My Time in Nigeria

So I love medical mission trips, but this was not a medical mission, this was an international rotation.  I chose my country, since it was exactly where my inspirations begun and my country is the only reason I haven't given up.  I left my country at a tender age of 14 years old and decided that I wanted to see what I was up against.  I spent one month in Obstetrics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi and what an amazing time.  I stayed with one of my best friends (aka my mother-in-law) we can talk about anything.  Jude's younger brother, Bede drove me to work almost every day (40 minutes), he also is a great person to chat with.  Very out going, funny and intelligent. Then I met even more great people at work everyday.  My call buddy, Udegbunam (I had 3 out of 8 calls with him); silly Masquerade, who knows how to make me laugh; Zeb is quite a character and is prepared to wiggle his way out of anything; then there is Dr. Okor who is always ready to fire with questions, hardworking and hillarious- he made me laugh everyday; then there is Dr. Ezebialu, very easy to talk to and very nice; then there is Ugboaja, their Chief resident, he is interesting and he was a good body guard, lol, I got to do a lot more while he was around, because he had so much confidence in me, we learned a ton of surgical skills from each other; then there is Ugboke who is hillarious though I don't always understand what he is saying ... then the House Officers, Ogechi and Nneka, who let me shower at their houses, very smart, and so on.  I can't mention everyone's name but I had a great experience.  Met the great profeessors and the consultants.  

I learned a lot about the differences in culture, it was something to get used to.  The men had so much power over their wives and it was understood and acceptable to the women.  The women were beaten while giving birth, it was understood that it motivated them to push harder.  Keep in mind that they were unblocked and the docs were men.  The midwives would scold them but not beat them, well at least I didn't see anyone.  The sad thing is patient look for docs that hit, the harder you hit, the more patient's you'll get.  They are convinced that it magically causes quicker delivery and less episiotomies.  This was one example of them Nigeria involving in terms of the value of women. Despite this anoying part, Nigeria is doing a great job, they've done great with the few things they have, very intelligent and get the jobs done.  I love my country but I still wish I could convince them to change a lot of things.  The above picture is me performing a c-section on a woman with twin gestation. ....I cannot tell you everything, I would have blogged more but there was no internet.  I will be giving a presentation on this in a few weeks....with my feministic self I could not wait to come home to my prince, who knows how to value his wife.  I missed him everyday, he knows how to brighten my day and yes my audience I am more in love with him than I was the day we got married.  He still makes my heart skip a beat; this year thought us something that we are frustrated with living apart and we want residency to end soon so that we don't have to spend thousands just to see each other.  Reunited with my boo.