Leaving Liberia

Up until now, writing about Liberia has been enjoyable and and hopefully interesting to those that read the posts.  Now that I am writing about leaving Liberia and what the experience meant to me I am having a lot harder time motivating myself.  I keep putting it off because leaving Liberia and the time since have been much more difficult than while I was there.  

Instant happiness

Working in Liberia was like nothing I have done before.  It was 12 hours a days (sometimes more), seven days a week from the moment I arrived until I left.  In addition to the long hours, I was doing a job I had never done before, working with people I had never met before during the largest outbreak of ebola in history.  It was stressful and exhausting, but one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

About a week before I was leaving I had reached my limit, I was ready to go.  Talking to Nick and seeing the dogs on FaceTime helped me recharge a little.  It also helped that the guy who was replacing me would arrive in a couple days and I would have three days to pass the torch to him before I left.  We had a very fruitful week with many meetings with partners and discussions of future plans.

It is hard to feel like I made a difference in the time I was there.  In the end, I do feel like I contributed a small bit to the outbreak response and it will continue with the people that follow me in the job that I did.  A couple of days before I was leaving I felt I was ready to go, but when it actually came time I really felt guilty for leaving when there was so much to be done.  Many people feel the same way and many keep extending their deployments or return again as soon as they can.  Staying was not an option for me, but I would like to go back again.

In the last few days I took some time to explore a former five star hotel that had been abandoned in 1989 when the civil war started.  The rich and elite stayed at the Ducor Hotel when it was open but now it is a sad reminder of what Liberia once was.

The final day was bittersweet.  I said my goodbyes to all of the people that I had spent so much time with in the previous four weeks.  Some people I was leaving with continued to work until the last minute...

I love how dedicated everyone is to their work in this outbreak

Although our flight did not leave until after 9 pm, we headed to the airport around 4:30 so that we would have plenty of times to get through all of the screening procedures with plenty of time to spare.  The first temperature screening was before we could even drive into the parking area of the airport.

My lovely friend Shauna getting her temp taken

Next up was filling out a health screen form followed by another temperature check, which was recorded on my passport!

Once inside the tiny entrance to the airport all of my bags were searched, even my cary-on, to make sure there was no food.  We were not allowed to bring any food with us on Brussels Airlines flights out of west Africa.  After getting through the search, I finally got to check my luggage in and head to the departure lounge.  There was one last temperature check before getting on the shuttle to the airplane.  Once on the airplane we were greeted by flight attendants wearing surgical masks and gloves.  I wondered if they were going to wear them the entire flight, but they took them off once the airplane door was closed.  I was not sure the purpose of this procedure, but I was just happy they were still willing to work the trips to west Africa!

Thank you Brussels Airlines!

I had to fill out a Public Health Locator Form (in case myself or another passenger had ebola) before landing in Brussels and once there my temperature was taken again.

A little Belgian beer to take home

The five our layover in Brussels was quite lovely.  I got into the Brussels Airlines lounge where there was free food and drinks and more importantly, a shower!  I also did some shopping for cheese, beer, and chocolate to take back to the United States.  

While waiting to board the flight to Atlanta I started talking to a fellow passenger from the United States.  At some point I told him what I did and he asked me if I had been in west Africa for the outbreak.  I had dreaded getting this question, but I also did not feel like I should shy away about saying where I had been so I told him yes.  I was so happy when he had no problem with the fact that I had just been in Liberia.  When we got on the plane he was seated near me and I went and asked him if he would be willing to switch seats and sit next to me if the passenger next to me had an issue with me recent trip to west Africa.  He immediately replied "no problem."  Soon the man sitting next to me walked up and took his seat.  He looked over at me and said "I heard you talking to someone at the gate about being in west Africa?"  I was afraid what was going to happen next when I answered "yes, are you okay with sitting next to me?"  He immediately replied "yes" and proceeded to ask me questions about my experiences.  It was such a relief to have the first two people I told I had been in west Africa have no issues with it.

In the middle of the long flight I got up to walk around and shake my legs a little bit.  Two of the other women that I had traveled with were also up walking around and so we snuck off to the back of the plane and had a group hug.  I know this sounds very weird, but it was so great to actually be able to hug these people that helped me get through my time in Liberia.  

At the Atlanta airport I had to go through the last screening process before I could finally get home.  After answering the questions at the kiosk I was sent to a line for people that needed additional screening at passport control (this was not just people that had been in west Africa).  When I got to the the passport control desk and the guy ask where I had been and I answered "Liberia" he looked like I just completely ruined his day.  He pulled out a bag of surgical masks and asked me to put one on.  I was then escorted by a security guard in front of all of the passengers from my flight (who were probably freaked out about what they might have been exposed to since I was wearing a mask) to a secondary screening area where my temperature was taken by a guy in full protective gear.  I was then asked many questions about my time in Liberia and where I would be the following 21 days.  Once I cleared the screening I was given my ebola care kits which consisted of a thermometer, informational material on ebola, and a 21 day temperature log.  For the next 21 days I would be taking my temperature twice a day and reporting it to Georgia Public Health and the CDC once a day.  

At some point soon about how things have been since returning from Liberia and some afterthoughts of my experience there.