Africa Post #3

This is Tanini on fly duty/control in the OR during surgery. There were also lots of spiders in the OR on the ceiling which would sometimes beat us to the punch. They looked like very big Daddy Long Legs. It was actually pretty cool to watch.

OK. This one is for the ladies. For all of you who may feel that you had a bad labor and delivery experience. Next time, just be grateful that it didn't take place in this labor and delivery room. Honestly, can you imagine?

This is Brandie, Carie, and myself outside the hospital wall. We were the 3 post op nurses that came on this mission to Ouelessebougou.

This was taken just inside the hall in our surgical building. (Just past those double doors in the background is the actual OR and the stretcher in the hall is the one use for our lovely transports.) This woman was selling fresh papayas. We bought some and had them with our lunch that day. Not only was she very beautiful, she was amazingly poised carrying these melons on her head with a baby strapped to her back.

This is just a couple of our patients before they were discharged home.

Don't forget that this is 95 degree weather. I just can't get enough of the babies.

The children when not playing were often seen doing chores.

I asked if there were any wild animals in Mali. Lions, Zebra, Giraffes maybe? No. I was told that there were donkeys and goats. (Although they did say that there were hippos in the Niger river a couple of hours away). Honestly, there were donkeys, goats, and chickens roaming everywhere. They didn't seem to belong to anyone.

---Allison