Surgeries, Final Outreaches, and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Hello all! After a looooong journey from GMT (Ghana-man time) to EST, I am back on Canadian soil. But I think I'm already experiencing reverse culture shock. It's definitely nice to be home, but I miss so many things about Ghana already. Firstly, this massive cold spell that hit North America was not the most pleasant welcome home present after the tropical weather in Ghana. Secondly, I miss all of the Crystal Eye Clinic staff and my fellow volunteers a lot. But luckily I have an awesome CD, courtesy of Ernest, with all of our favourite songs from the trip on it, as well as 577 pictures full of memories (I will post the pictures ASAP!). Hopefully those will help with my Ghana withdrawal. But, I can't help but say it again and again: MEFI WO PAA GHANA! (Twi for "I'll really miss you, Ghana!").


Aside from ranting about my Ghana withdrawal, however, I do still have to tell you about my final days in "la Côte-de-l’Or" (the golden coast) as Ghana is also known. My last week in Ghana was awesome, and just as busy as the the weeks before. On Monday, I went on an outreach with the team from North Western Eye Clinic. North Western is another fantastic partner eye clinic with Unite For Sight. Like Crystal Eye Clinic, they run outreaches to villages, and refer patients to the clinic in Accra for surgery. Dr. Gyasi is the ophthalmologist who works at North Western and performs the surgeries. North Western very recently celebrated its one year anniversary! For being just one year old, the clinic and staff have certainly accomplished a lot! North Western followed a very similar outreach structure as Crystal.  The major difference I observed between the two outreaches When we performed visual acuity testing for the patients, we also tested visual acuity using a pinhole. In circumstances where a patient's vision was very poor, we asked them to place the pinhole cover over their eye, and to read the chart with it. The pinhole most of the time resulted in an improvement in the patient's visual acuity. The pinhole achieves this by allowing the eye to focus light and temporarily remove the effects of refractive errors, such as myopia. In this way, an eye specialist can can estimate the maximum attainable improvement in a patient's vision by lenses corrective lenses. The pinhole can also be an indicator of glaucoma. While this is certainly a very useful diagnostic tool, when there are hundreds of patients to screen, using the pinhole during visual acuity can become very time consuming. But overall, it was a fun outreach with the North Western team!


Tuesday was a very exciting day because it was: Surgery Day (dun dun dun). Many of the other volunteers had already observed surgeries while in Ghana, but this was my first (and last) day at the clinic. It was particularly exciting because I observed surgeries for many of the patients we had screened two weeks earlier on outreach in the village of Teshie. Also, for every surgery we observed, we signed off on a time sheet to certify that the surgery was indeed sponsored by Unite For Sight. We observed about 18 cataract and pterygium surgeries. This day in particular was not as busy as a typical surgery day at the clinic. Usually, the ophthalmologist, and head of Crystal, Dr. James Clark, would operate on many more patients. But either way, it was very exciting! We "suited up", wearing our hair nets, face masks, surgery gowns, and crocs, and entered the operating theatre, as it is called in Ghana. 

Dr. Clark is not only an amazing ophthalmologist, but he is also fantastic at explaining things to us novices. For every procedure, he explained what was going on, and the purpose of each of the surgical tools he was using. Jerome was Dr. Clark's right hand man during the surgery, passing him important tools, and assisting with the surgery itself. Everyone in the operating room worked as a team to ensure that each surgery went smoothly and efficiently. Rose, Dan and I took turns observing surgeries throughout the day. I first observed a pterygium surgery. Pterygiums are most often benign growths of the conjunctiva on the eye. It is associated with, and thought to be caused by ultraviolet-light exposure (e.g., sunlight), low humidity, and dust. Since the all of these describe the climate in many rural areas of Ghana, pterygiums are quite common. Pterygiums cause severe irritation to the eye. Dr. Clark mentioned that pterygiums have a  high chance of recurrence, and thus the surgery must be performed very carefully. Dr. Clark used various surgical instruments to scrape the growth off the eye, and then used a small tool to cauterize the blood vessels. 

