Well if we are being honest here this is my second go around in writing this blog about a day in the life of a global intern here in Ghana. The first time I went to write this I was just about to publish it when my mac decided to crash so I lost my beautiful masterpiece. It must have not been good enough the first time so let’s hope I can get it right this go around.
There is a lot that goes on in a soul day of a global intern here in Ghana. There are many different aspects and I hope that I can accurately portray them. For starters there are two eye clinics here in Ghana, Crystal and Saint Thomas. Depending on the week you will be paired up with one of the two. Usually you wake up and leave anywhere around between 7:30-8:30. Then you have anywhere from an hour to three hour van ride to your destination. Once you reach your destination you set up and introduce yourself to the village/ group of people you are helping. After that you can do one of three jobs.
The three jobs on an outreach are visual acuity, medication and glasses distribution, and imputing data. Visual acuity consists of testing everyone’s vision with those dope charts that have the E’s going in all sorts of directions. Communication is key during that process so we’ve learned to pick up a few Twi (basically the main language of Ghana) phrases to make the process easier for everyone. As far as medication and glasses distribution goes you see everyone who’s already seen the doctors and hook them up with some sweet glasses and eyedrops to help them see. It’s really neat because some people are very grateful for their new given sight. Last and quite possibly least is imputing data. This only happens at Saint Thomas but they put info about all the patients they’ve seen that day. #Technerds
This isn’t a job but I pretty much consider hanging out and playing with the kids as one. Personally it’s my favorite.
We finish up daily outreaches and get home anytime from 5:00-9:00pm. Usually once a week we go on a few night overnight outreach where we stay in a different hotel and work from there because it’s so far away.
About once a week we will have a clinical day. Those days are really neat because we get to see surgeries and learn from the optometrists and ophthalmologist. I didn’t think I would be okay with seeing eyes get cut open but it’s actually pretty interesting.
While we aren’t working we do our best to keep ourselves busy. During the week we go and get food and play games and just hangout. On the weekends we are a little more free so we end up going to the beach or to the markets. We also got chores I guess and have to handwash our clothes and get some groceries.
Things are all great here and at the end of the day I’ve been really humbled and I’m so grateful for this experience I’ve been given. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, or America for that sake.
Drew's Ghana Trip 