Daniel Susu, the Ghanaian South-North volunteer at the Bremen Mission office, reports on his experience as a patient in a German hospital.

I have now been here for a few months. Recently I was not feeling well and had to go to the hospital. I am now well again, but the experience gave me a lot to think about, because it was very different from what I know from home. I would like to share some of the things that stood out to me.

The first thing that surprised me was the way you reach a hospital in the first place. Here in Germany it seems that most people have their own doctor whom they visit when they are not feeling well. This doctor then decides whether you need to go to the hospital or not. In Ghana you usually go straight to the hospital yourself, without seeing a doctor first. This was a small culture shock for me, because it was completely new, but I found it quite interesting once I understood how it works.

Inside the hospital, what I noticed most was how the staff treated people. From what I saw, everyone was treated with kindness and respect, no matter who they were – whether someone had a disability or was healthy, black or white, rich or poor. I was especially touched to see people with disabilities being helped by nurses and doctors even when no family members were there to assist them. In the hospitals I have known in Ghana, I sometimes felt that not everyone was treated equally, and that people with disabilities or those with little money did not always get the same care.

One thing I had been afraid of was the language. But the nurses and doctors always found a way for us to communicate, and in the end this was never a real problem.

Another thing that surprised me was that the hospital itself provided food and drinks for the patients. This was completely new to me. In Ghana, it is usually family members or friends who bring food to a sick person, because it is seen as their role to care for them in that way. Here the hospital takes on that responsibility.

I also noticed that every bed had its own television, which you can watch when you feel bored or sad. Small things like this can make a big difference. In Ghana, the hospitals do not have the resources for something like this.

Finally, I was impressed by how reliable the staff were with time. When a nurse said they would be back in ten minutes, they really came back at that time. Good timing matters a lot when someone is sick, and this is something I really valued during my stay. My hospital stay was an interesting experience for me, and I am grateful that I was well looked after during a moment when I was far from home.