I next observed several cataract surgeries. Dr. Clark performs small incision cataract surgeries (SICS) to remove cataracts from the eye. A cataract is a clouding that develops in the lens of the eye or in its envelope, varying from slight to complete opacityand obstructing the passage of light. If left in the eye, cataracts can cause blindness. However, cataracts are a common part of aging, and can be removed through surgery. Small incision cataract surgery is minimally invasive. A small incision of about 2-3 mm is made, and saline is used to loosen the cataract from the capsule. Once loosed, the cataract slips out through the small incision. Since the incision is so small, the wound usually heals itself and sutures are not required. Antibiotics and steroids are administered to prevent inflammation and infection. 

Each surgery took only about 10 minutes. There were two operating beds side by side in the room, and Dr. Clark moved back and forth between the two beds, performing all of the surgeries. Dr. Clark and Jerome worked very quickly and efficiently. Aside from all of the cataract and pterygium surgeries, we also observed a very interesting case. A woman came in with a very large cyst on her eye. It was so large that it appeared as if she couldn't even close her eye. The most shocking part was that the woman had lived with this cyst on her eye for 24 years! Within 5 minutes, Dr. Clark removed the cyst, enabling the woman to see, and to close her eye. Just imagine, not being after to close your eye properly for TWENTY FOUR YEARS! Unbelievable. This is yet another reason that it is so important to engage local volunteers and school children in spreading the word about eye care services and good eye health to their families and friends. 

The day at the clinic was very interesting, and I learnt a tremendous amount about ophthalmology. It was a particularly special day for me because I saw from start to finish the transformation that a patient makes from blindness or impaired vision to seeing, starting from the Unite For Sight village outreach screening, to the Unite For Sight sponsored surgery. It was so wonderful to know that every dollar that I fundraised went directly to supporting the surgeries for these patients, and giving them the gift of sight. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Clark, Jerome, and all of the staff at Crystal Eye Clinic. The work they do is just incredible, and they have a tremendous impact on the lives of many people in Ghana.

Wednesday was my last outreach with Crystal Eye Clinic. It was a sad day for me because after spending most of my time over the last three weeks with CEC staff and UFS volunteers on outreach, I had become very accustomed to the daily long drives in the "party bus" (aka the UFS van that has been through EVERYTHING) to the remote villages, and listening to Ernest and Jerome singing "where my baby girl". But most of all, I enjoyed going on the village outreaches because we had the chance to interact with patients, young and old. Even if our interactions were brief, they were very meaningful. Many of the patients were so grateful for our work, and made us feel so welcome in their village. It is also amazing to watch Ernest and all of the CEC staff at work on outreach. They work nonstop until all of the patients have been examined. Their determination and dedication to the patients is really inspiring. I am definitely going to miss the outreach aspect of my trip most of all. 

This last outreach was similar to the outreaches we carried out in Jasikan: lots and lots of patients. I'm pretty sure we saw over 100 patients. However, at this outreach, many of the patients had no money at all, and were unable to pay for the medications. Unfortunately, we are unable to give the medications for free because they are very expensive, and we already provide them at a highly subsidized cost. To compromise, we provided the eyeglasses for free to the patients. To ensure that patients take care of their glasses and medicines, we make note of the things they receive in our patient data spreadsheet. That way, we can check in the future if a patient has already received medicines or glasses from UFS. The outreach took pretty much the entire day, and concluded with a nice meal of rice and stew provided by the local people. 

Thursday was our last day in Ghana. We luckily had the day free to do some last minute site-seeing, shopping, relaxing, and packing before our 11 pm departure from Accra. We all decided to spend most of the day at Labadi Beach. It was a lovely day, and we met some interesting people there. We now have a new friend named "Cream", a Liberian soccer player who has played for Cameroon and Liberia. Also, one of the beach vendors loved the fact that I am Indian, and gave me free jewelry (I could get used to that!). We also made a pit stop at the Accra Cultural Center market to visit our favorite wood handicraft shop to get some more souvenirs. 

Afterwards, we headed back to the Telecentre, our Accra home, and said our goodbyes to Ernest, Dennis, Dorcas, and Magdaline. Bibi kindly took us to the airport, and bid us farewell. After some tearful "MEFI WO PAA's", we headed off into the chaotic Kokota Airport. And now, here I am, back where I started.

I am going to end my post here. I am still in denial that I have to go back to college, that I don't drink water from plastic bags anymore, and that roosters, goats, drums, and Mr. Akapo's laugh don't wake me up at 4:30 am anymore. It hasn't hit me that I am not going to wake up tomorrow and go on outreach, or go to the clinic, or go on some adventure in Accra. So, I will be writing another post (not a long one, this time I REALLY promise!) once I decide how to "conclude" this blog.  Stay tuned for a short and sweet post...and "Ernest and Jerome Uncovered"!

