Day 10

July 24

I got my hair braided on Wednesday. A mix of cornrows and loose braids. She brought the wrong color, so I’m not a big fan of the blonde but literally every Ghanaian loves it. I get stopped in the streets. LOL. I still will probably get it re-done with a different color. It only cost $14 ($9 for the hair and $5 for braiding).

Yesterday, Elvis, the two Ghanaian volunteers and I, took some HIV clients to get insurance. A mother, her child, and two adult women. They are not the women I mentioned before. I’m seeing a trend with HIV infected women and not men. Maybe women are getting tested more often than men. I’m not sure. Elvis left to do some other errands. After we paid, the Ghanaian volunteers and I for their insurance, walked to get photocopies of the receipts. We found out that the last woman we met in the communities (the one that was nervous and we have to talk to in secret) came to the office to get insurance. We walked back to the insurance office to pay for hers as well. One down three to go. I was glad, but she was the one I was least concerned with. We then had to walk to the hospital to get a list of new cases. On our way back to the junction to catch a tro tro to meet Elvis in Cape Coast, we saw the woman and her child in the taxi on her way to the hospital (the one that believed that HIV is an evil spirit). I was over-joyed. We decided to walk back and meet her at the hospital. We met her and her daughter and walked to the insurance office to pay for her insurance. We walked her back to the hospital so that she could receive HIV counseling. The hospital needed to test the mother and the daughter’s white blood cell count so they will know what drugs to give them, but the lab tech was not in, so she has to come back on Monday. I hope she comes back. I told her that man and the boat story translated by one of the volunteers. She said she understood. The other volunteer bought the daughter two dresses, I gave them a snack, and the other gave them some money for transportation. The woman with AIDS didn’t come. Elvis says, if she doesn’t begin treatment in the next two to three weeks she will die. She may be dead before I leave.