Well I have now spent my last weekend at Chidamoyo (I will be travelling the next few). I babysat Dr. and Mrs. Kajesi's puppy over the weekend and it was quite a job. Full time, unfortunately that little thing couldn't be left alone for even 2 seconds without barking. The rest of my time was spent watching the Olympics. Go team USA!
Monday was a very busy day and I was so tired by the end I fell asleep at 8:15. My day started off early in the morning in theatre. A baby girl had an abscess on her neck and needed an incision and drainage (IND). Noe told Dr. Kajesi that I was going to do it- I hadn't asked for this but I was excited. This was going to be my second one. Last time however I did it in the outpatient department under local anesthesia and this time it was in the operating room and we put the baby to sleep. I felt pretty confident with what I was doing- after double checking I was well away from the jugular vein. Last time though I did the IND with Dr. Kabonzi. Turns out they want it done slightly differently... but the adjustments were simple and working together we got all of the pus out by expressing the abscess.
After the baby was done a man walked in (yes lots of them that can just walk into the theatre and lay down on the bed). He had some pretty deep cuts on the back of his hand and his palm and he needed stitches to close them. He got the wounds from an RTA (Road Traffic Accident) which at 95% of the time at Chidamoyo means scotchcart accident. Dr. Kajesi showed me an interrupted suture and then had me do some. I have been watching them suture a lot of people but steady hands are harder than I thought! The needle we used was very thick and wasn't a cutting needle so it was a bit tough on the back of the hand. I did the palm with a smaller needle and it was easier. Dr. Kajesi ended up finishing the sutures because in the middle we were told that they were beginning the funeral.
The funeral was for one of the drivers that works at Chidamoyo's son. He had died on Friday and they were bringing the body here so they were expecting the funeral to begin any time. Actually from what I have learned the funeral can be days, people arrive as soon as they hear, everyone from the town seems to go (there were 200-300 people there). We arrived as people were giving speeches. When we got there everyone was seated on the ground (just sitting in the dirt). The women were on one side and the men on the other. It was really hot (so much for it being winter) and the sun was right in my eyes making it hard to focus on anything. Everyone talked in Shona for about an hour (who knows how long it had already been going on). Then everyone stood up and started singing and people went in to view the body. The coffin was in a small dark room. Some women were wailing (correct term) on one side and his father was standing there as well. Only the head was visible, the rest was covered. Unfortunately, the body was starting to smell because he had died on Friday (and it was now Monday) and they do not balm the bodies in anything here.
After the viewing of the body, some men picked up the casket and everyone followed to the burial site. 200-300 people walked over and I mean walked. We went through fields and up and down hills until we finally came to the site. Turns out they had to go so far because the ground is so hard here that they wanted to bury him in an ant hill because it is softer. The men had gotten up at 4 am to start digging the hole. Everyone came and sat down- we were really pretty far away and we were sitting in shrubs and leaves- literally in the bush. Some men and women stood around the hole. Some prayers were said and the coffin was placed in the ground. Then there was a lot of singing and dancing for about an hour while they covered the coffin. Let's just say that coffin is not going anywhere. Women lined up with stones and they were placed on top with wood and dirt.
Finally when it was all covered everyone walked back (to start eating- I had seen a goat's head sitting in a bowl in the yard). We went back to the hospital.
Apparently there is usually more wailing- I think we missed most of it. Also it is interesting because people walk around shaking hands and that was discouraged for awhile because of cholera. I thought the funeral was interesting and I was very sad for the young man's family. I must say I would want a funeral like this- I liked that everyone was singing and dancing in celebration of life. It would have been nice to understand more of what people were saying though.
Tomorrow is my last day at the hospital- I can't believe how fast my time here went. I am sad to leave here and I will really miss everyone that I have met. It is hard to imagine that when I came here almost 6 weeks ago I didn't know a single person in the country and had no clue what language they even spoke. Now I have people saying remember me from Kapfunde? and I am learning a few (very few) Shona words. I am looking forward to travelling around Zimbabwe in the week and then going to Cape Town with my mom.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
A Taste of My Own Medicine
This blog post is from Wednesday.
In the morning I went on rounds with Dr. Kajesi in the hospital. There was another woman with a pleural effusion that needed to be drained. I got to drain it- I am becoming quite knowledgeable about them. In the afternoon, Jordan, Rick, Sue and I walked over to the primary school to watch a soccer game. It was a team from Chidamoyo playing another village's team. We arrived at 2:35 for a 2:30 game and no one was there. Typical Africa time. We walked around a group of school kids started following us because of our cameras. Then a truck zoomed up with a ton of people in the back blasting music and they all jumped out.
The teams started warming up and we asked which team was from Chidamoyo because the one person we knew on the team wasn't there yet (Tapson). Someone told us that it was the team in red. So the game started finally and more and more people kept coming to watch. The red team scored and we cheered. It was just about only us who cheered. It seemed very odd considering there were so many people there- wouldn't most of them be there for the home team? We kept asking people to make sure that the red team was ours but they didn't understand us. Finally Tapson got there and we asked him and he said the blue team was from Chidamoyo- it made so much more sense but we were all so embarrassed for having cheered for the wrong team. They ended up losing 1-0. There is another game tomorrow so hopefully they will win and we will now be supporting them! The game was really fun and it is quite a source of entertainment here- so many people came out for it. Everyone stands right on the lines- which are pretty difficult to distinguish so I'm not really sure where the field boundaries even are.
Home team arriving for the game
I had a great day- a good morning at the hospital and then it was really fun to go to the soccer game. That night however, I woke up scratching myself. I looked down at my legs because they felt really itchy and I had what looked like bug bites all over. I thought that maybe it was flea bites because Jordan and I had been playing with Dr. Kellert's new puppy right before we went to sleep. Then I realized that other places on my body were itching and I started looking and my arms and stomach were covered too. I started thinking that they looked too big to be flea bites and there were so many! I started putting Benedryl cream on like it was lotion but nothing seemed to be working. I looked at my bed and I didn't see any spiders or anything else there. I really didn't know what to do at this point. Everything itched so much, and I had no idea where they came from- was it safe to get back in my bed?
I decided that I had to wake Jordan up and see if she had any and then maybe I would know what I had. Jordan didn't have anything and agreed that they didn't look like flea bites. Also, there were so many that it didn't seem like something from my bed. She thought that they might be hives and that we should go see Dr. Kellert. She was still awake luckily because she had just come back from Harare. I showed her and she said that I needed to take Benedryl. Neither of us had any so she told me to get some from the hospital in the morning. By this point everything was itching so badly I knew it would be a horrible 6 hours.
Jordan and I walked up to the hospital and asked the nurse on the night shift for Benedryl. She didn't know what it was and we had to explain to her what hives were (typical with the nurses unfortunately). She said all that she could give me was a shot of hydrocortisone because the pharmacy was closed. I decided that since I didn't know much about that, I didn't really trust her to do it.
Jordan and I walked back down to the house and we ran into Major returning from Harare. He asked what we were doing walking around in the middle of the night and we told him. He said that I had to call Dr. Kajesi. I told Major that I didn't want to wake him up but he insisted. Jordan and I walked back up to the hospital and he met us there. I was really happy that I had called him after all because now the itching was spreading to my face and scalp. He got me some pills from the pharmacy and then said that I needed a drug IV and an injection. We went to the nurses station and I told him that I don't get IVs put in me- I only do it to patients! He laughed and said it won't be bad.... unless I miss. Which is a possibility because I'm not very good at it! I knew he was joking but he said it with such a straight face I almost doubted him. I did think it hurt and now I know what all of the patients go through. I definitely did not like being the patient! One of the nurses wanted to admit me and Dr. Kajesi said to put me next to the smelliest patient, I said thanks but no thanks.
I also got an injection in my arm and went home. Already I was starting to feel less itchy. When I was finally back in bed, then my arm started really hurting from the injection. It took another couple of hours for the pain to finally go away and I fell asleep.
Yesterday I slept almost the entire day because of the medicine. I am feeling much better today and the hives are almost all gone- only around my joints for some reason. I still do not know what caused it for sure- I was fine when I went to sleep. It might have been a tree I touched at the soccer game but I'm not sure.
This weekend I will be taking care of the Kajesi's new puppy while they are in Harare. I am thinking of it as kind of a trade off for waking him up in the middle of the night.
In the morning I went on rounds with Dr. Kajesi in the hospital. There was another woman with a pleural effusion that needed to be drained. I got to drain it- I am becoming quite knowledgeable about them. In the afternoon, Jordan, Rick, Sue and I walked over to the primary school to watch a soccer game. It was a team from Chidamoyo playing another village's team. We arrived at 2:35 for a 2:30 game and no one was there. Typical Africa time. We walked around a group of school kids started following us because of our cameras. Then a truck zoomed up with a ton of people in the back blasting music and they all jumped out.
The teams started warming up and we asked which team was from Chidamoyo because the one person we knew on the team wasn't there yet (Tapson). Someone told us that it was the team in red. So the game started finally and more and more people kept coming to watch. The red team scored and we cheered. It was just about only us who cheered. It seemed very odd considering there were so many people there- wouldn't most of them be there for the home team? We kept asking people to make sure that the red team was ours but they didn't understand us. Finally Tapson got there and we asked him and he said the blue team was from Chidamoyo- it made so much more sense but we were all so embarrassed for having cheered for the wrong team. They ended up losing 1-0. There is another game tomorrow so hopefully they will win and we will now be supporting them! The game was really fun and it is quite a source of entertainment here- so many people came out for it. Everyone stands right on the lines- which are pretty difficult to distinguish so I'm not really sure where the field boundaries even are.
I had a great day- a good morning at the hospital and then it was really fun to go to the soccer game. That night however, I woke up scratching myself. I looked down at my legs because they felt really itchy and I had what looked like bug bites all over. I thought that maybe it was flea bites because Jordan and I had been playing with Dr. Kellert's new puppy right before we went to sleep. Then I realized that other places on my body were itching and I started looking and my arms and stomach were covered too. I started thinking that they looked too big to be flea bites and there were so many! I started putting Benedryl cream on like it was lotion but nothing seemed to be working. I looked at my bed and I didn't see any spiders or anything else there. I really didn't know what to do at this point. Everything itched so much, and I had no idea where they came from- was it safe to get back in my bed?
I decided that I had to wake Jordan up and see if she had any and then maybe I would know what I had. Jordan didn't have anything and agreed that they didn't look like flea bites. Also, there were so many that it didn't seem like something from my bed. She thought that they might be hives and that we should go see Dr. Kellert. She was still awake luckily because she had just come back from Harare. I showed her and she said that I needed to take Benedryl. Neither of us had any so she told me to get some from the hospital in the morning. By this point everything was itching so badly I knew it would be a horrible 6 hours.
