Antiretroviral Therapy

Hello All!
I'm back in Sharpnet with another volunteer that works in the hospital with me. We just ate lunch...mine was a packed sandwich from the house maid...I still don't know what exactly was on it. I tried to eat it...but just having no clue what was going into my body was too much for me to handle lol. Me and the other guy were both placed in the Antiretroviral therapy clinic today. Basically I just watched a doctor have quick checkups with patients currently on the antiretrovirals, and meet with new patients requesting to be put on the medicine. They spoke the local language mostly while I was there so a lot of it I couldn't understand. But every now and then he would speak English with a patient...which I found to be way more beneficial for myself. To be quite honest, the day was a little frustrating. First of all, Ghanaians do not know the meaning of the word "punctuality" and they handle medical practices way differently. The doctors' offices do not have an examining table, just a chair next to the doctor's desk. And the patients come in right on top of each other. The doctor does not take any additional time to review the files or to write additional information down between patients. It's just handled way differently here. Tomorrow I am supposed to return to the ART clinic, but they only have clinics on Wednesdays and Fridays so I'm going to ask if I can visit the Maternity Ward in the hospital.

Yesterday I got lost. That was fun. But not really. It's kinda terrifying being lost in an unfamiliar country. But knowing me and my horrible geographical sense, I knew it would happen eventually. The Ghanaians that I asked for help were really really sympathetic and nice so I felt safe. I found my way much to my relief and bought a fan so I wouldn't die at night. I slept much better.

Also yesterday was Quiz Night for the volunteers so I got to meet all of the ones here in Accra. They were all nice, and even though I'm still really new I felt included.

More later!