My Last Few Days

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Hi all,

Im sitting in Madrid airport waiting on my flight to gatwick but thought i could update you on what i have been up to in my last fews days in gambia.

I will write one more time after this but mainly so i dont have 13entries, its not a nice number. Appologies once again for spelling and punctuation,i am on my kindle which makes it more difficul.

Friday was my last official day on the ward so we did one last ward round. This was fairly uneventful until it transpied a small child required an urgent blood transfusion. I had the same blood type as the baby girl and was happy to donate as i knew suplies would be sterile and it would be safe. I stopped following the ward round and got cross-matched to donate. It was only half the amount of a normal adult donation and Nisha got the honour of bleeding me,I now have a massive bruise much to her dismay.

As is was Friday and a half day we finished quite early and went to Gaya art cafe for lunch. It was Stephanies last day in Gambia nd despite a lot of drama with her passport being delivered at the last possible minute she got away.

Saturday was a nice day, very hot. Breeze and I walked to Baku to see the tailor as she had a lot of material to be made into clothes. I was asking for one last thing to be made stressing the importance that I was leaving soon. We went to Leybatos beach bar afterwards and spent the day on the beach,alternating between sun, sea and shade as it was so hot. In the evening we had all the Manchester students over and had lots of fun telling stories before some people went out to town. I did not go as it was late but the outing i heard the next day was not without events. Unfortunately they were victims of pick pockets and Janines purswe was stolen only to later be returned empty except for residents permit, just as well as she needed that to get her visa for a law conference in Nigeria.

Sunday we all decided to go to the hotel pool at ocean bay which was lovely with a great pool,sun loungers and good food. On my way back I decided to walk and picked up a few things in the craft market.

Monday I had organised with one of the vso doctors to go back to RVTH to see the obstetrics department. The consultant I was supposed to meet was away on leave and I felt like a nuisance as everyone was quite busy but I did my best to help and asked lots of questions to ensure I appeared interested. I did see a woman come in having san eclamptic seizure and another lady on her 9th pregnancy (common place in Gambia) who had a suspected ruptured uterus a condition i know nothing about. It looked pretty serious but no onbe was acting too quickly. I headed back to MRC to do some admin before watching Greys Anatomy with the girls in the evening.

Tuesday we went to an MRC field site called Sukuta which was a large healh centre where the MRC recruit children mainly for their research. Iy was in many ways a similar set up to the other health centres we have visited but was interesting to see all the same. In the afternoon I picked a few things in Senegambia and Bakau before going out for chinese to sqay goodbye to Janine, he is only going for a week but it was the last time I would see her. It was a nice evening.

I shall write more about my journey and last day in gambia when I am safely back at home. Can'twait to see everyone!

Lots of love

K x x x

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Comments

[Chrissy]

Saying hello
Hey there, I just stumbeled across your blog browsing the web. I myself came back from Gambia just three weeks ago. My stay was in a small health centre in Darsilami (sponsored by a group of Germans). I stayed there for two months and had the most amazing time in awhile. Oh, I am currently training to be a nurse (last year). Just wanted to say hi and was wondering if you would like to exchange some experiences? I am planing to go back to Gambia in February (2 weeks) for "vacations" and maybe return in one year for another few months :) Can you tell, I fell in love with the country and its people? :) Anyway whenever you like, just drop a note Chrissy (from Germany)