It is Sunday evening and part of the group scheduled to eat here has been here and gone; however, three are still busy in surgery. The past three week-ends have been extremely busy for the doctors and med students…they have had several C-sections, a couple trauma cases. Today a very sick 13 y.o. with typhoid came in; she had a rupture in her intestines caused by the typhoid which they were able to go in and repair and probably save her life.
Bud & I have gone to Kathiri Church in Kamakwie the past two weeks because it is so close and we’re walking. Two of the nursing students in my class play in their praise band, one on keyboards and the other on drums. The pastor preached in Krio and they turned it to Limba; at this point, Bud & I both still have some difficulty understanding all that’s said. We certainly understand enough to get the gist of the message.
Each morning as I walk down to the classroom at the hospital, I walk on a swept clean path lined with coconut palm trees. I love the majesty of the palms! A young man is out beside our house each morning sweeping all the leaves and any trash out of the “yard”. The yard is completely dirt (quite red) but is kept very “clean”. I don’t remember quite what it will be like when the rains come. Currently, there’s a fine layer of dust and smoke that seeps into everything in the house; all the cupboards were washed clean a few days ago but when I looked at them yesterday, one can see the outline of dust where each dish or pan is removed.
Bud says he’s making slow progress on the wells and generators. It will take time and a lot of energy to get them to the point where he actually wants them to be.
Bud and I walked down to Kamakwie yesterday afternoon just to look in the market and all the shops to see what is actually available here in town. A young man came running up to us saying “Pa Leach Pa Leach”. Bud had no idea who he was but he explained he had been a small school boy at Kamakwie Wesleyan Schools when we were here in the 70’s and he remembered Bud. He is now the owner or at least manager of the local night club down in Kamakwie. We are very aware of this establishment because it provides lots of music into the night that can be heard far and wide J. He told us he would treat us mighty fine if we came down to his place…we’ll see!
Our plan is to teach the students how to take temperature, pulse, respirations, and blood pressures tomorrow. They will love it because they will be doing a real nursing activity. We do have a bright group of students who are eager to learn but are hindered by some of the words found in the text. Although they are considered relatively fluent in English, they do have some serious limitation. They do seem to be a hardworking group, however.
Till next time…
