thanks Jazz for the spnaish posts!!! hahahaha...I get almost all of it...but not all. I will come back in a couple weeks and read them. hahahaha. Thats the best, i fall out laughing everytime i read your post.

So the kids totally have my heart. They really blow me away. Last night Morgan and I stated to watch a movie with the kids before they went to bed. We were totally exhausted, and all i could think about was wanting to go to bed. Then i look around the room at all these kids and i thought to myself. I love you.

these kids...you would never know their backgrounds if you had not read about them first. their resiliency amazes me. I look forward to their hugs and saying good morning to them.

morgan got the best picture today of the kids playing with our hair....and us with a look like....please no lice...hahaha.

we went to church this morning, then walked around the market, its been a pretty good day.

talk to you soon...kisses and love

¡Hola! everyone! so yeah things were crazy, then great. First when we landed in cuzco i thought oh the air is not that bad....HAHAHAHA until i started moving!!! then i could not breath....how does george lopez say it...i have a pain in my chess and i cant breff...hahaha.

the adventure at the airport was quite fun...we were somewhat forgot...hahaha...but all is well, the owners daughter who lives in cuzco came down to take us home...to the sunflower. I have funny video of morgan running around the airport trying to get warm. it is very very cold. the drive to the sunflower was amazing. i have never seen anything like it. our taxi driver pulled over so we can take a picture of the urabamba river friçom up high.

We arrvive at the sunflower and let me tell you. Muy Bonita....very beautiful. We met nicki along the way to the sunflower, nicki is another intern here who leaves on july 30th. We arrived just in time to take a quick nap and pick up the kids from school. The walk to pick up the kids is about .5 (I cant find the slash thing on this computer) miles down the hill from the sunflower. The walk back up the hill might not have been the best idea on our first day in cuzco.....WOW!! my chest felt so weird. I told my self next time i will take quick breaks so i can catch my breath until breathing becomes a little easier. After the kids cam home from school, they had lunch. Which is soup and some sort of rice or pasta. I had the soup and went to bed. the altitude had gotten to me (i know not very good english) so morgan and I took another nap, and basically did not get up again until dinner. I did not go to dinner rather I stayed in for the rest of the night.

Today: Today, i really got the chance to meet the kids. I know you are not supposed to pick favs but I cant help myself. they are sooooo freaking cute and loveable. They are amazed at how tall I am....they keep running up to me and marking where they land on my stomach. Its very funny. After breakfast we walked down to the river to wash clothes....which took about four hours. it was a moment I will never forget. by the way there is wild bull here. hahaha. your walking down the street and there is a bull taking a nap. you just walk around. yeah...

after clothes were hung, the kids ate lunch. I really love these kids. Morgan and I met with Leo who is in charge of the place to go over what he would like us to work on over the next month. on the way down the hill to make this post I was standing in the street when I hear MOOOO MOOO BERR MOO i look and see like 7 bulls running....really not far from me... I say MORGAN!!! and try to run to her thinking....hmmm running not a good idea...but i wanted to get behind the gate...it was very funny, after the fact.

Thats all I have for now. I am very sleepy, my mind wants to sleep...hahaha.

Talk to all soon
Miss you lvoe you!

Hi all I do not have much time to post. But tonight will be our last night in Lima, we leave tomorrow for cuzco and the orphanage!! we are very excited to reach this point in our journey! OH MU GOSH!!!! Lima is amazing, I love the people and the familia!!! Pchaca is amazing! Quispes are rad!! and love them sooo much!. Morgan and I are running through Lima trying to see as much as we can....she is a very good tour guide. My spanish is actually pretty good! hahaha I am very good at saying "yes" :-)

2 months to go!! and many more amazing experiences to have! God Bless you all!

I will write a more detailed post in a couple of days. Becuase you all know i have soo much to share hahahahaha :-). I am in love with this place.

Lisa

Hi guys! I cannot believe this is happening again! I am so blessed, we are so blessed. Tonight, actually in about 4 hours I will be heading to the airport with my dear friend morgan (as seen in this picture: we are making bread! Morgan is sassy :-) )

Some how God has made it possible for us both to be with some very amazing people. Our lives will forever be changed becuase of this trip!

