Screening success

Well, after the last screening and all the unfortunate events that came with it, we were all praying for a good screening this time around. I am happy to report that our second screening was very organized and peaceful. The location we were able to use this time was ideal and a ton of planning and extra precautions were taken this time around. A small group of Mercy Shippers even arrived the night before to start pre-screening all the patients who were spending the night in the line.

We all arrived early and grouped up to start the day off right in prayer

My jobs included pre-screening, completing admissions paperwork, and taking vital signs. It was exciting to see all the people who were able to get scheduled for surgery, while there was also a sadness inside of me for all the people who we couldn't help. It is never easy to say "no" to people, especially when they see you as their last hope for help. For all of those who we had to turn away, we just had to pray that God would intervene for them in ways outside of ourselves.

It is always overwhelming to see the need in West Africa and all the people who need help

Julie and I paired up with a translator to pre-screen the line

For those we were able to register for surgery, there was hope and excitement

 
Thank you for all your prayers for screening! After the first time around, we have seen the way that God has turned our sorrow into joy.

Frog hopper

Last week, my friend Stacia and I had a day off together, so we decided to take a walk to the craft market. It was nice to walk through town and spend some time off the ship....but, I forgot how exhausting the market can be! As we were walking along, Stacia told me she felt like we were in a game of "frog hopper"...you know, that computer game where you have to get across the street without getting hit by a car (well if you don't know, it was a game was really popular back in the day before there was such a thing as Playstation or Wii)...I couldn't have thought of a better analogy myself! Taking a walk in the market involves avoiding the gutters and potholes, constantly dodging cars, vendors, and a whole lot of other things. It is quite challenging, but fun...a bit of an obstacle course if I do say so myself.

                     There are often piles of trash in the market after the national clean-up days

After about half an hour of our interesting journey through the market, we found refuge at the Crown Bakery, a nice little restaraunt that a lot of NGO's seem to have discovered...we had a nice lunch and enjoyed the peace and quiet that created a sharp contrast with the bustling city outside.

After lunch, we proceeded on to the craft market and had an entertaining time there as well...Within the first few minutes, I discovered a game called "snakes and ladders"...when I picked the game up to look at it, the lady working at the stand insisted on showing me the game. She then proceeded to play until the game was almost over! I decided to fork out the 6000 leones after that (about $1.50) to buy the game...With a demonstration like that, who could say no...Besides, I figured the patients in the ward would like it (and they definitely did)!

There was not a dull moment in the craft market...at one point, we were looking at earrings and two vendors picked up the banana leaf fans and started fanning us as we were browsing...Stacia and I exchanged a look and tried not to laugh. A little while later, a woman pulled me over and starting wrapping a skirt around me, even though I hadn't even been looking at the skirts (and wasn't interested in buying one there)...Stacia just laughed at me...until they started doing the same to her...Just another TIA moment (this is Africa)...where else can you find such a comical shopping experience!

All in all we had a somewhat successful shopping trip...and neither one of us fell in pot holes or gutters (I had one friend fall into a gutter full of black "water" the other day and it was a pretty awful experience for her!), so I'd say we passed the test!

I'm not gonna lie...there are days when I would rather go to Walmart than worry about bartering with a stubborn vendor...or drive my Toyota down a well-paved street instead of walking through the dirty streets in Freetown, dodging everything and everyone in sight...but then again, where's the fun in that! And on top of that, at the end of every trip to town, as I round the last corner to the final street leading to the port, I am greeted by a bunch of little kids who call out "Rebecca! Rebecca!"  (most of them know me because I play soccer with the boys at a nearby school on a regular basis). As I wave to those calling out my name and walk hand in hand with the little ones, I can't help but smile and thank God for bringing me to this beautiful country...even if I do have to play a bit of frog hopper from time to time.

Journey to Banana Island

I am one of those people who has always been intrigued by the thought of living on a small little island...I remember watching Swiss Family Robinson when I was a little girl and imagining what it would be like to live on an island in the middle of nowhere (and I really wanted a house up in the trees like the one they had :) I have never actually been on a deserted island (well, except for those bird sanctuaries in Hawaii, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count!)


Banana Island isn't exactly a deserted island..there are about two hundred people who live in the village there...but it was quite secluded and peaceful. We had to take a boat ride to get to the island, which was a wooden boat with a motor thrown in the back...they had to scoop the water out of the bottom of the boat before we got in...thankfully it didn't sink :)

 When we arrived on Banana Island, one of the guys from the boat took us through the village and then led us to the "guest house," where we could relax and enjoy the beach. The Africans there told us that it was the cheapest guest house and reassured "a white man lives here" (I guess they thought we would be more apt to pick the place that had the white people lol). We decided to explore a bit more before settling down on the beach and took a little walk through the trees to check out some of the other parts of the island. Eventually, we came back to the first guest house, which seemed to have the nicest beach.

When we got back, we were greeted by "the white man" that the Africans had referred to. His name was Gregory and he was from Greece. He invited us to sit and have a cup of coffee, which we thanked him for. Later, we were joined by his girlfriend, who was visiting from London. They were a neat couple and I was intrigued by their simple life of living on this island and running a guest house. I asked if they ever left the island to go into the city, to which they responded that they only went into the city when they desperately needed to. They preferred the peaceful, calm lifestyle of the island.


After chatting about Sierra Leone, life on an island (vs life on a ship), and a bunch of other things, Greg announced that he needed to leave to go fishing since we would be eating lunch at the guest house. So, he set out with one of his workers and the rest of us collected our things and walked over to the beach. The beach was a little rocky, so we couldn't swim much, but it was ideal for laying out and reading a book, so that's exactly what I did.