Jordan and I walked up to the hospital and asked the nurse on the night shift for Benedryl. She didn't know what it was and we had to explain to her what hives were (typical with the nurses unfortunately). She said all that she could give me was a shot of hydrocortisone because the pharmacy was closed. I decided that since I didn't know much about that, I didn't really trust her to do it.
Jordan and I walked back down to the house and we ran into Major returning from Harare. He asked what we were doing walking around in the middle of the night and we told him. He said that I had to call Dr. Kajesi. I told Major that I didn't want to wake him up but he insisted. Jordan and I walked back up to the hospital and he met us there. I was really happy that I had called him after all because now the itching was spreading to my face and scalp. He got me some pills from the pharmacy and then said that I needed a drug IV and an injection. We went to the nurses station and I told him that I don't get IVs put in me- I only do it to patients! He laughed and said it won't be bad.... unless I miss. Which is a possibility because I'm not very good at it! I knew he was joking but he said it with such a straight face I almost doubted him. I did think it hurt and now I know what all of the patients go through. I definitely did not like being the patient! One of the nurses wanted to admit me and Dr. Kajesi said to put me next to the smelliest patient, I said thanks but no thanks.
I also got an injection in my arm and went home. Already I was starting to feel less itchy. When I was finally back in bed, then my arm started really hurting from the injection. It took another couple of hours for the pain to finally go away and I fell asleep.
Yesterday I slept almost the entire day because of the medicine. I am feeling much better today and the hives are almost all gone- only around my joints for some reason. I still do not know what caused it for sure- I was fine when I went to sleep. It might have been a tree I touched at the soccer game but I'm not sure.
This weekend I will be taking care of the Kajesi's new puppy while they are in Harare. I am thinking of it as kind of a trade off for waking him up in the middle of the night.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Witch Doctors
Today I was very intrigued by one particular patient. A man and his wife walked into the outpatient department and sat down in the chairs across from Dr. Kabonzi and I, as all of the patients do. Patients are almost always accompanied by someone here- a spouse, a parent, a son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin etc. The patient sits down in the chair closest to the dest where the doctor is (it is often obvious which person is there to be seen). Today was no exception.
The man was using a walking stick, obviously handmade. His right foot was not in a shoe was wrapped in a scrap of cloth. As soon as he walked in you could smell that something was very very wrong. Dr. Kabonzi sprayed Febreeze into the fan but it didn't really help. The man then undid the scrap of cloth and revealed something that I did not expect. Last week a man came in with a similar foot wrapping and his toe was split open. I was expecting something similar. Instead, there was a HUGE tumor growing between the big toe and the second toe. It was so large that it had pushed all of the other toes to the side (although they were all still visible). Dr. Kabonzi and I just stared for a second and then he said "take a picture!!" (I always have my camera in my pocket).
It turns out the tumor had started growing 2 years ago and the patient had never been to the hospital until today to have it seen. That is very common here. You ask yourself, why today after all this time? Did they come across some money, did his wife decide it smelled too badly, did he get sick of walking around with only one shoe? The questions are endless. It really is mindblowing. In the U.S. one would go to the doctor as soon as something started to grow anywhere on their body. But this man had let it grow for 2 years! It was impossible for him to even set the front of his foot down on the ground. And it dripped and smelled, if the sight, smell, and discomfort of it weren't enough....
But the sad truth is that many people here first go to the "witch doctors" or traditional healers. These healers instill fear in the people. So and so is bewitching you because he is jealous of your cattle and wants you dead. People will spend all their money and cattle and crops going to these healers, many are afraid that if they leave them they will die. But really they are dying because they don't go to the hospital.
Dr. Kajese took a biopsy of his foot in theatre in the afternoon. Definitely something I did not want to miss. If it is cancerous (and it most likely is), his foot will have to be amputated. It is the sad reality of so many cases here. But just because it has been this way for years I don't think means it should continue this way.
In the afternoon Jordan and I walked over to the soccer field and watched some of the high school team's practice. I went over and kicked the ball and dribbled with a few of them and I think they were surprised a white girl could play at all. I am hoping that they have a game soon before I leave. Many of them play barefoot even in the games which seems so painful because there are a lot of sharp rocks on the dirt field.
P.S. if anyone wants to see the picture of the foot just email me... it was not appropriate to post on my blog :)
The man was using a walking stick, obviously handmade. His right foot was not in a shoe was wrapped in a scrap of cloth. As soon as he walked in you could smell that something was very very wrong. Dr. Kabonzi sprayed Febreeze into the fan but it didn't really help. The man then undid the scrap of cloth and revealed something that I did not expect. Last week a man came in with a similar foot wrapping and his toe was split open. I was expecting something similar. Instead, there was a HUGE tumor growing between the big toe and the second toe. It was so large that it had pushed all of the other toes to the side (although they were all still visible). Dr. Kabonzi and I just stared for a second and then he said "take a picture!!" (I always have my camera in my pocket).
It turns out the tumor had started growing 2 years ago and the patient had never been to the hospital until today to have it seen. That is very common here. You ask yourself, why today after all this time? Did they come across some money, did his wife decide it smelled too badly, did he get sick of walking around with only one shoe? The questions are endless. It really is mindblowing. In the U.S. one would go to the doctor as soon as something started to grow anywhere on their body. But this man had let it grow for 2 years! It was impossible for him to even set the front of his foot down on the ground. And it dripped and smelled, if the sight, smell, and discomfort of it weren't enough....
But the sad truth is that many people here first go to the "witch doctors" or traditional healers. These healers instill fear in the people. So and so is bewitching you because he is jealous of your cattle and wants you dead. People will spend all their money and cattle and crops going to these healers, many are afraid that if they leave them they will die. But really they are dying because they don't go to the hospital.
Dr. Kajese took a biopsy of his foot in theatre in the afternoon. Definitely something I did not want to miss. If it is cancerous (and it most likely is), his foot will have to be amputated. It is the sad reality of so many cases here. But just because it has been this way for years I don't think means it should continue this way.
In the afternoon Jordan and I walked over to the soccer field and watched some of the high school team's practice. I went over and kicked the ball and dribbled with a few of them and I think they were surprised a white girl could play at all. I am hoping that they have a game soon before I leave. Many of them play barefoot even in the games which seems so painful because there are a lot of sharp rocks on the dirt field.
P.S. if anyone wants to see the picture of the foot just email me... it was not appropriate to post on my blog :)
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Today in Pictures
Trying to comfort a toddler after Buddy (Kathy's dog) scared her
Women walking with suitcases on their heads! (and Buddy walking along)
Young kids carrying their clean laundry back from the dam
Jordan showing the kids pictures she took of them (they always love looking at their picture)
People dancing at the hospital during Church
Climbing over the hospital fence after Church because someone accidentally forgot the keys...
Procedures
This week at the hospital I got to do a couple of procedure type things. Over the past week I had seen 4 patients with pleural effusions (basically fluid in the lungs). They all came through the outpatient department so by the 4th one I had been taught by the doctors to diagnose pleural effusions based on looking at X-rays, auscultating and percussing the lungs. I had also watched Dr. Kajese insert a chest tube and Dr. Kabonzi insert a catheter into the lung to drain the fluid.
One of the patients who was now in the ward was brought in to have her lung drained right before lunch. Jordan came to get me and Dr. Kabonzi said that I couldn't leave yet because I was going to drain her lung! I thought he was kidding so I laughed but he said "no really" and handed me a pair of gloves. The needle that needs to be inserted with the cannula is very thick. I needed to insert it at the 5th intercostal space on her left side. Dr. Kabonzi put in the shot of local anesthetic and then aspirated some of me the pus/fluid and said now you can't say you can't get anything out! I was nervous to push the needle in because I felt like lungs were a big deal and that I was going to stab the heart (even though that wouldn't happen).
For once I was thankful that the patient spoke Shona because I felt badly that I was asking the doctor how to do the procedure while I was doing it to the patient haha. I pushed in the needle and nothing came out. Then Dr. Kabonzi couldn't get anything out either (thankfully because then I wasn't doing it wrong!). So I tried again in the 6th intercostal space and straw colored fluid began flowing out- success! We taped the catheter in to let the fluid drain for awhile. I felt like skipping all the way back to the house I was so excited that I got to do something like that.
Later in the afternoon we had a young child with an abscess behind his right ear. He came into the outpatient department to have the abscess taken care of. I got to the IND (incision and drainage). I put on the sterile gloves and the nurses aid set up my sterile field with the surgical tools. I had to put the blade on the handle and I couldn't figure out how to get it on at first (I don't usually play around with surgical knives haha). But I got it on and cut into the abscess. Then I expressed it to get all of the pus out. It probably seems very gross to most people but I really like doing things like this.
I was so excited for everything I got to do that day. It is going to make it even harder to return home and not be able to do things like this! Being able to do these procedures helps me with nursing too because I really understand the whole process from diagnosis, to the procedure, to care for the patient after. I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left at the hospital, it is going to be so hard to leave.
One of the patients who was now in the ward was brought in to have her lung drained right before lunch. Jordan came to get me and Dr. Kabonzi said that I couldn't leave yet because I was going to drain her lung! I thought he was kidding so I laughed but he said "no really" and handed me a pair of gloves. The needle that needs to be inserted with the cannula is very thick. I needed to insert it at the 5th intercostal space on her left side. Dr. Kabonzi put in the shot of local anesthetic and then aspirated some of me the pus/fluid and said now you can't say you can't get anything out! I was nervous to push the needle in because I felt like lungs were a big deal and that I was going to stab the heart (even though that wouldn't happen).
For once I was thankful that the patient spoke Shona because I felt badly that I was asking the doctor how to do the procedure while I was doing it to the patient haha. I pushed in the needle and nothing came out. Then Dr. Kabonzi couldn't get anything out either (thankfully because then I wasn't doing it wrong!). So I tried again in the 6th intercostal space and straw colored fluid began flowing out- success! We taped the catheter in to let the fluid drain for awhile. I felt like skipping all the way back to the house I was so excited that I got to do something like that.
Later in the afternoon we had a young child with an abscess behind his right ear. He came into the outpatient department to have the abscess taken care of. I got to the IND (incision and drainage). I put on the sterile gloves and the nurses aid set up my sterile field with the surgical tools. I had to put the blade on the handle and I couldn't figure out how to get it on at first (I don't usually play around with surgical knives haha). But I got it on and cut into the abscess. Then I expressed it to get all of the pus out. It probably seems very gross to most people but I really like doing things like this.
I was so excited for everything I got to do that day. It is going to make it even harder to return home and not be able to do things like this! Being able to do these procedures helps me with nursing too because I really understand the whole process from diagnosis, to the procedure, to care for the patient after. I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left at the hospital, it is going to be so hard to leave.
