John and Sarah's 2019 trip to Sierra Leone and its hospitals (2019)
story · status: told 4× · last event: retold (2026-04-28)
In 2019 John and Sarah visited Sierra Leone, where they saw Koidu Government Hospital and a barely functioning clinic in Kombayendeh in Kono District. John has returned to the trip in later videos, from a mother and child he could not bear to watch to how far the hospital has come since.
Origin known from later mentions
2019 in the title is when this began; it first appears in the videos read here in 2020, so the earlier part is known only from what is said later.
Told alongside: John: Sierra Leone will soon have its first radiotherapy for cancer patients (2023) · John (with Hank): follow the PIH Sierra Leone project for five years with video, photo and audio updates (2019)
About: Sarah Urist Green, Sierra Leone, Koidu Government Hospital
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-28 (happened 2019) | first in the videos (retold; it began earlier) | John says he looked away: he didn't want to gawk, didn't know how to help in that moment, and it was awful to see a mother in such pain and a child suffering. | Looking Away (Again) 00:01:51 |
| 2022-01-04 (happened 2019) | retold | On their 2019 visit to Kono, John and Sarah saw a primary health care center in Kombayendeh that was not functioning: no running water, electricity or paid staff; the only care that day was a vaccination. | After 15 Years on YouTube, THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING 00:04:35 |
| 2023-10-24 (happened 2019) | retold | John says Mondeh, like Hank, is now in remission and is a great young artist; visiting him in 2019, John saw his sketch of Mohamed Salah, John's favorite football player. | A Tale of Two Cancers 00:02:28 |
| 2026-04-28 (happened 2019) | retold | John recalls that on his first visit in 2019 KGH, already improved with PIH support, had running water and 24-hour electricity but no ultrasound or diabetes treatment, and far fewer patients. | What I Can't Show You 00:00:29 |
What is said about it
8 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John says most mothers who die in childbirth there die for want of an ambulance ride, a blood transfusion or an emergency C-section: these deaths are preventable and have been for decades. — 00:02:20
- 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John recalls making a video from Ethiopia six years ago called Looking Away, about listening to and supporting people living in absolute poverty. — 00:02:20
- 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John says in those years he did some things and gave some money but made no serious commitment to listen better or to focus on the needs of the poor in an ongoing way. — 00:02:20
- 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John says he was looking at a child who very possibly wouldn't be dying had he understood the problem's scope earlier and given more to those solving it, which is part of why he looked away again. (hedged) — 00:02:50
- 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John says he understood in the abstract that Sierra Leone's maternal and child mortality crises were emergencies but had not been treating them like emergencies. — 00:02:50
- 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John says he wasn't doing nearly enough with the money, power and platform he lucked into, still isn't, but is trying to do more with his money, time and attention. — 00:03:19
- 2022-01-04 · After 15 Years on YouTube, THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING — John: With support from PIH donors and Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health, the Kombayendeh clinic now has a stocked pharmacy, running water, a laboratory, clinician training, and patients. — 00:05:04
- 2022-01-04 · After 15 Years on YouTube, THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING — John: After big improvements, the clinic in Sewafe, which saw 5,000 patients in 2020, became a safe place to deliver babies and saw over 20,000 patients in 2021. — 00:05:33