Well, I quit my PC Job...My New African Life: Weeks 7, 8, and 9

WEEK 7

March 21, 2012

Yesterday Fadiga (PC person responsible for all Public Health stuff) came for a visit with the new regional coordinator (RC) for Boke, Cisse. Cisse was the homestay coordinator for training and I know him to be helpful and kind. I am glad he was chosen as our RC because this is someone I report to with problems at site and whatnot and I know Cisse will be easy to work with.

After Fadiga and Cisse left, I had my second English revision. There were seven students there, plus a bunch of younger kids from the primary school. I taught them verb conjugation for “to have,” “to go,” and “to be,” and vocabulary for daily activities. We also went over questions and expressions for wants and needs. I think it went very well, although I gave a lot of new words so in the next few weeks I have to make sure to reinforce it.

March 25, 2012

Today Finda (a stagaire), Bintou (the Mama of the hospital) and I went out into the village to give polio vaccines as part of the UNICEF program that takes place a few times each year in an effort to eradicate polio. We vaccinated about 60 kids and the other stagaires and doctors reached about the same number, totally about 250 kids just today. Over the next few days we will continue to work in neighboring villages to reach as many kids as possible.

It was great exploring the village and talking to people, although some of the children were a bit obnoxious. The vaccine is oral, and I think tastes a bit sweet, so there really should be no fuss about giving it. In fact, most kids didn’t even know what was going on and barely made a sound, let alone resistance. However, a few of the children were terrified of me, because I’m the first white person they’ve seen. They would scream and run away from me, even though I wasn’t even the one giving the vaccine. It was pretty funny, although now the children will probably always associate white people with unpleasant things, like being chased and having their mouths forced open like that.

WEEK 8

March 26, 2012

Today I thought I would be going out to give more vaccinations, but Lamah said it was too hot for me, so I had to stay at the hospital with him. I don’t mind the sun or the heat and the exercise is good so I would have preferred walking around the village again. But, the chef insisted, saying the sun isn’t good for me and maybe I can go tomorrow. I hate being treated like some fragile thing instead of a normal person. Maybe because they have a lot of albinos here who actually cannot tolerate sunlight and so they assume the same is true for all white people.

March 27, 2012

Well, I didn’t get to go out vaccinating again today. I guess it’s just as well since today’s consultations were a bit exciting/gross. We gave a bunch of routine immunizations and this one family with a newborn baby came to have the birth documented and to get the kid vaccinated against tuberculosis and polio. The mother of the infant had an abscess in one of her breasts that was dripping puss. It was really swollen and she was clearly in a great deal of pain. After vaccinating the baby and other children waiting, Lamah started draining the abscess by squeezing out all the pus. I couldn’t believe how much fluid came out of her. There was at least of cup of pus by the time Lamah was finished. About halfway through the ordeal, her husband had to come in and hold her down on the exam table because she refused to let Lamah continue, the pain was so intense. Keep in mind we don’t have any painkillers (besides aspirin) and no local anesthetics either, so her pain was raw, nothing to take the edge off.

Later in the day I had another English revision. This week I taught members of family and had everyone draw and label a picture of their families as well as write a simple sentence explaining what each member of their family does for work or whatnot.  Everyone seemed to understand the assignment and went to task. When I looked over their pictures, I realized they all drew my family (which I drew on the chalk board as an example). I explained again I wanted to see their families, not mine and finally they got it. When it came time to write the sentences, however, there was another issue. Each person wrote a sentence about his or her family members, but each sentence said the same thing, just with the name or family relation changed. I had to repeatedly ask them to be more specific about where someone worked or went to school, or what they cooked, etc. This problem has little to do with the level of English I was demanding of them, and more to do with the fact that students here are never asked to do anything creative. I gave examples of what kinds of sentences I was looking for and those are the exact sentences I got. There is no “in your own words” type assignments here; the teachers give information and students regurgitate it verbatim on exams.  Hopefully with practice they will get used to the exercises I give them and will learn to use their imaginations a little more.

A little girl, about 5 years old, has been coming to the health center every day for the past week to have an abscess above her ankle treated. Everyday her leg looks a little better, with a decrease in the swelling and she is able to walk on in a little bit now. It is clearly very painful, especially for a child, and treating it must be torturous for her because of all the prodding to get the pus out. Yesterday and today the girl’s brother, rather than parents, brought her to be rebandaged and so I helped hold the girl down so the doctor could work. The girl was scared and hurting but was receptive to my being there and was comforted to have someone holding her during the process. I like helping out with this patient because she comes everyday and I get to actually see the good we are doing for her, instead of just giving someone some meds and sending them on their way, probably not seeing them again at all.

