Pics- Life in Ghana

Pics- weekend at Mampong

Top 10 lessons learned so far

1. This is a God loving country. You will be asked what church you belong to and if you would like to go on Sunday within a 20-minute conversation. Note: agreeing to Catholic mass means waking up at 6am to attend a 2 or 3-hour mass; bring snacks.

2. Cabs are in greater supply than demand, and so they are costly and not our favorite form of transportation. Tro-tros, however, although not the best smelling or safest of vehicles, will take you anywhere and everywhere you want to go for less than a US dollar. We loooove the tro-tro.

3. If you search long enough, and talk to the right people, you’ll find delicious meals for super cheap and of sizable portions.

i. Adding a hard-boiled egg or fried egg to any form of rice, will instantly make it a tastier dish.

ii. If you tell the canteen staff you want Red Red for lunch, and then stop coming to the canteen on a regular basis because they don’t have it….you will find yourself eating piles of Red Red by the end of the week. Many thanks.

4. South African soap operas are the best form of television entertainment. But commercials inviting you to South Africa are played at every break and they are really enticing.

5. It’s perfectly acceptable for people to yell Obruni! (aka white-person!) anytime, anywhere. The inflection does vary.

6. There are goats EVERYWHERE just roaming around. The come in all different colors, shapes and sizes. They’re the equivalent of our squirrels.

7 . “Please, I’m coming” really means “Excuse me, I’m leaving.”

8. We already think it feels so much cooler outside if there’s a 2-degree temp drop.

9. Running water is not a given, therefore, showering every other day is perfectly acceptable.

10. Hand washing is the only form of washing clothes. It is best to push the time frame between washing to two weeks given the amount of time and labor that goes into this process. After your clothes have dried out on the line, it’s important to check them for any insects or critters. For example, one may find a giant ant in her underwear. Just saying.

Labor and Delivery

I have a whole new respect for mothers in this world. The images I have seen in the past few days have been ingrained into my memory. I’ve seen women give birth on tv in health classes, but it’s not real until you see it in person. Let me describe how it goes here.

Women show up and are admitted into the first stage labour room. They are closely monitored until it is showtime. And just about when the baby’s head is ready to break through, the woman walks herself (usually naked and moaning in pain with her own IV bag in her hand) to the second stage labour room. There are three beds in both second stage labour rooms, and each is lined up right next to each other. There is not much space between each bed and there’s certainly no such thing as a private room, or even a separating curtain. When it’s time to deliver, it’s time, and nobody cares if her body parts are open to the world. There’s also no such thing as an epidural during delivery. These women do it all natural, unless of course there is a complication and she is taken to surgery for a C-section.

It seems like women deliver in no time. Some of them barely make it to a cot before they are ready to start pushing. It’s amazing. After delivery, the nurse then shows the woman her baby, and the baby is taken away for Apgar score and washing. Next step, third stage labour, or delivery of the placenta. Women are injected with oxytocin, and the process begins. With some massaging and a few pulls of the cord, the placenta is out. There is more cleanup involved, but I won’t go into details about this. It’s graphic, and it looks pretty painful. I’ve seen more women scream during this process and the suturing that often follows after giving birth than when they are actually delivering. Finally after the woman is cleaned up and the baby is washed and oiled, they are united for breastfeeding. It’s truly an incredible process.

We do things very differently in the US, and some may even say we’ve medicalized childbirth, but it’s with good reason. There are women all over the world delivering completely natural, with no skilled birth attendant to assist. Those areas are also often accompanied with high maternal and infant mortality rates. Even here, the staff is skilled and well-trained, but there is just such limited staff, space and money, that it’s impossible for every woman to have her own room, with her own private physician and nursing staff, and machines monitoring every vital process. The reason there are no drugs/epidurals given is because they don’t have enough staff to monitor anesthetics. Also, the women here, depending on how busy the ward is that day, are out of the delivery room within an hour.

