Workity Work Work - 07/15/08

Where do I begin describing what work is like this summer? I guess the easiest way is to start by saying that it is really nice to be out of the typical office setting for a change. I’m working at the PPAG Clinic in Cape Coast and split my time between Project Management and Clinicals. I get in to the office at 8 and spend about an hour helping the nurses set up until the driver has the truck all set up and ready. Then we head out to the “smaller communities” (apparently, it isn’t PC to say “villages” in Ghana anymore…hehe) to do trainings for peer educators on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SHR) issues and to monitor their program implementation progress. The thing is that we don’t do this just for 1 community but several in 1 day so that by the time we are done and head back to the office it’s close to 6 (some of the communities are almost an hour away) and then by the time I’m getting home, it’s more like 6:30. So that schedule was fairly consistent for my first 2 weeks b/c I arrived right at the end of the half year point before a batch of reports were due so all program items had to be wrapped up.

Some days were slow though so I got initiated a bit into the schedule of the clinic, where people come in for everything from STI testing and treatment to family planning, and even marriage counseling. On Tuesday afternoons and Friday evenings, a Ghana Health Service (GHS) doctor comes in to see patients that need physician consultations or any procedures related to ANC, PNC, or SRH. While people come in every day, Tuesdays and Fridays are the busiest and it’s quite impressive how this PPAG center survives with a staff of 5 (6 if you count the doctor, I guess). During my third week, we had to get all our records (meeting minutes, training logs and attendance forms, financial records tracking clinic supplies, transportation needs, and refreshments at events) in order and then write up all the reports. Fortunately,

PPAG Headquarters and UNFPA (a program partner) have specific templates for reports and much of the writing consisted of updating previous ones. Here are some lessons I learned during that week of report writing:

• Bureaucracy infiltrates EVERYTHING
• Procrastination and last-minute work are not only student problems but part of the human condition ;)
• Ideal record keeping doesn’t exist and sometimes “memory” has to be called upon (let’s just say that I now understood so much better what so many of my TUSPH&TM profs call “statistical gymnastics”)
• Monitoring & Evaluation really DO matter!
• I can never again complain about the printer or some other office appliance being out of commission for a bit b/c here, all they have to get things done are 2 very old PCs, a lot of the basics such as notebooks and plain paper, and a printer that is about to breathe its last breath very soon (we make minimal copies anyway and have to go out to various stores to make copies, print digital pictures, and burn the PPAG movies to CDs).

The long and short of that week of report writing is that I was glad when the deadline pressures and boredom of crunching #s or writing and editing a million times came to an end! Haha, yeah I guess the good thing is I got to learn how it works AND at least I know my mind won’t be blunt for school resuming in the fall J

I digressed a bit so I’m going to backtrack a bit to get in more descriptions about the community visits b/c they are such an interesting part of my work here. What happens is that my boss calls the PPAG rep in the community a few weeks in advance to suggest good days and times so that rep can figure out a good time with the PPAG peer educators (PEs), non-traditional distributors (NTDs – distribute condoms and birth control pills via foot or bikes), and Project Monitoring Committees as well as community members and the chiefs/queen mothers (esp. if we will be using a church or community square or something). Then we schedule the various communities in as best as possible and send reminders. These reminders are particularly important when there are meetings such as PE trainings and other workshops involving several communities in a district and they come in the form of letters delivered either by community members traveling between Cape Coast proper and the communities or if it’s far in advance, then they are delivered by us during meetings. Then we actually have to call when we are leaving so they can get ready or else, as happened in one case even when we called ahead, they will now be searching for and gathering people when we get there.

