The Plight of Libyan Medical Care in 2018

In the past I had my own scary Libyan hospital story, but things are getting worse as each day passes. This was reported on Twitter recently. A night at a hospital in Sebha Medical Center:

Sebha Health Services.
Last Thurs night a young woman died from internal bleeding at Sebha Medical Centre, the major healthcare provider for the south of Libya. She had been suffering from low blood sugar, anemia and fainted at home suffering a hard fall. The fall caused

— Iman Abdo (@imanlibya) September 29, 2018

2/ her placenta to displace from her uterus. She was 6 mths pregnant. She started bleeding and went to a private clinic and waited for hours for an ob/gyn to show. When they got up to leave staff told them the doctor would be there soon. After waiting hours her husband called

— Iman Abdo (@imanlibya) September 29, 2018

3/ an.ambulance to take her to the main hospital. By that time she had lost lots of blood and flatlined. She was resuscitated at the hospital and the doctors asked relatives to donate blood for transfusions. She died as they tried to operate on her. The same night in the

— Iman Abdo (@imanlibya) September 29, 2018

4/ Obstetrics ward of the Sebha Medical Center the delivery ward was closed and delivering mothers were left to fend for themselves. 1 gave birth in hallway, 1 in bathroom and another was delivered by patients in the ward. A women with stillborn fetus had arrived from

— Iman Abdo (@imanlibya) September 29, 2018

5/ outside Sebha looking for help. She was leaking green amniotic fluid and women on the ward told her to try to find a private clinic, she had been to some and all told her to go to main hospital.
Some women went home others tried to find any doctor at any clinic to help them

— Iman Abdo (@imanlibya) September 29, 2018

6/ This is just one night in a year. One bad night where the richest oil country in Africa is failing vulnerable mothers and babies. We are in a health care crisis and something has to be done. There is no excuse for this.

— Iman Abdo (@imanlibya) September 29, 2018

No one deserves this... no one...  Thank you @imanlibya for posting this very revealing tweet thread.

Step Forward in Libya

I have always been a firm believer that the way forward for Libya is to include more females in government, business and leadership roles. One organization that has helped Libyan women to attain economic empowerment is MEDA LIBYA which began in Libya in 2013. Over the past five years they have continued their efforts to train and support Libyan women throughout the country. Their efforts help not only women, but the community and country as a whole. 

Congratulations to the girls and women who participated in this year's Step Forward competition. You are all winners in my eyes!

Previously I posted about MEDA here: One Step at a Time

Libyan Antiquities: Silently Watching for Over a Millennium

photo taken at Leptis Magna, Libya

Silently watching over Libya since the 2nd century AD ....

It's face is battered, but it's eyes are hopeful. 

No Peace for Libya?

In my last post, Peace in Libya? Reconciliation? I had added a padlet and asked readers to contribute their thoughts and ideas of how Libyans could reach reconciliation. Very few people added anything which leads me to believe that Libyans really aren't interested in achieving any kind of peaceful agreement with one another. That's depressing.

This week Tripoli is finding itself back to booming and banging as various militias (and whoever) fight to achieve power. No end is in sight  as they don't seem interested in peace. Is there any hope?

Peace in Libya? Reconciliation?

Libya has been in a continual state of unrest for over 7 years. How can Libyans find peace? How can Libya move forward? What are some ways that Libyans can reconcile with one another?

I've been playing around with different online ideas for my students and came across Padlet, which is a kind of online idea board that people can work on together to collaborate ideas and information. Collaborators do not have to register to read or add to a page. I decided to see if Padlet would work as a forum for people to post their thoughts and ideas about the current situation in Libya. There is a lot of discussion about Libya on Facebook and Twitter, but I wanted to see if I could get as many ideas all in one place - and with Padlet's platform the posts would be anonymous. Even the creator of the Padlet page cannot see the identity of the people who post. I thought this was important because it's not about whose idea it is, but about the idea itself. 

Padlet is easy to use. If you want to contribute you just click on the (+) in the lower right corner, double click anywhere on the page, or drag and drop to the page. If you click on the three dots  in the corner of a post ... you'll find a menu that lets you post in a variety of ways: by comment, uploading files, adding links, searching Google, taking or adding photos, videos, voice recording, drawing, adding a map or linking to other Padlets.

