The end of another summer, only this one not quite as sedentary as last. As I sit outside, enjoying the cool air, watching the sky darken, my thoughts turn to a small village in Ghana. Kyekyewere. You know, that Village I have visited several times now. The one where I am working to build a health clinic. Only my last visit turned into a near death experience for me, thus the long absence from work on the project.

You see, we women shave in the USA. My accommodations with the Sisters were beautiful, but most of my 3 weeks there we didn’t have any running water into the house. So, making do as one does in Ghana, we would bucket water in for toilet and bathing. Drinking water was all bottled and purified. Yes, I know I am a nurse and a pharmacist, and I am more than aware of the problems associated with the lack of clean water, but it really never occurred to me that bathing, nor shaving could have near disastrous effects. That small little spot under my arm I noticed prior to my departure turned into a massive cellulitis by the time I got to New York about 48 hours later. And, yes, I will admit, not following my Doctor Daughters instructions of going to the hospital immediately, almost cost me my life. But I was so close to home….so close…. I could make it home. Yes, that I did, and, on the humorous side, know how to get through the packed waiting room at Barnes Hospital. But as my blood pressure continued to fall, more IV’s started , more tubes being put in and the questions of my next of kin, religious preference, legal advisor, and oh by the way how do you feel about intubation began to hit me, I realized just how sick I was. Thank God for the many prayers from the Sisters in Ghana, The Christian Brothers there, my friends here, I made it through, but am not 20 anymore either, so the healing process has been long.

Over the past 15 months of recovery and getting my life stabilized again, my thoughts turn to Kyekyewere daily. Friends have come and gone to Ghana this summer. How I wish I could have joined them. Friends from Ghana call and wonder where I am, but I don’t think they quite understand how sick I really was. Sister Irene and Sister Laurene are here for the summer, and will be going back soon. And so will I. The doctors have given me clearance to go, providing I get some gamma globulin and carry a stock of antibiotics. Water…well, a little bleach in the bathing water should kill the bacteria or maybe just not shave at all! There is much to do there, so I plan on spending almost 2 months overseeing on the clinic building and getting legal papers taken care of.

On the last trip, Nana, the Chief of Kyekyewere, titled over the land for the Clinic to the Walbridge Settlement Foundation. I was able, through your generous donations, to purchase a block making machine and the last I heard over 2000 blocks for the clinic have been made. Sand and cement and labor from your donations made these blocks. I went to Barclays Bank to get papers to open an account there. A trip to Tamale in North Ghana gave me insight to a beautiful health compound Dr. David has established for the HIV/AIDS patients. He also brings in lepers from the East for care. It was an amazing visit…so clean, patients so well taken care of, so orderly. A goal to reach for. Seeing the round huts for patients and family to stay in, peeking into the operating room, visiting with some of the patients, and a very nice (and very tired) nurse spending an hour showing us around are just examples of the orderliness and generosity of the people there.

So you can see why my thoughts turn to Kyekyewere daily. There is much to be done which necessitates a longer visit. But I am anxious to return. Anxious to see Nana, his wife, Daniel and Naomi, Lydia, Sisters Irene and Laurene, my new friend Emelia in Tamale, Sydney in Tamale also. Mercy in Accra, Edward, Emmanuel and Joseph my drivers and dear friends. Anxious to see how the children have grown and what new babes have been born. Anxious to spend time in the heat, (yes, that too), see what new adventures await, get some stakes out for the building, meet with Nana and his Elders….so much. And maybe even an ice cold Star beer!

Things are moving along. This past 15 months has given me time to reflect on plans, develop goals, think about what is important to teach the people. Your help will be needed. Any donations will be more than appreciated. Money for the building primarily, but also some medications to purchase while there. A donor has given me a microscope to take this time. Various donors have contributed almost $3000 for the building…this will go a long way. And anonymous donor has given $2500…can we meet that? The people are so grateful. They have enjoyed pictures I have taken of various donors. The people in the Village can see a face from across the world that has given up a couple of lattés, or a piece of clothing…for them! They are grateful.

