The Hospital Diaries: Part 1

The following story is a true account of my experience in the Holy Spirit Hospital in Makeni city, Sierra Leone. I have tried my best to recount these events as accurately as possible . My hope is that this story will help to open your eyes to the realities of living in a developing country. However, this is not an attempt to make you feel guilty or to upset you, this experience changed the way I viewed the West forever and it is one that wish to share with you. Take it as you will.

Wednesday 14th August, 2013 - Approximately 10pm

I have passed out several times, my head is pounding and all I want to do is sleep. When I am awake my team leader, Eric looks worried sick while my room mate Ellen and my team mate Bella cradle me. Jebbeh, our field officer has arrived and brings an air of calm to a somewhat irrate atmosphere, after I beg people to leave my room Bella and Ellen get me out of my cow print onesie and into something that is a little less weird looking. When I applied for this placement I never imagined that my team mates would have to undress me. I am bundled into a small 4x4 and all I can think about is how the upholstery smells like wet cat. I am vaguely aware that Jebbeh's sister Esther is in the back of the car with me.

The hospital is dead, I can't believe that there is no one here. It is rainy season, a time when practically everyone is sick and the place is empty! Then my brain kicks in and reminds me that this is Sierra Leone and emergency care does not exist here, at least not in a form that we would recognise in the West. After I faceplant a random hospital trolley for several minuets someone hauls me into a wheel chair and escorts me through to the private wing. This area is seperated from the rest of the hospital by a guard and iron bars. The room is tidy, clean-ish and basic, there are two hospital beds and I notice that only one is made up for a patient. I climb onto the bed and quickly assume the foetel position, a beautiful nurse with her lip pierced enters the room and starts to prepare an IV. I begin to sob quietly, the last few days of travelling and sickness has finally caught up with me and if I am honest I do not trust the nurses. Lip-pierced nurse tells me to stop crying with the bedside manner of a honey badger, when I don't stop she asks me why I am crying, I lie and say  it is because I don't like needles. A crying girl is the last thing she wanted and to be honest I don't blame her.

Jebbeh makes sure I am settled in and then leaves Esther with me for the night. Jebbeh is tall with beautiful features and dreadlocks, while Esther is small with huge brown eyes and beautifully plaited hair. Once I am connected to a drip that looks like piss Esther helps me into bed and adjusts my mosquito net around my bed. As I settle in for the night I hear what sounds like a young boy crying and moaning in the next room. I am annoyed because I am desperately tired and really want to sleep, when I ask Esther what the boy is saying she tells me that he keeps asking for water. The boy cries for what seems like hours and then all of a sudden he is silent, a few minutes later his parents begin to scream and howl, the sound pierces my soul and I know I will never forget it. The mother becomes so hysterical that she is slapped across the face, I don't how long they cry for, all I know is that the boy has died.

Thursday 15th August, 2013 - Morning

I wake to find lip-pierced nurse removing the drip that looks like piss and attaching a clear bottle of fluid. I ask her what it does and she says it will make me better. "Yes, I get that" I think but I hold my tongue, "aye, but what does it actually do?", she says it is for diarrhoea. I assum it is rehydration treatment. Once lip-pierced nurse has left I read the bottle, "Sodium Chloride and Glucose", I can't help but feel proud of myself for remembering some of my GCSE chemistry. Esther insists that I wash my feet and change my clothes, despite my protests she ushers me into the private bathroom which smells of crap and proceeds to wash my feet with her bare hands. I have never been treated so well  by someone who is not a blood relative. As she helps me change my top a random man peers through the open door and says hello. I greet him back, mentally noting that I am sitting in my trackies and bra. 

Esther leaves and I decide to read Fifty Shades of Grey on my phone. A more senior nurse comes in and hands me a cup of pills, "What are they for?" I ask her, she looks really confused for a few moments then replies "They will help you get better." Okay the language barrier has raised it's ugly head again, "What do they do?", every word a staccato. The doctor prescribed them she replies, Christ, I mentally face palm. Eventually she tells me that they are anti-malarials, painkillers and vitamins, malaria is so common in Sierra Leone that if you have a fever and headache they treat you for malaria even if they haven't tested for it. 

I reach a particularly inappropriate part of Fifty Shades when a young man comes in to take my blood and urine sample. He uses plastic tubing to try and raise a vein, I remember that every doctor in the UK has complimented me on the quality of my veins and has never needed to use tubing to raise a one! Compared to a local I am practically see through, why in God's name do they need to raise a vein! Despite my frustration I find myself giggling at my thoughts as the young man continues to smack my arm with the most confused look on his face. 

