This past Monday (05/16) Dr. ABD, who was visiting friends in Alma, agreed to have a dinner with all Sierra Leone P-Global Scholarship recipients and their parents, as a chance to meet him as well as ask any questions that we have concerning the trip. Dr. ABD is one of the founders of the hospital, and is also one of the main doctors there. As a native Sierra Leoniean who has achieved amazing success and is not only a highly educated person, but incredibly compassionate toward his fellow countrymen, he has gained the respect of all of Sierra Leone. Mallory (who traveled to Sierra Leone over Christmas break this past school year) said that arriving in the Freetown airport, the only airport in the country, was extremely nerve racking. It was crowded, people were yelling to each other and her, trying to tell her that they were her ride and that they required payment, and no one was around to point her in the right direction. She was just about to get really anxious when Dr. ABD showed up. She equated the reaction of the locals to how we in the US would react if the President arrived. They parted to allow him through, shaking his hand and whispering to each other, with an entourage following him. From the moment he shook Mallory's hand in greeting, no one tried to mess with her.
So, as I arrived to this dinner, I was sort of expecting a man looking akin to a well dressed business man who would likely view me as a young and naive child. He turned out to be a very tall and very friendly man, with giant hands and a warm hand shake. He was dressed very warmly for the weather by our Michigan standards, and he greeted me in a soft voice, and told me he was very excited to have me visit his country in the near future. We sat down to dinner, and afterward all the scholarship recipients and parents asked questions to the "Panel," which consisted of Dr. ABD, Mallory and Taylor, who are two Alma College students who have both traveled to Sierra Leone to work in the Magbenteh Hospital, and Dr. Smith and Pastor Ron, who helped found a local charity called "Footprints Missions" and periodically send groups of surgeons to the hospital to perform surgeries, and both of them have visited the hospital in person. We were also able to watch a short video of the hospital and what work they perform there. There is a male ward, a female ward, a children's ward, and a maternity ward. Separate from these is the therapeutic feeding center, which rehabilitates malnourished children. the panel was able to give us information from what we should bring to wear, to what things we should mentally prepare ourselves for. Dr. ABD, despite being still slightly groggy from the drugs he was given at the dentist earlier that day, was funny and well spoken. At one point, an concerned mother (some might even say overly concerned) kept asking about how her child would find her luggage upon arrive at the Freetown airport, and she didn't seem to want to accept Dr. ABD's assurance that it would be okay, and that she didn't need to worry about it. When she kept asking, he finally said, "I will take care of them, because while they are in my country, I am their father." So I figure that this guy's got it all under control, which is reassuring.
Some of the advice was very surprising, such as the advice that we should definitely consider getting a local cell phone so that we can be contacted by those we work with, which shouldn't be a problem because it sounds like phones and minutes are pretty cheep. It was also advised that we take Advil the week before we leave and don't stop until we land in Freetown to prevent blood clots. We should also take peanut butter or nutella if we're partial to having such things on our toast at breakfast, or just for a snack because we may being to miss the familiarity of American food.
While the whole compound is fenced in, the area we will stay in and the kitchen we will eat in are separated from the main hospital buildings by a short walk and sheltered by a tree line. All the students will stay in the guest house that is intended for doctors or working volunteers that are staying less than six months. It is a house with a common room and I believe a small kitchen area, with rooms big enough for two people off the common room. As there are six rooms and only three of us visiting at a time, we have the option of each having our own room, but who knows how that will shake out. I will travel there with two other girls, and depending on the possible presence of large, scary spiders we may all end up in the same bed the first night. The common room, I'm told, serves as a sort of hang out area for all the doctors living in the building as well as the couple doctors that are staying longer and have therefore been given their own condo-size house for their stay.
There is a larger common area that I believe is between the male and female wards that serves as the place of staff meetings, the site for informational video showings for the patients and their families, and the site of Friday Night Movie Night for the staff. One of my jobs while I'm there is to help make a video that can be shown to locals about first aid. It has to be appropriate for the kinds of injuries the locals with have to deal with, use only the tools they would have available, and contain no written words as the majority of the population is illiterate. They also have asked me to help teach CPR to the nurses and make informational materials for the staff about CPR and First Aid. And I will regularly follow Dr. Eirdy on her rounds. So basically, they need Super Woman, and I'm going to do my best I guess! Haha!
Well, I wont ruin all the details for you! Ta for now!
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