Goodbye Ghana

        I can't believe how fast time has flown by! I am still so in shock everyday that I have lived here for a month and a half. It's weird how normal things have become. This is life now. This is what I know.

        It's 100% normal for us to go to the fruit stands and get pineapple and fruit every single day and never get sick of it. It's normal for us all to know each other's health. Whether someone is constipated or has diarrhea, everyone knows. It's normal to be celebrities everywhere we go, especially to little kids who get sooo excited when an Obruni says hi to them. It's normal for people to touch our arms or pinch us when we walk around just because we are white. It's normal to buy things out the window while driving and to walk to the store across the street from where we live anytime we want. It's normal to eat ice-cream everyday, but also to expect to eat a whole lot of rice everyday too. It's normal to wake up sweating, and to return home at night, still sweating. It's normal to never do my hair or makeup. It's normal to take a cold shower with only a few trickles coming out, or even to shower from a bucket. It's normal to hand wash my clothes every night and hang them to dry but it's even more normal to have none of our clothes smell good at all because they don't dry so well. It's normal to come downstairs and find that breakfast is cold toast and hot chocolate...like always, with an occasional oatmeal day. It's normal to not have wifi, power, or running water all the time.

This was one bathroom that was way out in the open that we
Used. You just stand over by the right side corner and
hope nobody watches you.

It's normal to go to the bathroom just about anywhere. I think we have used every toilet or bathroom facility ever invented by now and it's always a group effort to decide how we use it. It's normal to finish every handshake with a snap and it's normal to say medasi instead of thank you. It's normal to get hissed at and to see men and sometimes even women going to the bathroom on the side of the road. The crazy driving, strange smells, and long car rides have become normal as well. Eating things with our hands or out of a bag is normal and it's normal to only drink water from a bag. It's normal to see everyone carrying things on their heads, even very small children. It's normal to spend an average of 2 dollars a day on food and snacks. Sleeping with a bug net and seeing goats and chickens everywhere is normal. I could go on a on, but to some it up, all the things that have become normal, are things I would have never thought would be normal anytime in my life. I love Ghana so much. I love how comfortable I feel here and that I can call the Telecenter home(the Telecenter is the place we live which is like a giant guest house pretty much). It's such an adventure being here and I am grateful for all the good and bad times! We have created so many memories that I know I will never forget. If anyone has the chance to go to Africa for a few weeks, I would strongly recommend it.
        I've really learned that stuff really is just stuff and that it is important to take notice of all the little things we are blessed with. Whether it's air condition, running water, hot water, water pressure, wifi, soap, toilets, washing machines, consistent power, clean houses etc.. The list goes on! I have really felt Gods love for me and His love for all his children while I have been here and I am so grateful for that. During hard days I felt God send me little messages my way telling me He knows me. I know I needed to come to Africa at this time and I feel so externally grateful that I was able to. I am thankful again for all those people who helped me out and donated to my trip so that I can be here learning and serving Gods children. Although the past 6 weeks have been incredible and I know I will miss all the wonderful people and experiences, I can definitely say I am excited to board my flight back to the United States in a few hours. I know it's time to go and that's okay. I can't wait to be back with family and friends and of course my wonderful fiancé who has been so helpful while I have been here as well. Goodbye Ghana. Africa will forever have a place in my heart.

About a week ago I met these cute kids and gave them balls to play with. Today I found them again, still playing with the balls. They were scared of us white people at first but I think we are best friends now :)

Just all using the "washroom" together, aka, urinating on some tile flooring. It's always an adventure when we have to go to the bathroom

This is the last friend I played with before getting in the van for the last time after our last day of outreach.

She wanted to come with us too. 

I may have shared this already but this is literally our breakfast every single day. 

I have never seen so many mango trees in my life. Actually, before this trip I don't know if I have ever really seen a mango tree. 

Helping Samuel with Surgery

        Well I have one day of outreach left I just finished my last day at the clinic!! It has been a pretty fun last few weeks so that is good. I have tried to make the best of everyday, even the long hot rough days, so it has been good!

