One year in Bangladesh!
Written by Antje on September 30th 2013 20:54
September is almost over and that means that I have been in Bangladesh for 1 year. This time last year I was in language school in the capital city of Dhaka.
When I think back over this past year I realize that much has happened. I see that I am able to cope better with the fact that I am the only surgeon here. This responsibility does not weigh so heavily on me now. I know better what I can and can not do. Or maybe I can better say, I know better what I am willing to do and not to do here in this hospital.
I like living in the community of people that are involved in the hospital and with the project. I would like to have more friendships with the Bengali people, but I think that I need to give this more time to develop.
Last weekend there was a wedding. One of our junior doctors and the daughter of someone in the project were married. Weddings here are always grand with lots of pomp and splendor--especially for the bride.
And of course a wedding means dressing up in our finest clothes and taking pictures! You can see my two house mates--Hannah and Rebecca--in the picture below.
And then also this past year there has been another development! As you can see in the picture I wear glasses now while operating!
Pictured below is Shapla, a 5 year old girl. She needed surgery because a leech (bloodsucker) had found its way into her vagina. Unfortunately the leech didn't stop there but moved further into her abdominal cavity. Fortunately she recovered quickly after the operation to remove the leech. This picture was taken just before she went home. You notice her very short hair. Here it is quite normal, that girls until age 9 have their heads shaved regularly. To the best of my knowledge this has to do with getting rid of lice.
