Mma Jyou everyone... Now edited with photos!
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| Maddi and I |
This weekend two of my roommates, Maddi and Lien, are leaving, and I will miss them a lot. I've grown close to those in my program who've come from all over the world, and I hope to keep up with them while I am back in the US. Next week there will only be three veterinary interns (myself included) working, and one of them is leaving thursday which will leave just me and Alex. So unless others come, we will be very busy interns come outreach (all those goats need to be vaccinated!)
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| Lien and I |
Earlier this week, I went on outreach again to castrate more pigs. Of course I went into detail last time, so I won't for this post - but I believe that I have gotten even better at castrations after 2 more pigs. The first one I almost lost confidence on as I took a bit slower to perform it, but the second one was my best yet, and I think the pig even fell asleep as I was performing. Another interesting (sad, but interesting) thing that I witnessed was a piglet going into shock - it was stumbling around and squealing, and had poor motor ability as our supervising vet Dr. Acheampong ordered it to be dowsed in water and fed a mixture of raw eggs and honey. The piglet will probably survive, which is good news.
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| Pig injections |
Yesterday was Ramadan, so I went to Kumasi's Cultural Center with several friends to buy pieces from local artisans. I have so far bought a painting, some woodwork bowls, statues etc, and a couple other small things as presents to give my family back home. Because the exchange rate of dollar to cedi is quite good, everything I bought was quite inexpensive (I got the large painting for 50 cedi.. or around 25). Of course once the sellers notice you're Obruni, they raise the price through the roof, so it's custom to haggle just like with taxis. At first I was quite bad at this, but I realized that once you learn the tricks of haggling it's easy to get half price, plus I just don't want to be ripped off. An example conversation:
"Ahh, Akwaaba, welcome to my shop, please look please come in, I'll teach you the meanings of the symbols" (Most shops had very similar merchandise, with similar carvings and similar paintings for tourists so you had to browse around to find the most unique/quality-oriented wares.)
"Oh ok, I'm just browsing thanks..."
"Ahh yes, if you see anything you like I can get it for you, just please tell me."
"Ah ok, yes so this-"
"Oh yes this elephant statue, it means good luck if the trunk is raised and has beadwork all over with very good wood.. Do you like it?"
"Yea, I don't have much though... How much would you ask?" (It's usually better to give your own price).
"Ah.. I sell these for 35 cedi.."
"35 Cedi?? No way, that's far too expensive. This small thing? 35 Cedi? I saw another guy over there selling one like it for way less..."
"Ah ok then, what would your price be?"
"Hm.. For this? I'd pay 15 cedi."
"No, 15 is too low. It's too low I normally sell this for 40, but I give to you for 35! You have to come up."
"No no, you come down, nobody would pay 35 for this..."
"I can give you 25.."
"No that's still too high." At this point you'll keep bartering, and maybe even walk away then I would usually settle for something around 18 cedi. Which in US $, would be $9.00 for this particular piece. Haggling can be exhausting, but fun.
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| Not my mask, but a good example of what kinds of Ashanti masks were being sold. |
Today we had some interesting clinical work, including a dog that was hemorrhaging, a sheep with its lower lip completely torn off (it had hit a metal fence.. and of course the owner waited 3 days to take it to us, with the skin decaying off at the edges), a mutt with a large abscess on the side of its head, and finally a puppy castration I was able to assist/hold for my fellow intern Marine, who had never done a dog castration. I was glad to see also some of the dogs that came in today were well-loved or just generally taken care of by their owners, as a lot of the time dogs here are treated as objects rather than pets, and the owners lie about how they take care of them or when they received an injury, or expect the vet to work for free. There are many bad pet owners in Ghana and it can be hard to get used to when one's so accustomed to people loving their pets. Today we had a guy in who clearly had no idea how to handle a parrot and was gripping the poor bird wrong with huge gloves meant for birds of prey as the parrot was desperately trying to rip his fingers off, clearly untrained and poorly taken care of. The hemorrhaging dog was fed expired sardines, which of course is not a fit food for any animal, and had diarrhea for (supposedly) three days before they decided to take the dog into the vet. I think I've really learned the difference between good and bad pet owners by travelling to Ghana, as well as understood a new meaning to owning an animal.
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Thanks for reading! One more week to go!
-Marisa
Next - Part 7
Chuckled at the haggling bit - trying to imagine your face as you're like, "No, no, 35 is way too much are you crazy?" Sounds so fun! Seeya when you come back and you can tell us all more!
ReplyDelete-Sofia
Yea can't wait to get back and show all the pictures I have.
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