How outreach works:
        Each day we go to a different place. In each place we go to, there is a coordinator who advertises and then gathers the people and gets everything all organized and set up before we get there. The coordinator checks in the patients by writing their name, age, basic symptoms and what not down on these little papers we provide. Afterwards they go to the first station which is visual acuity. At visual acuity we use the E chart to check their eyesight from 6 meters away. We write down the results on their paper and hand it back to them. Next they go see the doctor. The doctor talks to the patient about what is wrong, other symptoms they face and any needed background information (whether there was trauma to the eye or something). The doctor checks for glaucoma, pterygium, conjunctivitis, general eye conditions, cataracts, presbyopia, and a few other things. If they need reading glasses or glasses for sight, he checks what prescription they need. Then he writes the medication for us to prescribe to them. Then they go to the data person where we enter all their information into the computer.

Data and dispensing station. When someone gets reading
Glasses, we hand them a same bible to see if it clear.

Finally, they go to the dispensing table which we work at. We look at their papers and then give them the medicine (anywhere from 2-25 Cedis) and glasses they need (3-7 Cedis) and teach them how to use it. We make sure they understand when to take it and how often to take it and all that good stuff. And then they leave. But if they need surgery then they set it up with the coordinator before they leave so that they can get in the van that goes to the clinic on Thursdays full of patients from the areas we are in that week. And that is an outreach day! In the downtime, we play with the kids of course. Visual acuity is always my favorite job because you finish early and it's easiest and it gives the most time to talk to people and play with kids. But we switch off everyday. Anyway, it's really fun! I love it!

How Clinic Works:
        Clinic is once a week and it is where we observe surgeries. We get picked up and brought to clinic. Before we get there, patients get checked in, they get a piece of tape on their forehead on the side that will be worked on. They get these packet things with all their info and they get their blood pressure and sugar level checked. They also get local anesthesia to numb their eye so that they don't feel the surgery. Right before surgery they get a little ball taped to their eye for pressure to make the eye soft. Around noon we start watching surgeries two at a time and we watch for a couple hours. We write the time finished and sign for each surgery we observe. Then after surgery they get taped up and then sleep at the clinic for one night so they can get checked in the morning and then they go home!

Best day with Samuel:
        The last day of clinic was so much fun! So before I went into surgery I went downstairs and talked to the patients for a while and I met a man who was so cute. His name is Samuel and he is 70 years old. Samuel was a little nervous and he asked me to pray for him. Before I left to go into surgery, I asked to take a picture with him and he happily agreed. He said "wait let me put my glasses on and my hat on so that I look good!" It was so cute haha. Then I headed into surgery and watched for a few hours. When I came out he still hasn't started so I went and ate dinner. When I went down to check how many people were left, I didn't see my friend so I check right inside the theater room and saw Samuel going into surgery next. He asked me if I would go with him, so I put my face mask back on and lead him into surgery. He looked at me and said "I remember you. It will be okay. God is with us."

        I was able to watch his whole cataract surgery through the microscope which was truly incredible then I put the iodine drops in his eye, taped him up and lead him back out. Then I talked to him for a little while longer and he told me about how he was in the military and how he went to Egypt a few times. He told me he has met other people from the US when he was in the military and he laughed and joked with them and that it was so cool. Then I asked to take another picture with him and he said "no way, not with one eye. I feel like I'm in the military again and have to close one eye to shoot a gun" and he used his cane as a pretend gun haha. Well before I left he said "now when you go back on Saturday, don't you forget me, okay? Always remember me. Maybe you can pray for me sometimes" and then he told me he wanted to bring me something on Saturday before I leave but of course it's not possible so that was sad. I love that cute old man though. I will forever remember him.

Meet John! 

Crystal staff:
        Well I didn't get to spend too much time with the crystal staff which I'm pretty sad about but whatever. They are so awesome. They are all pretty young and energetic. There are three doctors but one took off for school for two months. Earnest and Jarome are the main doctors and they are really good at what they do. John and Bismark are the other staff members that are drivers and they help with dispensing and visual acuity. Some of them are kinda flirty but it's funny. They taught us how to check eyes so that was cool. I enjoyed the two weeks I got with them!

