The Rains Have Arrived!

The rains have arrived! Initially with some spectacular nighttime storms, but they have gradually extended into the days; it has rained on the past 3 days (not continuously but for quite long stretches). Apparently Sierra Leone is the wettest country in Africa… and since it’s hardly rained in the past 4 months so there must be a lot to come! It’s much cooler when it’s raining. It was pretty unbearable just before it rained, and even after the first few storms, very humid and muggy.

Half Way!

Another few weeks have flown by and I have now passed my half way point in Sierra Leone, despite still feeling like I’ve only just got here!

There is a team of obstetricians and midwives from the UK out this week, delivering teaching and training to the staff at the hospital. Everyone seems to have enjoyed it but it has left the wards pretty devoid of staff, so it’s been a busy week on the wards for those of us trying to keep the wards running! It’s coincided with a busy week on paediatrics, so I’m looking forward to getting away to the beach this weekend!

Mt Bintunami and the Banana Islands

It feels like a long time since I updated my blog. As I get more involved with life here I have less time to sit and write about it! 

We have just had an amazing weeks holiday, we climbed to the highest point between Morocco and Cameroon, Mt Bintunami, in the Loma Mountains, and spent a few days relaxing on the Banana Islands.

Kambia Resources

This weeks blog is in pictorial format to give you an idea of the level of resources here in Kambia.

Kambia Hospital Outpatients and Theatre

Rat Catchers, Training, Diarrhoea And The Twins!

So another few weeks have flown by… another weekend at the beach, and the NRD (Network for Rural Development) training weekend, more paediatrics, and more teaching.

We now have 2 kittens at the base, Simba and Alfie. We kept spying a rat popping its head out of our toilet, which was quite disturbing, so action has been taken! We have been told that we should stop feeding them now, and ‘let the battle begin!’ 

Paediatrics, Kambia Style!

I have just got home from the hospital and the generator is on so it seems like a good time to write another blog entry – such a luxury to have the fan on! I got a lift back with Peter, who used to live at the base, and now rides an akada around Kambia. (The akada’s are the main way of getting from A to B here – small motorbike’s with cushions on the back for 1 or 2 passengers to sit on. Quite fun as long as you don’t think too much about how dangerous it is!)

First Week in Kambia

I have now been in Kambia just over a week! Thanks to my new phone and 3g internet connection is better than I was expecting so hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with the blog!

I’ve had a really warm welcome by everyone at the Kambia Appeal Base - a collection of huts and houses, surrounded by a straw fence, which is my home while I’m here. We share the base with Moses, the appeal co-ordinator, a couple of other families who also work for the appeal (+Bionce and her 3 puppies!). I have my own hut, and we use a big central house with a nice veranda to sit on, and a toukel - a round open sided thatched roofed building that is the main outdoor living space.