Innovation

The power is functional perhaps 60% of the time in Suubi. I was working as clinic administrator, entering patient data into the computer system, when the lights went out. That is when it dawned on me – the importance of “save”. I had just completed 30 patient entries, that had now vacated into thin air. I really should have known.

Betty, the administrator, was not in for the day, so Dr. Job had given me a quick run down on the tasks. The patients sign in on a sheet upon arrival, and all their data, post-visit, is entered on a spreadsheet on Word-Exel file. Simple enough. Furthermore, Betty performs minor triage and assessment on sicker patients, retrieving their files and bringing them directly to the doctor.

A normal orientation is one month. Not here. If you are a nurse, there are many other things they will be asking and teaching you to do. If you show yourself competent once, it seems you are competent for life. You really need to stand up and say “Hey, I am really not comfortable performing this C-section, could you please help me..” Well, not quite to that extent.

Administration was not the only new job for the day; Thursdays are immunization days. Following administration orientation, a nurse, Cissy, trained me in the small vaccination room. A desk and sat in one corner with a non-functional computer (thanks to the lack of power), a freezer with the vaccines in the other corner, and a bench for the ladies and their babies. Cissy and I worked on giving out vaccinations until partway through lunch.

I walked home in the rain, knowing I would be needing my headlamp, or “torch” as most people seem to call it here. (The first time I was asked if I had brought a “torch”, I was thinking it was a kind of weapon-security test question. “Why no...I did not bring any flaming torches...”) Thankfully, we have a gas stove at the apartment. It has been multiple evenings that the headlamps come out and we shuffle around the living space, like fireflies through the dark, trying desperately to fry the rice, bake the banana bread, and roast vegetables, hoping that the ingredients are as we feel them to be. Every now and then, you hear a howl from a corner of the apartment. Someone who perhaps forgot any portable lighting device and tripped, or the sensation of a cockroach taking advantage of the dark situation. Worst case, we forget to turn off the light switch when the power goes out, then we all go to bed and a few hours later...HULLO...all the lights turn back on, the fan, the microwave, the kettle, the washer and the house is suddenly being invaded by power at 2am.

During the day, Mardi had taken a motorbike to the markets and picked up bags of potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and peppers. She had three pots boiling when I walked in the door. Once they were cooked, we lugged the gas can over to the mega oven on the other side of the Baby Home, to roast all the veggies together. Turns out that gas stoves take a little longer to heat things. At 9pm, the six of us were dining at a candlelit table with toilet paper for napkins, a large pan of roast veggies, a jug of boiled water, sliced local fruit, banana bread and homemade fudge from Sarah's family in Virginia. They say, “creativity is the fuel of innovation.” With the restricted options here, innovation will be in plenty

Dinner Time!

Left to Right hand: Kelly, Anika Mardi, Jon, Me, Sarah