Ward party:
        The YSA ward threw us a ward party this week and so that was fun and cute! They fed us jollof and chicken with a little bit of vegetables! It was yummy. Then we had a dance party, and one of the guys sang and played his guitar for us and we all just hung out. It was so cute of them to do for us :)
        I am planning to have one last blog post to sum up my experience here but words cannot even describe the amazing experience it has been to be here. Ghana is crazy! But I sure do love Ghana.

Patients waiting to go into surgery with their tennis balls on their eyes. 

Watching surgery though the microscope thing 

Taping up Samuel after his surgery! 

Samuel after surgery! 

Just another eye surgery picture. This week I saw some eyes get stitched up too (not this picture). 

Peter! He wanted to take a picture with us haha 

Visual acuity  

 Seeing the doctor 

"Jarome will you watch while I check her eye so that I don't get too close and poke her eye out."

"Ya sure, of course!"

*i start looking into her eye and he gets on his phone.* thanks for watching Jarome hahaha 

The crew :) Bismark, Jarome, and earnest 

This is a terrible picture but this cute kid kept inching his way closer to me until he was sitting right next to me. He started about 10 feet away and by the end he was handing me papers haha His name is Jessey

This is Earnest and Bismark! 

This lady was so funny. We met her before her surgery as well and then watched hers! 

This girl was so cute and fun to play with 

Doing what we do best, getting lost in heaps of children that attack you. I love it :) 

Two more weeks gone

        Well we haven't really had good enough wifi to post In a while, so here are some things that have happened over the past couple weeks.

-we help the cutest people everyday and I love them all so much.

This is my friend named Precious. She just wanted to be held
ALL day long. 

-Last week one of the guys in our group had to go home. He was sick and it got to the point where he couldn't even drink water without feeling nauseous. Since there is only a week and a half left, he decided going to the doctor in America would be a lot better than dealing with that here. He was super frustrated and bummed to go home but it would be better for him not to get worse. Since then he hasn't said what he got but I'm pretty sure he is doing much better.
-it has rained a lot, and by rain, I mean it dumps buckets and floods everything
-one of the girls had a brother get his mission call last week and he was called to serve here in Ghana! So that's pretty cool
-my email got hacked, sorry to all of you who got an email from me. I guess it's common in places like this. My password has since been changed so that's good.
-we are still celebrities everywhere we go, and we continue to make people die laughing when we speak to them in the little Twi we know.
-I have tried almost all the foods they have to offer. Let's just say, I am so excited for some veggies and regular food. I don't think I ever want to eat snacks again.

The garden place we went to was so pretty!

-we went to this garden place and it was actually really cool. It was very hands on and beautiful. Afterwards some people went to the beach (nobody from California cared to swim so we didn't stay long haha the water was filled with trash and it was just smelling so nasty and we can all easily go to the beach so we went to the Accra market for a bit which is said to be the biggest in the world? I don't know if I believe it but it sounds cool to believe.
-we had some more volunteers come. We have now brought 8 people to church, and two are locals that have been having FHE with us every week too and love it.
-there is a mom and her 12 year old daughter here for a week. They are so lucky they are with BYU college students rather than some party school group of college students. We are a good, safe time.
-I feel 100% comfortable walking around, going to get dinner at night or to the store or to get fruit. Even if I'm just with one other person. Don't worry, I'm being safe.
-we all got invited over for dinner on Sunday! It was so fun! We all went to their house and they fed us a super delicious meal and then we all went around and told a little about our families and what not and then had a prayer and left. It was so nice to be in a home for Sunday dinner
-this lady who was selling little bracelets saw I had gum and so she asked to trade me my gum for two bracelets...a little while later she realized the pack of gum only had two pieces left, so I gave her a little bag gold fish as well haha

They loved knowing we were all members too!

-we had a big LDS family come through and they were so cute. They all got their eyes checked and got glasses and what not so that was fun to talk to them.
-I went to the temple with my friend Emily and we finally delivered that see's candy from aunt Colette! (Sorry it took 5 weeks of being in Africa. Hopefully it was still good)
-we tried watermelon oranges! They were crazy but actually good!
-there are 50 billion more things that happened but that is all I have time for right now.

