The more time I spend in Fes, the more it remains a hidden city to me. We take a bus the the hospital each morning where we view high windowless walls and narrowed passages flowing with Arabic scripts, unidentifiable to us outsiders. At the hospital gates, many men are hooded and many women veiled holding their child waiting for their surgery. Each morning we round on the patients we operated on the day before and only then do we really discover their profound happiness and excitement. The mother's lie in their bed holding their child. We get to witness the child's happiness when they look at their new smile. The families are so thankful to all of us and despite the language barrier we know their appreciation and that drives us to keep on operating the rest of the week.
An "enchanted labyrinth sheltered from time," was the assessment of the writer Paul Bowles, whose book, "The Sheltering Sky," has introduced me into the Moroccan world. He states that Fes speaks in symbols. There are buried meanings in the patterns of hand-knotted carpets; in the tattooed faces of Berber peasant women; in the swirls of carved plaster in its architecture; in the techniques of expert craftsman; in the ingredients of its cuisine. The latter being my favorite way of learning the culture (stay tuned in a later posting).
We are fortunate to have several peace corp volunteers who have spent the last 2 years in Morocco being our guide/instructor/interpreters. They tell us the secret to figuring out Fes is called the rule of five. This sacred number threads through daily life. Five calls to prayer. There are five pillars of Islam to observe. Each neighborhood had five main institutions-- a mosque, a school, a shared fountain (for water), a communal bread oven and a hammam (i.e. spa/bath). Even the designs on the buildings follow this rule.
Bryn, our amazing circulator nurse.
Entrance into the hospital.
Our operating room. Each room houses two tables. We have a total of 7 tables running each day. 5 general anesthesia and 2 local anesthesia tables.
Dr. Michael Kelly from Miami Plastic Surgery. One of the 4 plastic surgeons we operate with on this mission. He was trained under Dr. Millard, the god-father of cleft lip surgery.
Mothers waiting in the waiting room.
An "enchanted labyrinth sheltered from time," was the assessment of the writer Paul Bowles, whose book, "The Sheltering Sky," has introduced me into the Moroccan world. He states that Fes speaks in symbols. There are buried meanings in the patterns of hand-knotted carpets; in the tattooed faces of Berber peasant women; in the swirls of carved plaster in its architecture; in the techniques of expert craftsman; in the ingredients of its cuisine. The latter being my favorite way of learning the culture (stay tuned in a later posting).
We are fortunate to have several peace corp volunteers who have spent the last 2 years in Morocco being our guide/instructor/interpreters. They tell us the secret to figuring out Fes is called the rule of five. This sacred number threads through daily life. Five calls to prayer. There are five pillars of Islam to observe. Each neighborhood had five main institutions-- a mosque, a school, a shared fountain (for water), a communal bread oven and a hammam (i.e. spa/bath). Even the designs on the buildings follow this rule.
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