Saturday was a really great time! In the morning, Ernest led an orientation for all of the new volunteers. The old volunteers attended as well to share our experiences (and also learn a little, because we had an outreach during the day we should have had orientation!). Listening to Ernest share information, I couldn’t believe how ingrained so much of the volunteer experience had already become. Getting around Accra, helping at outreaches, bargaining for taxi rides...everything Ernest discussed just seemed like part of my everyday life. Ghana is really beginning to feel like home!
After orientation, Matt, Celia and I went to Vodafone to use high-quality Internet. The Internet at Telecentre had been pretty rough all week, so we were excited to actually be able to respond to e-mails! We all thoroughly enjoyed our hour and a half of Internet time (so ridiculous that I was satiated with only 1.5 hours of Internet, considering how often I am using the Internet in the States). We went to Osu to grab dinner at Zion Thai restaurant. We had heard about the restaurant while we were leaving Heritge Indian restaurant earlier that week when a man in a minivan pulled up to us and shouted “Have you eaten at Zion Thai restaurant?” (none of us had, nor had we even heard of it). We were in for a surprise! We met Jimi, Camry and Abbie at Zion Thai and really enjoyed an appetizer called “Chicken on Bed” (chicken fried onto toast) and pad thai. I definitely will be recommending the restaurant to future volunteers!
Side note: On the way to Zion Thai, we ran into Jen, a fellow Yale School of Public Health student! It was so good to see her again (I had gotten lunch with her a couple weeks earlier) and it’s pretty odd to think that I “run into” friends while in Ghana!
When we got back from lunch, I was extremely excited to see Matt and Laura, the only two volunteers in my original crew who were still here. They had just returned from two weeks with Charity Eye Clinic in Kumasi. We caught up for a few hours, then went back to Osu, to fulfill Laura’s strong craving for cheese pizza from Mamma Mia’s. Some of the new volunteers came with us and got very spoiled with pizza on only their second night in Ghana. We got to hear about the new volunteers’ experiences at the Art Center. Based on their stories, they still have quite a bit to learn about haggling with Ghanaians – one volunteer paid 80 Ghana cedi (about 45 USD) for a small drum – yikes!
Sunday morning involved a few a volunteers leaving for a 2-week outreach in the Volta Region. The remaining volunteers took a day trip to Big Ada, which is a great beach town, and also Bismark’s (one of the drivers for Crystal Eye Clinc) hometown! We went on a boat tour that included getting to hang out in the Atlantic Ocean and visit a small village that brews rum from sugarcane that grows nearby. We all tried the rum and it was…strong. A few volunteers purchased the rum at a great deal of only 5 Ghana cedi (~2.75 USD), but I’m interested to see how they do getting it through customs. We headed back to Telecentre fairly early to make sure everyone was well rested for a great week of outreaches and Dorcas, who works at the front desk, made me a delicious dinner of Ramen noodles with onion. Mmmm…
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