Kumasi

Hey all! I’m going up to Kumasi for two weeks. I’ll update every time I am at the Internet café in town. Expect pictures when I get back.

August 2nd, Today was a Travel Day.

According to Frank, we were headed eastward towards the mountain. He’s an optometry student from Nigeria who has been here for eight years. It was a 2-hour drive and there were five of us, which gave us time to get close. Most of us are from Canada and the U.S. but have had the privilege to do a lot of traveling. It was fun to swap stories and strange to be surrounded by people who experience travel in the same way that I do. Combined, I think we’ve actually travelled most of the world.
The village where we were heading was mourning their chief, so we couldn’t distribute eyeglasses and medication. I recently learned that you wear red and black for untimely deaths and white if the death was of old age. In any case, we watched a pretty arbitrary, though impressive, “football” game between “Germany” and “The Netherlands”. During the game, all the children called us Obruni, which literally translates to white person. They usually yell and point, but it’s an expression of excitement not hostility or anything. After lunch we went back to the hotel, hung out and talked a while. Conversation got pretty interesting when Frank came around. He had changed from his more official clothes into a shirt that simply read, Rock Party. We all instantly thought of Party Rock Shuffle and talked about popular American and Ghanaian songs. Like most Ghanaians I’ve met so far, he’s good-humored, helpful, and laughs at our strange Obruni habits and mishaps. We discussed the marital age for woman, and he was surprised by marriage customs in the U.S., especially for women. In Ghana, you only get married for the sake of having children. In fact, the son’s parents expect children very quickly and may get very agitated if you aren’t pregnant within by your second year of marriage. Learning all this, I can definitely say I’m working towards my goal of experiencing the culture.

Really, Thank you.

Before I left. I took on two major projects: collecting 600 eyeglasses and raising 1800 dollars, which would go directly to providing eye surgeries for patients. I’ve surpassed both of these goals thanks to a tremendous effort on my donors’ parts. I really appreciate all that you’ve done for me! I can now say I’ve successfully raised $2000 and collected 615 eyeglasses. 

Thanks again to all those who donated!

First day, oh Boy.

So this is going to be interesting. I can already tell by the shower I took last night; or rather, tried to take as water came down at a trickle. And maybe the fact that I was woken up by roosters. I've met a lot of other volunteers now (13 or so people), they're all super nice and seem to have a lot of fun together. Right now I'm stationed in the capital city of Accra, in the Telecentre Bed and Breakfast. But I'll be doing an overnight trip tonight so I probably won't get internet. Still, I'll try to update again soon. Excited to see what the day brings!

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for taking the time to glance at my page. I know some people were interested in my plans for this summer, and I really had such amazing support with my fundraising project, so I’ve decided to share a record of what I do during my 20 days in Ghana. To put it simply… I’ll be blogging! I think it might help me keep my goals in mind, reflect on my experiences as they happen, and recall their details when I look back.

I’ll start now.

As I’m writing this, I’m on the plane from Amsterdam to Ghana. This is probably the moment where the full extent of my nervousness and excitement kicks in. It’s been building up, on and off, since May when I decided to add this volunteer-internship to my already-busy summer. I stumbled across Unite for Sight by chance, contemplating a program that would combine my love of medicine and global health with high impact volunteering. They partner doctors and educated volunteers with locally maintained clinics to provide free eye care and surgery to patients in need. I’m usually skeptical of volunteer travels that might sound gimmicky and ineffective, but Unite for Sight won me over. They stress sustainability, give clear goals to their volunteers, and have a pretty good outcome. After I was accepted into the program, I did a fair bit of training to get familiar with eye health and volunteering. While abroad, I’m hoping to expand on that knowledge, take in as much of the culture as possible, prove my worth as a volunteer, and spread my enthusiasm.

Wish me luck!