First day at the hospital

After a much-needed rest and a very exciting breakfast consisting of spam and onion omlettes and cups of tea, Mohammad picked us up and drove us to the hospital.

James had jumped in the car en route, and in Dr. Khan’s absence, he stepped up to give us the grand tour. We were all impressed with the hospital and felt very welcome. We were introduced to many new faces, all of which greeted us with huge smiles and strong hand shakes. Not to mention; we had the pleasure of meeting the big cheese… the superintendent. Stay tuned to find out his name; we’ll let you know as soon as we find out!!

The lassa fever research lab was especially impressive, and the ophthalmology unit was brand spanking new. We started to realise that the hospital was pretty dependent on external funding. Other departments were obviously lacking resources and patients suffered for it. However on a more positive note, we saw where we could help and all were eager to get stuck in.

We began with an obstetrics ward round with the lovely Dr Jimissa, a man who we knew only via email until now. Needless to say, it was a new experience, and one that lasted a good few hours. The patients had a multitude of problems that required optimum management.

At 1pm we journeyed back to the house on Blama road for lunch. We were spoiled with African cuisine cooked by Mrs Faima. Our lovely host made sure we didn’t work too hard and ate well.

Our supervisor, Dr Khan was still in Freetown at this point, so we thought we should take the opportunity to explore Kenema for the rest of the afternoon,
Only one of us had a watch that had a second hand, a fundamental piece of clinical equipment. Therefore a mission to buy watches came about. Watch number one had a particularly large face with a certain popular American president plastered across it. Watch number one lasted about 9 hours before falling apart. Watch number two lost five minutes each day. Then it joined Alix in the shower and lost 3 hours per day. Useless. Watch number three – a rather convincing bling bling ‘Casio’ is still going strong, but time will tell….

We concluded the day with a first local beer, Star, which is award-winning in Sierra Leone apparently.

On our arrival back to the house for dinner, we were greeted by the man himself, Dr Khan, who had safely arrived from Freetown. He came to give us the low-down for the following day.

By Charlotte