So much left to do, so little time

I am in to the final 48 hours of my stay here, and there are some things left unfinished. I only know a few words in Hausa – Gaisuwa (pronounced Sannu) means Greetings – Sai wata rana means good bye – Ciwon means pain - Babu ciwo means there is no pain. Definitely not enough to work without a translator! My french has improved, but there are still words I have forgotten, and words I never new. On the other hand, I did get another hysterectomy done today, and got some more patients seen in the clinic. I was very glad for the surgical equipment that I was given to take along as I was able to use some of it the case today. It made a difficult case a little easier. I almost have the outpatient protocols figured out, and Saadi doesn't have to remind me too often what is routinely ordered for each trimester of pregnancy. I also wrote out a list of all the patients and their diagnoses and treatments so it will be easier to hand over to Christopher on Wednesday.

Part of the Nigeriens (it is with an “e“ not an “a“ in Niger) being able to earn money is some of the women cleaning house and doing laundry. It is sort of expected that you will have someone do this at your place to allow then to earn a wage. The women that comes to my home on Mondays and Thursdays has a small child. Today when she said hello in french, I started to ask her about her daughter and how old she was. Then I realized that she knows as much french as I do Hausa. It was OK, I got to say hello to her daughter. Later when I went to go out and get the laundry of the line, I realized she was using Grasshopers to pin the clothes up. Just joking, she was using clothes pins, the Grasshopper was just along for the ride.  He looked like the type that I saw roasted in the market place!

The Orthopedic Surgeon is also leaving soon, and he was lamenting the fact that there will be cases He cannot get to because of time limitations. The power saw is broken (no not the makita kind) so he is having to do it all by hand, and that has slowed him down a lot. Also there are some cases that will just take too long, and won't fit in to the schedule. He comes back every year to do more.

Speaking of power saws, I walked by the maintenance yard and the shop today. They were working on the hospital trucks, and were building something that looked like shelving in the shop. There really is room for everyone to get involved here.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven