June 28th

Another day of adjusting to the African life. I went to clinic alone this morning because Savannah was feeling a little sick. We had devo and Dr. Alex and I saw a few patients. About 90% of the patients we saw had malaria. One, in particular was a small child of 4 years. She was very sick but was not having signs or symptoms of cerebral malaria. He told me last week they had a child die from cerebral malaria.  

Dr. Alex had to leave at 11 today, so we got a half day off. We went over to the nursery school where Dustin was with Nathan, the little boy he has been tutoring in English. When I arrived I could not find him. The clinic is only about 200 feet from the nursery school and I can usually see them sitting out on the steps. When I found D, he was in a classroom with 25 African 5 year olds. They were jumping on him, pulling his ear, rubbing his hair and he looked exhausted. Not to mention he still does not have his voice back from losing it a few days ago. Apparently he had been walking past the nursery this morning and a woman pointed at him and said "hey, they do not have a teacher- you go in there with them." So, he did. But he had no idea he havoc it would wreak. They were climbing on the tables, jumping off of chairs, hitting each other, running, throwing things, messing with the DVD player and the TV. I saw markers uncapped all over the floor. It was literally like monkeys in a barrel. They would not listen to a word Dustin said, or me for that matter. But, once a teacher from the other room came in, they ran to their chair and put their heads on the desk and did not say one word. 

I was exhausted.

Apparently in African villages, there are some beliefs that if you touch an obruni (white person) you will gain special powers.

That certainly was not true today.

We came home around lunch time and decided to cook. Savannah heated up some left over lunch on the camping stove (as we call it). Next to her is a mini dorm type fridge we use to keep things cool.

Dustin experimented with plantains. You cannot eat things here from the market unless you can peel them. So we have a number of plantains we need to eat. They turned out pretty good!

If you are squeamish - please let this be the end of your blog reading - but I know my medical friends and family members would want to see the gross stuff I deal with every day........

This is a photo of a man's foot who, two weeks ago came in with a pinhole diabetic ulcer on his big toe. Dr. Alex cleaned it, but it could not account for the horrible stench coming from the foot. When he looked closer he noted a darkened area on the inside arch of his foot and down under neath. It turned out to be gangrenous tissue and he needed to surgically debride the tissue, because it was dead. He was kept for a few days on IV antibiotics and released Tuesday. He comes for daily dressing changes and continues oral antibiotics. This is the foot today (Friday)

The man does not want to see a specialist. As most Ghanaians, he believes that seeing a specialist is a sign that you will die. So, they stay around in the village with terrible horrible medical problems and present back to our hospital when it is really bad. A lot of the time it is too late.

Dr. Alex thinks we can save this guy's foot. I guess we'll see....

Ta-ta for now.

Tessa and Dustin

June 27th

Thank you to all my readers following us through out this great adventure! I am so excited to see all the people reading and sharing my blog. Life here in Africa is truly exciting, and God is having His work done here at the Village of Hope. 

YUM. Mangoes :) 

Today was another wonderful day. Savannah and I went to the hospital for morning devotion where we sang songs and prayed together as a staff at the Village of Hope. We dispersed from there around 830 and had morning rounds with Dr. Alex. Dr. Alex is a native Ghanaian and lives here on campus at the Village. He is on call 24/7 and still tries to have a family. He is truly a great man. On rounds we had three patients in the ward. One was a female status post hysterectomy day 2, one had come over night for abdominal pain, and the third was here following an eclamptic episode at home with a series of seizures and bleeding.

The woman with abdominal pain ended up having a very large periumbilical hernia. She had suffered with it for many years and this was her second hospitalization. The first time she refused surgery because she was very scared. Dr. Alex asked her again if she would have the operation and she was still refusing. He told us that she might come around, so if she did later that day we would operate.

Thursday is prenatal day. We saw lots of mommies-to-be. Everyone in Ghana has access to birth control because their insurance is through the government. They have all kinds of birth control options from condoms all the way to IUD and tube tying. So, MOST women are pregnant intentionally. Mostly they come for prenatal attention on a regular monthly basis, but if they are not well they can come as also. I had a mom today with malaria, but she was early in her pregnancy so we were able to give her meds (quinine) and send her home.

Savannah and I came home for lunch and learned our stove/oven thing had been fixed! So she made a grilled cheese. YUM.... it smelled like home J

We also got our phone today and were able to talk to our families. It was great to hear their voices and remember that family is close no matter how far.

