Learning to Smile about Operations

Operation Smile

At the beginning of July I went to Operation Smile in Tamale, Ghana. The bus drive up to Tamale warrants its own blog entry.

On Wednesday I left my little room for Accra. I was to meet another PCV at the Accra office. Our plan (also what we were told to do) was to be at Ridge Hospital, in Accra, at 5am, to help load patients and be there to organize. Knowing how Ghana can be sometimes, we thought we would most likely be leaving at 7am.

I got up at 4am, got ready, and was at Ridge by 5am. There were a few patients there, not the 39 we were suppose to have. But that was fine; everyone in Ghana runs a little late, so no big deal. At 6:30am, with still no sign of the bus, I called the PCV liaison for Op Smile (she talks to the Op Smile people, and then gets back to the PCVs). No buses had shown up to any of the hospitals in Ghana yet, so just hang tight.

By 7am an Op smile worker showed up at Ridge, dropped off a ton of drink powder and biscuits, told us the buses were on the way, and left.  I got this person’s number, just in case (turns out I was going to use it a ton over the course of the day).

At 8am I called the Op Smile worker, told her the buses still weren't there. After she called the driver, I was told the bus was about 15 min away.

The bus arrived at 9am. Finally! We were pumped to finally get on the road. We had about 15 patients at that point. I received a call from another Op Smile employee, telling me I needed to find a certain doctor at Ridge and get him to call Op Smile.

Me: “Turns out the doctor isn't going to be in till much later in the day.”

Op Smile: “Ok, can you get his phone numbers and call me back?”

Me: “Sure.”

I spent nearly an hour talking to different nurses, trying to get this doctor’s different phone numbers (most people in Ghana have several phones). One nurse had to call another, who had to wait for a call back from someone else. In the end all we needed was a key to a store room so we could load up supplies to take up to Tamale (Could I have just asked around for the key?).

We spent another period of time hauling boxes to the bus. While trying to do this, I start getting yelled at by the bus driver about his meals.

Driver: “Are my meals being paid for?”

Me: “I don’t know, I don’t work for Operation Smile. Here is the number for the main guy, you can call him 

and discuss it.”

Driver: “I don’t want to use my phone credit to call him.”

Me: “Well you aren’t using my credit. You can either pay for it yourself and take it up with them when you get there, or call the guy in charge on your own phone. Those are the only options I have for you.”

Driver: “I’m calling my boss.”

After some conversations on the phone, the food situation was sorted out. Everything was loaded on the bus, and we hit the road.

We drove about 10 miles and stopped at a fueling station. Apparently Op Smile got gas donated for the buses. The drivers were given coupon books, each coupon being worth 20 cedi, or some such amount. Each coupon had to have a bunch of information written on it by the driver (which gas station, signature, etc…). Our driver pumped 400 cedi of gas. We spent 45 min watching our driver fill out each coupon with the information. We were so close to being on the road…..

Finally we were officially on the way. I had heard from other volunteers the trip should take about 12 hours. It was 12pm. We stopped in Koforidua (about 3 hours form Accra) so the bus driver could give another driver some coupons. We had 10 min to use the bathroom and grab a bite to eat. Since we had just left Accra, a lot of the people didn't eat, thinking we would stop again. Little did they know the bus driver had no intention of stopping again. Why he threw such a fit about his meals, and then never stopped to eat, is beyond me.

In Kumasi (about 6 hours in) we picked up 2 more PCVs.

Then it got dark and rainy. We were driving along; I was in that half asleep/ half awake head state, when the bus started sliding and we felt like we were going to flip. Someone started screaming and I braced myself for the worst. Amazingly enough, we slammed through a police barricade and the driver regained control of the bus. What I think happened was the driver couldn't see the barricade (basically 2 planks with words written on them, up on sawhorses, in the middle of the road) and when he slammed on the brakes we started sliding. He slid through the barricade, hitting a piece of it, and kept going. A little ways down the road he pulled over and checked the bus, climbed back in and we kept going.