Doing the IND
Saturday, July 21, 2012
ART Outreach
On Tuesday I went on ART Outreach to Kapfunde. ART (anti retroviral treatment for AIDS) Outreach is so that people living in the surrounding villages can have access to the medication that they need. Chidamoyo runs 6 different outreach clinics with about 3,500 people on ART. The people have to take their medicine every single day for the REST OF THEIR LIVES once they begin. It is very important that they do not miss any pills because it gives the virus a chance to become resistant to the medicine. Most of the time the people also have more than one pill that they need to take.
People are started on the medicine when they have HIV and their CD4 count is less than 350. This is because they are now at risk for many other infections that are life threatening with AIDS (TB, pneumonia, Karposi Sarcoma, etc). The government in Zimbabwe provides the medication (they actually get the medicine from the Global AIDS Fund). Only hospitals can start people on the medication however clinics can then give people their medicine. People must always go to the same place to get their meds (here they get them for 2 months at a time).
Sister McCarty starts people on the medications here. I have sat in with her on her counseling sessions that she does when starting people and it is very interesting. Kathy will not start people unless they bring their spouse or a responsible adult that they live with. This is to ensure that someone will help make sure the person takes all of their pills. She also insists that their spouse and all of their children are tested before starting them. It is a huge committment for these people to start the meds because it is for the rest of their life (which can now be many many years because of the medicine).
I went on the ART Outreach with 3 other nurses and a nurse's aid (Mooty, Benny, Juliette, and Mother). The clinic at Kapfunde is by the high school and the primary school their but they actually have their own building for the clinic. When we arrived a crowd of men, women and children were waiting out front for us. We unloaded all of the medicine (two large chests of it). Mother said good morning to everyone and they started dancing and singing. Then Mother made sure that everyone knew all of the nurses. They want to make sure to make a connection with the people at these clinics so that they keep coming. Of course they had never seen me before so she introduced me to all of them. She told them that I was from America and that I would tell people at home about the clinic and what we do here. They believe here that if you trip over a rock it means someone is talking about you. So she told them if that happens it means I am talking about them.
After the singing and introductions we had to pass out all of the charts for people (there were about 300 people there). There were so many people that we divided up the charts and had to call out all of their names. People were laughing when I tried to pronounce their names and I kept having to ask Juliette.
Once the people had gotten their cards, they got in line to be weighed by Mother. Then they came into the room where we were to get their pill bottles. Benny and Mooty filled out all of their medical cards and then Juliette and I handed them their pills depending on what regimen they were on. It took almost 4 hours to pass out all of the medicine (over 1,000 pill bottles). When one woman was leaving, she turned to me and in English said, "Thank you for giving us a second chance at life." I was a little embarrassed because I felt like I had nothing to do with it really, I was at the very end of the line distributing it (and it had been going on without me). But I wish that I could be making an impact like that and it reminded me why I love doing this.
We packed up to leave. Juliette asked me if I had ever used a Blair toilet. I said I hadn't yet. Luckily at the hospital and the guest house we have real toilets- but everywhere else around here they only have Blair toilets. These "toilets" are really just holes in the ground. I went in and looked and decided to hold it until we got back to the hospital.
On our way out the Sub Chief said hello to us, he was an old man with clouded blue eyes (made it almost look blind but he wasn't). All around here are tribal lands so there are chiefs.
People are started on the medicine when they have HIV and their CD4 count is less than 350. This is because they are now at risk for many other infections that are life threatening with AIDS (TB, pneumonia, Karposi Sarcoma, etc). The government in Zimbabwe provides the medication (they actually get the medicine from the Global AIDS Fund). Only hospitals can start people on the medication however clinics can then give people their medicine. People must always go to the same place to get their meds (here they get them for 2 months at a time).
Sister McCarty starts people on the medications here. I have sat in with her on her counseling sessions that she does when starting people and it is very interesting. Kathy will not start people unless they bring their spouse or a responsible adult that they live with. This is to ensure that someone will help make sure the person takes all of their pills. She also insists that their spouse and all of their children are tested before starting them. It is a huge committment for these people to start the meds because it is for the rest of their life (which can now be many many years because of the medicine).
I went on the ART Outreach with 3 other nurses and a nurse's aid (Mooty, Benny, Juliette, and Mother). The clinic at Kapfunde is by the high school and the primary school their but they actually have their own building for the clinic. When we arrived a crowd of men, women and children were waiting out front for us. We unloaded all of the medicine (two large chests of it). Mother said good morning to everyone and they started dancing and singing. Then Mother made sure that everyone knew all of the nurses. They want to make sure to make a connection with the people at these clinics so that they keep coming. Of course they had never seen me before so she introduced me to all of them. She told them that I was from America and that I would tell people at home about the clinic and what we do here. They believe here that if you trip over a rock it means someone is talking about you. So she told them if that happens it means I am talking about them.
After the singing and introductions we had to pass out all of the charts for people (there were about 300 people there). There were so many people that we divided up the charts and had to call out all of their names. People were laughing when I tried to pronounce their names and I kept having to ask Juliette.
Once the people had gotten their cards, they got in line to be weighed by Mother. Then they came into the room where we were to get their pill bottles. Benny and Mooty filled out all of their medical cards and then Juliette and I handed them their pills depending on what regimen they were on. It took almost 4 hours to pass out all of the medicine (over 1,000 pill bottles). When one woman was leaving, she turned to me and in English said, "Thank you for giving us a second chance at life." I was a little embarrassed because I felt like I had nothing to do with it really, I was at the very end of the line distributing it (and it had been going on without me). But I wish that I could be making an impact like that and it reminded me why I love doing this.
We packed up to leave. Juliette asked me if I had ever used a Blair toilet. I said I hadn't yet. Luckily at the hospital and the guest house we have real toilets- but everywhere else around here they only have Blair toilets. These "toilets" are really just holes in the ground. I went in and looked and decided to hold it until we got back to the hospital.
On our way out the Sub Chief said hello to us, he was an old man with clouded blue eyes (made it almost look blind but he wasn't). All around here are tribal lands so there are chiefs.
Passing out medicine at the ART Outreach in Kapfunde
Pictures
I finally figured out how to upload some pictures. It takes forever so I only put a couple with each post. I went back through some of the older blog posts and added pictures and below are some other old pictures from previous blog posts. In the future I will incorporate a few pics with blogs.
The 4 bedroom guest house where I live.
Giving vaccines at a Well Baby Clinic at Chidamoyo
Taking blood for CD4 counts
Girls doing their laundry at the dam
One of the girl's house, very typical for here (the maize and the hut)
One side of the dam
Major and Kathy at the Long Service Awards
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Harare for Carolyn's Birthday
oops! spelling correction from previous post- faint**
I realized I should say who everyone is so that my posts make more sense
Sister Kathy McCarty- Sister in Charge, nurse, basically runs everything at the hospital
Major- Preacher, hospital administrator
Patience- Major's wife, works in the lab at the hospital
Carolyn (15) and Michael (19)- Major and Patience's children
Pastor Rick and Sue- visitors from California who are here for 6 months
Jordan (17)- Rick and Sue's granddaughter
Dr. Kellert- OB/GYN doc who is a consultant at the hospital and has been working here since November
Dr. Kabanzi- one of the two Zimbabwean docs at the hospital
Dr. Kajese- the other Zimbabwean doc
Noe- Dr. Kajese's wife, Theatre Nurse at the hospital
Yesterday (Saturday), Jordan and I went with Major and Patience to pick up their daughter Carolyn to celebrate her 15th birthday. Kids here that can afford it, go to boarding schools to get a good education. The boarding schools here are VERY strict. The kids can only leave 1 Saturday a month and they must be back by night. The other option though is walking to the nearest school which might be hours away and not have accredited teachers (Major said he walked 2 hours to school and 2 hours home when he was growing up).
Our goal for the day was to pick the kids up from school and go into Harare (very close to their school) for lunch. We left Chidamoyo at 6 am to get there by lunch because we always need to make lots of stops when we go into town. We were still on the dirt road when we passed two women walking along the road. Major stopped to let them in the car, he said these are two of my sisters-in-law. I couldn't believe that we happened to run into them. They were going to visit a friend in another village so we were able to give them a ride.The sun was rising as we were driving out the dirt road. It looked huge and so orange against the purple and blue sky. It was so gorgeous that Jordan and I kept making Major stop to get different pictures (the sun coming through the trees, over the hills, etc).
We stopped in Chinhoyi because Major and Patience had to go to the bank. Before they went in, Major found someone at the gas station next door to wash his Jeep. Some words about the Jeep- it is fairly new and Major LOVES it. I mean he talks about how great it is all the time, and reminds everyone that there are only 14 Jeep Wranglers in all of Zimbabwe, and the dealership said most of them were purchased after Major got his. He always washes it when he leaves the dirt road. Normally he has women bring buckets of water from the boar holes and then washes it himself but today he had someone at the gas station wash it for him. He says that he gets it washed so that people don't get the dirt on their clothes (which is a valid point), but really I think it is because he wants it to be shiny and clean when he goes into the city.
While we were waiting for them to finish at the bank, Jordan and I sat at the cafe/ food place thing next to the restaurant. We had been told that they had the best "chips" (french fries) anywhere even though it was a gas station. We got a small thing of fries and put vinegar on them (people love that here). They were pretty good but I'm not sure they were the best I have had. Finally the car was clean and Major was ready to keep going.
We made it to Cornwall College- the boarding school where Carolyn and Michael go to school. The guard didn't want to let us in because no one is supposed to drive in but Major said, "I am Major Merecki and I spoke to the headmaster about picking up my kids." The guard let us through and saluted Major because he thought he was a Major!!! (Another story about this later). When we went in, the school was very quiet. It had 2 very long halls, one of which was in an L shape. Michael later said it was a prison and honestly it looked like one. The boardmaster took us into a room and we sat down while Major talked to him. The boardmaster said that the kids were studying right now so we needed to come back at 12:45 to get them (it was 11:30). Then the boardmaster said that Major needed to bring them back by 2 pm. (In my head I couldn't believe this- these were his kids afterall. And it's a Saturday. And it was for Carolyn's birthday. And we had just driven 5 hours to get them). Anyway we left and Major was going to pick them up in an hour.
We drove into Downtown Harare so that Major could drop Jordan and I off at the flea market in Avondale. There were people everyone, cars turning every which direction while people crossed the street at any point they wanted. Jordan said, "I can't believe people don't die all the time from this" and Major said, "they do." But of course before we could go to the flea market we had another stop. We had to go to the blood bank to get more blood for the hospital (blood is gold even in the U.S., so maybe that makes it diamonds here? Very valuable). We went in (Jordan, Major, and I- Patience was gettting her hair done). It turns out that we didn't have the order for the blood. Major talked to a few people on the phone about it and then remembered he had an order paper in the car. He wrote down the order and said, Chloe you are the nurse, you sign it! I was like no! But I signed it afterall. Then in walked a ghost. Actually it was Dr. Kajesi but I was so confused for a minute because I forgot that he was in Harare for the day. Jordan told him that I had just signed for the blood and we were all joking that they would come looking for me later.
