If You Do It...They Will Let You!

John and I have found, since being in Africa, that the above statement is true!  Our list of things to accomplish here has only lengthened in the 2 1/2 months since our arrival.  Everytime someone thinks something else should be done in this program, they look at John and he says, "OK".  Shish!

Anyhow, before we get too much farther into the semester we thought we would introduce everyone to some of our students.  These are our second year students who are finishing up their classes in July and will then go out to do their third year in an externship in various areas of Ghana before their graduation.  These six will be the first Audiologists to graduate with Masters Degrees that have been trained in Ghana...actually in all of West Africa!  We are very proud of them and their accomplishments despite great challenges and sacrifices individually and on the part of their families.

Ramatu Alhassan was born in Cape Coast in the central region of Ghana, but now lives in the capital, Accra.  She is married with 3 boys and 1 little girl she is taking care of while a relative is in the states.  She is a second year student and has been working with hearing impaired children since 2002 as an assessment officer who determines whether a child is referred to a hospital or a school for the deaf after screening.  Her interest is Pediatric Audiology and she would eventually like to work in a clinic.  Her undergraduate degree was in Special Education.

She spends her non-academic time in business activities (her husband is in the Ghanaian government) and loves gardening and cooking.  Her favorite foods are Tuo-zaafi with Green soup and she loves all sports.  

Her Research Project is "Hearing Impairment Among Primary School Children in Accra".  Ramatu looks forward to sharing ideas, knowledge experiences and skills with other Audiologists.

Sesi Collins Akotey was born in Tema (Greater Accra Region) and now lives in Winneba in the Central Region.  (about an hour away)  He is single with no children and works in Winneba at a clinic when he is not in Accra in school.  His main interests are Pediatrics and Industrial Audiology and looks forward to continuing in a clinic as an Audiologist and teaching.  His undergraduate degree is in Special Education.  He loves to spend time with friends and watch movies and he loves golf and soccer.  Red red, a local dish is his favorite food.
His research is "Establishing clinical normative data for Neurodiagnostic ABR for the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital"

Joyce Anomah was born in Accra and now lives in Ho in the Volta Region.  She is single with no children and is a second year student.  She chose Audiology to "help in early identification and to provide intervention in children with hearing impairment."  She is most interested in Pediatric Audiology and wants to do clinic work or work with the military.  

Her background is an undergraduate degree in Physics and she teaches at a school in the Volta region (about 2-3 hours away) when not in school in Accra.  Her outside interests include church activities and cooking.  Her favorite dish is Banku and Okro stew.  Her favorite sport is soccer.

The title of her graduate Research Project is "Universal Newborn Hearing Screening in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital"  She looks forward to Audiology being recognized as a valid profession in Ghana.

Daniel Tumpi was born in Accra and still lives here.  He is married with 4 children.  He is our oldest student and is in his second year.  His career so far has been with the Hearing Impaired and he works in the ear mold lab.  Aural Rehabilitation is his main interest.  He plans to continue working in the clinic following graduation.  His undergraduate degree is in Special Education.

Soccer is his favorite sport and he enjoys watching it on TV in his spare time.  His favorite food is rice and stew.  His research project concerns "Early Childhood Screening for Nursery and Kindergarten Children in Schools in the Accra area".

Graham Ameyaw (Gray) was born in the Ashanti region of Ghana and now lives in Kumasi (about 2 hours north of Accra) where he teaches at a Senior High School when not in class in Accra.  He is single and has no children.  He is a second year student.  He chose Audiology "because it is a helping profession, and will prove to have enormous opportunities in the future in Ghana".  He is most interested in Telehealth, Pediatric audiology and Vestibular Rehabilitation and Hearing Conservation.  (Dr. Ribera says Graham is a whiz at Instrumentation and is our go-to technical guy!)

Graham is looking forward to pursuing a PhD and returning to Ghana to teach and lecture future Audiology students.  His undergraduate studies were in the Biological Sciences with a major in Psychology.  

He loves to visit family and friends in his spare time and his favorite sport is soccer.  His favorite food is Banku with Okro stew.

Research Study will be "Newborn Hearing Screening using Tele-health Technology:  a Pilot Study in Ghana"

Elsie Akosua Nyarko was born in Kumasi but has recently married and lives now in Accra.  No children.  She is in her second year of the program and became interested in Audiology because she is very religious and was interested in the welfare of others.  She is especially interested in Pediatrics and is looking forward to clinic work and then private practice.  Her undergraduate degree was in Biological Science.

Elsie's hobbies include reading, cooking and teaching about God.  Her favorite foods are fufu and Peanut soup.  Her sport is cycling.  The tittle of her Research  Project is "Prevalence of Hearing Impairment in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital".

All of these students are truly amazing people getting an education against all odds, and usually the first in their family to do so.


This last Thursday we traveled north to the "mountains" (more like hills) to visit one of the 13 schools for the deaf in Ghana.  This school in Mompong has 385 children with 13 also blind.  When our students come from USU in May we will travel up to provide some services here at this school.  On our way home, Dr. Sampong and the Vice Dean, Dr. Asare decided we should visit the Aburi Gardens.  It is very dry there now with no rain recently, but we found this great tree that was over 200 years old.  The guy in front of it is not quite that old!

                                                           
(Here is John teaching a class for our students in one of our makeshift classrooms)
              So...see you all ...............