 Thoughts and ideas can be linked together with a line and arrow connecting the posts. 

Padlets can be shared and embedded in blog posts and websites (like below). You can contribute to the discussion below, or go to the link directly: 

https://padlet.com/khadijateri/reconciliation

How can Libyans reach reconciliation?

Read what others have posted. Post your own thoughts and ideas. 

Remember to be constructive and respectful.

I Can't Stop Blogging

(C) Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano @ langwitches

I've had this blog for almost 14 years. The past few years, posts have been sporadic, but I still manage to post from time to time. As of today there have been 646,178 page views. I've noticed that I seem to have about 4,500 visitors to my blog on an average month. If I post something controversial or intriguing the numbers will shoot up. The most read post is A Very Important Guest Post, closely followed by a post I wrote in 2008 titled Old Wive's Tales.  

The popularity of blogging seems to have dropped as people find themselves absorbed by Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but from time to time there is a resurgence. I'm always so pleased when I find new blogs by Libyans. Last week I had an email from a young Libyan girl named Mariya who wrote to say she was 12 years old and was starting her own website. She also said that she was the daughter of one of my students. When her father read her website he suggested that she read my blog. She wrote to tell me that she found my blog inspiring and that by reading it she had learned a lot of new vocabulary. She asked me if I could give her some tips she could use to help attract readers to her site. 

To be honest, I was really thrilled to receive an email from her, and I was especially happy to know she was the daughter of one of my former students. It's kind of nice to know that my teaching lives on in the next generation. I emailed her back and gave her some tips. Then I decided to post the tips here on my blog. Here is the advice I gave her:

• Don't write posts that are too long - people like to read something that won't take much time. 
• Post often. It will keep people coming back for more. (I need to heed my own advice!)
• A picture is worth a thousand words. Add pictures to create interest.
• Encourage comments... ask your readers a question or what their opinion is (but don't expect them to have the same opinion that you have)
• Share your links on social media - create a Facebook page or a Twitter account for your blog
• Link to other things in your blog, but make sure the settings opens the link in a new tab so your page wont close.
• Have a guest post something on your blog (my most popular post is a guest post)
• Write about things that interest you and share your link with people who share the same interests
• Blogger has a feature that allows you to look at your site statistics. You can also add other stat counters. I like http://www.statcounter.com
• Check to make sure your grammar and spelling are correct. 
• Use thesaurus.com to help you find just the right word.

I've added Mariya's site to my Link List. Her blog is called Get the right choice - If you want to do something right, choose something right...

Have you found any Libyan blogs or Libyan related blogs that aren't on my Link List? Let me know in the comments.

Kindness... blessings...

Last night we went to one of our usual spots to hang out in the evening, a fast food place by the beach that has tables so that you can sit next to the water. There's a boat dock where the water taxi stops to let people on and off. We enjoy going there because it's quiet and peaceful. We go there often; it was a place that my mother used to like so we have fond memories of times spent there. Sometimes you see dolphins playing in the water, we watch the boats go in and out. Many boaters park at the dock to pick up something to eat or to shop at the nearby supermarket. We like to go after dinner to get a coffee, ice-cream or a smoothie. We relax, chat and enjoy the evening. It's a safe place.

We enjoyed our evening, as we always do. Just as we got in the car, ready to go home, a man ran up. He was waving for me to stop. I recognized him as being one of the boaters that docks there to go shopping. He probably lives on his boat. I thought maybe something was wrong with my car, so I rolled down the window to ask him what was wrong. He said "I'm so glad that you didn't leave before I finished my shopping. I'm so glad you are still here. I don't usually say much, but I wanted to tell you that I am with you people, I support you people" and with that he reached into his shopping bag and pulled out a large bag of Hershey's chocolate kisses. "I want you to have this. I support you!" He handed it to me through the window. I was so surprised. "Bless you! Thank you! Bless you!" I told him. He had a grin from ear to ear - actually, I think we both did.

Despite the current divisive political climate in America there are still people who care. It's so easy to focus on what is presented to us in the news and think that this is the reality - but it's not. My America is the one where people respect and accept one another.. and care for one another. This is my America... this is the America that I know and love. 

I hope that I meet up with that kind soul again in the future and we have a chance to sit down and talk. I'd like to hear his opinion of things and to thank him again for his kindness.