Wow….what a week! Not only has the temperature remained at a constant, sweltering, 105 degrees, but the humidity has risen more than 200% in preparation for the rainy season and it is HOT!!! It’s so unbearably hot that I tend to do nothing in the afternoon but lie around in my sweat-soaked clothes and dream of cool weather. When the wind is kind enough to deem us worthy of a soft breeze every few hours I begin to understand the concept behind polytheism and cannot fathom and god more worthy of worshiping than the god who controls the winds.
Haha….but I am somehow handling it…although I wouldn’t say very well. That all being said, we did have quite the amazing week this week at the clinic and in our health education groups. Our mother’s and babies group this week was quite the educational course, Maureen (the volunteer nurse), Jess and I each gave separate lessons on various health education topics which included games and demonstrations and all sorts of fun! The women loved the games we played and seemed very interested in the topics we covered (nutrition, dehydration and how to make oral rehydration solution, and breast care and signs and symptoms of breast cancer). We are becoming close to them, especially the ones who speak a bit of English, and they have invited us to their compounds for a traditional Gambian meal and a drama next Monday nite. We are also having dinner at the health worker, Awa’s, compound on Sunday and spending the day with her. It’s very nice to start feeling so accepted by the villagers that they are inviting us into their homes and showing us their lives.
On Tuesday night we went out to the ‘futbol pitch’ to play a game of soccer with the boys of the village. It was great fun! Afterwards we held an education class with them about sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS, prevention, testing, and signs and symptoms. I’ve never seen a more captivated, interested crowd in my life!! They had so many questions, were enthralled by the book of pictures that we showed them, and thanked us profusely, asking us to please come again and again to teach them, saying that they had never heard of any of this before and were so excited to learn about it! Think about how scary it is for these guys when they contract an sti…never having heard of any of this and having no idea what’s wrong with them!! And they were all very excited about condoms and using them! Which is so great to see. I thought that maybe they would refuse to use them or think them weird…but that was not the reception we got at all….they all wanted handfuls of condoms and asked how they could keep getting them when the supplies ran out!!
The clinic this week was quite busy as I believe there may be some kind of stomach bug going around and many babies have come in with vomiting and diarrhea. Oh….speaking of stomach bug….it was only a matter of time right?! I got VERY ill on Sunday…possible food poisoning that I got from picking up a sandwich at a street vender on our way home last Sunday. It was miserable!! I was vomiting from both ends all night Sunday. So weak I could barely move, and couldn’t even get out of bed to make it to the bathroom! Luckily, as my fellow travellers know, the terrible, deathly illness, leaves after about 24 hours of hell and I spent the rest of the week slowly recovering, drinking lots of water and eating bits of food until I was well again. But I have been back in full force the past 2 days, which has felt great!!
So….back to the clinic. This week was kinda crazy bc the guy who runs the clinic felt that it was appropriate to leave the clinic wed, thurs, and fri morning in MY hands when he popped off to a meeting here of there (Jess was ill and so still in bed). So….here I am in the Gambia, after only 1 year of medical school, and I am completely responsible for the health and the well being of every sick villager who comes in! talk about scary!! Luckily I am armed with a few good strong books (mainly…where there is no doctor, great book!). so every time a patient came in, I would asses their problems, listen to their chest, take their temperature and then frantically search through my books to see what drug I should dispense for the illness I thought they may have!! It was a pretty intense, humbling, scary experience….I hope that I did an okay job and that people will get better! I made sure to tell them all to come back in 3 days if they weren’t improving…so we will see! One baby had a very nasty eye infection with her eye completely swollen shut. I had to pry it open to apply an eye antibiotic and then force her to take medication while her mom held her. Let me tell you…being a doctor is a scary thing!! Especially when you pretty much have no idea what you are doing and very little resources to work with!! One elderly woman with a history of CHF (congestive heart failure) who I think may have had an MI (myocardial infarction/heart attack) the previous day. She was having pain in her chest radiating to her arms, and numbness in her fingers. I sent her straight away via ambulance to the hospital in Gunjar. And a pregnant woman who I think I calculated to be 38 weeks along, and was having massive pain in her lower abdomen and her blood pressure had risen 22 points above normal. Did I mention that this is scary??!
One thing that was really hard for me this week was a 3 year old boy who came in with nasty cuts all over his back, stomach, legs and arms from being beaten with a stick from his father. Some of the wounds were fresh, but there were plenty of other wounds that were starting to heal and still others that had formed scars. It was so sad to hold this tiny boy and clean and dress his wounds and send him home, knowing that this will just keep happening to him again and again and there’s nothing I can do about it. I was trying not to cry as I cleaned the boy’s soars and he looked up at me with pain and fear in his eyes. It literally broke my heart. I wanted to find out who is father is and go over there and give him a beating of my own!! Pick on someone your own size!! It’s ridiculous what he’s doing to this tiny little boy and I felt so helpless not being able to do anything to help him. He’s come in every day to get new dressings and I have spent much time holding him and hugging him and trying to make him feel loved. I don’t know what else to do….it’s the worst feeling.
On Wednesday we had our girls group for the girls about 8-15 who spend their days caring for the babies of the village. The point of the group is just to let the girls be kids for one day. We played all sorts of silly games like musical chairs (where I had to bang on an old broken xylophone-toy to make the ‘music’), follow the leader, duck-duck-goose and all sorts of other silly games! I had the best time acting like a kid with these girls and really felt quite a bond with them. They are such sweet girls and it was great to have them out laughing and being so carefree when I know they have so much more responsibilities than any girl of their ages would have in the
Thursday night was the soccer match of Germany v Portugal an one of the workers (Malang) invited Jess and I to his compound to watch the match with all the boys of the village! It was so much fun to sit outdoors and watch the game with 50 of the village boys all huddled around the small TV. They went crazy when each goal was scored with much screaming and jumping, mocking the ones going for the other side (I was going for
After the match we went to the baker’s house to watch him making the nightly bread. He lines up all the rolls of dough and then throws them into a huge stone oven and fishes them out with a long stick when they are ready. It was pretty awesome to watch and then we got some delicious freshly baked bread!!
Today after work Jess and I borrowed 2 of the organizations bikes and road down the road through the next village to the boarder of
Tonight I think we may be attending a village disco…not really sure what that will consist of…should be interesting!! And tomorrow we’re headed to the beach with Emily and Jemma, the 2 English girls who work here. Should be a fun weekend!! Hope you are all well, love hearing from you!! Much love, Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment