Great news! (and other updates)

Happy Holidays!

First of all, some great news!  Ibrahim Turay, the class III boy who has been extremely sick for the last number of weeks was discharged from the hospital this past week, and is now home in Kabala.  When Adrienne went down with him and his mother to the hospital in Makeni, things were not looking good.  He should have had surgery, but his condition was not stable enough and there was too much internal bleeding.  They decided to treat him with aggressive antibiotics instead and make sure they didn’t feed him anything.  As a result he was extremely thin and weak.  Amazingly, the GI bleed stopped on its own.  He received some blood transfusions, and slowly recovered to the point of being able to eat and drink in small amounts.  He was in the hospital for over a month, but he came home last Friday.  When Adrienne and I visited, he was stronger, but his body had wasted away so much that he still has quite a road ahead before he can maybe come back to school.  The awesome news, though, it that this will most likely happen now.  Thank you for all your prayers for him!

 

As for us, life goes on in Kabala.  It was great to have my parents come visit for a couple of weeks!  Our friends and colleagues here were psyched to meet and, of course, greet them.  I don’t think Arnie and Janet have ever been told so often how “strong” they are.  I don’t know if this is because they used bicycles everywhere they went or because, yes, they are quite physically strong.  Another interesting moment was when a couple of my students came over for a visit.  They didn’t believe me when they asked where my father was I said “e day wash pan” (he is doing dishes).  They went in to look for themselves, and sure enough, there he was, the father and head of the household, washing a frying pan, scrub brush and all.  They had quite a story for their classmates the next day. 

School-wise, we have just finished our week of tests, and starting next week we are on Christmas holidays.

One theme in these last few weeks with regards to our work has been “you can only do so much.”  We are finding out that it is certainly more important to do one or two things well, even if it takes more time, than it is to take on too many things too quickly. 

At CRC for example, one of my biggest challenges has been reaching those 4 or 5 students in each class who really need extra help, especially reading – wise. Because I teach computer classes to the staff after school every day, Reading Club has not been do able lately.  I then decided to try and hire and pay for an Educational Assistant to work for the school, but after seeking and receiving some advice from people with more experience, I discovered for a variety of reasons this probably would not be a good idea.  I looked into hiring a volunteer or starting a home reading program, but these too are things for a number of reasons might cause more harm than good.  I am coming to terms with the fact that 1 year is actually quite a short time to do implement any kind of large changes, especially in a new school that is already so different from other schools here.  I have to simply do the best I can in the framework of how life is here, and the fact is that when I go back, some kids in my class will still probably not be able to read, as this is a 4 – 5 year learning process.

At the clinic, this has been a recurring theme lately as well.  Adrienne is becoming more of a CITA employee than just a nurse at a clinic.  She has become increasingly involved in more of an administrative/consulting role sorting out the details of how the NGO should move forward (for example planning for and carrying out interviews for agriculturalist and nursing positions this past Monday). On the one hand, it has been really cool for her to learn part of the big picture about how NGOs work, and how they can have such a positive or negative impact on a community.  On the other hand, this means she has had to spend many hours lately at a computer and away from direct patient care, which is her strength, and the main reason she is here.  Peacemaker and Theresa were away Thursday and Friday, so she was happy to be back at the clinic screening and treating patients.  These days turned out to be very long – Adrienne is pretty sure it’s because word had spread quickly that the “white doctor” was back.  They were also quite interesting, as she saw a variety of cases – including counseling unwanted teen pregnancies, motorbike accidents, and severe skin infections. 

A recurring theme at the clinic that has been real difficult has been when a patient is extremely sick (or with a very sick child), and refuses to go to the hospital.  The reason for this is they have either had a bad hospital experience in the past, or they think they will get better treatment at the clinic (an opinion for which there is some basis).  A different reason they might not go is that they don’t have money to pay for any treatment they would receive.  So now the really sick person is sitting in front of Adrienne in obvious need of money (anywhere from $1 – 10).  Offering money for their treatment would be setting a bad and unsustainable precedent, but not paying for them isn’t easy either.  Needless to say, there’s been times where she has offered money to pay, but most of the time she has to send them away with nothing. 

 

We are really itching to do some traveling into villages, and around other parts of Sierra Leone or neighboring countries.  Adrienne had a taste of this last week, when she went with some neighbors to the neighboring village of Yagala, a 3 mile walk away.   (Details to come in a later entry – see pics below of the experience and of Adrienne “toting” – carrying something on your head - some veggies on the way back).

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Adrienne and Joe