So here I am

On a chair provided to me by a nice guy who is a salesman at a local street shop. So here I am, looking at the traffic and the people going by. I am in Magburaka waiting for my driver to turn on his cell phone so I can call him and tell him to come and pick me up so I can get back to Masanga. I have been to a meeting with the DHN (District Health Nurse), went for a stroll at the marked afterwards and spend a while on an internet café. It is actually quite nice sitting here observing, people are as usual friendly, forthcoming, and eager to speak with you. At the marked I ran into a man that recognized me. I meet him at the surgical ward at Masanga Hospital where his father was admitted with a huge wound on his foot. The father died shortly after I saw him, probably because he refused feed for a long time so literally he was no more than skin and bones.

I have rented a bike from the local bike shop, so now I get around a little faster than usual. It is not a very good bike but it works, it is red, and it even has two gears :) I have missed biking so it is nice to have one again.

Pure luxury

A couple of weeks ago some of us went on a trip to a big dam near the town Bombuna. The dam has been under construction for a long time because the war slowed down the process. But now it is finished and it produces power for Freetown. The capacity is 50 MWat but it only produces 18 MWat which is what Freetown uses, this is because many people still have generators and because the power still is somewhat unstable. I was actually there once before, which is the reason why I decided to spend my afternoon by the pool with a good book while the others went to take a look at the dam. We were invited to stay for the night so we got each a room with power, air-conditioning, and warm and cold water. You could even put the paper in the toilet and the flush actually worked! Everything was for free even food and drinks. While I was writing this I sat by the pool with the most spectacular view over beautiful green mountains all the way around and behind my char was a mango tree.

The other night we heard news about a magician coming to the village. The main trick was to revive a dead man! We simply had to see that. It took place at the community center in Masanga village and there was already a party with a DJ playing way too loud African music as we arrived. The party took as always place outside the room with the loud music, probably because of the entrance fee of 1000 Le, and out there the music was actually ok. The children were already skilled dancers; at an age down to 6-7 years or perhaps younger they tweaked and turned their lower bodies in a way that to me seemed much too sexual for their age. But I guess that is just the way they dance here… The trick finally started, after multiple encouragements from our side and just as many “last chance to enter, we start right right now!” it was a show of patience from our side. During 45 minutes two men sat next to a third man who was covered in a large rough blanket. The two men held a piece of the blanket in each hand tugging it continuously. Afterwards the magician crawled in under the blanket and five minutes later the blanket was removed and the man was “dead” with “blood” on his neck. It was though a little hard not to look at his belly that went nicely up and down as if he were breathing… After having threatened the women spectators to give more money if they should not wake up in the night bleeding, the “dead” man was carried out. THAT was my cue to leave as I nearly fell asleep!

Today I attended my first labor case. It was exciting and everything went fine, even though the umbilical cord was around the baby’s neck when it came out. Afterwards I was handed the baby to dry and wrap in a lappa (a piece of fabric). It was a fine little girl who immediately was named Zainab Konteh.

Tonight I finally got to the third kind of animal I have had in my room and which I really do not welcome. A mouse started nesting in my desk drawer where it ate my papers and the drawer itself! I already tried to bring a dog to my room during the night, but that didn´t help much as it only growled at the mouse but took no action… Then tonight the mouse did something very stupid; it went down the bag in my bin, luckily I was up because it made so much noise, so I quickly grabbed and closed the bag and then I squeezed! Perhaps a bit disgusting now that I come to think about it, but I was just so annoyed with the mouse and afraid that is would escape the bag if I did not do something quickly!

So long for now.

Se pictures in the Danish version of todays blog post.

Så sidder man der

På en stol venligst udlånt af en sælger fra en lille gadebutik. Så sidder man her og kigger ud på trafikken og menneskene. Jeg er i Magburaka og venter på at min chauffør, der har kørt mig herind, tænder sin mobil, så jeg kan ringe til ham og sige at han skal hente mig. Jeg har været til møde med DHN (district health nurse) og gik bagefter en tur på markedet og brugte også lidt tid på en internetcafé. Her er nu meget hyggeligt og folk er som altid venlige, imødekommende og snakkesaglige. På markedet stødte jeg ind i en mand der genkendte mig. Jeg havde mødt ham på kirurgisk afdeling på Masanga Hospital, hvor hans far var indlagt med et kæmpe sår på sin fod. Faren døde ikke ret lang tid efter jeg så ham, nok fordi han havde nægtet at spise i lang tid, og derfor kun var skind og ben.

Jeg har lejet en cykel i den lokale bike shop, så nu kommer jeg omkring lidt hurtigere end sædvanligt. Det er ikke nogen specielt god cykel, men den virker, den er rød og har tilmed hele to gear :) Jeg har savnet at cykle, så det er rart at have en igen.

