Our Morning at a Refugee Camp

This past Friday, Emily and I had the opportunity to go with our neighbor Dr. Don Sampson, an American pediatrician, a Nigerian doctor, and five other people on an outreach here in Jos. Our patients were displaced residents of Jos who are in a refugee camp about 20 minutes from our house. We passed a burned out mosque and another intact mosque with armored cars and soldiers actively guarding it on our way to the camp. For three hours that morning the patients streamed in, the first ones being very tired-looking soldiers with their automatic rifles still slung over their shoulder inside the clinic. Their complaints were insomnia, chest pain, malaria . . .no wonder after what they have gone through the last couple of weeks. The patients that followed were a mixture of men and women, Christian and Muslim all living together in the same camp. In all, we saw almost 60 patients: everything from hypertension to malaria, dizziness and a possible broken hand on a toddler. Emily and I are now quite proficient at filling prescriptions in a very makeshift set up. Dr. Sampson and Dr. Dennis were able to keep us busy with a steady stream of patients needing medicines. As a side note, Emily escaped yet another marriage proposal . . .and the clinic escaped yet another escalation of violence as one young man grew very frustrated with the other man’s interest towards Emily. Mama had to step in on all accounts and squelch advances as well as rising tempers. All in a day’s work in Jos, Nigeria . . .

Lisa