Party ambulance

Another early start, another airlock, so we return again to the toukel to wait for some ‘fixing’. We sit and listen to music, showing Salay and Daniel (the actors) some photos of home and share our chocolate. This turns out to be a tragic waste of dark Green & Black, as they hate the bitter taste. I dig out some forest fruit skittles and they seem much happier. With two vehicles down we are attempting to borrow another ambulance from the hospital, but for some reason the police are involved. There is some suspicion as to what we are doing with all of these hospital-owned ambulances. Eventually Moses gets permission from the police and we get a new ambulance. We remove the stretcher from the back and pile in, ten of us and all our kit. As we thunder through the jungle with Emmerson blaring out, I sit on the cool box and smile at the absurdity of our party ambulance.

We pass the house we broke down at yesterday and exchange waves. Despite the fact we didn’t actually have a conversation with them, they feel like old friends. We finally reach Maselleh, a much longer drive than Barmoi, and are greeted by many brightly dressed TBAs. After a long welcome and speeches we are presented with some eggs and a goat (oh dear). Then we start filming with Osman, Sierra Leone’s most cutest baby (this time with the mother). Babies here seem very placid as they spend a lot of time on their mother’s backs and are often breast fed by many different people.

The Maselleh clinic really brings home to me how necessary Kambia Appeal’s support and the Lifecycle Ambulances are. The clinic is run by an amazing woman called Isatu, who commands considerable respect from the village. She is not paid, but lives at the clinic and relies on community support to survive. I find this shocking but it is apparently pretty common. Teachers and doctors also do not get paid until they have done a few years service.

Villagers come from over 14 miles away to be treated at the clinic, which has been recently renovated by The Kambia Appeal, and the Lifecycle Ambulances are already being used here to bring in patients who otherwise would have been carried many miles by hammock. The TBA Association is very strong and, like Barmoi, they are trying to start a small farm. Untrained TBAs are paid by the mother’s family to deliver a baby. The clinic is trying to encourage these women to get trained and bring their patients to the clinics. Setting up a small farm means they will secure a separate income and will be able to deliver babies much more safely.

At the end of filming, we interview Isatu about her work and the clinic’s needs and promise to use some of the money we have raised to help her get a birthing kit and to support the TBA association. As we leave, a rather mouthy local woman tells us we haven’t thanked the village enough for the gifts, so we make some more speeches and then head off.

Back at home, the base is very busy throughout the evening with visitors coming to talk about the state of affairs at the hospital. Moses and his associates are obviously very worried, but I still don’t understand how much of community seems content to let this happen. It looks like The Kambia Appeal will have to concentrate their work on the clinics and suspend its free caesarean programme, if things don’t sort themselves out.