We arrived in Gadjibian mid morning and started seeing patient right away. We didn't even unpack.
As we walked into the dispensary, pregnant women lined the porch, sat under trees and stood near the building. All were waiting to see the "white" midwife.




Sean headed to the hospital to work with Paul, the surgeon with Kirk helping to see patients and translating for Sean. I caught a glimpse of the lineup of people waiting to be seen by the "white" doctor.



Kay and I settled in at the dispensary. I felt very comfortable taking care of pregnant women, but it didn't take long for me to understand what Kay had warned me about the Ch+dians lack of forward thinking. This plays itself out in the fact that almost none of these women had ever been seen for their pregnancy before and yet most of them were in the last 4-6 weeks of their pregnancy.





The room was small with no lighting other than the window. The light issue was a problem at times. I found myself adapting very quickly. We had a lot of patients to see so I learned to make do with what we had.
The smile on women's faces when they heard their baby's heart beating with the doppler make my day.




Etienne was great with all the patients we saw. He has a wonderful "bedside" manner. He seemed to know how to relate to everyone. He was a great teacher. I think I learned more that first day than I taught.





Pusharie is the midwife in Gadjibian. She works with Etienne. She seemed very shy, but was delighted to have a chance to use the doppler and learn the difference sounds it produces when listening to the placenta sounds or the baby's heart.

















The first picture is the hospital. The next picture is the left side of the hospital (at the far right portion of the picture) The building at the left is the storage building where extra supplies and medications are stored. The left end of the hospital houses the men's ward and the women's ward. A door on that side of the building allows the patients' families access to care for their loved one. There is no food or care for a post operative patient other than what the family provides.
The third is the right end of the hospital where the Operating rooms are located.
At the far right of this picture, nestled on the other side of the path is Etienne's concession (where his family lives). Etienne has a wife and one son who he brags is his Beau Garcon (most handsome son).




This picture is the back of the dispensary. I was standing in the same place where I took the pictures of the hospital, I just made a 180 degree turn.

The land where the hospital, dispensary, and guest house are located was donated by the town of Gadjibian for the purpose of building the hospital and dispensary. It's a great space with a lot of potential.

By the time we finished seeing patients on the first day, I was exhausted and overwhelmed. Some of the patients we saw had some pretty serious illnesses. I learned more about parasites, worms and malaria than I really wanted to know.

Several of the patients we saw were children, with swollen bellies and malnourished bodies, probably near death. I had to fight back tears. It was so hard to see the pain in their parents eyes. They had come for a miracle. All I could do was pr+y and maybe make the child comfortable. We started an IV and gave them some medication. They stayed with their family in the nearby hut. I continued to pray and hope I'd see them in the morning when we made rounds on them.

We had to stop seeing patients at dusk because of lack of lighting and we still had not unpacked our belongings. Although we were staying in the guest house, I realized while I was laying on my cot that night trying to journal, that bugs were crawling all over the place, it was very hot with no air movement. It wasn't exactly the conditions I liked to sleep in, but my mind was occupied with the thoughts of all the patients I'd seen. I couldn't help wonder about the children.

Before we had come to bed, we sat outside watching the night sky blossom with stars. It was an unbelievable sight. I had never seen stars like this before. In the absolute dark and quiet of the night I knew I was right where G+d wanted me to be, but my heart was broken for the women and children who are not valued in this culture. I fell asleep pr*ying that night and woke up feeling rested and eager to start a new day.