Palm Nuts, Surgery, and Good Samaritans

Hey guys! This week has flown by way too fast. Let me start with what we did last weekend. We generally have Saturdays and Sundays off which gives us some time to explore and relax. Last Saturday we were able to go to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Kwame Nkrumah was one of the most significant figures in Ghana's struggle for independence and became the nations first president. He was exiled from Ghana following a military coup and died out of the country, but his remains were later moved to this memorial. After that we went to the beach where we played some rugby. We tried to go swimming, but the lifeguards insisted that we couldn't go more than about five yards into the water. 

A statue of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

This is fufu. It is a dumpling-like food they eat covered in soup. It is one of my favorites.

Monday

This week I got to work with the St. Thomas Eye Clinic based in Accra. On Monday we had an outreach in Dodowa, a beautiful place with a large population of mango trees. This was a place I got to visit several times as a missionary, so it was fun to see it again. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard that morning which meant we didn't have a very big turn out, but I was still grateful for the awesome people we did get to see. 

This is the church in Dodowa we worked in.

Such a beautiful place.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a special treat for me. We went to the village of Nkurakan (pronounced N-kraw-kine) just outside of Koforidua. This was part of the first area I worked in as a missionary. We would spend two days here every week and we had a lot of awesome investigators in the area. I was amazed by how well I remembered the place. This town has a massive market that convenes twice a week. We were fortunately not there on a market day, otherwise we probably wouldn't have been able to hear a word anyone said. 

This is part of a cool little village our van broke down by. We waited here for a taxi to come take us the rest of the way.

This cutie was pretty excited to have her picture taken.

These were some fun kids we met while we waited by the road. I asked the two older girls if they were in school, and they responded that they are unable to go to school because they have to help their parents farm maize and yams. I have no doubt that they are very hard workers. 

This was the church building we were stationed at in Nkurakan. Four years ago when I used to walk by this building I never could have imagined that I would one day return to work inside of it.

Nkurakan

Some tasty snails a member of our team picked up on our drive back to Accra. Definitely not my favorite of foods.

Wednesday

The next day we had another long drive. We travelled to Akyem Wenchi in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Almost all of the people we saw this week spoke Twi which meant I got to use my limited language skills. The people here love it when we introduce ourselves in Twi. I introduce myself as Kweku (my Ghanaian name) and so pretty much everyone calls me by that name. 

The drive to Wenchi was pretty sweet, though it was ridiculously bumpy. A large portion of the drive was down a long dirt road with palm trees on both sides stretching for miles and miles. After driving for a while I realized that the palm trees were all neatly organized in perfectly aligned rows. These were not just random palm trees, they were being grown to harvest their palmnuts which can then be processed to make palm oil. Not to long after having this realization we came upon a large clearing where some palm trees had been cut down and about ten people were in the process of producing palm oil. Later we actually got to stop at one of these clearings. After our long and bumpy drive we finally made it to Wenchi where we had a fantastic outreach and were able to find several people in need of cataract surgery. 

Cow crossing.

Our outreach in Wenchi.

A couple of the friends I met in Wenchi

This is what the clearings where they produce palm oil look like. I am not sure exactly what the process is they follow, but I know it involves a lot of massive cauldrons over fire.

They find these little beauties in the palm trees. I "sadly" did not get to try them, but I have been assured they are delicious.

Here are some of the knocked over palm trees that have been harvested.

Thursday

Wednesday night we slept in a town not too far from Wenchi. Our hotel was really nice... but it had no power. It was a hot and sweaty night with lots of mosquitoes. Woot! The next morning we did a really quick screening in another nearby town and then we headed back to Accra with a couple of the individuals we had found who needed surgery. We got to spend the rest of the day in the St. Thomas Clinic observing two ophthalmogists perform surgery. The cataract surgeries were absolutely amazing to watch. Their are two operating tables side by side. One for the individual being operated on and another so that the nurses can prepare someone else for surgery. This means that the ophthalmologist can quickly move from one surgery to the next. The patient remains awake for the entire procedure. An anaesthetic is smeared on and around their eye. There is a lot involved in the surgery, but the general idea is that a small incision is made in the eye, the lens with the cataract is removed, and a new artificial lens is inserted. Because of how small the incision is the eye is able to repair itself without any stitches. 

I make this mask look good.

A couple of patients awaiting their operations.

That's about all for this week. I am still loving my adventure here. The people of Ghana continue to amaze me day after day with their simple acts of kindness. At one of the outreaches this week I got to help at the dispensing table where we have glasses and medications. Because the medications are not donated they must be payed for. There were quite a few people who did not have the needed money with them. I was amazed as I watched one time after another as those who didn't have enough turned to the members of their community and were quickly supplied with sufficient funds. It was a powerful lesson to me on what it means to love and care for your neighbor. This is a country full of Good Samaritans!