Ren luksus!

For et par uger siden tog vi en tur til en stor dæmning der ligger ved byen Bombuna. Dæmningen har været under opførsel længe pga. at krigen har forsinket det hele. Men nu er den færdig og producerer strøm til Freetown. Den har en kapacitet på 50 Mwat men leverer kun 18 Mwat, da Freetown ikke aftager mere fordi så mange stadig har generatorer og fordi strømmen er ret utilregnelig ind til videre. Jeg har faktisk været der en gang før, derfor valgte jeg også at bruge eftermiddagen på at hygge mig ved poolen med en bog mens de andre kørte af sted for at se nærmere på dæmningen. Vi blev inviteret til en overnatning og det var bare ren luksus. Vi fik hver et værelse med aircondition, strøm og varmt og koldt vand. Man skulle endda smide papiret i toilettet og det kunne skylle ud når man trykkede på knappen! Alt var gratis selv mad og drikke. Mens jeg skrev dette sad jeg ved poolen og havde den mest fantastiske udsigt over de grønne bjerge hele vejen rundt og lige bag liggestolen var der et mangotræ.

Den anden aften havde vi fået nyheden om at der var kommet en magiker til byen. Hovednummeret var at, han skulle vække en død mand til live. Det måtte vi simpelthen se. Det foregik på community center i Masanga village og der var godt gang i DJ-en og den alt for høje Afrika-musik da vi kom. Festen foregik, som altid, udenfor selve lokalet med den høje musik, sikkert pga. entréen på 1000 Le, og derude var musikken faktisk tilpas. Børnene var allerede trænede dansere, helt ned til 6-7 års alderen blev der vrigget rytmefast med underkroppen på en, for mig, temmelig seksuel facon, men sådan danser man nok bare... Da nummeret endelig gik igang, efter utallige opfordringer fra vores side og lige så mange ”last chance to enter, we start right right now”, var det en opvisning i tålmodighed. I tre kvarter sad to mænd på hug over en tredje mand der havde fået et stort groft tæppe smidt over sig. De sad med stykker af tæppet i hver hånd, som de så sad og blafrede med, hele tiden! Herefter kravlede tryllekunstneren ind under tæppet og ca 5 min. senere blev tæppet trukket væk og manden var nu ”død” med ”blod” på halsen. Det var dog svært ikke at kigge på hans mave der løftede og sænkede sig mistænkeligt som om han trak vejret... Efter at have truet nogle flere penge ud af de lokale kvinder (noget med at de skulle betale hvis de ikke også ville bløde), blev manden båret ud. DET var mit stikord til også at gå, for jeg var lige ved at falde i søvn.

I dag var jeg med til min første fødsel. Det var spændende og heldigvis gik det fint selvom navlestrengen var omkring halsen på barnet da det kom ud. Bagefter fik jeg barnet så jeg kunne tørre det og svøbe det i en lappa (et stykke stof). Det blev en fin lille pige der med det samme fik navnet Zainab Konteh.

I nat fik jeg endelig ram på et tredje husdyr som jeg bestemt ikke synes er velkomment. En mus var begyndt at lave rede i min skrivebordsskuffe, hvor den åd mine papirer og selve skuffen! Jeg har allerede prøvet at have en hund med mig ind på værelset om natten, men den var ikke meget bevendt, da det eneste den gjorde var at knurre af musen... Men i nat gjorde musen noget meget dumt, den kravlede ned i min skraldepose og jeg var heldigvis stået op fordi den larmede, så jeg skyndte mig at lukke posen og så kvaste jeg den ellers! Måske en anelse klamt nu hvor jeg tænker over det, men jeg var bare blevet så træt af den mus og jeg var bange for at den ville gnave sig ud af posen hvis jeg ikke var hurtig.

Nå men tak for denne gang! Vi skrives ved.

Tæt på!

Tæt på :)

Så er projektbekrivelsen til det nye projekt ”Health Promotion in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone” færdig! Maja er rejst hjem til Danmark og har taget den med, så gruppen derhjemme kan få sendt ansøgninger afsted så vi kan få rejst nogle penge til projektet.

Til de uindviede kan jeg fortælle, at der er flere foskellige ting jeg er involveret i hernede. Først og fremmest er der det ovennævnte projekt, som i store træk går ud på at undervise forskelligt sundhedspersonale både på Masanga Hospital og på perifere sundhedsklinikker i Tonkolili-distriktet, som Masanga ligger i. Det betyder at jeg har (eller får, når det kommer rigtigt igang) en omskiftelig hverdag, hvor jeg nogle dage går stuegang på hospitalets forskellige afdelinger, nogle dage underviser jeg på Nurse Aid-skolen og andre dage kører jeg ud til små landsbyer og underviser der.