After lunch we returned to the hospital and the woman had agreed to have the surgery! So we finished seeing all the patients and by 300 in the afternoon we were prepping for surgery.  That big bump you see on top of her belly is a hernia. We were going to cut it open, shove it back in, and sew up her abdominal muscles.

This was our face when we saw the hernia. It's like in Despicable Me when Minion said "whaaa?"
"

Can you imagine? Just waking up one day and deciding it was the day you were ready to have surgery and that afternoon you were in the operating room? Dr. Alex explained that in Ghana they do not have very many specialists. The system here makes it very difficult to specialize. You have to complete your medical school and residency (which takes 10 years) and then you have to practice for three years as a generalist. After that, you are able to go back and specialize. Dr. Alex says that the problem with this is that many many Dr.’s do not do it. In fact, he himself does all of the surgeries here at the hospital because if he refers to a surgeon, the surgeries are already filled up until DECEMBER. So he says, if he is able to do it, he should do it to help his brother.

More Americans should take on this philosophy.

The surgery was a success! Despite the fact that they do not intubate or put you to sleep for that matter. They just do a spinal block like women who get c-sections. So, just like when women have c-sections there is a sheet in front of the patient’s face so they cannot see, but they are fully awake during the procedure. WHAAAAT. That is crazy. Try doing that in the States and you’ll get sued.

Not to mention these are the shoes we get to wear in surgery. I’ll let you guess which feet are mine. Here’s a hint – my toes are very happy 

Today, Dustin was asked to assist with a small 5 year old boy and his one year old sister. Their names are Nathan (in French of course you say something like NA-TAWN) and Summer. His parents recently moved here from a French speaking country and enrolled their children in the day care program here hoping they would learn English. The problem of course was that no one in the day care could speak French! So, when Dustin came and spoke French to him, Nathan lit up like a lighthouse. He was sooooo happy that someone could understand him.

It’s really cool how we think God will use us one way, and He ends up using us in many.

We made our own dinner tonight for the first time. I think we did a pretty good job. No one has diarrhea or is vomiting yet. It doesn’t hurt that we have to buy all of our drinking water as well as our cooking water. We are 1 mile from the ocean and the well water is much too salty to cook with.

Goodnight from Africa. We hope your sleep is as peaceful as ours :)

Tessa and Dustin

June 26th

Today we started our work. Dustin went to the school and met all of the children. I was wondering why when I walked home from the clinic the children were yelling "which one of you is Tessa?" Dustin had told them we were here. At the schools here the students stay in the same classroom and the teacher rotates to each room.  Dustin is teaching French to grades 5-8. When you get to ninth grade here you take an exam. If you are in the top 40% of the test takers in the country, you are able to go to high school (assuming your parents can pay).  If you are not in the top 40%, then you are finished with school. If you go on to high school, at the end of 12th grade you take another exam. The top 10% who take this exam qualify for college. So, in Ghana essentially you have to be in the top 4% to go to college.  

Monsieur Alex who is from Togo (the country just east of Ghana, it is French speaking), and teaches the French classes, he allowed Dustin to teach 3 classes today. Classes are 45 minutes long. They are on a block schedule. He taught them a few phrases and they created a story with the phrases. In one class, the story consisted of a big red dog that ate all of the students' lunch. As Dustin says, "Tout est possible en classe de français," (everything is possible in French class). They broke for lunch, and afterwards did not return to classes. They were "cancelled" for some type of campus wide work. I saw a lot of students with machetes cutting grass. I thought it was some form of punishment but apparently it is an expectation that the students maintain the campus. 

On my end of things, I got to start my work in the clinic this morning. Savannah and I showed up at 8:00 for the devotional. It was in Twi (it sounds like the word 'tree'). But graciously, Fred the director, translated the prayers for us. Songs were sung in English and were songs I should have known. However, most Ghanaians do not read music and therefore make up their own melodies relative to if the notes go up or down. This was a fun way to relearn old songs. 

After the devo, we heard that the Dr. was in the "theatre" which means the operating room. Savannah and I ran in to catch the tail end of a hysterectomy. The woman was not intubated, she was under conscious sedation with a spinal block. So she was kind of rolling around on the table and moaning. All of this while her uterus was being pulled out of her abdomen.