Thank you, you the one reading this for all your love and support. Thank you for being apart of my life. I love you very much! and I look forward to sharing this journey with you. Please e-mail me and keep me posted with whats going on here :-)

God Bless!

dreams really do come true!

hey guys, so i leave paris tomorrow...and come home shortly. its werid to think how fast a month and a half has gone. though i feel totally out of the loop with news and stuff. I have had such a great time and have had ,any life changing moments. I look forward to seeing you all...I am really going to miss paris...it is truly something special.

OH MY GOSH PAIRS IS AMAZING...!!!! It is the ,ost beautiful thing i have ever seen. tonight we are going to some fancy place for dinner and wine...i cant wait to tell you all about it and show you the pictures and act out some very funny lisa moments. the first thing i saw in pairs was the louve, pyramid...yay dan brown and you know i took a picture in front of it like tom hanks... i have been planning that picture for over a month. when we saw paris i was filled with so much emotion i sarted to cry, i did not know what else to do. I cant believe i am here, and i cant believe i will be home soon. Love you all. Kisses

so I only have min type. Which is very hard because the computer keyboards are different here. hahaha, we just got into paris and we are going to hit the city for a little come back tonight and really go at it tomorrow. the RER which is a subway was very inti,idating at frist but I think I got it....THANKS U.M....okay only min left...love you

hello from switzerland...thats right...we had a slight change of plans. We arrived in brussles yesterday, walked around and literally saw most everything. Unfortunatly our hotel was not in a ver nice area. We both felt pretty uncomfortable and decided to go visit with her aunt who lives in switzerland. It is BEAUTIFUL here, please dont worry about the change of plans everything has worked out well. We will be staying here for the next two nights, and will be in paris on the 4th. Cant wait to come home...boy this has turned out to be some trip....hahaha. Love you all.

So we are all finished with Amsterdam...Holly you were right! the first day was amazing, the second day was really cool and our last day was cool. In the end we were ready to move on, and see other things. Its weird to think about this kind of life style, I could not live here. Its weird to walk down these streets and thiink back to the war...its really sad because there are reminders of thee war every where. I have really enjoyed my time here, yesterday was great. We save money by taking food from the breakfast at our hotel, we find a park and each lunch...its really cute. We did not make it back in time last night to catch our shuttle to our hotel so we had to take a taxi.....do you know what they use for taxis around here??? Mercedes, and bmws....what the heck....its weird. Okay off to Brussels....talk to you soon.

Wow! what an amazing couple of days. Yesterday as I said we went for a walk in the town. We took the train into the city. YOu should have seen our faces...there was no way of hiding that we were tourists. It was like we walked into another world....really...we did. everyone is sooo tall and beautiful here. when we stepped out of the train station it was if the world froze and we looked around in amazement. It sorta feels like you walking down main street at disneyland. there were so many things to see, we just got lost walking the streets. It was sooo great! we stopped of at a couple of shops, went to a museum, and stopped for a quick bite of pizza. (side note) it is now our goal to make sure we eat pizza in Brussels and Paris, if this is accomplished then we would have had pizza from around the world!! cool huh! Anyway, back to the pizza shop. We were sitting in the front of the restaurant, that is open to the outside but somewhat in closed by glass...(3 glass sides...front completely open.) It over looked a canal, across from the canal were beautiful buildings, it started to rain, and rain pretty hard. When the rain left, guess what else appeared.....a beautiful HUGE rainbow...I have never seen a rainbow like this before. It spanned across the entire city, guess what was even better...you could see where it ended...thats right! I have pictures. We were in complete aww...what a great way to welcome you to a city. we are sooo incredibly lucky...things have been working out so well here...gosh! I feel like someone should pinch me and maybe Ill wake up.Today we went to the Anne Frank house...it was pretty intense to touch the wall paper, and the Windows...walking behind the bookcase that separated the front house from the back, and thinking that once that door closes you are stuck here for the next two years, only to be caught...words cant describe that feeling. The rest of the day we will be walking around the red light, have dinner and go home. Tomorrow is the Van Goh museum and Heineken factory.
Love you all.

