Mannequin Challenge in Sierra Leone...

Screen Shot of the Mannequin Challenge video (link below)

Last year, around the same time I was creating my #40before40 list, Jayne introduced me to a video fad known as the Mannequin Challenge. I was intrigued and entertained and thought it would be a great activity to add to my list. So, #33 ended up being: Mannequin Challenge in Sierra Leone.

For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s basically an internet trend where people remain frozen in action, yes you guessed it, like mannequins, while a moving camera films them, usually with the song “Black Beatles” playing in the background.  So, all we needed was a group of people, a venue, a camera and the song. Simple right?

As a joint activity to celebrate Jayne’s birthday and to complete #33 on my #40before40 list, we planned to create our video at Jayne’s birthday dinner at the New Brookfield Hotel. Jayne came prepared with the song, I had the camera and we had a group of people. However, none of us had done this before. What next? Thankfully, Haja was in the restaurant and had just walked up to our table to congratulate Jayne and overheard us talking about the Challenge. She told us she had done one in the past and so before we knew it, we had Haja directing the Challenge (thanks Haja!) and we all took our places in the restaurant, as customers, waitresses and bartenders and the music began to play. We froze in time while Haja did the filming to create our very own Mannequin Challenge. Some of the hotel guests and the executive director even joined in the Challenge!

Check out our video at: https://youtu.be/2KM4G-Yvvlk

We had a lot of fun and although this may not be the first Mannequin Challenge in Sierra Leone, it’s definitely the first one at the New Brookfield Hotel and the first one that I was a part of! And, this means that #33 is checked off of the list.

Thanks to the staff of NBH for helping out! 

#40before40 #bucketlist #40isthenew30 #sandraturns40 #alwaysanadventure

Social media fast, Binch and Leceister Peak...

Since my last post I’ve made progress on my #40before40 list and completed the following activities:

19. ✔Go 72 hours without social media

23. ✔Learn to cook a Sierra Leonean dish

29. ✔Walk up Leceister peak and have a picnic at the top 

I actually ended up doing two 100 hour social media fasts – one was planned in April and the other one happened after my iphone was stolen in a taxi almost two weeks ago! The first break was good in that it allowed me to focus more on the now and be more present, as well as spend time reading, writing etc. The second break was more frustrating, since it was unplanned and involved a theft!

Learning to cook a Sierra Leonean dish was great fun – we cooked BINCH (beans) with Edna’s help. It was a tasty dish with black eye beans, dried tenne fish, peppe (hot pepper), spring onions, maggi cubes (of course!), oil, tomato paste (also a staple item in these dishes) and onions. Up next, we will try groundnut soup. 

And finally, the walk up Leceister peak plus picnic was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Haley, Suzanne, Anna and I walked up with our picnic and laid out our food and drinks when we got to the top. We enjoyed each others company, the view, and various treats like cinnamon rolls, girlscout cookies, homemade pickles, sandwiches, fruit, wine and coffee/tea. We had a lovely time together.

Progress is being made on the recipes and books. I’m nearly finished with my online course and have started growing Basil. Stay tuned for news on the boat adventure and the swim to the island off of Bureh! 

The adventure continues…

#40before40 #bucketlist #40isthenew30 #sandraturns40 #alwaysanadventure

100 days to go...

In 100 days it’s my birthday. And it’s not just any birthday. On 23 July, I turn 40! Yes, 40! Yikes. Thankfully they say 40 is the new 30, so I am hoping I will be alright! Anyway, since I have never been keen on birthdays, and 40 sounds particularly daunting, I decided the lead up to this birthday needed to be fun. Feeling inspired by something my friend Haley did when she turned 30, I decided to create a 40 before 40 list last September. Basically, it’s a bucket list that I need to achieve by my 40th birthday. Of course, since I only had 10 months to achieve 40 activities, I had to keep it realistic but also fun and challenging. It's not a surprise that brainstorming with close friends and family, led to a great list.

It goes without saying, that my unemployment has proven very useful in terms of getting things checked off of my 40 before 40 list. Good timing! Some of the activities I achieved so far are going to three museums in Freetown (all on the same day), seeing a sunrise on a hill top in Haiti, filming a mannequin challenge in Freetown, making curtains with lappa using the sewing machine I received from my parents, Stefan and Genae in Seattle, learning to make a Moscow Mule in Seattle, a 10 km walk with my sister in Middelburg and a sleepover with my sister and my nieces in their living room. It’s been really fun that friends and family are so keen to help me check items off of my list. I never thought everyone would be so excited about it. Stay tuned for more stories, photos and an amazing video documenting some of the achievements, but first, let me share the complete #40before40 list with you! 

