Yesterday we had our first full shift at the hospital. I was in Outpatient care again and it was insane! We saw 328 patients. I cannot imagine a nurse or midwife seeing that many in one day in the US. It was crazy. It is neat to compare the treatments to those I have seen when shadowing at the ER in Ft. Worth. For all infections, they basically prescribe 3 general antibiotics, which is way too much. They have no way of figuring out the specifics of the problem, so they have to take all 3. This can cause a ton of problems though, because after a few separate doses, the bacteria become immune to it and the problems get even worse! I guess they just do what they have to do. It's just going to take some time to understand the way they have to do it.
After work, we visited a local rural village about 30 minutes away. The most entertaining part was the cab drive. It was pretty much a huge van will TONS of decorations. They were all over the place-hanging from the ceiling, dashboard, and even the windshield! To add to the great decor, my bench seat wasn't even bolted to the floor so we lunged forward with every bump, needless to say the roads aren't paved and it rains all the time. After determining we were going to have to hold onto each other to survive, we drive up to this huge traffic jam where all the taxis are. It was madness! They were laying on their horns and trying to maneuver around each other coming within inches of the the other cars and of pedestrians. All we could do was laugh at the situation! Our driver stopped in the middle of the road at one point to get a drink from a local store and this man jumped in the car and tried to steal it while we were in it! It was hilarious! When we were driving, people would just start running next to the car and open the door and hitch a ride. This one pair of guys climbed the ladder in the back and sat on the roof! Definitely not like any cab drive we had ever experienced!
When we finally arrived at the village we explored a few areas and met a family of a guy that works for OCA. They were so welcoming and kind-just like most Gambians. We went on a little hike through the woods and it was BEAUTIFUL! This was exactly the Africa I was expecting- not the urban area we work in. The village was so peaceful and quaint. I LOVED IT! There was this one little boy (wearing an obama shirt like they all do) who pretty much sought me out. He spotted me as soon as I got out of the cab and wouldn't let go of my hand until we had to leave. It was adorable. I've never had kids so drawn to me in my whole life. He would hold my hand with both of his hands and just rub it on the side of his cheek. Its amazing how you can love a little kid you can't communicate with, have never met before, and will never see again. Speaking of kids- I finally got to hold Pamusa yesterday! He's the little boy at the lodge I mentioned in an earlier post. He cried the first time he saw me and now I'm holding him! I swear I would take him home if his mom would let me.
Today we worked a short 2 hours at the hospital. We are constantly invited to events and can't ever actually work! We were invited to participate in the world's nurses and midwives day! The highest level of most health employees here is a senior midwife so it's a huge deal to them. They had a parade with a band that went from Brikama Health Center to the Gambia College about 30 minutes away. Marching in the sun at 12 o'clock was really hot, but it was actually a lot of fun! When we got there, they had a long boring program we had to sleep through. Afterwards we were invited to lunch with the staff. We had benechin again (my favorite!) and had to all share one bowl. The first time we've had a full meal that way. I'm sure it won't be the last. We've spent the evening shopping at the market and relaxing. This African sun makes the days feel really long!
We had some big plans for the weekend so I am sure I will have a lot to talk about. Saturday we are working the National Blood Drive and they are having an official welcoming party for us at the hospital. We are constantly being celebrated for our work and as a result can't actually work! Afterwards, we have been invited to a graduation party at the compound next door. Ana, a friend of ours, has a daughter that is graduating 9th grade, so they are throwing a little party and want us to come. It should be fun and it's free food from the best cook around so we are definitely going to show up! That night we are supposed to have a dance party to learn more African dance- I'm very excited! We taught them the cupid shuffle and the dougie and they thought it was awesome! On Sunday we are finally headed to the beach! We'll see how "The Smiling Coast of Africa" can compare to the beaches on my resume :)
LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
A Ceremonious Affair
So today was our first day at the hospital. I started in the outpatient clinic which is really similar to the ER in the states. So needless to say, it was full of activity. I learned how to take a blood sample and determine if a patient has malaria and I got to do that twice today! I also learned that this is NOT a disease I ever want to get. It looks miserable! One of the kids was seizuring from it and the other could barely open her eyes or stand up. I will be bathing in bug spray for sure.
Our day ended shortly because we were asked to attend a traditional naming ceremony for a friend of ours that just had a baby. It is tradition for the baby to not be given a name for one week after birth. The naming ceremony is a very elaborate affair where the baby properly receives his/her name. We were astonished at how big of an event it was and were honored to be invited. It is as big as a wedding reception in some ways. To start, they shave the baby's head as part of a cleansing procedure. Then all of the men go to slaughter a goat as a symbol of the Muslim faith. Of course I opted out of this part. Next, the leader of the ceremonies leads prayer and worship which we obviously couldn't understand but it was a spectacle all in itself. The most annoying part is the griots. UH. They are old women who are legally allowed to beg for money. They basically push you over for coins. It was driving me crazy and I was definitely rude but whatever. The ceremony ends after all the men skin and cut all of the meat off the goat. And I mean EVERYTHING. They eat the stomach, lips, heart, and even the colon. After finding this out, we decided to get our own lunch! Overall it was a great cultural event to be a part of and I learned so much about the Gambian culture!