Okay, I made it to Amsterdam. I am now 9 hrs ahead of CA. SO what a crazy experiance...first please know I do not know how much I am going to post here becuase it is 5 Euros to use the internet for 15 min...CRAZY i know....I am not in africa any more....but it must be said that the internet here is faster than any internet I have EVER used...BEAUTIFUL!! So I could not sleep on the flight here to many thoughts and writting in my journal. We took a nap when we got to our hotel, which by the way is crazy nice. We took a shower, which felt weird. I am so used to cold showers that a warm shower felt really HOT!! so I took a slightly cold shower. We are off to walk the city and have some fun :-)...I wonder what it would have been like to come here without having gone to Africa first. I wonder if I would have appreciated it as much as I do now.

3 min left....gotta go...post again in a couple days....love you all!!!

I really miss Africa...it is truly beautiful!!

This is the morning of my last day in Africa, I leave tonight at 9:00pm. I am cherishing every last moment I can, enjoying the smells, my bed, the people I am really going to miss it here. I am doing much better this morning than I was last night. I feel that I was able to let go last night and today I am just trying to hold on to any new memory I can create for myself.
I have had my highest highs and lowest lows (mountains and valleys). I am leaving a part of myself here and bring back something new. I look forward to sharing my pictures and stories with you all. Thank you for all your comments, e-mails and support you have helped me through some tough times. Africa is truly a special place, and I look forward to the day I can come back.

Love me

p.s
next time I write I will be in Amsterdam.

Happy Birthday Dad! Love you!!

So how do you say goodbye? These people let me into their lives, and then we developed relationships. I love them so much. I have never felt the weight of the word goodbye like I am feeling it now.
E-mail is not the same, I am going to miss the friendships I have made here.
E-mails do not have a voice. Every tear that I shed feels sooo incredibly heavy. I have never experienced this kind of sadness before. I am not sure how to deal with it.
My roomie was trying to cheer me up today, and she read a passage to me from one of the books I brought with me. It talks about relationships and the kind of energy you put into them, and if they burn up like a star you will never find your way back to that kind of relationship again. At least I can say that the relationships I have created here are something of great substance.
I am really at a loss for words right now. I will type again tomorrow...I hope.

So yesterday another one of my clients was transfered to another hospital because our hospital does not have the tools necessary to help her. I am not sure if I ever told you but there is no medical equipment in this hospital. Anyway her name was Mensa Bertha. She was 62 years old and absolutely beautiful. She was in the hospital because she had stomach surgery. She was discharged the 2 weeks ago but did not leave because her incision had not healed properly. I am so excited I have pictures with her so you can all meet her. When we took our picture I showed her what it looked like on the display screen and she started laughing. I asked her why she was laughing and she said, you are so white and I am so black. It was very funny. I told her I was going to miss her, and that I wished her many blessings, she grabbed my hand looked at me and started to cry. She said "you are so beautiful, thank you" She said it in Tri which made it even more special because I knew what she was saying. I started to cry, we hugged and I left the room. She was great, I am going to miss her.
It is weird to think my time here is coming to an end. I am not ready to leave, but I am looking forward to Eroupe. How do I say goodbye to my friends that I have made here. It so sad to think about, and very hard to type because it makes me cry. I am going to miss this place. Where did all the time go. Tomorrow I am going to Kumasi, I am really looking forward to that.
Love you all!

So our internet has been down for a couple of days, which was probably a good thing because I needed sometime to think how I was going to make my next post. I feel like every time I post I am always saying, “today was the most intense day ever” and the statement is true for that moment in time. Please understand as my days progress here things change, and man! Yesterday was the hardest day ever. There are three of us from my group that work with me at my internship, and it was the hardest day for them as well.