We finally made it to the flea market and Major dropped us off down the street so we would not look as much like tourists. The flea market was 2 stories and we never even made it to the first story. people have booths packed tightly together under canopies selling everything from clothes and shoes to electronics and native African crafts. We weren't interested in the clothes so we found the row of crafts. Everything was hand made but my favorite things were the beaded animals and the soapstone sculptures. The Shona people are known for their soapstone sculptures and they make animals and people out of them in a particular style. We looked at everything and as you pass the stalls, the people say, "please ma'am come in and look, I give you good price."
After we were at the market for over an hour, Major finally called that he was back with Patience and the kids. Carolyn wanted to go to a place called Miller's Cafe for lunch. When we walked in, Jordan and I were surprised how nice the restaurant was (so different being in the city). And there were lots of white people which was so weird to see after being in the rural area. We had a good lunch and Carolyn was able to get her favorite- hawaiian pizza. Carolyn wore a birthday hat and glasses and she had a really good time. Then we took her to get a cake to take back to school (at this point it was 4:30- everything takes SO long here).
After we dropped Carolyn and Michael back at school, we went to 3 different grocery stores trying to get everything to take back to Chidamoyo. The back of the Jeep was filled with groceries. Jordan and I went to Nando's a chain chicken restaurant here to get food to eat on the way home (they have really good fresh chicked roasted in different sauces- also in South Africa). We were sitting outside waiting for Major and Patience to get more groceries and kids started begging from us for food. This is the first time that I have experienced this since I have been here (it had been happening the whole day). The kids bring their school notebooks or notebooks from the doctor and beg for money. It is very sad but it is necessary to remember that it is not possible to save anyone. Anyway, 2 girls gave up asking but they started talking to us and one of them said "You look Indian (to me), but you look very white (to Jordan)." Jordan and I couldn't stop laughing- that was a first for me!
Finally we were able to leave to drive all the way back to Chidamoyo (we didn't leave until 8 pm and got home around 12:30). On the way home, Major drank a coke and then 3 red bulls in a row! I couldn't believe it. I knew he drank a lot of coffee and coke but I had no idea he drank this much.
On the way back we were listening to Zimbabwean music in Shona and racing through the countryside. I was sitting in the backseat thinking, I can't believe I am in Zimbabwe right now! I was so at peace and so happy to be here.
I realized I should say who everyone is so that my posts make more sense
Sister Kathy McCarty- Sister in Charge, nurse, basically runs everything at the hospital
Major- Preacher, hospital administrator
Patience- Major's wife, works in the lab at the hospital
Carolyn (15) and Michael (19)- Major and Patience's children
Pastor Rick and Sue- visitors from California who are here for 6 months
Jordan (17)- Rick and Sue's granddaughter
Dr. Kellert- OB/GYN doc who is a consultant at the hospital and has been working here since November
Dr. Kabanzi- one of the two Zimbabwean docs at the hospital
Dr. Kajese- the other Zimbabwean doc
Noe- Dr. Kajese's wife, Theatre Nurse at the hospital
Yesterday (Saturday), Jordan and I went with Major and Patience to pick up their daughter Carolyn to celebrate her 15th birthday. Kids here that can afford it, go to boarding schools to get a good education. The boarding schools here are VERY strict. The kids can only leave 1 Saturday a month and they must be back by night. The other option though is walking to the nearest school which might be hours away and not have accredited teachers (Major said he walked 2 hours to school and 2 hours home when he was growing up).
Our goal for the day was to pick the kids up from school and go into Harare (very close to their school) for lunch. We left Chidamoyo at 6 am to get there by lunch because we always need to make lots of stops when we go into town. We were still on the dirt road when we passed two women walking along the road. Major stopped to let them in the car, he said these are two of my sisters-in-law. I couldn't believe that we happened to run into them. They were going to visit a friend in another village so we were able to give them a ride.The sun was rising as we were driving out the dirt road. It looked huge and so orange against the purple and blue sky. It was so gorgeous that Jordan and I kept making Major stop to get different pictures (the sun coming through the trees, over the hills, etc).
We stopped in Chinhoyi because Major and Patience had to go to the bank. Before they went in, Major found someone at the gas station next door to wash his Jeep. Some words about the Jeep- it is fairly new and Major LOVES it. I mean he talks about how great it is all the time, and reminds everyone that there are only 14 Jeep Wranglers in all of Zimbabwe, and the dealership said most of them were purchased after Major got his. He always washes it when he leaves the dirt road. Normally he has women bring buckets of water from the boar holes and then washes it himself but today he had someone at the gas station wash it for him. He says that he gets it washed so that people don't get the dirt on their clothes (which is a valid point), but really I think it is because he wants it to be shiny and clean when he goes into the city.
While we were waiting for them to finish at the bank, Jordan and I sat at the cafe/ food place thing next to the restaurant. We had been told that they had the best "chips" (french fries) anywhere even though it was a gas station. We got a small thing of fries and put vinegar on them (people love that here). They were pretty good but I'm not sure they were the best I have had. Finally the car was clean and Major was ready to keep going.
We made it to Cornwall College- the boarding school where Carolyn and Michael go to school. The guard didn't want to let us in because no one is supposed to drive in but Major said, "I am Major Merecki and I spoke to the headmaster about picking up my kids." The guard let us through and saluted Major because he thought he was a Major!!! (Another story about this later). When we went in, the school was very quiet. It had 2 very long halls, one of which was in an L shape. Michael later said it was a prison and honestly it looked like one. The boardmaster took us into a room and we sat down while Major talked to him. The boardmaster said that the kids were studying right now so we needed to come back at 12:45 to get them (it was 11:30). Then the boardmaster said that Major needed to bring them back by 2 pm. (In my head I couldn't believe this- these were his kids afterall. And it's a Saturday. And it was for Carolyn's birthday. And we had just driven 5 hours to get them). Anyway we left and Major was going to pick them up in an hour.
We drove into Downtown Harare so that Major could drop Jordan and I off at the flea market in Avondale. There were people everyone, cars turning every which direction while people crossed the street at any point they wanted. Jordan said, "I can't believe people don't die all the time from this" and Major said, "they do." But of course before we could go to the flea market we had another stop. We had to go to the blood bank to get more blood for the hospital (blood is gold even in the U.S., so maybe that makes it diamonds here? Very valuable). We went in (Jordan, Major, and I- Patience was gettting her hair done). It turns out that we didn't have the order for the blood. Major talked to a few people on the phone about it and then remembered he had an order paper in the car. He wrote down the order and said, Chloe you are the nurse, you sign it! I was like no! But I signed it afterall. Then in walked a ghost. Actually it was Dr. Kajesi but I was so confused for a minute because I forgot that he was in Harare for the day. Jordan told him that I had just signed for the blood and we were all joking that they would come looking for me later.
We finally made it to the flea market and Major dropped us off down the street so we would not look as much like tourists. The flea market was 2 stories and we never even made it to the first story. people have booths packed tightly together under canopies selling everything from clothes and shoes to electronics and native African crafts. We weren't interested in the clothes so we found the row of crafts. Everything was hand made but my favorite things were the beaded animals and the soapstone sculptures. The Shona people are known for their soapstone sculptures and they make animals and people out of them in a particular style. We looked at everything and as you pass the stalls, the people say, "please ma'am come in and look, I give you good price."
After we were at the market for over an hour, Major finally called that he was back with Patience and the kids. Carolyn wanted to go to a place called Miller's Cafe for lunch. When we walked in, Jordan and I were surprised how nice the restaurant was (so different being in the city). And there were lots of white people which was so weird to see after being in the rural area. We had a good lunch and Carolyn was able to get her favorite- hawaiian pizza. Carolyn wore a birthday hat and glasses and she had a really good time. Then we took her to get a cake to take back to school (at this point it was 4:30- everything takes SO long here).
After we dropped Carolyn and Michael back at school, we went to 3 different grocery stores trying to get everything to take back to Chidamoyo. The back of the Jeep was filled with groceries. Jordan and I went to Nando's a chain chicken restaurant here to get food to eat on the way home (they have really good fresh chicked roasted in different sauces- also in South Africa). We were sitting outside waiting for Major and Patience to get more groceries and kids started begging from us for food. This is the first time that I have experienced this since I have been here (it had been happening the whole day). The kids bring their school notebooks or notebooks from the doctor and beg for money. It is very sad but it is necessary to remember that it is not possible to save anyone. Anyway, 2 girls gave up asking but they started talking to us and one of them said "You look Indian (to me), but you look very white (to Jordan)." Jordan and I couldn't stop laughing- that was a first for me!
Finally we were able to leave to drive all the way back to Chidamoyo (we didn't leave until 8 pm and got home around 12:30). On the way home, Major drank a coke and then 3 red bulls in a row! I couldn't believe it. I knew he drank a lot of coffee and coke but I had no idea he drank this much.
On the way back we were listening to Zimbabwean music in Shona and racing through the countryside. I was sitting in the backseat thinking, I can't believe I am in Zimbabwe right now! I was so at peace and so happy to be here.
Carolyn- the birthday girl
Major's Jeep getting washed
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Some random things
A little episode in theatre...
2 days ago Dr. Kajesi was going to perform a small surgery in theatre and he asked if I would like to assist him. I was so excited, finally! (I have just been observing in theatre most days). Dr. Kajesi's wife, Noe (her really name is much longer) in the theatre nurse. We went into theatre and Noe said wait until you hear his CD. The CD had the song hallelejuah in 3 different versions on it. In repeat. Noe was like he plays this CD all the time. (After about 15 minutes when one of the songs started again, I said "I've never heard this song before!" Dr. Kajesi just stared at me for a second and then started laughing. Noe said don't talk about it and make it any more painful than it already is.
The surgery was a lypoectomy (spelling is off I think)- basically just a removal of a benign fat blob, in this case on the patient's left arm. As an assistant, it was my job to hold the skin up with a clamp and blob the blood away so that Dr. Kajesi could see what he was doing. I was very excited to be up close and see what was going on and he was explaining everything to me which was great. Until the edges of the room started to blur. I started repeating a mantra of sorts in my head, over and over. "I love this, I am okay." A couple minutes goes by and the room starts spinning faster. I repeat the mantra with more force in my head, "I am OKAY, I AM OKAY." I am starting to get frantic though because it is not working and I can feel the strength leaving my legs. Then I felt all of the blood drain from my face and finally I said, "I feel dizzy" and ran out of the room (that was quite an understatement by the way, I have never feinted but I am sure if I had stayed another 30 seconds I would have).
