Over the weekend, the ship was pretty quite since MS doesn't do any surgeries on the weekends. Then Monday came and the ship became lively. I had a moment at breakfast when I saw a ton of people in blue MS scrubs. I thought whoa, what we are doing is pretty cool. Dorky, I know.
A little later that day, I had a 6 hour orientation of what work is going to be like in the ward. We went over a lot of paper work, it was exhausting but I was excited to get started.
Later that evening we had more safety and security orientation. I learned about things I would have never thought of. For example, how we can never tell people when our official sail date is because of stowaways and if a stowaway makes it to the next country it cost MS $25,000. Also I heard stories what it was like when MS was in Liberia during their civil war. MS had the UN guarding the area they were around and often times the crew couldn't leave the ship at all for extended periods of time. So Benin is a very safe place.
Tuesday
I got up early and got ready for my first day of work. I was definitely nervous and thinking I have no clue what I am doing. I got even more nervous when heard report. All these surgeries that I have NO idea what they are or what they entail. Then on top of that dealing with paper charting, random supplies that are always changing because most of them are donated, and dealing with 10 patients per room and their family member, and all the translators and medical staff. It makes for a very cozy room to say the least.
After a couple of hours I started to settle in and got use to the flow of things. I had a very busy day but it is more dealing with social issues and educating. Some people are unable to read and write so you have to explain everything. Furthermore if you can't read or write they will sign consent forms with their finger prints, which was the case for one of my patient's mother today.
The nurses told me that I will eventually slow down to African time. Things are slower here and not rushed, as they probably should be. Today for example, we had a 3 year old boy who was the brother of a patient running around playing soccer in the ward. Kids who are able just roam and everyone plays with them. We had music playing in the ward today and all of us were dancing. What is amazing all this can happen and all the works still gets done.
Furthermore, the caretakers do everything that they possibly can. There are no complaints like the USA. Caretakers have to sleep on a mat on the floor, they have to share a bathroom with a lot of people but they never complain and are so happy to be here. Honestly it is going to be tough going back to the States to work when parents don't do the simple things for their child or they complain about being cold, which they always do.
I saw a girl today who had an infection on her face that was eating away her nose. The said thing about it is that MS doesn't know what the bug is. So we had to send her home for a week until we can get the results back. It is so sad, she has been here for a month and the IV drugs are not working and we are funning out. Also I saw a woman who had a tumor covering her eye. Another man who had a mass coming out of his chin so "his chin" was hanging down approximately 3 inches lower then normal. There are so many other crazy things I will see.
Tomorrow morning I am going to an orphanage, which I am very excited about!!
I have learned that MS is considering or wanting to buy 2 more ships: one to work in east Africa and the other in Asia. I would cost them $125 million per ship, which is crazy. I can see why they can't pay their volunteers. Their operation is huge here and they have to raise money in the millions, just to make the ship operate, let alone all the things they do outside the ship and in the field.
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