Life in the wards

Life in the wards here is totally different to my life in the ward I was working in back home. After working in a busy acute surgical ward this is a breeze! On a typical shift here we start by praying for our patients and the for the shift ahead of us, after that we recieve hand over of our patients and start our tasks for the day. Quite often this includes health education and teaching our patients about what to expect before and after surgery, monitoring them after surgery, giving out medications, playing games with them and generally spending time chatting with them. Although this can be very hard due to the language barrier! So generally we have to use our translators to be able to actually communicate with them which I found hugely frustrating at first but now find it strange if I actually have a patient that can speak english!!

I very rarely give anything IV (intravenous) other than fluids, I havent done many complex dressings or had many 'really sick' patients. I take a lot of vital signs and hand out an awful lot of pain medications, sometimes I dont even feel like I am a 'real nurse' here but I must admit I still love it and I know its where I am meant to be for now.

Trip to Calavi University

Hello again

On Wednesday this last week one of my translator friends Daniel invited me and two of my friends Maggie and Bonnie from the ship to go and visit him at the university that he attends here in Cotonou and I would have to say it was one of the best trips off the ship that I have had here so far. It was a really great insight into real life for someone that lives here. He took us on a tour around the university which is similar in many ways to any university anywhere in the world but then so different at the same time. He showed us around and inside some of the lecture halls and thru the library, plus inside the student radio station. What we saw was only a fraction of the campus as it is actually really big. Parts of it were well kept grounds but then other areas were just covered with litter everywhere, it made me sad to think that such well educated people would think nothing of just dropping their rubbish on the ground and I said so to my friend Maggie and she said but if thats all they have ever known then why would they change? I guess it makes sense but it bothered me and it still does.

After touring around the campus and meeting various friends of Daniels along the way plus a proposal from one of them I might add! Daniel took us to meet one of his best friends who lives in some of the student accomodation just off the campus. We walked around with him and one of his friends and sister for a little while before heading to Daniel's house. His house was simple but clean and tidy (he admitted later that he had spring cleaned for us!) It consisted of just two rooms, a front room with a dining table in it and then his bedroom, it also had a small out house type room out the back but no running water, or toilet. I wanted to ask about that but decided it wasnt such a good idea. We sat and chatted with him and his friends who spoke ''small small english'' for a while then Daniel decided we should go and have dinner before we returned to the ship. He took us to a small open restaurant on the campus and we ate a meal of Alche ke which consisted of something similar to cous cous with a spicy sauce and then fish (for those of you who know me well you would know I hate fish so you can imagine I wasnt overly happy about his choice of food for us!) But I graciously tried it and for the most part it was pretty good I have to say!

After dinner he ushered us into a taxi and waved us off to the ship. It was one of the coolest days I have had here and his hospitality was awesome, so thank you Daniel for a lovely day!

Adventures in Dassa Zoume!

Bonjour!

Well this weekend a group of 14 crazy yovo (white person) nurses decided to ventutre out to a place called Dassa Zoume, and what an adventure we had!!

It all started on Saturday morning at 8am waiting for our pre-arranged transport up to Dassa which is about 3-4 hours away from Cotonou. We sat and waited and waited and waited until about 9.30am when we thought hmm perhaps they're not coming? So someone went inside to try ring and find out where our drivers were and werent able to contact them. Meanwhile some of our translators heard about our dilemma and came up to the dock and said give us 20minutes and we will get you a car to get to Dassa! So apprehensively we said ok, thinking hmm yeah right! How will you find us a car that will fit 14 people in 20 minutes? But true to their word they showed up half an hour later with an old ambulance that could comfortably sit 15-16 people easily, was the funniest thing ever but so cool that they did it for us.

So after driving for 3 or 4 hours along some smooth and some rough roads we arrived at our destination of Dassa Zoume. The hotel was pretty good by african standards, we had running water and flush toilets altho the shower was cold it was quite refreshing and did the job. After settling in we decided to have a walk around the town and found a huge catholic church so had a wander thru, Dassa is famous for this catholic church and for its rocky mountains, they have a pilgrimage every year in August because apparently the vigin Mary appeared there once upon a time. So after looking thru the church someone thought it would be a good idea to climb up one of these mountains, so then here we are climbing up the side of this rocky mountain in Jandles i might add, climbing thru peoples backyards yelling out Bonsoir! Ca va? (Hello! How are you?) And then some of the locales decided they just might join us so there was about 15 or so of us all climbing up this mountain, was great fun!

