Everybody Has a Story

I arrived back in Liberia on Sunday. I am so comfortable traveling here now. My travel was very seamless- Delta airlines now flies direct from Atlanta to Accra and then to Monrovia. A very long time to be in an airplane, but very comfortable and hassle free.

The recovery of Liberia continues. It is so great to keep coming back here and see a country which continues to recover from the tragedy of war. The streets are cleaner, development continues, people smile.

Each time I come here, there are different groups of doctors working here. This month, I am working with a resident from MGH and two OB/GYN docs from NYC. One of them spent an entire year working in Liberia. She knows alot of people here, and we have met some of her acquaintances.

Tonight, we were invited to have dinner tonight with a Liberian family. This was an incredible privilege for me. The family lived in a very nice house, very close to the hospital. They made dinner for us, and offered us much club beer and wine! They were incredible hosts. We talked about our work in LIberia, the recovery of the medical system, and eventually about the war in Liberia. The very touching thing is how many times they thanked us for being here. One of the hosts pointed out the fact that they don't know us, we are not Liberian, and we have chosen to leave our families, and the comforts of Western life to come here to Liberia to help them. It was very meaningful.

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It seems that everyone in Liberia has a story to tell about the war. If you are able to sit long enough, and share a few drinks, and listen long enough, you hear their stories. They are incredible stories, unimaginable to those of us who live in such privilege and security. I sat and spoke with a Liberian man who spent most of his life as a refugee. He lived in a refugee camp in Sierra Leone during the war.

The story becomes more interesting. He was a refugee in Sierra Leone. He is very talented musically. Instead of begging and stealing, as most of the children do to continue to survive, he decides to use his musical talents. Because of his musical talent, he gets employed by a youth gospel group. He makes a good salary, and is able to support some of his family members. More importantly, the job keeps him off the streets. He then becomes involved in the reintegration of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. He works with children who were involved in the civil war. THese children were often orphaned or separated from their families, sought out by militia groups and forced into military service. They were often drug addicted, and suffered from the trauma of being forced to kill. Eventually, they were captured by the Sierra Leone Government, and put into rehabilitation facilities. This man worked with these children, and used his musical talents to rehabilitate them.

The converstion becomes more interesting. Before fleeing to Sierra Leone, he witnessed his father being assassinated on the beach at Mamba point He cannot return to Mamba point ever, because he recalls seeing his father shot there. The story becomes more interesting . He is Charles Taylors' nephew. He fled to Sierra Leone for safety. His family was a target due to it's political naure. He professes some of Charles Taylor's innocence, but upholds some of his wrong doings. His Aunt is Charles Taylors wife. She lives in the US, and her major concern is the fact that her assets have been frozen. Whenever he returns to Liberia, he is required to stay in a guarded compound for safety.

In Liberia, everyone who has lived through the war has a story.

Last Stop - Casablanca

We have truly had an adventure! After learning that the Brussels airline flights were cancelled on Sunday and Monday, and that there were 600 people waiting for a plane on wednesday with only 250 seats, we decided that we needed to escape by other means.  After much strategizing, we decided to fly out through Casablanca, a place I had always wanted to see (as it is one of my favorite movies!). 

 Donna and I flew out of Monrovia at 5:30 am on monday am for our 4 hour flight to Morocco.  It turns out that Donna's boyfriend knows a family in Casablanca and had called them.  They turned out to be some of the nicest people I have ever met.   They met us at the airport, and insisted that we stay with them.  They made us unbelievable meals (plate after plate of food), then drove us around and showed us Casablanca.  They then invited several family members to come over and have dinner with us.  Most of them spoke Arabic, but some spoke french, so we communicated mostly by speaking French, which was fun!  Had to remember all of the high school french!

Casablanca is amazing. It is mostly Arabic and we saw alot of spectacular Mosques.  Every 4 hours or so, there would be the call to prayer, ringing out throughout the city.  We also visited the old city, which had many little side streets and back alleys, and many little shops.  It was fascinating being in an Arabic culture.  It was also amazing to meet this Muslim family who welcomed two total strangers into their home and showed us amazing hospitality.  This is something I will never forget.

