This morning we all slept in and had a lazy Saturday morning. At about 9h00 or so the power came on, so I went over to the hospital with Dr. Erdi to see what surgery was happening. They had to C-sections, one for a patient that came in yesterday with labor pains, and just had trouble progressing, and the second was a referral from the government hospital, I believe because she was HIV+. Both were successful, and two big, healthy boys were born.
While we were there, one of the nurses shanghaied Dr. Erdi to put in an IV line for a particularly cubby eight-month-old. When the other nurses found out that Dr. Erdi was around and had set an IV line, another nurse scampered up and asked her to look at a little girl who wasn’t even admitted, but was just a friend’s child and wasn’t feeling well. This happens a lot to Dr. Erdi, so most of the time when she goes to the hospital on weekends she tries to hid and tells the nurses not to tell the others that she’s there.
When Dr. ABD came out of surgery, about seven children that were either his or a niece or nephew came in with breakfast for him, all dressed in their church cloths. Daniela, Dr. ABD’s youngest girl, came right up to me and sat on my lap and cuddled into my chest. I said hello, but she just looked at me and played with my arm, I think she was trying to pull off the ‘white’ and curling up the sleeve of my shirt, unrolling it, and rolling it again. When they left, I asked Dr. ABD what the dish he was eating was called, because it I didn’t recognize it and thought it was a very ethnic thing. He was so surprised that I didn’t know what it was, and told me it’s made in the U.S. He said it was called like boka or something starting with a “b,” and that it’s actually got pretty good nutritional value. Then Dr. Erdi told me that in the states, we use it as animal feed. There are aspects of life here that are just so outside the realm of what is normal back home that it’s too shocking for me to understand sometimes. In the U.S., we would turn our noses up at a dish like that, and Dr. ABD was chowing down on it.
After the C-sections, I went back to the house and hung out for most of the afternoon. Around 13h00 Dr. ABD’s kids got bored I guess and decided to come over and invade. All of a sudden I had about seven kids in my room, trying to see what I was doing and picking up all my stuff and poking at my computer screen. I quick put my things away and took my cards and got them into the sitting room, so that they wouldn’t go through my things. We played cards for a bit, and I’m not sure they even knew the rules of the game they were playing. After a little while they left, but came back about thirty minutes later. They just didn’t seem to understand the concept that this is a private house and the rooms are private, that you have to ask permission to go in and touch things. They were just going to doors and opening them, which really upset Clem because she’s very private about her room. Even when we got them into the sitting room and were playing with them, they would just wonder off and try different doors, so eventually we locked our doors. I am missing a small tube of anti-itch cream now, but I have another and it’s not a big deal, and I could have lost it somewhere else.
They left and came back a third time, and by then I was losing my patience for trying to keep them out of my room and from bending my cards in half. I was already in my room with Tanis, so when I heard them coming up the drive I closed and locked the door, and when they came to the door we pretended not to hear them. They ended up sitting with Clem and Elizabeth on the front porch, and they kept trying to take and touch all of Clem’s things. Clem got pretty upset and from her general demeanor toward their behavior gained the nickname ‘Tiger Mom.’ At one point Daniela took something of hers without permission and looked at it for about ten minutes then threw it on the ground. Clem told her that if she didn’t pick it up immediately and give it back that she would be running back to her mom crying, and all the kids laughed at her.
In the late afternoon, we helped David cut fruit and other veggies for the BBQ, and then I showered so I didn’t smell for our guests. We ended up having about thirty-five people or so, plus some staff, and there was more than enough food for everyone. We had pasta salad, fruit salad, fries and fried plantains, cake, fried rice, and we had a whole pig, killed fresh that morning and grilled up right there fresh. It was so nice, and everyone had a great time. So much good conversation and it was just a great way to relax and get away from the sadness that is an ever-present undertone of life at the hospital.
Around 22h30 Dr. Erdi got a call and ran off. Around 23h00 when we noticed that the big generator was on, we realized there was a surgery going on. Tanis and I went over to see what it was, because the last couple guests where already on their way out and Clem, Elizabeth, and Callum had gone into Magbenteh to party with the locals. The doors to the theatre were locked, so we couldn’t go in unfortunately.
When we got back to the compound, Callum stumbled in, escorted by a security guy who works here. He could hardly find his room, and didn’t have Clem and Elizabeth with him. The security guy told us they were safe, and because we knew him we were pretty they were fine. We got Callum into his room, and now I’m going to stay up for a bit, just to see that Elizabeth and Clem make it in okay!
This post is dedicated to the victims of a car accident that occurred late last night north of Makeni.
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