I love you all and I love Ghana. But I definitely love the people here in Ghana!

This is a lady I helped who loved me haha. We have the same Ghana name (Abana) and so she wanted to be best friends. I asked to take a picture with her and she said "can I wear my new specks you got me?"  

This was one of the trees at the garden we went to that was all carved out and symbolic 

This tree at the garden we went to was all carved out because the original tree died so you could climb up inside of it.

Best thing in the world. The doughnut things we eat, with Nutella inside and fanice on top. So glad we tried it 

Watermelon oranges!! So crazy! 

We stopped at one of the most famous bridges in Ghana on the way home and it was beautiful. 

My cute friends helping me count down the days until I get married :) 

I'm just obsessed with the flat palm tree things that the temple grounds has. They are so cool! 

Laughing through our Overnight Outreach

        I don't even know where to begin with explaining this week. It was such a hilarious week and we just found ourselves laughing and laughing at everything. Every time we thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. It's hard to explain everything that happened, and writing it down makes it not seem to bad, but here is an attempt.

She was so cute! She wanted to be my helper
all day too.

        So let me start with Monday. Monday we planned to leave at 6:30am to go to Elmina where we would stay for three days. So we got up and packed everything up, put the stuff we weren't bringing into storage so we didn't have to pay for two hotels, and were ready to leave. Well two other girls had come and their clinic leaders (Charity Eye Clinic) didn't pick them up and so after making a million phone calls, our staff members decided that they should come with us. So we finally left around 8am and headed to Elmina which was about 2.5 hours away. The first day of clinic was rough. There were 8 of us, doing a 4 person job. So it was frustrating figuring out what everyone should be doing and how we could all be productive and organized. After finally finishing, everyone was starving and so we went to eat, chicken and rice of course, and it was 22 cedis when it is normally 6! So that was crazy. Then we got to our hotel (The Hollywood hotel) and well I ended up having to share a room with mercy, our Ghanaian staff member. I was sooo worried about that but they didn't have another room available so I just prayed that it would be okay. I didn't really sleep at all that night because I was nervous and worried about sharing a room with a Ghanaian haha. Luckily she is probably the most hygienic African here, and she is very respectful of privacy. So it ended up not being toooo bad besides the fact that she woke up at 4am.

Mosquito net life.

