To Togo and Back

February 5, 2011

Ahh… the sound of Saboba by night. It is good. It is fairly late, so don’t hear children anymore, but there are animals, birds mostly, that I cannot identify and the occasional motorcycle. Galen, I think you every time I see one (which is all the time). Your chances of wrecking on one here are about 1000 times higher as they are such crazy drivers! I had to laugh this morning going to the hospital because right next to “no parking” sign there are a bunch of motorcycles parked every which way.

Today was a very good day. Dr. Nick, Bryn and I walked to Togo and back this morning on our walk. I think that has a nice ring to it. It sounds much better than we walked to the river and back. Wouldn’t you agree? Most of Ghana, at least in the north, is separated from Togo buy the river not from our house. We wave to everyone we see and that has brought us nothing but joy. A boy going to school directed us to the river where we saw women washing clothes and men fishing in these killer canoes. I need to get myself into one of those things. On our way back, there were a group of children, about six of them all younger than five or six whom we had greeted on our way there, dancing around and laughing so hard at themselves. It was the funniest thing. We joined in, and I couldn’t help but pick up one of the littlest ones. It was so much fun. It reminded me of a home video (I love home videos) we have of the boys when they were four-ish jumping up and down giggling in our living room until their pants fell off. They would make the other one laugh so hard, and when their pants hit the ground, they would pull them back up and do it all over again. Hilarious.

We did four surgeries today, all hernias. Though they are quite common in men but not as much in women, we did two of each to do, and by we, I mean Dr. Nick and Bryn:) I just watched and then helped with some post-op clean up. Forgive the forwardness, but Ghanaians have no problem with their bodies exposed, so when I walked into the OR today, there was a man with a GINORMOUS hernia strapped to the table naked and very much awake. The operation begins after making the area as sterile as possible and start cutting away. Dr. Nick and Bryn have noticed that these surgeries have been much more difficult here because they work so hard and everything is so tight in there it is hard to separate the hernia sack away from the um… body:) I’ll be courteous of non-bio people who don’t and those of you who really don’t want to know more than that.

Fun fact: there are no narcotics in the hospital right now. All you robust, manly men reading this, I am wondering if you could consciously lie still while you have your groin cut open and have your insides pulled out? I’m smiling just thinking about the looks on your faces. They are so tough. It blows my mind. Nothing fazes these people.

I had a great nap this afternoon under my mosquito net that makes me feel like I’m in a princess bed. I love it. It’s one of my favorite things here. Weird I know. Sarah- I know I will use yours when I travel but this one was already set up:)

Dr. Morris, Bryn and I went for a walk tonight after dinner, and it was such a heart-warming experience. It’s the simplest things that make people happy here. Again, we wave to everyone because you get the best reactions out of people. Some of the children call us “Father” because the Catholic priests were here early on and were the only white people they knew. It’s funny, Dr. Nick and Bryn have treated the people here with such kindness, which is something I don’t think they are quite used to from their experience with white people so we find people who know us all the time when we go out.

Oh! I forgot to introduce new cast members! The OR guys. They are HILARIOUS. They are so kind to us and so much fun. They are mostly in their mid-twenties and older, so I am still the young pup.

Alex- I love this guy. He dances all the time, so we get along quite well. Naturally.

Moses 1-  he’s tall and holds his hands way up in the air to give me high fives and loves that I don’t have to jump.

Moses 2- he’s short and is just starting too, but he knows way more than me though. We will be good friends. 

Fidelis-he’s one the nurses in the female ward. He’s very sharp-looking, VERY kind and would bend over backwards to help you. Bryn left a pen yesterday while she was working on some charts and we saw him tonight on our walk. He pulled the pen out of his pocket and gave it back to Bryn. She of course didn’t know she had even left it and we were all so impressed with his thoughtfulness. He’s basically a Ghanaian Pete Markison for all you Carroll peeps haha.

The best part of today, other than the laughing kids and our walk tonight (haha) was Pastor Jonah’s visit. I mentioned to you earlier he was going to help me with my language, and he came over at 8 tonight to get started. This is serious. We will meet at 8 whenever he does not have a church service. He is so sweet to me and is a very good teacher. He will say things and then we will right them out. They have a slightly different alphabet than us so it is interesting. For instance, in Konkomba, four backwards c’s with a space in the middle is a “waa” sound. It’s fascinating, and I am so thankful for him. He is the neatest guy and very handsome. Handsome or beautiful here means that not only do you look well, but that you also look happy. True beauty acknowledged… what a concept. Our first hernia patient, the really huge difficult one, was a stranger that came in from Nowhere, Ghana, and Jonah and his wife took him in and is recovery at their compound (a group of huts grouped together). That is beautiful.  

Ok bed time. I’m not connected to the internet now, so it will be morning by the time I post this.

I am doing well and am adjusting to the heat- thank God. I like it here and absolutely love these people. They will be my saving grace when things get hard. Thank you for reading this and for your prayers.

Love you all.