Today we had such an exciting meeting with SHAFS. We showed up a little early, and got to spend some time hanging out in the office with the director. Then, once everyone else arrived, we moved into this cool room that used to be a classroom. There were four or five SCD patients there as […]
Day 12: All Around Town
This morning, we started our day off with a trip to Makama Hospital. We had previously visited this facility to view antenatal care day, so because of our curiosity to learn more, we knew we had to come back for an opportunity to interview and talk with healthcare workers. That is exactly what we were […]
Days 10 + 11: Testing New Questions
Day 10 was more of an office day. The team needed to regroup and think through some of the collected data. Although the team has made some significant strides in building a network for dissemination of educational materials in Sierra Leone, there’s been a lack of clarity on what our specific research focus is. […]
Day 9: Follow Up Meetings
The group decided to split up once again on Tuesday. While Hamsa and Chibugo visited Magbenteh hospital to speak to the medical superintendent (MS), Jake and Norman went to University of Makeni’s Fatima campus. Before heading over to Magbenteh, Hamsa and Chibugo stopped by Makama Clinic for antenatal care (ANC) day. We observed the standard […]
Day 8: A Tale of Two Day Trips
Freetown On Monday, the group decided to split up to cover more ground before Fieldwork ends. Hamsa and Chibugo met Dr. Cheng in Freetown and visited a few spots there, while Norman and Jake stayed in Makeni and visited a nursing school. During our interview with Ms. Gabba at the Sickle Cell Society, we dove […]
Day 7: Serendipities of a Slow Sunday
Today was a slow Sunday. Joe was not feeling too well, so it was difficult to involve him in planning some of the last-minute things we have for next week. Nonetheless, we arrived at World Hope around 10:30 and got to work on any unconfirmed appointments for the upcoming week. Getting some tips and tricks […]
Day 6: A River Excursion
Upon waking up and making our way to the main meeting room of the hotel, we were surprised to see several wooden statues, bracelets, and other purchasable souvenirs laid out on the table near the edge of the room. A local was eagerly selling the trinkets to us and the other students staying at the […]
Day 5: “Own It, Protect It, Care For It”
After breakfast, the team arrived and World Hope prepared for our meeting with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Makeni, Prof. Joseph Sesay, and Prof. Mehta. We made some final edits to our slide before driving off with Prof. Mehta and Prof. Joseph. Arriving at the Yoni campus at University of […]
Day 4: Filling in the Gaps
This morning we had plans to visit Holy Spirit Hospital with the Mothers of Sierra Leone team. Their P.I. has been very gracious in sharing his contacts with us and serving as our point of introduction. As his team set up their equipment, he led us to the matron’s office, where we, unfortunately, learned that […]
Day 3: More Hospital Interviews
After breakfast, we quickly made our way to World Hope since we were tagging along with the Mothers of Sierra Leone team to Gladys Koroma Memorial Hospital. It was a bumpy ride over, but thankfully everyone made it there in one piece. The hospital was in the middle of a small village, and many onlookers […]