X-ray Project – Fundraising completed…

I am very pleased to provide you with an update on the x-ray project and happy to announce that we have reached our fundraising target! This is great news for Ola During Children’s Hospital and the children in Sierra Leone.

More good news is that the equipment is scheduled to arrive on the 18^th of May and a clearing agent is already processing the paper work so that we get the equipment out of the port within days of its arrival. Meanwhile, the recruitment process for x-ray technicians is underway and a Canadian radiographer arrived last week to help set up the x-ray department and further train the technicians over the next 4 months. The radiography staff will undergo a radiation protection safety training in May 2013 and the Radiation Protection Board will come to inspect the x-ray department in June, which is when we hope to have the x-ray department up and running.

I continue to be very excited about this project because I know that a functioning x-ray department will have a positive impact on the care we can provide for the children in the hospital. I look forward to the day that we no longer have to send children across town to Connaught hospital for x-rays!

I would like to extend my appreciation to everyone who raised money for this project, as friends and family of Welbodi Partnership staff made over 150 contributions over the past 9 months. I would also like to thank the various Foundations that have made significant contributions to this project.

Tenki plenti.

A new home...

I am thrilled to report that the little boy with the cleft lip/palate (see previous posts) has been placed in an orphanage. I was not very clear in the last post, but the 'safe' place the boy was staying at, was actually the Children's hospital. Not exactly an ideal place for a little baby needing a home, but better than no home at all and certainly better than him being taken upcountry to be sacrificed back to the devils! For five weeks his father took care of him in ward 1. It was pretty amazing to see the love this father has for his child. 

It was very surreal on Wednesday to be on the ward with a social worker from an orphanage, telling the father that the day had come. Finally, his son can be placed in a good orphanage. The father smiled with relief. Although he loves his son very much, he has struggled to take care of him and knew he would not manage outside of the hospital. A solution had come. 

So, after going through various processes, it was time for the baby to leave the hospital. He had now spent a quarter of his life in the hospital. The nurses were happy to know he now has a home but also sad to see their little friend go. It was great to see the way they sent off this little baby. Lots of hugs and kisses. 

The place he has been placed is a 5-10 min drive/30 minute walk from my house and so it has been easy so far for me to visit after work everyday. I am glad to see that he is being well taken care of. Unfortunately when I visited yesterday, he had a fever again so I am praying for a quick and full recovery for him. 

I'm not sure what his immediate future holds - what will his mother do when she returns from Freetown once she is well? what will happen after he has had surgery? - a lot of unknowns but for now, I know he is in a safe place with many aunties and other children who are eager to see him do well.

Paediatric Primary Exam...

It's hard to believe that it has been 6 months since I took the dreaded primary exam - the entrance exam for residency training through the West African College of Physicians. It's also hard to believe that I am planning to re-take it in 6 months time. It all seems very daunting, but I think I owe it to myself to give it one more try! So, soon I will be focussing more on studying...more time in the books. More genetics, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, etc. Hopefully this time I will feel more confident and the hours and hours I put into studying will pay off in the end. I suppose all I can say is that I am going to do my best and try even harder than last time. Fingers crossed I'll have a good result. 

To all those taking the exam this Friday - good luck!