Adela Silvestre, Before and After Gambia

Just a few days before starting her first trip as a volunteer, Adela's main fear was contracting a disease upon arrival in Gambia that would render her useless to both patients and her colleagues.

A hint: it wasn't like that.

A few days ago, we returned to Juaneda Hospitals to talk to her and hear her impressions after those intense days in Africa that she spent in October.

Apparently, only apparently, Adela is the same person who left, but she isn't. Those days in Africa have changed her perspective on the world and her profession. She has grown as a nurse, but as well as a person.

Although the balance is so positive that she is already thinking about a second trip, the lack of healthcare resources and the fact that health centers and hospitals were so far from the residents' homes, and above all, the delay in treating pathologies that have been evolving for years, had a significant impact on her.

One example of a particularly impactful case that Adela encountered was elephantiasis in one leg, which she had never seen in books or in her more than 20 years of training. A condition that had evolved for over 12 years and could have ended with an amputation while, in a developed country, it would have been mild or easy to treat.

As is often the case with first-timers, one of the most difficult things to manage was the dosages of energy, physical and emotional strength. Understanding the trip as a long-distance race and not a speed race. However, thanks to the Juaneda Hospitals team, coordination, preparation, and improvements implemented trip after trip, it has been a very productive expedition. The lingering thought that there was more that could have been done overshadowed each working day.

The weather was one of the toughest parts for Adela. Working with a temperature feeling of more than 45 degrees in such precarious working conditions is not easy to deal with. But the reception of the people, their warmth and hospitality, their joy, patience, and enthusiasm always tip the scale towards satisfaction.

When asked about future expeditions, we asked Adela - knowing what she knows now - what she would put in her suitcase and what she would leave in Spain.

Her answer was clear: she would leave long pants and take mosquito repellent and soap to wash clothes and have more space in the suitcase.

Adela has undoubtedly experienced a trip that has exceeded all her expectations.

She will return.

Juaneda, close to you.

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