15 May 2019
The ceiling fan circles above, clicking and wafting waves of warm air. Kids play under the mango trees outside, crunching mango leaves under their bare feet and bike tires, laughing, yelling. Behind all of the usual afternoon sounds on the...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
April 2019
Have you ever put ants in milk, just to see what would happen? Have you ever put ants in milk to see if the milk was bad? If you don't think ants are a reasonable way to test the safety of milk, then you're probably not from around here. Th...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
6 March 2019
Today we traveled 300 km to ruin someone's day.
During one of my fourth year medical rotations, the nurse practitioner who helped lead the service gave us a very clear explanation of her rules at the beginning of our rotation. One rule i...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
2 March 2019
I looked up at the large lightbulbs above our heads and wished they'd used the electricity flowing to those lights to power some ceiling fans instead. The pastor was saying something in French about following Jesus first and all the other...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
26 February 2019
Sometimes patients are the most grateful when we provide treatment for the most simple problems. Today a family carried their 3-year old into our outpatient consultation area. She started crying as soon as she saw nasaras in scrubs fr...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
5 February 2019
Part of adjusting to a new place is learning where to buy groceries. I'm still learning, but I am glad to say I've found the Wegman's/Publix/Whole Foods/Central Market (pick your favorite local bougie grocery store) of Bere.
The store...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
23 January 2019
Are some babies more valuable than others?
Of course not, right?
To some moms, though, there seems to be a difference. When a mother has had 8 pregnancies but no living children, that 9th baby is precious, compared to the 12th baby a m...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 8th, 2020
13 January 2019
I guess I'm holding a wake.
I never really planned to do this. On the other hand, one of the worst things I can think of is being stuck in an airtight box and buried alive, so a wake seems like a pretty good alternative to doing that ...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 7th, 2020
17 December 2018
I stood at the gate in the Addis Ababa airport, passport and boarding pass in hand, waiting to board a bus to the plane headed to N'djamena. A couple of women brushed past me to stand at the front of the line--the middle of three loos...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 7th, 2020