Love you and miss you all!!
Our day ended shortly because we were asked to attend a traditional naming ceremony for a friend of ours that just had a baby. It is tradition for the baby to not be given a name for one week after birth. The naming ceremony is a very elaborate affair where the baby properly receives his/her name. We were astonished at how big of an event it was and were honored to be invited. It is as big as a wedding reception in some ways. To start, they shave the baby's head as part of a cleansing procedure. Then all of the men go to slaughter a goat as a symbol of the Muslim faith. Of course I opted out of this part. Next, the leader of the ceremonies leads prayer and worship which we obviously couldn't understand but it was a spectacle all in itself. The most annoying part is the griots. UH. They are old women who are legally allowed to beg for money. They basically push you over for coins. It was driving me crazy and I was definitely rude but whatever. The ceremony ends after all the men skin and cut all of the meat off the goat. And I mean EVERYTHING. They eat the stomach, lips, heart, and even the colon. After finding this out, we decided to get our own lunch! Overall it was a great cultural event to be a part of and I learned so much about the Gambian culture!
Love you and miss you all!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CHELSEA!
So birthdays are a big deal here in Gambia and when I told our friends Kaba and Kamas about my sister's birthday they insisted that we compose a birthday tune for her in the tribal language Mandinka. So here it goes:
Wululung Juro C Ta (Happy Birthday to you)
Wululung Juro C Ta
Wululung Juro C Ta
Chelsea Laa Wululung Juro C Taaaa
Aba Sangi Jelu Sanii (How old is she now?)
Aba Sangi Jelu Sanii
Aba Sangi Jelu Saniiiiiii
Aba Muwang Anin Lulu Sani (She is older now)
Aba Muwang Anin Lulu Sani
Chelsea Ba ba Muwang Anin Lulu Sani (Chelsea is older now)
Alama C Mayala (May she live long life)
Alama Chelsea C Mayala ( May Chelsea live long life)
Fo Asa Kairaba Anin Jata Kendeya Soto (May she have peace, health, and happiness in her life)
I know it sounds a little funny but they were really proud of their work so I wanted to share it with everyone!
Love you big sis! Hope you had a perfect day and I can't wait to celebrate when I get back!
Wululung Juro C Ta (Happy Birthday to you)
Wululung Juro C Ta
Wululung Juro C Ta
Chelsea Laa Wululung Juro C Taaaa
Aba Sangi Jelu Sanii (How old is she now?)
Aba Sangi Jelu Sanii
Aba Sangi Jelu Saniiiiiii
Aba Muwang Anin Lulu Sani (She is older now)
Aba Muwang Anin Lulu Sani
Chelsea Ba ba Muwang Anin Lulu Sani (Chelsea is older now)
Alama C Mayala (May she live long life)
Alama Chelsea C Mayala ( May Chelsea live long life)
Fo Asa Kairaba Anin Jata Kendeya Soto (May she have peace, health, and happiness in her life)
I know it sounds a little funny but they were really proud of their work so I wanted to share it with everyone!
Love you big sis! Hope you had a perfect day and I can't wait to celebrate when I get back!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
TOBABS
Greetings from Gambia!
I haven't been able to post as much as I would like, but finally found an internet cafe that has fast enough connection. We arrived in Brikama early thursday morning and were warmly greeted by all of the lodge staff. The accommodations are fantastic! We each share rooms with one other person and have our own bathroom and shower. Its almost like a hotel which is definitely not what I was expecting! The staff have become some of our very best friends and we go everywhere with them!
We had an orientation at the hospital and got to meet everyone involved and tour the facility. My initial thoughts were a concern for the cleanliness. Not so much personal sanitation but more about the facility itself. It really is amazing how much they can do with such little supplies and funding though. The biggest part of the facility is the maternity ward. They have about 15 deliveries a day! Yesterday we went there to assist in National Cleaning Day which the president announces every month on the last saturday. We helped clean the ward which is way more disgusting than you want to hear! As we were putting the room back together, there was a woman about to go into labor so of course we couldn't pull ourselves away! I got to hold her hand as she delivered and got a front row seat to my first birth! The differences are incredible. First of all, no one is allowed with the woman in the room, so the father is not present and they aren't allowed to visit until after the woman is moved to a more permanent room. Secondly, the room is shared with nine beds and no dividers so at the time there were 4 women laboring in the same room at the same time. They also use no pain meds and its incredible that they make almost no noise at all! It really makes me wonder how much culture affects how vocal women are. The next birth we saw was a little more difficult to watch. It was the woman's first birth and the baby was stuck in the birth canal so they were worried about the baby going into distress. After using several extremely painful techniques (such as slamming down on her stomach!) they made a makeshift vacuum and pulled the baby out. Needless to say it was hard to watch but interesting in a medical standpoint.
