A Very Special Thank You

I have many people to thank for the wonerful trip I had. I'd like to thank all the doctors I worked with at Korle Bu. I know I've said this many times but they were all so nice and I learned a lot from them. My experience in the hospital really did depend on the doctors I was with and I'm very thankful to the doctors I worked with for giving me the experience of a lifetime.
I'd like to thank the staff at the hostel, Auntie Faustina and all the porters made sure that I had a very pleasant and comfortable stay for which I'm very grateful.

I'd like to thank my next-door neighbours at the hostel Tulana and Jocelynn for being the best girlfriends ever, we had a blast together. :D

I'd also like to thank Buke, Dupe and the other Nigerian girls staying at the hostel, they were again SO NICE and we had lots of fun getting to know each other, and hanging out. My birthday would not have been the same without all of them :)

I'd like to thank Norma and all the nursing students, we had great times in Tamale, it was so nice meeting all of them and experiencing the crocs together! I wouldn't have picked any other group to travel 14 hours by bus with :)

I'd like to say a very SPECIAL thank you to my Aunties, my Uncle, my Grandma and my cousins on both my Mom and my Dad's side for all that you did for Kofi and I when we were in Ghana. Thank you for all the delicious meals prepared, for showing us around, dropping me off and picking me up from the airport, buying us whatever we needed and making us feel extremely welcome in your home. I love you all very much and can never thank you all enough.

I'd like to say a special thank you to Kofi for going on this trip with me. He was wonderful company and since the trip is a total of 22 hours travel time (one way!) I'm thankful I had such a great travel buddy and someone to share this entire experience with, compare notes with and laugh with.

I'd like to say a VERY VERY SPECIAL thank you to my Dad because without him this entire trip would not have even been possible. Aside from the fact that I'm very grateful for the opportunity he gave us to come to Ghana by paying for our flight and accomodation, the work that we did at the hospital was only possible because of him. During the month I spent in Ghana, it was kind of like take-your-kid-to-work-day every day. I was able to see firsthand the work my Dad does with students and how he helps both the students to gain valuable experience, and the hospitals, clinics and patients to gain from the help and resources provided by the students. I am very proud of my Dad and grateful that I was lucky enough to benefit from the hardwork he does and witness the difference he is making in Ghana and for University of Michigan students. Another important reason I had a wonderful experience is because not only did I get the chance to work in a hospital but my Dad took me (and takes all of his students) to see all the beautiful historic sites Ghana has to offer. Thanks to him I was able to experience the culture in southern Ghana (Cape Coast and Accra), central Ghana (Kumasi), and northern Ghana (Tamale and Paga). The work he does really enabled me and enables students to not only learn a lot in our field of interest but also learn so much about, and experience so much in, Ghana. I know my Dad is the reason I didn't just have a good trip, but the trip of a lifetime.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank all of the faithful followers of my blog! My blog would serve no purpose if it weren't for dedicated followers so I'd like to thank my Mom as leader of the pack, Tracey and all of my amazing friends who have been following. I hope you enjoyed my stories, my pictures, my videos and most of all I hope you join me next time I travel to Ghana!! :)

Love,
Efua

Last Day!

The small plane I took from Tamale to Accra

Mr. Ernest Pells and I!

My gift :)

I would pass by this tree everyday on my walk home from the hospital...I think it has the most beautiful flowers

mmmm....my new favourite beer

Rum next to chocolate bars?

SADLY, my trip finally came to an end on Saturday June 4th. That morning I said good-bye to my Dad and my brother, and flew from Tamale to Accra where my Auntie Agatha met me. We did a bit of shopping and visited a family friend at work who I thought I had never met before. This family friend is Mr. Ernest Pells and he was the best man at my parents' wedding. He went to elementary school with my mom so they have known each other since the age of 6 and he went to high school with my Dad and they have been best friends ever since. He even visited us in the States when I was really young and although I don't remember meeting him, he had pictures with him at work (I'm telling you everywhere I went there were pictures of Kofi and I!!) to prove it. He was very nice, very funny and I'm SO happy I was able to meet him. He, of course reminsced about my parents' wedding, times they shared all spending time together in high school and even told stories about my mom in elementary school. I really liked him and just before leaving he pointed to this beautiful cabinet of statues he has and told me to pick one as a gift. After meeting with him I went back to my Auntie`s house for lunch and spent time with my little cousins one last time before we set off for the airport. I was so sad to leave, it was surreal being in the airport because it made me remember even more clearly the night Kofi and I arrived. I could not believe my trip was over.

