Right to Sight Eye Clinic

The past two weeks in Senegal have been some of the best of my service. The non-profit organization, “Right to Sight and Health (http://www.righttosightandhealth.org/),” came to the Tambacounda Regional Hospital with the intention of restoring sight through providing cataract surgeries for those in need, while training a local nurse to continue providing care. Tamba volunteer Anna's dad, optometrist Rick Alsobrook, joined Right to Sight to do consultations, identifying cataract surgery candidates and checking patients visual acuity to provide glasses or medications to correct vision.

As Peace Corps volunteers our biggest role was to provide translations between the American doctors and nurses and the Senegalese patients. We ended up having a much more hands on role in the whole process assisting the doctors and nurses anyway we could.

My job the first week was to work with post operative patients. We took off their bandages, cleaned their eyes, gave them a series of drops, translated for them for their day one check up and then gave them instructions on how to take care of their eye. It was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.



One day a 19 year old came in for a consultation. She was completely blind in both eyes. The doctor said her cataracts were so dense that it was very likely surgery would produce no results. He decided to go ahead and give it a chance considering her age and the fact that she had nothing to lose. The next day another volunteer removed her bandage and as I walked by her she grabbed my arm and said “I can see you!!” Tears immediately filled my eyes and I knew that if nothing else came of this mission it would still have been completely worth it.



This is her, Oulymatu Sow, with her sister and myself, after getting her 2nd eye surgery. She can now see out of both eyes and be an independent 19 year old woman.
The second week I had the chance to work in the operating room. As volunteers our job was to get patients ready for surgery by numbing their eyes with drops and cleaning them with iodine. During the surgery we would light the alcohol lamp for cauterization (because we are still in the middle ages here), prepare the implant lens, get the doctors anything they needed, prepare anesthesia for the following patients, clean instruments, etc. When surgery was over we would give a shot of steroid under the eye, give a series of eye drops and patch the eye. It was so neat to have such a hands on experience in the OR.



We also get to repeatedly watch surgery. An added bonus was that we had a teaching microscope so at times we could watch the surgery at microscopic level and see exactly what the doctors were looking at. It felt like I was watching discovery channel.



The results of the mission were amazing. 185 surgeries were performed. Countless consultations were conducted. One nurse was trained to do the surgery and can continue to correct cataracts. Other nurses were trained to use equipment to better check visual acuity and identify eye problems.

The end of the two weeks was bittersweet. I was exhausted but after feeling productive everyday and being involved in a team working for something so positive it was hard for it to end. At the end I really felt inspired. The doctors and nurses were so dedicated and in love with their jobs. I enjoyed what I did so much I could see myself going into nursing or medicine. To show patients compassion, be their advocate and work towards their better health was so satisfying.

Biking in the name of America...also why is there weave in my millet

To celebrate America's birthday this year I got bamboozled into taking a proposed three day bike trip to Kedagou, where the Peace Corps volunteers of Kedagou region throw an annual fourth of July party. The first day was a 70 k bike ride from Tamba to my site where I met several other people along the Gambia River. I was excited to not only get my first non-neighboring visitor, Kim, who had traveled all day from the North to see my site before heading to Kedagou, but also Anna, Jillian and Kourtney from my stage, Austin a Tamba PCV from a previous stage, and Aude a Tostan volunteer living in Tamba. We all spent the night a my site. We were very resourceful with sleeping arrangements. Aude in her hammock, Kim and I on a discarded donkey charet, Kourtney in her tent and the rest of the crew on mats in my backyard.

The real fun started at 5am on July 2nd with the call to prayer. Kim and I had last minute decided to join the bike crew and after waking up to the blaring mosque we all packed up and began a day we could not have previously imagined. Our plan was to bike around 70k before the extreme heat of the day and stop around noon to refill our water and eat lunch at a little “hotel” that a previous group had told us about. All of the second day was to be done through Nikola Koba National Park, which is government protected land without any shops along the road. We each had around 7 liters of water and a bean sandwich to tide us over until we reached this hotel. We biked and biked and biked thinking our break destination was just around the corner until we realized it was 2pm and we were being stupid biking through the heat of the day.

A few people got overheated and stopped to rest while another group member started experiencing major dehydration and continued biking serpent like with all her effort up a huge hill. I followed her and at the top she got off her bike and couldn't breath. She was acting delusional and after some salt replacement and rest in the shade things got better, but we started worrying about our lack of water for the next supposed 30-40 kilometers. At this time the other portion of our group had been chased out of their resting spot by baboons and the oncoming threat of warthogs.

While we were discussing how we were going to solve our water shortage a huge storm rolled in. The wind picked up and rain started pouring down. The song, "I bless the rains down in Africa," will forever have a new meaning. Freezing we started collecting rain water and huddled up into a group under the biggest tree we could find. In the matter of a minute we went from worrying about heat exhaustion to hypothermia. We started taking turns on the side of the road waiting for a car to either give us water or take us the to our destination for the night. We got lucky and a car of Peace Corps Volunteers rolled by. They gave us all their water and after the storms slowed down we continued on our way.

After 50 kilometers we finally found a sign for a “hotel,” and started off the beaten path towards it. The sun was setting and everyone was exhausted and frustrated. The half mile long path was one giant mud puddle completely sabotaging our bikes and to make matters worse we were followed by devilish children the entire way. We reached our destination and after they tried to overcharge us for a half hour we reached an agreement and settled into our nasty hotel room. We had biked 85 miles through the hills in all kinds of unusual circumstances, but our group could not have been better. Everyone was positive and at the end of the day we couldn't help but laugh our heads off.

The next morning we planned on riding our last 40 k in the mountains to a beautiful hotel on the Gambia River, but by the time we got done cleaning our bikes we couldn't have made it before the heat of the day. We rented a car and got there as quick as can be and plopped our butts rights by the pool. It couldn't have been a better decision!




The rest of the weekend we spent celebrating America. I got to catch up with all the amazing people who I spent training with, eat yummy food, drink yummy drinks, play games, speak English, listen to and dance to American music, and even had a fireworks show. There was a 5k run coordinated by volunteers in which both Senegalese and volunteers participated in. Spence ran it in jellies. We also floated down the river which was relaxing besides the possibility of hippos. I have to say Senegal is pretty good at celebrating America's birthday. Now back to the village...