Mole National Park

Mole National Park is located in Northern Ghana and is a difficult journey at best - transit in the North of Africa is unreliable and sometimes just doesn't exist. However now I can say that I have been on my first African safari! We went on both a jeep tour and a walking tour. We saw a lot of kob and some bushbuck (2 different types of African antelopes), elephants, monkeys, warthogs, and of course several different and colorful birds.

toilet paper

My husband and possibly mother-in-law will appreciate this more than anyone else I know, but toilet paper here is often green (colored)

taking fufu

Fufu is a Ghanaian staple. It is a pounded doughy grain (usually made from casava I believe). You eat it with your hand (right hand only) by pinching off a small piece and then using it to scoop as much broth as you can mange. You don't chew it - you just swallow the ball whole. This is the quintessential Ghanaian food - although many of the dishes here are eaten with the hand without the assistance of a spoon or fork. There is not a lot of variety in the food - given access to resource - but rice, chicken, fish, fufu, banku, and ampesie (boiled yams) are generally available. At this time of year there is also a lot of pineapple, watermelon, banana, orange, and apples.

sunsets

really nothing to say here - just have truly enjoyed the beautiful African sunsets.

Hospital Pharmacy in Ghana

I I spent most of the week upon returning from the Drug Safety Campaign working in the Okomfo Anokye Teaching hospital. This is one of the largest hospitals in all of Ghana. It is certainly the largest in Kumasi (which is Ghana' second biggest city.

Reverse osmosis machine

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Most of the aseptic area is consumed by this reverse osmosis machine - which is how the pharmacy is able to purify water for IV's, eye drops, solutions, etc. Something that we take completely for granted in the U.S. (that we would be able to have sterile water).

Neem tree leaves

The leaves of the Neem tree (which is abundant) contains quinine and is often used as self treatment / herbal remedy for malaria.

the hospital clean room

Had an interesting discussion with the main pharmacist in the clean room. They have no hood (this includes for mixing chemo) and the conditions basically would not be considered acceptable anywhere in the U.S. - but it is this or nothing, so they do the best they can to keep things clean and sterile. Everything is prepared on as needed basis - nothing ahead of time because it might be too difficult to keep sterile or it may go bad. They have requested a laminar flow hood and hope to get one soon.

water in Ghana

water in Ghana is sold in plastic sachets. this is 'pure water' which has been filtered and is safe to drink. if you are more discriminating you can buy bottled water for ten times as much (literally - this bag is 0.05 cedis and a bottle is 0.50 cedis) - and honestly i think the sachets taste better than the bottled water.

Lake Volta

Lake Volta is a huge manmade lake (the largest in the world I believe). It runs up much of the eastern side of Ghana. During the National Drug Safety Campaign, we stayed in a port town called Yeji in the Pru district. It is the northern terminus of the once weekly ferry from Accra. The morning that we arrived in Yeji we took a ferry across the lake to the more remote Makango on the eastern bank of the river.

a broom

I have seen one conventional handle style broom since coming to Ghana (and this was in the big teaching hospital). Most brooms are much more simple – a collection of tree needles fastened together.