-Kintempo. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget! J We walked through the bush with a tour guide, Christian the driver, Stella and Tena our Ghanaian coworkers, and Gretchen and myself. It felt much like a hike, and I loved the TALL trees like off the Lion King, and I was reminded of third grade learning the different layers of the rainforest. We saw a tree that was kind of hollow all the way up because it was 50% a strangling tree (sorry for the odd explanation here). Gretchen being the adventurous woman she is climbed as high as she could get, but I managed to get ½ up with my fear of heights and the fact that Gretchen was still in the tree. J We then learned how the village was settled in 1827 and a hunter found a Fettish priest in the bush (I think this is an idol.). When he brought the priest back, the monkeys came because they were his children. Some of the villagers worship the monkeys, and are highly respective of the monkeys who come in the village to eat throughout the day. Whatever harm that is done to the monkeys will be reciprocated to the humans. There is also a belief that an elder in the village will die after the monkeys have shrieked for 7 nights in a row. A virgin nun who lived to be over a hundred was spoken to by the monkeys and was always by the fettish priest. When she died she was buried in the monkey cemetery with the other monkeys, who always come to the village to die, and are buried like the humans. All of this was very interesting, and brought a closer understanding of some of the different religious tribal practices as this is a religion for some of the Akkans that are part of the larger Ashanti group. Back to the monkeys…our guide bought some bread in the village, and we fed the bread to the Mona? Monkeys who ate right out of our hands. The Colobus? Monkeys are more shy, and we saw their white tails high up in the trees, but they are afraid of humans. The ?’s refer to the fact that I am not 100% on spelling and the two species could be switched. J I loved feeding the monkeys though, and I think my mom would have loved it. They would nibble on my fingers if I held onto the bread tightly, and I was able to see their little hands—they have fingernails! After our adventure, we ate JIF peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which Larry and Megan brought from Accra!) and then ate at a hotel restaurant. Gretchen and I had fish, rice, and salad, and were told to finish our plates. I felt extremely full, and didn’t really eat anything after that for the rest of the day. I ate it all, but when I was done with the meat of my fish, the Ghanaians got to work on the head and skin, which I had shied away from. In the end all that was left was the spine, tail and jaw with teeth. Yes, Ghanaians eat the eyes-a man once killed his wife because she wouldn’t share them with him!

Other than that, I haven’t felt the greatest today. This week has been very busy, and I think I am simply exhausted. We went to Lighthouse Chapel International in Ejura for church this morning with Dr. Ponei. It was in English, which was refreshing, but when I stood after the sermon I almost passed out. Needless to say, I have been dizzy ever since, and not hungry. We had fufu for dinner tonight, and I did not pull my weight. Hopefully lots of sleep tonight will put me in better terms. I ask for prayers for health and strength as my stomach has been a little touchy lately forcing me to pile up on antacids, and a peace of mind as I have felt a little more stressed lately. We are very safe here, but there were apparently some robbers two villages down along the highway this afternoon. I feel very thankful and blessed as we have passed through Mampong four times in the past two days and were safe each time. The police went out, so I am pretty sure the whole thing is over by now, but just a prayer for peace of mind would be appreciated. Two other prayers for Ghana would be the Cholera outbreak in Accra (which is no threat to us, and preventable by simply washing hands), and there are elections here this year. We pray for this every morning at devotions just that Ghana would be peaceful throughout election season, and there will be a peaceful handing over of power as this is the president’s last term. Ghana is a very safe, strong nation so please do not fret. J I pray each of you is doing well, and have had a wonderful Memorial Day! Also shout out to my sister, I am proud of her! God is Love, Abby.