At the end, we were told a woman had arrived who was in labor. Dr. Alex knows this is my point of interest and told me to go to her. She was about 4 cm dilated and I stayed with her most of the morning. In Ghana women are not to cry out and moan during labor. But, this woman did not follow protocol. She was MOANING AND GROANING. The nurses kept scolding her because she was showing weakness and causing disturbances. The midwife-nurse (who also sees patients and it basically a nurse practitioner) was in another room seeing patients when the woman's water broke. I went to fetch her and when we came back she was crowning! they were trying to stand her up and I was asking "where is she going?" They answered "she has to go into the labour ward." They were making a pregnant, crowning mother walk down the hall into another room. I was praying to Jesus that baby didn't slip out and she didn't fall out on the floor. We made it with seconds to spare. The woman no sooner put her feet in the stirrups and pushed, than that baby started coming out. It was a clean delivery and a beautiful baby boy was brought into the world.

It's interesting how life is so precious and you can observe that in the birth of a child as well as a death. We had a 14 year old boy come in today with shortness of breath. His oxygen saturation was 65%. That is the lowest I have ever seen.  We left for lunch and when we returned he had passed. 

After clinic Savannah and I came home and met up with D. We went over to the White Station people’s house for dinner. Letisha had made spaghetti!  YUM.  Then after dinner she came over to our house and helped us with all the “local” foods we bought it the market. She laughed because we bought stuff that was pretty and looked cool, but ended up being pointless. Except for the Grenadillas that we bought – they’re guavas! Yay J

The power has been out since we got home from clinic today.... now it is 7:40 pm, pitch black, and we are walking around with headlights on like we work in a coal mine. But it works.

... Did I mention that Savannah’s flashlight just died – and she is in the shower.

OOPS.

That’s what friends are for.

Tessa and Dustin

WE MADE IT- 6/25

We made it to AFRICA. Oh, how much fun we had getting here though.  We went through Orlando and had a one hour lay over. Then we boarded for NY. Savannah and I got stuck in the back of the plane wedged next to a large man visiting from China who knew very little English but most definitely wanted to show off  vocabulary of ten words including "how much" and "Manhattan?" For those of you who don't know Savannah, she has a pretty thick southern drawl so it was like the blind leading the blind and I just sat back and watched.

Once we landed in JFK and had a last supper of Panda Express before our embarkment into the unknown, we boarded the plane to Accra. Accra is the capital of Ghana, so the plane was full of people going to West Africa. It's an airport that also helps supply the surrounding countries with access to air travel. And get this -- our stewardess was from MEMPHIS! She brought us free eye masks even though we weren't in first class. PERKS guys. Perks.

Once we landed in Accra and got our baggage (which we were very grateful was there), we went to wait for our driver. We then noticed our plane had landed an hour before we had expected it to. OOPS. So, this nice man who worked at the airport saw us and asked if we needed to call Village of Hope to tell them. We used his phone and called and everything was great, but then he wanted a tip. Of course. TIA (This Is Africa for those of you who haven't seen Blood Diamond - and if you haven't you need to see it).

Our driver finally arrived and we drove out to the Village of Hope. It is about 45 minute drive outside of Accra. As we came out of the town you have to pay a toll, the line was like 30 minutes long and women were coming past our car walking through traffic to sell various items they'd brought to market.

The drive out of town was bumpy due to potholes and the occasional goat (oops), but once we got to the Village of Hope they brought us to our house. Our house is a house they use for staffing. Originally it belonged to the minister but he is currently at ACU studying for a Master's Degree. Needless to say our little house has been empty for a while now. It has two bedrooms and a bathroom that we share with Savannah, a kitchen, a kitchen storage closet (which we are using for a pantry), and a living area. All of the floors are concrete and the walls used to be white. Apparently the minister who lived here also had children. Who enjoyed coloring. The walls. We also had no curtains on arrival and since we lived on a compound as I started to strip down Dustin pointed out that the boys outside could totally see me.  In our room there is a full size bed.... and that's it. Concrete floors, white-ish walls, and a bed. No dresser. No closet. No side table. Nothing. But as they say, necessity is indeed the mother of invention, right? My clothes are neatly folded and stacked against the wall in a corner and my shoes are lined against the wall. Living simply.

