monday trip to apam

the students of the internship are split three ways: four went to apam (about 2-3 hours from accra) to work at a hospital, two (me and mhairi, pronounced like marie) are working with glona, and one (emily) is working at new horizons. mhairi and i were supposed to meet with the director of glona yesterday to set up our internship (we already had one meeting about what we were going to do) but he cancelled and we are to meet with him today. emily went to new horizons yesterday and since mhairi and i had the day free, we tagged along with the hospital students to apam. first we went to the planGhana (the program the hospital students are interning with) headquarters in Accra for a brief orientation. then we got on the tro-tro and travelled two hours to bawjiase (baw-gee-ah-see) for a more indepth orientation and lunch. we had lunch at a chop bar, or a really small restaurant. i had fu-fu and light soup. the problem with light soup is that it is SO SPICY. i don't think i'm ever going to get used to how spicy the food is here, but i'm much better off than the two poor girls who just arrived sunday and only had that spicy, unfamiliar food on monday.

after bawjiase, mhairi and i went to apam (another at least hour drive) with dr. owusu-ansah to drop off supplies for the internship students for when they arrive today (they stayed overnight in bawjiase, at a hotel with no running water...we're very lucky to be staying in accra). the hospital there shocked me. i think i was more overwhelmed by the desolate looking people in the waiting room than i was by the actual facility. it seemed like a very nice hospital, and a pretty advanced one at that, but it was obviously like no hospital i've ever seen. i'm not a big fan of hospitals in general, and seeing apam made me thankful that i'm doing my internship with glona. the pre-med and nursing students who are doing the hospital internship are excited and i hope they can make a difference and provide help where its needed. after touring apam hospital, mhairi and i travelled the three or so hours back to accra. it was a long day in a tro-tro. we got to try grilled corn, Dr. O-A bought us some from a street vendor. it was really good, it kind of tasted just like popcorn. i love being able to buy food (or anything i could imagine, really) from the window of the tro-tro. i'm going to miss that when i'm back in the US.