The drives are quite long at times but for me, they are very scenic and I’ve enjoyed seeing more of the Central Region (it’s sad how little I’ve seen of my own country). One funny thing about the drives is that we usually stop along the way to eat lunch (mind you, this “lunch” is usually between 10 and 11 and consists of heavy foods like fufu. Honestly, on my first day, I thought we’d eat lunch later so I passed on the fufu and then by 2 I was ready to pass out from hunger and had to get a FanYogo and small cake b/c the guys were def. not hungry – trust me, I learned my lesson and from then on made to forget the timing of the meal and just eat so I wouldn’t starve. Fortunately, I eat breakfast around 7:30 and I’ve been able to branch out from the guys’ usual fufu menu and sometimes have Ga kenkey (kƆmi) or Fante kenkey (fante dƆkunu) and even during report week, I got to have jollof and waakye from stands around the office J

Anyhow, back to the communities. Some are little towns and quite advanced with electricity and running water/tanks and some don’t even have any electricity. The PEs and NTDs are quite motivated and they participate actively in giving feedback, reviewing their progress, expressing their communities’ needs, and carrying out the required activities such as film shows with discussions , Life Planning Skills sessions (learn about the human body and changes during adolescence, receive techniques for positive self-esteem and decision-making etc.), individual and group discussions among other things. They are also required to come to a number of Training Sessions throughout the year for updates, monitoring, and networking. The Parent Advocates and PMCs are extremely supportive as well and everyone generally has a lot of enthusiasm. The few problems are that: they often expect money or gifts beyond the allowances for their transportation to and refreshments at meetings; any lack of supervision even for a short period from the PPAG office can lead to a decline in or cessation of work in the communities; their reports are sometimes not thorough or simply mention activity, the implementation date, and the # of attendees without stating the effect of the activity e.g. conclusions and thoughts from group or individual discussions, or visible behavior changes after film shows etc. This, I found out, makes it difficult to write reports on our end and this brings me back to my earlier points about the reports – basically, I wasn’t sure how accurate anything was and I sensed myself taking a distrustful stance while reading some of their reports or being skeptical when hearing some of their project reports. I guess I have to work on that issue for the rest of the time that I’m here.

Alrighty, so in saying all this, I should probably say who works at the clinic. On the clinical side, there’s Mrs. Brown, who is quite an advanced nurse (she’s been there for than 15 years) who serves as the Clinical Administrator. She does much of the counseling (e.g. STI, lifestyle, marriage, pre-HIV/pregnancy test, family planning evaluation etc.) and does all insertions and removals of Norplant and IUDs. She also makes presentations once a week on a local radio station on everything from adolescent changes to teenage pregnancy etc. and gives similar talks on clinic days while people are waiting to see the doctor. Mrs. Brown can come off as a bit stand-offish but she’s nice and is good at her work and enjoys what she does. Next in rank is Auntie Baaba. She’s been there about 9 years and is the nurse who interviews those who come in for family planning to determine what methods they desire and/or which would be best for them. She also assists the doctor during his clinic visits and cares for those who come in for treatment of what they call minor ailments i.e. STIs, infections, reactions to/effects of contraceptive methods etc. She’s really sweet and kind of motherly because she’s always checking on me and asking if I ate etc. etc. Then finally, there are 2 student nurses who were posted here from Accra for 1 year, ending in December. Their names are Mary and Barbara and they mainly assist Auntie Baaba by registering everyone who comes in the daily log and taking their blood pressure, temperature and weight. They are also responsible for sterilizing the instruments and cleaning the counseling and exam rooms every morning. They are about my age so we get to chat a bit more on an equal footing and they’ve come to be my friends.

On the program side, Mr. Baiden a.k.a Uncle Emma, is the Project Coordinator who is responsible for executing and monitoring all the field projects. He is super laid back and it definitely helps him deal with the quick-paced, always changing environment of the community work. He’s been there for about 10 years and seriously knows EVERYONE in every community and people really like him. I enjoy chatting with him b/c he has such practical advice to give and even just watching him in action tells me a lot about field work that I can’t ever get in the classroom. Finally, there’s Mike, a UCC student working at PPAG as his internship (called an attachment in Ghana) towards his major in Population and Family Studies. He’s 21 and will be a junior in the fall. He asks me a lot of questions about University students in the states (he can’t believe they are VERY similar to those here…lol) and also a lot of Public Health questions. He’s a nice guy and it’s nice having someone young around while we travel. The really cool thing is that we’ve been sharing resources – e.g. I print out articles from old TUSPH&TM classes for him and he shares Ghanaian documents (even a DHS book from 2003) with me. Love the collaborative learning!!! J Ok, and finally, there are Wofa, the driver , and Gilbert, the janitor/watchman who keep the whole place functioning smoothly. They are hilarious and are the ones who insist on speaking Twi with me so I can learn it properly and I really appreciate that.