I sat outside in the scrubroom for a few minutes, mad at myself for leaving the surgery and this opportunity. When my vision returned to normal I went back in the theatre and watched the remainder of the surgery (safely, sitting on a stool). No one really said anything, they just asked if I was okay and I said yes.
The next day (yesterday) I walked into the office and Dr. Kajese said, "what happened yesterday? You ran out on us. Do you still want to be called into theatre?" I said YES YES I do. I have no idea what happened yesterday. I mean I was fine every other time- even when they pulled a baby sized tumor out of someone. Anyway, we walked into OPD and Dr. Kabanzi was in there. Dr. Kajesi told him that I almost feinted in theatre yesterday and everyone in there started laughing. Dr. Kajesi said that if anyone forgets my name they can just ask for the girl who almost feinted. I said no way, that is not how I am going to be remembered. But then they all stopped laughing at me finally and Dr. Kajesi said that it happens to everyone at some point. He told me that he almost feinted one time when someone was pulling a catheter out of a patient and the patient was screaming in pain. Dr. Kabanzi said that he almost feinted the first time he saw a vaginal delivery. This was so funny we all started laughing again (everyone loves to laugh here, it is so great).
Anyway, I have been back to theatre since then and everything was ok. It might have been too hot or something combined with the surgery, I don't know. They all think it is so cold here so no one turns the fans on, but really it is pretty stuffy in the theatre sometimes. It made a good story though and they all got some good laughs out of it.
Burns
There are a lot of patients with burns here. I think I already mentioned the young boy with the burns on his leg in a previous post. I was doing his dressing changes all last week and they were really quite horrible. He would start screaming and crying as soon as he saw the other nurse and I coming. We had to take off his bandages and scrub the raw, burned skin with antiseptic stuff and then put a cream on the burns and wrap them back up. I can't even imagine how much that must hurt. I always tried to say sorry and smile and comfort the kid but he wanted nothing to do with me (which I can't say I blame him). But he would be laying on the grass outside later in the day with his grandma and never smile back at me. So yesterday I went and got a lollipop and took it to him. As soon as he saw it his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands twice (their way of saying thank you). Later that day when I walked by I got a huge smile and a wave. I was so happy that something so simple had made his day because he has been here the entire time I have and it is miserable for him.
Later in the day, a woman came into OPD for a checkup. She had been here before because she had terrible burns on her arm. She has epilepsy and during a seizure her arm went into the fire. She is pregnant and looks healthy until she unwraps her arm. Then it is swollen and raw and she lost 2 fingers to gangrene from the original burns. It was so hard to look at her arm. I still can't believe all of the horrible burns patients have.
Rural Living
I have been lucky since I have been here and there has been a fairly good amount of electricity and the water has been turned on. Although I have taken a freezing cold shower for the past week. I was showering after the hospital yesterday (in the dark) when the water turned off midshower. I had just put a lot of conditioner in my hair and I had no idea what I was going to do. Luckily, I had two fairly full water bottles in my room so I could rinse my hair.
I started thinking about how all of the people that live around the hospital experience this everyday. They don't have electricity or running water in their homes. It reminds me just how lucky we are in the U.S. to have electricity and running water. It seems so simple but it is so important for so many things. I still am so impressed how well the hospital runs when there is not electricity all of the time. If there is going to be a surgery sometimes they need to turn on the generator (which is kind of spotty too because it was donated used 13 years ago). They are building a recovery room right now for after operations which is going to be great. Noe was saying how nice it would be to have an ICU machine donated so that patients could be monitored more closely. Sister McCarty pointed out that it would be kind of pointless because the electricity would just go out in the middle of it. This reminded me that even if they had all of the nice equipment (which they have none of here), there would still be many barriers to using it. It is still hard to wrap my head around what MGH has compared to here. It really is worlds apart.
Exercise
I decided to go for a run yesterday because I haven't had the chance to exercise much since I have been here because it has been so busy. I left around 4 pm and ran by the school right when the students were getting out. What a mistake. I forgot that everyone here thinks that exercising is hilarious. I mean they just don't get it so it is so funny to them (they get their exercise just living daily life, most of them walk far and work in the fields around here). They are like what is this crazy white lady doing? The students were saying hi and laughing so I just kept running.
After I crossed the soccer "field" I could hear footsteps behind me and laughing. I looked back and I could see 2 girls running behind me in their uniforms. I kept going around the dam and they were still following me from a distance. I stopped and let them catch up and we said hello to each other. I told them to run with me so they did until we passed the road leading to their house. They said goodbye and I kept going. Anyway it was pretty funny how funny they all thought it was. In the future I think I will try to skip running at that time because people already stare at me enough here.
2 days ago Dr. Kajesi was going to perform a small surgery in theatre and he asked if I would like to assist him. I was so excited, finally! (I have just been observing in theatre most days). Dr. Kajesi's wife, Noe (her really name is much longer) in the theatre nurse. We went into theatre and Noe said wait until you hear his CD. The CD had the song hallelejuah in 3 different versions on it. In repeat. Noe was like he plays this CD all the time. (After about 15 minutes when one of the songs started again, I said "I've never heard this song before!" Dr. Kajesi just stared at me for a second and then started laughing. Noe said don't talk about it and make it any more painful than it already is.
The surgery was a lypoectomy (spelling is off I think)- basically just a removal of a benign fat blob, in this case on the patient's left arm. As an assistant, it was my job to hold the skin up with a clamp and blob the blood away so that Dr. Kajesi could see what he was doing. I was very excited to be up close and see what was going on and he was explaining everything to me which was great. Until the edges of the room started to blur. I started repeating a mantra of sorts in my head, over and over. "I love this, I am okay." A couple minutes goes by and the room starts spinning faster. I repeat the mantra with more force in my head, "I am OKAY, I AM OKAY." I am starting to get frantic though because it is not working and I can feel the strength leaving my legs. Then I felt all of the blood drain from my face and finally I said, "I feel dizzy" and ran out of the room (that was quite an understatement by the way, I have never feinted but I am sure if I had stayed another 30 seconds I would have).
I sat outside in the scrubroom for a few minutes, mad at myself for leaving the surgery and this opportunity. When my vision returned to normal I went back in the theatre and watched the remainder of the surgery (safely, sitting on a stool). No one really said anything, they just asked if I was okay and I said yes.
The next day (yesterday) I walked into the office and Dr. Kajese said, "what happened yesterday? You ran out on us. Do you still want to be called into theatre?" I said YES YES I do. I have no idea what happened yesterday. I mean I was fine every other time- even when they pulled a baby sized tumor out of someone. Anyway, we walked into OPD and Dr. Kabanzi was in there. Dr. Kajesi told him that I almost feinted in theatre yesterday and everyone in there started laughing. Dr. Kajesi said that if anyone forgets my name they can just ask for the girl who almost feinted. I said no way, that is not how I am going to be remembered. But then they all stopped laughing at me finally and Dr. Kajesi said that it happens to everyone at some point. He told me that he almost feinted one time when someone was pulling a catheter out of a patient and the patient was screaming in pain. Dr. Kabanzi said that he almost feinted the first time he saw a vaginal delivery. This was so funny we all started laughing again (everyone loves to laugh here, it is so great).
Anyway, I have been back to theatre since then and everything was ok. It might have been too hot or something combined with the surgery, I don't know. They all think it is so cold here so no one turns the fans on, but really it is pretty stuffy in the theatre sometimes. It made a good story though and they all got some good laughs out of it.
Burns
There are a lot of patients with burns here. I think I already mentioned the young boy with the burns on his leg in a previous post. I was doing his dressing changes all last week and they were really quite horrible. He would start screaming and crying as soon as he saw the other nurse and I coming. We had to take off his bandages and scrub the raw, burned skin with antiseptic stuff and then put a cream on the burns and wrap them back up. I can't even imagine how much that must hurt. I always tried to say sorry and smile and comfort the kid but he wanted nothing to do with me (which I can't say I blame him). But he would be laying on the grass outside later in the day with his grandma and never smile back at me. So yesterday I went and got a lollipop and took it to him. As soon as he saw it his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands twice (their way of saying thank you). Later that day when I walked by I got a huge smile and a wave. I was so happy that something so simple had made his day because he has been here the entire time I have and it is miserable for him.
Later in the day, a woman came into OPD for a checkup. She had been here before because she had terrible burns on her arm. She has epilepsy and during a seizure her arm went into the fire. She is pregnant and looks healthy until she unwraps her arm. Then it is swollen and raw and she lost 2 fingers to gangrene from the original burns. It was so hard to look at her arm. I still can't believe all of the horrible burns patients have.
Rural Living
I have been lucky since I have been here and there has been a fairly good amount of electricity and the water has been turned on. Although I have taken a freezing cold shower for the past week. I was showering after the hospital yesterday (in the dark) when the water turned off midshower. I had just put a lot of conditioner in my hair and I had no idea what I was going to do. Luckily, I had two fairly full water bottles in my room so I could rinse my hair.
I started thinking about how all of the people that live around the hospital experience this everyday. They don't have electricity or running water in their homes. It reminds me just how lucky we are in the U.S. to have electricity and running water. It seems so simple but it is so important for so many things. I still am so impressed how well the hospital runs when there is not electricity all of the time. If there is going to be a surgery sometimes they need to turn on the generator (which is kind of spotty too because it was donated used 13 years ago). They are building a recovery room right now for after operations which is going to be great. Noe was saying how nice it would be to have an ICU machine donated so that patients could be monitored more closely. Sister McCarty pointed out that it would be kind of pointless because the electricity would just go out in the middle of it. This reminded me that even if they had all of the nice equipment (which they have none of here), there would still be many barriers to using it. It is still hard to wrap my head around what MGH has compared to here. It really is worlds apart.
Exercise
I decided to go for a run yesterday because I haven't had the chance to exercise much since I have been here because it has been so busy. I left around 4 pm and ran by the school right when the students were getting out. What a mistake. I forgot that everyone here thinks that exercising is hilarious. I mean they just don't get it so it is so funny to them (they get their exercise just living daily life, most of them walk far and work in the fields around here). They are like what is this crazy white lady doing? The students were saying hi and laughing so I just kept running.
After I crossed the soccer "field" I could hear footsteps behind me and laughing. I looked back and I could see 2 girls running behind me in their uniforms. I kept going around the dam and they were still following me from a distance. I stopped and let them catch up and we said hello to each other. I told them to run with me so they did until we passed the road leading to their house. They said goodbye and I kept going. Anyway it was pretty funny how funny they all thought it was. In the future I think I will try to skip running at that time because people already stare at me enough here.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Outreach
Yesterday I was able to go on outreach clinics for the first time. A driver took 5 of us on outreach- 2 nurses, 2 nurses aids and myself. 4 of us were squished in the back of the truck so that we could fit- kind of reminded me of driving to clinical this past semester (except the bumpy roads made it even more uncomfortable). I didn't care though because I was just excited to be going on outreach and I am still interested in looking at everything we pass.
