Birthday cake



Monday 26th July

Pauline and I marked the exam papers last night for the course ‘Professionalism’ for our nursing students - they all passed, top mark 85% and lowest 51%, all very happy!! Good to see your words coming back to you on paper. They really are a bright group, I do hope they will all do well. Let’s hope this course will be a launching pad for them.

They will probably all need to go to another country to further their education; as far as I know, there is only one university in North Sudan and a new one in the South in a place called Wau (think that is how you spell it), but it is just starting up, so not sure what faculties it has yet.
I hope that perhaps some of the local students will stay on here at the hospital and help to build up the nursing side. It is a constant battle to get the nurses to understand what ‘nursing‘ is all about.

Two students are already asking if I can take them home with me so they can get some education. I try to explain about visas, passports, university entrance exams, funds. Don’t want to be negative but it is a big ask, to sponsor. The hospital at the moment (with funding from donors in Australia and Italy), is sponsoring 5 people who all worked here.

One, a nurse (Daniel), who has gone on to do a diploma in ‘public health and clinical medicine’, is getting to the end of his first 9 months (3 yr course). When he finishes he will be able to diagnose, treat and prescribe. It’s in a place on the border with Uganda called Meridi. He is doing really well, we are told. Last year he was the nurse that always wanted me to show him the different anatomy and physiology programs I had on my computer. Such a bright man! He will come back and work here for at least 2 years when he has qualified.

Then another boy has been sent for a 2yr course to get a laboratory qualifications; he is due back for a practical period next Monday, so we are all looking forward to greeting him and seeing how he is going to go, and what new tests he can now perform which he could not do before. We are very limited in our pathology investigations. One reason is, up to now there has not been the training and another which still exists, is the lack of reliable electricity. We cannot culture anything to see what is growing, so just have to treat by looking, smelling and ‘gut feel’ as to which antibiotic to give. If, after a week, things have not improved, we change the antibiotic. Perhaps not very good for the immune system but it’s all we can do here.

The other three are all nurses from this hospital doing this course I am teaching. Two are in their second year and the other is a man called David who was the in-charge on the Children’s ward last year, and who has joined the school this year. So, the hospital is still paying their salaries while they do the course. Then, we hope they will come back to work here. Eventually, it has to be a hospital that is run by Sudanese people, for their people.

It was the boss’s birthday yesterday, so he held a party for all the expats, brothers, fathers, sisters - there were about 30 of us. It was lovely, one of those balmy African evenings, warm, red sunset, lots of loud frog sounds, some drumming from the drum practice in the school.

Some interesting food - one dish, I asked one of the brothers what it was, as it was getting dark so hard to see. He said ‘intestines, and this one is beans, this one is lentils.’ I sort of just had the gravy which was tasty on the beans…..

When it was time for the cake (the brothers have a wood oven, so they can bake), it came out from the kitchen, African style in a procession. All the Africans sang and danced it to the birthday boy. With lots of those loud African ‘cat calls’ - sound much better than a cat - it was great!! I did not know how well the brothers can dance, great movers, particularly the locals.

Late night, 11pm.