The Neighborhood and Stuff

 Yesterday morning Jonathan and I gave a lecture to the medical students about pediatric malignancies and how we manage them in the U.S. A day earlier Bertina had lectured the students on the wards on taking a thorough H&P (history and physical). Our turnout was really great. There were about 80 students, and I only saw one who was asleep. They were engaged, appreciative, asked questions, and several of them came up to us afterward to talk. It was nice to give back something small, after all we have gained here, not only in medical knowledge, but also in culture. Knowing that they are limited in their resources and are unable to get biopsies and MRIs at the drop of a hat the way we are in America, our message was to empower them to use their knowledge and physical exam skills to help diagnose illness early, and transfer kids to the appropriate place. They seemed to like our lecture. 

Dr. Amponsem, the head (and only) attending pediatrician at Tamale Teaching Hospital

We made a new friend once we got out of lecture

Benjamin could use a baby sister

 After lecture, we went out to lunch with Daniel, the Obs/Gyn resident. We went to SWAD fast food (which is actually not fast food at all). Owned by an Indian, it is primarily Indian food (which is actually not Indian at all), but it was good. We had fun but boy was it a hot day!

Their naan and paneer curry (can't turn the pic)

In hot pursuit of a cab. And I do mean HOT.

Clothing store

Bus stop

Our WalMart while we were here

Listening to a podcast while waitin on the cows to come home

The sacrifices we make to sit in our favorite spot!

Directly across the street from our house

Finally!

In the evening, Jonathan and I decided to explore the neighborhood. He had found a village 5 minutes away earlier in the month on a jog (yeah, I don’t know how he jogged in this heat either!). We were warmly welcomed by the village kids and their mothers. We took lollipops with us. Once we had handed out a few, DOZENS of children began to crowd around us. It was fun at first, but became difficult when we were running low on candy and they kept asking for more. I felt bad to do it, but had to be firm in saying “only 1”—that’s the only way I had enough for everyone. Lol- those kids are smart- they were hiding candy behind their backs, under their tongues, anything they could do to get another sucker. The older boys were remarkably mature. When the younger ones kept sticking their hands out, they would smack them away and yell out, “Madam! Madam! He has already collected!” 

They followed us around for almost half a mile, until Jonathan had a great idea to show them our empty candy bag. I emptied out the last few, and did so. Then the loyal followers smiled and said “Thank you!” and ran away.  It felt really nice to give treats to children who likely don’t normally get them. 

They also looked out for each other quite a bit. Often a child would run up and say, "Madam! She has not received! Madam!" and hold out the younger child's hand until they got candy.

We were also impressed by how warm and welcoming the mothers were. They were very kind about allowing us to come into their homes. I even asked one lady if I could come up to the front door and look in (mostly using hand gestures as I am a little rusty on my Dabani). She was very quick to say yes, but I noticed she ran ahead to check her house before I made my way over, to make sure the house was clean. I love that although she lives so modestly, she was still very proud.
 

Petunia was shy.