Obrunni

We really are the only white people around. I think in the entire time I've been here, I've only seen two other white people, and they were at the tourist spot - the waterfall. I saw one Asian man, as well. He was just driving down the street.

It seems weird to me how racially homogeneous Ghana is, but there just aren't people here who aren't African. In the US, you have people from everywhere and different colors are common. In Ghana, if you aren't black, you are out of place.

We have had two different types of responses to our presence. In the city, taxis honk at us and men holler after us "I want you to be my wife!" in a way that I can't tell if it's taunting or sincere. I can't tell if the city men think we are beautiful, or just plain silly. And, of course, I really don't appreciate the hollering either way.

In the rural villages, the response is very different. People just stare. Pretty much every person you meet on the street follows you with his or her eyes until you pass. Everyone wants to say "good morning" to you - often the only English they know. But the most striking response we have had is from the beautiful Ghanaian children. Everywhere we go, we acquire a massive following of small children. They are just fascinated by us. They go crazy with blushing and smiling if you wave at them, and if you learn a few words of Twi or Ewe to say to them, like "memahmooasi" which means "good morning" in Twi, or "indi" which means "good morning" in Ewe, they get so excited! I've taken so many pictures of adorable masses of children, because they also love cameras. If you show them your camera and take their picture, they LOVE to see the picture you've taken. They laugh and smile until you can't help but laugh too! Even when we work our clinics at local churches, so many children commune to sit by the doors and just watch us. Sometimes our clinics can last all day, from 8:30 AM to 5 PM, and the children stay the whole time. They just watch, fascinated. They don't get bored, they don't talk too loudly, and they don't interfere until you address them first. They just watch. It was a bit eerie at first, but now it's just cool. And even thought I've found that many of the children know no English, a smile can go so far with a child. Smiling and waving can just make them giggle and giggle and giggle. Plus, at one place where we worked, the children were so excited to help us move all the chairs back after we had finished. They sprang up and ran to be helpful. Then they loved it when we shook their hands and said "akpe" or "thank you."

Another thing about Ghanaians that has really struck me is the sheer beauty of the women. Every Ghanaian woman wears some kind of dress or skirt made of beautifully colorful patterned cloth. The little girls have their ears pierced and wear beautiful cloth as well. The women are simply elegant. They have perfect skin and stand up very straight. And many of them have stunning smiles. I can't imagine why the Ghanaian men holler at the white women when they have gorgeous Ghanaian women everywhere who I think are FAR more beautiful.

Another cool thing about the women is how they carry their infants. They use a piece of cloth to put under the baby's bum, and then they tie the around their torsos. Again, here is a pretty good picture of the set-up that I found on the internet: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/394136715_9cee5977fe.jpg?v=0. I'm sorry for all the internet pictures, but I think they help me convey some of my thoughts that I'm not articulate enough to paint a mental picture of for you. And although this baby doesn't look very happy, so many of the babies that I've seen are perfectly serene. They seem to be so comfortable against their mothers' warm backs, that they often just snooze. Women are also not afraid to nurse in public. In fact, we have had one or two women nursing while we conducted their eye screenings.

Its hard for me to describe what I think about the Unite for Sight program so far. There are wonderful aspects, and there are aspects that trouble me. In particular, one of my greatest frustrations is the huge problem of the language barrier. Sure, many of these people have a few words of English, and sure I can say hello and count to five in Ewe, but that doesn't mean we can really communicate. I know personally that when I am a patient being cared for, I must know what is being done to me and why, and I must receive constant feedback, or I become very frightened. With these people, I can't imagine that they fully understand what many of us are trying to tell them, and the reasons that they are receiving glasses and medication are a mystery to many of them. We only have one guy on our team who speaks Ewe, and he doesn't have the time to explain every malady and every medication to the people because we are often so swamped that we don't have time to see everyone as it is! Although I think it's amazing that we are able to give these people eye glasses, medication, and surgeries, I am so worried that we are not telling them enough.

In terms of what this means for my views on medicine, I realize that I need to become fluent in Spanish. Right now, I am competent, but I want to be fluent. If I am going to be an effective doctor in the States, I need to be able to communicate with all my patients, not to the exclusion of the large Latino populations in so many cities. Being able to speak the same language as your patients seems invaluable, and it hurts me to not be able to give many of the people we see here the feedback they deserve.

Okay, okay. Again, I grow verbose. Of course I'll have more to write later, but perhaps I should spare you the trials of reading every single though that comes to my mind. I head out to Tema tonight to stay for a week. Tema is about an hour from Accra, and I don't know if there will be internet available, so perhaps you will be spared my rantings for another week. We'll see :)