Fufu, Gunshots, and Sight Restored

Another fantastic week has come and gone (this was two weeks ago). This place just never stops amazing me. Last Sunday two of the workers at our hotel graciously made us fufu and light soup to eat for dinner. It was delicious. My friend Kaden and I helped to pound the fufu. It is hard work, but then again, your food tastes better when you sweat for it.

UFS volunteers enjoying a nice meal of fufu together.

Me pounding and my buddy Bergeson driving fufu.

 Monday

On Monday we were back at it again. This week I was with Crystal Eye Clinic again. We did a lot of traveling in a packed van. It’s a great way to get close to people… maybe a little too close. Anyways, on Monday we traveled to a fun little town I don't know the name of. We arrived around 11am and worked until about 5pm. We saw around 250 people that day. I have found that a very high proportion of those coming to have their eyes checked are older women. It is not infrequent to have someone brought to us with little to no vision in either eye. We also see a lot of cataracts, some so large and thick that they can be seen from several feet away. It’s sad to think that people have been living with poor vision due to something as small and relatively easy to remove as a cataract.

This town was awesome and filled with fantastic people. Right next to the building we were working in was a school playground with little kids in adorable uniforms running around. Most of them were terrified of me (because they don’t see a lot of white people), but I still managed to win a few of them over. We started to do visual acuity tests outside, but it started raining pretty hard which forced us inside the crowded building.

Our friends at the playground next door.

An optometrist explaining what we were doing to the crowd.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we had a chance to go to the Crystal Eye Clinic to observe some cataract surgeries. Dr. Clark is the ophthalmologist there and he was awesome to work with. He let me take a couple pictures of the surgeries and he even gave me a massive cataract as a souvenir. Cool! It’s amazing to watch as their eyes which were once clouded become clear. We also got to watch the optometrists working there for a while as they examined patients’ eyes with all of their crazy gadgets.

Wednesday

Wednesday we had a kind of exciting day in a town called Odumase. Odumase is right next to Kpong, an area I served in while I was here as a missionary. It was overall a mostly normal day until the police showed up. They walked around for a little while, but I just kind of forgot about them and went back into the building we were at. About forty minutes later I started to hear gunshots and saw a crowd of people standing just outside the door looking towards the main road. We were just about done with all of our patients for the day, so we decided to hurry and wrap things up. After we had finished and cleaned almost everything up I went outside to see what was going on. I saw a large group of police standing around some barriers on the road holding rifles. We continued to hear gunshots the rest of the time we were there. For some reason none of us felt overly concerned about it, so after finishing our work we walked over to a nearby chop bar to get some dinner as we continued to hear shots being fired. After eating we loaded up and the police let us pass them to start down the road. It was only then that I noticed the stones covering the ground. I later learned that the government had cut off power to that area of Ghana after they refused to pay some bill. A large group had gathered to protest the power loss and they began throwing stones at the police. That was when the police started firing shots into the air. Ghanaians are such peaceful and loving people, so it was weird for me to witness a violent protest like that.

People seated outside waiting for their acuity tests.

The coolest person at our outreach.

Thursday

On Thursday we were in the village of Akropong in the Eastern Region. It was a long drive there, but it was well worth it. We arrived at a little church building as usual and found a crowd waiting for us. The people were friendly and laughed as I spoke with them in Twi. I was doing visual accuity tests when I started to notice some little faces popping into the open window next to me. Then more and more appeared until their was a crowd of kids outside. I would test a patient's vision and then turn to the window to make faces at them, which they found to be hilarious. At the close of the outreach the local coordinator for Unite For Sight invited us to his home for some fufu and light soup. I ate my own bowl and then finished the portion two other volunteers had been sharing. 

My friends standing outside of the window I was working next to.

I convinced them to come inside for a picture. 

Ghana is soooo good! Every day I am hot, sweaty, and grateful to be here. It's fun to think about the impact a person's sight has on their life. I wonder as these individuals' ability to see is either restored or improved what impact it has on their lives. I wonder how it influences their work, their schooling, their relationships with others, and their overall quality of life. I am grateful beyond what I can express in words to be here witnessing such a miracle.