JASIKAN, banku, and other adventures!

Hi everyone! Hope all is well. I had a very busy second week in Ghana, and I have lots to tell you about. I spent this past week on a 5 day overnight outreach to Jasikan in the North-Central Volta region of Ghana. Our group included Ernest and Bismark (affectionately known as Bibi) from Crystal Eye Clinic and 4 volunteers: Karen, Ruju, Dan, and myself. I must say that it was of the best experiences I have had here so far! We set off last Sunday on a 5 hour trip to Jasikan, packed with extremely bumpy roads, a “hip-life”/reggae CD on repeat (we now know the difference between the songs “scary face” and “allow me to kiss your hand”…they originally all sounded the same to us), snail kabobs (Dan was the brave soul…and required several bottles of water after that), fried yams (SO TASTY!), and lots of back seat dance parties and naps. Our journey took us from Accra across Lake Volta towards Jasikan. As we got further away from Accra, we could see a significant change in the climate. It became very foggy and cold. It was very refreshing after the humidity in Accra! Lake Volta was very beautiful, and drive to Jasikan was very scenic (lots of tropical plants and trees, farmlands, animals..we even plucked cocoa beans off a tree and ate the seeds from inside!). 

Upon arriving at the guest house, we were pleasantly surprised. We were initially expecting the worst because Ernest told us it would be hot, there would be no AC, there would be no running water, and that there would be lots and lots of mosquitoes. Surprisingly, it was quite the opposite! Although there was no AC, there was no need…it was so cold in Jasikan, that we woke up every morning shivering and piling on every piece of clothing we had. But the cool mornings and evenings were a huge relief after long days on outreach. Also, not having running water was not that bad at all. For the first time, I became very conscious about my water consumption for brushing, bathing, and even using the toilet (we had to fill up the toilet box each time in order to flush it…do you even know how much water goes into one flush?! It is INSANE!). I shared a room with Karen and Ruju which was super fun. Between the three of us, we shared a large barrel of water per day. I was actually very proud: despite being three girls and being mildly obsessed with bathing, we all managed just fine! In fact, we liked the bucket baths better than the drip showers at the Telecentre in Accra. But the best things about the hostel were that there was no internet, very little phone signal, an awesome living room area for us to chill in at night, and that it only cost 6 cedis/night to stay there (1.4 Ghana cedis = 1 USD). We all had no choice but to play Michael Jackson songs, attempt to do the moon walk, teach Ernest and Bibi how to bhangra, and to play never-ending Uno and Ghanaian card games. The only downside to the guest house was that there were, what sounded like, 50 roosters and goats around the building which started their symphony at the glorious hour of 4 am every day. I was not pleased. Not to mention Churches like to drum early in the morning. And sounds that carries.

During the next five days, we conducted outreaches in New Ayoma, Papaase (Jasikan), Asukawkaw, and Wuropong- Abotoas. During the outreaches to these villages, we broke some Unite For Sight records. Over the week, screened over 900 patients, and referred around 82 patients for UFS sponsored surgeries! It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. Hats off to the entire outreach team for working hard (as they say in Twi: “Ayeko!” meaning “a job well done!”). We saw an overwhelming list of eye diseases including cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, uveitis, conjunctivitis, corneal scarring, pterygium, myopia, retinopathy, retino pigmentosa, ocular hypertension, band keratopathy, toxoplasmosis, photophobia, heterpchromic iritis (non-lethal), pseudoaphakia, and corneal decompensation. Many of the people we saw had severe trauma to the eye and diseases common to impoverished areas in Ghana.

We could not have completed all of this tremendous work without the assistance of two stellar local volunteers. Mr. Akakpo and Mr. Boku of Jasikan are two truly amazing people. Mr. Boku is a farmer who has been volunteering in various healthcare settings for over 15 years. He used to have impaired vision, but his sight was restored through surgery, and he jumped on board with Unite For Sight. He takes the time out of his busy schedule to volunteer in primary healthcare settings as well as with Unite For Sight in villages around Jasikan. Both Mr. Boku and Mr. Akakpo recruited all of the patients for the screenings, assisted with the health talks, translations, and patient registrations, and will be responsible for bringing the referred patients to Accra for surgery. On top of that, they coordinated all of our meals for the week and made sure we had amazing food. Not to mention, Mr. Akakpo has the most HILARIOUS laugh on earth (it goes something like: “HA HA HA…..HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLO!”….I took a video of it, and I promise I will post it somehow). We really enjoyed their company and are so grateful for their help.