So that is it for work. I was going to mention highlights from work but this is already REALLY long so I’ll write more later.

PEACE OUT!

About My New Family - 07/14/08

I was really nervous about going to Cape Coast and staying with a random family. I mean they were friends of my parents’ friends (yes, confusing, I know) but that didn’t mean my parents knew them and it meant I definitely didn’t know them. The worst part was that I had a nice family (between my dad, Nii’s parents, and various church friends) at home in Accra and was leaving them for a totally unknown one  Ok, I’m being a bit melodramatic so back to the point….I was nervous but for no reason at all b/c my family is AWESOME!

The Ntrehs actually went to the same Youth for Christ chapter meetings as my mum and have many, many other common friends than the ones who set up my living arrangement. We discovered this a few days after I arrived and it’d be an understatement to say that all parties were exuberant w/ thanksgiving to God and joy beyond imagination. AND, it’s like I came home b/c they speak Ga, I get to eat Ghanaian meals and basically get treated like a Ghanaian (they started off treating me more American but fortunately that ended swiftly). I get to help w/ chores and we all do daily devotion together as a family in the morning and it is so refreshing. They are very Christ-centered, simple, jovial, and super nice. It’s hard to totally describe them but I guess I can try to give little sketches of each of them.

My “dad” is a minister who is also a professor at the University of Cape Coast. He teaches Religion and Bib Lit as well as a class on Communication Skills and a Sex Ed class (for which the students actually call him “SEX” around campus – I died laughing when they told me the story). He’s really smart (obviously!) and he’s really hilarious too. As for my “mum”, she’s the epitome of Proverbs 31. She used to be a seamstress but is now studying here at the university to become a teacher. So her schedule is basically as follows: wakes up @ 3:30am, cleans the bathroom, reads until about 5:30, makes breakfast (many things including oats, porridge, pancakes from scratch), sets the table, calls us all for devotion around 6:30, gets us all the breakfast acoutrements as we eat and then washes everything once we leave, does whatever chores or errands she needs to get done and then makes dinner, and chats/discusses current events or watches tv w/ us all until her bedtime around 9. As amazing as that is, it’s more incredible b/c she does it w/ such vibrant energy all the time and a big smile on her face. She definitely tells everything like it is but she has a humorous sense – different from Uncle Ben’s but really funny.

Then there’s my “sister”, Ruth. She’s 26 and full of straight-up fire. Everything she does is sincere and whole-hearted and she is practically my twin (from birth order to life perspectives, it’s kind of creepy actually). I split the chores with her in the morning (sweeping, dusting, and curtain/window opening) and then after breakfast, we leave the house together to head to the taxi rank for a ride to work (she teaches 4th-6th graders Creative Arts – everything from textiles to painting – at a private school). In the evening our chores include doing the dishes, sweeping, and locking up the house, and fortunately for us, we do a lot of talking during the evening chores b/c otherwise, our nightly chats would go dangerously later than they already do (never ending before 11pm)…haha! You are NOT surprised I found someone to talk to for HOURS and HOURS :- P Basically, we get along fabulously and since her younger sister is studying in the US, I also happen to fit into the lil sis role quite well…LOL.