Keep you posted on the plans. Medase!

Catch up day

Sometimes, the best laid plans of blogging every day do go astray. Oh well, in Ghana, that is fine. As I was drawing water this morning, and thinking of what all needed to be done on my 'day off', thoughts turned of what to write about here. The exciting Sunday at the Durbar where we were at the Kumasi Soccer Field, with thousands of people? Seeing children in the village yesterday? How the land is coming along? Discussions with Nana on how to proceed with the clinic? And then I thought, maybe, just maybe a little writing of the ADL's (for you non medical types there, that is activities of daily living) that go on here, and just why some days blogs don't get written for a few days.

So, this entry will be an informational piece on what goes on in the daily life here, in Kumasi with the Sisters. Just the household living and chores that are done each day. We have only had running water in this neighborhood one day in the week I have been here. Meaning, water that comes from the tap, running out! Now, this is a beautiful house with about 5 bedrooms and an equal number of baths or half baths, a beautiful living room, dining room, two upstairs porches, a porch across the front of the home, beautiful trees in bloom, wall around the property, tile floors, kitchen, washer/dryer, gee, most everything one could ask for. But of late, no running water, except for what comes from the spigot in the back. In the evening the night watchman, Apia, fills our 55 gallon drum in the kitchen with this water. He is proud and happy to do this, and with extra visitors, it is a full time job for him. This water is NOT water to drink, wash dishes in, just for bathing and using in the toilets.

We each have our own bucket in the bathroom for water...bathing, other washing, flushing. So, of course during the day, if we are around like I was today, I go out to the spigot (don't want poor Apia to work too hard and we do all share tasks) and fill some buckets for Kathy and myself. Those get filled, and have to be taken upstairs. This may take 15 minutes, or more depending on the water pressure. And for sure at night, I am compulsive on filling my bucket for that awful, just-in-case time I get the tummy issues. Then in the morning, once again, but generally I use the water from the plastic drum in the kitchen, call me lazy.

Brushing teeth, well, that is water that we have boiled and filtered. Then we fill old wine bottles and store in the fridge. So, another bottle of water in our rooms for any oral consumption. I hope you are beginning to get the picture that getting up and dressed in the morning, can be a very labor intensive process!

In the evening, sometimes Cindy, the house help, fixes dinner, or we trade off fixing dinner. Like last night I offered. Thank goodness I threw in a couple boxes of macaroni and cheese (Kraft) at the last minute. We had that and salad and the best fresh pineapple. But doing dishes involves boiling water for wash and rinse water. Fixing vegetables, well, those are purchased about every other day from the road side, are cleaned, then soaked in a small amount of potassium permanganate to kill any bacteria, and rinsed with clean water. So a salad, is an hour process to fix. And doing dishes, no dishwasher here. We all chip in and wash, dry, clean the table, put things away etc. All in this heat/humidity.

No wonder come evening, we all collapse! But this is a different way of life. And when I get home, well, how appreciative I am of being able to turn on the tap and get fresh clean water to drink, or turn my washer on to do clothes, or load the dishwasher up with a couple days of dishes to do at once, then put away all clean and sparkling!

Enjoy the picture of Nana driving his gold Mercedes from Sunday and I will tell you all about that maybe later tonite or tomorrow. We whizzed thru Kumasi, intersections, lights, dressed in our Kente, parking in front of the stadium....

Thought for the day

Happy Thursday to all! Just a quick thought upon arising here in beautiful Kumasi. One should never, never take the comforts of life for granted. For instance, the cool running water (not at a high presure but enough to bathe and clean in) from the tap yesterday, can be gone when you wake up in the morning! Enjoy your hot showers and be thankful for them.

Ah yes, and one more thought for the day. Always wear steel toed shoes in tropical climates no matter how much going barefoot is appealing. Those stubbed toes REALLY hurt! :) But free toes to wiggle also feel good. Maybe, just watch where you are walking would help!

