Finally . . . my first blog post since my bio many days ago. It has been a highly fulfilling last few days in Ghana . . . all of the things I said I wanted to experience on this trip are already happening. I said I wanted to learn more about the people who devote their lives to God's service. Those people are here! We are working with about ten individuals who are here because God has led them to use their medical skills to help the people of Ghana who are so very in need of medical help . . . they are also here to witness to them, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly by helping heal them and showing them respect and care. There is one man here named Dewey Dunn. He is a gastroenterologist from Vanderbilt. He has served as a medical missionary in many countries over the last few decades . . . to put a number on things, he has been to Venezuela alone 30 times! He is big on us going back up to the hospital for night rounds . . . we were tired and a little stressed about this at first, but it is hard to keep feeling this way when you hear him talk. He has been to this hospital in Ghana three times and he told me this morning that yesterday was his best day ever here because we all pulled together so well yesterday to serve the people here . . . we did have some really sick patients when we went back to the wards last night who may not have made it through the night had we not changed some things about their management. I am getting a bit long winded here has usual : ) As for the other things I wanted to experience . . . I am privileged to be a part of helping these hard-working, kind, brave, grateful Ghanians get better so they can get back to their families and lives. We have a lot of responsibility as students here. We take call alone at night (one student at a time) . . . and crazy things that we have never ever seen back home will come in at night . . . even things like snakebites and malaria and typhoid are scary to me . . . let alone a "moto" (motorbike) accident. If we are comfortable, we will be able to do procedures we have never even attempted back home, all on our own here. We do have physician backup if we want to call the doctor on with us, but the other students that have been here seem to be self-sufficient. None of us from WVU have taken call yet. I am on tomorrow night. Pray for me! Dr. Moerschel knows I am nervous and will help me out a lot and go up with me every time if I need her . . . still nervous though. Geez . . . long-winded. We are also getting great exposure to the culture and the land . . . church and the escarpment on Sunday . . . just talking to the people from Ghana we meet in the hospital and in town . . . and the things that happened today. Today has been a great day for a few reasons. I saw patients on my own this morning for the first time on rounds. I read through the entire chart for each of them and finally feel somewhat competent managing the care for these diseases that are so unfamiliar to me and patients that are so sick. It is hard to believe how overwhelmed I was Saturday when we first got here compared to today. I am still scared about tomorrow, but it doesn't seem impossible. You still have to help me Sarah : ) There is a feeding center on the hospital grounds for babies and their mothers who don't have enough money to pay for food . . . both the moms and babies eat. Every day, the women take whole corn and soybeans down to the mill to grind it and then bring it back to the feeding center where it is cooked in a big kettle. Like everything else, they carry the basins full of corn/soybeans on their heads . . these basins weigh sooo much!! They were very happy to have us walk with them and took care of us the whole way . . . a woman dressed me up for the walk with a ground graphite material that is a makeup for them. It comes in a little bottle and they apply it with a nail to their eyebrows and under their eyes like we apply eyeliner. A woman put this stuff on me! When we got there, a woman took me in the room and led me close to the grinder so I could see it . . . she pulled me away when I got about an inch from the whirring belt! After that, she put her shirt down on the ground so I could sit on it comfortably while we waited. And then . . . tonight I was able to donate 500 mL of blood for a baby with malaria and a hematocrit (has to do with red blood cells) of 10%, which is really low for those of you who don't know. Some of the blood was going to another woman too. I feel so lucky to have been the blood type they needed. I do admit I was a bit nervous about having a needle from here stuck in my arm. I voiced this fear to Dr. Dunn after I finished having blood drawn. I asked him if he thought the needles were clean. He said, "We pray to God they are, but sometimes you have to take risks to help people." I thought that was a good answer. I think this is long enough . . . I'll end at this. To all my family and friends (including Bradley who posted a really nice comment . . . thank you), I love you guys and hope you are doing well at home.