Ellen has arrived, she has long, thick brown hair and the loveliest brown eyes. I am so glad to see her. She tells me that the rest of the team will try and see me later. After she leaves I slip into a heavy sleep about my team fighting off a grizzly bear with flip flops. When I wake Kristine and Alice are here, Krsitine is a tall Latvian with the biggest smile and Alice has long blond hair and the funniest laugh you will ever hear. They have brought chocolate and biscuits, it is the first thing I have eaten since yesterday. My national counterpart Sahr, arrives shortly aterwards. After and hour or so Kristine and Sahr leave to conduct home visitations for some of our students. I am relieved and happy that Alice has decided to stay with me. We talk for a long time about everything and anything, we spend most of our time laughing. 

Lip-pierced nurse attaches another drip, I ask her the usual questions and receive the usual non-answers. Alice suppresses a giggle as I look at her and  raise my eyebrows as if to say "see what I mean!?". Bella bursts through the door and shuffles across the room to me with a take away box of breaded chicken, she is an angel and has walked a long way to deliver this to me. I really am blessed with such a wonderful team of people, I can't believe they care this much about me. 

When the day draws to a close I hear people singing near by, it is hynm in Temne, I think it is a hymn for the boy who died.

Jane should be arriving soon with a bag of clean clothes, I am sweaty and stink to high heaven. The doctor was supposed to see me again today, when I enquire where he is the nurse tells me that he went home at 4.30pm. I am shocked and somewhat disgusted, is this normal for all doctors in Sierra Leone? Is there a shortage of doctors? Is this why the boy died, because there was no doctor to treat him? I decide to be a little more patient with my nurses, it is not their fault if the only doctor for this hospital buggers off at 4.30pm in his white BMW (This is not embellishment, I actually seen it) and doesn't explain to his patient why she is connected to what looks like a bag of piss.

My IV has come out and I think I am going to be sick, the nurse removes it completely, then mumbles something angrilly in Krio and leaves. An hour later lip-pierced nurse is back with an accomplice. He is in a tye dye t-shirt and is putting on plastic gloves, I immediately think he is going to inject me in the ass  and the nurse registers my fear. She tells me that he is a doctor and is here to put a new IV in. Oh, okay, so the white people get doctors who come out at stupid o'clock to put IVs in but not to treat a dyng boy? Tye dye doctor and lip-pierced nurse leave as I grapple with the unsettling thought that I am being treated better than others because I am white and am insured for £1million. worth of medical treatment. 

Part 2 will posted tomorrow...

Youth Unemployment: The Ties That Bind

"Jobs and opportunity are essential for peace."  Barrack Obama, Waterfront Hall Belfast , 2013

Unemployment is a hallmark of my current generation. When living in a capitalist society, the boom and bust is expected but no less devastating when it happens. It is widely agreed that the people most affected by the current economic depress are young people between the ages of 16 -25, we are the so called "lost generation". Young people have the highest rate of unemployment of any other section of society, not just unskilled and uneducated young people but highly skilled labourers and University graduates too. In Northern Ireland 1 in 4 young people are currently unemployed and looking for work, in Sierra Leone unemployment is aproximately at 55% - 65% (1), these are not figures for youth unemployment, however, keep in mind that the oldest people in Sierra Leone are only in their 40's. This means that this figure would speak for the majority of Sierra Leone's population.

Sierra Leone and Northern Ireland may seem worlds a part but in my opinion both countries have a lot in common. Both have only emerged from civil war 10/15  years ago, both are surprisingly peaceful despite their recent violent history. Sierra Leone's economy is one of the fastests growing in Africa and despite the recession, Northern Ireland has made huge societal leaps and is currently negotiating stronger economic links with America during the G8 summit in Enniskillen. However, there is still a lot to be done in both countries and tackling the serious issue of unemployment is one of them.

Sierra Leone has a truly "Lost Generation" of young people who have been mentally and physically maimed by the brutal cival war which ravage the country and it's people. Images of child soldiers and blood diamonds come to mind. This is a generation that should have been in school, playing, learning and growing; not learning to use a rifle to kill others. These young people have not the skills nore the education to take advantage of Sierra Leone's growing economy, one of the suggested solutions for tackeling this has been to overhaul the education system. Which should promote a good work ethic, and provide educational institutions which equip students with the skills to work in the Sierra Leone's biggest industries such as farmining and mining (2). However, the issue of Sierra Leone's rate of unemployment is not a black and white issue with an easy or straight forward solution. Tackeling youth unemployment is one of the main MDG (Millenium Development Goals) for Sierra Leone and other developing countries around the world. Which is one fundamental reasons why I have been given the ooportunity to work in Sierra Leone on employability skills. Obama was correct when he mentioned the importance of having opportunity and jobs, to have peace is not just about not being at war. It means having enough food to feed your family, access to adequate health care, being provided with a decent education and ultimately through self determination having the job you want.