1.  Visit 1 new country

2.  Drive a vehicle in Sierra Leone for the first time

3.  ✔Wear an Africana headpiece in public (4/11/16 – Jayne’s Wedding, Kent, Sierra Leone)

4.  ✔Visit Outamba Kilimi national park in Kamakwie, Sierra Leone (24-26/2/17)

5.  ✔Attend a book club (21/3/17 – Sierra Leone)

6.  ✔Visit Bumbuna Dam  (10-12/3/17)

7.  ✔Take up blogging again (26/10/16)

8.  Swim to the island off of Bureh beach, Sierra Leone

9.  ✔Successfully take an ETAT plus course (24-25/9/16 – Ola During Children’s Hospital)

10. Successfully complete an online course – in progress

11. Get a massage

12. ✔Make something creative with lappa on my own (27/2/17 – Sierra Leone)

13. Run a race

14. Grow something green (and edible!)

15. Improve a foreign language (conversational) – French – in progress via Duolingo

16. Sponsor a child

17. Try 10 new cooking/baking recipes in 10 months – in progress

18. Read 10 books in 10 months – in progress

19. Go 72 hours without social media

20. Get a manicure and pedicure (1/11/16) at Nali, Freetown, Sierra Leone

21. A 30-day challenge – completing acts of kindness or gratefulness

22. ✔Go to the National Museum, Special Court Museum, Train Museum in Sierra Leone (5/12/16)

23. Learn to cook a Sierra Leonean dish

24. Visit Bonthe island, Sierra Leone

25. ✔Visit Haiti again but this time go see where my parents live (9-23/12/16)

26. Picnic at Baw baw (22/10/16), Mama beach (30/10/16), John Obey, Black Johnson beaches, Sierra Leone

27. Walk down Lumley beach making a fashion statement

28. Visit Bomba ice cream factory and discuss new flavours

29. Walk up Leceister peak and have a picnic at the top

30. Swing in a Color Cloud hammock in Sierra Leone (a friend’s enterprise) – hammock purchased 12/16

31. ✔Buy a teapot for myself (5/1/17 – De Efteling, The Netherlands)

32. ✔Attend one ‘Insanity’ exercise session or Aerobics session (25/11/16 – Sierra Leone)

33. ✔Mannequin challenge in Sierra Leone (24/3/17 – New Brookfields Hotel, Sierra Leone)

34. ✔Sleepover with my sister and nieces in their living room (13/1/17 – the Netherlands)

35. Write a short story or a poem

36. ✔Watch the sunrise from a hill top (23/12/16 – Haiti)

37. ✔Walk 10 km with my sister (13/1/17 – the Netherlands)

38. ✔Make Cocktails (multiple times - USA, Sierra Leone)

39. Take a photography lesson

40. Go on a boat adventure along the Western Area peninsula (attempt 27/11/16)

A ✔ means the activity has been accomplished!!

#40before40 #bucketlist #40isthenew30 #sandraturns40 #alwaysanadventure

It's time to start blogging again...

It’s been 535 days since I blogged. Surprisingly the longer the gap, the harder it is to start, so I will begin by telling you about two major life events have taken place since I last wrote.

The first is the end of the Ebola outbreak, which was declared in November 2015. What a relief and great celebration that was! The Ebola outbreak greatly affected Sierra Leone – every sector and every person in the country was affected in one way or another. For me personally, as I wrote two years ago, Ebola became a part of daily life and it was a matter of persevering to the end.

“It seems as if an hour doesn't go by without Ebola being a part of it. Whether it is during a conversation, work at the hospital, a radio programme, an advertisement, a bucket of chlorinated bleach outside a restaurant, an ambulance with driver in a protective suit that drives by, the constant thought of not touching one's face, no personal contact, a billboard etc. Ebola has become entwined with daily life. Strangely though, when driving through Freetown things still feel fairly normal. It's a bizarre situation.” 

The battle was eventually won but sadly many lives were lost and we continue to remember those who succumbed to the disease as we rebuild what was destroyed and build it back better.

The second event is my resignation in June and my final day of work as Country Director for Welbodi Partnership mid-August 2016. After spending 6 years with this great organization it was time to step down from this particular role. I loved the technical/health programming/clinical improvements side of my work but felt that more and more of my time was being taken up by the operational/organizational/management aspects such as financing, human resources, procurement and line managing. It was too hard (and impossible) to do all of that well (and in reality, two different roles anyway), and so I decided that in order to continue with what I am most passionate about I would need to resign. This is one of the biggest decisions I have ever made but possibly the best. So, I am currently unemployed – which is both great and strange at the same time – and in transition mode - I just don’t know what I am transitioning into yet! Ideally, I find another job in Sierra Leone where I can use my skills to improve maternal and child health. It may or may not include some clinical work, but I would hope it would include things like quality improvement, health programming, capacity building of healthcare workers, guideline development, supporting Ministry of Health plans, etc. (i.e. a technical focus on child health as opposed to an operational/organizational focus, if that makes sense). I am waiting for the right opportunity to present itself and in the meantime I am enjoying this transition period after a pretty intense work pattern.

This is a quick catch up for now and I will be back very soon with stories, thoughts, photos and more.

Ebola in Sierra Leone: one year on...

