World Cup in Ghana

Ghana is going crazy, buzzing with excitement for the World Cup. As one might expect, there is a clear point of pride with the tournament being hosted on African soil for the first time. Ghanaians do not only root for their home team, known as the Black Stars, but also the other five African nations that are competing (South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Cote D’Ivoire, and Cameroon). Every commercial is soccer-themed and highlights are shown nonstop. The official World Cup song (K’Naan – Wave Your Flag) can literally be heard every few minutes. You can’t help but get swept up in the hype.

Yesterday, we watched Ghana’s first match against Serbia. People wear anything red, yellow, and green, Ghana’s national colors. A bunch of people have these long plastic horns called vuvuzelas that they blow whenever something good happens… or for no reason at all. They throw their heads back and blast this hilarious deep buzzing note. (It’s the same instrument everyone is using in South Africa to make that insane buzzing noise.) We watched in a little restaurant packed with men crowded around a small TV. Ghana scored the only goal of the match on a penalty kick with just a few minutes left in the game and the place ERUPTED. The music started the second the game ended and everyone just danced. Not crazy jumping up and down like I’d expect at home. Instead, they were swaying their hips with their hands in the air, just groovin.

We went to a club in town and danced like madmen that night. Lots of people were still playing their vuvuzelas even at the club. It was an AWESOME time — I wish I could be here for the whole tournament, but unfortunately the last of the U2Hers (minus Joey) return home this week. Next time.

- Jacob

Sene District Update

We are now heading back to Kumasi after six days in the Sene District. For those who don’t know, our upcoming container of supplies and equipment will be sent to the Kwame Danso hospital in Sene District.

Everything is looking great at the hospital. The new ward (that we’ll be furnishing with 40 hospital beds) should be finished by the end of the month. We had a chance to meet with both Dr. Ofosu and the new doctor, Dr. Arko, and they are clearly very excited to receive our container. Dr. Arko (pronounced Ah-ko) is very nice and seems happy to work with us. The hospital is making a lot of awesome progress and we should all feel very proud of the impact we are going to make with our shipment!

Bringing the Ruckus in Bantama

No words necessary:

file:///SDCard/BlackBerry/videos/bantama.3GP

Bat in the Poop Hole

Just took my first poop in the village. (Sorry for the taboo topic, but I feel like this is an worthwhile experience to share…) The CHIPS compound has it’s own locked stall in a structure maybe 100 ft away. I walk over there and open the stall with a key. Inside is a tiny room with two holes on the ground. Squatting over the hole I can only think of two things: 1. Thank God there are relatively few insects swarming around me right now compared to my expectation, and 2. These people must have really strong quads.

I finish, thinking “that wasn’t so bad,” then turn around to take a photo, when out of nowhere a BAT flies out of one of the holes and into the other! Looks like I’m holding it for the next three days… I told one of the CHO’s what I’d seen when I got back. She chuckled and asked half-sarcastically “Is this your first time in Bantama?”

- Jacob

Sene District, CHIPS Compounds, Bantama

This morning, we all woke up in our guest house at the Kwame Danso (Sene District) Hospital. We first attended the “morning devotion” during which the entire hospital staff gets together to pray every morning. Then we split up in twos and set off for our respective CHIPS compounds. Each compound is staffed by one or two Community Health Officers (CHO’s) and serves as a satellite health clinic for the hospital. If you were at the benefit dinner, you may remember Dr. Ofosu explaining that there are five total such compounds in communities surrounding the Kwame Danso (Sene District) hospital. (Kwame Danso is the name of the city.)

Joey and I set off this morning for the village of Bantama, about 15 minutes away from Kwame Danso by car. It’s a nice little village with a lot going on. Everyone seems to be preparing food all day long, either to sell or to eat, except for the children who are mostly in school. We are staying in the CHIPS compound which surprisingly has electricity (but definitely no plumbing). Today we watched Tina, one of the compound’s two CHO’s, handle a variety of patients in the morning, including a baby with malaria and a boy that needed stitches next to his eye after getting smashed in the head with a chair by one of his peers. Then, when the other CHO returned from attending to a rural village, I hopped on the back of their motorbike with Tina and set off for a another rural village, the name of which I won’t even attempt to spell.

