Hello Everyone,
I sincerely apologize that I have not been updating my blog as often as I first promised! I have been so busy ever since the end of my first week here I have had trouble finding time to sit down and write about my experience in Ghana. All that aside, here is a little more about my experience so far.
After a month and four days here in Cape Coast Ghana I can go ahead and say that my departure date may be pushed back just a little bit longer than I thought it would be. I have loved this first month more than I could have ever imagined. I have made strong, life-long friendships with many of the other volunteers along with several of the Ghanaian people that I have met along the way. A twenty-four year old Ghanaian just moved in to the apartment across from the apartment that I live in, and he has become one of our greatest friends here. He runs an NGO program that contributes to teenage kids ability to swim and play basketball as an outlet from the street life here in Cape Coast. He has some really good ideas and is particularly passionate about what he does. Our new neighbor goes by Reymo, so whenever I discuss him that is what I will call him from now on.
Just last week Reymo invited Noah and I to play in a basketball tournament that was held at the local university, University of Cape Coast. Noah and I, without knowing what we were getting ourselves into, decided to head over and play on his basketball team. Unannounced to us it was a campus wide event with over 600 people there in support of the games! Noah and I were the only "Ibrunis," meaning whitemen, and we were able to play in full uniform for Reymo and his team. There were speakers lining the entire court that was surrounded by a five story tall dormitory where people lined the balconies to watch the game. Very cool experience.
Another one of our friends here, Stephen (26), asked Noah and I if we wanted to go downtown to watch the futbol game at the local cinema here in Cape Coast just last week. He explained to us that the cinema is only used to host futbol games and that there is always a pretty good turn out, and that there was. There were almost 300 people there to watch the game on the big screen. Everyone was extremely enthusiastic about there favored team, there was dancing, and a whole lot of cheering and "booing" every time something happened that the fans either supported or denied.
During the month that I have been here, Noah, Lukas, Pauline, and I also took a trip to Kokrobite, a small beach town just south of Accra. We stayed in a touristy place called Big Millie's Beach Resort that was a little too busy for my liking, but still a very good time. I was able to meet some other volunteers from a small northern village that are here through the projects abroad program. It turns out that they are actually coming to Cape Coast tomorrow so I plan to meet up with them for dinner and to hang out during the night. We will probably go to Oasis, the beach resort in town where I have become particularly friendly with the staff and the owner.
Apart from attending Oasis on Wednesdays with the other volunteers that live in Cape Coast, my friends and I have been able to check out different beach side restaurants and bars. There is the Orange Beach Bar that has a nice Rastafarian feel, and a hostel just next door where the owner hosts a bonfire every Tuesday on the beach. Kobe hosts the bonfire on Tuesday because he was born that day, and he celebrates his birth by playing music with his friends, while drinking palm wine. London Bridge is also a very popular area in town just towards the beach from Kotocraba. There are several local joints that we enjoy going to with Stephen, and two volunteers name Marie and Becci who are from Germany.
During the month that I have been here I also took a trip to Elmina Beach and stayed at the Stumble Inn for two nights and three days. This Inn was much more of my style. It is quiet, quaint, and calm. Noah, Lukas, Pauline, and I all went together where we relaxed, skim boarded, swam, and ate great food for the weekend. Easily one of my favorite places here so far.
Noah and I also took a trip to Cape Coast Castle just last week to take a tour to understand the historical importance of the site that we walk past almost every day. The tour was very impressive and our tour guide seemed to be particularly moved by the history that she had to share. The Castle was taken over by four empires and used, in its end, as a slave castle to export slaves to the Americas during the existence of the triangle trade route.
Pauline left last weekend to go back home to Switzerland before she leaves for South America in two weeks time. In taking her place, two new German girls have moved into the apartment that Lukas and I still call our own. They are very nice girls and we get along well. Lukas and I cooked Wednesday night, they cooked Thursday, and Noah is cooking tonight which altogether allows for the best three meals I have eaten here in Ghana so far that we have prepared ourselves.
As for my internship in the hospital, I moved from the Intensive Care Unit to the pediatrics ward just after my last post. I have been in pediatrics for almost a month now. I have absolutely loved my time there, and have witnessed some pretty traumatic injuries. Most of the children that come into pediatrics are suffering from trauma, not from illness, although we do have some cases of meningitis and malaria. The pediatrics ward is always full of patients, sometimes there being almost thirty patients in total, so I will only discuss the most interesting cases that I am able to deal with throughout the day. The patients I will create my own post for because some of their cases are complex and will require a lot of explaining.
And now for the cultural detail of the month. As I mentioned earlier, Kobe celebrates his birthday which is one a Tuesday. The name Kobe actually means "Tuesday Born." Most Ghanaian people have two names, if not more, that describe something about themselves. Either the day that they were born, the season that they were born, the order in their family that they were born, and so on and so forth. I am still learning the different names and their meanings, but each of the names has a male version and a female version. As you can guess, there are a lot of Kobe's (Tuesday), Fifi's (Friday), and others all running around Cape Coast. Because of this, if there are more than one person with the same name you just add their other name to the end. So this means that I am Kobe Lins, because here I have decided I was born on a Tuesday even though I am not entirely sure. People asked me as soon as I arrived and I didn't have time to find out so I went for it. We have to do that every once in a while here when we do not expect some of the cultural differences that they ask about!
I think I have covered most everything important from my last month and will get back to the blog soon with more updates and an analysis of the patients from the pediatrics ward. Wish me luck in my travels.
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