After only two weeks of fast-paced life in Accra, I paid a
visit to my beloved Cape. It was lovely to be back ‘home.’ The first person I saw when I
descended my taxi was a friend from the radio station and I was greeted with a
big hug. The rest of the weekend, I continued to bump into friends here there
and everywhere – in share taxis, at spot bars, in the street etc. The chances
of that happening in Accra, are slim to nil.
I had three main reasons for my pilgrimage-
1. To get photos taken of 50 orphans and
guardians for their National Health Insurance ID Cards.
2. To run a medical outreach organised by
my Aussie friend Morgan and I in collaboration with local Community Based
Organisation Abura Abrempon-MBA.
3. To visit Cape Coast Castle.
The medical outreach was a wonderful
success. About 800 people came and 500 received medical treatment. The other
community organisation ran an HIV/AIDS awareness programme simultaneously so
members of the community could participate in a questions-answers forum.
Morgan and I bought medicines to treat
malaria, diarrhoea, head aches, sore throats, worms and infections. We also set
up a wound-care table for market women, men and children to have their wounds
dressed. About 10 volunteers came and pitched in, working in the scorching sun
for four hours. We also had translators so people could state their symptoms in
fante and we could prescribe their medicines.
Some people who visited our market ‘clinic’
said they had aches all over their body and often all we could give them were
re-hydration salts, multi-vitamins and vitamin c tablets as a placebo.
One funny case happened when a man kept
coming back with different symptoms. After treating him the first time, we
turned him away with some bags of multi-vitamins. He then brought other people
to the table and explained their ailments so that he could take their
medicines. He would say “this is my cousin, she has sore eyes, her head hurts,
she can’t see” and we would recognise the girl as an ice-water vendor who just
happened to be standing 10 metres away. He gave the game away when he brought
another girl over and said “this is my sister.” He produced the piece of paper on
which her symptoms were recorded and two symptoms didn’t quite add up – read:
penis pain and premature ejaculation. Hmmm. Either, the man was too embarrassed
to ask for medication himself or that girl had bigger problems than we were
equipped to handle.
We also donated toothbrushes to children,
condoms to young men and mosquito-nets and repellent for pregnant women. At one
stage, we were surrounded by people grovelling for items for their families.
The day went really smoothly and we were
happy that we could help people in our local community and most people were
really grateful for what we did. The Abura-Abrempon group gave us t-shirts with
their logo painted on as a thank you.
In the afternoon, I visited Cape Coast castle
where Ghanaian slaves were kept before they were sold. It was a harrowing and
gloomy experience. We saw the mossy and damp dungeons they were kept in. There
was barely any ventilation and the captives often ate off the same floor on
which they defecated. There were even prisons designed for women who refused
rape by the soldiers. Slaves were branded according to which company they were owned
by.
I left the place with a really negative
attitude towards humanity. History is a grim beast but the fact that people
could treat their fellow beings in that manner is unfathomable.
I stayed with my Cape host family for the
whole weekend and they cooked for me too which was so lovely. Staying in my old room,
it felt like I’d never left.