Finally, there is Stanley, another “foreign” student here. He’s an 80 year old Jewish man from New Jersey (I know! What are the odds that after leaving NY I’d be living w/ someone from my neck of the woods!). He mostly keeps to himself but during meals and sometimes in the evenings, we get to talk and he’s so sweet. He has a bit of a hearing problem so sometimes it’s like you’re yelling but he says the funniest and most random things. He LOVES taking all these trips around Cape Coast and Ghana w/ his class (he’s here for 5 weeks taking 2 classes in Sociology and Anthropology). On his first day here, I could tell he was looking at me funny but once we started talking I realized what the problem was. He had been trying to figure out why the girl speaking Ga just like and seemingly like a part of the family) had such an American accent…hehe. So when I explained everything from my Ghanaian nationality to my purpose for being in Ghana this summer, he was relieved for an answer. I think he was also glad for some sense of familiarity in a place very far from home. Anywho, so that is my Cape Coast family in a few generalized descriptions 

Exciting News

Today, after not doing anything for 3 weeks, I ran for 15 minutes. I know not much but I was starved for some working out and it was GLORIOUS! That's all :)

Introductory Entry 07/08/08

So I am FINALLY getting to this! It sounded like such a great idea to start a blog before I left for my summer in Ghana but of course I didn’t set it up before leaving and so once I got here and hit the ground running, the whole thing practically became a joke. For about a week, I didn’t even go to an internet café to check my mail and then when I did get to one the following week, I had so much mail to deal with I didn’t even think about the blog thing. Now as I’m pretty much through my 3^rd week, I figured it was high time so without further apologies and excuses, here it goes:

I left the US on the 19th in a bit of a whirlwind between detoxing from my Peru trip, witnessing Adwoa’s proms and graduations, and trying to get myself organized in NY (let’s just say I still haven’t really sorted through all my college stuff and now also have a few NOLA things…sorry for the clutter Mutti!) only to climb into a similar storm of craziness here. This time I didn’t feel the gushy feeling (think: “Wow! Wow! Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I’m home in Ghana!”) I had last year when I came back after being gone for 10 years. I was definitely excited and nervous but it was more of a peaceful, determined and confident state of mind in sharp contrast to the tourist perspective of last summer. After all, I had arrived with an itinerary filled with internship objectives, lists of specific people to visit, research to do, and wedding planning to get through and it all had to be done in a short 8 weeks – no messing around this time! HAHA.

I spent the weekend readjusting to my new surroundings and catching up with Nii Armah, a few friends, and my half-sister Golda. Then on Monday I had to report to the headquarters of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) in Accra before driving 2.5 hours west to Cape Coast, where I would actually be working. Talk about having to adjust several times in the span of a few days! Before I could be settled in Accra, I was heading to Cape Coast to meet my host family and my supervisors and to actually live in a city I had only visited as a tourist to the castles and Kakum National park. Nii drove me to my family’s home and then around the city and showed me some key points and also the PPAG clinic so I could familiarize myself somewhat before he headed back to Accra. Then, I got to chat with my host family, the Ntrehs (Rev. Ben, Auntie Alice, and Ruth), had dinner, chatted some more and headed to bed since I had an early start the next morning for work. And believe me! I’m very glad I rested up that first night because the first day of work was exhausting.

Actually, it wasn’t just the first day because I have been busy ever since and the weeks just fly by between the crazy work schedule and traveling to Accra every weekend. Basically, I wake up at 5:30, leave for work at 7:30, get home at 6, and don’t get to bed until after midnight. When I leave on Friday afternoons for Accra, it’s not for rest because there are so many people to see and things to get done in the span of 2 days (Saturday + half of Friday and Sunday) that I wake up only a bit later and go to bed much later. It’s a bit overwhelming at times but I’m getting the hang of it and actually feel like I’m thriving on the hecticness (lets hope that sticks for the majority of this trip…lol).

Anyhow, enough of all that. This entry was meant as a tiny introduction to get me into the mode of this blogging thing so I will sign off here. Since I’ve decided that it’s cheaper and easier to type entries on my laptop at home, save them on my thumb drive and then post them to the blog later, I will post this tomorrow so you all can peruse. And now that I’ve started, I will try really hard to be more regular with the posts so expect to get further details about work, my host family, and my other adventures here in Ghana.

Be blessed!