up, down, and all around

today was a busy day. boy, it feels good to say that! i think my biggest struggle since coming to sierra leone has been feeling as though i'm actually contributing anything to this little community. but in the flux of staff coming and going, there are a lot of little gaps, and i have been able to pick up some of slack, and it's been wonderful.

the day started off on a really pleasant note. after devotions with the patients and staff, i reported to the kitchen for my first cooking lesson. thursday's lunch is rice with pumpkin ('punky') sauce, and it's my favorite dish out of the week. aunty evelyn said that it would be fine for me to come to the kitchen and learn. the whole of the domestic staff took on this bumbling white girl as i learned to chop vegetables in my hand, to use a mortar and pestle properly, and how to taste the sauce without burning your hand. i won't bore you with the details of how the sauce is made, but i will be more than happy to cook it for any interested parties upon my return! i was firmly pronounced an african woman, and i had a glimpse of what it would be like to have been born into an african family - the comraderie, the teasing, the community, and the social nature of all parties involved. i definitely felt like a niece of fatu as she directed me about the kitchen, described the steps she was taking, and was steered away from things i wasn't allowed to do. the young guys who came to the back door for a cup of tea and a biscuit could have been my cousins, and the other women in the kitchen my sisters. it was really, really wonderful.

everything was done by eleven o'clock, so i spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon entering data from my study into the computer. i'm such a mess, and it felt really good to be organized. my time at the computer was broken up by trips out with the ward camera to take pictures ('snaps') of patients for their discharge cards. then guido, a pediatrician from germany, came and found me. there was a girl in the waiting room of the opc (outpatient pediatric clinic) with a substantial maxillo-facial tumor whose picture he wanted me to take for possible referral to the ship in liberia.

mariama is six years old and the little spot on her gums had, in two weeks, blossomed into a massive growth completely distorting the right side of her face. barely able to open her mouth, she had begun to lose weight, and it broke my heart to see this tiny little girl sitting in the doctor's office, her feet dangling off of the floor, with tears streaming down her distended face. coming from up-country, she didn't speak krio, and i was at a complete loss for words to comfort her. i don't know what will happen to her, honestly. as best i can remember, the ship doesn't have a surgeon on board at the moment who specializes in facial tumors. because her tumor has grown so fast, it's really difficult to know how long she'll be able to last before her airway becomes obstructed or she can no longer eat or drink. i will keep you updated if i hear anything else...

in other news, seray, my friend from the ward, is dry! her catheter was pulled today, and when i checked in with her in the early afternoon she hadn't leaked since right after the catheter was pulled. i almost shouted with joy, and seray laughed at me. "yu likah laf," she always tells me (laf = smiling or really any outward sign of happiness). "i do, very much," i told her. "you make me gladi."

i also had the extremely rare treat of speaking with one of my dearest friends from school, meg, by phone today. she has a calling card, and decided to splurge on me. it really made my day. i know it's cliche, but it really was like a long drink of cold water.

then i spent the rest of the early evening researching online. it's funny the more i read about global health policy work and some of these international cooperatives and foundations and initiatives and programs, the less i want anything to do with them. but we'll see, won't we. :)

now my laundry is in the dryer, and i'm wrapping up some things for the day. it really was an up-down-all-around day...