Let me start out by saying that this last weekend was amazing. It felt like I was flying, walking above the rain forest. Its funny today at lunch (Lebanese food…very good) we were discussing how there is no way to explain to people what it is really like here. How do we describe smell, and all the fine details that surrounds us, even pictures cannot fully grasp it all. I was looking through my pictures the other day and though to myself…well it’s a nice picture but that’s not what it really looks like. Back to this past weekend, first off I can’t believe I did since I am somewhat scared of heights. Half way through the 3^rd and most shaky bridge I was thinking…how am I going to do 4 more of these….and looking down was a sure no no. Its so amazing…I did something that there are only 4 of in this entire world….in the entire world…how blessed am I (I find myself saying this a lot these days). Check it out…http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/consintl/gha_kak.htm

http://www.123rf.com/photo_759751.html

This is the bridge I walked on…there are 7 of them….cool huh!

Okay so back to yesterday. How do I even start to explain it. We took 2 abandon babies to the osu orphanage. On of the babies Georgina we thought was about 9 months old when she came in. She was with us for a 2 weeks, she was severely malnourished and had not reached critical developmental stages. She could not lift or hold her head, roll over and many other things. She had bed sores all over her back, and if you went to hold her…approach her she would scream. She was obviously left alone and God only know what else. Since being with us, Elena one of the interns I work with has been able to warm up to her and Georgina was able to build a trust with her. It was a very beautiful thing to watch. Georgina was able to support her head and roll over and sit up…in 2 WEEKS! What resiliency we as humans have. In looking over her medical chart before we took her to Osu the nurses stated MILD MALNURASHED CHILD>>>needles to say this really pissed us off! Did they not see the same child that myself and the rest of the department saw. The nurse in the children’s ward…really are something else….they do not touch the children..they want the children to be scared of them…that is how they think we need to teach them to obey rules…its ridiculous…grrr. Watching this child go from Elenas hands to the hands of the aid at Osu was gut wrenching, and we all lost it. The aid came out and told us…”don’t worry, she will be okay just like the other children here.” This does not help much since the other children there are also not attended to, and the children that have mental disorders are left in a room on mat in which they sit or lay all day (if you cant get up to do something or walk around then you are left).

GOOD NEWS because of the work that Elena did with her, the doctors think she is now 1yr 6mnths. Love, was the name of the other little girl (4 days old) that we left at the orphanage, she is in good health. Its so hard to have a baby taken from your arms like that.

Then we drove home 3 other women because the hospital needed them to leave because they needed the beds. These woman cannot pay their bill and there family has not come to get then, and there is no way for us to contact them. So we drove most of them home. Vida is a 16 year old girl that just had her baby. The father refuses to take responsibility, on the way to her house which was about 1hr away from the hospital, we saw her aunt walking so we picked her up. Once at Vidas house her family came out sat her down and immediately started yelling at her. They were saying that she sleeps around, and just so many horrible things I cant believe someone would EVER say to anyone. Some of the staff I work with took the families side, and when Erika (another intern from my group) went to talk to her, she asked one of the staff to translate. “would you ask her how she is feeling and if there is anything that she needs me to do, does she feel safe staying here”..to which she got … “Oh, she is just ashamed of herself as she should be.”… Erika said “I don’t care what you think, I care what she thinks…now please ask her!” It is always a struggle here, Social Work here is more of case management and not therapy….and its hard for social workers her not to judge or put their own thoughts and beliefs into every situation.

Then we took Esi home. This was supper hard for me because she lives sooo far away we could not take her to her house, we took her half way and dropped her off at a bus station. A FREAKING bus station she is still sick, 7 months pregnant and scared.

At home last night we had our processing groups in which our professor asked us. “what do you think about the attachments and boundaries that you have created” He asked us this because we were all very upset, physically and emotionally drained. I replied to him by saying, its not that we have created unhealthy attachments or boundaries because when we are with out clients we are very professional. What is hard for us is the injustice of this whole situation. We are supposed to trust this system, we are supposed to use this system and not change it. We have seen how the system lacks and affects all individuals from infant, child, young adult, adult and elderly. It’s hard for us to hand over babies to a system that is lacking in so many ways. How are we to accept this and move on. That is what is hard, yes we will miss our clients especially these ones because they have taught us so many things, but what is hurting us is something much more than the attachment.

