I don’t think I’ve talked very much about the ‘Strengthening District Health Services Project’ catchy title eh, or SDHSP. Its an African Development Bank (ADB) 90% funded programme with technical support provided by UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). It amuses me when folks talk about the UN family (= UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP, UNFPA etc, half of them are a mystery to me)…. Anyway I am going off at a tangent again, its an African thing, so are lots of abbreviations! So this project ‘strengthens’ 5/13 of the Districts which are Bo, Bonthe, Tonkolili, Kenema and Port Loko, with the provision of drugs, equipment, renovation of key facilities and training. Our Mission purpose was to assess the impact was of all this support and to meet with the local communities and District teams to discuss the progress of the project. Please note that everything here is called a MISSION, I like that! I have been asked many times ‘What is your Mission?’ I need to have a better answer than the one given in my previous blogs!! 
So, back to the subject of this blog. On 23rd May we set off on a 10 day, 5 District ‘Mission’ from God (and probably Allah too). It wasn’t dark, we weren’t wearing suits but I was wearing sunglasses (watch the Blues Brothers if that makes no sense to you). First stop was Kenema Government Hospital on Sunday afternoon and visiting the new Sightsavers International service newly built on the hospital site… due to be opened by HE the President later that week. My boss was worried that the HE’s entourage wouldn’t make it up the partly completed ramp into the car park, he had a good point!
Then the Mission really started properly on Monday, but after the first morning I felt I needed to step in. The five strong team appeared to have no defined roles, proper objectives or a way of reporting back. By the end of the afternoon, we had the objectives clarified, roles agreed, a reporting format and the Kenema report written in draft! We did this in 2.5 hours as a team. This was after I refused to go off and write a report on my own, in the nicest possible way of course but everyone then contributed and I felt that they knew what they were doing for the remaining 4 districts as we had one of the most important management tools going… a format! This cunning plan sort of worked although there was some residual report writing done back at the office at the end of the trip. This could be something to do with the fact that I left the trip a day early due to developed a roaring chest infection which has only just cleared up and yes of course, the usual!
However.... the grand tour was great, if a bit challenging (rough roads, 10 days of African food only, trying to motivate folks, seeing upsetting scenes in the hospitals and clinics etc). So has any reader ever eaten goat curry and rice for breakfast then? This is the upcountry food. Also I discovered that asking for salad here means a bit of lettuce, cucumber and tomato which are then smothered I cold beans, luncheon meat, sometimes potato and other indescribable non salady things, apparently if you don’t want all these 'trimmings' then you have to ask for french salad!
From the trip, I can report that Free Health Care here is definitely happening, which is very positive but also still an enormous struggle. Loads of logistical problems but people are turning up at facilities all over the country in their 10s and 100s. Its the beginning of implementation after all. Ultimately it was fantastic to see all these woman and children accessing much needed health care. I took some fabulous photos during the visits to the clinics and I have finally uploaded a few onto Facebook (see also a few here, when they are uploaded). I've had several friends contact me saying how moving the ‘snaps’ are so I'm obviously discovering a new career option: professional photographer, which appears to be a better one than returning to the NHS at the moment!!!
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