Yesterday, I saw six births in row within a matter of 45 minutes. Two of the six were complicated. The nurses usually deliver, unless there is a complication. They do a commendable job, and the amount of training they go through to be obstetric nurses or midwives would really be like the equivalent of a nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant or a nurse trained in high-risk pregnancies. They know how to handle emergency situations, but there are still emergencies in childbirth that require the skills of a physician.

The first complicated birth was a breech birth, and so the doctor on staff was called in. The baby made it out with much pain to the mother, but unfortunately the cord had wrapped around the neck. The doctor immediately began resuscitating the baby. After suctioning and applying oxygen, the baby finally took his first few breaths and began to cry. All of the attention was solely on the baby. Every staff member and observer was crowded around the resuscitation table. But the mother was just left alone on the cot, and I could tell she was in-between feeling the need to just rest and feeling anxious trying to look over to see what was happening with her child. The second complication did not end well. It’s hard to tell what actually happened. Unfortunately, with the shortage of physicians, lack of constant monitoring (and machines to do this), lack of access to antenatal care, not being aware of the major warning signs of an arising complication, etc. the infant mortality remains at about 57 deaths/1000 births (or 5.7%).

On my last day spent in the labour ward, I went into surgery and observed a Cesarean section. That’s how I came into this world, and so I found myself in awe of the process. I paid close attention to the cutting and suturing involved. I had flipped sideways, transverse, and was an emergency situation. My mom was cut vertically, while most C-sections are a transverse cut. I had dissected portions of cadavers at MSU, and so I was aware of the amount of layers of tissue that have to be cut through before even reaching the uterine cavity. But still, this surgery was both intriguing to me as I watched the technical progression of cutting, removing the baby and the placenta, and suturing every layer, and also personal as I thought about the sacrifice and healing required from my mom’s body for my birth as her tissues were quickly cut across, intersecting the natural lay of the muscle lining. As I grow older, work within reproductive health and understand that probably within the next ten years I might be having my own children, I feel more connected to my mom. Women endure a lot to give birth.

Pics!

A few pics just to give you some visuals

Walking around in Tema.

The living accommodations and Katie in her

sleeping bag liner looking like a nerd with her

headlamp :) My sleeping bag is possibly my most

treasured possession now. It's been a great cushion!

It's hard to get a clear picture here of the true

essence of a tro-tro, but this is as close as I could

get to showing you.

Hand-washing the laundry

The coveted Red Red, soo delicious.

Akwaaba- You Are Welcome Here

I’ve had an amazing week. I know the last post indicated I was having some doubts, but I think it’s natural for there to be an adjustment period. I finished up my week in Antenatal Care, which was a really great experience. The nursing staff was very helpful in teaching and showing me around, and I gained a view of how health care is executed with limited resources. The staff is doing their best with what they have to work with, but there are definitely challenges. I wonder how counseling and comforting the patients works here. Being in health education, I want so badly to be able to ask these women so many questions about how they feel as a patient. I think maybe it comes down to time limitations. But it's hard for me to get a completely clear picture because of the language barrier. The nurses are great, but there is definitely a power dynamic between the nursing staff and the patients. Patients certainly do not act like consumers of health care. I was surprised at the style of support given when a woman would come in with a high-risk condition or had already had a miscarriage. In the US, pregnancy is such a special thing. Women for the most part are regarded with such care and delicacy when they are pregnant. Maybe it’s because pregnancy is so much more rare than it is here. There really isn’t a woman of reproductive age that doesn’t have a child. It’s still very special; as we’ve learned the inability to get pregnant here is probably the most devastating news a couple could receive. But, it’s strange because this is a very touchy-feely culture as far as personal space goes. One day I was at the market bargaining for some goods and the woman trying to sell me her jewelry touched the corner of my eye to remove some make-up without even asking me. She just stuck her finger in my eye. People openly give hugs too and everyone always smiles and says “you are welcome” or “akwaaba” in passing. It’s an extremely friendly culture. I love it. Yet, I get the impression with the women that came in to ANC, that they don’t need to be pampered in any way because they are pregnant. Pregnancy is completely normal, very common and completely expected.