You know those “Save the Children” programs that we see on TV, what I am seeing here looks much worse than what is shown on TV. Children and families sleeping in the open, with palm leaves as a roof, and yet when we show up, we are asked to sit and share something with them. It is such a beautiful thing.

When I came home from work today, I washed my face and looked in the mirror, and I am telling you the person looking back was someone I had not seen before. You something that is so wonderful and nice, when the trotro drops us off after work we walk back to our rooms, on the way back to our rooms there is a woman who sells fruit and bread. Across from her is a little store where I can buy some bottle water and other necessities. So today, on the way back I bought a pineapple a loaf of bread 3 bottles of water and a newspaper (I feel really out of touch with the news….no one watches the news around here…I feel really out of the loop). I really enjoy my walks home from work stopping at the fruit stand and talking with all the individuals that pass buy. After a hard day it really lifts my spirit. THE BEST THING!! After that when I reach my room, I change my clothes grab my face wash and head to the bathroom in which I was my face. Man!!! Its soo refreshing, it really is a beautiful thing! Well I ranted on way tooo long in this, I miss you all and love you very much! I hope you are all doing well, blessing to you all.

p.s.

I hope this all made sense…I don’t re-read my posts…I don’t have enough time to do that.

Abenea J

This was a crazy weekend.

Yesterday we went to Kakum National park. I cant wait to show you the pictures!! I walked on 7 bridges that are about 150 feet off the ground. The bridge itself is only 12 inches wide...and swings...there are only 4 of the in the world!! what a crazy feeling it is to do something that there are only 4 of in the entire world!!!
then we went to this hut restaurant...we did not eat...we went to see the alligators!! I touched one!!! very scary!! but very cool. I am living on the edge man!! I am a risk taker!!

Today I have a cold so I stayed home, cleaned my room and slept.

Talk to you tomorrow
hope all is well, and the those of you who are getting ready to leave for MP5 are getting excited!!

hugs!

Some interesting things in Africa.

There are so many people selling things on the streets that you could basically do your grocery shopping on the way to work. People sell apples, cookies, drinks, bread, sugar cane, dog leashes, clothing hooks, hangers, adapters, cards, water, cheese, chips (plantain's), toilet papers, soap, sponges...the list goes on and on. They walk up and down the streets, risking their lives (and I really mean risking) to make a living. Before I leave I am going to ask one of the ladies to teach me how to balance all that stuff on my head ( I am also going to ask them to teach me how to put a baby on my back).
You cannot use your left hand for anything. The left hand is the hand you are supposed to clean yourself with so offering that hand to someone is considered rude (I have a hard time with this one).

I went to the children's orphanage on Thursday, how I wish I could have taken pictures. These kids are so beautiful. I dont know what it is, I mean the kids in the US are beautiful, but there is just something so extraordinarily special about these kids. We also went to the jr. correctional facility ( I will have to tell you about that when I get home...but it was crazy, and very sad).

I wish I could express in words what I am going through, and what I am seeing but I cant (I am hoping to do much better when I get home). I dont feel sorry for these people, nor do I feel sad for them because for the most part they are happy (they dont know different). Maybe I feel sad and sorry for myself, that I never truly learned how to have this level of happiness when I "have" less. Really I dont think it is even about material things, the haves or the have not's, I am not sure what it is about but there is just something here that is so much different and special. I am not sure I will ever know what it is, but I know that I will forever feel it.

