It’s been four months and I still can’t quite wrap my head around my experience in Ghana with IHCV. That two-week trip feels like 4 different trips because the experience was so rich and multi-layered. I didn’t sign up for the trip until almost the last minute, and was working hard at my summer job until the day before we left. I never had time to prepare myself mentally for the experience I was jumping into.
When we left for Ghana I was totally overwhelmed. It was a new dynamic for me, my sister (a junior volunteer) and my mother (the trip anesthesiologist), I was surrounded by accomplished and incredibly approachable doctors, there were all these discussions about medical equipment and procedures that were totally foreign but totally fascinating… and I was in a new country… on a new continent! Every moment I was learning something.
I learned about Ghana and its culture. The beautiful country welcomed us all as old friends. Dr. Aikins’ family and friends network is so strong and warm that I truly felt I had been brought into a special circle. At the hospital and on our side trips I found the Ghanaians as a whole to be an open, easygoing society. At the same time there was a sort of universal, countrywide eagerness, a feeling of untapped potential searching for an outlet. Charletta, or Dr. Mrs. Aikins as she is known in Ghana, always commented that Ghanaians have incredible focus. I think she and I were picking up on the same vibe- drive, determination and optimism. President Obama and Michelle had visited Ghana just a few weeks before our arrival and his face was everywhere on posters with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills. We couldn’t help but be conscious that our own group was a microcosm of Ghanaians and Americans working together for a better future.
Although my mom is a doctor, I never had any interest in following in her footsteps and never became acquainted with the basics of medicine. I’ve never had surgery or watched medical shows, and the most invasive medical procedure I’d ever witnessed before this trip was probably seeing my own blood drawn or getting a root canal. Fast-forward to the end of the mission and I had seen emergency c-sections, thyroidectomies, hysterectomies, hernia repairs, and other procedures I don’t even know the name for. I stood in the operating room right next to the patients and watched the doctors and nurses work. I helped out running to the supply closet for gloves and equipment, but mostly I watched. Then I went home and had dinner with these same professionals and had the opportunity to ask them anything I wanted about what I’d seen that day. It was a crash course like no other.
The most unexpected learning experience I had was also the most personal. Standing in the OR watching my mom work was amazing. Since I was never interested in medicine I’d never taken an interest in my mother’s professional life- or at least not the technical aspects of it. I could talk to her about the people she worked with, office politics, human resources issues… but it’s kind of tough to talk about the actual practice of anesthesia when you know nothing about it. To be perfectly candid I’d never really bothered to find out what my mom does for a living. She always worked long hours at the hospital when I was growing up and like most doctors’ kids (I imagine), I wanted the attention to be on me when she finally came home. Then I became a teenager and obviously too cool to talk to my mom, and then I left for college. Going to Ghana and watching her work was a priceless opportunity I didn’t know I was missing. Now when people my mom works with tell me how great she is, I know what they’re talking about.
There are so many other layers to my experience in Ghana that if I wrote about it all this would be a novel instead of an essay. Working with the IHCV was one of the best things I’ve done and I’ll be reminiscing about the trip and reflecting on what I learned for a long time to come.
We (IHCV) would like to extend our sincere thanks to all our many sponsors who, year in and year out have continued to provide us the necessary support for us to be able to bring healthcare to those who needed it most. All the patients who benefit from your support also thank you. Our sincere thanks to the Board of Directors, the Fund-raising Committee, corporate sponsors, mission volunteers, our IHCV friends and families who continuously support the cause to provide healthcare to underserved women and their families.