We held 3 clinics in different townships, starting with the one the furthest away and working our way back. The first township was called Zvimonja and was about an hour away. The clinic was held at a primary school. Women were waiting with their babies when we pulled up. First one of the nurses aids weighed the babies (to record their growth on growth charts) and then they were sent over to the 2 other nurses and I for vaccines. We gave them polio, measles, and other vaccines as well as Vitamin A. After all of the babies and small children were vaccinated, many of the women lined up to have their blood pressure taken. They needed theirs taken so that they could get birth control. The clinic provided 6 months of birth control for $1. I was kind of surprised how many women lined up to get it considering many of the women in the hospital are on their 4-5th + baby. I thought it was great however that these women have the opportunity to make choices about their families for an affordable price.
When the nurses aid was taking BPs of the women, I went over and took a few pictures of the school children that were gathered under the tree. Once they saw that I had a camera and was taking pictures, they all wanted to be in pictures. They were crowding closer and laughing and more and more of them kept coming. Some of the kids just stare at the camera and others pose and smile. I was able to get some really cute pictures of all of the kids in their red uniforms.
Next we went to Chigede. The clinic was held at a general store and mill in the township (the only building I saw there). Again women and their children were waiting when we arrived. Again, we vaccinated the children and gave the women their pills. After the women go through the lines, many stand or sit around chatting. It turns into a casual social gathering until everyone is done and they depart.
The third place we stopped was Stop. Yes, I had to ask twice because I didn't believe that was the name haha. This clinic was also at a general store and this time there was music playing and even more women and children. Everytime we set up under a tree (because it was warm out although one of the nurses was cold! it is their winter I suppose). A few young school boys crowded around to watch (by now they were out of school for the day). A couple of them started wrestling and messing around to get my attention so I would take pictures of them. This township was slightly busier with lots of cattle pulling carts around.
I gave all of the vaccines at each clinic so by the end of the day, I became a pro at giving injections and making babies scream! I even started learning Shona in order to tell the kids to open their mouths and swallow the polio vaccine and the Vitamin A. I also now say sorry with a shona accent- sore-y (role the r slightly too). This is what the kids understand after I inject them and then their mothers start laughing when I say it.
Today was back at the hospital. I am seeing so much here, I still cannot believe it. I try and write things down and look things up that I can't remember or don't know but there is just so much! I am excited though to finally be seeing things that I only ever read about in my nursing books. Many of the people here do not go to the doctor until they are very very sick. They think that if they ignore it, it will go away and they will get better. Or they try and go to the witch doctor. So, unfortunately by the time they get to the hospital, many people have advanced cases of whatever disease they have. As horrible as this is, it is an opportunity to see things that I have only seen pictured in books.
There seemed to be a lot of lung issues today (although there are basically everyday here because of the TB and pneumonia often associated with AIDS). Dr. Kajesi was very patient with me today and explained everything and had me listen to all of the patients lungs. I listened to a pleural effusion in one man's lung and I was able to percuss it successfully- something that I have really only done on healthy people in class. (this isn't a big deal at all, it is just exciting to be able to practice the little things and have them actually be diagnostic). I also saw a women with a barrel chest (again sorry this is probably only interesting for medical people and maybe not even them). Anyway, she had a textbook perfect case.
As a side note, I now walk to and from the hospital with my head down scanning the ground. I knew coming here that there were snakes here, and it was my biggest fear coming here. When I arrived they said I was in luck because it is not really the season for them. Although it is important to still not do anything stupid like walk through the brush or stick your hand down a hole. But yesterday, one of the nurses saw a snake by Dr. Kajesi's house (on my route to the hospital) so I am again very paranoid about seeing one. I don't think it is completely irrational here though because the three most common snakes are spitting cobras, black mambas, and some other equally deadly snake. And oh yeah, there is no antidote or venom. You die or if you are lucky, lose a limb. Anyway I hope everyday not to see one and I constantly look where I am going (for now).
People crowding around to listen to instructions
We held 3 clinics in different townships, starting with the one the furthest away and working our way back. The first township was called Zvimonja and was about an hour away. The clinic was held at a primary school. Women were waiting with their babies when we pulled up. First one of the nurses aids weighed the babies (to record their growth on growth charts) and then they were sent over to the 2 other nurses and I for vaccines. We gave them polio, measles, and other vaccines as well as Vitamin A. After all of the babies and small children were vaccinated, many of the women lined up to have their blood pressure taken. They needed theirs taken so that they could get birth control. The clinic provided 6 months of birth control for $1. I was kind of surprised how many women lined up to get it considering many of the women in the hospital are on their 4-5th + baby. I thought it was great however that these women have the opportunity to make choices about their families for an affordable price.
When the nurses aid was taking BPs of the women, I went over and took a few pictures of the school children that were gathered under the tree. Once they saw that I had a camera and was taking pictures, they all wanted to be in pictures. They were crowding closer and laughing and more and more of them kept coming. Some of the kids just stare at the camera and others pose and smile. I was able to get some really cute pictures of all of the kids in their red uniforms.
Next we went to Chigede. The clinic was held at a general store and mill in the township (the only building I saw there). Again women and their children were waiting when we arrived. Again, we vaccinated the children and gave the women their pills. After the women go through the lines, many stand or sit around chatting. It turns into a casual social gathering until everyone is done and they depart.
The third place we stopped was Stop. Yes, I had to ask twice because I didn't believe that was the name haha. This clinic was also at a general store and this time there was music playing and even more women and children. Everytime we set up under a tree (because it was warm out although one of the nurses was cold! it is their winter I suppose). A few young school boys crowded around to watch (by now they were out of school for the day). A couple of them started wrestling and messing around to get my attention so I would take pictures of them. This township was slightly busier with lots of cattle pulling carts around.
I gave all of the vaccines at each clinic so by the end of the day, I became a pro at giving injections and making babies scream! I even started learning Shona in order to tell the kids to open their mouths and swallow the polio vaccine and the Vitamin A. I also now say sorry with a shona accent- sore-y (role the r slightly too). This is what the kids understand after I inject them and then their mothers start laughing when I say it.
Today was back at the hospital. I am seeing so much here, I still cannot believe it. I try and write things down and look things up that I can't remember or don't know but there is just so much! I am excited though to finally be seeing things that I only ever read about in my nursing books. Many of the people here do not go to the doctor until they are very very sick. They think that if they ignore it, it will go away and they will get better. Or they try and go to the witch doctor. So, unfortunately by the time they get to the hospital, many people have advanced cases of whatever disease they have. As horrible as this is, it is an opportunity to see things that I have only seen pictured in books.
There seemed to be a lot of lung issues today (although there are basically everyday here because of the TB and pneumonia often associated with AIDS). Dr. Kajesi was very patient with me today and explained everything and had me listen to all of the patients lungs. I listened to a pleural effusion in one man's lung and I was able to percuss it successfully- something that I have really only done on healthy people in class. (this isn't a big deal at all, it is just exciting to be able to practice the little things and have them actually be diagnostic). I also saw a women with a barrel chest (again sorry this is probably only interesting for medical people and maybe not even them). Anyway, she had a textbook perfect case.
As a side note, I now walk to and from the hospital with my head down scanning the ground. I knew coming here that there were snakes here, and it was my biggest fear coming here. When I arrived they said I was in luck because it is not really the season for them. Although it is important to still not do anything stupid like walk through the brush or stick your hand down a hole. But yesterday, one of the nurses saw a snake by Dr. Kajesi's house (on my route to the hospital) so I am again very paranoid about seeing one. I don't think it is completely irrational here though because the three most common snakes are spitting cobras, black mambas, and some other equally deadly snake. And oh yeah, there is no antidote or venom. You die or if you are lucky, lose a limb. Anyway I hope everyday not to see one and I constantly look where I am going (for now).
The nurses I went to the clinic with- where we give the vaccines
School kids crowding around at the first stop
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Chinhoyi Caves
Yesterday (Saturday) 23 of us divided up into cars to drive to Chinhoyi to see the caves there and have the Long Service awards for the hospital (awards given for 5, 10, 15... 30 years of service at the hospital). We were supposed to leave at 10:30 am but of course we did not pull out until 12. In addition to everything going on at the hospital, it is difficult to get things organized and going. It takes time and patience. Eventually everyone had a place in a car and we were off.
Chinhoyi is a town about 3 hours away (toward Harare) - 1.5 hours of which are the dirt road. It is the largest town for miles (or kms I should say) and home to the provincial hospital. The dirt road here is very dusty and very very bumpy. I'm talking swinging side to side, up and down bumpy. For me it was exciting on the way there because I had not seen this area on the way in (because it was dark). Along the way we passed through different townships where people are walking around, sitting in front of shops. The shops look like and old town, the buildings are simple, spread apart and falling apart. Each township seems to have the same shops- for some reason Investments shops are popular (I'm not sure what kind of investments) and bottle shops (it says bottle shop on the front). I was told they sell sodas and liquer. And I have come to find soda here usually means coke, maybe coke zero or coke light (diet coke)- they love sugar here!, or Fanta grape or orange.
Aside from seeing the townships, huts and fields are visible from the road. The same huts that one can see walking away from the hospital- round brick bases and thatched roofs. Some also have a small rectangle building with a metal roof. People are always walking along the road here, men, women, children. Even when we were driving back after 11pm last night there were occasionally people walking along the road. Everyone looks at who is driving by and then (I am presuming it is because we are white) they wave at us. We all wave back.There are randomly (seem random to me of course) placed bus stop signs along the way. They are usually hung from trees, made out of anything available- cardboard, old tires and painted bus stop on them. We passed herds of cattle laying by the side of the road or trying to pass. They are so large and the bull's horns just remind me of the poor old man who got impaled in the rear the first week I was here (he has since been discharged from the hospital and is doing well).
Probably my favorite part along the way were the soccer fields. They are just like they show in movies sometimes. "Fields" of dirt with goal posts at each end (maybe during the rainy season there is grass? I need to ask). The goal posts that I have seen are made out of anything. At the school they are metal pipes, along the way they were tall sticks stuck in the ground with Y shapes at the top to hold the crossbar. There is something so fun about there being nothing around here except soccer fields.
