Four weeks in, I finally had a solid idea of what I could do. We've been doing school education about malaria, but we really have no awareness of how effective our campaign is, either for increasing knowledge about malaria or for the larger goal of actually preventing cases about malaria. So, for the past week I've been fleshing out the details of how to go about the project, writing surveys to give (there are three, one before the talk, one a week after, and one six months later), drafting consent forms for parents, students, and school administrators, and gathering all of the necessary information about schools in Kasoa. It's been incredibly busy. In the meantime I've also been at least making an appearance at the hospital every day (although many people noted that I hadn't really been around), giving a few school talks with Grace, and trying to do some sightseeing and visiting friends. I'm exhausted.
But the proposal is just about complete now, and being reviewed by my advisor tonight. If all goes according to plan it will be submitted tomorrow for IRB approval and because it's all survey based and not about a sensitive topic, can hopefully be rushed through approval and I can get started on the actual research component by June 25. There's plenty to do in the meantime, still, like coding all the surveys, getting data entry documents set up, and writing basic code for analysis that I can just import my data into later. And, of course, spending more time at the hospital and continuing with the already scheduled school talks.
Over the weekend we said goodbye to Amanda, and it's weird that she's not with us anymore. We had a little goodbye party for her with cake and grape juice, and she tried to cook for us... but had some struggles with metric system measurements. We went around to a few of the landmarks in Accra on Saturday before we had to say our fond farewells and part ways.
We miss you, Amanda!
Angie and Amanda "Azonto" dancing to Eric's beats
Accra at night
The expat party was an interesting affair - many more older attendees than I was expecting, and less dance-y than I was hoping. We stayed long enough to have awkward conversations with people we weren't remotely interested in and realize that we weren't particularly impressed with the whole thing. I did run into Elizabeth, who I'd met with the UU group on my first night in Ghana and had been meaning to email, so it was good to get a chance to talk to her.
After leaving the expat party we made our way first to a club that had a strict "no flip flops" policy, and then to another that said not to do it but this time was okay. I was starting to get tired and again there was a lack of dancing, so Grace and I didn't stay too long and went back to the hotel after a detour to KFC (the only chain I've seen in every country I've ever visited) and got some late night eats.
The next morning, I met Joseph, the UU guide from the first week, to head back to Odumase and visit the queen mothers and the children again. I'd meant to bring photos of the children from our school visits, but had some difficulties with printing. So when we got there we had about four hours to kill... which I used to coax some adorable children (I think the oldest was 6) to come sit with me and took more photos with them. I guess I'll just have to go back another time :)
My young friends in Odumase
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