Nalerigu Day 26

Esabisia (how did you sleep)?

Allafia Bene!! I slept VERY well!!

Early this morning I awoke to a cool breeze coming through my window. What a special treat. It was so “chilly” that Jessie put on a sweatshirt and I used my second sheet to cover up. I think it was about 80 degrees.  Rounds were good again today as most of the children were doing well. Most of the ward is filled with children who have malaria, typhoid, malnutrition or burns. We are getting pretty good at treating these conditions as they are certainly the most common. After rounds, we headed over to the theatre again for more procedures. We had a few ultrasounds to do, an incision and drainage, lipoma removal and a twin c-section that several of the wives and other volunteers came to see.

After we were finished with most of the procedures, I went over to visit Moses (Dr. Hewitt’s interpreter that I talked about yesterday). Moses was still looking ill this morning and his hematocrit was low enough that he was in need of a blood transfusion. They did a lab to obtain his blood type which was A+. The problem here, as you may already know, is that we don’t have a “blood bank”. We just send a family member into the community to try to find someone with the same blood type. This can be quite difficult as you might imagine and can take a lengthy amount of time. Moses was in no condition to wait around for someone to go find a donor, so I decided to give a little of my own since I’m O positive. I figure that I won’t be able to donate for a long time after I return home because of the risk of diseases I may have acquired during my stay, so I might as well give now to someone I know that needs it. I certainly was an interesting experience. The lab tech brought in the bag with tubing and a need attached (don’t worry everyone, it was a brand new needle). He then put a glove around my arm as a tourniquet and had me hold a toilet paper roll to improve blood flow. He then put the bag on the floor and let the blood pour down. He told me I was a slow bleeder, but I was able to get a unit of blood out for Moses which made me happy. I’ll make anemia the disease of the day today.

By the time theatre was finished, we headed over to the guest house for lunch. After lunch, I came home, took a 20 minute cat nap and then headed with some of the other volunteers to market for the last time. I found a couple more small things that I wanted to bring as gifts and took some pictures. I then returned home to gather the whole group of temporary volunteers as Terry (one of the med students) arranged a meeting with the chief/king of Nalerigu. I will spend most of my time discussing this experience as it will certainly be one of the most memorable experiences outside of the hospital.

First off, the chief’s palace is right outside the market area. In order to get into the palace you must have an elder of the community escort you inside. We had connections as one of the medical assistants at the hospital is second chief. Unfortunately, he was at a conference today, so he had planned for another elder to meet us outside the front of the palace. Unfortunately, due to Ghanian time or lack of communication, there was no one to meet us at the front when we arrived. We stood outside for quite a long time while a group of children and others surrounded us. Terry spent some time calling our connection and trying to figure out why we didn’t have anyone to meet us at the front. After some work, an older gentleman finally showed up brought us into the palace.

The palace is not really a palace at all. In our world it would just be a glorified union of mud huts. We walked through the entry until we came to a square building. We were told to remove our shoes and then enter the building. Upon entering, there were three men on an elevated cement slab at the front of a large room. The center man was obviously the chief as he was sitting high on pillows and had a hat with a gold marking on it. Two other men sat to the side of the chief, one being an elder who could translate and another whose job we could not understand, other than he held the staff of the chief. There were large leather chairs and sofas lined up along the other walls of the room which we were told to sit in. The elder then asked us what our mission was for this visit. We couldn’t really tell them that we just wanted to see the palace a take a picture :), so Terry our group spokesperson told him that we would like to learn more about Nalerigu. The chief told us that we should know about Nalerigu by having read books about it prior to our arrival. Not a good start. Things got better, when the chief thanked us for the cocoa seeds (caffeine) that we had brought him. He initially told us that it is custom to all share in eating the seed which we were all worried about since we had heard that some people have hallucinations from eating it, but he soon asked Terry if we had ever had the treat and Terry smartly said “no” so we were able to leave it that way.