Carpe Diem

Wednesday

And look at this crew working on clearing the land this morning! Nana had the most wonderful surprise for me this morning at before our 10AM meeting. Edward and I were there early, and Nana met us at the door, telling us to go to the land. And as we walked toward the land, here it lay before us, about 1/2 cleared of the vegetation! What a wonderful surprise and how exciting to see work being done. Of course there are palm trees to be cleared and we will leave the large trees for shade and fruit, but this was a great gift. We have discussed planting the land this year for 2 crops of corn with part of the monies from the sale of the corn to go to the Foundation.

I then met with Nana, his uncles, Mom and Elders concerning transferring land title to the Foundation. We had an excellent discussion and the land will be the Foundation's in Perpituity!

Now, are you interested in giving feedback? Anyone know about goats? How to milk the little critters? Maybe how to make soap? Any other uses for goats (besides eating???) Just a thought for the economy here to help the villagers fund the clinic. How about trash bags? You know, those black plastic kind? Global Momma's makes little make up bags from them (crochet) but what about cleaning them, twisiting them into a 'yarn', any information on that? Composting? Help there too? Gosh, with 2 acres of land, part can be a garden for a while. There is so much to learn, observe, ask, and of course with a different society and lifestyle, well, I do ask a lot of 'stupid' questions...but necessary. Any kind of recycling information for the clinic land is more than welcome. Not to mention health teaching information, etc.

Sunday is a Durber the Queen Mum has invited me to. Guess I had better get out my Kente for this...the Asanti king's 10 anniversary is being celebrated at the beautiful stadium in Kumasi that day. I know, take plenty of water and my Driver Edward!

This has been a beautiful day. God has blessed me once again. As I sit in the home of the Sisters of the BVM, feeling (well, imagining) a breeze through the window, listening to the night sounds of Ghana, I know that slowing down to enjoy the flowering tropical trees, examining how a yam grows, watching a villager clean corn off the cob for flour...well, there are many many things we have to be thankful for, each and every one of us.

Akwaaba

This is just a test post for now. I have arrived in Kumasi and the most generous Sisters of the BVM had a delicious meal and beautiful room awaiting my arrival. But most important is the company they provide and conversations about their work and mine that develope. So much to be learned. This is the perfect enviroment to, relax, enjoy the beauty of nature (and yes, even the roosters at all hours), converse, and contemplate my work here. Edward should be here soon and we will visit Kyekyewere so I may begin to gather my thoughts as to what needs to be done. You see, in my haste of packing, I forgot the most important white notebook with my notes. But people are helping me remember, much is in my computer or in notebooks, so it will be alright. And tonite, after homework here, plans to be made, I will try to post some pictures of the Manna Mission in Teshe and other pictures taken on the long drive from Accra to Kumasi. So, onward, drinking tons of water, sweating it out and loving every minute of it!

Edge Outreach Water Conference

The weekend of March 20 and 21, I attended the Edge Outreach Water Conference held at Dardenne Presbyterian Church in St. Peters, Missouri.

http://www.edgeoutreach.com/) There were about 50 people there to learn about a simple, yes simple, water purification system. Not only did we learn how to put one of these together, but also educational tools to teach to the people to prevent the spread of disease. After all, if you have clean water, but don't back it up with clean hygiene practices, it rather defeats the purpose. It was an intense two days, but well worth the time and energy. We spent half of each day setting up a system, one day a one tank system, the other day a two tank system. Then the other half of the days we learned about the importance of hygiene teaching, and ways to include ownership of this system by the village peoples. Most of the supplies can be purchased in the country where one is going, and maintenance is taught to the villagers so this is a sustainable system of water purification. Can you imagine how many illnesses can be prevented with JUST CLEAN WATER??????? I am anxious to share this experience with Chief Nana upon my return next week. And, to begin some elementary teaching classes now.