Traveling to the different villages allowed us to taste a variety of local Ghanaian dishes. Some of the things we ate included okra “banku” (a massive ball of cooked fermented maize and cassava dough eaten with by hand, dipped in okra or meat soup), jollof rice with pepper, “kelewele” (fried plantains with lots of pepper and spices), cocoa porridge in a bag, fried yams with pepper sauce, and “waakye” (spicy rice and beans). The food was so amazing, and was prepared by the local villagers for us. I’m glad I had a chance to sample so of the local cuisine. Eating banku with our hands was definitely a unique experience that we will all remember (in fact, it was so memorable that we mistakenly called Mr. Boku, "Mr. Banku". EEEEEEEK, he was not pleased!). 

As you can tell, it was a very busy and exciting week, and I had tons of fun! I was really sad to leave Jasikan and return to the hustle and bustle of Accra. But hopefully on my next trip to Ghana, I will be able to go back there again. A huge thank you to Ernest, Bibi, and all of the other volunteers for making it such a special trip...I really enjoyed your company! Let's go back!!

This past weekend, Karen and I spent a lot of time in the Osu neighbourhood of Accra. We ate at an awesome Italian restaurant called Mama Mia, and managed to do some shopping both there and at the Accra Cultural Centre. I got a Ghana soccer jersey, an African print sundress, some beautiful handmade earrings, and lots of other beautiful ebony-carved souvenirs. I think I did pretty well overall with the bargaining! I also got to see my former week one roommate Naa-Lamley one last time before her flight back to America.

This is my final week in Ghana, and I’m really sad to be leaving on Thursday. I hope to make the most of my last few days here. I will be going on an outreach with North Western Eye Centre, and I will be observing surgeries at Crystal Eye Clinic. I am excited to meet Dr. Clarke, as well as the other staff at both clinics. Anyways, that’s all for now, but I promise I will be better with posting for these last few days, and that they won’t be as long as this one!! Cheers!

-Indu

Week One

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I haven't been posting regularly...things have been extremely busy and hectic on my end and I didn't have a chance to get to a computer until now. But that's all because I had an awesome first week here in Ghana...lots to tell you about!

This week, the Crystal Eye Clinic Unite For Sight team at Accra went on outreaches to surrounding villages everyday. The team consisted of UFS staff from Crystal Eye Clinic and 7 of us volunteers. Our Accra group included Jerome, Ernest, Dennis, Bismark, John, Daniel, Naa, Ruju, Jane, Neelam, and myself. Everyday this week, we left the Telecentre at around 8 am, and drove between 1-3 hours to various rural villages and a refugee camp. Each outreach followed a similar structure. In each of the villages, there are local volunteers who assist UFS and Crystal Eye Clinic in promoting the eye camps, recruit people to attend the camps for vision screenings, and assist us with the screenings and language translation. Each village has its own unique Ghanaian dialect, so having the help of local people to translate is essential. Most of these outreaches were held in the village churches. The villages that we went to this past week were Aklamador, Sege, Buduburam Refugee Camp, Mafi Akyemfo, Akuse, Teshie, and Kpone.

Each UFS outreach began with a health talk to the villagers. In this health talk, Jerome, Ernest, or Dennis would explain to the villagers what Unite For Sight is, what they do, why they were there, and who we volunteers are. They also spoke extensively about eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, eye trauma, etc., the problems that traditional practices can cause for eyes, and how UFS can provide surgeries free to cost to villagers if they need it. They also spoke about how we can provide patients with reading glasses, sunglasses, and eye medications at a subsidized cost, and the best practices that patients can follow to maintain good eye health. There was an opportunity at the end of the talk for patients to ask questions.

After the talk, our team split up into four stations: patient registration, visual acuity screening, eye examination, and medicine, glasses, and data entry station. We manned these stations, rotating every now and then.

Patient Registration: This station was mostly handled by the local village volunteers since they understand the language and can best communicate with the patients. At this station, the patient receives a registration card for us to fill out during the screening and examination.