I was really happy to be around these women. To me pregnancy is such a fascinating process. And it’s so interesting to see all the different shapes and sizes of their bellies – to see if they carry the pregnancy high or low, whether it’s her first and her abdominal wall is still firm or whether the baby is transverse or breech and you can actually palpitate the head. The one very rare event, however, is when the husband/boyfriend shows up with the woman to support her. On top of the fibroids research project we’re working on now, we’ll also be assessing attitudes of women on male involvement in antenatal care. When a man actually does show up with his woman, they get first priority. Literally, they go to the front of the line. And you should see the change in voice amongst the nursing staff when a couple walks in. I may not be able to speak Tri, but I can for sure pick that up.

Tomorrow I start my week in Labour and Delivery. I’m so excited to see a live birth, I’m really looking forward to the week. I’m sure I’ll be doing some clinical work and holding newborns again. Last week, when a woman at 39 weeks came into the clinic, the midwife took her in a separate room to check her cervix for dilation. Then she made me do it. Soooo, again, I’m thinking they think that we’re some kind of nurses or something back home. So with any luck, I’ll be catching babies this week!

For the weekend, we went to Mampong where a few of the others from Michigan are staying. It is absolutely gorgeous up there! We stayed in the botanical gardens. This weekend I'll be here in Tema, so I'll have some time to post the pics. It’s so much more lush and green; there are large rolling hills and mountains. It’s also much cooler. I was even able to go for a run this morning, which let me say, if you ever get the chance to run in Africa, be prepared to sweat buckets. But yeah, it was a real treat to stay there this weekend. Tema has it’s own charm, but it’s really hot and there’s not much of nature-y landscape. So the backpacker in me was super happy to escape north this weekend. Many adventures to come!

Adventures of the Obruni in Tema

Hi all,

I apologize for the delay in updates, I’ve been pretty busy here and I’m still trying to figure out the best means of communicating. There is an Internet café near the hostel that we are staying at, but it gets a little pricey and due to a heavy rain the other day, the internet was down for a few days. International calls are cheaper for me to make, but my minutes go fast, and as I learned talking to my parents this weekend, the connection is not great. I figure the best way to keep everybody posted is through this blog and emails (please update me too!). I may not be able to answer back right away, but I love hearing from everyone J Hoping all is well at home.

This is going to be a long post, so I’ve broken it up in sections.

The Adjustment

Well, I’m finally settling in here in Tema. It’s taken some time, though. When I stepped off the plane I could only feel pure excitement for this adventure. A few days after being in Accra, those feelings started fade and were partially replaced by my questioning thoughts. Let me preface by saying I’m truly grateful for this experience and Ghana is a beautiful country, but I think many people who go abroad for some time can empathize with the way I was feeling for the end of my first week. The cities are overcrowded, there is always traffic and the amount of pollution is just amazing. The smells are something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. It’s really really hot, so you can imagine the amount of body odor going on; plus they have open sewage systems on the side of the roads. There are some covered sewers- one night walking in town in the dark, I nearly stepped in a pile of backed-up sewage that was seeping from a sewer with a closed cap. But mostly there are just deep ditches at the side of the road for garbage, waste, you name it, and especially on the hot sunny days, the sharp smell escaping from the ditches is overwhelming. A couple times walking to work, we’ve seen men urinating on the side of the road into the ditches. (My friends were a little alarmed, but thanks to my Uncle Charlie, I’m well conditioned to seeing public urination) The environmental health science alarms are definitely ringing loudly here. Ghana has made amazing progress, but it is still developing. So there are some things that will require an adjustment period. I know this is not supposed to be comfortable or easy and I’m glad, because I’d never learn anything if things were that way.

