Compassion and nursing skills are universal. Just ask Melissa Higham, currently an RN on Aultman’s neurosurgical unit, who has taken two mission trips to Sierra Leone, Africa.

“I felt called to go by listening to missionaries who work in Sierra Leone at some of the hospitals,” Melissa shared. “I knew I would be graduating nursing school shortly before my first trip to Sierra Leone in August 2012. I knew the opportunity would benefit me in my nursing practice, and I hoped it would also benefit those I would come in contact with.”

Melissa traveled with a group primarily comprised of people from the church she attended. “Travel time from Ohio to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, was about 24 hours,” she said. “Freetown to the villages where we stayed was a rough, four-hour car ride on unpaved roads.”

Throughout both two-week trips – the initial one in 2012 and a second visit in February 2014 – Melissa assisted nurses and doctors in hospitals. She also participated in mobile medical clinics to reach villagers in remote locations.

“The biggest culture shock was the fact that many people died from curable diseases that we treat daily here in the States,” Melissa shared. “We also witnessed many women lose babies due to prolonged childbirth and complications. If they had closer access to a hospital, the infants would have survived.”

Melissa’s favorite experience was helping deliver a baby in breech position via cesarean section. “The operating room was very hot due to the window air conditioning not working correctly,” she said. “The mother was sedated, but the medication wore off very quickly so they had to keep sedating her.”

Sierra Leone has few of the modern conveniences most Americans take for granted. Electricity is only available in some areas, so many places use generators on a limited basis to run lights at night. Water is typically collected in huge rain barrels and then routed through the buildings. “The water was not drinkable for us, so we had to purchase water or utilize a purification system,” Melissa said. “Our hosts did a great job accommodating our food. We had two American meals and one African dish each day. My favorite African meal was ground nut stew, which consists of ground peanuts, chicken and rice.”

Melissa and the volunteers had 4-5 men from Sierra Leone escort them. On the second trip, the group had a few tense moments at a village security checkpoint. “The guards had large guns and insisted that we get out of the vehicles because they wanted to search our belongings,” she recalled. “Our drivers would not let us get out and insisted we had nothing of value – medications, drugs or other items the men could sell. Thankfully after about 15 minutes, the guards let our vehicles pass. It was pretty scary!”

Although communication with the adult villagers happened primarily through interpreters, Melissa enjoyed talking with the kids. “Many of the children learned English in their schools so we were able to have direct communication with them,” she said. “We also picked up on some of their words and could greet others, ask how they were doing and bid them farewell.”

Melissa doesn’t have additional mission trips planned, but that could change should an opportunity present itself. For now, she will look back on her time in Sierra Leone with great fondness. “I can talk forever about my trips,” she said. “I had some amazing experiences – and I hope this article paints a picture for fellow employees about what it was like going to Sierra Leone.”