the sisters.

This weekend I traveled north with my Hoosier comrades to Agomanya, a market-village in Krobo Odomase. The Queen Mothers I was told to visit turned out to be a Catholic convent packed with naughty Ghanaian nuns. Each devotes their lives to helping the sick (mainly AIDS patients) at a small hospital next door. After the 2 hour tro-tro ride, we were directed to the hospital by Moses – who remained our guide. Aside from the booze-breath, he was a sweet man with a brother suffering the later stages of HIV in the hospital. He brought us to Sister Ruth who promptly offered us cold minerals (pop) and rallied the troops to prepare us lunch. She brought us around each and every ward of the hospital to meet the patients and staff. I don’t know how to do justice to this experience in words because it rocked me to the core. There were hundreds of people waiting to be treated – some outside under a makeshift pavilion, others on hospital beds with various conditions. Nurses walked to each person to take vitals, give sponge baths to those with fevers, and maintain the crowd. The “unknown” lay in the “side-ward” which is apparently code for HIV/AIDS ward. Moses’ brother looked like a skeleton and was so sick he couldn’t speak.

Sister Ruth brought us to see the children’s ward (which looked like a feed the children infomercial) the surgical ward, the male ward, the female ward, and finally the maternity ward. I was pleased that she took us there last because it quelled the overwhelming shock and sadness I was feeling. The midwifes offered to train me how to catch babies. (YAY!) We discussed the health education they offer on HIV maternal-child transmission prevention. I wasn’t surprised to hear that mother’s cannot afford formula and the stigma and therefore breastfeed their infants thought they are HIV+. This ultimately leads to the infant’s seroconversion. They were well stocked with Nevivir, Lavimir, and Stavudine as treatments for both mother and baby – but seemed rather pessimistic at the success rate. According to the Sisters, most people with HIV believe they have been cursed and either deny treatment or wait until it is too late to treat them.

I start volunteering for the hospital in September on their HIV drop-in clinic every Wednesday. I haven’t a clue what they will have me do and I’m down for whatever they ask. I’ll stay with the nuns over night and come back to class. They take such good care of me and I’m stoked to get to know them.

Kofin Annan was sworn in as UG's chancellor today and every famous Ghanaian was there. I tried to get in, but had to stay outside so I went home and listened to the ceremony on my radio. It's so exciting to be in such close proximity to such a remarkable leader. President Kufour made the keynote address. Super exciting stuff!