After some hassle getting the plane to Monrovia, Liberia following the briefing session in Paris, I finally reached this city with the other surgeon, John, from Chicago, USA. We met a group of UN (United Nation) Peace Keeping Army on the plane. They came from Sweden and were going back to Monrovia after their holiday. The UN Army has been here since the cease fire in 2003. On our way to the MSF guesthouse from the airport, there were four to five security check roadblocks. We passed some villages and Monrovia city. The traffic on the main road was quite busy. The city was dark except for some lighting in shops and buildings. There is no central power supply in the country and every compound has to be equipped with its own electricity generator. We came to our guesthouse in a two-story compound. Once there we met a lot of people including the outgoing surgeon, anaesthetist and pharmacist. The hospital is not far away and it takes just about five minutes walk to get there. It's not too busy at the moment so we are mainly looking after all the emergency cases. The obstetric cases are supposed to be transferred to another hospital but there are still some acute emergency obstetric problems coming to the ER, such as ectopic pregnancies and obstructed labour cases. There are few facilities in our guesthouse with no electric fan, not to mention an air-conditioner. The room temperature at the moment is 28 degree Celsius but it's quite stuffy. I think I will have to bear with it in the coming six weeks. Au Yiu Kai
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