At the Health Access Institute, students are trained to become Pharmacy Technicians (comparable to a pharmacy assistant in The Netherlands) over three years. Many students also combine their studies with a job. Many students work after their classes from 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM, which we admire a lot. We mainly work on assignments to contribute to the organization of and around the lessons. Today, we were also allowed to give a lesson to the first-year students about gastrointestinal medicines. The students had covered this topic in the past two weeks, and our task was to test their knowledge. The students participated enthusiastically and were eager to answer as many questions correctly as possible (and win Dutch stroopwafels!). It was very enjoyable to contribute to the education in this way. We hope that Kahoots will be included in many more lessons!
We are under the guidance of Dr. Charles Allotey. He pays a lot of attention to establishing and maintaining contacts. Therefore, we have already made various trips to different pharmacies, the National Vaccines Institute (NVI), Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), and much more.
The people in Ghana are super kind. They wave, smile kindly, and really make us feel welcome as foreigners in Ghana. People are eager to interact with us, and many prefer to show us all of Ghana in a single day. These small interactions with the local people have become memorable moments for us. From invitations to a wedding or church service to being proposed to multiple times in a day. The wedding was an amazing experience, but we have (so far) declined the marriage proposals. 🙈
Our schedule now includes two short internships: a two-week internship at a compounding pharmacy in Kumasi and a two-week internship at a hospital in Berekum! In between, we have weekends where we want to see and experience as much of Ghana as possible. For example, one of us will participate in the Millennial 5km Run organized in Accra this coming weekend (the other Jasmijn will cheer very loudly). Last weekend, we traveled to the Cape Coast to spend a night on the beach, combined with a visit to the Cape Coast Museum and the Kakum National Park.
So there is still plenty on the schedule, and we look forward to discovering much more of Ghana, the pharmacy in Ghana, and the people here in the coming weeks! 🤩
