I had an amazing experience on the trip to Apam, Ghana, which is a rural fishing village in the central region of Ghana. It ended up being two very full weeks of surgery. There were multiple teams with us, but the surgical team we brought included a surgical oncologist, a retired urologist, a chief surgical resident and me. Given that there were four of us on the surgery team, I was able to first assist in almost all operations I was involved in, including thyroid, hernia, lipoma and hydrocele surgeries. We were able to perform all the screenings for surgeries the first day we arrived, so the rest of the two weeks were dedicated to surgeries from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

I am very satisfied with having done the trip, both for the personal growth and learning, and for the exposure to surgery in a resource-limited setting. It was also helpful to have this trip right before interviews because it was something that I was asked about at almost every interview and I had plenty to talk about regarding it.

I would recommend it to future students applying for OB/GYN or general surgery given that there was also an OB/GYN team that has a similar case load.

There was an opportunity for some tourism on the weekends, including a trip most to the Blue Diamond resort. There was also opportunity to go to the Kakum National Rainforest, nearby castles or the capital in Accra, Ghana. 

 
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