Our security crew left the ship at 4am-we had breakfast at 5 and were on the road by 5:30am through town-so amazing to see how many people are already on the street-I guess because it is so cool at that time in the morning-it is easier to work. My heart felt sad to see so many people sleeping on the side walk as we drove by-poverty that is so often missed as it is not often we are up and around then.
My heart was warmed to see many people smile and give us the thumbs up as they saw the convoy of 20 Mercy Ships vehicles passing by-well aware it was screening day.
As we drew close to the National Stadium my eyes filled with tears as I made out clearly in the darkness the screening queue that had no end. A friend doing security told me as I arrived there were two thousand people in the queue already (at 4am) and more joining. We set to work setting everything up and Michel and I actually ended up walking in the first few people who were to be screened first.
We then went to our Plastic Surgery Screening Station where we worked with our translator Jonathon who is a lovely Sierra Leonian man and was one of the 179 day volunteers chosen to work with us this year-they are given a small amount of money which is great because it helps provide employment (there is a seventy percent unemployment here). Our wonderful friend and Plastic Surgeon Dr Tertius Ventor comes to the Africa Mercy twice a year and will be here for five weeks in May and September. Michel and I were put in charge of screening his patients in preparation for his arrival.
I felt frustrated to hear that people had “sold” fake tickets to the people waiting in the lines outside because as Mercy Ships we aim to give fairness and equality in the screening process and see every patient who is waiting in line. To hear that tickets had been sold was dissapointing as we do not want any price to be put upon the medical care and love we wish to show these people. They had also been allowed to enter the stadium gates so our security had to escort them out and unfortunately this caused many people to be upset as they were walked to the end of the queues which was now snaking its way through and around the city-it's tail end finding itself discouragingly insight of the beginning.
Our screening process although slow was going really well and the candidates for the plastic surgery were touching my heart. One woman had travelled from the neighbouring country of Guinea, a long journey with a foot that was completely contracted up causing it to form a stump.
Mid-morning we received report that the stadium gates and security were having trouble with the crowd becoming unruly, with this we began to pray for peace among them. At ten o'clock all medical staff were requested at the main entrance where the gates had been pushed open in utter desperation and many had been trampled leaving people everywhere injured. As Michel and I arrived on the scene were clearly identified many suffering from heat exhaustion and it was hard to know who to attend to first. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man being carried through our security who had formed a human wall and managed to regain control of the gates again. A team of us began to care for him as he was unconscious-we had three doctors and four nurses work as hard and quickly as we possibly as we could and thankfully we had all the medical supplies we required. Sadly despite fighting as hard as we could he was declared deceased and taken away. Everyone looked shocked at the scene in front of us and tried their best to continue to care for the people who were suffering from heat exhausting and minor cuts and bruises.
I stood dumbfounded as those around me shared about how mother's had been passing their babies under the gate in sheer desperation that they would be seen and helped by our medical screening teams.
We slowly made our way back to our stations and continued to screen patients, however it was only minutes before we were given strict instructions by security to pack up and leave.
Michel and I found ourselves ourselves back on the ship after an hour of Freetown traffic, our minds reeling from the day.
The whole ship feels a little rocked and subdued at present however overall the atmosphere is still united and there has been a debreifing time which has helped a lot. The screening that was to take place tomorrow has been postponed and our leadership are working hard to find a solution to how we can screen the people and still maintain their safety and our own. We were very sad to hear that two people have been arrested by police who were found to be deliberately inciting the crowds to hysteria, the motivation for this we are not sure about. Thankfully no Mercy Ships person was injured today-just a little shaken up.
Disclaimer: I serve with Mercy Ships. Everything here, however, is my personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Mercy Ships.
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