Birthday!

I’ve been unable to blog for the last couple of days because of problems with our Ethernet card. I’ll try to catch you up on all events. One nice thing that happened a couple of days ago was a slightly cool breeze at our house in the evening. It’s very common for us to come home with sweat literally running down our backs and legs- usually our scrubs are stuck to our backs and we have to peel our stethescopes off our necks as soon as we walk in the door. Which is usually followed by guzzling some water or Fanta, whichever is coldest, right before plopping on the couch in sheer exhaustion.  Then it pretty much stays hot, albeit less sweltering than the ward, but hot nonetheless, until night time when we retreat back into our AC room. But that night was different. It was such a beautiful evening we decided to sit outside and talk for a while. It felt incredibly nice to feel an actual breeze!

Our front yard view

Spraying on insect repellent in preparation to sit outside

My first trip to the stoop

Jonathan's "spot" 

The 16^th was Bertina’s birthday. One thing I love about Ghana is how much of an effort people make to try and make sure you are comfortable and happy. Hamza’s aunt Mama Merci, and her niece Victoria, came over, pots and vegetables in hand, and cooked an entire birthday dinner for us. Not only would they not accept money for the groceries, they cleaned the entire kitchen, including dishes, and swept the whole house down and wouldn’t allow us to lift a finger! Hamza also brought over his speakers and cds and Aziz hooked it all up to the tv, and we had a fun dance party after dinner. It was just a few people- Bertina, Jonathan, Hamza, Aziz, Mama Merci, Victoria, little Edna, and me. But it was such a good time. Bertina said (outside of her residual abdominal pain from the day before) it was the best birthday she’s had. Here are some pictures and video below. And for those of you who are into music, you might enjoy learning the Azonto- the latest Ghanian dance. The video was cool (below). And Edna was by far the best dancer at the whole party.

Kele-wele with special garlic and ginger

Salad

Jollof

Boiled eggs with spicy red curry

Jonathan taking lessons from Edna

Mama Merci, Hamza, and Me

Edna works alone

Happy Birthday Bertina!!

Another hot day

Taking a break to use the internet in the hot spot of the hospital 

Lunch with my Mommy

Yeshima, the strongest resident they have and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet

Snake bite- came right into the child's home and bit him

These children are so non-demanding. I remember yesterday on rounds, one of the rooms on the ward was so crowded that there were patients sprawled out on mats on the floor. Of course the electricity decided to take a hike for a few hours. There we were in the least ventilated room of the hospital; it was definitely over 100 in there- flies everywhere, with their faint but annoying buzz. The room was so humid I thought I was starting to see fog on people’s glasses. The exact analogy I can think of is a sauna. Yes, it felt just like a sauna, minus the steam. The heat just envelopes you and you feel like you better get in front of a window quickly or you will suffocate…

 Anyway, so we are rounding on a patient when this other little boy comes back in, presumably from the bathroom, about 4 or 5 years old, and he quietly steps out of his worn, hole-y flip flops and takes his place back on the mat on the floor, flies all around his face, sweat pouring down his temples, no air in sight that close to the floor. He was clearly uncomfortable but did not say a word. I picked up his chart (which was a few pieces of paper haphazardly stapled together) and began to fan him. It was the only resource I had available to make him less miserable. All the other parents looked shocked, including his mom, who looked like she’d seen a ghost. Funny how sometimes the simplest things that we do are the most appreciated.  Even the orderlies playfully teased me, asking if I go around fanning all the patients in the hospital. As he finally started to get comfortable and the flies flew away, I saw him drifting off into a nap…but every few seconds he would open his eyes and peek to see if I was still there.