January 16th

So this morning I was feeling pretty good. I was all ready for
church when Karen asked me to go donate blood. There was a
lady in the OB ward who was not doing very well. She had
already lost her baby and was very near dying herself. I of
course agreed, I didn’t point out that I was sick since Tom and
Karen knew I was sick and asked me anyway, I figured it must
be alright. I headed down to the hospital and got a whole
battery of tests (Hep B and C, HIV and Syphilis) as well as
checking to make sure that I am indeed O+ like I said. I am
happy to report negatives in all areas (well, except blood type).
So they took me over to the OR and took out 450g of my blood.
It was a little less comforting than my usual donating but it
went well and I didn’t pass out or anything. I went over to OB
and watched them giving the lady my blood (it was kind of cool
seeing right where my blood was going rather than wondering
if anyone ever got my blood at all). On that front, she’s still
pretty ill and will likely need more blood but she’s improving
we think. My unit of blood was her 5th unit, one from each of
the medical students, two from their small supply, and then
mine. After giving blood I wasn’t in much of a mood to do
anything but Alusine had told me earlier that morning that he
was hurting (he fell out of a tree when he was young and he
said it hurts from time to time) so I went to pay him a
sympathy visit. When I got there he seemed to be doing ok, he
was walking with a little limp but not too noticeable. He had to
go to an afternoon class not long after I got there so I ended up
hanging out with Kabba (one of the other kids there) while he
did his laundry. I don’t know why but watching them do laundry
is always interesting because no two people I’ve seen do it the
same way. All methods involved lots of wear on the clothing
though. After he finished we walked over to the school where
Alusine was just finishing class and walked up to the house. We
sat for a little on the front porch but they were going off to
some other class so they had to leave. Between all of their
classes and me teaching I don’t think I’ll be able to see them
much except on the weekends. Speaking of all the classes they
take, they should be geniuses. They go to school in the morning,
then have afternoon classes and then night classes. Something
is wrong somewhere, with that much class they should be doing
much better, I don’t understand. Anyway, not to get back on
that old argument, I didn’t do much else this evening, feeling
pretty tired, so I’m gonna hit the hay. Good night all.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks