Hope Community

Wednesday was the first real day of my internship, and I really do love it. The orphanage houses about 24 boys (I have yet to see all of them), and they also support about 13 girls who live in foster families in the community. I have only met one girl so far, and the ages of the boys range from 6-14. Depending on the week, the kids go to school in either the morning or the afternoons, so I come in when they are actually there. The first day was a little rough because there is no real guidance as to what the interns are supposed to do. It kind of seemed like they threw us in a room with a bunch of kids and told us to just do whatever we wanted. After spending time with each of them I have gotten a bit of a grasp on their skill levels in math and English, so I know who needs help in what. On Wednesday I wrote out a lot of math problems for them to practice. Today the kids had a spelling bee at school, so I helped them practice spelling. The orphanage is run by a man named Pastor Ashley, and he told me that a lot of the kids actually do have parents but they are disabled and can't take care of their kids. I also think that some of the people who work at the orphanage also do outreach work in the community with disabled people.

A random fun fact about Ghana: you do not need a prescription to get medicine at a pharmacy. I have been sick with a pretty bad chest cold, and I just self-medicated myself (with antibiotics and a new inhaler) without actually consulting a doctor here in Accra. I have no idea why it is this way, but it makes things easier for me. But, it is not uncommon to go to a pharmacy and for certain drugs to have run out. For example, I went to two pharmacies two times each in one day just to find the right inhaler for my asthma.

This weekend I am going to the Cape Coast region. We are visiting Cape Coast Castle, which was used as a shipping point in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, so it should be interesting. I am also going to Kakum National Park, where there is some sort of rainforest canopy skywalk which should be awesome. That's all for now, miss you all!