Turkeys & Chickens in our yard

These are our chickens, they are all white, and we recently added a black rooster and 2 hens. There should be about 8 total?? They are messy and loud. Then we have the turkeys that patrol the village. There are actually 3 total, another black one.... at the time the pic was taken.... these two were summoning the third one. They are quite hidious looking, and extremely irritating to listen to when they are gobbling or whatever noise it is that they supposedly make. They just stroll about, I think they belong to someone around here.

AB on burnt house rubble

Here is AB on the rubble of the burnt house in the village. Seth is up top with her to make sure she didn't fall :) She liked it, but quickly got down when the ground beneath her would crumble. haha. The close up of her was her trying to eat the cord on my camera!!! It is probably my favorite pic of her cause she is sooo naughty with her face!!!

AB in house!!!

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The pics are not in order on here.... but first she was in my chair. (pic1).... then she followed me to the door (pic 2).... and was a bit hesitant to come in.... the last pic is of her standing in the doorway, while I was in the hallway. She eventually came in... but was kind of scared. She is quite cute. In the pic on the chair you can see her dog collar!! hehe. Iti s pink and purple, with rhinestones!! Also, the wood paneling beneath the window is because she was peeling the paint off the wall and eating it!!! Now.... she is eating the dang wood!!

New pic of AB (aka Annabelle)

This is naughty AB in the gutter in front of the house.... she rolls around in it. In this particular pic I am leaving her outside and going in the house.... right after this pic she started crying and came running up to the gate. haha. She has a very naughty face here. Too dang cute. She looks like she is saying.... "heyyy what u doing??" I will take more pics tomorrow.... the other one's I took are not too clear, she doesn't pose well.

Surgery Week

Well, the last week has been super busy!!! The German doctors came to do surgeries all week at the hospital!! We started on the 16th with patient check-ins for monday surgery. Everyday the patients having surgery would be there, the patients coming in for check-in for surgery the following day, and the regular/new patients coming for consultation with the "white doctors". haha. When the white doctors come.... many people want to come get checked out. It's funny.

We did about 20-30 surgeries per day, starting at 6am and ending usually after 10pm at night!!! We eat when we have a bit of down time, but mostly it was just busy busy. The main surgeries being performed were cataract, growth removals, and glaucoma operations. Several patients stayed all week as they were having both eyes done!!! The flat surgery price is 150.00 GH cedis. Which is about $104.oo USD. Some people that can be 3 or 4 months salary!!! People here are severly underpaid, it is really sad actually. Many of the patients were older too, so perhaps their children paid for it, but we had some young patients too. The youngest was 8yrs. old, a girl with cataract.

All week I was in charge of consent forms for surgery. The patients would come register and get "lashed".... their eye lashes cut off... then to me to sign a consent form. I created my own little desk, and it worked out pretty well. I did that all morning and into the afternoon, then after all the patients had checked in, I would float around helping where I was needed. Most of us were technically done by about 5 or 6pm, but we stayed as "moral support" for the staff in the eye theatre, as they couldn't leave until the surgeries were complete.

I observed some of the surgeries, it was very intersting.... though eyeballs sticking out from beneath a sheet is not too attractive. I used to watch spays and neuters at the animal hospital... and never had a problem, but watching those eyes being operated on made me kind of queezy. haha. :)

The patients are hilarious. Especially the older one's. They are very talkative, and often don't listen to the doctor - especially the men. There was this one old man.... I don't remember his name.... we just call him Papa.... and he would get out of his bed all the time and go outside when he should be resting!! When he saw Mrs.Esaw (Maa) or myself coming, he would start running inside and jump in his bed!!! It was so funny. I made lots of "friends".... well kind of. By the end of the week, everyone knew my name. Whether they knew me as Stephanie or as Akosua Gyamfua.... when I walked down the hall, many people would be calling me and greeting me. The patients and families are very very grateful for everything we were doing. We often were bought "minerals" which are bottled drinks... fanta, coke, sprite, etc. We would have fruit, bread, eggs, etc. brought to the house, or to Mrs. Esaw's office in appreciation.

The hospital looks nothing like back home. Just think very very simple, with many open spaces. I will try and take pics this week. It is very different.

The surgeries are finished, and we are back to the normal everyday consultations.... the doctors return in November for another week of fun!!!!

Christy & Constance

This is Constance on the left, and Christy on the right. Constance was the housemaid when I first came to the house... but now Christy works for us. I like Christy better, she is very friendly and always smiling. She is very accomodating and always wanting to make sure I am happy and okay. She is married and has 2 kids - Kwasi and Kobe. She lives across the street from our house in the founder's house. She works M-F and on Sundays. From about 7-4pm.

Lake Bosomtwe

This is our day trip with the entire village last week.... about 60 kids in total were there!!! Lake Bosomtwe is the biggest natural lake in West Africa!!! It was a bit cloudy that day, so there is some fog over the mountainous areas... it is very beautiful though.

The man in the water is transporting bunches of plantains across the lake to another village via his raft. He had flipper-like paddels attached to his hands that he used to move the raft. Very cool.

The kids swam and swam all day. I personally did not go in the water as it was too cold. I also am not a big fan of walking in water where I can't see the bottom.... there might be dead fish, seaweed or other gross stuff down there. No thanks. I had fun watching the kids play though.