We rode about 10 minutes down a bumpy dirt road and arrived at the village. The entire village was buzzing with excitement at the sight of a foreigner. We had a pack of about 40 children following us as we walked house to house. First, we stopped to meet the chief of the village and explain my purpose there. We sat in a circle, me, the chief, his wife, the CHO and a community health volunteer with a crowd of at least 50 people packed around us, all staring silently at me like I was an alien. The chief was extremely welcoming and got a big kick out of me saying “medase, ” or “thank you” in Twi. Afterward, we went house to house to help different patients. Notably, several of the visits were for “family planning” shots (birth control), which Tina explained is currently a big initiative given the impoverished conditions of those in rural communities. Families often have 8+ children, despite having little money to support even themselves, for various cultural reasons.

When it was time to go, we hopped back on the motorbike and heading towards Bantama with a trail of children that chased us as far as they could before giving up. Back in town, Tina took Joey back to Kwame Danso as I took my bucket shower. Now I’m laying on my bed listening to the torrential rain pouring down on the tin roof as Tina prepares dinner. Gotta love the rainy season!

- Jacob

In Tamale

Our group of eight members, Pat Zabawa, Luke Sullivan, Jacob Smith, Albert George, Clarence Ho, Don Yew, and Joey Perosky, spent the last three days in Tamale. While there we visited an orphanage called “Hands of Mercy.” Here there are 16 orphans that were from the poorest areas of Tamale. They are now able to go to school and further their education. Also we visited the teaching hospital and saw the supplies that United2Heal sent last year. Very, Very cool. We of course have many pictures. Today we are off to the Sene district. More updates to follow!!

Arrive in Tamale

Today we arrived in Tamale, in the northern part of the country. Last year, we sent a container of supplies to the Tamale teaching hospital. After a bumpy seven-hour ride from Kumasi, we finally arrived. We checked into our hotel, then walked to a nearby orphanage that U2H members visiting last year as well. The orphanage is called Hands of Mercy and is home to 16 orphans. The founder of the orphanage, Silas, and his wife live in the home along with their three biological children, working full-time to raise all 19 of them. Strikingly, his own children were amongst the pack, donning tattered clothes just like their orphan peers. The kids range from 1 to 15 years. They all attend private school. Currently, the orphanage relies on charity to survive: however, Silas informed us that he was given a large plot of land by his tribe’s chief, and his long term goal is to start a farm and create a self-sustained program.

The kids were adorable and full of joy. They welcomed us with a few happy songs while the oldest of Silas’ boys played a hand drum. After, he continued playing as the others took turns dancing for us. Pretty soon they got each of us to take turns dancing as well. Too funny. We will be returning to the orphanage tomorrow as well.

Also tomorrow we will be visiting the Tamale teaching hospital. Hopefully we will see some U2H equipment in use. In a couple of days we head back to Kumasi, then on to meet Dr. Ofosu in the Sene District, the place to which we are sending a container this year.

Cape Coast – Rain Forest and Slave Castle

Today we drove about three hours from Kumasi to Cape Coast. The first half of the day we went to Kakum National Park, a beautiful, lush section of rain forest near Ghana’s southern coast. The park is famous for its "Canopy Walk," a series of rickety rope bridges strung over 100 ft above the rain forest floor! Humorously, we bumped into a group of U of M students from a GIEU trip at the start of our tour. Small world. The rope bridges were extremely wobbly, making the experience pretty intense. But the view was absolutely amazing from above the tree tops. In every direction there is dense, green vegetation for as far as you could see. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

After the national park, we drove for a bit to go see the Elmina Castle, one of Ghana’s many slave castles still standing from the West African slave trade times. This particular one is the oldest European building in Sub-Saharan Africa, having been built in 1482. We went on a guided tour through the castle, which was extremely interesting. Nearly all of the original structure is still standing, so we were walking through the real cells and dungeons that slaves were kept in. This structure, like many others of its kind, was initially used for trading spices, gold, and other valuables long before the slave trade took off. Even while standing in a dungeon of the castle, it’s hard to imagine that humans were actually traded just like any other commodity at that time. It’s an incredibly sad but very real part of Ghanaian history, and I’m very happy we went.

Now we’re back in Kumasi for another few nights before we head to Tamale.

Hanging out in Kumasi

We have been in Kumasi for the past three days and it has been very enjoyable. We have traveled around town, and saw the cultural center where Joel paints. We will be hopefully taking footage of him and visiting him to learn more about his story, It should be very inspirational. I am also very excited to see the shops here because much of the items are hand-made and so incredibly beautiful. Hopefully my bargaining skills have improved after being in Ghana for over a week. We will see.

Luke

Travel to Kumasi

Today we travel to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana. Here, we will be visiting the largest hospital in the area, the Komfo Anokye teaching hospital. Visiting the Sene District in about one week.