Je viens d’une réunion avec notre Directeur pour la France, Frank Seidel – il est d’origine Allemande mais il a habité Grenoble depuis 14 ans – lui et moi, nous avons décidé que notre organisation est trop Anglaise! Nous avons raison franchement. Chez Projects Abroad, nous avons l’habitude de parler au sujet des Livres et de dire que les volontaires reviendront chez-eux en Angleterre. Trop de notre litérature promotionnelle ou administrative n’est qu’en Anglais.

Donc – attend! Soie un peu patient là-bas à l’autre côté de la Manche! Regarde-nous pendant les prochaines douze mois. Nous deviendrons de plus en plus trilingue – Allemand, Français et Anglais. Apres tout ça, Japonais, Suédois et Russe!

Nous voulons souhaître une vrai bienvenue a nos amis Français – et aux amis Suisses et Belges (et Monagesques et de partout) francophones – und Deutschen u.s.w. (je ne connais ni assez Allemand pour écrire en Allemand ni Japonais (sauf faire un grand salut) ni Suédois ni Russe (da-niette-odine-dwa-tré et c’est tout) – désolé pour ça.

Au revoir & auf wiedersehen,

Peter Slowe

A translation after the jump for non-French speakers (like myself!)

“I have just come from a meeting with our Director for France, Frank Seidel (he’s originally German but has lived in Grenoble for fourteen years). He and I decided that our organisation was altogether too English! Frankly, we were right. At Projects Abroad, we have got into the habit of talking about British Pounds and of saying that volunteers are “going back home to England”. Too much of our promotional or administrative literature is only in English.

So, just wait! Be a little patient over there on the other side of the Channel! Watch us over the next twelve months. We will become more and more trilingual – German, French and English. And when that’s finished, we’ll take up Japanese, Swedish and Russian!

We really want to give a good welcome to our French friends and to our Swiss, Belgian (not to mention Monagesque and any other) Francophone friends – and to indeed our German friends (but I can’t do much about that now because I don’t have enough German to write in German) nor do I speak Japanese (except I know you have to make a bow) nor Swedish nor Russian (although I can say “yes” and “no” and count to three) – so sorry about that!”

Peter Slowe

Since we have a large number of medical volunteers going away with us this summer to placements all over the world, I asked Anna Koh who was a Medical volunteer that recently returned from Ghana to lend some advice to the new medical volunteers who are just departing. Take it away Anna!

By Anna Koh,

My medical experience in Ghana has been the most memorable. Before my departure, I had so many expectations- as well as unexpectations- from my placement in Cape Coast. Questions that ran through my mind were “Will I benefit from this?” “What will I learn just from observing and following the physicians around the hospital?” and even “Will I fit in??” After 2 weeks, the hospital was my second home; I felt comfortable enough to roam around the hospital and join any department I wished to see. Doctors, including nurses and administrative workers, were incredibly friendly and helpful. That was an unexpected considering the large number of patients each doctor must see in a day. My expectations were to form strong relationships with the doctors and to see as much as I could were met within the three months of work. I spent one to two weeks in each department-obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, radiology, orthopedics, and finally surgery.

In Ghana, it is tradition and respected to have large families and therefore majority of women have more than 5 children in their families. Family planning was one of the major issues in the department of OBGYN especially when a woman was at high risk of hemorrhaging and, as a result, death. Statistically, it has been known that infant and maternal mortality has been quite high in Ghana. For these complications between culture and medicine, there is a high demand for doctors in OBGYN. Everyday, there was just so much to see, in the wards and in the surgical theater, for it was such a large department. This is a one of the places I would encourage all volunteers to see in Ghana.

More photos and advice after the jump

At Pediatrics, I began to learn that children were more prone of being infected with Malaria, Gastroenteritis, and Typhoid because of their suppressed immune system and ongoing biological development. It was amazing to see these children with such high fevers so strong and happy.

Anna in Radiology

At the small department of Radiology, we had the luxury of an air-conditioned room but an old yet useful ultrasound machine that helped diagnose over 40 patients a day. We were dealing with a wide range of different cases from obstetric scan, for fetus age and condition, to abdominal scans, for gallbladder stones and jaundice, to pelvic scans, for fibroids in the uterus and prostate complications. There were endless complications that were to be seen in this department.

