Blessings and Random Connections

I've been very fortunate and blessed to have met some truly nice people.  Whether it was the story of how I ended up in Sierra Leone or how I managed to get to the bus station without getting mugged.  

How I ended up in Sierra Leone:

People keep on asking me how I ended up in Sierra Leone, and I have to refer them to my undergrad days.  How on a whim I took a global health class (D-Lab) focused on developing appropriate technologies like peanut grinders or making charcoal from sugar cane waste.  I had a 50% chance of getting in, and I got in.  We ranked places we wanted to go, and seeing Sierra Leone is still recovering from civil war, I ended up with it.  The trip itself was interesting, but mostly to evaluate SL's compatibility with future D-Lab groups.  When I got to med school, I knew I wanted to go abroad that summer, so immediately I contacted Dr. M to see if he could let me go to Malawi, but sadly, all the places were filled up.  Yet, out of some sheer luck at an elective I was taking, he heard I had gone to SL before, so he asked if I wanted to help out with the new Plumpy Nut (malnutrition therapy) factory in Sierra Leone.  I said, "Yes!" and that was the extent of the conversation and how much (or rather, how little) thought I put into it all.  And now that I've gone there twice, it only made sense that for a 4th year away rotation, I would go there again, especially since I'm going into pediatrics and Sierra Leone has one of the highest childhood mortality rates.  

I was shuttled around a bit though.  Through previous contacts and the MAP Scholarship, I got in contact with the Ashers, who are a couple working as doctors in Kamakwie Hospital.  But after I had already gotten my plane ticket and visa, they told me they were leaving Kamakwie because of conflict with the corrupt Wesleyan church leader (corruption is rampant in SL).  After a month of uncertainty, they finally referred me to Nixon Hospital at Segbwema - and that's how I ended up on the eastern side of the country where I had never been.  

How I didn't get mugged:

What made me think about all this was when this one guy I met at the train station said that I was really blessed to meet all these nice people.  And he was referring to something completely different.  Dr. M and his crew here have been amazingly generous to me.  But the people in Sierra Leone have also been some of the nicest people.  When I was trying to get to the bus station to buy my ticket, people would help me flag down taxis and lead me to the right place from where I got dropped off (taxis only stop at certain places, they are almost like buses, but with fewer ppl).  And when I got to the bus station, which was unfortunately closed already, someone explained when I needed to come tomorrow and waited with me forever to make sure I got on the right bus.  Oh yes, I also accidentally got off the bus at the wrong place, ran to catch up with it, which was possible b/c of the terrible traffic, and had everyone laughing at me after I got on the bus again.  

The next day, I needed to get to the bus station around 5am, which was pitch dark. First another person staying at the compound got up to see if I needed a ride, which I deferred.  When I was waiting for the poda (van bus, see picture), a lady didn't think it was safe and convinced this guy to help me out, who turned out to be some kind of president body guard/security/public representative and he went with me all the way to the bus station, even though he had just come from a club. Haha. Club.  He claimed to have been the youngest soldier in West Africa and he fought in the civil war when he was 13.  Apparently he was super popular because when he showed me where to buy stuff, he couldn't walk a block without someone saying hi to him.  Meanwhile, when I went on this 7 hour bus trip, I almost got left behind because they had stopped, I had gotten out to buy some stuff, and was waiting by the wrong bus. Oops.  But the bus driver found me. :D  Of course, I gave everyone another good laugh.  Someone said I managed to hold up 2 buses because the other bus was confused why I was waiting by it. Double oops.