Mambo! Muli bwanji! Salama! Womama!

My name is Laura and I am a junior doctor from the UK. I am taking some time out after Foundation Training to volunteer in different countries. As the name ‘A white coat on red soil’ suggests, most of this has been working as a doctor or medic in Africa. (Not, as my mother misquoted, “A red coat on white soil” which conjures up images of a Butlins trip to the Bolivian salt flats.)

I waved a teary goodbye to Jersey in August 2017, and in the following Autumn I travelled to East Africa to complete the Diploma of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, which is a three-month course run by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The East African Partnership is the same course as the ones in London and Liverpool, but takes place half in Tanzania and half in Uganda, and is mega fun. Next, the first half of 2018 was spent in rural Zambia, working in Adult Medicine at St Francis Hospital, Katete. As the UK was beginning to turn chilly in September, I escaped to Madagascar to volunteer with Blue Ventures, who do amazing work with marine conservation to support coastal communities. Right now, my current location is Guinea in West Africa, where I will spend three months on board the Africa Mercy hospital ship, run by Mercy Ships. They spend one to two years docked in one country around the coast of Africa and perform thousands of elective operations.

While I was in Zambia, I sent monthly email updates to friends and family. Some people suggested I should turn them into a blog. So, after removing some of the more personal details and adapting it for public perusal (!), I am posting some of these updates on here, and have continued posting from Madagascar and Guinea.

Enjoy!

[Above: Greetings in Swahili, Nyanja, Malagasy and Susu]