Congolese Live Outside

“Congolese live outside”

We slept well under mosquito nets, and the temperature is quite nice in the 70s at night. The windows stay open night and day. With no cars or machines competing for your attention through sound, it is amazing what you can hear. You can hear a motorcycle far in the distance, children laughing across the river, people cheering at a soccer game, goats and chickens, birds, bugs, crickets and even hippos at times in the River we have heard. During the night, it is mainly the bugs, but sometime in the very early morning before dawn, the rooster decided it was morning. But it seemed to know that its role is becoming obselete and no one considers him, because instead of a nice cock-a-doodle-doo, it made more of the sound of cock-a-doodle-doawww with a downward inflection at the end. In reality, our day started as all of our days will start... with the clanging of the church bells around 545 am. You can literally hear the village waking up. It is such a different experience than the sometimes isolated world of waking up in a quiet house and getting ready alone, driving away in your car oblivious to the many neighbors who are present all around you. Americans definitely live inside.

My Protector (of creatures and things...)

I spent the day in the operating room. We had at least 10 operations + minor cases on the schedule for two supervising doctors, Dr. Fina and Dr. Mpoo. I wore scrubs and a surgical cap, and changed into shoes like Crocs which were provided in the changing room as well as a cloth mask. There are 4 operating tables. Two are in one main room where a majority of the cases are performed. There is an OR for eye cases which is currently being used as another general OR area as the eye doctor is away at the time. The fourth room is for septic cases, emergencies, and GYN exams. I assisted Dr. Mpoo all day. Among many things, we performed total abdominal hysterectomy and we had a fistula case! It is incredible how many different surgeries Dr. Mpoo performs... prostatectomy, hysterectomy, hernia repair, fracture reduction, etc. And he is not specialized in any specific area. I brought a book with instructions and pictures of how to perform fistula repair. As I have seen over 40 fistula cases in Ethiopia, I was able to offer suggestions on ways to repair the fistula and discuss postoperative care with Dr. Mpoo. I also brought a head light which will be immensely helpful in vaginal cases where it is difficult to have enough light. During the hysterectomy, I was amazed at the dullness of the needles, which are reusable with different sutures. At one point, I felt the needle slip and possibly go into my finger. I have had a couple of needle sticks in the US, fortunately with HIV negative patients and no sequelae. Here, though, I was nervous. HIV is much more common in Congo. I looked at my glove, and there was  a hole in the outer glove at least. I was unable to see whether it went completely through. When the case was finished, I removed the top glove and realized the second was also torn. I have always had a puncture/needle stick if both gloves are pierced through. I removed the second glove and thoroughly examined my finger. There was no puncture. I am so grateful for My Protector. The team reminded me this evening, “A lot of people are praying for you.”

Secondly, I was sitting on the toilet and looked down. Right by my heels, there was a giant spider about 7-8 cm in diameter. I quickly got up, watched it for a minute, and promptly ran to get my camera. The next morning I looked for it again, and it was on the shelf above the toilet, eating something. I haven’t seen it since, but no one has killed it so it is probably eating insects still.

The last incident was that our yard worker mentioned that he was cutting the grass and suddenly saw a snake. Turns out it was likely a pit viper, which is poisonous. It was in our yard! I’m glad he was cutting grass with his machete instead of pulling it by hand!

**Please note, with internet scarcity, there is a delay in posting, so the above was from Wed, Oct 3. We have since found that huge spider. It was sitting inches from my suitcase. I recruited Paul to get rid of it.