Life in Africa seems to the be the topic of conversation for every orientation I have been too except maybe ship safety and what to do if we have to abandon ship or need to muster! On average the families of Ghana have an income of $390 a year which is far higher than many of the surrounding countries. The HIV/AIDS rate is 3% which is higher than in the US it is also far lower than many of the southern African countries. Ghana is a very high literacy rate and many of the people have more than a high school degree however there are no jobs here in this country. It is extraordinarily hard to find work especially if you are educated. The ship employs almost 50 "day-workers" that are local men and women that are either translators for the many different languages or they are deck-hands. The food is quite interesting. Most of the food comes from Holland, the UK or the US. However it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 8 weeks or longer for a shipment to arrive. Last night was the spaghetti which was the first spaghetti in 6 months or something. The port here is very corrupt and they hold the shipments ransom for payment. They honestly think the ship is very wealthy oh if only they knew that I was paying them to serve huh! :)
Today was my first day on the ward as they call it. Honestly the medical part of the ship runs along the B deck which is the only deck that runs from the head to the butt of the ship. Or the bow to the aft as they say. However you wouldn’t even know it is there unless someone pointed it out. I think that there are more deckhands (deckies) than there are medical staff. The ward has 50 beds and at the moment we are only half full. The VVF surgeries or vesiculo-vaginal surgeries are completed until November when they will do another round. Since the surgeons come for a couple of months a time they schedule patients according to the specialty of the surgeon. Plastics was here this last month currently we have multiple patients that had burns and contracture repairs. One little girl has over 50% of her body covered in burns that were largely around her neck, she was unable to move her neck. The surgeon released the contracture and placed grafts over the worst scars. She now has movement in her neck however she will need weeks of occupational therapy. The ship has an occupational therapist on board at this time and a physical therapist on their way next month which is very fortunate. My patients today included a 40 year old man that had a large tumor spanning from his left ear down his neck over to his chin. He had the tumor removed and because of the involvement of the tumor into his airway he was given a tracheostomy and placed in the ICU on a ventilator. As he was getting better the incision got infected which happens around here just because of what is in their blood and simply because we are in a tropical environment anyhow the wound caused his ear to lose blood and his left ear was lost. He was quite upset about that and is still very depressed about the loss of his ear however because the tumor reached from his ear to his neck his ear and inner ear were stretched all the way down to his shoulder and now that he has lost the outer ear and the skin been lifted up he can hear better than before. Poor guy doesn’t quite see how amazing that is. One of my other patients was a 22 year old girl, she is a refugee from Liberia. She was running from the soldiers in Liberia when she was pregnant she went into labor and remained in labor for four days, when she did give birth the baby was stillborn and there was extensive damage to her vaginal and bladder wall where her bladder leaked continuously causing multiple infections. She had to leave the baby and keep running, she ended up here in the refugee camp outside of Accra, she heard of Mercy Ships and the VVF program for women like her and she came. She has been to surgery 3 or 4 times, there is so much necrotic tissue and damage that she continues to leak however the surgeons remain hopeful that one day she will make a full recovery. She has spent many days very depressed and upset but today she woke with a smile, she sings songs continuously and I painted her nails bright red as can be! She has a huge faith in the Lord even after living through all of that and is an incredibly joyful girl.
The aspect of my job I love the most is the decrease in paperwork, we do a lot by pathways and flowsheets that make it easy for nurses that don’t have English as their first language. This decrease in paperwork amazingly leads to so much free time. I play with children and play games with patients most of the time. It’s amazing to see how much healing simply comes from love and time spent loving on these patients. The majority of them are rejected in their own community because they are deformed or disabled in some manner. They respond to touch in a way that we have lost in the western culture. Once the patient as been here for 48 hours everything is done once a shift, given that they are not critically ill or in the ICU. These are incredibly healthy people for the poverty they live in, their veins are beautiful for IV"s and they do not have chronic illnesses for most of them. They do not have diabetes or congestive heart failure, the only major congenital defect is cleft lip and cleft palate everything else is nonexistent. . I am continuously amazed by their health and how well they recover from these surgeries.
Aside from medical stuff I have had two marriage proposals:) And told that I am marriable because of my golden hair!! So I have now found my way to a quick marriage, I swear just get over here to Ghana. They love white and blond. I was told today by one of the interpreters that is a volunteer from a local church who I might add is at least 45 that he likes me and thinks I am nice because I am so pretty! Nothing like looks to get you by huh? We walk everyday it’s about four miles out to the sea wall where we can see not only the ship but out to the city of Tema I swear from the distance it is the most depressing think in the world. Shacks and pieces of plastic make houses. The fishing boats are unbelievable. They are about 5 feet wide and 25 feet long with a little motor and a guy in the back who is usually naked with a large piece of wood that is the rudder. As the boar motors along he maneuvers the rudder. Kind of funny looking. There is also a sail that is an old piece of plastic. Very inventive to use what you have right! Anyhow more later. Oh I will get pictures on here by Thursday I just haven't had time to download!! Best to all.