Last few days

14/2/22

So today I got up early to see an elective C-section, but as I was getting ready for it, I had a call from Asha to attend a meeting with Dr Amal, alongside Dr Asha, Dr Abdulahi and Muna, who is involved in logistics and finance, together with a guy called Thomas who runs a series of schools here in Hargeisa. Together, the school and the hospital have built a partnership in order to ensure the pupils at the school receive some form of healthcare check ups and provide the opportunity for parents to ask any questions they have as well as to receive general medical advice. I sat in on the meeting, alongside Amanda as we would be participating on the day, as photographers as suggested by Edna herself!!! The outreach would consist of five main parts: clerking each person, height/weight and obs, dental hygiene, a sight test, as well as an overall assessment by one of three doctors who were going. Thomas wanted us to get through effectively triaging all 80 kids in 2 hours, which seems like a tall order, so Asha asked for an extra 30 mins!! Dr Asha is in charge of this outreach work, so I am looking forward to seeing her in action! We will be taking student nurses, dental students, medical students as well as public health students to help carry out these health checks.

After the meeting, I head missed the first C-section, but luckily for me, another was ‘imminent’. Imminent here means, the cleaner will scrub the theatre when they get round to it, then someone at some point will check to see if the theatre is clean, then if it is, they will start what they can for their job role before trying to round up the other healthcare professionals. I had a quick tea with Amanda before heading to theatre to find it had not been cleaned yet. After an hour or so of waiting, a few people wandered in to the theatre. The spinal was prepared and given as the surgeon was scrubbing up. It was the quickest C-section I have seen so far! The baby and the placenta were both out of the mother in less than 10 minutes from when the first incision was made. After that the uterus would not contract, so oxytocin and misoprostol were given and the uterus was massaged while it was being stitched together again. Then it was put back into the abdomen and each layer was stitched one by one. The whole procedure took less than an hour.

I had lunch, before prepping what I needed to for class and chilling with Mubarak and Saeed (a T+O surgeon, with no T+O equipment – apparently a shipment is on its way from China?!)! Then I went to teach with Amanda and we had a pretty successful class. The nurses (and midwives) are definitely improving their English skills, which is promising for their looming test in a few weeks time! After class, we went to Nomad for a quick coffee and cake, before we headed back as Amanda had a uni welcome thing she had to attend. I had dinner and then headed out with Mubarak for a long promised mojito! The first place we went, Assod Hotel, did not have many of the mojitos on the menu, so we upped and left and headed for a hotel with a rooftop and very comfy chairs!! We ordered our strawberry mojitos (no-jitos), which were a whole lotta strawberry and no soda, and enjoyed them with a top-up of Sprite!! We had our own booth, so I could be free from my hijab! Afterwards, we headed back, I tried to help Mubarak with his first blog, before I went to bed!

15/2/22

Had a bit of a lie-in – seems they are becoming a habit – ooops! Then had breakfast and then coffee with Mubarak, missed a suturing class, which I haven’t done since pre-uni at a random nursing course in Nottingham, to make the trip to the government hospital to get my covid test done. Afterwards, I went to find Asha, who wanted to take me to the tailor to get my dress fixed, since they made it super tight on the arms and also so long that it drags on the floor and is a trip hazard! After leaving my dress for alterations (who am I?!), we tried to figure out the logistics of the outreach work we were going to be doing the following day. Originally, Asha wanted to take around 50 students, but logistically, this was difficult, so in the end we took 20, and they needed to be split across a registration station, to record names and ages, a nutrition station, for heights and weights, an observation station, for oxygen sats and pulse and a sight station. There would also be a medical station with both a doctor and medical student. We collected equipment from around the hospital and put it in boxes ready for the morning. I then popped in to check on Mubarak who was baking unsupervised for the first time!! The cake was in the oven and looked good so I just assisted with the icing. All in all a great success – my cake maestro work is done!!

We left the cake cooling and headed out on foot, to go visit Mubarak’s family home. It was very close by to the hospital and only slightly off one of my usual walking routes, but because it was time for the afternoon nap, the streets were empty, with only goats about! His mum welcomed us warmly, before leaving us in the living room with a tray full of popcorn and Somali tea. I met Mubarak’s two cousins who were also living with him and his mum, since their own mum had died. The boy, had graduated uni and was applying to jobs, and the girl was hoping to study engineering at uni, and was waiting for Mubarak to confirm that he had the funds to support her through it. In their house, Mubarak is the only earner, since his mum can no longer work due to diabetes, his dad has left, and his brother has an expensive kat habit! It seems like a big responsibility, which I could not imagine doing myself right now!! Respect! I ate a disgusting amount of popcorn before we left!!

On returning to the hospital, I went to teach my final English class with Amanda where we worked on referral/discharge letter and did some scenario speaking practice. Then one of the students gave me a heartfelt thanks when I said that it was my last class! Afterwards, I met Asha for a walk through the village to get some chapati or Somali bread. We headed our usual route, past the chapati lady up the hill, we walked pretty far and we bumped into Asia, who works in the kitchen in the hospital chilling at a roadside food stall. The owner of the stall, who was cooking simultaneously in five large pots, was her neighbour and friend. The food smelt really good, and we stopped so Asha could pray, and I sat and chatted with Asia and her neighbour with Asia translating when necessary. Then we continued on up the hill, past a baker’s shop, which was still closed for prayer. While we were lurking around the bakery, there were three teenage girls who were shouting at me and Asha in Somali ‘come here, come here’ – they were curious. We eventually turned round and headed back to the bakery. It was open and the guys who ran it were also curious and were nice enough to let me have a look at their bakery on Asha’s request. The oven was a huge dome, like a pizza oven, and they said they could make 1000 breadsticks at one time -craaaazy! We bought six small sticks for $0.25 and I munched two of them on the way home. Then I had a little dinner, before getting ready to go to Jumeira with Mubarak.

We made it to Jumeira around 21.15, to find an almost empty car park – apparently Tuesday is not the day to party! I was lucky to get in, since they had a sign outside showing all of the forbidden things, of which I hit three off – cheap ‘sheet’ dress, flipflops, and a loose hijab, which I was intending to take off!! Kenny and his Swiss friend Nico met us there and we attempted to chat over the very loud live music. Of course, there was the solo strange drunk old man, dancing on stage with the performers as there always seems to be. He looked like a grandad but had hilarious moves that were almost slick!! A few people danced, but they danced behind curtained in booths. Nico asked me about my experience here, as well as asking me what it was like to be a woman here. I answered honestly – it’s terrible! Not everything is terrible, but when you compare life as a woman here vs in Western society, there are so many old-fashioned expectations and so many limitations. With only a day to go, I am very much looking forward to being a little more free again!!