Ghana so far...

It feels like it's been forever since I last updated. Well, a lot of things have happened since then! Currently I'm using the wifi in the bed and breakfast that I've been staying at. It's pretty nice! I'm rooming with a girl named Ruju, who's a third year medical student from Boston University. One thing I've had to adjust to is taking "bucket baths." Basically, I have to fill up a bucket with water and splash myself with a smaller bucket. I've been eating a lot of rice and fried fish or chicken with this spicy sauce (i forgot what it's called); it's really good! So last Sunday, we met the optometrist going on the outreaches with us, Ernest, and the ophthalmic nurse, Jerome. They gave us a brief training and then we brought all of the eyeglasses/sunglasses from the Unite for Sight volunteers and sorted them.

On Monday, we went to two places: Aklamador and Sege. I think it took about 1hr each to get there. (I'm not really sure because of traffic, bad roads, and also I fell asleep...) It's so different here because there's chickens, roosters, and goats just roaming around freely! (and you all know how I feel about birds) So back to the outreaches...we set up in the churches of the villages. There's a visual acuity station where we check their eyesight using the "E" charts, then there's a screening station where the optometrist checks their eyes and prescribes them medicine/refer them for surgery, and a dispensing station where we give out medicated eyedrops or reading glasses. So we pretty much did this all day from like 9am and got back around 5pm. Ernest told us that usually there's around 100 patients at each outreach, but in Aklamador there was about 40 and Sege there was about 60. A cool thing I saw was that Ghana has a national health insurance system! It costs 4 cedi for children and people >70 years old, and 14 cedi for people 18-69. Oh, cedi is the Ghanian currency and $1 = ~1.40 cedi. The work isn't bad at all, but the heat makes us all really tired. It's been really hot (90's) the entire time I've been here and there hasn't been any rain!

So today, we went to a refugee camp in Buduburam. Most of the people living here are refugees from Liberia who came during the civil war about a decade ago. We set up everything in a church again but this church was really tiny so it was extremely hot inside! Luckily I was sitting near the fan...Today we saw about 70 patients, so it was another short day and we came back around 4pm.

One thing I love about Ghana is that the people here are so friendly! Everyone is so nice and always smiling. Also, they really know how to have fun...apparently we haven't been having that many patients because they are still on holiday (from Christmas and New Years)...haha

(i wish i could upload some pictures but the internet here is too slow for that...sorry!)

Welcome to Dubai

I'm in Dubai! I am currently sitting in Terminal 3 of the Dubai International Airport, or the single largest building in the world by floor space... in case you were curious. I'm stuck in the airport until 7:40 am...and it's 11:46pm right now...almost new years! It's weird that I'm spending new years alone this year...sitting next to a battery charging station on my laptop. kinda sad...but I'm still so excited for Ghana! well I don't really have anything interesting to talk about so I'll just say Happy New Year!


view of the fireworks from the airport :)

The time has finally come....

I can't believe I'm finally leaving for Ghana...tomorrow! 500 sunglasses and reading glasses, $2500 of funding, over 11,500 words in essays, a (painful) yellow fever vaccine, and a visa later, I'm finally all set to go! I never knew how much work had to go into getting ready for this trip, but I think it was worth it and I hope to have an amazing experience. I'm writing this blog so that I can share my experience with other people, but mostly because I don't want to forget this experience a couple years down the road.

I will be going to Accra, Ghana to volunteer at the Crystal Eye Clinic from January 1st to January 11th through Unite For Sight. It's amazing how this program was created by a sophomore in college...and has now provided eye care to millions of patients in Africa, Asia and Latin America. I'm so excited to be a part of this and hopefully it will open my eyes to a new area of medicine and patient care that I won't be able to experience anywhere else!

After packing two big suitcases with all the glasses and as much bottled water that will physically fit in them, I've noticed that I forgot to get sunscreen. (The weather is supposed to be in the 90's in Ghana!) I'm off to the grocery store to get some now...I'll update again probably while I'm waiting in JFK tomorrow or during my 7hr layover at the Dubai Airport.