Exchange for Change: Tales of an Obruni: Do you know Twi yet?

Today was another long but good day. I spent most of my day with the medical assistant Oppong receiving patients. He lets me take the history and diagnose, but I still don't have their drugs down yet. I still need him. All of the drugs seem so foreign to what I know in the US. I am sure they are mostly just different names, but it is still hard to get used to. I went on rounds with Dr. Boadum and spent some time in the pharmacy today. After working yesterday, I met one of the pharmacists. She was asking me questions and trying to teach me some Twi. We went over all the Day of the Week names, but I still forget. I usually just start saying something with an A for the girls and make up sounds for the rest of the name. The nurse taught me some Fanti, a different local dialect, but once again, I quickly forgot. I tried to explain that the language is in a different family than any language we have been taught, like Spanish, French, and Latin. I don't think she bought my excuse. I am still trying to pick up the language. Most of the time, the only word I recognize is Obruni, and then I know they are talking about me. Speaking of Obruni, it is still a concept I cannot understand. Some children are so excited to see me they run out onto the streets and follow me for a bit. Others are terrified because I am the only white person they have seen. I made a young child cry out of fear today. The most interesting case of the day was a woman who was admitted to the hospital for a swollen jaw. She had an aching throat so she and her husband turned to homeopathy. The homeopathic doctor stuck his fingers down her throat, and as a result Dr. Boadum believes that he ruptured her inflamed tonsils. I also saw another wound get stitched. It is very odd to see because it literally looks like you are taking a fish hook attached to wire.

When I spent some time in the pharmacy today, I was talking about my inability to determine age. There were 3 pharmacists working and I thought two of them were younger than me and that one was slightly older than me. To my surprise, they were all older than me. One of them was even a mother of two. Ghanaians do not age. Apparently, I look like I am 25, so the pharmacists were surprised that I am only 20. The pharmacy is a lot different than American pharmacies. The pharmacists have less schooling and the patients are essentially given boxes of drugs. There is no transferring of medications into a personalized bottle with directions for how to take the drugs. They are just given bags full of boxes of medications.

I was able to take pictures of the hospital today. It is very different than an American hospital, as is evidenced in the pictures. It has been a long week and I am looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully I am able to see some sights in Ghana. I think I might be going into Accra with Jen, who is meeting a friend in Accra.