That's all for now!  I hope to return to Liberia in the fall, and I am truly thinking of flying through Casablanca again, so that I can see more of this beautiful country!  Thanks for following along, everyone. It is good to know you are out there!

Fourth year med students

Volcanic Ash Happens!

Hi Everyone!

Who would have thought that a volcanic erruption in Iceland would delay my trip home from Africa!  But it has!  We were due to fly out on friday, and learned early in the day that our flight through Brussels was cancelled .  We scrambled to try to see if we could get a flight out of Ghana or another African country, but unfortunately everyone in Europe had the same idea, and there were no flights until next week.   Fortunately, our wonderful airline has offered to put us up in one of the nicest hotels in Monrovia, Mamba Point.  It has a lovely pool situated right next to the beach! So we aren't suffering too much! Just feeling horribly guilty for our spouses and co workers who are not staying here with us!  We hope to fly out on either monday or wed.  It could be alot worse....we could be some of those people sleeping on cots in the European airports.....

This last week at the hospital has been great.  We were involved in the final exams for the fourth year medical students.  There are 16 of them, and they have to pass a very grueling, oral exam in each of the specialty areas before they can go on to graduate.  Pediatrics is billed as one of the toughest exams, due to the 2 examiners who have been running it over the past couple of years.  Donna and I got involved, and the students were so happy to have nice doctors asking them questions!   They were great and very smart.  It gives me alot of hope that we are starting to educate some physicians here now. Last year's class only had 4 students who are now interns.  This years class has 16, and next year there will be 30 medical students graduating from medical school.  The group of faculty and residents that we have been sending over here over the past year were involved in teaching the students alongside the other 2 doctors (not pediatricians) who have been here.  The students really loved the American docs. I think they really loved having the US residents teach as well, as they are young and exciting!  

I will try to upload some pictures.  Hope to see you all soon!  If you get a chance to check on David, I would appreciate it! He has been doing a great job but getting pretty frazzled!  If you have a chance to top over and bring him a strong drink, I am sure he would appreciate it!

Home soon!

Trish

Robertsport

Back to Robersport

Hi Everyone,

I had a great weekend. We went back to Robertsport, the beautiful fishing community up north. It is about 2 hours outside of Monrovia, and just about 30 minutes south of Sierra Leone.  The beach is so unspoiled there. It goes on for miles and miles, with no development. There is hardly any one else there, except for some fisherman.  They go out in the morning with large nets that they pull in from the beach. There is one person out on a boat trying to organize the net.  The water is about 80 degrees! It is beautiful.

We stay in a place called Nana's lodge, which is an upscale eco friendly tent community.  The tents are luxurious, with nice beds, electricity, refrigerator etc.   They are right on the beach, so you can sit on your balcony and see the beach.  It is so nice! If this beach was in the US it would be totally developed by now.  I will try to upload pictures.  Hope everyone is well. I leave Liberia on Friday. Things are going well! Look forward to seeing everyone.

Trish

The Ducor

The Ducor

Tour Guide

The Ducor

Greetings everyone!

I have been busy lately, and internet access is not always ideal here, so I haven't been able to post in a while.  Things are going well here. The pediatric service is very busy and there have been alot of very sick kids. I am really relearning my critical care skills here.  Last friday was a national holiday - day of fasting and praying. We didn't fast or pray, but decided to go on a field trip to a government run hospital called Redemption.  It will soon be the largest pediatric hospital in Monrovia, as MSF is pulling out of Liberia, and will transfer about 250 pediatric beds to Redemption. The problem is that Redemption has little space or staff, and no pediatricians! This is likely to be our next big project in Liberia. The hospital was already very crowded with 2 or 3 pediatric patients to a bed, and only one physicians assistant on duty when we were there. They were practically begging us to come and help out! It was very sad.