Things have been a little busy, and I realize I have to back up a bit here in order to stay in my chronological order. I think I left off at the weekend before we headed to Tema. A lot has happened since then, but I’ll rewind…

Last Saturday evening, we met up with my friend John. He’s in the HMP department at School of Public Health and is from Ghana. He and his buddy Kwaku (Kweh-ku) took us out for dinner and drinks. It was kind of interesting because at this point Ajab, Katie and I all wanted to try out the Ghanaian food. But John and Kwaku wanted to take us to hangouts spots with a younger crowd. And so we had pizza. This bring me to my sidenote about food:

There are about four staple Ghanaian meals: Banku, Fufu, Jollof rice and fried rice. Sometimes we come across Wache (beans and rice) and Kenke. Banku, Fufu and Kenke are all made from a combination of cassava and corn dough. They differ by consistency. Fufu is doughier, kind of like raw bread dough and kenke is much thicker, corn-based. All three are rolled into oval-shaped balls and served with some kind of spicy tomato-like soup and either chicken, goat or fish. Ajab loves Fufu and Banku, but Katie and I usually stick to fried rice, plain white rice or jollof rice (fried rice in a tomato-based sauce). I was really excited for the Ghanaian diet initially because the first meal I ate, Red Red, was soooo good. It’s basically black-eyed peas served in a red sauce with fried plantains on the side. But we have sadly found out that Red Red is rare. I don’t mind some of the other dishes that I listed, but they are generally pretty spicy and oily. I’ve actually been sick for most of this week (which could be due to so many things) but I figure I’m just building my immunity for many global trips to come J

Departure to Tema

Last Monday morning (May 10^th), we woke up early and prepared ourselves for the first day of work. Kofi is the name of the man that will be watching out for us here. He’s Ghanaian, but has lived in the states for some time and works for UM. He’s the man. So Kofi took us to the Tema General Hospital hospitality center where we will be living for the next couple of months until we move in with Dr. Deganus or whoever will host us in July. The stay here in Tema is pretty nice. Katie and I are in a room together. We each have a twin bed and we have a bathroom and shower (that works most of the time), which is really great. I know some of the others studying here are bucket showering on a regular basis, so we are grateful for running water! Ajab is in the room across the hall. The people that work here are so friendly and have been extremely kind to us. We got lucky!

After dropping off our stuff at the hospitality center, we headed to Tema General Hospital to meet with Dr. Deganus. She warned us that the first day would be rough. Mondays are postnatal days and the busiest of the week. I had described in the previous post that at least fifty women were waiting for care in the maternity ward. That was on a Thursday. Hundreds of women were waiting on Monday, some had been lined up since 5am. It was 10am when we started our day.

I was placed in the Reproductive and Child Health unit. There is a little bit of a misunderstanding of what public health is here in Ghana. In order to be in public health you have to either be a nurse or doctor. So they don’t quite understand at first when we tell them we’re strictly public health. Also, the nurses are so overwhelmed that they’ll take any help they can get. When I walked into the room, the nurse was running things on an assembly line system. About ten women would walk in with their infants; she’d give her five-minute speech about the importance of vaccinations and protecting from infectious disease. Then each baby would get vaccinated one after another. After the first round of women and infants came in, she looked at me, pointed at the needle in her hand and motioned for me to come help her. I’ve given shots before to patients, but I felt in no way comfortable vaccinating six-week-old newborns. So instead, I mixed and prepared all of the vaccines for the nurse. I’m sure by the end of my internship I’ll be vaccinating children.

After my first day of work at Tema General Hospital, I definitely had to take some deep breaths. First breathe of air: We found out we actually don’t speak the language-something I wasn’t expecting. I was thinking we’d be able to provide all of this health education. But most of the women can’t understand us. English is the predominant language in Ghana, but people from most parts of Greater Accra (especially where we are) prefer to speak Tri (chwee). So because we can’t speak the language, we have learned we’ll have to help in other ways. Second breathe of air: There are serious overcrowding issues. The amount of women just waiting to get some kind of care for themselves and their infants was shocking, and it was daunting to us that many had to be turned away. The health workers all understand that there is major lack of space, lack of resources, etc. Dr. Deganus has literally pulled the administrators out of their air-conditioned spacious offices, shown them the madness, and begged for better solutions. I hope we can make constructive recommendations to help her, the rest of the staff, and the patients with comfort.

