Eunice's story

Hi everyone!

Just about two months left until I conclude my time here and all is going well.

One of the projects I am most proud of from my Peace Corps service is the mobile antenatal care clinic, or “pregnancy school” which myself, Osei and some of the local nurses implemented. The concept was to bring some of the antenatal care to the pregnant women in my clinic-less village, as well as educate women about various health topics that affect their pregnancy, unborn child, and family as a whole.

Over the course of seven monthly sessions, we educated 43 pregnant women and 15 mothers of newborns about topics including the importance of antenatal care, the baby’s growth in the womb, nutrition, malaria, family planning, HIV/AIDS, protecting and caring for the body during pregnancy, preventing and treating diarrheal diseases, and use of the locally grown super food moringa.

Women came on a regular basis, active and engaged, until their children were born. Some mothers even came with their newborns to learn more about nutrition, moringa and malaria!

I am incredibly proud of this program and thankful for the hard work and dedication of my counterpart, Osei, who often went house-to-house encouraging women to attend, and the nursing staff, who came in every month on a moto on treacherous roads to share their expertise.

I recently wrote a vignette about one of the success stories of the pregnancy school. Here is Eunice’s story:

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Sharing a one-room house with five children and her husband, Eunice Daboa struggles to make ends meet. Money is tight even after selling the cocoa crop for the year. The debt from the funeral costs for her eldest child have made this even tighter, and her husband’s grief is still visible a full year after the accident in the river.

It us up to Eunice to keep the family together – to cook, clean, help tend to the farm, and care to their everyday needs. Eunice’s own pregnancy, in its second trimester, does not change this. Though Ghana offers free health care for pregnant women, Eunice can’t afford to spend the five cedis round trip to the clinic, so she does not go.

The second trimester of a pregnancy is crucial in all pregnancies, but especially in Ghana. Eunice should be receiving Intermittent Preventative Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) to rid her body and the placenta of malaria parasites that kill so may pregnant women and unborn children here. She should be having her first scan (or ultrasound) to make sure the baby is developing normally.

And though she has already raised six children, there is still much for her to learn about how to best care for herself, her family, and her unborn child. She may regularly give her husband all the stew that contains the meat and vegetables necessary for her and her baby to be healthy, and she still does not sleep under a mosquito net to help prevent malaria.

After her first attendance at the pregnancy school, we visit her house and discuss the importance of her seeking care at the local clinic. She has already taken the first step by coming to our program, but with limited resources, our nurses cannot perform all the tests and provide the scope of care necessary at this stage of her pregnancy.

Understanding that her poverty is more extreme than most in this “cash crop” village, I give her the money necessary for her transportation and maternal health book. The next day I see Eunice in a car on the way back from the clinic – the nurses have provided her with additional care and a clean bill of health. Despite an exhausting list of responsibilities, Eunice looks radiant.

Without the intervention of the antenatal care clinic, or pregnancy school, we may not have been able to detect and help women like Eunice. She displayed willingness to learn and better the health of her family – hanging the bed nets she received during the distribution and requesting moringa seeds to plant so she may fortify her family’s food.

In January 2014, Eunice and her family welcomed a health baby girl. Mother and baby are both doing well.

 Osei provides Eunice with her bed net at the distribution

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I hope you enjoyed Eunice's story of unwavering perseverance when faced with hardship. I am inspired and humbled by this woman.

A big thank you to Bouvier Rous Eulen, who sent me all of the information she received from the doctors during her pregnancy. It was very helpful in creating the educational materials for the classes!

I will be back stateside in late May after a trip with some pretty great people. Looking forward to seeing you all!

Much love,

Alisa

My Ghanafoo

Realizing that I have less than four months left of my Peace Corps service does a lot to me. First, it puts a smile on my face – I will see my family and friends so soon! I have an awesome post service trip ahead and am looking forward to continuing some of my work in the future, but (hopefully) with pay.

Then I think about all the people that helped make Ghana my home and I can’t help but already miss them. I’ve included both of these people in my blogs before, and talk about them constantly, so here’s a snap shot of two of my favorite humans in all of Ghana. Maybe when I come home and talk about them, you’ll feel like you know them too?

Gifty

Gifty has been my rock since coming to my community. She is intelligent, kind, independent, beautiful, and honest, and I am lucky to know her.

Our friendship began when she heard me squeal at cockroaches in my latrine. I could tell she was trying to understand, but couldn’t help but tease me from the beginning, “Here is a millipede,” she said pointing to one of the slow and omnipresent creatures, “Are you afraid of these also?”

She had me there.

Our friendship evolved into daily dinners at her shop, talking about life, and learning about each other. It also helped that she has one of the most adorable children in the village, Justice, with her incredibly kind husband Jackson.

I didn’t know that I would ever be able to connect with someone here as much as I have with Gifty. She is among the few Ghanaians who got to know me as a person, behind the novelty of my skin color and national identity. She knows when I am upset, what to say, and comes up with the most perfect explanations about it all. We laugh until tears come, and listen until the other is done talking. I love her as my sister and one of my very best friends. I would never have made it without her.

Or if I did, there would be one less beautiful smile and the palm nut soup would have been a lot less great.

 

Gifty and I in on Christmas morning at her mother's village

 Beautiful Gifty and Justice

Osei

Osei has been my Ghanaian father, friend, and loyal work partner since I arrived bright-eyed and optimistic in the place I would call home for the next two years.

He truly cares about our community and wants to make it a better place. He has supported me through it all, helping me turn my ideas into reality and making my service successful. He knows when to temper my, well temper, provide advice when I’ve gotten too eager, and support me once I’ve made a decision.

I once managed to leave my bedroom door unlocked during a weekend away. Osei called to advise (and lightly scold) me, then proceeded to sleep in my hallway to protect my belongings for two nights until I returned. What a sweet man. (He refused to sleep in my bed, even though I begged him.)

He is also one funny guy and has earned the nickname “Fastest Ghanaian in the West” for his warp speed stroll that leaves me, though six inches taller, in a jog to keep up. Here are some examples of my fast and furious(ly )funny father’s epic comedy:

Scene 1: Osei and younger man playing “African checkers” outside of a spot (or bar) with a group of friends while I sit next to the circle.

Osei slams down a piece (as is requisite for all checkers here) and says, “Come and collect your pad.” He then leans over to me and says, “Because he is on his menses.”

Proof positive that men worldwide call other men “women” as an insult during competition. This joke may not appeal to my female readers, I suppose. I laughed though.

Scene 2: Conducting house-to-house education about the importance of sleeping under a bed net. He is translating my English to Sefwi and I can’t figure out why everyone is laughing.

A younger woman who speaks some English informs me he has just said the following, “If you feel it is too hot to sleep under the net, you should be sure to remove your clothing (finger wag) but be careful not to bump buttocks in the night.”

I definitely didn’t say that.

Oh, Osei. What would I do without you? Certainly not our secret handshake (shake, snap, fist bump, high five). 

 

Osei and I during the bed net distribution

Osei gives his "thumbs up" for the borehole drillers

Here's to the next few months with my favorite Ghanaians, and to many, many more with my American family and friends. I'm so incredibly blessed.