Saying Good-Bye to Sister Sarah

Wednesday (yesterday) morning was spent in the Public Health Unit of the hospital. I was there with two of the other CCS volunteers that came a week and a half ago. The Public Health Unit is actually just an extremely tiny room - the size of a large closet - with one desk, a filing cabinet and a sink, all in extremely close proximity. In the room was a nurse, Christie, and of course, my friend Carl. He seems to be in almost every single ward/unit that I work in. We chatted with Christie and Carl for a good two hours, learning all about their Public Health system and sharing with them the Public Health system of America. Christie is the only Public Health officer in the entire hospital. It was very interesting, and both parties discovered many similarities and several differences between each system. For example:


Both parties are involved in:

1) Basic health education talks, with regards to hand-washing, healthy eating, exercise, etc.

2) Increasing public awareness through community talks/discussion, signs posted around hospitals with reminders of basic health practices, etc. 

3) Giving immunizations to all infants of major diseases 

4) Struggling with obesity, hypertension and diabetes.



This last one struck me as most interesting and it is something that I have become more and more aware of throughout my stay in Ghana. When many people - including myself - think of Africans, they most likely think of poor, starving, skinny, malnourished people. While that definitely rings true for parts of Africa, I've noticed more-so that the biggest struggle here is with regards to obesity and heart diseases. The Ghanian diet is extremely heavy in starchy foods: white rice, potatoes, plantains, banku and fufu, which are doughy balls made of corn meal or plantain that are then eaten in a broth. The starch in the diet greatly outweighs the other food groups in each meal and this is a high contributor to their issues with weight. Their breads are also very white and sugary and they fry so much of the food that is eaten. Plus, traditionally it has been a sign of wealth and high stature if someone had a few extra pounds on, so people here are slow to learn that the extra poundage is actually unhealthy to them in the long run. This idea is partially why I have been so in love with the Diabetics Ward because so many people there did not know that their diet has been the cause of their disease, leaving many educational opportunities for me with those patients. 


Speaking of the Diabetics Ward, this morning was my last visit in this department. Today was more of the same with health talks, exercises and observing more of the work that the nurses and Carl do here. It was actually quite sad leaving today because I had built such a connection with everyone in the department. They all had adopted calling me Sister Sarah and I really felt like I was part of their close knit group. Today, they said good-bye to Sister Sarah and we snapped a group photo to close the morning. I hope to keep in touch with them though, and I truly truly hope that this was not my last time ever visiting these wonderful people :)



Only this afternoon and tomorrow are left for my trip! Until then :)


Xede nyuie (Good bye),


~ Sarah