Hospitals [Thursday, July 19]
A towel is one of the many things I managed to leave out of my suitcase in the rush of packing and repacking, trying to squeeze everything into two small suitcases. As my luggage was lost for the first week I was here, I simply air dried after taking a shower. I somehow never got around to purchasing a towel in the seven weeks I've been here, and, with only three and half weeks left, I didn't see much point in purchasing one.
Thankfully, Adam walked into my room this morning with a plush red towel he had purchased off someone's head for Le 3000. Let's just say I had forgotten how the fantasticalness of a towel.
A taxi driver from Guinea who kept trying to speak French to me drove me through the rain over to HU, and after a few hours of administrative tasks, I rode a poda back to Brookfields. I stopped by the internet cafe before going to Marianella for lunch, where John from Ireland insisted on sharing a few Stars with me. He works in the importing/exporting of heavy machinery to all over Africa and the Middle East, and was in Salone in the late '80s and early 90s until his convoy was ambushed by the RUF in 1994. He was shot up pretty badly, but somehow managed to make it out of the country. I also met Stewart, a Scottish man who is attempting to set up a national volunteering program at the Ministry of Youth and Sport
After a productive afternoon at iEARN, I returned home to the YMCA, but only for a few minutes, as Adam had gone to Blue Cross Hospital with a fever and suspiciosn of malaria. The main hospital in Sierra Leone, Choitrams, is run by Indian doctors, and while in an emergency it suffices, I wouldn't go there unless I absolutely had to, as one of my friends here had a terrifying experience there last month where the doctors said they were going to "open him up just to take a look." Thankfully, Blue Cross is much more respectable and is owned by Sierra Leonean doctor who is widely regarded to be the best in the country.
Tamara, Jyoti, Dabney, Moses and myself walked over to Blue Cross as the evening traffic had turned the roads into a parking lot. We just barely beat out the rain and delivered a few necessities (like toilet paper) to Adam and picked up his room key so we could get him some clothes as well. We all squeezed into a taxi back to town, and while the others went to dinner, Moses and I went to the YMCA and retrieved from Adam's room a few items which we brought back to Adam. He was doing fairly well hooked up to an IV and should be able to come back home tomorrow.
I've been reading a journal article the last few days that Adam's supervisor , Vivek Maru, published in the "Yale Journal of International Law" (Sumer 2006, Volume 31, Number 2). The article, entitled "Between Law and Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Justice Services in Sierra Leone and Worldwide" and reveals a perceptive understanding of justice in Sierra Leone and other developing countries.
Thankfully, Adam walked into my room this morning with a plush red towel he had purchased off someone's head for Le 3000. Let's just say I had forgotten how the fantasticalness of a towel.
A taxi driver from Guinea who kept trying to speak French to me drove me through the rain over to HU, and after a few hours of administrative tasks, I rode a poda back to Brookfields. I stopped by the internet cafe before going to Marianella for lunch, where John from Ireland insisted on sharing a few Stars with me. He works in the importing/exporting of heavy machinery to all over Africa and the Middle East, and was in Salone in the late '80s and early 90s until his convoy was ambushed by the RUF in 1994. He was shot up pretty badly, but somehow managed to make it out of the country. I also met Stewart, a Scottish man who is attempting to set up a national volunteering program at the Ministry of Youth and Sport
After a productive afternoon at iEARN, I returned home to the YMCA, but only for a few minutes, as Adam had gone to Blue Cross Hospital with a fever and suspiciosn of malaria. The main hospital in Sierra Leone, Choitrams, is run by Indian doctors, and while in an emergency it suffices, I wouldn't go there unless I absolutely had to, as one of my friends here had a terrifying experience there last month where the doctors said they were going to "open him up just to take a look." Thankfully, Blue Cross is much more respectable and is owned by Sierra Leonean doctor who is widely regarded to be the best in the country.
Tamara, Jyoti, Dabney, Moses and myself walked over to Blue Cross as the evening traffic had turned the roads into a parking lot. We just barely beat out the rain and delivered a few necessities (like toilet paper) to Adam and picked up his room key so we could get him some clothes as well. We all squeezed into a taxi back to town, and while the others went to dinner, Moses and I went to the YMCA and retrieved from Adam's room a few items which we brought back to Adam. He was doing fairly well hooked up to an IV and should be able to come back home tomorrow.
I've been reading a journal article the last few days that Adam's supervisor , Vivek Maru, published in the "Yale Journal of International Law" (Sumer 2006, Volume 31, Number 2). The article, entitled "Between Law and Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Justice Services in Sierra Leone and Worldwide" and reveals a perceptive understanding of justice in Sierra Leone and other developing countries.
posted by Paul at
1:29 PM
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