Visual Acuity: I spent a lot of time running this station at the various outreaches. Many of you are familiar with reading the letters on a chart about 6 metres away during an appointment at the eye doctor to test your visual acuity, or ability to see things at a distance or up close. This test is very important in deciding what type of eyeglass lenses one may require for distance or up-close purposes. In North America, we read different letters that start at the top of a chart, and progressively get smaller. In the Ghanaian villages, many people are illiterate and unable to read different letters in the English alphabet. Thus, we use a unique chart to test visual acuity. The chart has only the letter E, pointing is different directions. Like a North American chart, the letters also get progressively smaller down the lines of the chart. Instead of asking the patients to read the letters aloud, we ask them to point in the direction that the E is pointing. We test their visual acuity for first the right eye and then the left eye in this way. Most of the time, we were able to communicate with the patients at this station through broken English or sign language; but sometimes we used the help of local village members serving as translators.

Eye Examination: This station was run by Ernest, Dennis, and Jerome, the ophthalmic nurses and optometrists from Crystal Eye Clinic. At this station, they listened to the patients eye complaints and examined the patients on an individual basis using instruments like an ophthalmoscope. After the examination, they would write down the observations on the patient's card, as well as their treatment recommendations which include the use of distance/reading/sunglasses, eye drop medications, or even eye operation. They would explain their observations to the patients, receive the patient's consent for surgery if applicable, and then send them to the medication dispensing station to obtain the appropriate medication.

Medication/Eyeglass Dispensing: I also spent a lot of time at this station. Here, we had many of the eyeglasses that we brought from North America ready for distribution, along with medications from pharmaceutical companies. Initially, UFS used to give out the eyeglasses and medications free of charge to the patients. However, it was found that the patients didn't take care of their glasses, lost them, used the medications more than they were supposed to, and didn't value them. They ended up just coming back to the next outreach and demanding new glasses and medications. Because of this, we now charge a 1 cedi fee for glasses, and a 4-5 cedi fee for medications, so that the patients will value them and take care of them. Interestingly, Ruju, a med student from Boston University, and one of the volunteers, is doing a research study on the value of cataract surgeries and eyeglasses to patients. She is conducting this study by interviewing the patients requiring glasses and surgery, asking them their opinions of the value of eye care, healthcare, and other factors that influence the study. I have observed many of Ruju's interviews, and they have been very interesting!

Each outreach was very busy, and took almost the entire day. Some days we managed to visit two villages in one day, but for most of them, we spent the whole day in one spot. It was hot and tiring, but lots of fun! I really really enjoyed doing them, interacting with the patients, performing visual acuity screenings, dispensing prescribed medications, and observing the ophthalmic staff at work. We saw a range of between 50-200 patients per day (yes, that many). It was certainly overwhelming, but the set up was so organized that we managed to get through everything quickly and efficiently, just in time for dinner.

Each day was very busy, and we all came back very sweaty and tired. But each outreach was very enjoyable, and I returned home every night with a great feeling of fulfillment and accomplishment. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to help these patients in rural villages in a small way. I enjoyed meeting them, learning new words in Twi and Ga, learning about culture, eating some local food, and getting to know them. Each patient was so grateful, kind, and welcoming to us. I felt accepted, and really appreciated it. I was also delighted to see that every dollar I raised was going straight to providing free eye surgeries for these patients. Many of them would otherwise be unable to afford the surgeries and screening services, and in many cases, could end up blind. It was a truly moving and incredible experience for me!

Believe it or not, in between our busy schedule, we managed to squeeze in some time for sightseeing! We went into town several times to eat at restaurants and sample local cuisine. Some of the things I tried this week included jollof rice, fried plantains, coconut vegetable curry, and even some Western favourites, with a spicy Ghanaian twist. Some of the other volunteers also sampled dishes of fufu, a meal eaten with the hands. I'll definitely write more about Ghanaian cuisine a bit later.

This week, we attended a reggae festival at a beach on the coast of Ghana. It was a interesting experience, and we now have a rastafarian chum named "SASA" (she claimed 5 minutes later that her name had become "SASASA"). We saw some very "interesting" people at the festival, enjoyed the beautiful beach, and had a great time.