The chief then talked more about the town of Nalerigu, but mainly talked about the hospital. It was actually quite amazing. He had only wonderful things to say about what the hospital has done for not only the community, but the entire Northern region of Ghana. The people here believe that people come to the hospital and are healed. Those that die at the hospital were either taken too late to be cared for appropriately or it was their right time to die. He feels that the hospital has a 100% cure rate for those that are able to be cured. Definitely an interesting way to look at things! The chief also talked much about going back to our homes and appealing to the people to come and help in any way they can. He made the point that one physician cannot see 100 people in one day and possibly care for them appropriately, so we need more volunteers to come. He took special interest in saying that we also need further training for the people who work in the hospital. He compared this to teaching someone to farm. You would not go to farm on someone else’s land only to leave a short while later and go back to farming on your own. You much go to their land and teach them how to farm. So that when you return home they are able to sustain themselves. This is the epitome of what is needed in developing areas and I certainly could not have said it better myself.

Overall, it was a very interesting and excellent experience, but it was definitely NOT without a plethora of awkward moments!! First, we really had no idea the proper way to act around the chief. One of the funniest parts for me was after the chief first started talking, the other men at the front starting clapping at one put. We silly sulamingas had no idea what to do, so we just started clapping too! I thought this was terribly funny and felt as though I was at some place where something is funny has just happened, but it would be completely inappropriate to laugh which just makes the situation that much funnier and you can’t contain yourself. I had tears rolling down my face. Another interesting moment was when the chief was done talking and we asked if we could take pictures. He said that it was no problem. Well, there was one problem in that we weren’t exactly sure how to take a picture. We didn’t know if we could go up to the king, give him a high-five and put our arm around him or if we should stand in front of the cement pad with him in the background. Eventually, we figured out that we could go onto the slab and sit near him for the photos. Everyone teased me as I sat about two body lengths away, afraid I would get to close. Now, for the most awkward moment of probably the entire trip….

Just as we finished photos and were about to leave, Terry asked the elder how to properly say goodbye (whether you clap and say na). The elder then told us all, “you must sit down in the chair and stay a while”. Darn! We thought we had successfully made it through the even without difficulty and now we have to sit again. We all looked at each other in utter horror. But, soon after we sat down, we realized why he wanted us to wait. The chief had sent one of his men to gather a treat for us. The chief told us that unfortunately, he did not have dinner prepared so instead he would have to offer us two life guinea fowl that we can eat at a later time. Yes folks! Just at that moment, a man walked back into the room with two live fowl in his hands!!!!!!!! We really wanted to just die of laughter at that point, but this time I was able to control myself. As none of us really wished to hold the live fowl, we made a deal with one of the other men in the palace named “John the Baptist” to come with us, sit in the back of our truck and bring the fowl himself to our home. He agreed to help us with the birds for only a small fee and a ride back to his home. On the way back to the house, several of us stopped at Joyce’s shop to get our final orders in (I got a baby wrap), while the rest returned home with John the Baptist and the two birds.

I am sort of sad that I didn’t get to see what happened when they returned home, but I can tell the story that was told to me. Apparently, when then made it to our house, Chinny (the mentally delayed, but not in soul man that is also known as “strange horse” and “hallelujah” and “man without TB who still lives in the TB village” and “keeper of the monkey”) was sitting outside the guest house. Chinny was so excited when he saw the fowl and jumped up to help. He clapped at the birds and then quickly cut off their heads. The cooks in the kitchen then finished cleaning the bird and creating the meat and now we have guinea fowl in the deep freeze waiting for us at tomorrow’s dinner. Now that was a crazy day!

We had a great dinner (with chicken, not fowl) and then headed over to the Wichita house where nearly all the volunteers gathered to sing praise songs. We even had Caleb (one of the cooks and the keeper of the house for Jessie and myself) come over with his guitar to sing. Eventually, we gave him one of the African drums that had been bought which became a concert in itself. You’ve heard the term white men can’t jump? I will transition this statement to white men can’t play the drums like this!!!! It was absolutely amazing. What rhythm and pure talent!! I’m now blogging, planning to pack a little and then want to head to bed. Tomorrow, we have clinic all day except for a side excursion with Dr. Hewitt’s wife Mona to the witches’ village. Should be another interesting day!! I will apologize now as I may not have the time tomorrow to blog depending on the business of the clinic, how much packing I get done tonight and how many events we have planned for tomorrow evening.

Today, I am thankful for the cultural experience I have had here which has only reiterated the fact that although we all appear so different from the outside, we are so very much the same. I am reminded of a verse in a song that says:

“We teach the young our differences, yet look how we’re the same. We love to laugh, to dream our dreams. We know the sting of pain.”

What are you thankful for today?

Jill