Once we finally arrived at the caves, we all walked down into the first one called "the sleeping pool." I was told that they were not tight spaces (I was not willing to repeat my experience of the tunnels that I had in Israel). We descneded into the cave on very steep stone stairs. I regretted leaving my torch (flashlight) in the car but the other girl that is staying here, Jordan had her phone to light the way. As we went down and turned the corner, the cave opened up and there was a large tree with very green leaves and below, a "pool" with the deepest, bluest water I have EVER seen. I was mesmorized staring at the water hidden in the cave. Above, the cave is open to the blue sky, in front of you over the pool, the cave continues into the darkness, impossible to see how far. We could see some fish swimming around near the shore, and we were able to go down next to the water. Apparently they have scuba diving lessons there which I would have loved! They have not been able to find the bottom of the pool, and many people here say that it connects to Lake Kariba but I think that is just a myth, they really don't know where it goes.
As we were making our way back up, high school kids were coming down in their uniforms. As they got close, one of the boys said, "wow THIS is in Africa. I love Zimbabwe!" I thought he captured it perfectly.
The next cave we went in was slightly darker and twisted and turned more. They did have old lights hanging from the ceiling to light the way. This cave also had a pool in it, also a very pretty blue but it was not as easy to see (only a viewing point) and the top of the cave was not opened to the sky like the other one. The caves themselves are not that exciting compared to other caves one can go in around the world but the water is so beautiful. I still can't believe that first cave and pool.
When we walked out of the caves, the school kids were leaving too. A bunch of the students kept asking Jordan and I if we would take pictures with them. Pictures with white Americans are very exciting!
After the caves we sat outside at the hotel there (Chinhoyi Caves Motel) where we would later be having dinner. We drank our soda (coke, coke zero, or fanta) outside. The weather was so beautiful once again. Two monkeys were climbing around. I was hesitant to get excited about their presence after the very mean monkeys in Malaysia but I was told these ones were nice. Then I was excited to see them! I love seeing all of the animals here.
After we had dinner inside. Everyone had changed to look "smart" for the awards. Dr. Kajesi was wearing a white suit and white shoes. He and his wife looked quite smart! It was a buffet dinner and Major had to explain to everyone what it was. They had sudza of course (people here eat it 3 meals a day). I had it once last week and I had put sriracha sauce on it which was really good. They happened to have this really hot chili sauce on the table (peri peri sauce) and I put it on. Dr. Kajesi who was sitting across from me couldn't believe it that I liked it. He even yelled down the long table for Major to look. Major does NOT like spicy things like most people here.
The awards were really nice- Sister McCarty got her award for being at the hospital for 30 years!! 5 others, including 1 other for 30 years were given.
Then we tried to leave- which took a very long time of course and finally returned home late. On the way home the dirt road seemed even worse under the lights of the car. As we were coming back, and the road seemed endless, I realized how far far away from everything we really are out here. The best part of the way back was the donkey laying in the middle of the road that refused to move. (it was a cute donkey like the one in Shrek).
Hope everyone is doing well!
The group from Chidamoyo that went to the caves
With Jordan in the second cave
Chinhoyi is a town about 3 hours away (toward Harare) - 1.5 hours of which are the dirt road. It is the largest town for miles (or kms I should say) and home to the provincial hospital. The dirt road here is very dusty and very very bumpy. I'm talking swinging side to side, up and down bumpy. For me it was exciting on the way there because I had not seen this area on the way in (because it was dark). Along the way we passed through different townships where people are walking around, sitting in front of shops. The shops look like and old town, the buildings are simple, spread apart and falling apart. Each township seems to have the same shops- for some reason Investments shops are popular (I'm not sure what kind of investments) and bottle shops (it says bottle shop on the front). I was told they sell sodas and liquer. And I have come to find soda here usually means coke, maybe coke zero or coke light (diet coke)- they love sugar here!, or Fanta grape or orange.
Aside from seeing the townships, huts and fields are visible from the road. The same huts that one can see walking away from the hospital- round brick bases and thatched roofs. Some also have a small rectangle building with a metal roof. People are always walking along the road here, men, women, children. Even when we were driving back after 11pm last night there were occasionally people walking along the road. Everyone looks at who is driving by and then (I am presuming it is because we are white) they wave at us. We all wave back.There are randomly (seem random to me of course) placed bus stop signs along the way. They are usually hung from trees, made out of anything available- cardboard, old tires and painted bus stop on them. We passed herds of cattle laying by the side of the road or trying to pass. They are so large and the bull's horns just remind me of the poor old man who got impaled in the rear the first week I was here (he has since been discharged from the hospital and is doing well).
Probably my favorite part along the way were the soccer fields. They are just like they show in movies sometimes. "Fields" of dirt with goal posts at each end (maybe during the rainy season there is grass? I need to ask). The goal posts that I have seen are made out of anything. At the school they are metal pipes, along the way they were tall sticks stuck in the ground with Y shapes at the top to hold the crossbar. There is something so fun about there being nothing around here except soccer fields.
Once we finally arrived at the caves, we all walked down into the first one called "the sleeping pool." I was told that they were not tight spaces (I was not willing to repeat my experience of the tunnels that I had in Israel). We descneded into the cave on very steep stone stairs. I regretted leaving my torch (flashlight) in the car but the other girl that is staying here, Jordan had her phone to light the way. As we went down and turned the corner, the cave opened up and there was a large tree with very green leaves and below, a "pool" with the deepest, bluest water I have EVER seen. I was mesmorized staring at the water hidden in the cave. Above, the cave is open to the blue sky, in front of you over the pool, the cave continues into the darkness, impossible to see how far. We could see some fish swimming around near the shore, and we were able to go down next to the water. Apparently they have scuba diving lessons there which I would have loved! They have not been able to find the bottom of the pool, and many people here say that it connects to Lake Kariba but I think that is just a myth, they really don't know where it goes.
As we were making our way back up, high school kids were coming down in their uniforms. As they got close, one of the boys said, "wow THIS is in Africa. I love Zimbabwe!" I thought he captured it perfectly.
The next cave we went in was slightly darker and twisted and turned more. They did have old lights hanging from the ceiling to light the way. This cave also had a pool in it, also a very pretty blue but it was not as easy to see (only a viewing point) and the top of the cave was not opened to the sky like the other one. The caves themselves are not that exciting compared to other caves one can go in around the world but the water is so beautiful. I still can't believe that first cave and pool.
When we walked out of the caves, the school kids were leaving too. A bunch of the students kept asking Jordan and I if we would take pictures with them. Pictures with white Americans are very exciting!
After the caves we sat outside at the hotel there (Chinhoyi Caves Motel) where we would later be having dinner. We drank our soda (coke, coke zero, or fanta) outside. The weather was so beautiful once again. Two monkeys were climbing around. I was hesitant to get excited about their presence after the very mean monkeys in Malaysia but I was told these ones were nice. Then I was excited to see them! I love seeing all of the animals here.
After we had dinner inside. Everyone had changed to look "smart" for the awards. Dr. Kajesi was wearing a white suit and white shoes. He and his wife looked quite smart! It was a buffet dinner and Major had to explain to everyone what it was. They had sudza of course (people here eat it 3 meals a day). I had it once last week and I had put sriracha sauce on it which was really good. They happened to have this really hot chili sauce on the table (peri peri sauce) and I put it on. Dr. Kajesi who was sitting across from me couldn't believe it that I liked it. He even yelled down the long table for Major to look. Major does NOT like spicy things like most people here.
The awards were really nice- Sister McCarty got her award for being at the hospital for 30 years!! 5 others, including 1 other for 30 years were given.
Then we tried to leave- which took a very long time of course and finally returned home late. On the way home the dirt road seemed even worse under the lights of the car. As we were coming back, and the road seemed endless, I realized how far far away from everything we really are out here. The best part of the way back was the donkey laying in the middle of the road that refused to move. (it was a cute donkey like the one in Shrek).
Hope everyone is doing well!
In the cave by the Sleeping Pool
Thursday, July 5, 2012
A little exploration
Finally time to talk about last Saturday.
On Saturday we go to the hospital in the morning to check on patients and then after lunch we have the afternoon off! Last weekend some of the guests were in Harare because they were leaving so I was basically on my own for the afternoon! Since I have arrived I have spent all of my time either at the hospital or at Kathy's house. Kathy said that it is safe to walk around here and that there was a dam beyond the school. I couldn't believe it, I had no idea there was anything like that around here.
I decided to go explore. It was a gorgeous day. The sky is so clear and blue here and it was the perfect temperature. If anything slightly warm even though it is winter. As I started walking I realized I had no idea where I was going, no cell phone to get back if I got lost and I was by myself. Awesome I thought. But I decided that I didn't want to miss the opportunity to explore so I kept walking. I asked directions to the dam as I went along. I was slightly nervous that I was walking through someone else's property because I'm not really sure what belongs to the mission/ hospital and what belongs to other people.
I walked along the dirt road and some trails. Along the way, there were fences made of sticks enclosing small gardens (not the season now but it was possible to see where it was). I made it to the dam, which actually looked like a pond. There were reeds growing in it and lily pads. It was quite pretty with the country side in the background and the mountains (hills?) behind it. I saw that there were some people fishing on the other side and I zoomed in to take some pictures. I was going to turn around but I decided to go over and get a closer look. When I walked over, there were two girls and a boy doing laundry on the side (there was a cement place- the dam part of it I suppose where they had their wash buckets and soap). I said hello and one of the girls told me to go over to them. I walked over and they introduced themselves and we started talking. Only one of the girls spoke good English (Tandi), the other two spoke a little. They had so many questions about what I was doing there and about the U.S. They did not believe me that I am 21, they were convinced that I was 24-25. I thought the same about them though and they were 18.
I asked where they live and they pointed to some huts (bricks on the bottom part- round walls, and a thatched roof). They said they go to the school that I had passed on the way to the dam. They wanted to know who my favorite actor and actress was, who my favorite singer is, what my favorite food is, etc. Tandi played some Beyonce on her phone and then asked if Beyonce, Jay-Z and Rihanna are evil. I said what? I think you have the wrong word. She said no, some people here think they are evil. I said I don't really know them personally but I don't think people in the U.S. think they are evil haha. Tandi then wanted my phone number for her cell phone (I asked her if she had electricity at her house and she said no, she charges her phone at the hospital). They kept saying that they wanted to go to the U.S. The boy asked about gardening jobs and the other girl asked about housekeeping jobs. Honestly I couldn't really understand everything they were asking. They said that my skin was beautiful and they wanted it. I said I thought theirs was, which they kept saying no no! They also could not believe that my hair is real- they can't grow theirs past their shoulders so if it is, they have extensions, a weave or a wig (which they thought I had).
Some other kids came as we were talking and they kept introducing me to everyone. They would talk in Shona and laugh (I'm sure about me and meeting me). Two little boys had caught a mouse in the fields and they wanted to pose with it in pictures (yuck!) We talked for about an hour and then they said do you want to come and see our houses? I was really interested in where everyone lives so after checking that it really wasn't too far (I had no clue how I would find my way back) we headed out.
