August 29th, Kendra safely returned from Ghana where she spent July and August working in a clinic, mostly for new moms and babies. She is pictured here with Esther, her "go-to" girl that would help her communicate in the language, Twi. Kendra landed in the capital city, Accra, spent a week or so in orientation, then travelled to Nsuta where her clinic was located. She has many stories to tell us. Although she is enrolled in Pharmacy at UBC, she acquired maternity experience, helping to deliver twins with no midwife present, weighing babies in the outreach programme, recording and giving innoculations, to name a few. Of course, she travelled, sometimes with the other volunteers and sometimes just she and Esther. Kendra lived in the top floor of a house and the little boys from the family down the street brought her meals to her each day. Kendra was known as "Obruni" which means "white person"; she was so greeted each morning as she walked to work and in her words, "possibly the best morning walk to work, ever"! As most of you know, Kendra has very thick curly hair, but while there, she decided to have it braided. It took four women, six hours to braid her hair and three women, four hours to remove the braids, a month later. She had it braided twice as it was much easier to care for, as clean water to wash/rinse is not plentiful. In all, she reports a wonderful time and has a deeper appreciation for the amenities that we, as Canadians enjoy, especially fresh, clean water.
