Life here in The Gambia is certainly never boring and always an adventure. The last few days have been full of some interesting, challenging and stressful experiences. This morning I finally have time to take a deep breath, reflect a little, praise God for all He does and to share with you some of the “fun” of the last few days.
Wednesday started with a call at 2:30 am to send the ambulance to take a woman in labor to the hospital. Ok, no problem except I didn’t have the ambulance keys. After waking my teammate up and getting the keys the ambulance driver arrives to say there isn’t much gas in the ambulance and he is worried he won’t make it there and back. Well, gas stations are not open 24/7 here so all I could say is “call me if you run out” and I prayed if he did it would be after the woman in labor got to the hospital. God worked that all out and by the time he arrived to pick her up she had delivered and was fine so he came back home. A few hours later a worker knocked on my door early asking for his pay and he didn’t look like he felt well. So, I asked him how he was doing and he started sharing about the severe chest pain he was having any time he walked or exerted himself and that he was also feeling light headed and dizzy. Ummm, that got my attention! So, I walked to get him his pay being dive bombed by a bat that flew into my eye on the way and then to the clinic. I ended up sending the worker to the hospital, praise God he is back and doing better. However, then I realized that he was supposed to work again that night and of course he couldn’t so I had to go find a replacement for him. While talking to the replacement he tells me about solar issues with one of our buildings that I need to address (ok, y’all this is all happening before 8:30 am and before any COFFEE!) So, I call the solar repair guy and grab a sip of coffee before I run off to language class and finance stuff all day long. When I went to bed Wednesday night, silly me took a deep breath and said thank you Lord for that day but I am glad it is over.
Yep, Thursday was even more interesting. While Thursday started off a bit slower, the clinic was busy and there were lots of interruptions and other tasks to be done including a lengthy conversation with three workers about ladders and me losing some keys which praise God were found. The solar repair guy showed up right as we were wrapping up clinic and I spent almost 4 hours with him and that meant I got lunch at 5pm and I was exhausted. Figured I would eat quickly, try to catch a quick nap and then make some village visits. Well, God had another plan. As I was shoveling food in my mouth someone came to my house and greeted then just barged right in without being invited! I asked her why and it was because she was cleaning the clinic and there was a snake in it and she was running away from the snake and getting help because she refused to go back in the clinic. I went to the clinic to make sure someone was killing the snake as I was not going to do it. After much discussion the solar repair guy, the clinic nurse practitioner and one watchman did successfully kill the snake and the cleaner agreed to return to work. Ok, now can we catch our breaths…. NOPE! As I left the clinic and the snake ordeal a mom shows me her kid’s bloody leg and yep, he needs stitches. So, I sit down and start sewing him up which went smoothly except for the sweat pouring off me. Then, I was off to a quick meeting and in bed by 8:30 pm as I desperately needed it. I am praying that this trend of extra adventures slows down a little, but I know God is in control and will carry me through whatever comes my way. Hope you enjoyed sharing in my adventures.
And Friday, the adventures continued with me being by myself in the clinic trying to manage an unconscious patient on the ground and much more. Praise God for our yard workers who come when I holler and our wonderful ambulance driver who knows what I mean when I say come “NOW, NOW!”
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