Nigeria Medical Mission 2021

For two week in July 2021, I traveled to Nigeria (West Africa) with family members to assist and experience a medical mission. But the question is, why did I go if I have no experience in the medical field? Within the mid week of the June 2021, one of the sponsors (NayKas Healthcare) of the mission reached out to me stating if I could sew the personal protective equipment. Within the past years of the mission, prior to COVID, they had run out of disposable gowns for surgeons, and had no alternative. When I heard that story, I was touched and did not want that to happen again for this year’s mission, especially since we are still in a pandemic. He stated that he wanted 30 medical gowns, 30 medical hats, and 30 face masks. I stated that since I was heavily invested in school (at FIDM) and completing my Associate's degree in menswear, that I could only do half of what he asked for, but when I arrived in Nigeria, the tailors there could help too. Once I completed the Menswear program, I was locked in my sewing machine day and night and was getting last minute fabric and trims. My main priority however was cutting out all of the fabric. For my luggages, one luggage was for my personal items and the other luggage was all fabrics, trims, and supplies for the PPE.

The first week was spent in Aiyepe, Ijebu, Ogun State where the medical mission will take place for the first few days. We visited the duplex where some of the doctors, nurses, and surgeons will stay for the duration of the mission, and we visited one of the locations where the mission will take place in the town which was a large central mosque—almost the size of the main campus. As I had not had access to a sewing machine yet, I purchased a hand sewing machine in the US before I left, to sew whenever and wherever I was. I was finishing up the female medical caps during the long car rides and adding buttons.

On the first day, July 26, 2021, we met at one of the sponsor’s houses to sign in, collect t-shirts, eat breakfast, go over the agenda, take a group picture, load the trucks with supplies and medications needed, and load vans with the doctors and nurses. While eating breakfast, I spoke with many of the nurses to learn about their occupation and where they were from. I met nurses, doctors, and surgeons from London, Germany, Chicago, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.

While the volunteers were dropped off at the mosque where the mission was held, I headed to the town’s clinic to drop off the gowns to be sterilized. One of the surgeons was there offloading the supplies to put in the clinic and he had the chance to try on one of the gowns and caps. We took pictures and I assisted in carrying the supplies from the car to the clinic. Afterwards, the driver and I had to make a trip back home because some supplies were needed, and luckily there was no traffic, so we headed back home to pick up more supplies, then back to the clinic. After a few hours and assisting in the start of the mission, I headed back home, and luckily was able to have a sewing machine dropped off along with an assistant sewer. I showed them the pieces that I cut out. I continued to help with cutting out more fabric for the gowns and medical hats. We were cutting and sewing non-stop. By the evening, we went to pick up some of the volunteers of the medical mission and brought them to the sponsor’s house to eat dinner and conclude for the night.