Just Another Saturday

The pastor with baby Rebecca

My day started at seven this morning. I got up, put on a new outfit and met with some others from the compound to walk to a nearby fulani village for a baby naming ceremony. This 2kg baby was born a week ago. She is so tiny and so beautiful. After visiting the mother and holding the baby we went out and sat with the women under a covering. They wait about a week to announce the name of the child. All morning I was hoping the pastor would hold the baby above his head and say, Simba. Spoiler alert: that did not happen. There was buildup to the name being announced. It is a biblical name. From Genesis. The sister of... someone I can't remember. Rebecca. The child was named Rebecca. After the announcement the town crier yelled out and for the rest of our time there, at random intervals, he would cry out her name. After the pastor gave his sermon the baby was brought out by a friend since the mother stays in her house area for 40 days. Festivities go on all day but we only stayed for about an hour and a half.

My new outfit
On the walk home from the ceremony

From the ceremony we drove to Maradi for Saturday shopping. Today was the first day I bought what I call fly meat. Meat from the market. I will let you ponder why I call it fly meat:

Fly meat

From the market we went to the hospital. If you read my last blog post, you may remember that I talked about to do lists from January. The very first thing on my first to do list was to tile the patient sinks in their bathroom. It was really grossing me out that they were just cement. Today when we got to the hospital, there were two guys there tiling the sinks! Eight months later I can cross that off my to do list!

Patient sinks being tiled

After grocery shopping it was time for henna in the village. Hawa, Ashley and I spent the afternoon in the village with the ladies. Haoua, the nurse in the operating room, brought a girl out to do this for us. We had been talking about getting it done since we got here. It took all afternoon and into the evening but it was a really good afternoon. Ashley went first then Hawa so it gave me time to take a nap under a tree. There was a nice breeze all afternoon and the ladies were a blast to hang out with. It was the most relaxing afternoon I have had in a long time. I don't think I would ever want a tattoo, but this will wash off in a few weeks. I kind of feel like Madonna with her 80's style gloves although I love the design on my feet. I have been trying to get my Bible study homework done this evening but I am so distracted by my hands that I don't know if I can.

Henna

This week we have two surgeries on Monday. After Monday our surgical numbers are a bit low. Because we are in the season of ramadan, people do not travel. Many Muslims also do not like to go to the hospital for elective procedures because then they will not be able to participate in the fast. Because of this, we have a long slow month ahead of us. We know the women are out there so please pray that they will come. Coming right off of July where we did 40 surgeries and we were pretty busy, I am nervous about slowing down the pace because of my nurses. Being new, I'm afraid they will become lazy even though I have no reason to think that of them.

On a side note, I have been asked to post more pictures of the patients. Being here and working so closely with the women, I would love to post lots of pictures of them. The more time I spend with the women, the more protective of them I become. I can not post pictures of them on my blog though in an effort to protect them and their privacy. Sitting with them today in the village, all of us resting on the mats, I was thinking that if I was at home on a Saturday afternoon I would probably be hanging out with some friends. Yes, the women are our patients, but I do think of them as friends. We laugh together, cry together, rejoice and hug when they come back for three month follow-ups. Today I spent my Saturday afternoon with friends and I loved it.