So after a few exhausting days, Dr. Deganus sat down with us. I truly admire this woman, by the way. She asked us how we were feeling about everything. We were of course polite, but she could see in our eyes some of our obvious concerns. She explained that there are days that she has to remind herself that Ghana is a developing country, and we all have to be prepared that things aren’t going to be perfect. But if we can focus on the glass being half full, then we can start to see the good things about the hospital system. She also tapped into that over idealism that I previously mentioned that public health students (and generally westerners) bring to developing countries. We have to remember that at this point, even a simple small suggestion can go a long way. That talk with her took away any of the anxiety I was feeling. We are truly lucky to be working with this woman. She gets it.

Working in Tema

After the craziness of Monday, we were place in Adolescent Health for the rest of the week. Auntie Monica runs the show there. In the morning we go on rounds searching for young women under the age of 25 that are either pregnant, or voluntarily would like some sort of counseling. They especially focus on the younger adolescents. The first day, we sat in on a session with a 14 year old that was pregnant for the second time. She aborted the first pregnancy at 13, but decided to keep this one. Auntie Monica (a public health nurse) did a fantastic job talking through all of the key points that we learn in classes like motivational interviewing and behavior change counseling. The staff here in general is great. They know that they have limited resources and education to work with, but the amazing work that they do-especially in reproductive health- is promising.

The third day brought an even sadder story in my opinion. We counseled another 14 year old who had aborted her pregnancy by drinking some sort of poisonous concoction, which unfortunately severely damaged her insides and probably her chances of ever getting pregnant again. She was explaining that her partner did not want to use a condom during sex, and that she really had no choice. When she became pregnant, he “hated her for the pregnancy” and so she took drastic measures to abort. We all felt for this young girl. It’s so easy to get attached to cases here, and we know we have to maintain professional relationships. But we took her out to lunch to let her know that she has support here at the hospital.

I’m sure some people are reading this and thinking things are slightly depressing here. Again, there is great work being done, and we get to be a part of that too. Plus, we make time for relaxing and fun. After our first week of work we headed to the beach with the others from Michigan and enjoyed a nice weekend away. I’ll post pictures of everything soon I promise!

The second week at the hospital, we all split off into different units. I have been in Antenatal Care for the entire week. I was more prepared for Monday, knowing that there would be a large crowd. Luckily, I was in an air-conditioned room, and got to examine babies all day! I checked the plates in their heads, skin for any infections, and the shape of their spines. I also got to hold them J They call me Obruni here, it means “white person.” So Auntie Kate, the nurse in Antenatal kept laughing at the skin color differences between me the Obruni and all the little Obibini babies (black babies). For the remainder of the week, I’ve been doing a lot of clinic work, helping the nurses examine the women coming in for check-ups and giving HIV tests. I’ve had a great time this week, I’m enjoying myself in Antenatal.

I’m running out of time on the internet, and I fear this post is getting to be waaaaay too long for anyone to want to read. So I’ll quit here. This weekend, we’ll meet up with the other Michiganders again and go enjoy some scenery a bit north of where we are. We plan on catching a futball match at some point this weekend too! I look forward to hearing from all of you too, hoping everyone is well. Talk to you soon, and pics are coming soon too!

Welcome to Ghana

Hey guys,

I've made it here safely...it's been a long couple of days. I left Detroit Metro around 10am on Tuesday, flew in to DC. My friend Katie from my program traveled with me. Since we had about a 7 hour layover, we decided to hop on a bus to downtown DC. We walked around, and to all my public health friends, the first building we came across was the the Department of Health and Human Services..ha. It was a beautiful day in DC. We sat outside at a little tavern and ate gigantic burgers and fries-a great American meal before departure. We did some more sightseeing and said hi to Obama at the White House...we thought it was necessary we should let him know we were leaving the country. Made it back to the airport with plenty of time, then flew overnight to Frankfurt. I've never been on a plane for more than 5 hours, so I when I wasn't trying to sleep (aka head bobbing) I was getting pretty antsy. The flight to Accra, Ghana departed pretty soon after touching down in Germany. I luckily had a window seat, and sat next to a man from Ghana. So we chatted a bit, and I was able to see a great view while landing.