One the way back, our driver took us on a fascinating tour of Monrovia.  We went to this old hotel called the Ducor--It was built in the 1970s and before the war, it was a 5 star intercontinental hotel.  During the war, it was completely ravaged. Charles Taylor used the hotel as a military barracks, and the soldiers who lived there, upset about not being paid, looted the hotel.  Today, it sits abandoned, and guarded by Nigerian military.  Apparently, it has been bought by a wealthy Libyan who has invested 35 million dollars into renovating it. The fascinating thing is that our driver took us there, and if you bribe the Nigerian soldiers, they will let you go up into it.  There are these 2 "tour guides" of sorts, who used to work in the hotel in the prewar era, and never left.  They lived there even while Charles Taylor and his troops were there. They now live in squatters quarters in this abandoned hotel.  They will give you a tour of all of the rooms and tell you what they used to look like, and what the restaurant used to look like etc etc. They had an old brochure that showed you what the hotel used to look like.  Then you climb up about 10 flights and you get an amazing, panoramic view of Monrovia from the top (it is situated on one of the highest parts of the city).  It is a hotel with a lot of history.  The tour guides were so nice! They are very excited that the hotel is being renovated, and hope to work there again in a couple of years when it reopens.  I will post some pictures of them and the view!  More later!

Senaglese Dancers

Child with Measles

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone!

Greetings and Happy Easter, from Monrovia!  I am sorry to have to miss Easter with everyone! I missed passover as well. I didn't plan my dates too well, this time.  Liberia is about 60% Christian and about 40% Muslim (according to our driver), so the city is pretty much closed down for Easter.  Even the grocery store is closed, so we were forced to come to Mamba point hotel, one of the prettiest spots in the city, to have dinner :).  I am sitting on the balcony overlooking the ocean as I type.

We were "on call" this weekend, so needed to go in and round on kids in the mornings.  Fortunately, no one was too sick, but we see amazing things on a daily basis.  There was a measles outbreak in on of the surrounding counties, so there were 2 kids with measles on the floor.  Only about 60% of the kids are vaccinated against it, so they can have big epidemics. I took a picture of one of the kids to show to my parents who don't like to give their kids vaccines what it looks like. 

Yesterday afternoon, we went to this beautiful resort near Monrovia called Kendaja.  They allow people to come and sit on their beach and use their pool for $5.00.  The beach is beautiful. The water temp must have been about 80 degrees! We were swimming and diving in the ocean.  Quite fun!  While we were there, a wedding was taking place, and they had hired African drummers and traditional Senegalese dancers to perform at the wedding.  They sent them over to entertain us as well. It was fabulous.  I will try to upload some pictures.  

So the theme here seems to be very hard, challenging, emotionally draining work followed by great relaxation at beautiful little oases.  Next weekend we are hoping to get back to Robertsport, the little surfing community that we went to last year.

Hope everyone is well......

Trish

Back in Monrovia!

Hi Everyone-

Sorry to take so long to set up a posting.  I have been busy!  I arrived here with absolutely no problems. Our flights were great.  I travelled here with one of my pediatric colleagues, Donna Staton. She is a pediatrician from Weston who has done a lot of international health work and is interested in getting involved in this project. 

 Shortly after arrival, we got right to work, working on the pediatric service at JFK.  Days in the hospital are really quite amazing.  You literally do save lives (and lose lives here).  We have several pediatric patients on our service now.  Some clearly have survived from the knowledge and persistance of the team here.   Others don't fare as well. We had a very sad case of a 10 year old girl in the emergency room yesterday.  She was very sick with asthma and pneumonia and on oxygen. We really weren't sure we could even save her.  While rounding on her, her mother approached us to tell us that she wanted to take her home to see a traditional healer (herbal doctor or "witch doctor").  We tried several times to convince her that she needed to stay, and that she would surely die if the mom took her out of the hospital.  Her relatives told us that we were American not African, and she shouldn't listen to us. She ultimately decided to leave with her daughter.  Walking back to the dorm, there wasn't a dry eye among us......we knew she wouldn't make it.

Better news,....Each time I come to Monrovia, it is very encouraging to see the amount of progress that this country is making.  The city is cleaner, and there is so much new development. In fact, we went out to beautiful restaurant and casino the other night that wasn't even here last year.   One of the volunteers who had been here for 2 months was leaving, so we all took her out to this very posh restaurant on the ocean. Dinner only costs about 20 -30$ at one of these places!  No wonder I come here :)

Hope everyone is well. I have hardly taken a picture.   Will post some soon!

Trish