Thursday, October 6, 2016

October 5, 2016 Dr. Carley? Old folks watch out!

2 Marching Bands and a Funeral: Don and I spent the afternoon finalizing the furniture for our apartment in Makeni. We were leaving downtown Freetown in stop-and-go rush-hour traffic Just as we reached an intersection, we were stopped by a motorcycle cop. A marching band, with people in high school graduation cap and gowns, entered the intersection from our left and it was followed by a ton of people who were walking and they were followed by a hearse which was followed by another marching band which was followed by a ton of walking mourners. After all of that turned down the road we needed to proceed on, we followed the end of the funeral procession and all the other non-funeral traffic which was behind us followed us. Then we came to a fork in the road and the police had the road blocked that we needed to go on so we were forced to follow the funeral procession down the other road that seemed to run parallel to the road we wanted to be on. But lo and behold, it only went a short ways and we ended up being forced to go into the cemetery with all the other non-funeral traffic behind us. Turning around on a one lane road was a CHORE and getting out of the cemetery was a nightmare. It took us over an hour to go less than 5 miles. Home never looked so good.

In the movie Fiddler on the Roof the song "Sunrise,Sunset " depicts a life of routine. In Sierra Leone you never have routine. We never know from one day to the next what to expect.

On the way home from the above experience, Don called the American vision Doctor we are working with on a cataract training project for local doctors. The local doctors will be trained on a new surgical procedure of removing cataracts practicing on pig eyes. Don asked the doctor if he would be allowed to be trained and allowed to practice on the eye of a pig. The doctor said, "yes" and chuckled! Oh boy! I sure am glad I had my cataracts removed last November. Whew!  

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