Wednesday, July 7, 2010
I had the theme song from Cheers stuck in my head all last week. I was singing it in my head as I walked down the hall of the GETFund Hostel in Kumasi, and I realized that the song should have been the hostel’s theme song. Even during the short walk up the stairs and to my room I was greeted by 3 smiling Ghanaian guys who all said, “hello Erika!! How are you today?” I know I had met them before, but I have forgotten at least 80% of the people who said hi to me every day. But they ALWAYS know your name!! And they’re always glad you came!! I thought it was so ironic when Ueli, Shy, and I went to a bar called Cheers after dinner one night.
Anyway, I’m not in Kumasi. Ueli is back in Switzerland and I haven’t found a Cheers bar here in Accra. Willemien is in Accra for two days before she goes home to the Netherlands (to watch her country beat Spain in the World Cup final). So far, Accra is very different from Kumasi. I am staying in the International Hostel associated with Korle-Bu Hospital and the majority of the students there are white Americans. Because Ghana’s only international airport is in Accra, many businessmen come to Accra for meetings and fly right back, never getting to see the rest of the country. This means that the gradient of white people increases as you go south. I see about 20 white people a day. Additionally, it seems like the University of Ghana has a stronger relationship with other countries (esp. the US) than Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (the university in Kumasi). I have heard the term ‘obroni’ only a few times since I got here, and kids are much slower to smile at me when I smile and wave at them. I think my pale skin (yes mom, I’m using sunblock) and blue eyes are much less of a novelty here in Accra than they are in Kumasi. Another difference between the two is that I stayed in the hostel with Ghanaian medical students in Kumasi. Me, Shy, Kjersten, Willemien, Ueli, and Eva (and later, Margrit) were the only white students – okay, maybe not Shy, but he’s still an obroni – in the dorm. There was a huge TV room with a snack bar and a ping-pong and pool table, and making friends was totally effortless. Here, I think it’s a little harder because all the US students have their own cliques and friends, and we’re not a novelty living among Ghanaians. Also, we’re in the subregion “Korle” right now, which is on the very southwestern corner of Accra. I haven’t found very much stuff within walking distance from our hostel. Anyway, Willemien knows the Student Exchange Officer here and even though he doesn’t live in the International Student’s Hostel, we are hanging out with him tonight and hopefully he’ll be able to show me the ropes and include me in some of their activities here.
Other than the disappointing reception to Accra, things are going well. I have completed 4 interviews (only 51 more to go!!) in the past 2 days, and I have a guy named Kwadwo (pronounced Kujo) who is assigned to help me. He’s no Sabina, but he’s really fantastic and helpful. When I got here, he had already obtained 50 of the 55 phone numbers for me. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t had a counterpart assigned to me in Accra. Kwadwo and I run around from the operating theatre to the Head of Department’s Office to the gyne clinic to the prenatal care clinic and when we catch people, they say, “oh just call me tomorrow sometime before 3.” If I were totally in charge, I would demand a time and place, and make it clear that I don’t mess around with things like that. Kwadwo seems thrilled to get a vague estimate, and he is optimistic that we’ll finish with our 13 Korle-Bu obstetricians by Monday. We shall see!! Regardless, I’m going to Cape Coast next Friday, so that will be great to see so many people who know my name (even if I don’t know their names).
Ghanaian proverb of the day: If there were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.
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