(Notice that this blog post is directly from the diary that I wrote in Ghana. All of my feelings and thoughts is how I felt during my journey.)
Last night I slept well! I was going to bed yesterday with ear plugs in my ears, so it was a bit quieter when I was going to sleep. This morning my stomach was fairly normal for the first time in over a week! That made me happy haha.
Anna drank some water this morning but her stomach didn’t want to keep it. So today, Anna, I and Madeleine are travelling to Kasoa so Anna can take a malaria test. I hope it isn’t malaria but she is really sick right now 
I pray to God that I don’t get that awful sickness during my time here. I think I have lost weight during this trip because I feel thinner than usual. I don’t like that. I hope I can gain weight when I’m back home again.
After we had our breakfast me, Anna and Madeleine went to Kasoa by trotro because the doctor here in Senya wanted Anna to take a malaria test there. She had to take three different tests. They told us that we would have the answer in half an hour. After two hours of waiting for the answer, they called her name. We had to remember that this is Ghana, and time is not important here. The doctor in Kasoa didn’t want to tell Anna what was wrong with her. But he told her that she didn’t have malaria and sent her back to her doctor in Senya. He said that the doctor in Senya would tell her what was going on.
When we came to the Health centre in Senya we had to wait for 45 minutes because the doctor wasn’t there. He was at home… When he finally showed up he told Anna that she doesn’t have malaria, but that the tests can’t tell if it is malaria or not since she started taking the medication for malaria yesterday. So I wondered why he gave her medicine when he didn’t know if it was malaria or not and told her to go to Kasoa to take a test?
The doctor told us that the reason that she throws up is because she has some kind of worm in her stomach. Anna had a rash on several parts of her body today. The doctor told us that it was an allergic reaction of the water and the sun (why didn’t she get rashes before then, she had been to Ghana for over a month now). It felt like he was just guessing and he said that she had to get an injection for her rashes.
We questioned many things that the doctor told us (just like we do with the doctors in Sweden, we ask a lot of questions). The doctor was offended by our questions and said “one should not be too curious in terms of health”… He became quite mad at us when we asked questions. It felt like we knew more about health than he did. It felt like he was guessing all the time and he gave Anna different answers every time. He even asked her if she was pregnant when she told him that she threw up her food/water… So we don’t know for sure if it is malaria that Anna has. She must eat her medications and then we’ll see if she gets better. At the Health centre in Senya it feels like the nurses are a bit nonchalant and they often say “obroni” and laugh at us. I don’t like that.
When Anna asked the doctor if she really has to take the injection against the rashes he said that she can do what she wants to but if she doesn’t take it and it gets worse she is not welcome back! I really don’t trust this doctor… The last thing he said to us before we left is “you are difficult people”. This doctor seems to be a man with power in his country. His small knowledge is a lot of knowledge in this country for the local population. They don’t have so much knowledge about diseases here.
While we were there Madeleine took the chance to ask about the children’s rashes at the orphanage. They have apparently received four injections, and the rashes aren’t getting better. The doctor said that he has to meet the children to be able to decide what to do about it but that he is a “very busy man”. The children both have scabies and probably ringworm (I don’t know if it’s the correct word for it). Some of them have round bald spots on their heads and they have lost their hair on that spot.
I am so happy that I’m soon home again so I don’t have to experience this healthcare again. I am so grateful for the healthcare we have in Sweden. It’s really good compared to this. This day has really given me perspective. We took a trip to an internet café in Kasoa before we went home again. I chatted with my mother, Melli and Niclas. I also updated my blog. It felt good. I have felt a bit guilty over my bad update on the blog, but I’m in Ghana and it’s not so easy to get the internet here.
When we came back to the orphanage I spent some time with the children. But I also talked a lot with Anna and kept her company. At Mums care I spend mostly time with the children but at Helping hand it was a lot of housework besides spending time with the children. The madams here want to do most of the housework themselves. This difference makes me a bit restless sometimes. It feels like I have duties to do, but I don’t have any.
The children here wet the bet a lot, even the older children. Tonight one of them had urinated in her bed and Agnes is threatening them a lot that she is going to hit them if they wet the bed. So this child was scared about it. She didn’t want to be yelled at and not beaten either so she put a younger child in the bed, in the pee so Agnes should think that it was the younger child instead of her. So now she probably will get beaten up since Agnes found out that she had done that. Agnes is really mad at her. I don’t believe in the “beating or threatening the child” thing. I think it only makes it worse and prolongs the process with making the children stop urinating in the beds.
It really is a completely different world here. I don’t think these people will stop hitting their children even though we tell them to stop and try to explain to them that it’s wrong. Unfortunately. Madeleine has told Agnes to stop several times but it has no affect on her. No wonder the children hit each other a lot. I feel quite helpless in this case.
I and Eva tonight