        Anyway, Tuesday we wake up and they tell us that if we start early then we can finish by 12 and go to the Elmina Slave castle and look at the beaches there as well and maybe go to the market. So we started at 7am. An hour into it, the doctor disappeared which meant everything had to pause. Then there was this huge fiasco of the coordinator at Elmina telling our staff members that they owed him money but in reality they didn't and so the doctor was gone straightening it out. Even that didn't fix everything so after the day ended they all had a little meeting to fix it all, which added more time to the day. Well we didn't finish until 5:30 so we didn't have time for the castle. Also during that day, all the patients suddenly started yelling at each other. I'm not sure if people were cutting in line, or what exactly happened but it got suuuper loud at one point and it was kind of scary haha. Oh and there was this music playing for a majority of the day that was so loud and shaking the building so much that all of us started feeling nauseous and dizzy. Well when it came time to go get dinner we decided to go to cape coast so we could get food for cheaper, and we did so that was good....but sadly it made everyone sick. We were all tired at that point so we decided to go back to the hotel and sleep. Well we all knew there might have been bed bugs but we were exhausted and we only had one night there so we didn't want to be annoying and complain make everyone move so we all decided to just tough it out and stay there one more night.
        On Wednesday we got up and there had been no power all night, which meant we were all suuuper sweaty and gross...and then there was no water. So we used wipes and then packed everything up and left, all sticky and probs stinky though we showed the night before and everyone was just not too excited for the day. Well our driver, Seth, wanted to stay another night but Mercy and Doctor Imma wanted to leave back to Accra that night to get back to their families. We all wanted to leave though so we thought for sure we would. Well we start early, 7am without breakfast or snacks left. The doctor and Mercy both were super sick from the food they ate the night before and so that slowed the doctor down a lot because he was running to the bathroom frequently. The whole time all the staff members were mad at each other cuz two wanted to stay and two wanted to leave and nobody understood why we would stay. So there was a little tension there. Oh and this whole trip we never really had any drinking water at all because it all tasted soo nasty, So everyone was a bit dehydrated and sick. Patients were being really rude that day as well. They were yelling at us, saying it was our fault that we didn't have the glasses style they wanted and that the glasses were too expensive (mind you some of them we sell for 60 cents and the most expensive are not even 2 US dollars) and ya they were all just being rude. One man yelled at a girl from my group so much that she just went into a little shock and cried and it was so sad. Around 12 or so, I started feeling super sick. I was coughing up a storm, I started feeling soo dizzy and nauseous and I thought I was going to throw up. So I went and laid down and like passed out on this wooden bench and just slept there for a bit. Well when I woke up I felt even more nauseous and my head cold was even worse and it was just bad. Finally we finished around 4:30.
        Well we got to Elmina castle after work finished and it was closed but they were willing to take us if we all paid a lot, so we said no thanks and decided just to eat there. Everyone ordered food, except me because I was soo sick at that point. Well we were only with Mercy and apparently Seth had ordered us all jollof to eat. So we get back to the hotel, there was still no Water to shower, Mercy and Doctor Imma left to go back to Accra, and Seth tells us we are all staying. At this point we were all a little grumpy. So Seth tells us that in the past he was at an outreach and left Wednesday night and then the coordinator couldn't get all the patients to surgery Thursday morning, so nobody showed up and Seth got in trouble for it and the clinic had to pay. So it was understandable. That's when we told Seth that there were bed bugs and it was just ridiculous That we didn't have power or water and bed bugs and we were paying so much money. So he decided that we should switch hotels. The guy was drunk when we went to pay him for the two nights so that was disastrous but we finally got it all worked out. Then before we left we sat down and had jollof. A secret zip lock back was being passed around and people were dying at home much food it was. The lady told us it took her over two hours to make too. When we finally finished, we left to another hotel and it looked EXACTLY the same as the first one. So funny. The colors were the same, the signs, everything. Pretty sure it was like a sister hotel. We checked it out and then decided we wanted to go see how much this nice resort was that we had passed. Well it ended up being 400 Cedis a night and they would only allow 2 to a room (if they would allow 4 to a room then we were going to do it) but since we were an odd number, I would need my own room and the one boy in our group would need his own room so it would be so pricey. The hotel was so nice though. There were nice fountains and spiral staircases and guys in tuxes and all this nice looking fancy stuff. Also all these nice cars were in the parking lot, but later we realized they were all rental cars and nobody was actually staying there haha. So we went back to the first new hotel where there was water and by that point it was like 9:45 so we stuck with it. Pretty sure there were bed bugs there too but hey, what can you do.
        Thursday we woke up at 5:15am and left. Seth ended up not having to help at all. We didn't do anythingggg that morning. So everyone was hungry, a little annoyed that we stayed for no reason, and since the car ride was super bumpy we were all pretty nauseous and ready to puke out the window. By the time we got back to Accra, Seth felt bad. He ended up letting us go back to our hotel and stay there until 2pm. Later he bought us all KFC as well haha. While at our hotel we all washed and sprayed everythinggg and just made sure there were no bugs left. I'm not sure if we actually ended up having bed bugs or not but now I kinda feel like were just bugs in the hotels so we were paranoid.
        Anyway, the week was disastrous and there were so many more details of just things that made it even worse but all we can do is laugh about it. It's just so funny being here with all the crazy things that happen to us. We are in Africa, what else can we expect haha. I love it and I love all the crazy and terrible things that happen because hey make for funny memories and help us to be even more grateful for all the little luxuries in America. I can't believe I have been here for a month now!! So crazy! Besides school and my mission, I've never been anywhere for this long. I'm so glad I came on this adventure though! It's so much fun being in Ghana everyday!

Patients sleeping at the eye clinic after their surgeries. 

View from where we worked, that's Elmina castle.

Drive by of the beach! 

Weekend Expedition

This past weekend was quite the adventure!!

