Wednesday March 9

     Sleep was better last night, though still far from perfect; sadly that is no different than at home !
     Today is a national holiday: Decoration Day, when the tradition is to decorate the graves of your ancestors. Without a word of complaint or otherwise, the OT staff was quite willing to work today so we did 4 cases with Dr. Gbozee. Santiago and I each did an inguinal hernia with him, and then he and I did a large recurrent incisional hernia on a large woman. I also took a strange cyst off a man's arm; it may be just a sebaceous cyst, but it seemed odd, and knowing the large number of odd things we have seen here, I will bring it home for pathology.
     Dr. Gbozee is the embodiment of future surgery in Liberia. We first met him 2 years ago when he was an intern at JFK; apparently I made an impression on him, and he decided that he wanted to be a surgeon. I wrote him a letter of recommendation based on his clinical skill,  his intelligence, and his hugely apparent desire to learn. He was accepted into the postgraduate surgical training program and has obviously flourished. when we came last May, he asked me to bring textbooks for himself and his fellow residents which I did. This time he asked me to get him 2 white coats with " Lawuobah Gbozee, M.D.  Department of Surgery" on them, and I was happy to do so. He is wearing them with obvious, and deserved, pride ! He is well-organized ( not necessarily a trait that comes easily to the Liberian people), exceptionally motivated, and really a joy to work with and teach. Today was exactly what I had been hoping for in this Liberian experience: the opportunity to work with a resident/student who has a mind like a sponge, soaking up every bit of teaching I could offer. I loved it.
     Robert Dolo came by to pick up the things I brought for him from Karen. He has moved into his new building which we saw under construction last May ! It was great to see him again.
     Adamah asked us to go to a meeting organized by the country director of the Peace Corps to informally bring together some groups working in healthcare in Liberia. The Peace Corps has a subset now called the Global Health Service Partnership which places doctors and nurses in countries to help educate in medical schools, hospitals, and the like.The group has an interesting, if esoteric in some places, discussion of the desire to have all of the NGOs and others work together without conflict, following the agenda set forth by the Ministry of Health rather each organization's own agenda. Hopeful thinking for sure!! One of the people there was Sister Barbara, whom I immediately recognized from the documentary " Liberia: An Uncivil War" as being the kick-ass nun who was working to save children in a war zone. Lest night she demonstrated that she still has the kick-ass spirit, and it was enjoyable and enlightening to hear her speak.
      After the meeting we went to what was formerly Taj for dinner with Adamah and his 2 traveling companions, and then Lydia joined us. After dinner we went back to the Royal and crashed.