The people here are wonderful! I just can't get enough of the kids! They call us tobabs which means white person! It seems offensive but its actually their way of admiring us? or so they tell us! When we walk a mile to work we probably hear it a hundred times- not exaggerating! They run to us wanting to rub our skin and hair and just keep saying it over and over! Its really adorable. As I sit, there is a little girl sitting on the ground looking at us and saying it over and over. very cute! Yesterday these two kids got into a fist fight about who was going to hold my hand. We got out the bubbles last night and it was like christmas to them. I swear they could have been entertained for hours. There is one little boy named Pamusa that is the child of a lady that works at the lodge. At first he cried every time he saw me because he had never seen a white person before. Its hard to get used to the idea that we are the special ones because of something we never even notice.
The food has actually been really great surprisingly. My favorite dish is called benechin and its like a fried rice with barracuda dish. SO GOOD! We also like a dish called domodou which is cous cous (type of potato rice) with fish meatballs and a type of peanut. The way they eat with very different. They all crowd around one huge bowl and eat with their fingers. so gross i know! Thankfully we get our own plate. I tried to send a picture of us eating with them out of the bowl today but couldn't get it to send. We have found some weird meat though. Olivia, a girl in our group, decided to buy a kabob at the market that smelled so good. Later we found out it was goat heart. so glad I didn't try it. Today we had a mixture of beef and goat liver in our benechin. Thankfully I didn't get any and didn't know. Overall, I'm surviving on Gambian food better than I thought I would. The absolute best thing are cous cous pancakes. Mom would LOVE them! Its a fried baseball sized banana flavored pancake. I can't get enough of them.
Everything has been going great for the most part! We are still trying to adjust to the heat but it seems to be getting better. Every other night we don't have electricity so nights without fans are rough. Yesterday marked the beginning of the rainy season and the weather cooled off tremendously! We couldn't have been happier! The one drawback to the rainy season is more bugs. BIG ones. Yesterday we had to eat on the ground because our table was covered with them, every square inch. They said they will go away after the second rain in a row so only one more night.
We each have our own Gambian name and I was given Isa, pronounced Ice-uh. It is unbelievable how fast we seem to fit in and feel at home. I love Gambia so far but miss you very much!
LOVE YOU!
Morgan, or Isa :)
I haven't been able to post as much as I would like, but finally found an internet cafe that has fast enough connection. We arrived in Brikama early thursday morning and were warmly greeted by all of the lodge staff. The accommodations are fantastic! We each share rooms with one other person and have our own bathroom and shower. Its almost like a hotel which is definitely not what I was expecting! The staff have become some of our very best friends and we go everywhere with them!
We had an orientation at the hospital and got to meet everyone involved and tour the facility. My initial thoughts were a concern for the cleanliness. Not so much personal sanitation but more about the facility itself. It really is amazing how much they can do with such little supplies and funding though. The biggest part of the facility is the maternity ward. They have about 15 deliveries a day! Yesterday we went there to assist in National Cleaning Day which the president announces every month on the last saturday. We helped clean the ward which is way more disgusting than you want to hear! As we were putting the room back together, there was a woman about to go into labor so of course we couldn't pull ourselves away! I got to hold her hand as she delivered and got a front row seat to my first birth! The differences are incredible. First of all, no one is allowed with the woman in the room, so the father is not present and they aren't allowed to visit until after the woman is moved to a more permanent room. Secondly, the room is shared with nine beds and no dividers so at the time there were 4 women laboring in the same room at the same time. They also use no pain meds and its incredible that they make almost no noise at all! It really makes me wonder how much culture affects how vocal women are. The next birth we saw was a little more difficult to watch. It was the woman's first birth and the baby was stuck in the birth canal so they were worried about the baby going into distress. After using several extremely painful techniques (such as slamming down on her stomach!) they made a makeshift vacuum and pulled the baby out. Needless to say it was hard to watch but interesting in a medical standpoint.
The people here are wonderful! I just can't get enough of the kids! They call us tobabs which means white person! It seems offensive but its actually their way of admiring us? or so they tell us! When we walk a mile to work we probably hear it a hundred times- not exaggerating! They run to us wanting to rub our skin and hair and just keep saying it over and over! Its really adorable. As I sit, there is a little girl sitting on the ground looking at us and saying it over and over. very cute! Yesterday these two kids got into a fist fight about who was going to hold my hand. We got out the bubbles last night and it was like christmas to them. I swear they could have been entertained for hours. There is one little boy named Pamusa that is the child of a lady that works at the lodge. At first he cried every time he saw me because he had never seen a white person before. Its hard to get used to the idea that we are the special ones because of something we never even notice.
