Interior Screening: Conakry to N'Zerekore

It was almost midmorning on day 2 of the interior screening trip when I found myself belly down over the spare tire on top of the Land Rover, hooking ratchet straps into the frame and rearranging our waterproof backpacks under the tarp.  I could feel the sun starting to bake through my tee-shirt and kilted skirt, warm on my bare feet.  Swatches of grass line the road back over the hill to warn approaching trucks of our presence: a creative African version of the reflective orange warning triangle.

Our first day had gone very smoothly: 12 or so hours in the car from Conakry to Faranah, with around 25 potential patients to screen when we got there.  We spent the night at a guesthouse, after a late evening of unpacking and talking in the wide open field out back, while fireflies danced with the blanket of stars.

We hadn't even hit unpaved road yet the next morning when a loud CLUNK from the front Landie (Land Rover) had us pulled over in the tall razor grass on the side of the road.  A verdict of broken rear differential had us splitting our team - two to stay behind with the vehicle waiting for a tow, and the rest to continue on.  We had two stops for screening that day before driving on and through mudholes and more holes all the way around the northern border of Sierra Leone, out of the sunset and almost to the Liberian-Cote d'Ivoire border.

The first two days (Part 1) in light purple.  Guinea is a big country, and an incredibly gorgeous one!

The morning of day 3 we met a few patients at the beautiful little clinic in N'Zao and met with the hospital director and officials to prepare for the "big" advertised screening planned for the government hospital in town the next day.  Only 3 days, and already we had several patients scheduled at 4 stops, with a month's worth of dirt road in between.  My back was a bit sore from being airborne between holes so much of the trip, already I had earned a designation as "trunk monkey" from swinging off the handles above the Landie doors so I wouldn't land in other people's laps quite so often.  Already my heart rejoiced in the mountain greenery and endless rice fields that filled the drive.  I went to sleep that night tucked into the mosquito net, with my headlamp by my bed and bag already packed, scrubs laid out ready for the early morning screening the next day in N'Zerekore.

The medical team prepares patient cards in N'Zao.  Sorry, no patient closeups for privacy reasons!