I had a conversation with a firend recently about the the pros and cons of Android and Apple products, at one point she suggested that there were more important things worry and/or be passionate about. Of course she was right, however, I pointed out the fact that I am free to be passionate about something that is not essential for me to live. I am free to argue and discuss this because I have never needed to think about where my next meal will come from, worry about paying for my health care, or be forced out of education at 13 because I was a female and needed to geet a job or get married. Education and prosperity have provided me with the freedom to argue about the merits of Android and Apple and for that I am grateful. Lack of education and prosperity can cause a deep and persistent sense of hopelessness which in turn breeds bitterness and extremist views among young people. The best example of this is during the Flag Protests in Belfast last year, yes there was a genuinie greivance within the Unionist community about this issue, however, young unemployed people (mainly young men) used this issue as an excuse to commit crimes that they would not have done otherwise. These young people have nothing to lose and any excuse to kick off or spit in the face of the " Establishment" is welcomed and to a certain extent I can't blame them for feeling this way.

This has been a longer blog that usual, but this is an issue close to my heart and home and very to every country and society at the minuet. Next week's blog will be my last before I go to Sierra Leone, while I am there I hope to do a video diary about my experiences and upload a video once a week to my FaceBook & Twitter page.

Thank you so much for reading and my blog and I will see you all next week!

The Story of Logistical Nightmares, New Friends and Honey Badgers!

" I look like a Honey Badger..."  Claire Doherty

Last Friday was my final day working at Regenersis and it was a day of mixed emotions. I was excited that I was finally breaking away from my old life and taking the first tentative steps into the new one, however, it was a sad day. I made a lot of friends there and learned some really important lessons and skills, not just from the customers but from my fellow staff members as well. I did not have much time to think as I made my way to Birmingham (my mother's birth place) for a training weekend with Restless Development.

It was a fantastic weekend which was expertly run by the lovely Rachael and the awesome Frank (See picture 1), their energy was infectious and really set the tone for the rest of the weekend. I have to commend them for their work because it takes a lot of energy to do what they do and still keep smiling, listening and laughing. While I was there I was staying with 2 other Sierra Leonean volunteers, Claire and Laura, we gelled immediately and spent most of the weekend talking about Honey Badgers and how we wake up most mornings looking and feeling like them! (See picture 2)  Meeting new people is always scary and you never really know if you will mix well, however, from my experience when you are afraid you judge people before you know them. It is natural to judge people when you first meet them based on your previous experiences, however, what I have learned is that people can surprise you. I think that was a lesson that we all learned during the weekend and will stand us in good sted for when we find ourselves in a different country, surrounded by a different culture and society.

On a more practical note, we found out that we will be teaching employability skills to the young people in Sierra Leone! I am so excited about this, it really plays to my strengths and skill set. We will be working in schools and youth centres, running employability workshops and support with CV writing as well as career fairs. We will be there for 11 weeks and be staying two to a room, with a western toilet and probably an outside shower. We will have a further 10 days of in country training when we get there and then be split off into 3 groups between Mikeni, Freetown and Bo. We will be carrying on the work of previous volunteers, helping to make this whole project sustainable and transferable through the local community and hopefully the following generations. For me that is what development means, it is sustainable, transferable and goal orientated. Most importantly it is not dictated by some leader in a far off "developed" western country. You can build as many schools as you like but unless you have people to fill them there really isn't much point.

However, I won't be going anywhere without being fully vaccinated! A word of advice to anyone doing something similar, get your vaccinations sorted ASAP because some need to be administered over a month and there will always be that one vaccine that is a pain in the backside to organise. For me that has been the Rabies vaccine, it has been the bane of my life for the last 3 days. Luckily I got it organised just in time and by the skin of my teeth, do not let that be the case for you as you  may not be so lucky.

I have a lot more that I would love to talk about but I like to keep these blogs as short and sweet as possible. To make up for this I have numbered some of the important things to keep in mind if you get choosen to be an ICS volunteer. If you want any more information on number 2 and how I set mine up get in touch and I will more than happy to help.

1. Sort out vaccines before anything else
2. Set up a social media web ASAP
3. Keep in regular contact with your organiser, do not always wait for them to contact you
4. Read up on your country - especially about the customs and societal expectations
5. Keep in regular contact with other volunteers, share ideas, resources and information

Have a good weekend everyone and my blog and I will see you in a weeks time!