It was most difficult to join the surgical theater as the surgical team required strict sanitation practice to prevent transmission in and out of the theater. Not only was that a major issue, they were always lacking surgical wear! (I would highly recommend volunteers to bring their own scrubs). Luckily, I was still able to watch over 15 different surgical operations. In the end I learned that it was effort that got me to where I was (more than anything). From that, I was pleased to notice that doctors felt more encouraged to teach me and show me more. That was more than I expected. Also, when in doubt, always ask questions even if you think they are stupid ones…it’ll only show that you actually want to learn.

Anna with the Surgical team of Dr. Chernev, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Toboh

Aside from my medical experience, my host family was so lovely. I will always feel nostalgic for food-spring rolls, fanice (frozen vanilla yogurt), and homemade fried yam balls- Ghanian music, tros-tros, and the feeling of a celebrity. I hope, one day, I may come back with a medical degree to contribute even more.

Jessye recently came into the office talking about a movie she had seen that was set in Mongolia. So I am having her start a new segment where on the blog were staff members review films from countries where we have projects. Watch out Ebert and Roper and take it away Jessye!

By Jessye Crowe-Rothstein

I dread going to the video store because every time I do I end up standing there blankly staring at the hundreds of titles I’ve never heard of, and lacking any faith that I will make a good decision on what to rent. Last week when I found myself at Blockbuster in this exact situation, I chose a foreign film called Mongolian Ping Pong. I figured a movie with a little kid and a rainbow on the cover would probably suit me better than most of the action and terror new releases, so I gave it a try.

Mongolian Ping Pong is a beautiful film which features absolutely stunning landscape, and watching it gave me a much better sense of what it must be like for our Nomad volunteers to live with a family out on the steppe. The story revolves around a young boy (whose name I won’t even try to remember or spell) who finds a ping pong floating in the river near his family’s ger. Not familiar with the game of ping pong and having never seen a ball before, he and his friends and family go through numerous hilarious theories of what the ball could be, and what use it provides.

The film touches on the Nomad lifestyle as well as the influence of modernity on these dwindling tribes, as the ping pong ball, a television, a motorcycle and many other modern commodities find their way to their front yard. The story itself is a bit slow but very sweet, and I couldn’t stop exclaiming throughout the film how beautiful the scenery was. It was also neat to hear a bit of Mongolian – a very unique language.

These are also themes and issues volunteers will come across and live with on our Nomad Project in Mongolia.

Has anyone else seen it?

Luis with our Bolivia Team

By Luis Arguedas, Costa Rica Country Director

Bolivia is a very nice country. It has huge mountains, some of the tallest in the world. It also has part of the Amazon and 37 different aboriginal cultures with their own language and ways of life. Right away, you can imagine the diversity and also the amount of effort the country has to do to integrate its people and manage social problems. After the “sorocho” (altitude sickness because of lack of oxygen) the second impression on the country is its poverty. I am not saying this because I am a pessimist; I say it because right out from the airport zone in La Paz, we encounter the city of “El Alto” where poverty and lack of all urban planning is really apparent.

When I arrived to Cochabamba, where the office of Projects Abroad is in Bolivia, I felt better. It is only at 2600m. (by the way, El Alto is at only 4100m). The people at the office there are just great. I was really well treated and every staff member is just full of kindness.

The next day and for the whole week, I visited their projects and had the opportunity to talk with Daniela (Bolivia s country director) about ideas and ways of managing the program. It was really helpful and enriching since as a Country Director, sometimes it is not easy to compare projects and share experiences at a distance. This trip really helped me to see more what we have been doing well in Costa Rica and what we have to improve and, thanks to Daniela, I have very good tools to improve some aspects of the program right away.

Something else that really impressed me is the type of projects in Bolivia. Being one of the poorest countries in Latin America, there is a huge need for help in the areas in which Projects Abroad is involved (by the way, they are doing a terrific job) and the volunteers get involved 110% in their projects. I visited a medical placement where a volunteer helped vaccinating 50,000 people in its first week against Yellow Fever. I could go on for pages and pages, but Matthew would not like me much if I take up the whole space in this newsletter!

I want to thank Projects Abroad for this experience and the kind people of Bolivia, not just the staff, but everyone who I encounter. They are really welcoming and genuine people.

For anyone who wants to go to Bolivia, I recommend it sincerely, and maybe, in the near future I will be returning for some holidays there because I really want to have time to visit this wonderful country.