Thursday June 28, 2012  Africa:  Day 18

            Kelsey and I set off this morning for our first official day of “work” at Accra Psychiatric Hospital while Liz and Liyam went to Pantang Psychiatric Hospital.  We met up with Dixon and received the welcome we were expecting as we checked in at the nurses station.  No one knew who we were, why we were there, or what we were supposed to do (even though we had talked to this same head nurse a couple of different times last week).  She just looked confused and we told her (again) that we were psychology students from the US and Ghana and were going to observe in some of the wards. 

            We first went to the children’s ward where we talked with one of the nurses who told us some of the individual stories of some of the kids.  It was hard not to want to just take them all home as she talked of kids being chained up in a room for most of their lives until they were finally brought them to the hospital, or parents who literally dropped their child off at the hospital door and ran.  One little girl was probably the most social, and all she wanted to do cuddle.  The staff don’t really know the ages of most of the kids because many were abandoned, but this little girl has spent almost her entire life in a ward that consists of little barracks for sleeping, and a small courtyard with windowless 2-story tall walls where she is fed, bathed, changed, and entertained (although the entertainment is limited to say the least).  Once again I was so impressed with the staff.  The nurse we were talking to kept telling us that she tries to treat the children as her own relatives because most of them don’t have any of their own. 

            After a few hours of chatting and observing, we walked to the female ward.  Our greeting there was definitely memorable.  We walked through the tall wooden doors and within seconds I was being mobbed by women pulling on my arms and shirt asking for money and food.  As Dixon was helping me get through the crowd, I looked over just in time to see a large woman wearing only a little pair of underwear coming running right up to Kelsey and giving her a huge hug.  It may have been one of the funniest images I have seen in a while with Kelsey just standing there like a deer in the headlights as she realizes what is about to happen. 

            The nurses had us sit on small patio in an outer courtyard and then brought a few women to come to talk to us.  Kelsey, Dixon, just got to listen to the women tell their stories of family, life in the hospital, their feelings of loneliness and fear.  One woman was obviously the comic relief of the ward.  She had all of us (including the nurses sitting near by) laughing as she sang, danced, and talked and joked with us.  She kept trying to teach me words in Twi.  I would give her one word to translate into this native language, and she would slowly teach me how to say it.  Once she thought my pronunciation was adequate, she would kiss my hand to show her approval, then break into an entire paragraph that may or may not contain the word like “please”, “thank you” or “love” that she had just taught me.  She would look at me like I should understand what she said, so I would turn to the nurses or Dixon for some help, but they just thought it was funny and were too busy laughing to help me out. 

            We eventually said good bye to the women (and the rats that we saw scurrying around the facilities today), and took the Tro Tro home.  The power went out shortly after we got back to the hostel.  We were warned that this happens often, and it may turn back on in two hours or two days.  Instead of sitting around waiting for it, we packed up our computers and found a little French bakery near the NGO's main office to eat and use the internet.  The café closed not long after we got there, so we walked to the same hotel we went to last night to use their internet.  I’m sitting here by the pool listening to a live calypso band.  Not a bad way to end a emotionally draining day