Vivian- Thank you so much for your comment, I think it is great that you want to help. I was planning on coming home and sending a bunch of stuff over to them. In the weeks to come I will post the hospitals address with a list of things that are needed. I really appreciate your support! thanks :-)

Hello all, Today was one of the most intense days I have had yet. In my previous post I spoke of a woman who needed her catheter changed (which it was), she fell into a coma last Friday, and died this morning. Its really weird, I have never had a client die on me before. I also went to physical therapy with one of my clients who had a stroke which has affected her left side. I have never NEVER heard a woman in so much pain in my entire life. It sounded like she was being attacked. She held my hand so tight as the doctor was moving her leg screaming "ABENEA SEWA!!!, SEVER PAIN!!" she repeated this over and over again, looking into my eyes and crying. I assured her that she was doing good, and that i was proud of her but it was really intense. I go back to my office and one of the other interns had a client die on her today as well. Both families were very upset and needed our attention. I cant help but wonder, would these people have died if they had the proper medical equipment? I am mostly numb right now. I can still hear my client screaming my name.
I need sometime to myself to process all this, and it is hard because there are people everywhere. Today the interns and I went out to dinner after work, which really helped. It was good to get out and walk around. I was so involved with her family, and now I will never see them again not because I was saying goodbye, but because she said goodbye. I just realized in this profession that I have chosen for myself, since I do want to work in a hospital I am going to have a lot of people die on me. These people will die when the are ready, not when I am ready SO I guess I am going to have to learn how to deal with it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF AND DONNY!
Monica- I did use an umbrella...lol...and I was still sopping wet.
The people on the bus...had no umbrella...hence...how did they get on the bus dry?
I am not sure how to process all that I am seeing and doing. So many things have happened it can be a little over whelming at times. As far as work goes, I am having the greatest experience. I love working at the Police Hospital, and I am having a great time with the ladies.
I am little sad because next week I will be transferred to the children's ward (there is a reason I want to do social work with Adults and not children) I think this transition will be hard for me.
It's almost as though I don't even know what to say in these posts. I am going to tell you about my client Esi
Esi is 18 years old. Be has a 2 year old child and is pregnant with
her second. She is in the hospital because of anemia. She was
supposed to receive three blood transfusions, currently she has received 2. These blood transfusions were donated bye the pastor of her church. She cannot afford the third transfusion so instead the doctor was supposed to give her inferon (I think that's how you spell it). Apparently this drug is supposed to elevate her blood levels...(I don't know, im not a doctor...lol). This was supposed to happen on Thursday and she was going to be discharged. On Fridays I attend lecture all day, so I do not go into work. Yesterday, I go to do my rounds, and Esi is still here. You cannot be discharged from the hospital unless you can pay your bill, or get it waived from the social service department. Esi cannot pay her bill, and the social service department cannot waive her bill because her case has not technically reached our department. SO I ask Esi if she received her shot, and she said no. I went and looked at the medical chart and noticed that she did not receive her shot because she could not afford to buy her medicine. SHE NEEDS THIS MED, she is pregnant. I go to the pharmacy and they do not have the drug. I go into the city, pharmacy where I know they will have it and purchase the drug for 18,000 cedi THAT IS ONLY $1.80. I happily return to the hospital with the drug (which is for 5 days, one shot on Monday, wed, and Thursday) and bring it to the head nurse with the instruction that this needs to be given to Esi right away. I was assured it would, and left for the night.
TODAY- I go to make my rounds and ask Esi once again, did you get your shot and she said no. I look on her night stand and see the drug 3 vials placed next to her. I ask the head nurse at the time what happened and she said "I don't know I was not working last night" I ask her to give Esi the shot now please (I was very nice about it...really). She told me I will, I said okay and left. About 30 min later, the shot still has not been given; I go outside and ask..."PLEASE. Can you give her this shot now; I would like to be here to make sure she got it." To which they said "I will, give me one hour." I said okay, thank you THANK GOD it did not take an hour. ESI FINALLY got her shot. WELL, I go and tell my supervisor about what happened, and he was very upset. Now Esi has to stay in the hospital until Saturday, one shot today, Thursday and sat. I