We also went on a jungle canopy tour at Kakum National Park. This was an incredible experience! And believe it or not, I did not cry!! (For those of you who know me well, I cry on roller coasters and at the glass floor at the CN Tower in Toronto). We traversed the tree tops of the jungle on 7 long and extremely wobbly rope bridges. We observed very beautiful plants, butterflies, lizards, and crazy looking insects. There were supposedly monkeys, elephants, and other African animals in the jungle. However, I think the tourists were so loud that none of them wanted to come out (I don't blame them). In general, we all kept our cool on the bridges, until Dan decided to jump and wobble the whole thing. I'm not going to lie, my life flashed before my eyes during that point. But when I got to the end, I felt "strong like bull".

After the canopy tour, we visited the slave castles at Cape Coast. We learnt an incredible amount about Ghana's history and the history of West African slave trading. Cape Coast was one of the largest slave trading posts in West Africa, and a major spot for the export of slaves to the New World. The various slave castles throughout the African coast were set up by the Dutch, Portuguese, Danes, and British. Many Westerners arrived in Africa stating that they were there simply as missionaries or explorers. However, once the Europeans seized control of many African countries, they began trading humans for commodities. I have so much more to say about this visit and about the dark history of the slave trade in Africa with North and South America, and Europe. But unfortunately, I have to run now because we are leaving for a 6 day overnight outreach to the region of Jasikan. Ernest has been trying to scare us, telling us that we wont have any running water, AC, or fans. But, the Telecentre has been a bit crazy this week since our AC broke, our fan does not work, and the water stopped running completely in all of our rooms. So it is safe to say, I am very prepared for Jasikan. Either way, I'm super excited to go because past volunteers have described the overnight outreaches as truly incredible experiences! I am really looking forward to living in the village, seeing rural African landscape, and meeting the people of Jasikan. I won't have internet during this week, but I will post as soon as I can! Take care, and check back sooooooon!

-I

Day One & Two in Accra

Howdy! I finally made it to Accra, Ghana! My journey was very smooth, and I got all of my luggage easily, including all of my eyeglasses and surgical supplies (thank god!). The heat hit us instantaneously as we stepped off the plane, and it was a nice feeling after the cold North American winter. But man is it HOT and HUMID!

Jerome, one of the general nurses at the UFS partner Crystal Eye Clinic, and Bismark, the UFS driver, gave us a warm welcome at the Kotoka Airport, and took us to the Telecentre Bed & Breakfast in Accra. This is where I will be staying this week and during my third week in Ghana. It is a lovely guest house with very nice rooms (we are quite spoiled actually!). After settling in, the other volunteers and I ventured out into Accra to check out the money exchange bureau and the Bank of America ATM. Getting there was  interesting...we basically had to run across three busy streets with "high-speed" (all relative, of course) traffic, and we had to jump over these cement walls to get across the three roads. For Indiana Jones, this might have been a piece of cake. But for some of us jet-lagged travelers, it was mildly terrifying. But we made it!

The Telecentre Bed & Breakfast, Accra, Ghana.

My bubble for the trip.

For dinner I had a taste of Ghanaian fried rice, which was really delicious. Being a vegetarian traveler in West Africa is definitely going to be interesting...asking for meals with no meat is quite strange to waiters in restaurants and chop bars. But I think I'll definitely manage, and there are a lot of interesting meatless Ghanaian dishes that I'm very excited to try. I've heard that fufu, jollof rice, and plantains are very popular.

We also had orientation today with Jerome and Ernest, two of the staff members from Crystal Eye Clinic. They're absolutely fantastic, and loads of fun! I can't wait to get started this week at the clinic. It seems that our schedule permits us to go touring on the weekends, so we all have plans to do some exciting things while in Ghana. We're hoping to do a jungle canopy tour, possibly go to a wildlife reserve, visit a mushroom-shaped waterfall, visit the slave castles, a monkey tour, and a Ghanaian drumming jam session at the Accra cultural center! I hope there will be enough time to do at least some of these amazing things.

Sorting the hundreds of eyeglasses we brought from North America. 

Days 1 & 2 in Accra have been amazing so far, and I'm excited to get started in the clinics and the village outreaches. Stay tuned for some more adventures (I'm sure you'll all enjoy reading my post about the Canopy Tour...yes, I'm afraid of heights, but I'm going alllllll out!). Next week I will be going on a 5 day overnight outreach to an area called Jasikan. We will be living in the village with the local people, so it will definitely be an adventure!

-Indu