The girls carried their laundry in the plastic bins on their heads! They were so heavy I couldn't believe it. We walked slowly back and they carried them the whole way. We walked along a dirt trail past fields where they grow maize. We got to Tandi's house and they had about 5 different buildings that belonged to them. It is kind of difficult to explain (still trying to figure out if the computer can handle uploading pictures). Two of the buildings were kitchens. In one they had all of their plates displayed on shelves on the walls. In the middle on the ground was a fire pit where they cook.
They store dried maize in a fenced in area that is on stilts (terrible description sorry!) that they use to make sudza, the main food here. Tandi's family also had pigs and chickens. Next she asked if I would like to see where they get their water. I said of course! We walked over and there was a pump and well under a big tree. A lot of girls and women were there getting water in buckets to take home. I can't imagine living without running water! Such a different life. I was so thirsty and Tandi offered me water but I decided I didn't want to be sick for the next few days so I politely declined (luckily we can drink the tap water at Kathy's house and the guest house). I asked what they do for fun and they said nothing really, they said it was really boring there. Honestly, I could kind of see that but at the same time it is so peaceful out here compared to our crazy lives in the U.S. There is something to be said for living a simple life.
I said I needed to get home soon because the sun was starting to go down (it goes down at 6pm here right now because it is winter). They asked where I lived and said by Sister McCarty. Tandi knew exactly who she was and where she lived. The two girls said they would walk me back. Turns out we weren't that far because paths go in a circle back to the hospital. We walked back talking more and when we got there, the other girl asked if she could have some chewing gum (I had been chewing it earlier). I happened to bring a few packs here with me so I gave them one to split. They said they do the laundry every Saturday there so I should see them some other time! (Since then I have seen one of them walking by in her school uniform).
It ended up being such a great day and I got to see some of the surrounding area and how the people live around here. It is great to see how my patients live to get a better perspective. I want to explore more and make a visit to the Township that is close.
On Saturday we go to the hospital in the morning to check on patients and then after lunch we have the afternoon off! Last weekend some of the guests were in Harare because they were leaving so I was basically on my own for the afternoon! Since I have arrived I have spent all of my time either at the hospital or at Kathy's house. Kathy said that it is safe to walk around here and that there was a dam beyond the school. I couldn't believe it, I had no idea there was anything like that around here.
I decided to go explore. It was a gorgeous day. The sky is so clear and blue here and it was the perfect temperature. If anything slightly warm even though it is winter. As I started walking I realized I had no idea where I was going, no cell phone to get back if I got lost and I was by myself. Awesome I thought. But I decided that I didn't want to miss the opportunity to explore so I kept walking. I asked directions to the dam as I went along. I was slightly nervous that I was walking through someone else's property because I'm not really sure what belongs to the mission/ hospital and what belongs to other people.
I walked along the dirt road and some trails. Along the way, there were fences made of sticks enclosing small gardens (not the season now but it was possible to see where it was). I made it to the dam, which actually looked like a pond. There were reeds growing in it and lily pads. It was quite pretty with the country side in the background and the mountains (hills?) behind it. I saw that there were some people fishing on the other side and I zoomed in to take some pictures. I was going to turn around but I decided to go over and get a closer look. When I walked over, there were two girls and a boy doing laundry on the side (there was a cement place- the dam part of it I suppose where they had their wash buckets and soap). I said hello and one of the girls told me to go over to them. I walked over and they introduced themselves and we started talking. Only one of the girls spoke good English (Tandi), the other two spoke a little. They had so many questions about what I was doing there and about the U.S. They did not believe me that I am 21, they were convinced that I was 24-25. I thought the same about them though and they were 18.
I asked where they live and they pointed to some huts (bricks on the bottom part- round walls, and a thatched roof). They said they go to the school that I had passed on the way to the dam. They wanted to know who my favorite actor and actress was, who my favorite singer is, what my favorite food is, etc. Tandi played some Beyonce on her phone and then asked if Beyonce, Jay-Z and Rihanna are evil. I said what? I think you have the wrong word. She said no, some people here think they are evil. I said I don't really know them personally but I don't think people in the U.S. think they are evil haha. Tandi then wanted my phone number for her cell phone (I asked her if she had electricity at her house and she said no, she charges her phone at the hospital). They kept saying that they wanted to go to the U.S. The boy asked about gardening jobs and the other girl asked about housekeeping jobs. Honestly I couldn't really understand everything they were asking. They said that my skin was beautiful and they wanted it. I said I thought theirs was, which they kept saying no no! They also could not believe that my hair is real- they can't grow theirs past their shoulders so if it is, they have extensions, a weave or a wig (which they thought I had).
Some other kids came as we were talking and they kept introducing me to everyone. They would talk in Shona and laugh (I'm sure about me and meeting me). Two little boys had caught a mouse in the fields and they wanted to pose with it in pictures (yuck!) We talked for about an hour and then they said do you want to come and see our houses? I was really interested in where everyone lives so after checking that it really wasn't too far (I had no clue how I would find my way back) we headed out.
The girls carried their laundry in the plastic bins on their heads! They were so heavy I couldn't believe it. We walked slowly back and they carried them the whole way. We walked along a dirt trail past fields where they grow maize. We got to Tandi's house and they had about 5 different buildings that belonged to them. It is kind of difficult to explain (still trying to figure out if the computer can handle uploading pictures). Two of the buildings were kitchens. In one they had all of their plates displayed on shelves on the walls. In the middle on the ground was a fire pit where they cook.
They store dried maize in a fenced in area that is on stilts (terrible description sorry!) that they use to make sudza, the main food here. Tandi's family also had pigs and chickens. Next she asked if I would like to see where they get their water. I said of course! We walked over and there was a pump and well under a big tree. A lot of girls and women were there getting water in buckets to take home. I can't imagine living without running water! Such a different life. I was so thirsty and Tandi offered me water but I decided I didn't want to be sick for the next few days so I politely declined (luckily we can drink the tap water at Kathy's house and the guest house). I asked what they do for fun and they said nothing really, they said it was really boring there. Honestly, I could kind of see that but at the same time it is so peaceful out here compared to our crazy lives in the U.S. There is something to be said for living a simple life.
I said I needed to get home soon because the sun was starting to go down (it goes down at 6pm here right now because it is winter). They asked where I lived and said by Sister McCarty. Tandi knew exactly who she was and where she lived. The two girls said they would walk me back. Turns out we weren't that far because paths go in a circle back to the hospital. We walked back talking more and when we got there, the other girl asked if she could have some chewing gum (I had been chewing it earlier). I happened to bring a few packs here with me so I gave them one to split. They said they do the laundry every Saturday there so I should see them some other time! (Since then I have seen one of them walking by in her school uniform).
It ended up being such a great day and I got to see some of the surrounding area and how the people live around here. It is great to see how my patients live to get a better perspective. I want to explore more and make a visit to the Township that is close.
Happy 4th!!
Happy 4th of July! Last night we celebrated the 4th of July here. Kathy had so many decorations up, looking around one would think you were in the U.S. not in rural Zimbabwe. Everyone came over for a big American style 4th of July. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and funfetti cupcakes with little American flags stuck in them for dessert (they were paper but one of the Zimbabweans asked if you eat them too).
After dinner and Bible study (something very new for me), we even had fireworks! We went out to the old basketball court (which is really surrounded by a lot of very dry plants and some overhanging trees). We all gathered around as Major got ready to light the fireworks. He said that you had to launch one of them into the sky by throwing it and everyone told him he was wrong. So he stuck it in the ground and lit it. I never even saw what happened, there was a flash of light and I screamed (in natural Chloe fashion VERY loudly) and we were all 10 feet back in the bushes. Turns out, you are supposed to throw it into the sky. It exploded all over the ground around us and everyone moved very far away after that. The fireworks show didn't last very long after that.
Zimbabwe is very new country compared to the U.S. We discussed that the U.S. and Zimbabwe both declared their freedom from Britain, however Zim only did so 32 years ago. Apparently people here are already forgetting independence day so they were all impressed that we still celebrate!
After dinner and Bible study (something very new for me), we even had fireworks! We went out to the old basketball court (which is really surrounded by a lot of very dry plants and some overhanging trees). We all gathered around as Major got ready to light the fireworks. He said that you had to launch one of them into the sky by throwing it and everyone told him he was wrong. So he stuck it in the ground and lit it. I never even saw what happened, there was a flash of light and I screamed (in natural Chloe fashion VERY loudly) and we were all 10 feet back in the bushes. Turns out, you are supposed to throw it into the sky. It exploded all over the ground around us and everyone moved very far away after that. The fireworks show didn't last very long after that.
Zimbabwe is very new country compared to the U.S. We discussed that the U.S. and Zimbabwe both declared their freedom from Britain, however Zim only did so 32 years ago. Apparently people here are already forgetting independence day so they were all impressed that we still celebrate!
decorations
4th of July Dinner- Clockwise from the back left: Noe, Dr. Kellert, Dr. Kajese, Jordan, Me, Rick,
Kathy, Major, Dr. Kabonzi, and Sue
Hope everyone had as great a 4th as we did!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Busy Busy Busy
Hello!
I have SOOO much I want to write about, so much happens every day! I really want to catch up on the weekend- had a great time but I am too tired for now.
Today was a very long day. I have seen SO much and been learning so much (I try and look things up and ask tons of questions). I took staples out from a patient post c-section this morning and then sutures out from a patient's wound. I have been able to do lots of wound care here which is great!
I am pretty bummed because a newborn premature baby died (it was a day old) and I was watching the resuscitation. It is the first time I have seen a patient die and it was a baby. They see life and death differently here, especially in the first year of life so the level of urgency (or lack there of) during the resuscitation was difficult for me to watch even though there is nothing else that they could have done. It is very difficult for premature babies to survive here because they do not have the necessary supplies to help them (on that note if anyone is looking to donate to something they could use a neonatal resuscitation kit here!!!)
Anyway I will try to write about more happier things soon. It has been such a great experience here, I still can't believe I get to be here learning!
I have SOOO much I want to write about, so much happens every day! I really want to catch up on the weekend- had a great time but I am too tired for now.
Today was a very long day. I have seen SO much and been learning so much (I try and look things up and ask tons of questions). I took staples out from a patient post c-section this morning and then sutures out from a patient's wound. I have been able to do lots of wound care here which is great!
I am pretty bummed because a newborn premature baby died (it was a day old) and I was watching the resuscitation. It is the first time I have seen a patient die and it was a baby. They see life and death differently here, especially in the first year of life so the level of urgency (or lack there of) during the resuscitation was difficult for me to watch even though there is nothing else that they could have done. It is very difficult for premature babies to survive here because they do not have the necessary supplies to help them (on that note if anyone is looking to donate to something they could use a neonatal resuscitation kit here!!!)
Anyway I will try to write about more happier things soon. It has been such a great experience here, I still can't believe I get to be here learning!
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