First Outreach!

A real day for me I guess. Today is my first "workday." I slept without much trouble last night and woke up quite normally. We had a nice oatmeal breakfast and we were ready to hop on the van and head for our first destination: the schools. The ride was about an hour, and when we got to the school, kids greeted us madly, calling us Yevu! (Meaning foreigners).

We dealt primarily with three things. One was dressing infections and wounds. The wounds were often left untreated and on the stage of festering. We cleansed the wounds and covered them with clean gauze or a band-aid. The second was dealing with ring-worms. We applied the special cream and took care of the infections. The third was advising the children about personal hygiene, including brushing teeth and washing their hands and taking baths regularly.

After the upper school treatments were done, we went on to the primary school and repeated the procedure.

With the outreach finished, we went to the local village and watched the workers weave fabrics. They were so adept at it that some of the worker's hands were so quick that they were almost invisible as they moved. I bought a hand-woven bag from the workers for 18 cedi (Thanks Steph!). 

After we have all bought our souvenirs, we moved onto the Ho Hospital, where we went to see Chris, who unfortunately, when he first came to Ghana, ate a funny kebab and went straight to the hospital.


Chris has an interesting background. Although he is 38, he goes to the Swansea University in U.K. along with the 19 other volunteers who are here in this group. He is an art teacher who decided to go to the university a few years ago.


We came back to our headquarters just a few hours ago on a TroTro (Taxi) for 60 pesewas, which is equivalent to 40 U.S. cents. I say it's pretty cheep for a nice taxi ride.
 

I couldn't wait to get a shower after a day full of excitement. After a cold shower, We had a wonderful noodle with spicy sauce dinner served with vegetables as we watched a movie called "Juno," a rather interesting teenage story. Fun.


Crossword puzzles and cards were soon on the tables, and we had loads of fun, sharing different card games with each other.


I forgot to upload pictures yesterday so I shall do that right now.