McCord Research Buruli Ulcer Foundation

This morning marked our first official "work" day. We met Emmanuel, an amazing 28 year old motivational speaker who survived the Buruli ulcer after 10 surgeries and a great deal of personal hardship, including being shunned on public transit as he traveled to the clinic for treatment. He faces continued surgery to increase the range of motion of his elbow.

Along with Emmanuel, we went to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research - this facility is named after a Japanese medical doctor who worked on yellow fever and died of yellow fever in 1928 in Accra. The Japanese continue to fund several construction and scientific endeavors in Ghana.

Meet Charles Quaye and Charles Yeboah, the two gentlemen on the left.

At Noguchi, we met with Charles Quaye and Charles Yeboah, two talented, young scientists (30 and 28) who are working to find the cause of and further the treatment of "BU." The meetings with our new friends have been easy and enjoyable thanks to the established relationships between Mollie and Ryan and the Ghana team. We enjoyed planning for tomorrow's field day in the shade and breeze of an open courtyard at the Institute.

Strategizing for upcoming field work; meeting at Noguchi

We enjoyed lunch in an outdoor cantine on the University grounds. The Americans played it safe by eating spiced rice and either chicken or beef. Our dining companions enjoyed fufu (pounded plantain and casava formed into a dumpling and accompanied by a stew of various fish and meat). One of the meat choices in the stew was grasscutter, a member of the guinea pig family. Monica tried the dumpling - it was very chewy; she was advised that chewing it was not appropriate - it was meant to simply slide down one's throat. Also, this stew is eaten with one's fingers - a bowl of water and dish detergent are brought to the table ahead of time so one can clean his hands first.

Tomorrow, Saturday and part of Sunday will be spent in the field (or rather water -- pond, river or well) collecting samples and setting up water chemistry experiments with Mollie and Ryan and the rest of the crew in six smaller villages.

Preparing 200 water filters for tomorrow's field day; we're tired!!!

Our hotel hosts are delightful and the hotel is comfortable.

We are attempting (without success so far) to post photos - we will keep trying.

More tomorrow, hopefully with photos.

Deyea o! (Good night in Akan or Twi).

Claudia meets Mollie and Ryan from Michigan State University in Detroit.

After 21 hours and three continents, Claudia and Monica from Iowa City and Mollie and Ryan from Michigan State University finally arrived in Accra. The trip was rather painless - all of our flights were on time, our bags arrived and no one was grumpy. Darlene McCord would not have survived the trip in coach class - it's very cozy and we got to know our neighbors well. We shared the cheese and dates we had purchased in Amsterdam with our travel mates and even got to help a mother with her 6-month old infant.

It's hot and humid here - the tepid (cold) showers are lovely! : )