And so the last of the project for this year is at an end and it was gruelling. Imagine doing practical examinations for 104 students (20 to 21 students per day for 5 days and then an extra day for the resit examinations for 14 unfortunates).....very long hours. In the end I was pleased to present a gift to the first 10 students with the highest grade throughout the module. It was unexpected and greatly appreciated by the students and the school management. Hopefully it would be seen as precedence for the other groups to do their best at whatever level – they never know when they will be rewarded.
Michael and the girls did well with the long days without Mummy. Joelle had a holiday not too much to her liking but she has to learn ( if she hasn’t already) that her expectations will not always be met and whatever life throws at her she needs to make the best of it – find the best of and enjoy as much as possible. For Janelle it was great just to be able to go for long walks to see the butterflies, goats, sheep and birds.....so simple (for now).
We are at the point where we can look forward to going somewhere we all like (not sure where yet), but just having the opportunity to be at that point of your life is amazing. We’ll keep you posted. However, before we are due to go on furlough I have to coordinate the project again for the next set of students early next year. It will be different because the school is due to have 2 of their workers back from their post basic midwifery training – so for the first time since we have started helping the hospital and school I’ll have some help. I will be preparing to hand over the ‘baton’ to these colleagues.... a milestone I am really looking forward to.
This journey reminds me of the first time we came to SL in 2007. The trip from Freetown to Segbwema was a long torturous 10 – 12 hours with mandatory stops at Moyaba Junction, possibly Bo and definitely Kenema before we even considered the ‘bone shaking’ session from Kenema to Segbwema. If one was very unaccustomed to this trip then an overnighter at Kenema was a definite must. We became very accustomed to this journey and could skip the’ Bo stop’ and didn’t need to overnight in Kenema. As young as Joelle was at the time she managed well with these long trips and even survived a midnight ‘break’ behind a broken down truck stuck in the mud. Now this same trip takes half the time. The roads are a relative ‘dream’ to travel on. We, of course, still have to dodge a pot hole or two on the Freetown to Kenema road but that’s paradise in comparison to what it was 4 years ago. So it is with the delivering of this module. With the first set it was a pioneering journey of discovery. The handouts were done over a shorter time and had to be at the literacy level of the students. It took a little time to work out the right level (and I’m still working at it) as the groups have been a mixture of some well read and some struggling to even read a sentence clearly.
Without this arrangement it would never have worked. This is more the reason I’m hoping the delivery of the module to the next set will even be easier as I hope the team will be enhanced by our 2 newly qualified post grad midwives. So, although I can say Set 36 is behind me, Set 37 (127 of them) awaits. I hope the report will be even better.
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