Day 3 May 22, 2011

Day 3 May 22, 2011
Today we got up super early to get ready, eat breakfast, and go into Accra to meet the Vice President.....sadly however we drove about 2 hours into the city to only be disappointed that the Vice President could not longer see us. After this we drove all the way back (another 2 hours) to go to a few medical places. On the way back for lunch it was amazing we had fresh mangos, avocados, and pb and js. It was soo good and was nice to have more fresh fruit. The first place we went to was to meet the district health management team in Akropong. The guy was great and explained how health care is run in Ghana and how the different levels of hospitals are set up. After this we went to see the plant medicine place and saw how Ghana is trying to implement traditional herbal medicines into their health care. We got to see the finished products, how they derived the finished products, and we even could buy some! I got some tea that is supposted to decrease stress. :) Next we went to the distric hospital which was great to see. It was sad seeing the people in there in compareson to what we have back in the states, but this is why I came here. I came here to see how things are different; to see what is socially acceptable. I think that seeing all these different experiences will help me to become a better nurse and to be a more socially acceptable person in general. After walking around the hospital and seeing the maternal and child wards we left the hospital with most of the girls in shock. I am not sure what they expected, but it was for sure a western view of what a hospital shoud be and not what is availabe. When we got back to the house we had free time so I went for a walk with Dayna, Marissa, and Sam. It was nice to walk around the farm to some and we went to the top of the hill to get an amazing view of the area. We were going to walk down the road, but then decided that our lives were more precious then walking around down the road. Dinner was rice with palm oil with this tomato sauce which was soo good, and after we had the rest of the freh fruit that we baough int he market. At night we also talked about how everyone felt after seeing the hospital which was good, but at the same time it is hard to listen to people who I find annoying lol. After dinner we played euchre (?), and finished off the night with some Spier wine from the Cape Coast. This white wine was sooo good!!! We have to get up early tomorrow to go to the city to have 4 lectures, which will be a long day and since we still have no water no shower tonight :( miss and love you all!!! :)

P.S. Jacquelene, James and John there are stray dogs here that have the same exact body type as cheese!!! I haven't found one of the same color, but I am looking and once found Ill take a picture! Ill also try to post pictures sometime :)