Shower time! Ok, what can I say about the shower? It IS in fact an overhead shower , and it's quite roomy. In fact, I think 5 or 6 people could shower in there, BUT we do not have warm water. The water is COOOOOLD. And the pressure is no. But it's a shower and it works, and we are in this for the long haul. Thank you Jesus for letting us be clean!

The toilet didn't work. But the plumber came over and fixed it.

We got curtains.

Monday Savannah and I went and toured the hospital. It's really awesome. They do about 15 deliveries a month, prenatal care, post natal care, and intake wards. The doctor said the most common ailments he's seeing currently are malaria and hypertension. He also does operations in his "theatre" or as we call it the operating room. Savannah and I are currently working out a plan to do some surgeries with him. He does them all off of peak hours and sometimes he says that it's a midnight if that's when he has time.

We also hung out and ate with the group from White Station Church in Memphis. They are here for another week.

Today (Tuesday) we went to town and got some supplies. We went to a grocery store and bought basic staples and equipment like cleaning supplies, etc. On the way back we stopped at a coke stand and bought  a "case" of bottled cokes. You have to bring back the case and the bottles in order to get a reduced price next time. They are old school glass bottles. That was pretty cool.

I'm going to try and upload some pictures tomorrow, connection was too slow tonight during peak times. Love to you all!

God is good :))))

Tessa and Dustin

Africa- EVE

Well guys, tomorrow is the day. Although as I'm writing this it's Saturday morning so I guess TODAY is really the day. It is here. I am overwhelmed by all the love and support we have experienced as we embark upon this adventure. In fact, my parents came all the way from Texas this week to hang out with us before we leave and my GRANDPARENTS did too - and surprised us!

we went to Corky's!

We taught Nanny about Settlers of Cattan

It was PawPaw's first time in Memphis!!

It's been so fun, I don't want it to end. But alas, moving on to other endeavors.

Many people have asked about our internet sources there and the truth is - we don't know much. We know we have SOME internet access but we do not know to what extent. Hopefully I will blog as often as possible.

So we were pretty excited about getting ready to leave

.... but Ollie didn't understand.

My beautiful parents are watching him while we're gone. 

So here is what's going on in the next two days....

12:41 Pm Saturday-  Leave for Ghana and have layovers in Orlando and NY.

1:50 pm Sunday  (Ghana time) - Land in Accra, Ghana!! We are 5 hours ahead I believe. So this would be like 9:00 am your time. As you're getting ready for church say a little prayer that we have safe travels.

2:00 PM Sunday- Someone is picking us up from the airport and taking us to The Village of Hope. It's about a 3-4 hour drive but according to D should only take 30 minutes... but there are a lot of potholes??

I honestly cannot wait to see this place. Everyone that goes comes back in love and well blessed. God is so cool - you go to bless and you get blessed. So cool.

Monday morning- should start working in the clinic. Hopefully my jet lag won't be so bad :) I'm not sure when D will start teaching but I'm going to guess asap.

Keeping in Touch

Feel free to email us at Tessa.Denzin@gmail.com or follow me on Instagram: Tessathepa.
Depending on internet i'll use one or either of those sites the most.
Also, Facebook is great. Add me.

All our love,
Tessa and Dustin

10 days!

Don't worry... this isn't me, despite what you may think. But I am this excited about our trip.

Ok all ten of my faithful readers.... I apologize for the long pause in updating my blog. However, this IS the main way you can keep up with us while we are in Africa. WE LEAVE IN 10 DAYS. Oh my word, I can't believe it. God has been really great through this whole process and having the support of our family and friends has meant the world to us. He really does bring us all together.

For those of you who don't know, Dustin and I are going HERE, to the Village of Hope on June 22. We will stay for 6 weeks and return July 30. Wow! I will be working in the hospital/clinic there as  PA (Physician Assistant) student and Dustin will be teaching French. It's going to be so cool! I will be completing course work for my Masters degree, and am on set to graduate in December.

If you don't know where Ghana is.... don't worry. I had to look it up too!

People there are fun, and they do this:

We are almost fully funded. We still lack about $2,000, but we know that 10 days is a long time for God to work. I mean, he made the world in 7 (well, I guess actually 6), so we know he can provide what we need. For those of you who would still like to give, feel free to contact Dustin or me before we head out. Or, if you would like to, you can send us money here:

WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT THE VILLAGE OF HOPE HERE