I fell in love with Ghana. All my life I always heard about Ghana and met people from Ghana but never did I feel truly connected until I arrived and received a welcome warmer than words can say. I now feel that Ghana is my home too. My Aunties, Uncles, Grandma, cousins and family friends are all so wonderful and we had such a great time together I am determined to visit Ghana more so that I can take advantage of the beautiful family I am so lucky to have. In addition to my family being so welcoming, everyone I worked with at the hospital was so nice, I learned so much and had so much fun working at Korle Bu. Also all the staff at the hostel where I stayed were very helpful and hospitable. I fell in love with the weather, the palm trees, the mango, coconut, palmnut and plaintain trees, the beaches, the buildings and architecture, the shopping, the food, the restaurants, the markets etc etc etc. Ghana is wonderful to visit whether it be for vacation, or for volunteering, I had the time of my life and I cannot wait until my next visit! :) 

Tamale, Paga and the Crocodiles

Norma and the crocodile!

The border between Ghana and Burkina Faso

The dinner plates carved into the mountain side

The nursing students at the nursing school in Northern Ghana

One of the rooms in the clinic

A clinc in one of Tamale's rural communities

Shana and I

At long last that Wednesday evening after the 6-7 hour bus ride from Kumasi, we arrived in Tamale. My Dad had arranged for the nursing students to live with host families during their 3-week stay in Tamale so we dropped them off at their respective homes and then my Dad, Kofi, the course instructor Norma, and I, headed to the hotel we were staying at. The next day we drove around visitng the rural community clinics the nursing students were going to be working at. The following week they were doing a rotation between 5 clinics in groups of 2 or 3 so it was improtant for them to know where each clinic was so they would be able to get there on their own. We also toured the nursing school of Northern Ghana and drove around Tamale quite a bit. Tamale and all of Northern Ghana is very different from the south. The lands are much flatter and the vegetation is much more desert-like compared to the green hills of the south. Also the main mode of transportation in the north (for both men and women) is motorbike whereas in the south it was cars, and the few riding motorbikes were predominantly men. Also because we went to the rural areas to visit the clinics we saw a lot of huts and goats everywhere! I really liked Tamale, I think the northern part of Ghana is very beautiful and more peaceful because of its rural nature. On Friday, we drove even more north, to Paga, a small village right on the border with Burkina Faso (Ghana's immediate neighbour to the North). In Paga we visited the crocodile pond, listened to the legend of the bond between the village of Paga and the crocodiles of the 10 ponds, fed live chickens to the crocodiles and even sat on and pet them!! It was crazy! It was scary but so much fun! Paga is another must-see and must-experience in Ghana. After seeing the crocodiles we took a tour of a former slave camp where men were captured from nearby villages and countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali, brought to be auctioned off and then sent south to the castles. It was again another place that had been very much preserved. A lot of the camp relied on nature so things such as their dinner plates carved into the mountain side still existed, it was incredible to see. There were even locals who performed old songs that the slaves used to sing when kept at the camp! Afterwards for my last dinner in Ghana my Dad took Kofi, Norma and I to an Indian/Ghanian restaurant. It was delicious, what a wonderful combination. That night I finished up packing and prepared to travel home the next day.

Kumasi

The large pink building is the birthing center where my Dad was born

The nearby daycare

The exact spot my Dad`s umbilical cord was buried

My Dad outside his childhood home greeting an extended family member

The Manhyia Palace Museum

After spending the night in Kumasi, the next morning we did a bit of sightseeing before continuing our journey to Tamale. My father was born and raised in Kumasi so it was really exciting for him to show us around. He pointed out to us the very building in which he was born (a birthing center), the house he grew up in, where he went to daycare and elementary school and where he used to play with his brothers. In Ghana, back in the old days in the '50s after you were born, they would take your umbilical cord and bury it in front of your house so that no matter where you go, no matter how far you travel and no matter how long you stay away, you always know where your home is. SO Kofi and I got to see and stand at the exact spot where my father's umbilical cord was buried!! That's what I call going back to your roots! We were also able to go inside my father's childhood home, and meet extended family members still living there. It was very cool! It's nice now to think back to stories he has told us about his childhood and be able to picture his home and the streets, and whenever he discussed having to walk so many miles or blocks to school or to the market, now I can say I have seen the distance. After seeing those places we met up with the nursing students and took a tour of the Manhyia Palace Museum. The Manhyia Palace is where the former Ashanti Kings and Queen Mothers lived. The Ashantis are the largest of the tribes of Ghana and make up 50% of the population in the southern half of Ghana. The Ashanti Kingdom is widespread and when my brother asked my Dad just how much power the current Ashanti King has, my Dad said that if the Ashanti King told his people not to vote for the president, they would not vote. The musuem had statues of the former Kings and Queens mothers, old thrones, ceremonial wear, guns, medals, chinaware and lots of other interesting artefacts. It was a wonderful tour. The palace musuem was beautiful, there was so much history and as I had found with the slave castles, so much had been preserved! It was all fascinating to see! Afterwards we set off for the second half of our journey to Tamale.