Journal #15: Malarial Diagnosis

I read an article today for one of my sources about malarial diagnosis in hospitals. I do not know much about malaria itself other than a few random facts and since I am going to be doing research where the patients will all have malaria, I am going to spend the next week or two focusing on malaria as an illness or disease, social impacts of malaria if any, and Ghanaian health care. Some general information about malaria: malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease. The disease is transmitted by mosquito bites and can be reduced by preventing those bites. The World Health Organization's 2011 world malaria report accounted for 2.23% of deaths worldwide and 90% of those deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Signs and symptoms of malaria include fever, shivering, joint pain, vomiting, jaundice, and convulsions. The classic symptom of malaria is cyclical occurrence of sudden coldness followed by rigor and then fever and sweating lasting four to six hours. There is a very high chance of malarial infection in Ghana thus we will be taking doxycycline, an anti-biotic which we will need to start taking a few days before going to Ghana and continue taking a month after we return. Malaria is a disease/illness...whatever you want to call it which is very unpleasant to experience so I hear.

Because malaria is such a prominent disease in Africa I anticipate it being a very good lens to explore gender and doctor-patient relationships through.

The fact that there is no sure way of preventing it is a huge reason why there are so many cases of malaria throughout the world and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Mosquito nets and antibiotics are physical preventives but if a mosquito is going to bite its going to bite and then that disease enters your blood stream. It is so simple for the disease to spread and that is why it is so severe. Using malaria as a control for observing differences among how different genders are treated by doctors in their interactions will allow for a good source of measurement when it comes time to analyze my results. Another reason why I am using malaria as a control is because there is a pretty standardized method of treatment and thus, there will not be much variation in ways of diagnosis, there will not be much variation in doctors methods of treatment because they will have been trained to treat this disease in the same way, reasons such as these will help to minimize the number of unforseen factors which could affect the administration of these treatments according to the patient's gender.

Journal #14: Ghanaian Healthcare

After discussing my literature review and realizing how much information I am lacking on Ghanaian health care I have decided to do a thorough search to find out everything that I can. An article I just read talked about how the Ghanaian health care system gets an overall satisfied to very satisfied rating from patients. This article was a good indicator of how patients feel they are receiving health care in Ghana. Of course this study was only carried out in one District and health care is administered differently from hospital to clinic to hospitals around the country but nonetheless I feel satisfied that health care in the hospital in Asamang will be received well by the patients who seek malaria treatment there. I have not had much experience with health care in the United States because I have luckily lived a very healthy life. My immune system is a real champion I tell ya! The only time I have been inside a hospital was to see newborn babies. I know that there is talk about Obamacare and health care reform all throughout the world about who has access to it, for what cost and so on... I don't know if that discussion will ever end. One thing I know is that the whole world is searching for the perfect system that can benefit everyone equally. Who knows if anyone will ever come close. Regardless, I am excited to know that the Ghanaian healthcare system is well received. That will make for positive attitudes (as positive as one can be in the hospital i guess) from patients as well as doctors which makes me happy because I work better with happy positive humans and all in all I think it will provide a good research environment for me.

Journal # 12: Marriage

     For class today we read an article about marriage in Ghana. It is not exactly akin to something you would read about marriage here. It seems like marriage as a priority in America has floated away in the wind, especially in the media. It is like it is not even a big deal. Seemingly contradictory, Prop 8 was repealed this week which drastically changes the ideas of marriage in California and even in the United States. There are stark contrasts between cultures about what is or is not acceptable but at the same time there are clusters within each culture which differs from the greater picture and within the same culture, differing values and such can change the whole dynamic of that so called bigger picture. To be honest I'm not even sure that I could define the marriage practices outside of the church that could represent those of the United States. Reading this selection about marriage in Ghana really got me thinking about motivations for marriage among different cultures, and even among people in the same cultures who hold onto different values and beliefs. I heard about an article recently where this woman went off about the 'shame of the church's history of polygamy' now I am certainly glad I did not live in that time but I also am not ashamed of it. For whatever reason, the Lord needed that to happen at that time and I would only hope that I have enough faith to follow Him in whatever He asks of me. Ploygamy in Ghana is not uncommon, in many parts of Africa even. I have read many books that talk about many different tribes and the African people are no strangers to this concept. Polyandry (one woman with multiple husbands) is even practiced among some tribes. The reality of these practices today may not be to the extent of what it was when those books were written, or maybe they are still in full swing but regardless, it exists. So with that said, what are the forces which drive people to enter into these types of marriage, lets take it one step back and ask what forces drive people to get married at all? I am not married, thus I cannot answer this question though it is something that many people have probably wondered or experienced in their lives. Seeing the differences in marriage practices and all other relationships will be fun to explore among Ghanaian culture as I anticipate it being very different from those that I am used to. Along with this concept, I am very excited to look at the relationships which gender provide as I am aware that they will have a very different dynamic than that I am used to here in the good ol United States.