Today marks the one year anniversary since Ebola was confirmed in Sierra Leone. It is not a happy one year anniversary, but there is hope. Thankfully the numbers have significantly reduced from a top high of about 500 new cases per week to about eight cases per week. That is due, amongst other things, to an increase in the number of treatment beds in December (therefore not keeping sick people in the community as long), safe burials, revised messaging to communities (early treatment means a better chance of survival), involvement of community leaders, setting up labs to quickly diagnose Ebola, better treatment options such as intravenous fluids encouraging the public that Ebola is not always fatal, improved contact tracing, and hours and hours of work delivered by individuals in Sierra Leone.

Here we are, a year later. Who would have thought a year ago that we would have 8,608 confirmed cases of which 3,542 people died in Sierra Leone alone? I would never have dreamed that a number of my doctor colleagues would succumb to this dreadful disease. I would never have thought that it would have disrupted the access to and quality of care in so many of the health facilities in the country. However, the facts remain unchanged. We are faced with many losses and left with a crippled healthcare system slowly trying to find its feet.

We cannot change the past, but what we can and should change is the way forward—behaviour change, positive attitudes, remaining vigilant, ending corruption, more collaboration and coordination, implementation of training, recognizing weaknesses and strengthening systems—collectively we can work towards these goals but it will undoubtedly be quite challenging.

Numbers have been reducing since January. We reached eight continuous days of zero cases about two weeks ago and then had new cases again. Today we have reached three continuous days of zero cases. However, it’s not over yet. Cases are still popping up around Western Area and a few other districts. We haven’t seen the end but we remain hopeful that we will soon.

It’s true that the road to zero has been long and bumpy but hopefully we will get there. The road to recovery and improved health systems will be even longer, but we can start making efforts to reach targets. Together we can do this. I pray for continued energy and resilience for all those working to bring Ebola to an end. We must continue to fight this fight. WE DE FET EBOLA! (Krio—translation: We will defeat Ebola!)

Also posted at: BMJ Blog

10 years since opening the outpatient clinic in Aberdeen...

On May 10, 2005 a pediatric clinic opened in Aberdeen, Freetown, Sierra Leone. A doctor from the Netherlands came to set up the clinic and after two months of preparations the doors were opened to patients. Soon this became known as one of the best pediatric clinics in Freetown and parents and children lined up to receive good quality care.

It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since I opened the outpatient pediatric clinic in Aberdeen. At the time it was called the ACFC - Aberdeen Clinic and Fistula Centre - operated by Mercy Ships. It is now known as the Aberdeen Women's Centre and no longer run by MS. Although the pediatric clinic is currently closed due to Ebola, I am confident they will reopen in the next few months.

I remember the two months leading up to the opening of the clinic - it was a bit of a bumpy ride trying to get the community to agree to the scope of services that would be provided. I was keen to open a pediatric clinic since the child mortality rate in Sierra Leone was the highest in the world and there was no pediatric care nearby. Fortunately the stakeholders agreed that this was a good idea. 

Day 1 of the clinic went well and I soon went from seeing 3 patients, to 18 patients, to 27 patients, to 50 patients, to anywhere between 60 and 80 patients per day. There were many mornings that I had to turn patients away at the gate which was very difficult. There were some occasions in which children died in the clinic because they came in such a bad state and there was so little we could do for them. Those were difficult moments in which we were faced with the reality of the high child mortality rate in the country. Fortunately there were many children, thousands, that my team and I could help and for that I am grateful. It's fun reading through some of my blog posts from 2005-2009 to see some of the adventures I had working in Aberdeen. There were good times and bad times but overall it was such a great experience. It was a really busy time, running the clinic, seeing patients everyday, overseeing the lab and dispensary, ensuring supplies were available, etc. It was worth it though. It was a very rewarding time. A few of my nurses still work there and it is great to be in touch with them. Sometimes I run into some of 'my former patients' or their parents in town or at the Children's Hospital and it is always a blessing to know that I was able to make a difference in their lives. 

Supporting World Hand Hygiene Day with my colleagues - #safeHANDS...

Katie, myself, Bob, Yembeh, Dolphine, Aminata,
Alimamy, Alusine & Aqueelah - #safeHANDS

Today, May 5th 2015, marks ten years of the WHO Clean Care is Safer Care Program and National Celebration of World Hand Hygiene Day. Approximately 800 hospitals in the African region have signed up to promoting hand hygiene and this includes the three hospitals that Welbodi Partnership is supporting: the Ola During Children’s Hospital, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital and Rokupa Government Hospital. As an organisation we want to promote hand hygiene and reinforce handwashing in the hospitals we support. Our Infection Control teams will go to the various wards in each of the hospitals to demonstrate appropriate hand hygiene using special GloGerm to show how important thorough handwashing with soap and water is in keeping themselves and their patients safe.

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation is also ready to celebrate World Hand Hygiene day in collaboration with its partner organisations and a special event will be held at Connaught Hospital, where the Minister of Health and Sanitation will sign a statement pledging support to address health care associated infections in Sierra Leone. This is a milestone in Infection Prevention & Control in Sierra Leone and a necessary step in the fight against Ebola, as we strive to prevent any further health care worker infections of Ebola. We aim for safer health care facilities for staff and patients alike as we move forward in this new era of infection prevention and control in Sierra Leone.

Save Lives, Clean Your Hands!

#safeHANDS