Our first days in Africa

We arrived safely in Freetown with all of our luggage on Monday! Tel God Tanki! Zack A. who is living in Freetown this summer and working for an new NGO met us at the airport with Bilalie, our faithful driver. It was good to see Zack doing so well! I can only hope that we will be as comfortable in Freetown as he is some day!

After having breakfast with Dr. Joanna K., who is working on the education system in Freetown, and having a slight bout of nausea (that turned out to be the result of taking our malaria pills on an empty stomach) we traveled to Kabala. The ride there was bumpy (as expected) but safe! It took 2 hours just to get out of Freetown because the traffic has become increasingly difficult there. There is only one road going out of town and more cars and motorbikes every day. Plus, the UN secretary general was in town, so that did not help  the traffic much. On our way out of Freetown we stopped to get a cell phone from a vendor. Here, you purchase an open network cell phone, then buy a SIM card from one of three networks available. Then you purchase a "top up" which credits units to your phone via text message. It is quite an interesting system. I left the electronics shop with a cell phone, a SIM card, and no less than 3 marriage proposals. My friend Reverend John P. assured them that I was not Muslim and that I was well protected :)

On the way to Kabala we stopped in McKinny and met up with Bangali, a friend from last time. He is now attending secondary school there. When we finally made it to Kabala we were greeted by many children, friends, and neighbors. The familiar call of "White man" rang frequently, as well as a new greeting of "White woman!"

On Wednesday, we took a tour of the clinic and became familiar with our surroundings as we took a tour through the town. A visit to the market proved to be interesting once again. The sights and smell are much different than your average grocery store or even farmer's market in the US. The fish stand is particularly "intense."

On Thursday, we began work at the clinic. They are preparing for the grand opening of a new building on Saturday. They have recieved medicines in addition to our donated supplies. To our surprise, they already had an autoclave... I guess the communication about that particular need was confused. However, the supplies we did bring are much needed, and we were happy to see that by the end of the day, the shelves were well stocked up with medications and supplies. After organizing the supply room, we began to put together packets of common dosages of some medications. These packets provide a efficient and sanitary way to dispense medicines. As you might expect, they struggle to maintain sanitary conditions in this environment. While we were working on the medicines, a woman came with her 1 year old daughter and needed help. The little girl had a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and "coughing." After examining her a bit, we were able to give her some basic medicines to help symptoms, but we saw first hand how difficult it is to determine the underlying cause of the illness without certain diagnostic tests etc. We hope to see her on Monday to see if there is improvement.

So far, everything is going well, and we are blessed with good health and many new and old friends. On Monday, when the clinic opens, we will begin tracking some patient statistics and information regarding common health problems and treatments.

Mosomiyu (goodbye for now)

~ Chelsea and Julie