Journal #13: REALITY

 

Reality strikes. Yesterday Jackie announced where we will be specifically going. She and I will be in Asamang while Cassie and Natalie will be in Wiamoase. That means NO RUNNING WATER. My stomach started turning with butterflies the moment she even said where we will be going because it is just one more element that is set, and makes this whole journey even more real. I am about 50/50 in my attitude right now because half of me is SO excited to take bucket showers and go fetch water from the well... I will probably sing and flirt like this little gal in Jungle Book while I fetch the water from the well that is right outside the house. Really while it will be a shocker and a big adjustment I am so excited!! It is one more thing that I can overcome and learn to not take for granted. Over the summer when I went backpacking with my dad and brothers in Zion I had a hard time adjusting but after 4 days I was loving life and on the 5th day when we went home I was sad to stop filtering my water and to put on clean clothes and to not wake up with the mountains and river right outside the flap of my tent. I am confident that I am going to be able to embrace this experience and learn to love it so much! That is one thing that I am very grateful for with my personality, I am very capable of just going with the flow. I do not get stressed out when things do not go according to plan and I am able to simply re-route and make it work. This just makes for an even different cultural experience. Number 2 reality strike...we chose a flight!! Everything is really in place. This journey is well  underway and I am loving every minute of it.

Journal #11: Grace

I feel like a bit of a broken record sometimes in these blog posts because it is hard to identify growth and changes in my research plan, in my goals or in what I have learned enough to be able to put them in writing three times a week. I am lucky if I can write in my personal journal once a week because there is so much going on sometimes that I just cannot justify sitting down to write for an hour so it is a miracle that I can do these posts three times a week. I learn so much every day that it seems impossible to not have a multitude of topics to write about but it is difficult to gather these thoughts into words to put down on a page sometimes. Regardless, my heart was full of longing to reach Africa today. Preparation is exhausting sometimes. But I know I am in for a treat because it doesn't even compare to the exhausting I will feel when I am doing my research.
During Relief Society today the fire alarm went off. My ward has sacrament meeting last so we were only about 30 minutes into church. We did not have the opportunity to finish a beautiful lesson about God's grace and we were instructed to go home and we would be informed if we were going to have sacrament meeting later when the problem was identified and taken care of. As I pondered about the grace of God: how He has sent His son to make up the difference, ALL the difference, I thought about the gap that I can bridge in Ghana. I am in no way comparing myself to our Savior, but the concept got me thinking...Heavenly Father knew that we could not live perfect lives so He sent His son to do that for us and to atone for our sins to give us a gift. A gift that would allow us to return to live with Him. We can choose to accept or decline his gift but it doesn't matter what we choose because either way the work has been done, has been completed. If we try to do the work ourselves or ask the Savior not to do it for us, nothing changes. He has already bridged the gap between us and God. Because of that, we must only be grateful for what he has already done for us and strive to do our best every day to show our gratitude. Now how does this relate to my study? Malaria is not a disease which we deal with often here in the United States and if there is ever a case it is rare. That is not the case in Ghana. Malaria is one of the most fatal diseases in Africa, second only to tuberculosis (some might argue in the case of HIV/AIDS but people die from the compromised immune system and contraction of TB almost 100% of the time, not because of AIDS/HIV alone). People who contract this disease and seek treatment from a doctor or traditional healer are seeking a sort of grace. They cannot heal the disease themselves so thus, they need a mediator, someone or something (antimalarial meds for example) to make up the difference between being healthy and being sick. I of course am not going to be administering treatment nor will I have any direct impact on the health of these individuals but, I will be observing their search for that grace. That saving element to remove the pain they feel from the malaria. I love being able to identify spiritual aspects in my life and apply them to things that will be affecting the way I carry out and view my study. This was definitely one of those moments.

Journal #10: Perception

     I have been reading Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea for my Anthropology of Development class lately. We had to read the first 8 chapters by Friday and with the busy schedules of college life there is no way I could get that done the day before or day of. There is simply not enough time. Thus, I decided to read a chapter every time i went to the gym and would just do the elliptical for an hour or so and kill two birds with one stone. After our class discussion about field notes and remembering things that were associated with action and such I started pondering the significance of reading this book while working working out. What did the elliptical do for the impact these 8 chapters had on my perception of this book... The beginning of the book details his attempt to climb to the top of K2 in Pakistan. As I was reading I was weary from the workout, legs burning as the resistance rose up and up on hill climb mode, trying to read and understand the material for my class, yet engrossed in his story. The experience he was describing meant so much more to me as I worked out rather than just reading the book while sitting down or laying in my bed because I could feel the burn in my thighs and the sweat on my skin. I could identify in the slightest measure with his pain. This has made the reading of this book such a different experience and I have read it from a completely different perspective than had I just simply read it. This got me thinking... what perceptions will I be seeing things through while I am in Ghana?
     The prep course's whole goal is to get us to live and learn cross culturally in the best context that we can and to be able to leave our own prejudices and bias behind. I want so badly to be able to experience Ghana as the Ghanaians do but that is unrealistic because my background and who I am as a person cannot be forgotten while I am there. What I can do is wake up everyday with an attitude that leans towards positivity, experiencing the day at its fullest, and with the perception that this day is going to be the best so far. If I try hard to perceive each day as the best day. I know that it will. There will be days when I am tired and frustrated and do not want to continue on because I miss America (not to be confused with Miss America 2012) BUT I know that is all about how I perceive that day and that experience that will ultimately make a difference in my study. If I had not read that book while "climbing" on the elliptical, I would not have felt for his struggles in the way that I did which helped me to understand his story and his project better in the way that it was presented. We haven't made it to the actual project so all I know so far is his story and his idea. This is not a critique of his book or project no no.
     Elder Busche in a devotional given at BYU in 1996 says to, "Embrace each day with an enthusiastic welcome. No matter how it looks." This is the perception that I will try to have everyday as that will make all the difference in my cultural experiences as well as in my study.

