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!