The next day we got up early and travelled for about two hours to look for hippos and we apparently saw one but I'm still sceptical as to whether it really was one but since coming back and talking to people they seem to think it probably was. We went out on these little canoes so didnt get too close to see for sure if it really was one!

Well untill next time Beccy

The Hospitality Centre

Hi everyone

Sorry for not updating for a while life has been a little hetic and finding time to write has been a little hard lately! We have been trying to complete as many operations as possible in the last week or so as we are having a black out during this weekend and then next weekend we are moving the ship down the harbour for refueling so we are rushing them thru and hoping to get as many patients off the wards as possible. At the moment any patients we have left are being moved to our hospitality centre. This is an abandoned warehouse that Mercy Ships has converted into a hostel type place for our patients who are usually pre and post op that live away from Cotonou where the ship is docked. It makes it easier if they need to come back to the ship for any type of follow up etc. It has around 40 beds and patients usually only stay there for a few days while transport is organised for them to get back home.

The other day a few of my friends and I went and visited some of our VVF ladies who have been discharged and are waiting for transport back up north to their villages. We ended up having a nail painting party with them and painted I dont know how many finger nails and toes! Was so much fun to just spend time with some of them off the ward and be able to take photos with them (we aren't allowed to take photos on the ward, which is understandable). I even had my nails painted, it certainly was no pedicure or manicure but it was pretty cool!

These ladies are very special despite all the adversities that life has thrown at them and they all have some amazing and unique stories to tell. They have really touched my heart while I have been here and I have loved looking after them so I'm a little sad to hear that we have fininshed all of our VVF surgeries for the year. We still have a few of them left in the ward at the moment but they will all be leaving in the next week or two. Mercy ships actually have a permanent land base in Sierra Leone for VVF patients so you just never know I may just end up there at some stage.

Well until next time and I promise no to take as long!

Beccy

Rebecca's Story

This week I wanted to share a patients story with you, her name is Rebecca and I looked after her for only 2 days but I felt a special bond with her because of our shared name so here is her story...

Rebecca: From Suffering to Joy

“I was eighteen years old when this happened to me,” Rebecca says. She is speaking in her native dialect in front of dozens of people. She is wearing a new dress to symbolize her new life as she shares her story of suffering.

“I was in labor for five days, and finally I went to the hospital. The baby was dead. And I was wounded in [such] a way that I thought I would never walk again.”

Rebecca, now 35 years old, traveled from neighboring Togo to the Mercy Ship in Benin. She had shouldered the burden of obstetric fistula for 17 years. This childbirth injury often occurs in areas without adequate obstetric care and leaves the mother incontinent. Often the woman is abandoned by her husband, and having more children becomes difficult or impossible.

At first Philip, the baby’s father, did abandon her. For the next few months, Rebecca’s family took care of her. Eventually, Philip returned. “It was God who brought him back,” Rebecca says. Otherwise, she feels she might have been alone forever.

Rebecca and Philip were married and now have five children, but she still carried the shame of her condition and tried to hide it from everyone around her. She did not leave the house, and the only person outside her family who knew of her condition was her neighbor, who saw her washing out soiled clothes and hanging them to dry.

“I worried for so long,” Rebecca says. “I was very discouraged, and because I didn’t have enough money, I couldn’t go to the hospital for treatment.”

When Rebecca eventually came to the Mercy Ship, a nurse sat with her and asked her the standard questions to establish her medical history – questions that were painful for Rebecca to answer. How many children have you delivered? How many are still alive? How long ago did the injury occur? Did your husband leave you? As the nurse paused in her questions and put her hand on Rebecca’s knee, Rebecca began to cry.

Then, the night before her surgery, Rebecca lay in her hospital bed and tears formed in her eyes as she remembered the long years of suffering that lay behind her.