I was absolutely shocked at the heat when we stepped off the plane. I was expecting it to be hot, but not this hot. And I'm told it gets hotter. Ghana is in the beginning of their rainy season so the average temp is anywhere from 85-95 degrees. Anyway, we were picked up at the airport and taken to a really nice hotel to get settled in. The third member of our team, Ajab, arrived around 8pm. We took showers, got settled in a bit, talked with our professor about our project and then got some much needed sleep. Thursday was a super long day. Not only were we jetlagged, but the heat was making us a bit woozy too. We took about a forty minute drive to Tema, and met with the hospital director and the doctor we'll be working with. Tema is a pretty busy city, and I'm told it's actually more middle class, while the surrounding nearby areas are lacking in resources. However, the doctor to patient ratio (because of the size of the pop) is the reason there are so many challenges.

It looks like we'll be doing 3 week rotations in prenatal care, labor and delivery, postnatal or maybe pediatrics for me. We may also get the chance to do some work with their PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV) team. We have this next week to figure out the details, and narrow in on a research project. Everybody is really nice and friendly here, and Dr. Deganus knows exactly what we're looking for as public health students...so I'm pretty excited about the experience.

We had the chance to take a tour and check out each ward. I probably won't be able to take pictures, so I'll try to describe it as best as I can here. It's not a hospital like you or I have been to, but it's not exactly a health clinic either. It's really more like several small health clinics clumped together in one area. Each building is sort of an indoor/outdoor set up with air flowing through. The patients mostly wait outside on the walkways, or on benches. The maternity ward waiting room is outdoors and has basically rows of pews for the women. The maternity ward was so overcrowded, I don't think I've ever seen so many pregnant women at a given time...there were easily 50 women, probably more, waiting either for prenatal check-ups or to get prepped for delivery. We saw a few women actually in the process of labor. I mean I know I didn't grow up in this heat, and probably the women here are used to it, but I cannot imagine giving birth in this heat with just a small fan blowing on me. Also, the smell of whatever sterile solutions are being used definitely wasn't pleasant either. But the staff are really encouraging and accommodating, so they make it work. I hope that we can help alleviate them, as they are overworked, in some way. We'll find out our main tasks sometime this next week.

Other than checking out the hospital, we've just been getting settled in. We went grocery shopping, got phones, settled into University housing for the weekend. We've met a bunch of students from England and from other areas of Ghana studying here. Also, the group of UM students that will be here for the summer showed up yesterday. So we had lunch/dinner with them, walked around a bit. The boys with us played a pick-up game of soccer with some of the guys in the neighborhood...it was intense. We hung around a bit afterward in the dorms and stayed up late chatting and playing UNO (thanks mom, that came in handy). Today we might explore some more. It's kind of strange, there is so much traffic here and people move quickly, but at the same time, it's so slow. Not much to do but walk around, read, sleep. Most of us don't even want to eat much because of the heat. One big meal in the day is enough and granola bars, bread and cheese, fruit...small things for other meals.

I won't be able to upload pictures until I get to an internet cafe with higher speed. But I'll try to get those up as soon as possible.

I can already tell this is going to be an amazing experience. I'm pretty excited for these next few months. I hope everyone at home is well. Miss you guys. Talk soon.


OH the one thing I left out here....everywhere you look, there is something World Cup related...can't wait to get into the craziness of it! See ya!