Derudover er jeg involveret i øjenklinikken, hvor jeg hjælper Alfred med at køre på outreach (igen ud til landsbyer i nærheden) for at screene patienter til operation katarakt (grå stær). Alfred styrer øjenklinikken til hverdag, hvor han måler synsstyrke og deler gratis (genbrugs-) briller ud når der er behov, han behandler også mindre øjenproblemer som f.eks. infektioner. Alfred laver ikke selv operationer, så de patienter vi finder på screeningen bliver bedt op at møde op et par uger efter, hvor der kommer et team fra Freetown, der udfører operationerne. Ind til videre er operationerne gratis, da teamet har fået doneret nogle penge til at lave gratis operationer for, så de allerfattigste også har en chance for at få synet igen. Jeg var med ude på sådan en outreach for nylig, og det var en rigtig god og spændende oplevelse, hvor jeg og Marieke (hende der er sammen med mig på vores projekt hernede) skulle interviewe patienterne før Alfred testede deres syn.

Den sidste ting jeg har fingrene i, er at undervise og teste de Nurse Aids, der allerede er ansat på Masanga Hospital, så de kan udføre deres arbejde på bedste vis. Vi kalder det Quality Control.

For nyligt hentede jeg mit andet stykke tøj fra en af de tre skræddere i byen. Det første var et par lange bukser og denne gang var det en kopi af en nederdel jeg har med herned. Jeg køber stof (selvfølgelig i fine farver og mange mønstre) på markedet i Magburaka (ca. en halv time i bil fra Masanga) eller i Makeni (en time væk). Bukserne er løse, baggy og med elastik i taljen og ved anklerne, de er skønne om aftenen eller morgenen når man ikke vil stikkes af myg. Nederdelen er rigtig fint lavet og en tro kopi (bortset fra farven og stoffet selvfølgelig) af den originale. Jeg har også bestilt en buksedragt, en halternecktop og et par knickers, der ligestraks er færdige.

Vi er nu et helt nyt hold frivillige hernede, hvor dem der lige har været her i seks måneder er taget hjem og nye er kommet til. Vi er i alt 12 frivillige på hoslet hvor jeg bor, og det er nogle søde mennesker alle sammen :)

Kram fra Anne.

So close

So close :)

Finally the project description for the new project  ”Health Promotion in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone” is done! Maja has gone home to Denmark and has brought it home so the group in Denmark can use it to raise funds for the project.

For those who don´t know, I can tell that I am involved with multiple projects here in Masanga. First there is the project mentioned above which mainly is about teaching staff at Masanga hospital and at the Periphery Health Units in villages in Tonkolili district where Masanga is. This means that I have (or will have, when the project starts for real in the beginning of March) a changing schedule, some days I´ll do the rounds with the staff on the different wards, some days I´ll teach at the Nurse Aid school and some days I´ll go on outreach to the villages in the district and teach the staff at the clinics there.

Besides that I am involved with the Eye Clinic where I assist Alfred on his outreach to screen for cataract patients. Alfred runs the Eye Clinic on the daily basis, where he measures his patient’s vision and hands out (second hand) glasses if necessary. He also treats minor eye problems for example infections. Alfred does not do the cataract operations himself, so the patients we find on the outreach are asked to come to the clinic (or we fetch them with our car) a couple of weeks later. At that time a team from Freetown comes to perform the operations. For now the operations are free of charge for the patients because the team has been given funds to do these operations. We only help the very poor people that cannot afford to pay for the operation themselves at another hospital. I was on one of these outreaches recently and it was a very good and exciting experience. Marieke (the other medical student who is here together with me) interviewed the patients before Alfred did some tests.

The last thing that I am involved with is teaching the Nurse Aides that are already employed at Masanga Hospital, so they can do their job in the best possible way. We call this quality control.

Recently I picked up my second piece of clothes from one of the three tailors in Masanga Village. The first piece was a pair of long trousers and this time it was a perfect copy of a skirt I have brought from home. I buy the fabric (of course in many fine colors and patterns) at markets in Magburaka (half an hour drive from Masanga) or in Makeni (one hour drive from Masanga). The trousers are loose and baggy with elastics in the waist and at the ankles. They are very comfortable and practical in the evenings and the mornings when the mosquito bites. The skirt is really nicely done and a perfect copy (except from the color and fabric of course) of the original. I have already ordered three more items that will soon be done.

We are now a new team of volunteers in Masanga. Those that were here the past six months have now gone home and all the new ones have arrived. Totally we are 12 volunteers at the hostel where I live and they are all really nice so I am sure we are going to have a nice time together everyone J

Hugs from Anne.