Day 1 in Nalerigu

Hello again,

Today was an incredible day. We left from Accra early this morning and took a flight to Tamale. In Tamale, we were greeted by two members from the medical center who then took us on a truck ride to Nalerigu. This was truly one of the most incredible truck rides I have ever been on. We initially started on paved roads which were well navigated by our driver since there are extremely large holes throughout the pavement. We went through several villages and were interested to find the landscape someone similar to eastern North Dakota, meaning very flat. Around an hour into the trip, our driver then turned to us and said "do you have your seatbelt on?". This was because we were about to embark on the most washboard of washboard roads I have ever experienced. A trip to my Aunt Sharon's ranch has nothing on these roads. The most incredible part of the journey happened during these travels. Throughout the road to Nalerigu, there are many very small villages that contain small huts made of mud with peaked, straw roofs. While driving by these tiny villages, the children would look at our car and wave, many without clothes and all without shoes. I was amazed by their ability to live in such in environment, particularly when it was over 100 degrees outside. Several of the villages along the way had women with hand-cranked black sewing machines, definitely not my mom's Bernina. We then finally made it to our destination at the end of the red dirt road.

I like to describe the Baptist Medical Center as a camp. You travel through the village of Nalerigu where there are vendors on the side of the road selling all sorts of goods. The Medical Center is at the end of the road and is surrounded by fencing. Upon arrival, we were given our keys, taken to our new home for the month and allowed to have the day to freely roam. It was a little overwhelming at first since we really weren't sure where we were going, but eventually we pediatricians befriended three young boys named Kwame, Timothy and Felix. They then brought us down the dirt path to the hospital. The hospital is quite amazing. I will describe this in more detail after I've spent more time there and done some rounding on the patients. We, of course, magneted ourselves to the pediatric ward where we met several medical students (most from West Virginia) who are working here this month. They are so friends and I am so thankful for all of the advice they have given us today. We also met a visiting surgeon who was extremely friendly and helped us to find water which is ESSENTIAL on such a hot day. I know what your thinking, a nice surgeon? We thought that was pretty crazy too. Eventually, we were able to get to know the camp well and made it back to our home where a nap was in order.

This evening, a dinner was planned with all of the mission staff at the medical students home. For dinner, we had an authentic Ghanian dish which was called FuFu (sort of like a big dumpling) with a peanut butter sauce and cooked meat on top. Of course, in my mind I thought this meat was beef, but later found that I had eaten my first piece of goat. I guarantee Joe is laughing very hard right now. I have to admit that I think goat tastes better than peasant Joe. Dinner was great with wonderful fellowship.

After dinner, I've come here to skype and blog. I still find it hard to believe we have internet and cell phone access in this extremely remote village. Satellites are wonderful things. I now plan to head to bed, so that I can be ready for rounds in the morning. Tomorrow afternoon we plan to head to the market which only occurs on Tuesday and Saturday. I'm looking forward to finding some beautiful fabric. Later in the afternoon, an easter egg hunt is planned for the local children which were are all able to attend as Dr. Hewitt has kindly taken responsibility of the hospital for the afternoon. Sounds like a great day!! As usual, I'll try to keep up as possible. Internet is quite slow, so I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to post while I'm here. Hope you are all well!

Jill