Into the Mystic

I'm ready to go. My bags are packed. I've shared meals and beers and hugs and kisses with my family and friends. I've got my itinerary in my pocket, DEET by the pound, visa secured, and a backpack full of all the essentials for the next three months. I also have a pretty amazing playlist, might I add, to serve as a soundtrack for this journey. I'm ready to go. I'm on my way to the airport, ticket in hand. I'm ready.

Realizing the great need for health education and outreach in the United States-and in Detroit- some people have fairly questioned, why Ghana? I can only explain it as simply as this: I have to go. I tried to bargain with myself in the beginning of my internship search, asking the same questions: why global health, why not domestic? In truth I probably could have been happy interning in Detroit or New York or DC or even Seattle. But every part of me whole-heartedly knows that I have to experience this. It may sound whimsical and mystic, but to me, at least for now, I feel it’s where I’m supposed to be…

Public health tends to attract the idealistic. But my experience in this program so far has only procured my ideals to incorporate sustainability and practicality. We are trained to understand that community empowerment is necessary in the process of change. We must offer the tools we have as public health professionals, while working in partnership with the community to build upon the existing framework. Change can only happen with the help of the community.

In one of my classes this past semester, the professor that is directing my project said something that resonated. She said to truly understand the challenges faced as a health educator/program coordinator in community building, you should live in an impoverished area for some time, where infrastructures are anything but stable. I know some of my friends in the field already can attest to this.

This summer I’ll be working in Tema, a city on the ocean, located about 40 miles from Accra. Tema is mostly a fishing/shipping town, but lacks resources. Women, in particular, endure many reproductive health problems due to lack of access to appropriate services. Many do not seek prenatal care, and the majority delivers at home, which consequently results in major pregnancy complications and maternal and infant death. The goal of our project is to provide education and outreach to the women of Tema, while supporting the one and only OB/GYN in the area, working to build a sustainable health education program/campaign to reduce maternal mortality.

Interning in Ghana isn’t just an opportunity to gain experience in health education within a resource-poor community; I could easily build that skill-set in Detroit. Rather, this is a chance to remove myself from what is familiar and go outside of my comfort zone. I have the opportunity to not only learn a great deal about a community in a foreign land, but to grow as an individual and truly test my capabilities away from home, away from luxury, away from comfort. I’m going to Ghana because it’s a chance to travel and see my world from a different point of view. I'm going because I believe in cultural collaboration. I'm going because I do believe in sustainability and community change, no matter how long it takes. But most importantly, it’s because I believe in this.

So if at very least all I get is a glimpse of global challenges, then I hope to realize the fortunes I have. If it’s a new community experience that I gain, then I hope to be able to draw comparisons to my own. And if it's a view of the inequalities and struggles that women face abroad everyday, then I hope to appreciate the freedoms and opportunities I have. A summer in Ghana is an experience worthwhile, and it's exactly the experience my heart is searching for.

Many Thanks

I am a lucky, lucky girl. These past few days have meant so much to me and I want to give thanks. Before leaving Ann Arbor, I was able to have some last minute get togethers with my SPH favorites. I've developed some of the best friendships this past year and I'm grateful for the closeness we share. Can't wait to catch up on our conversations, thursday night dinners and many laughs after our internships this summer. When I came home to Royal Oak after a pretty stressful week, I was able to unwind with one of my best friends downtown over a couple beers, Rays ice cream (yay!) and lots of funny moments. I definitely needed a night like that. On Saturday, my sister organized a get-together, which was the perfect reason to get to see all my family and best of friends before leaving. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my weekend.

I will miss all the things I enjoy doing in the summer (concerts with Kristen, up north with my friends, pool days at Aunt Linda's, cousins weekend in Glen Arbor, Michigan backpacking, etc.). But I will certainly take all the love with me to Ghana. Many, many thanks to all my family and friends...and for all my little good luck charms too!

And especially many thanks to Melissa, who always so kindly offers her house as a gathering place for family and friends, never ceases to put others first, and of course is the best big sister ever! I feel so blessed, my heart is full and happy.

I wish everybody a great, safe and fun-filled summer! See you in August :)

~Meg