Today's photos in slideshow section 1 - click HERE to view.
(back-dated post completed July 19)
We were finally able to have a shower this morning – felt so good! I imagine it was probably Akos’ first real shower. When she undressed, I saw a triple string of beads around her – between her waist and hips. I asked if it was jewelry, and she nodded, but I thought it might have more meaning, and decided to ask someone later.
Our coordinator picked us up at 9 am for Akos’ medical exam. On the way, I asked him about the beads – it turns out that it does have important cultural significance. The babies are all put in beads when they are born, and as they grow too tight, they are lengthened or replaced. The boys only wear them for a year or two, but the girls wear them all their lives. It helps the family to know whether or not the child is growing, since most don’t have any other way to tell. It is called an ashinoh (phoenetically spelled, since it has a backwards-C character I can't figure out how to make with my keyboard). Babies also wear bracelet-type beads in a single strand, but with larger beads, around each leg, just below the knee. We were told it helps to shape the leg (the top of the calf), and it keeps the baby from being lazy – if they crawl, the beads hurt them, so they walk sooner. Interesting!
Akos had to get a passport-type picture taken beforehand – in a tiny shack in the slum-like market area there. Thank goodness we have our coordinator with us to handle all these transactions and know where to go! There was wonderfully cool air conditioning in the clinic – I loved it! Akos got weighed and measured on a fascinating scale that talks, weighs, and also has a bar of LED lights that go up to the child’s height so you can read it against the scale on the edge! VERY strange and space-age looking – not what I’d expect here! Akos was only 22 kg, and 125 cm. Very small for her age – I’ll have to plot it out on a growth chart for her. After the nurses’ desk, we ended up waiting in the hall for a long time, only to have the nurse come out and look shocked – “Oh, no, you are supposed to be in that room!” So we entered the doctor’s waiting room. Didn’t take long for Akos to be called – the doctor said, “I’ve been calling you and calling you.” I felt guilty and tried to explain the mistake. He was nice, though. He said Akos’ brown instead of black hair is due to malnutrition. Her eyesight was great, and other than her size, he found nothing else wrong with her. I asked about malaria prophylaxis – he said that if she is going to be living with us, she needs treatment, not prophylaxis! She’ll take Coartem BID for 3 days. He also presumptively gave a one-dose deworming medication.
Next, to the MedLab to get a stool sample. Akos tried to go and thought she hadn't, but she had actually tooted out a tiny piece of poop – just big enough for the sample! Yay! A lot of families have had to wait at that step for hours, waiting for the child to “produce.”
Next, we went to the Accra mall – I wanted to find a dark metal pot for Esther to put with the solar cooker I’d like to get for her. Couldn’t find one, unfortunately. But, we did find some books and toys for the girls, as well as a couple of books for me. One is called “The Pride of Ewe Kente.” It looks really interesting. Apparently the Ewe and the Ashanti each want to take credit for inventing kente – and that their patterns are entirely different.
In the mall parking lot, we met our coordinator's friend Adam, who runs an orphange in the Volta region for HIV+ kids. He wanted to know if I had any way to get medicine for them – AZT would help so much to decrease maternal-fetal transmission. I’ll have to see what I can do.
After the mall trip, we came home and played. We had bought a ball, which we inflated, and then the girls started kicking it around. Akos is lightning-fast and agile – I think we definitely need to put her on a soccer team – she would love it and gain so much confidence at having something she is so good at.
Went to dinner, then packed our things to leave for Cape Coast in the morning.
(back-dated post completed July 19)
We were finally able to have a shower this morning – felt so good! I imagine it was probably Akos’ first real shower. When she undressed, I saw a triple string of beads around her – between her waist and hips. I asked if it was jewelry, and she nodded, but I thought it might have more meaning, and decided to ask someone later.
Our coordinator picked us up at 9 am for Akos’ medical exam. On the way, I asked him about the beads – it turns out that it does have important cultural significance. The babies are all put in beads when they are born, and as they grow too tight, they are lengthened or replaced. The boys only wear them for a year or two, but the girls wear them all their lives. It helps the family to know whether or not the child is growing, since most don’t have any other way to tell. It is called an ashinoh (phoenetically spelled, since it has a backwards-C character I can't figure out how to make with my keyboard). Babies also wear bracelet-type beads in a single strand, but with larger beads, around each leg, just below the knee. We were told it helps to shape the leg (the top of the calf), and it keeps the baby from being lazy – if they crawl, the beads hurt them, so they walk sooner. Interesting!
Akos had to get a passport-type picture taken beforehand – in a tiny shack in the slum-like market area there. Thank goodness we have our coordinator with us to handle all these transactions and know where to go! There was wonderfully cool air conditioning in the clinic – I loved it! Akos got weighed and measured on a fascinating scale that talks, weighs, and also has a bar of LED lights that go up to the child’s height so you can read it against the scale on the edge! VERY strange and space-age looking – not what I’d expect here! Akos was only 22 kg, and 125 cm. Very small for her age – I’ll have to plot it out on a growth chart for her. After the nurses’ desk, we ended up waiting in the hall for a long time, only to have the nurse come out and look shocked – “Oh, no, you are supposed to be in that room!” So we entered the doctor’s waiting room. Didn’t take long for Akos to be called – the doctor said, “I’ve been calling you and calling you.” I felt guilty and tried to explain the mistake. He was nice, though. He said Akos’ brown instead of black hair is due to malnutrition. Her eyesight was great, and other than her size, he found nothing else wrong with her. I asked about malaria prophylaxis – he said that if she is going to be living with us, she needs treatment, not prophylaxis! She’ll take Coartem BID for 3 days. He also presumptively gave a one-dose deworming medication.
Next, to the MedLab to get a stool sample. Akos tried to go and thought she hadn't, but she had actually tooted out a tiny piece of poop – just big enough for the sample! Yay! A lot of families have had to wait at that step for hours, waiting for the child to “produce.”
Next, we went to the Accra mall – I wanted to find a dark metal pot for Esther to put with the solar cooker I’d like to get for her. Couldn’t find one, unfortunately. But, we did find some books and toys for the girls, as well as a couple of books for me. One is called “The Pride of Ewe Kente.” It looks really interesting. Apparently the Ewe and the Ashanti each want to take credit for inventing kente – and that their patterns are entirely different.
In the mall parking lot, we met our coordinator's friend Adam, who runs an orphange in the Volta region for HIV+ kids. He wanted to know if I had any way to get medicine for them – AZT would help so much to decrease maternal-fetal transmission. I’ll have to see what I can do.
After the mall trip, we came home and played. We had bought a ball, which we inflated, and then the girls started kicking it around. Akos is lightning-fast and agile – I think we definitely need to put her on a soccer team – she would love it and gain so much confidence at having something she is so good at.
Went to dinner, then packed our things to leave for Cape Coast in the morning.
More later.... :)
Jeanie
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