The food has actually been really great surprisingly. My favorite dish is called benechin and its like a fried rice with barracuda dish. SO GOOD! We also like a dish called domodou which is cous cous (type of potato rice) with fish meatballs and a type of peanut. The way they eat with very different. They all crowd around one huge bowl and eat with their fingers. so gross i know! Thankfully we get our own plate. I tried to send a picture of us eating with them out of the bowl today but couldn't get it to send. We have found some weird meat though. Olivia, a girl in our group, decided to buy a kabob at the market that smelled so good. Later we found out it was goat heart. so glad I didn't try it. Today we had a mixture of beef and goat liver in our benechin. Thankfully I didn't get any and didn't know. Overall, I'm surviving on Gambian food better than I thought I would. The absolute best thing are cous cous pancakes. Mom would LOVE them! Its a fried baseball sized banana flavored pancake. I can't get enough of them.
Everything has been going great for the most part! We are still trying to adjust to the heat but it seems to be getting better. Every other night we don't have electricity so nights without fans are rough. Yesterday marked the beginning of the rainy season and the weather cooled off tremendously! We couldn't have been happier! The one drawback to the rainy season is more bugs. BIG ones. Yesterday we had to eat on the ground because our table was covered with them, every square inch. They said they will go away after the second rain in a row so only one more night.
We each have our own Gambian name and I was given Isa, pronounced Ice-uh. It is unbelievable how fast we seem to fit in and feel at home. I love Gambia so far but miss you very much!
LOVE YOU!
Morgan, or Isa :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Ready to get there!
So today was our last day of orientation and it's been a busy/information filled couple of days! I have learned more about what we're going to be doing. We are going to be rotating shifts at Brikama Health Center (BHC) in Brikama, Gambia. Some of these shifts will include the overnight shift (which will undoubtedly be interesting). We will also be traveling with BHC's mobile unit to remote villages to provide home health care. The hospital serves around 20,000 so I don't imagine we will ever find ourselves sitting around on the job.
The part of the trip I am probably most anxious about is the living conditions and food! Alieu (a native Gambian and OCA employee) was telling us about some of the dishes today. One sounded like rice stir fry but the other is a peanut butter soup! Sounds interesting to say the least! He said it's always a favorite among crossroaders so maybe I'll be cooking it when I get back! The living condition description is still pretty vague. We are staying in a "lodge" near the hospital, but who knows what lodge in Gambia means. We have decided the theme to this trip is "we'll see" because it seems like that is all we say when talking about what to expect!
We are spending our last night of orientation touring NYC so I am looking forward to sightseeing a little tonight! It has been a great experience getting to know all of the other crossroaders that are going on the various trips! It's been fun for all of us to get excited together! For now, I am Anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning at 5:45! I cannot wait to see how this adventure will change my life!
Looking forward to keeping you all updated!
Min tian jian! (goodbye for now in mandinka)
The part of the trip I am probably most anxious about is the living conditions and food! Alieu (a native Gambian and OCA employee) was telling us about some of the dishes today. One sounded like rice stir fry but the other is a peanut butter soup! Sounds interesting to say the least! He said it's always a favorite among crossroaders so maybe I'll be cooking it when I get back! The living condition description is still pretty vague. We are staying in a "lodge" near the hospital, but who knows what lodge in Gambia means. We have decided the theme to this trip is "we'll see" because it seems like that is all we say when talking about what to expect!
We are spending our last night of orientation touring NYC so I am looking forward to sightseeing a little tonight! It has been a great experience getting to know all of the other crossroaders that are going on the various trips! It's been fun for all of us to get excited together! For now, I am Anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning at 5:45! I cannot wait to see how this adventure will change my life!
Looking forward to keeping you all updated!
Min tian jian! (goodbye for now in mandinka)
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Challenge number one!
Well today was the long awaited day! I left for New York at 2:05 and arrived here at 6:55. I met up with Chad and everything was going just as planned. We hopped off the plane and picked up some dinner (my last McDonalds for 2 months) before getting our bags and a taxi. When we finally got to the baggage claim, our bags had been taken off the belt so we had to search for it in the lost & found. That's when I saw it. A giant tear covering half the length of my duffle! My clothes were hanging out! The American Airlines employee taped it shut the best he could, but it was obvious I needed a new bag. Long story short- the airlines replaces my bag with a newer, unripped, (and heavier- yikes) bag. Two hours later, I'm checked into my room and ready for the trip to begin! Hopefully this will be my only case of bad luck! Challenge number one averted!
Miss everyone already!
Miss everyone already!
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