Little Big Life

Every morning I walk to work, unless it is raining. Because in Sierra Leone it doesn’t merely ‘rain’ so much as it ‘colossally downpours’. It is roughly a 15 minute stroll to the hospital and there is plenty to see along the way for people-watching and taking in the sights of a typical day.

There are the school children in all different styles and colors of school uniform, smiling shyly and not-so-subtly staring at me, the white person 😆. There are the large construction trucks with waaaaay too many people crowded into/on top of them, spilling off the sides and backs, honking wildly as they pass. There are women selling many different things, motorbikes coming and going (the people’s primary taxi choice), and my favorite are the vans (poda-podas), cars or small cart-like vehicles (okadas) with the most random quotes and sayings painted boldly across the front. Most are religious based and some are a bit delightfully odd: “To be a Man,” and “Allah is Lion,” are a couple examples. Perhaps my favorite thing I have seen thus far, is a yellow taxi with netting on the front hood and a large brightly-colored beach ball in the netting lol. Um Ok? As I said, there is usually lots to see on my walks to and from the hospital. I also did see the proverbial chicken crossing the road. Yes, watching the pretty, dainty white hen cross the road to the other side whilst dodging Sierra Leonne traffic was enough to make my heart skip a few beats and enough excitement for one day (chickens and hens have free range here and wander about).

During one of my first walks to work, I noticed I was getting several somewhat disapproving and annoyed looks from people. I can’t say they were looking directly at me but more in a subtle, roundabout sort of way, almost as if they were looking around, behind, very near to me and then eventually at me. Hmmm, I thought to myself. Enough people looked at me in that way enough times that I began feeling slightly anxious. Perhaps I had offended someone though I didn’t have any ideas on what I may have done. Dressed a certain way I shouldn’t have? Done a gesture that was offensive? I could sense something was up and I began feeling very anxious about it. I continued my walk tense, nervous, and generally having no clue what was going on, a feeling I hate. Well, not necessarily that feeling per say (because living in a foreign country at the moment, the unknown is my status quo mental state). It is  more the feeling of inadequacy and stupidity that comes from not knowing. But also the unknown, too. Ah, anxiety 😐.

In the mornings, there are often many, many people (especially women and children) sitting outside the hospital gate waiting for it to open. I arrived at the hospital on this particular day and the large crowd of people obviously reacted to my arrival. The adults were begrudgingly smiling and the children, several small ones in particular, were practically jumping up and down shouting with glee & grabbing towards me while their parents held onto their diapers to keep them close. All of a sudden, into this attentive riled-up crowd marched (well, more like ran amok) Smile himself! He is one of our house dogs we adopted from the streets before I had even arrived here. Ah!! Smile had followed me to work! That would explain the looks I was getting as Sierra Leone isn’t necessarily a pet-centric culture and they probably thought the dog was being a nuisance by following me.

Hello all. Well, it is definitely time I sat down and committed some time to writing a little bit more about my experience here in Sierra Leone (or Salon, as it is also called in Krio, one of the most common native languages that are spoken here). I have experienced a monumental amount in the roughly 7 weeks I have been here. I have had a very busy schedule and hectic workload, but I am still committed to writing a blog post every month. I have posted a few things regarding my time here on Facebook so this is just a little more detail for those who may be curious. Thus, here is a short summary for those who are wondering about the type of work I am doing here. And now that I have a sort of “routine” down, hopefully I can find time to post more consistently. So, here goes:

EMERGENCY hospital is an NGO that provides free healthcare to victims of war in different areas of the world. Here in Sierra Leone, I work at a surgical hospital. Mostly, we treat serious traumatic, orthopedic injuries (like open femur fractures, i.e. bones sticking out) and surgical emergencies related to the abdomen (ruptured appendixes, perforated abdomens related to typhoid fever, and obstructed hernias). Stabbings, blunt traumas, horrible car accidents and head injuries are very common for the hospital too. We also treat burns (unfortunately, much too common for children here) and we have the only program in the country that treats esophageal injuries. Basically, this is a poor country. To make extra money, many families make soap to sell. One ingredient used in soap-making is a clear, odorless and tasteless caustic chemical substance. If it is left laying around in bottles or jars, it looks like water, thus many kids mistakenly drink it and their esophagus is burned and damaged, usually for life. I help manage this “caustic soda” program as these are very ill patients with chronic health problems. They need continued esophagus dilations (every month or every few months), gastrostomy tube placements and specialized, highly nutritious foods for the tube feedings, since many of them cannot eat by mouth after ingesting the caustic soda.

We treat adults and children. I work in the Emergency Department, doing patient care right alongside the Sierra Leone nurses and doctors. I have many duties in the ER, but the ultimate goal and task is to teach and learn from each other as we work alongside one another. Along with my other international colleagues (they are from U.S., U.K., Serbia, Italy, etc.), I am responsible for managing the bed situation in the hospital (i.e. who needs admission & what ward they should go to; really, this is a very big juggling act as the hospital is usually either completely full or very near full capacity). I am on call every 3rd night and 3rd Sunday, which often means either staying at the hospital very late and/or going into the hospital multiple times in the night to manage new admissions. Days off are very few and far between. As you can imagine, the Emergency Department for a hospital that provides free high-quality care and literally everything else for free (including food, prescription medicines, and either months or years of follow-up care), is very busy. The days are long but full and interesting.

I also oversee the hospital’s dressing room (i.e. the wound care department), plaster room (i.e. where all the casts are applied and all the follow-up for fractures is done). The hospital also has 2 “Guest Houses” (male and female), a dorm-like area for patients who are discharged but still need follow-up care and live much too far away (in the “Provinces” which are rural, isolated villages) to return consistently. I am responsible for the Guest Houses as well.

So that’s my job in a nutshell. My days are framed by a very early morning call to prayer that is broadcast over speakers from the Muslim mosque (before sunrise when I am already awake getting ready for work). And the end of the day is marked by a sunset and hundreds and hundreds of bats flying back to wherever it is that they go. Really, both things are quite beautiful and so unique compared to anything I’ve experienced back home. I don’t know why I like the silly bats so much. I think it’s because it’s such a dichotomy: the mysterious, clandestine “creatures of the night” making a very dramatic & brilliant showing against the remaining sunlight and still-bright cloud filled sky. I never saw bats in the U.S. and if I did I certainly never saw them like this. Friends and family, I think for now, that is how I will summarize the last few weeks here lol.

I never saw X in the U.S. and if I did, I never saw X like this.