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Last Saturday evening I had the opportunity to go to a YSA fireside in Kumasi where Elder Anderson, an apostle of my church, came and spoke. It was amazing not only to see a leader of the church, but to be able to see him in Africa. It was very interesting to see what he discussed with the young adults, and what was important to their futures here. A lot was very similar, but a lot was also very different. The next day we headed back to Accra, but I did not stay there for very long. I was stationed with Crystal Eye Clinic and they had an over night outreach near Cape Coast in a city called Tokoradi. So on Sunday evening we drove seven hours to Tokoradi, and got settled into a pretty nice hotel! The next morning we drove another coupe hours and arrived in a town called Tarkwa. This was a nice area, but it was far away from a lot, so tons of people needed eye care. We helped around 500 people that day, which is a ton!! I worked distribution and I think we worked for about ten hours. To say I was tired is an understatement, I immediately passed out in the car. The next day we had an outreach in Inchaban. I worked eye acuity here which took about 5 hours to get through everyone. We helped almost 500 people again! This week I was so amazed by the doctors, Ernest and Dennis. They work all day non-stop. When we finished working the eye acuity we were able to relax and buy some food but they continue to work until late at night. They are so hardworking and dedicated to their careers and helping others, it is really inspiring. Ernest was even getting over Malaria and was still working very long hours non-stop in poor conditions. It was so impressive. The next day we went to the slums in the city and helped lots of people. This was an interesting experience. The people were very aggressive and impatient here, compared to other outreaches. I worked the dispensing table all day, so I was able to watch all the patients waiting. Every time the line would move there would be a ton of fighting and pushing! The people would get out of their chairs and push everyone around trying to cut people in line. It would then turn into screaming and full on fights people had to break up. It was intense! In the patients defense some did wait there all day and into the night. The smart ones got there early so they could see the doctor fast! This one man told us he had been there since 4 am! It was another long day and we did not finish until very late. The next day was the last outreach in Takodori and it was smaller and more relaxed. We helped a lot of elderly people, so there was lots of eye problems. I would say about half the people could not see meters from their eyes, and about no one was scoring visual acuity on the chart. It was shocking to see how many people could not see at all. I really enjoyed these outreaches because we were able to help so many people and make such a huge difference. The work was tiring but it was so fulfilling because the people appreciated us so much! I love being a volunteer for Unite for Sight, it is truly such an impacting program!