The girls after the temple! 

        To start out, our mode of transportation was the trotros! Those are an adventure in themselves. Pretty much a big van pulls up and the guy yells where it is going and you get on. Well there are 13 of us obrunis and only one person knew where to go. So luckily we jump on and the guy takes us to a station where we find someone that was willing to take us all the way to the temple (normally you have to take a couple trotros.) We ended up getting to the temple right on time. It was pretty packed but luckily just enough room left for us. It was the most incredible temple experience I have ever had. I have never felt so much love especially when entering the celestial room. They were so happy to see us and grateful we were there. A big group from Togo visiting too. I guess they come for a few days and all go to the temple as much as possible while there because it is a far trip for them. So We got to go with that group and do a session. I was able to do a Family name for one of the people from
        Togo and it was a girl born in April of 1993! It was a cool experience, and of course the cleanest place you will find in Africa. Also, inside the temple was so colorful and pretty. I've never seen a temple with so much color. Rather than the fabric on the chairs being a dark red, dark blue, or white, they were a colorful African print pattern. The celestial room was beautiful as well.
         After the temple we went to the art market in Accra and it was insane!! I wish I had a picture, but as soon as we walked up, we got attacked like crazy. It was so much fun bartering though and we got pretty good. I'm sure we all still got ripped off a little bit but hey, what can you do. The whole experience was just so hilarious. I thought about the little street markets
        On the way home, 9 of us left together and it was an insane trip home. We knew our destination so we went to the trotro station and asked for achimota. We were led to a trotro that would take us part way. We we got to the next Station, everyone wanted to help us. We told someone achimota and then like 20 people jumped on us yelling "achimota?? Achimota??" And they all wanted us to take their bus thing. Once we got onto one, all the people selling food flocked us, trying to make us buy everything. Luckily, we made it home safely and it wasn't even difficult so we were pretty proud of that.

Walking to help ward members.

        On Saturday night there was a hugeeee storm. It was pretty fun and super crazy, but also a bummer. The power went out everywhere, the wifi was shot, pipes broke, rooms were flooded, it was all a big mess. So Sunday for the third hour of church since not many people were there we all divided up into groups and went out to check on the families who weren't there. It was incredible to see how people actually lived. Rather than just seeing the outside of these communities like we normally do, we walked through allies, over man made bridges that were very unsafe, through mud, over rivers, etc.. It was so cool. Sadly, a lot of people were affected but they were so grateful that we went to check on them and help them. One funny thing that happened was when we were walking around in the little village things there was a little group of boys and they just watched us pass. I saw them stare at the other white people in my group so when I passed them this happened:

Me: "ete sen?" (how are you)
Boys in unison: "eye, na wo nso eh?" (Fine, and you?")
Me: "eye" (fine)
*45 second delay"
Boys in unison: "eyyyy!! Obruni!!! Obruni!!! " (obruni means white person)
And they all busted up laughing and shocked that I spoke to them in Twi. It was great.

Other random things from the week:
I was working visual acuity testing the patients eyes and a man sat down and the conversation was as follows:
Me: ete sen? (How are you?)
Him: eye, na wo nso eh. (good and you?)
Me: eye (good)
Him: you are beautiful, will you marry me?
Me: I'm already getting married in three months in the US.
Him: oh thank God. You are beautiful, you should get married. Lucky man.
Me: awkward laugh and continued with the eye test haha

People hiss at each other to get attention here. Like if you want to buy something you just hiss and flag them over and they come. Well I was walking to get fruit one day with two other girls and we heard someone hissing at us and I said "I think someone is hissing at us" and the other girl said "ya don't turn around" so we kept walking and they didn't stop and they shouted so we finally turned around so they would stop and it was our driver running after us trying to get us to stop. Turns out we needed to be back at the hotel to get picked up and hour earlier because plans changed and he saw us walking when he was driving there haha

Africa has been an adventure. I love it. Stay tuned for the next post about this last week which was insane. It was pretty crazy to say the least!

Have I mentioned that there are goats EVERYWHERE ? (And cute little lambs)

It was a beautiful day for the temple!

Visual acuity 

They are so fun!