Our final 4 team members arrived today: Dr. Fynn-Thompson, Dr. Ravi Thiagarajan, Dr. Vipin Mehta and his son Nitish.
Today the team split up into two groups. The veterans went to the hospital to finish the last minute details so we will be ready to operate in the morning. The team saw additional clinic patients and finished the echo reports from all patients. Then the team met as a group to decide on the final OR list for the next week. The first two patients tomorrow will be Ama-Sabina and Collins.
The new members of the team went on an adventure to the Cape Coast to visit St. George’s Castle (The Slave Castle) and to do a Canopy Walk. The trip began at 7:00am when 14 of us carefully boarded a van, henceforth called the clown car! The trip was 4 hours to the coast over the roads we are beginning to know so well, partially paved/dirt and filled with pot holes. At one point on the trip we had to stop because we thought, at minimum, we had a flat tire. Luckily that was not the case and we continued on our way.
We take so much for granted. We turn on the faucet and water comes out or we turn on an electrical switch and we have power to any appliance we need. That is not the case many places in Ghana. We traveled through some remote villages today, many which had no power or running water, only a well to draw water. We saw the children bathing in buckets by the well, some getting ready for school and the adults filling pans and containers with water to carry on their head back home. Home is not necessarily close by either. The roads were lined with families selling goods carried in baskets or bowls on their heads. We saw open air markets selling furniture, building supplies and even caskets!
We arrived at the Castle just before noon. The Castle was originally built for the trade in timber and gold and was later used in the transatlantic slave trade . At any one time there were 1000 slaves (600 men and 400 women) held waiting to board ships to be traded to other countries. They were not allowed to bath for months at a time and were only given enough food to keep most of them alive. Many African Americans can trace their ancestry to Western Africa. By the time the slave trade ended, 8 to 12 million slaves had traveled through these doors.
The canopy walk was in the rain forest and consisted of linked rope bridges connected by platforms above the tree line about 120 feet up! Everyone was brave enough to try this experience but me. I have a profound fear of heights! Even the most courageous in the group agreed by the end of the walk, I had made the correct decision.
The answer to yesterdays question of the day is: cocoa
Question of the Day:
What are the two largest cities in Ghana?
Fact of the Day:
Ghana is one of the most populous countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is home to nearly 18 million people
-Susan