Liberia February 2010

 

The first Mothers of Africa teaching trip of 2010 was from 8-17^th February to Phebe, Liberia - a country on the West coast of the continent that is still recovering from a civil war that left hundreds of thousands dead and devastated the economy.

 

Three consultant anaesthetists from the Welsh NHS (Dr Sara Hunt, Dr Dave Place and Dr Sue Catling) left their usual work for two weeks to live with and teach Liberian anaesthetic nursing students in the hope of improving their medical education, and ultimately kick-starting Liberia’s anaesthetic service.

The following posts are aimed at giving you an insight into their experiences and the lives of the Liberian students – what are the challenges facing Drs there? How do students learn when every teaching resource must be sourced from outside the country? What’s it like working in a hospital where the electricity generator can stop because the  diesel supply  runs out, where the water is pumped from the local river, and where having malaria is ‘like having a cold’?

All posts have been written by the Drs from the trip but have had to be uploaded retrospectively due to the complete lack of internet connection in the region while they were there.