Journal #9: a stand still

Sometimes you just get caught in those ruts. this is one of them. the main reason is, I think, because of STATISTICS. Almost everyone at BYU has to take this class. Now, lets be honest, no matter how much it might be useful to a statistician, I can almost guarantee you I will not be using standard deviations and z-scores later on in life. Analyzing data and coming up with those statistics is, I imagine, much more basic than all these equations I am learning but will most likely forget because of lack of application after this class. I very well may be wrong about that and I know statistics is very useful and it is wonderful to expand my sphere of knowledge to more than just anthropology but it is a real pain. I have signed up for this class every semester since freshman year and every semester i have dropped it. My brain simply does not work with math, especially word problems and such. BUT, I was determined to prove myself wrong and do well on the first exam so I studied for 10 hours straight. literally. That is probably more hours than I have ever put into studying for an exam in one day (pre-finals) because I usually have to work on 10 other assignments and readings as well. When I walked out of that testing center and saw my score drum roll please.......86% I was so unbelievably happy!!! I would have felt even better had my older brother not just gotten a 99% on the test but his mind works different than mine. As a matter of fact, one thing I have noticed through all this gender study is that men and women naturally think very differently. Not just on the day to day but in my experience, men are more mathematically and scientifically minded while women are more english and humanities kind of thing (just a side note). Indeed that is a large generalization but I am supposed to be learning how to make observations and analyze them right? So why am I at a stand still...preparations for Ghana have indeed consumed my life for the past few years, even more so now that the departure date is looming ahead (still undecided mom but it will be between April 28 and May 2). But with all this focus on statistics and trying to get a good grade I realized something that could add an interesting element to the way I think about my study. So why did I study so hard and focus all my energy on statistics for the latter half of the weekend and all day yesterday? Why was I so determined to prove myself wrong and show that I could get a good grade on my statistics exam (86 was pretty awesome to me seeing as many people I've talked to just scraped by with a D+ or C-)? One motivating factor is surely the fact that good grades = scholarships, scholarships= more money to do fun things, buy good food, buy the occasional clothing item, pay utilities and rent without worry of overdrafting, etc...all the things that I take as a luxury in college because I did not realize how much it costs even just to live the day to day. I feel for my parents who had 7 kids to take care of and not just themselves.

        But anyways, the reason I was thinking about all this was because I thought about what factors influence the way men and women act and function in the day to day in Ghana that could affect these doctor-patient relationships that I will be observing throughout my study. Excuse the statistical term but there could be many lurking variables which will affect the outcome of my study and so I was getting worried about how I am actually going to account for everything and come out with a valid, useful study. THEN, as my thoughts turned from anticipation to panic and back to anticipation for the answers, granted this is no multiple choice test, I came to my conclusion. One of the things that I love so much about Anthropology (yes, I also love the store), is the free element of thought. There aren't really set rules that are right or wrong, there are theories yes, and everyone has their own opinion about what is "politically correct" (what does that term MEAN anyway, I am not sure that anyone really knows) or about which school of thought your ideas should be thrown towards but really, this field is open to new ideas. My ideas. There is no formula that has already been discovered which I can either do correctly or incorrectly and if I do it incorrectly I suffer the consequences of a lower grade. I am fully aware that I do not have all the answers nor will I ever. I know that I even tend to make statements that might seem ignorant or insensitive to some because I have not fully grasped the whole cross-cultural life abroad concept yet but can you blame me? I have never experienced anything outside of my comfortable California life outside of spending a few hours at an orphanage in Mexico with a youth group in high school. The point of all this is, gender aside, human beings and the individual human experiences we have, are all so different. Yes, there are certainly similarities but not one person is the same as another on this earth. Statistics may try to group people together in groups and analyze their behaviors with an observational study and yes, I will too. But I am not constrained to these constructs which keep my school of thought inside the box and inside the realm of what others have already come up with and decided is correct. I can come up with my own theories and my own ideas about human beings and the Ghanaian people and why it is the way it is. I of course know that there is some structure to follow and there is a certain line of thought that I should focus attention to but the bottom line is that I can focus on gender in whatever way I want. The thing that I find works for me in the field is going to be what I choose to focus on in my research and my project will be carried out however I see fit to be successful in the field. Nothing new in the sense of project development here...my mind was a little bit consumed by statistics the past few days, but these schools of thought which are developing in my mind are certainly something worth exploring as I continue to tweak and revise my project question.