Ding!

On Monday it was time for the two new pathologist volunteers to arrive. The next crew was made up of a resident and attending from Mcgill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When they got to Kumasi I took them to the hospital cafeteria (better than the USA) and treated them to jollof rice and chicken. The next 24 hours I tried to ensure a smooth transition from one set of volunteers to the next. By the next morning I was packed up and ready to for the drive to Accra and they were in the gross room and autopsy suite working.

The drive to Accra was fun. As I trekked south, everyone on the radio was talking about the US election. The polling had just started and there was an almost universal pull for Obama on the radio.

The flight home was 10 hours and 16 minutes on a mostly functional Boeing 767-300ER

I had the pleasure of sitting in 21G near the wing. It provided a fantastic view outside, but placed me next to the faulty exit sign/speaker combo. Every 2-10 seconds the light would flash and I would be greeted by a nice “ding.” To get the full experience, play the following video 308 times.

About two hours into the flight I noticed the nice spray paint job on the right engine and the thousands of miles of water in the background.

Meh, it’s the inside that counts. . .

Volunteer exchange

The volunteers change every few weeks at the hospital. Each new person provides continuity for the pathology mission and gives the local staff a unique view on how to practice. Today is Dr. Wester’s last day and to celebrate we went out for dinner Abusua (a nice place a few kilometers from the house). We both decided to treat ourselves and ordered dinners without rice. The meal was fantastic and we were able to watch the Ghana womens soccer team tie North Korea. After dinner we tried to catch a cab back home, but being Friday night in Kumasi everybody was out on the town. We gave up and chose to get a drink at the first place we could find.

We settled in outside the Cadilac bar in the warm tropical night and were treated to two ice cold STAR Lagers for $2. Everything was perfect. Later that evening I went to the bathroom and noticed that the quality wasn’t quite up to the rest of the establishment. I include this section for our microbiologist fellow Dr. Burnham who is a stickler for clean restrooms and isn’t fond of natures insect friends.

The room had a lovely tile floor with yellow tile walls. The ceiling had a slight mold problem and the toilet needed some servicing. Toilet paper was provided.

Overall I would give this establishment a 7/10. It was nice, the service was friendly, the drinks were cold, and the price was great. Somehow I don’t think my wife would rate it as high?

Water time

Being in a foreign country is a wonderful experience. You get to see and experience things that you wouldn’t even think about back home. Today was no different. After a few days of intermittent water we were just about at the end of our reserves. Our reserve water consists of two plastic trash cans for the bathroom and two blue buckets worth for the kitchen. Drinking water is separate. Since most volunteers are soft westerners we buy bottled water and keep it in the fridge.

Most houses and businesses have a large few hundred gallon tank that they store water in outside. Ours is placed next door to the house on a platform. An hour after the call we had our water truck and a man was climbing up the slightly leaning tower with a hose. The kid in me was a little jealous. Maybe I will climb up the tour later today when nobody is looking.