March 31, 2012

So, today was my last day of work at the hospital. This is a very good thing since Joe and I had a disagreement. During a consultation he wrote in the doctor’s record book that one patient was two. He listed half the symptoms along with a diagnosis under one name and then made up a new name and wrote the rest of the symptoms along with a different diagnosis. In addition, he made up information regarding weight, blood pressure, and where the person lived to go along with the fictional name. He knows I saw him do this, but he didn’t explain why, even though I have repeatedly asked why they do things like this. For the next patient, he did the same thing, again with no explanation. Soon after I got a phone call and stepped outside the consultation room. I remained outside after my call to talk to the chef about what happened and to let him know that I won’t be present at consultations if falsifying information continues, unless they can give me a reason why it’s necessary.

Once all the patients had been seen, Lamah asked Joe and me into his office to talk about what happened. I repeated what I said earlier about Joe writing false information in the book and said it’s fine if there is a good reason, but if not then I don’t want anything to do with it. Well, Joe got wicked defensive and started yelling at me, at which point I calmly said it wasn’t necessary for him to yell since this is just a conversation, but he continued yelling so I left the chef’s office, having absolutely no desire to be around adults acting like children.

After this I was really angry and confused about what to do, so I called Fadiga. He told me to forget about the hospital, that’s not really supposed to be my job anyway; I’m just supposed to get to know the people in my community and improve my Susu. This suits me just fine for now since this is exactly what I want to spend my days doing, not sitting in boring consultations where everyone is diagnosed with malaria. Fadiga also reminded me that I should be doing only what I want to do, and if I don’t want to do something I don’t have to; I wish my whole life could follow that philosophy : )

WEEK 9

April 1, 2012

Today was my first day of having no work. I explained to my family what happened and why I no longer need to go to the hospital. They are angry with Joe, who they already don't like. Actually, I think my mom even went down to the hospital to talk to him about it.

During the day I cleaned my house and then helped make and rice and sauce with my mom. They also made me eat about six mangos during the two hours we were cooking, so by the time the food was ready I was full of fruit. In the afternoon I got my hair tressed with my sister Namina and hung out with her friends. After our hair was finished it was time for a "petite repose" so I wrote a couple of letters (you should be getting them soon!) and did a little reading.

After dinner Namina and I met one of the professors and we went for a walk to a neighboring village so I could meet some more people and get better acquainted with the area. By the time we got home it was dark (we had to stop and talk to every person and rest every few houses) so we all headed to our houses.

April 2, 2012

During the night my aunt died. I guess she was oldish and had been sick so it wasn't a huge surprise. All day I sat around and ate. That's what you do for funerals/any sort of ceremony. The women of the family started cooking at 8 am and around noon huge bowls of rice and sauce were brought to out to groups of people and to neighbors houses for everyone to feast on. All through the morning I sat with Namina and some friends just talking and "snacking" (bean sandwiches, popsicle-type bonbons). After lunch was more of the same lounging. People from all over the village came to give their condolences and the whole extended family came from all over Guinea to stay the week. 

April 3, 2012

Today I went to Kolabui (nearby village, about 45 min away in a taxi) to visit my friend Liz, an education volunteer. Her girl's soccer team had a game against Boke so she invited all the nearby volunteers. Marissa and I were the only ones able to attend, but we had a great time and Liz's team won 2 to 1! I was originally planning on leaving right after the game so I could get a taxi (one from Kolabui to Kamsar, and then another from Kamsar to Bintimodia), but it was already getting dark (the game didn't start on time, of course) so I decided to stay the night with Liz and Marissa, just in case there wasn't a taxi leaving Kamsar that night. After we found some dinner in the market (Kolabui is a huge village so there's a huge market at the taxi stand every day/night, unlike my village which has absolutely nothing) it was time for a dance to celebrate the girls' victory.

April 4, 2012

Today was the third day after my aunt's death so there was a sacrifice and another feast. I missed the food since I didn't get back from Kolabui til the afternoon. However, I was able to attend the ceremony in which the Sage (religious elders/old Muslim men) spoke in Susu about the deceased and all the family plus friends and neighbors came. I don't know really what was said, but some parts were funny and there was a lot of exclaiming an "amen" type refrain. After this, I went walking around the village with Namina and Mr. Corsa again, again returning after dark : )