Then it was time for gas again. We stopped at a station outside a large town. The driver showed the coupons to the attendant. He had never seen them before. The attendant called his boss, who had never heard of Operation Smile or the coupons, and we couldn’t get gas. I had to call the head Op Smile guy, get him to call his boss, have the boss call the boss of the gas station and get everything settled. This was about 9 at night. Finally the gas was pumped, we watched the driver fill out a million coupons again, and we were back on our way.

Finally we hit a town called Kintampo. The stretch of highway beyond Kintampo is notorious for highway robberies, so at night everyone waits in a station for a police escort. We pulled into the station and our bus was immediately swarmed with people. Our driver got off the bus and some random guy immediately started yelling and pushing him. They were pushing and yelling when a police officer came out of nowhere, handcuffed our driver, and started to take him away. Mind you, everyone is watching this out the bus window.

Amid all the confusion our bus driver is escorted back on the bus and allowed to turn the bus off. The police man then starts to take him away when I jump up front and start asking questions

Me: “Are you taking him?”

Police: “Yes.”

Me: “Is he coming back?”

Police: “He might.”

Me: “Can I give him my number so he can call me if he is released?”

Police: “Sure.”

At this point the driver starts pleading with someone to go with him, preferably a PCV. I say no, absolutely not, no one is leaving this bus and going wandering to a police station in the dark in a town we don’t know. A dad of one of the patients goes with him and we are left in the middle of the station without a driver, but all of his phones.

This is a good chance for everyone to eat. Its 10pm and no one has eaten since around 2, so we all get off the bus to feast. The other PCVs and I start making phone calls and are basically told to sit tight till Op Smile can decide how to come get us. I start chatting with a Ghanaian that is a passenger on the bus and he says the police had said they had been chasing the bus since the driver hit the police barricade. This sounds strange since we stopped to check the bus and stopped for gas with no police showing up, but there isn’t anything I can do about it now. After some time someone comes on the bus and tells us if each passenger pays 3 cedi the bus driver will be set free and we can go. At this point I am soooo pissed. “Absolutely not. No one pays anything. Operation Smile will get us another driver.” I still get surprised at the blatant corruption of the police here.

After an hour, with no word from Op Smile, our driver shows up, free. He had to leave his license and he has to come back tomorrow to pay for the damage, but he can finish driving us to Tamale. I have maybe 5 minutes to get this information to the Op Smile people before the escort is here and our bus is moving again. It’s about 11:30 pm at this point.

So we are back on the dark and rainy road. Besides the fact our driver is tired and I can feel the bus swerving every so often, we finally get to Tamale Hospital at 2am. When we arrive there is no one there. We spend time calling people to find out where to go. We are told to go to the nursing hospital, basically around back, and drop the patients there. When we arrive we are greeted by two Op Smile employees and we get the patients to their rooms. The room the PCVs are suppose to stay in is locked, no one knows where the key is, so we agree to go to the guest house the Op Smile volunteers are staying at to spend the night.

The directions given to the guest house seemed simple, but it took us an hour, and numerous phone calls, to find the place. The PCVs got to bed at 4:30am, only to get up at 5:30am so we can be at the hospital by 6am.

And this was how my week at Tamale started. I wish I could say this was the only hiccup, but it wasn’t.

I do want to give kudos to my fellow PCVs. Despite the craziness of the week, I think we handled it well. Everyone in each chuck of the country experienced their own set of problems, especially when it came to getting to Tamale. I was lucky to be there for media, so I only took pictures and videos, I didn’t have to participate in things or try to organize people. I was very impressed with how everyone rolled with the punches and handled the lack of appreciation. It made me respect the PCVs even more, because that week proved they weren’t there for the gratitude or the recognition, they were just there to do their job, make life easier for everyone involved, and make the patients stay at the hospital more enjoyable and rewarding. With no complaints, everyone sacrificed their time, money, sanity, and sleep just to help.

AYEKOOOOOO J