KMJ travels

Today was our last day of the GHET retreat which would be spent meeting with lots of folks in Accra.  First stop was breakfast at the home of the US Ambassador, a beautiful space with a front yard full of mini-monuments that was kind of funny.  We hadn’t planned on going inside, but we did and like the Japanese embassy, took our place in the nearby sitting room.  These guys only gave us juice though – luckily I brought in a granola bar.  The sitting room was decorated with an array of African art.

From there we drove to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, which is the best hospital in Ghana.  Our visit started with a roundtable discussion about the healthcare workforce in the country, and then a tour of the facilities.  Being THE big urban hospital, every waiting room was quite full, and we were told this was the quiet part of the day.  We visited the children’s ward where in one spot they had three kids in a bed.  I asked Girin and Joe if it’s different visiting places like this now that they are fathers and both agreed it is infinitely different.  Prior to having to kids they were of course empathetic but still detached.  Now when they see these kids and parents suffering, it brings a whole new meaning to our guiding principle, every life has equal value.  Going through the labour and maternity ward, Carol commented on the “ovarian lottery” and said she can’t imagine having had her kids here.  And this is the best facility Ghana has.

Driving around Accra, many of the shops, taxis & buses are named with religious connotation.  My favorite so far is the Clap for Jesus shop.  Girin today started writing down many of these catch phrases and started a competition of who could come up with the best shop name.  Our top contenders so far:

Trust in God Insurance

Bread of Life Bakery

Love thy Neighbour Family Planning clinic

Jehovah’s Mighty Hand massage parlour

Why Life? Coffin Shop and funeral parlour

Our final event of the trip was lunch and another roundtable over the brand-new Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons.  This building just opened in December and we would be their first big event – while this fact was not so good for us, in the end it will have been an excellent training exercise for the staff their.  One thing we’ve been encountering along the way is the notion of getting things done on “international time” versus “Ghana time”, and let alone “American time.”  Luckily Kristi had gone ahead to make sure everything was set and when we came in the room it all looked great.  But as lunch and the roundtable started, their attention to details and little things kept popping up:  They brought exactly 25 plates and sets of silverware – when we needed a couple more it was quite the request.  There was no garbage bin anywhere.  We had set each spot with microphones due to the noise of the HVAC system, but folks still couldn’t hear so then they sht off the AC (in the middle of the afternoon).  As the room strated warming up, we then had to open windows to get some breeze, but that also brough tin the noise from the streets.  Sigh – it was one little thing after another.  Not the best event to end our fabulous time on, but it still went fine.  More importantly, I shattered my previous high score on Brick Breaker while trying not to nod off.

From the roundtable we stopped by an open market on teh way home to do a little shopping, but I didn’t get anything there - I don’t like all the haggling and all that.  Back at the hotel I snuck in a quick run on the treadmill before working on getting everyone out the door to the airport.  I couldn’t believe they were all leaving - the six days they were here flew by so much quicker than week one.  Sadly, getting them to the airport was only half the battle.  Once they arrived it turned out that BA had oversold its business class, leaving Carol & Gina with coach seats.  Luckily Carly was at the airport to help and we got Lisa on the phone from our travel office, but the best we could do is economy plus.  And Candy switched seats with Gina which was super nice of her, so Ithink they all landed in London safely and somewhat rested.

Back at the hotel, we celebrated their departure with a bottle of wine and plans to sleep late!