“I just remembered [the] past,” Rebecca says. “For seventeen years, I have been like this.” Those years were long and hard as she fought to forget her problem so she could be a good mother, trying to find the right answers when her children asked why she needed to layer cloth beneath her before she went to bed at night.

Now, as Rebecca shares her story, there is no sadness, because her surgery was successful. Her smile is constant and sweet. She wants to sing, dance and give thanks. Rebecca goes home with her shame replaced by hope for the future. She is happy to be with her children, her husband, her family, and her neighbors. She is healed, in both her body and spirit.

“I was so thirsty and I came here to the Mercy Ship and was given a drink. You have taken care of me better than a mother. You have done everything – even clothed me,” she joyfully says as she smiles and motions to her beautiful new dress.

Story by Carmen Radley

A busy week

Bonjour again

Its been quite a week. I have visted an orphanage, been to a dress ceremony for some of our VVF ladies, to a ward church service which was an experience all on its own and have also been out and about in Cotonou soaking up the African atmosphere! As well as working on the ward of course. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself that yes I am actually in Africa. Its easy to forget especially if you dont get off the ship for a day or two. With all the creature comforts of home on board like the air con and hot showers, albeit short ones! Then you go into the city and you can see all the poverty thats everywhere here so there can be a bit of internal conflict going on. It definately makes you appreciate what we have back home.

We had our second screening day last Monday as I said in my previous post and unfortunately we were unable to help any of the 1150 people that showed up BUT Mercy Ships have anounced that they will be going to Togo next year! So many of the people that were screened here in Benin will be able to be seen again in Togo next year so it is a huge blessing for those that we had to say no to for this year.

The work on the ward so far has been great. I have been mainly working in the VVF ward (Vesico Vaginal Fistulas for those who dont know) These are ladies who end up leaking urine due to a prolonged labour. They can be in labour for up to 8 days and the pressure of the baby being in the birth canal for so long causes a hole between the bladder and her womb so she ends up leaking urine, often the baby will die because they just dont have the access to medical care like we do back in the western world. Their husbands and families often then abandon them and they become outcasts from their villages. Some of these ladies have been leaking urine for 20 years or more but help is at hand from The Big White Ship! They are so much fun to look after and are so grateful to us for being here. Many of them still have huge faith even after dealing with everything that life has thrown at them. After they have had their surgeries and have recovered we have a dress ceremony for them. We present each of them with a brand new dress and a brand new start in life! Its such a priviledge to be a part of bringing hope and healing into their lives.

I wanted to post some pictures from the ceremony but have to wait a few days for them to be ready from the communications department so will be sure to post them when they are. In the mean time here is a picture of me on the ward with some fellow nurses and some of our very handy translators!

Untill next time, Beccy

Bonjour from Benin!

Bonjour!

Well as you can see I have arrived in Benin! Its very hot, humid, and dusty! I arrived last Sunday night at about 10pm in the evening so have been here just over a week and it has gone really fast! The flight here was pretty smooth and quick from Paris altho we were delayed in Paris for around an hour or so due to security reasons, but what they were Im not to sure.

The ship is much bigger than I expected and I have gotten myself lost a few times but am slowly learning my way around. The swaying movment of the ship has been a little hard to get used to, my brain felt like it was swimming inside my head for a few days but its getting better!

I have had lots of meetings and orientations over the last week so I have been kept rather busy with them and also meeting so many new people! Its a little overwhelming and exhusting but everyone here is really friendly and welcoming so that makes it easier.

I've started working in the ward and its been great fun so far, altho they do some things very differently to how we do them back home! I have been working with the VVF ladies and some of them are hilirious, they laugh and chat away to each other and you have absolutely no idea what they are saying but you just end up laughing with them cos there is nothing else you can do! It seems to be quite laid back on the wards and doesnt seem to be quite as busy but its still early days so we shall see.

There is a screening day today but unfortunately we will be telling most of the people that turn up that we are unable to help them as nearly all our surgical spots have been filled up so it will be a very sad day for many people. I think they still have a few Maxillo facial spots left but all the general surgery and VVF is completely full.

Well I will be sure to update again as soon as something exciting happens.

Until then, Beccy