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