Arrived in Bo ... Workshop is Underway

After a long journey, we arrived in Bo on Monday afternoon. We first met up as a group in London (Ray and George from Butte), (Jim and Bob arriving from New York), and Darrius Maggi arriving from Dallas. We got into Freetown late in the evening on Sunday and were dissappointed to learn that one of our bags was missing. Unfortunately, this bag contained one of the teaching manekins (baby) and about 70% of the medications we brought with us. We are still trying to locate the bag and hope it will arrive. We stayed at a hotel near the Airport and then, on Sunday morning, we took a ferry across to Freetown where we started our drive to Bo. The drive took about 5 hours, and we were able to see some wonderful sights of Sierra Leone along the way, passsing many small villages. We arrived on Monday afternoon and immediately went to Bo Government Hospital where the West Africa Fistula Foundation is located. We were introduced to the staff and then immediately went to the ward where about 40 women greeted Dr. Maggi with cheers and songs of joy. It was a wonderful moment to witness these young women filled with so much hope and love for Dr. Maggi. Of the 40 women, 17 are currently awaiting fistula surgery, some have already had surgery and are there for a checkup, and others are there to be evaluated. On Monday evening, we had a very nice Texas BBQ at the Georgetown Resorts where we are staying. The staff of the West Africa Fistula Foundation were all there to greet us and join us in a night of conversation and getting to know each other. On Tuesday morning, we kicked off the Safe Passages Workshop for about 75 healthcare workers and students from Njala University. Jim and I are working with Jusufu Tommy, Aminata N'jai, both students from Njala University in Freetown and John Kamara who is the logistician for the West Africa Fistula Foundation. We are currently working on establishing a video connection back to the NCHCI's lab in Butte. We hope to make our first test today at 3:00 pm (Bo time) 8:00 am MST. All is well. We will write more later.