When James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd created the Terminator in 1984, they did not anticipate how huge their franchise was going to be. Nevertheless, after a successful opening, then came an alluring succession of finer versions: judgement day(1991), rise of the machines(2003), salvation( 2009) and Genisys( 2015). This is a typical exemplar of phenomenal replication of success. As humans, in our daily activities, we seek to model that and for us, the participants of the barekuma collaborative development project, we feel that we've modelled this phenomenal phenomenon of cloning successes to perfection.
Part 1 (Barekese)
Monday, 18th July, 2016I recently read a story about a woman who posted hilarious photos on social media because she was forced to go to honeymoon alone. We could relate to her story... we did not have our much anticipated honeymon- like weekend, yet we made the most out of it. We were in ecstasy as we embrace a new week with no dint of nostalgia.
The bright morning sunshine welcomed us to the community of Barekese as we landed on its soil at 10: 30am. The gayful cheers and greeting from the school kids kindled in us the desire to give more than our best.There was an appreciable turnover of people and we were more like busy bees as we went about our activities. Our station was based in a a beautifully decorated church with a divine atmosphere. Setting up was easy due to the neat arrangements of the pews and chairs. We were all pretty much based at one place except for those in the essential drug research group went into the community to attain first- hand information.
The process of data collection through survey was quite demanding and tiring despite the fact that more people easily made head and tail of the questions. We intermittently took snacks as we weren't going to have lunch early.
There is an anonymous saying that reads, "silence is golden... unless you have kids, then silence is just suspicious." I couldn't agree more to this saying, the kids in the school nearby where threatening to budge in and possibly disrupt the smooth sail of events but for the timely intervention of the teachers.
Truthfully, we were exhausted from all the work and it was just right when we prepared to leave the community at 2: 45pm.With a great deal of expectation, we look forward to the next days motivated by the words of Dalai Lama, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion".
Part 2 (Adankwame)
Tuesday, 19th July, 2016In our freshman year, there was a girl among us who suffered from Bulimia nervosa, commonly called bulimia. She had acquired this condition in her late teens due to low self- esteem that mainly stemed from cruel words used to descibe her as she was growing up. As I dwelled upon the happenings of the previous day and pondered over her story, a wave of gratitude flushed through my body. I am always grateful that as a doctor- to- be, i can use my words to positively transform the lives of others. Indeed words are powerful, they can be used to break someone, but they can also put them back together.
After patiently waiting for what seems like forever, the bus finally came to take us to the Okubi hotel. We joined our counterparts from University of utah then headed to the community of Adankwame. The bus ride reminded me of the beauty of nature; the lavish greenery, the deep blue sky and the compact red soil were a sight to behold.
Upon arrival at 10am, we set up our station with the prowess of a master designer in the ravishing church of Adankwame, which was a hop from a school close- by. Within seconds, the church was flooded with people from near, far and wide (Apparently, it was not a farming day). We went on with our activities with professionalism, expertise and dexterity.
As medical students we are trained to recognise the irrecognisable; one of the highs of being a medical student happens when you spot a rare medical condition. Among the near thousands of people was a woman with rheumatoid arthritis, a condition that is uncommon in our part of the world.
We wished we could stay longer to attend to all the amazing people who kept pouring in, but we had to leave at 3: 30pm as our exhausting, aching and food-deprived bodies would not give way. We were a bit doleful at this reality. However it was a great day, we run the day!
Part 3 (Maban)
Wednesday, 20th July, 2016Silence is not empty, it is full of answers. Was gazing in silence at eternity of beauty as I looked through the windows, continually reminded of how breathtaking the Ashanti region is, no wonder it is referred to as the Garden City!
Our coaster bus pulled to a stop on the soil of Maban at 10: 45am and we were met by a sweet morning breeze as we stepped out of the bus.
The spots and bars are generally associated with music, drinking and dancing till its late, but we magically turned this stereotype around, the Nayas Spot served as our station where we had our health fair. Honestly, the place looked quite deserted and we had to carry benches, chairs and tables from a nearby church to set the place up.
Like actors on stage, we put on our game face and got to work at 11am. All sectors were poised for action, we swiftly recorded the anthropometric measurements, tested the blood cholesterol levels, measured blood pressure and carried out the surveys.
It was quite distressing to know that we recorded so many hypertensive cases in this particular community. To top it all we run out of strips to do the test of cholesterol with. The paper to be used for the name tags caught finished, hence we had to improvise. Eventually, we had to put to halt the survey for the non- communicable research group.A bad attitude is like a flat tire, thus we faced the challenges with positivity.
I met my last patient with a smile like that of a super emphatic doctor. I must say that the number of people that came was quite impressive. As we were packing to leave at 2: 30pm, a sea of school children who were on their way home came to gather themselves almost like bees around the bar.
Part 4 (Wurapong)
Thursday, 21st July, 2016The last few metres of a race are almost always the hardest and the most demanding; and today being our last field day, we felt like an Olympic runners ready to give it their all as they near the finishing line. Ethusiatically, we journeyed to the Wurapong at 9:30am as we had been informed the day before that the trip was going to be two hours long. We nurtured our minds and souls with the poetry of nature as we looked marvelled at the beauty of nature before our eyes during the road trip.
We were all in a state of shock and utter bewilderment when we realised that the road had been blocked by a pond of water. Some of us stepped out of the bus to access whether we could walk around it as it would be too risky to try crossing it with the bus. One by one with a little trembling and visible carefulness we crossed the pond to the other side and made the rest of the journey by foot. We caught glimpse of some ancient old mud houses with solar panels and our nose was met by a wide array of smells as we went on. Some children were caught playing truant.
The people of Wurapong had been waiting with great anticipation when we got there. As a courtesy demands, we payed a visit to the chief of Wurapong in his magnificent palace. In that short visit, the chief had his blood pressure measured and it was on the low side.
The pros we had become was mainly due to persistence. Even with literally no resources, we blazed and sailed perfectly. We attended to the people in record time and came up with some unique improvisation.
When we had to finally pack and leave at 2: 30pm, we were extremely excited when it was announced that a pick up truck was going to take us in batches to Adagya where the coaster busses had been packed. The ride to Adagya was super exhilarating as we had spontaneous bust of adrenaline rushing through our bodies; it felt like being on a roller coaster and for a second we thought that we were going to fall off the truck.
As we brought sunshine into the lives of the residents of Barekese, Adankwame, Maban and Wurapong, we evidently open our gate of happiness. As James M. Barrie said, "Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves ."
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