tell my supervisor my concern that I am afraid that she will not get her shot on Sat, I w3ill be here to make sure she gets it on Thursday but what about Sat, and how if someone forgets to give her the shot on Sat, how will that affect the series of shots? SOOO he took me to see the Department Matron the person who sees over all the nurses to discuss this issue. He asked me to sit outside the office while he explained the situation. OH! By the way my supervisor is the Chief of the hospital (like the head person). After about 15min he comes out and asks me to come into the office. I explain the situation to her and she tells me "you students that come from over seas need to understand that this is how we do things here. My nurses are very good, and are very capable of administering a shot" ..."Madam, (that is how you address women) please, I know this of your nurses they are all very good and have helped me in many ways, I am just concerned with this situation." "Well, you don't know what happened Esi may have had her child visit, when the nurse came to give her, her shot so there for Esi was not in the bed when the nurse came bye. I will go down and talk with Esi, and make sure she knows she cannot leave her bed.
Please, you don't need to worry Esi will be given her shot." With that my supervisor and I left the room. I asked him if I was disrespectful in anyway and he said "no, I was very impressed with you, you did well. I asked you to come into the office because she did not believe me when I told her what happened, and gave me the same attitude that she gave you. That is just the way she is." Also on a side not, Esi when you look at her skin she is very pale, when you look at the inside of her eye lids, they are white, not red...I mean white...like a piece of paper.
SOOO...I guess I don't need to worry about Sat.
This is just one case....I have 4 others just like it. We went to the pharmacy the other day to buy medicine for a child with typhoid, it was $7.00. It kills me that these people are stuck in a hospital
because they can't pay a bill that $75. I try to be positive in most
all my posts because it is easier to type the good, when typing the bad I have no idea where to begin because there is just so much.
This hospital has no machines in it; people are in comas with no IV drip and not hooked up to anything. We found the first machine today in the children's room....it was a ventilator. The people sleep on mats that are less than an inch thick, on a metal bed that you may find in a jail. Sheets are not changed, catheters are not cleaned...
(I had to ask for someone to change a catheter for someone because ....well...let's just say it needed it). They really do, do the best that they can with what they have, but they don't have much. The nurses were excited to get a box of scissors today...really...no lie.
I hope I make sense right now...its really hard to chose what to type about because I could be here typing for the next 3 days if I wanted.
By the way, if you are a criminal, you don't get anything, you are ignored. The nurses in the children's ward do not touch the kids.
Elena (an intern with our group) is in the ward right now and she was telling us today that the nurse told her that "you want them to be scared of you so they will listen." There is a 9month old baby abandoned baby who cannot lift her head yet because she has had not contact, stimulation or anything so she is not reaching those developmental milestones.
It's a lot to take in, but I am having a great time and I really feel like I am doing something important here. I really can't wait to tell you all about it. I am sorry if my grammar is bad, and my punctuation is not in the right place....lol...I am tired.
Love you all
Me Do Wo Pa (I love you very much)
Ochina (until tomorrow/ goodnight)
Abenea Sewa (my name.)

Dancing last night was so fun!!! I ate something like fufu (a dough kinda like a pate used to sop up food, when eating you do not use a fork....your hand get very messy....but fun) but it was not fufu, it was like a thick Masa (if that is how you spell it) it is made out of corn meal...I did not like it because it was very tangy.
Couple of things I have learned...
Mosquitoes love me....I have 31 bites, and have been named by my professors as queen bite.
Deet- Which is a deadly poison used to spray on the body to prevent the bites of mosquitoes is good for the following...taking off nail polish...burning holes in clothing...and skin....lol. (for those of you who dont know this already...DO NOT LEAVE DEET ON YOUR SKIN FOR MORE THAN 8 HRS!!!!! and do not, and I mean do not REAPPLY! this means you spray your skin at night....take off in the morning, then spray your skin again....do not spray at night and spray again in the morning!!!!)
Reading labels is always a good thing!

It rained here the other day...it was so beautiful!!! i have never seen a rain like this ever!! it was the most amazing thing. Walking in this rain to the trotro (about a mile) was not so beautiful! I only wonder how all the Ghanaians that were on the trotro were completely dry!!! they would not sit next to use, and looked at us funny!!!!! I really dont understand how they did not have one drop of water on them...

Hugs!