My time at the hospital today was pretty intense.
It started off as usual, talking with patients, new and old, and making friends. After a couple hours there, an elderly woman in the corner of the room passed away. Two men, wearing only rubber gloves along with their tank tops and jeans, picked her up to put her on a stretcher. They were fairly rough with the body, pulling her by her skin to center her on the stretcher. The nurses asked if Gina, another volunteer, and I wanted to follow. We agreed and followed them down the road to the mortuary. We talked the the man in charge, who explained to us how the bodies were bathed, embalmed, and put in "the fridge" with tape across their foreheads labelling them by name. We entered a room to watch them as they bathed one body. The woman was probably in her twenties, and was beautiful. Watching them stretch her from one position to another and bathe her, I became quite emotional and stepped out. One man followed me and explained that she was pregnant, though he did not know how she died. Then, in an akward moment, one man proposed to Gina, and was turned down.
Gina and I walked back up to the Female Ward, and were asked if we wanted to see a nurse working on an "accident." We walked in to see 2 women. One was bent over the bed, burned down to her muscle from her toes and feet all over her behind up through her back and shoulders. She was waiting for the nurse to get started cleaning her burns. The other woman was lying in bed, burned badly on her face down to her breasts and stomach. The nurse started cleaning out the first woman's wounds with saline solution and cotton balls. I can't even imagine the pain the woman was in under no pain medication, but she hummed to herself, gripping the sheets as she whispered "Mon Dieu."
Outside, I spoke with the woman's son, and told him "Baba," or sorry in Ewe. Apparently, there had been a bus accident a couple days prior, when a bus hit a biker and then rolled and caught fire. There were 36 people on the bus, most of whom were in other wards.
When we went back into the main room with all the beds, we found out that another woman had died, Margaret, whom we had been introduced to yesterday, though she was unresponsive. She was 70 years old, blind, and diabetic. Her daughter was there when she died, and she began moaning and crying, shaking her mother trying to wake her up. Gina and I were both sobbing and had to leave the ward and take a breath, giving the daughter her space.
On a brighter note, upon returning to the home base, we set off for Wli Falls. It was a 30 minute drive and a 45 minute hike through the beautiful tropics of Ghana. We arrived to the Waterfall, which had a rainbow stretched across the base, and hundreds, possibly thousands of bats flying everywhere around the top. A few of us went into the water, and as we got closer to the waterfall, the wind and mist blew hard against us. There were some locals there, who would take people from the wrist and slowly pull us backwards under the waterfall. The pressure felt like large children being dropped onto my head and shoulders. It was so much fun!!!
We walked back, bought some souvenirs, visited the ostrich farm (those things are freaky!!!), and returned home for dinner and Ewe lessons.
That is the end of my crazy day. I hope you guys are all safe and having fun back in the states!! Miss you!!
It started off as usual, talking with patients, new and old, and making friends. After a couple hours there, an elderly woman in the corner of the room passed away. Two men, wearing only rubber gloves along with their tank tops and jeans, picked her up to put her on a stretcher. They were fairly rough with the body, pulling her by her skin to center her on the stretcher. The nurses asked if Gina, another volunteer, and I wanted to follow. We agreed and followed them down the road to the mortuary. We talked the the man in charge, who explained to us how the bodies were bathed, embalmed, and put in "the fridge" with tape across their foreheads labelling them by name. We entered a room to watch them as they bathed one body. The woman was probably in her twenties, and was beautiful. Watching them stretch her from one position to another and bathe her, I became quite emotional and stepped out. One man followed me and explained that she was pregnant, though he did not know how she died. Then, in an akward moment, one man proposed to Gina, and was turned down.
Gina and I walked back up to the Female Ward, and were asked if we wanted to see a nurse working on an "accident." We walked in to see 2 women. One was bent over the bed, burned down to her muscle from her toes and feet all over her behind up through her back and shoulders. She was waiting for the nurse to get started cleaning her burns. The other woman was lying in bed, burned badly on her face down to her breasts and stomach. The nurse started cleaning out the first woman's wounds with saline solution and cotton balls. I can't even imagine the pain the woman was in under no pain medication, but she hummed to herself, gripping the sheets as she whispered "Mon Dieu."
Outside, I spoke with the woman's son, and told him "Baba," or sorry in Ewe. Apparently, there had been a bus accident a couple days prior, when a bus hit a biker and then rolled and caught fire. There were 36 people on the bus, most of whom were in other wards.
When we went back into the main room with all the beds, we found out that another woman had died, Margaret, whom we had been introduced to yesterday, though she was unresponsive. She was 70 years old, blind, and diabetic. Her daughter was there when she died, and she began moaning and crying, shaking her mother trying to wake her up. Gina and I were both sobbing and had to leave the ward and take a breath, giving the daughter her space.
On a brighter note, upon returning to the home base, we set off for Wli Falls. It was a 30 minute drive and a 45 minute hike through the beautiful tropics of Ghana. We arrived to the Waterfall, which had a rainbow stretched across the base, and hundreds, possibly thousands of bats flying everywhere around the top. A few of us went into the water, and as we got closer to the waterfall, the wind and mist blew hard against us. There were some locals there, who would take people from the wrist and slowly pull us backwards under the waterfall. The pressure felt like large children being dropped onto my head and shoulders. It was so much fun!!!
We walked back, bought some souvenirs, visited the ostrich farm (those things are freaky!!!), and returned home for dinner and Ewe lessons.
That is the end of my crazy day. I hope you guys are all safe and having fun back in the states!! Miss you!!
3 comments:
Wow, what a powerful experience. You'll probably have a few gray hairs and have grown mentally by 20 years by the time you get back!
How hard is Ewe (?) to learn? It seems like alot of people there speak english though - is that true?
The waterfall sounds cool! are you getting any pictures while you are there?
Love you!
I guess the main question I'm wondering is if you had been allowed to help, could you have cleaned those poor woman's wounds.
You're seeing more trama than most pre-med students would ever experience.
Your heart is so tender, but the real job will always have triumphs and tragedy. I wonder what decissions you will finally come to, my sweet Sarah. What ever road you choose, I know you'll always have your hand out to help others.
wow.
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