 We had some nice beach time and a couple hours later, Gregory came back in all his gear with some fish (they weren't doing the traditional fishing...they wore their scuba gear and speared the fish)...we had a nice lunch of fish and rice. Afterwards, we hung out in the hammocks under the shade for a little bit and then rejoined some of the others in our group and decided to head back to the boat (they had given us a set time for the boat ride back)...the boat wasn't ready for us and the man who had brought us told us it would take another two hours. He had gotten in an argument with his colleague who had helped to bring us to the island and apparently wasn't paying him what he wanted. We had alredy paid for our ride over and I didn't want to deal with his shenanigans, so after talking with him a bit, we decided to take a different boat back (thankfully we had only paid a one-way fare).


When we reached the other side, we came across two white men and found out that they were Christian missionaries and one of them was a nurse interested in helping out on the ship. We gave him the number to the ship and jumped into our "poda-poda" (aka minibus) for the hour and a half ride back to the ship.


As crazy as the city is, there was a part of me that was happy to be back. I definitely enjoyed a day on the island...I would love to go back and even spend the night in one of the guest house huts. But, after seeing what a quiet little semi-deserted island is really like, I don't think that I could actually see myself living there...unless of course it came with a house up in the trees :)

Gotta have some bananas on Banana Island!



Broken

This morning we all packed up and set out for screening. We headed out before the sun came up, eager and excited for all the patients who would come to get scheduled for surgery. But no one could've been prepared for the events that lay ahead of us....



We arrived at the national stadium while it was still dark and set up all the different stations for screening. There were hundreds of people already lined up outside when my group arrived. Our security team was already there, doing a great job of keeping the people organized in their lines. I headed back to get things set up in the lab...To be honest, I was really thankful that I wasn't assigned to be one of the screening nurses this year. After saying "no" to so many people last year and seeing so many disappointed faces, I didn't know if my heart would be able to handle that again.

As we were walking around and setting up, I looked out front and saw a bunch of my friends working on the security team. I could tell there were a lot of people and it was already a little bit hectic. I thought of the stress that I had when I worked security at a small screening last year and said a prayer for my friends who were dealing with a much bigger number of people that were streaming in.
Our booth was set up between the surgery scheduling team and the pharmacy...the patients trickled in a few at a time, but it wasn't too crazy. I kept thinking about the drastic difference between the chaos outside and the calm atmosphere inside. My heart was heavy for my friends who were already getting exhausted from the crowd. I thought of Jesus and the crowds that followed him in hopes of being healed of their illnesses, the people pressing in, and the way he cared for each and every single person he encountered.
A little after 10am, things were really slow in the lab, so I decided to take my bubbles out into the waiting area (for patients who had already been screened and were in the second stage of being processed) to entertain the kids. I showed them my bubble wand and they started to run around laughing and playing, trying to catch all the bubbles. I watched their faces light up with those white toothy smiles and my heart felt content to be back in West Africa. I decided I should go outside and find the group that was in charge of entertaining the kids to see if they needed any more toys (I came prepared!) or help. As I walked outside, I saw my supervisor, who had a concerned look on her face. "Becca, hurry over to the tents. There are patients who are hurt." She had an urgency in her voice and even though I wasn't sure what was going on, I knew something was wrong.
I started running down to the tents out by the main entrance and came upon a scene that reminded me of something I would've expected to find in Haiti or some other disaster situation. There were quite a few patients lying there under the tent who had been injured in the crowd. I walked around to assess the situation and see which patients were stable and which ones needed immediate attention. A few nurses were already there taking care of some of the more severe cases. I came across a girl who was suffering from dehydration and a broken jaw. I stayed with her and cared for her until they could get an available Landrover to drive the patients to the hospital.
The Landrovers aren't exactly fit to be ambulances, but we managed to fit the patients inside and headed out. The traffic was terrible, but we had a woman with us from Sierra Leone who helped our driver signal the emergency to other drivers and get through the traffic quickly. We made it to the hospital and took the patients back to the Emergency Department.
As we drove back to the stadium, I sat with my friend Esther and processed a bit of what had just happened. It had all taken place so fast, I hadn't really stopped to think about much more than the nursing care I needed to give my patient right then and there.
Later on, we were filled in on the details of what had happened...a number of things were going on in the crowd and the crowd ended up storming the gate. At that point, about two hundred more people were admitted to relieve pressure, but in the chaos, a number of people were hurt and then carried over to the tent. In the end, thirteen people were injured and one man died.
When we got back to the screening site, we were told that screening was being shut down for the day. The circumstances were too risky and the environment wasn't safe with such a large, uncontrolled crowd. We packed up and headed out, filled with disappointment and frustration. As we got in the car, one man brought his little baby over to the window and begged us to do something to help him get his baby in for surgery for his cleft lip. We directed him over to a small group that was staying behind to screen a few last people who were already in the gate.
The desperation of the people was great today and the events that took place left all of us feeling a bit defeated. But, as we all gathered together to talk about the day, we were reminded that it is often in times of great resistance from the enemy that we realize that a battle is raging...God has big things in store for this outreach and this country and that is why the enemy is trying to stop it. But, we're not giving up yet. Today has been a hard, somber day, but I know that God is still in control and that He will "work all things together for good for those who love Him" (Romans 8:28).
Today, I witnessed brokenness in every possible way...physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But, in brokenness comes beauty...in brokenness we recognize our need for the One who heals and restores...and He is the One that we turn to when we feel like we've hit rock bottom...and in those moments, we are reminded that we can still praise Him.

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name