Conference day 1

The day started much like my days in the US. I was able to get to the gym for a workout before everything started.  The gym was a challenge but I made it work. The electricity is so weak that the treadmill would randomly slow down so I had to hold one to keep from falling off. The equipment had to be over 40 years old and most of the pieces were broken

After the gym I went to breakfast and registered 

A total of about 75 PTs and 30 PTAs registered for the clinic.  They have about 350 PTs so that ratio is pretty impressive.

The opening ceremonies were fantastic. The African president of the world confederation of PT, regional medical director, and the regional minister all attended. The keynote address was done by Anna. She really did a great job expressing the importance of woman's health 

Kai (a colleague, friend, and mentor) who works at Mary Baldwin College in the DPT program gave a great lecture on PT education for community based help.  Three Ghanians finished out the morning presenting their research on woman's health, Parkinson's, and low back pain.

I was fortunate to eat some amazing fufu for lunch (cassava and plantanes mashed into a dough consistency with a red soup ,goat and fish).  It is my favorite Ghanian meal. Most white people do not like this dish it know how to eat it so I turned a lot of heads when I ate it with my white dress shirt (didn't spill a drop)

The afternoon consisted of my 2 hour breakout on child handling to promote milestone development.  The audience was very engaged and laughed at all of my jokes so I think I talked slow enough for them to understand me.  JoJo (a second year Mary Baldwin student) and Kai gave a workshop on perinatal exercises which also had great feedback from the audience.

After the conference I had some great conversation with the African president of the confederation and a therapy who owns a private practice in Accra who studied her PT in Germany ( she is half German and half Ghanian)

At night my two friends from Work the World, Joe and Frank met me at the hotel.  We had a great night talking, eating, and catching up.  I missed my Ghanian family.