Our Last Ghana update

This may be our last email from Ghana so we wanted to give you the update on our little friend, Atta. He has been at the Malnutrition Unit at the clinic for 1 ½ months and is doing much better. His hair is growing well and he likes to eat. HOwever, on the day they were to be discharged Atta came down with a very high fever and was later diagnosed with malaria again. They will stay for another week until he is better. His twin sister, Ataa, is very energetic and smiley all the time. Their names are traditional Ghanaian names for twins.

The picture below was taken just yesterday when Bethany decided to get her hair done. It is quite the intense process to get it all finished. The whole process took just over four hours, and that is how long it took all six or seven of these girls to do it. As you can see from the colors, you add a lot of fake hair to the mix. Bethany chose a blonde package and a darker brown one. It looks great with her natural hair color. The fun thing is that you all will probably get to see her with it because she will keep it in for a while. The only bad thing is that they do it extremely tight and it hurts a lot while it is getting done and even for a few days after. Let’s just say that all that extra hair pulls a bit on you real roots, and that doesn’t always feel so hot! She is enjoying it though, but she is definitely glad that she doesn’t have to get it done on a regular basis like all the Ghanaian women do.

Well, it has been a great couple of months here in Ghana, even though we have both seen the likes of a few unpleasant days of sickness. The experience is one that we will never forget, and it has been valuable for us on so many levels. I(John) have volunteered over 150 hours in The Salvation Army clinic doing everything from dressing wounds to catching babies, and it has been quite the learning experience. All of this medical experience will be great to report for my P.A school application, and Bethany and I have both learned a ton on our respective research topics of malaria and local government. We have missed you all, and we will be back on the 7^th of August, only to travel on the 9^th up to Vancouver, and then up to Seattle on the 12^th. We’ve become quite the world travelers as of late, and we have loved (almost) every minute of it!! We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Saying goodbye to the Queen of Wiamoase

Kids dancing