The Village: Apenamin

For our final week of clinical, our group and instructor packed up and headed out to a small village north west of Kumasi (which is the second largest city in Ghana). We had been invited by the village chief Nana (means chief in Twi), to come and do a community assessment and assist with plans for a health clinic.

The village has a population of about 300 people, with over half of the population below the age of 16. They do not have a clinic or any kind of health center and a Community Health Nurse visits only twice a month or so (arriving on a motorbike). The nearest clinic (staffed by a community health nurse) was several kilometers away and the nearest health center (more of an outpatients department but having midwives and a medical assistant) was 7 km away. So if you were a pregnant women in Apemanim, you would have to walk, or attempt to hire a taxi, if you wanted to have your baby at a health center. It’s crazy. While 7 kms may not seem far, it is when both you and your neighbors don’t own vehicles. If you decided to stay and have your baby in the village, it would often be done alone or with the help of a traditional birth attendant.

So we started the week (on Sunday) by going to a palm Sunday Methodist church service! This was pretty fun as it was my first palm Sunday with real palms! The service was done almost entirely in Twi, but they did translate the sermon in English after – which I think was lost a bit in the translation. For the rest of the week, we worked on a community assessment, breaking off into teams (maternal child, families with school-aged children and geriatrics) and doing interviews with the village residents.

The time spent in the village was great! It was so nice to enjoy the peace and quiet of country life again. And by peace and quiet I am choosing to forget about the dozen (or more) roosters which began the wake up calls around 0430 every morning! All I can say is thank goodness for ear plugs (though others were not so fortunate). The time spent in the village was also eye-opening. It offered us a taste of the realities of life in rural Ghana, as the people welcomed us into their homes and willingly shared with us (with the much needed help of translators). With assessments we considered their access to water and sanitation, nutrition, working conditions, access to health care and education. Many times I felt as if I were walking through a scene off a World Vision commercial; with the red dirt roads, mud and brick homes, and half-clothed, bare-footed children who became our constant shadows wherever we went.

Our initial focus was to gain as much information as possible and then develop plans and interventions which could be carried out by the next nursing group coming from U of A (in May). As the week progressed, plans for a clinic began to form and by Thursday we went on a shopping trip into Kumasi to purchase rudimentary supplies to outfit the clinic (weigh scale, Veronica bucket, stethoscope…). Nana volunteered a room which we cleaned and then organized with a bed, desk and wardrobe for the clinic. Jael, the Community Healht Nurse already assigned to the village, will now hold a clinic at least twice a week out of the new ‘facility.”

It was amazing to be involved with setting up this village clinic on my very last day as a student nurse. So special to play a small part in making a difference in the health of the individuals of a community. In May, our group is going to work with the next group of nursing students (who are going in May) to hold a fundraiser for the Apemanim Clinic. As we fundraise and as the next group goes, I that this clinic will be sustainable and beneficial as the health needs of the community are great.

Jael, Apemanim`s Community Health Nurse, in her new clinic.