a little bit of enchi

I first set foot in Enchi over a month and a half ago! That's unreal! All of Africa is beautiful, but I was struck by how lovely Enchi was the moment I stepped out of the trou trou. That may have been due to travelling in front of a little boy who vomited and heaved the entire five hour drive to Enchi. Or it may have been due to the fact that I was finally able to stretch my legs (they had been squished into the seat in front of me). Or it may have been because I could finally empty my painfully full bladder. Or it may have been because my head finally stopped smashing into the window as we bounced along the road. I like to think it was solely due to the breathtaking beauty of the place.

It was so refreshing to see the green of the rainforest after being up in the dry north for weeks and weeks.   The air was delightfully humid and the dirt was such a rich colour.

This was the clinic where we had practicum. It was a lovely five minute walk from out hotel and there was always someone out and about to talk to. The patients here were treated much much much better than the ones in Tamale (you may remember this post and I have many more stories just like it). The nurses asked us questions about how we do things in Canada and they were open to our suggestions. The morale in the clinic was incredible and we were told by the staff that they are so busy because patients refuse to go to the hospital -- they would all rather sit in line all day to be seen at the clinic. The clinic really was wonderful.

These little girls lived along out walk to the clinic. The little one, Benedicta, LOVED us from a distance, but as soon as she was within 10 feet of us she would freak out. She would see us walking down the road and she would run towards us with her wild hair. As soon as she got too close though she would turn in the other direction screaming. I was so sad when her mother shaved her head three days before we left Enchi. In Ghana though you'd be hard pressed to find little girls with hair -- all the girls had shaved heads.

This is downtown Enchi. It was a happening place! This road was even paved... a luxury. We were the only four white people in the town so people would stand outside their shops, school, and houses to watch us walk by. Everyone said hello and we usually had a group of followers.

On our way home from town on our first day in Enchi we saw these two little girls walking with their umbrella. We laughed and thought they were adorable because we didn't think it was going to rain... until the floodgates opened and it poured on us.

This was taken the day of the rainstorm. By the next afternoon all the water was gone and the dust became outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! It would poof up as we walked and there was a dust storm each time a vehicle drove by.

And that's a little bit more Enchi...