FAF Volunteers
Along with me and my Dad, there have been two other volunteers at Faith Alive during the time that we've been here, also staying in the same guest flat. Jen is a second-year pharmacy school school student from Baltimore. At first, I think, the two of us were not entirely sure about each other, but we soon bonded over our mutual love of all things edible. Together, we lead the late-night movie charge, giggle with the girls in Blessing's sewing shop, coo at the babies in the waiting room, and heartily enjoy everything set in front of us. Val is a big, middle aged woman with neon orange hair and a huge heart. She is the "anti-accountant" accountant, hailing from Fresno, and is here for six weeks to help train the FA accounting department on Quickbooks and get their records in line. It has been a huge undertaking, but she works incredibly hard and is rewarded with spending time with the all the kids from the clinic and surrounding neighborhood. Her Nigerian name is Mama G; Mama being a sign of respect, and G standing for generous.Professor C. McDermott
Today I delivered a lecture to 4th-year medical students at the Juth Teaching Hosiptal, as a guest lecturer for Dr. Chris, who is also a professor of medicine there. (Wow, definitely never thought I would be writing those words!) Last week, when I told him I would like to go to Juth one day with him to see the hospital and see him teach, he asked me to assist him with his lecture. Friday, he handed me a flash drive and told me his power point presentation was on there for me to look at- and that I would be the one lecturing on Computer Applications in Clinical Medicine in his Monday class. I laughed, but he was completely serious; he assured me it would be no problem.
This morning, I met up with Dr. Chris at the clinic and asked if he wanted to go over anything with me, and he said, "No, it's fine! It will be nice for me to sit down! You can do the whole thing." We drove to the Juth campus to get set up before the class started (Dad and Jen came along for the show). Slowly the students began to trickle in, then faster and faster, still wearing their lab coats from the class they'd just come from- over 150 in all ended up packed in, barely squeezing into the lecture hall benches. I was feeling nervous and amused at the same time ("How does this kind of thing happen to me? I have absolutely no idea what I'm about to talk about... well, guess I'll do what I always do and just go for it...") I don't really have a problem with public speaking. I'm actually pretty comfortable with it; I just like to be prepared, I like to be familiar with my subject matter, and I like to be sure that I have something valuable and legitimate to contribute. Dr. Chris assured me that I really had nothing to worry about; that probably many of these students had never even seen a computer before.
Turned out it was their first lecture of the term with Dr. Chris; he introduced himself and talked a little about his classes and expectations. He is fantastic in front of a classroom, making the students laugh and challenging them at the same time. He set out clear and high expectations for them; he asked them why they had chosen to go into medicine. Someone said, "Because it's interesting." Another said, "To serve humanity"; another, "God's will". The last young woman he pointed to said, "it's a calling." Dr. Chris at this point stopped and said that there are many interesting things in this world. There are many ways to serve humanity and many ways to do God's will; they will not get you through medical school and are not good reasons to go into medicine. Medicine is truly a calling, and if anyone in the classroom doubted his calling, he should not be there.
I introduced myself and started the lecture; I had reviewed Dr. Chris' powerpoint several times and knew the basic information there, although all I had to go on were his bullet points about topics I have absolutely no experience with (online medical bibliographic references? automated lab equipment? electronic patient medical records and specialist telemedicine?). At the beginning, the projector wouldn't stay on, then we couldn't get the mouse to work correctly, and so I was on my own for a few minutes. I was to cover basic information about computer uses, the internet, and the many ways that computers are used in medical science. It was really hard- I asked how many people had ever used a computer before... no response. I asked them to raise their hands. I asked if they had all seen a computer before. I asked how many knew what the internet was, and if anyone had an email address. They didn't really respond, except for ripples of laughter. Even though Dr. Chris swore to me that many had never seen a computer, most had never been online, and the majority wouldn't have email, I was still terrified of the line I was walking. I didn't want to insult or condescend to them by explaining common and very basic concepts, but I also wanted to make sure that I covered the material so they understood. I tried to give a few examples, and hoped that it was not too painfully obvious that I am about the furthest thing from a medical student as you can possibly get (the last science class I took was my junior year of high school, if you think I'm being modest.) I stopped at a few points to ask if they could hear me, if they could understand me, if there were any questions. They were definitely not a silent crowd, but they didn't exactly respond to me, either.
As the lecture went on, I began sweating more and more and felt like I was rushing through the final slides- the more medical-technology-specific ones that I could barely pronounce, let alone explain. I let Dr. Chris handle the questions at the end; after a short silence, a few students began to raise their hands and ask really thoughtful questions. Dr. Chris told me I had done well and that questions are a really good sign- they were paying attention. He said that he really likes to use guest lecturers because they can help students remember a lecture more more effectively than the same professor they get all the time. A couple asked me for my email address afterwards; it will be interesting to see whether I actually hear from them. It was one of the scariest and most hilarious things I have ever done.
Pills
Before my med school lecture, I spent the morning with Jen in the pharmacy of the clinic, counting out pills to be dispensed to patients later in the day (Flagyl, 30 to a packet). Faith Alive relies on donations, both of cash and medications, for a lot of what they prescribe and dispense to patients. FA is the only free clinic in the entire city of Jos, which means that it is literally the only hope for many people. All the services are free, including office visits, tests, lab work and prescriptions. Jen has been helping to organize the pharmacy- in preparation for her visit, Drs Isichei and Biana, the admin, made sure that the new shelves would be here on time. Her major project this week (she leaves two days before we do) is to get all the drugs in the pharmacy alphabetized so that it is more professional and efficient. She has met with some resistance on the part of the staff, who tend to be somewhat change-averse: they have adapted to just getting by, which sometimes feels like is all you can ask of anyone under these circumstances, but Dr. Mercy and Dr. Chris are very serious about running the clinic as well as possible.
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