Yes I do actually work while I'm here.

The lab!

So my trip to Guinea isn't only because I love traveling and going to the other side of the world. During my four months here I will be working Monday to Friday in the lab on the ship (shortest commute to work ever! It's about a 30 second walk from my room give or take 10 seconds). For being a small lab in Africa it is actually fairly well equipped. Most of the things that I've been learning to do is stuff that I learned in school so a lot of the last week was refreshing on all of the knowledge that has buried itself far into the depths of my brain. However there are some tests that I have never done before like: CD4/CD8 counts for HIV testing and collecting blood for donations. I did my first donor collection after watching it for a couple of times (that needle is huge!). It was quite successful (as it usually is since people with bad veins are generally "black-listed" so if they make it to donating they usually have excellent veins). Everyone here is so positive about donating, its really encouraging. Actually everyone here is so positive about everything.
Here are some pictures that I took in the lab today to give you all an idea of some of the things I do:

Me and the two hematology analyzers. We use these a lot, especially to check people's hemoglobin levels.

 

My fellow tech doing some TM (or blood banking as I've been trying to say as no one here knows what TM means).

Our poor cell washer died. We were hoping the fix-it guys on the ship could do just that. But sadly we need a whole new part. So manual cell washing it is! Yay! (That was sarcasm).

Our little bit of banked blood. They just started banking recently. They used to call people over the loud speakers to come in right away for a donation so it could be given to a patient in the operating room immediately. Even with the banked blood we had to do this last week. It was very hectic and exciting.

Our "accessioning" area. All of the ordering is done via paper. Then we enter all of the results into the computer system and bring the paper copy to the ward (kinda like downtime at home only so much smoother).

The four little chemistry analyzers.

It is so weird to me that we just close the lab and throw a sign on the door telling them when we will be back. We do rotate through the three of us to carry the pager each week so if there is an emergency they can call us in.

Micro! Its amazing how much one can forget after not doing it for a while. But I'm excited to re-learn some of my micro skills.

Today's sample volume. Haha, quite a bite less then at home but enough to keep us pretty busy through out the day. A lot of the volume we get is for donor screening so those tubes aren't seen here.

So that seems to be a good representation of a pretty typical day in the lab, though some days it can be really hard to judge what exactly we will be getting in to test. We also have an instrument for electrophoresis, PT/PTT and lots of little manual tests. I get the pager for the first time starting next Monday to the following Sunday so hopefully I've got a good grasp on everything by then!

One week in!

So cute!

    What an amazing week. So many new experiences! I was so glad to finally get out of airports and airplanes.
I decided to hit the deck running, so the morning after getting here I went out with one of my room mates and a couple others, hopped in a taxi (their driving is crazy here with no lanes and people randomly stepping out into traffic. Yet somehow they manage so don't freak out to much Mom ;)), and went to one of the local churches. That was a very interesting experience to say the least. The rest of my week I shall show you mostly  through pictures, as that is my preferred means of communication ;).

Sunday afternoon the Africa Mercy team played a local team. And they won!

My little corner of home in my room.

Some of my new buddies! We all arrived on the same day.

Africa Mercy from the aft.

A French naval vessel parked behind our boat at port and we got to go for a tour!

Our tour guides at the bow of the ship posing in front of one of the giant guns.

Live African music at the restaurant we went to Friday night. First time with the newbies in a taxi and we managed just fine!

But we met some of the French guys at the restaurant and they nicely offered to drive us back to port in their bus so we didn't have to brave the taxis again. We managed to communicate with some broken French and English from both sides.

Obviously I have been working all week too. ;) Lots of new things to learn in the lab but I'm really looking forward to being here and working in the hospital. Pictures of the lab to come!
There are so many activities to do while here as well so I plan on filling my time with as many things as possible!
I'm so excited to see what God has in store for me these four months!