January 3rd
I rounded in the hospital in the men’s ward again this
morning (I’ll probably stop saying that since that’s where
I usually round and just let you know when something
interesting occurs). Solomon was so cold he was shivering
this morning, literally. I could even see his teeth chattering.
Sadly one of the patients I had been seeing in the ward died
this morning as we were preparing to do rounds. I don’t
know why, he apparently deteriorated over the weekend. I
didn’t do rounds this weekend (I was in Freetown Friday and
Saturday and yesterday was Sunday so I was at church). It
was really hard I think because he was only 22, barely younger
than me. He had come in vomiting blood, but they got it under
control and he seemed to have been making some progress
through Thursday when I last saw him. I think that’s part of
what makes him dying harder; and of course the mourning of
the family, especially the mother. It’s always very heart
wrenching. We sort of just moved on after we declared him
dead, there wasn’t really anything to do at that point. Other
than the sad loss of two men (another one died but I hadn’t
seen him) rounds went pretty well. I didn’t have school today,
apparently it was a holiday. I don’t know if it was the actual
reason but Karen made a comment about it being a “holiday”
due to the fact that Christmas and the New Year fell on the
weekend so they didn’t have a day off from school. Another
afternoon where I’m not sure really what I did, I rested some
due to it being really hot this afternoon. I don’t think it was
really any hotter than normal but these cold mornings make
the hot afternoon seem really hot. I had my first Honda
lesson today. In less than half an hour I was driving the
Honda by myself (not very far of course). To finish up my
lesson Solomon had me drive up to the house from the school
(not even a mile). Alusine showed up as I was returning to the
house for dinner. The kid has the worst timing; I had him wait
for me while I had dinner. I felt bad but I told him not to come
before 7 and he came at 6. After dinner I went with him to visit
the orphan school to get some of his books to study (notebooks
with notes in them) and walked back to the house. It’s kind of
early, about 10:30, but I’m tired so it’s bed time. Night all.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks