Lets start with last night, the fun stuff of course. A few friends and I went running and we
stopped to pick up notebooks for class.
We went back to our flat and made a pretty amazing dinner if I do say so
myself. Peas, rice and sauce—the dinner
of champions. Later on we all went to
this bar in the next town area called “Stones.”
It reminded me somewhat of Eddie Obriens or Parkers in Geneva and had a
good American feel to it. Matter of
fact, we met a bunch of Americans studying here and volunteering. Our RA came with us as our protector which was
probably a good thing since the young doctors at Gugulethu informed us that we
really should be with a South African when walking around where we live…how
inviting. The two for one special was a
hit and I downed a few Castles (the main South African Beer) which was actually
pretty light and tasty. I had a great
time going out and getting to know our group better and make some friends from
different places. I swear there were
people from all over the world in this one bar and we were told that Long
Street is even better and more exciting with famous clubs and bars.
Today we went back to Gugulethu and I really tried to go in
with a clean slate. I brought my trusty
peanut butter sandwich and orange along with me. The woman who had given me some problems
yesterday was not around the area I was in so I felt comfortable and able to
talk with the various nursing (sisters) staff and doctors that were doing their
community rotation. One really
interesting thing about medical school or degrees in the medical profession is
that students must give back ot the community by doing a year to two years of
community service in these hospitals such as Gugulethu where no one wants to
come work.
Today I was placed in Maternity and was able to see the
tiniest baby being transported to a larger hospital. At one point the power went off and we were
so fearful of the effect on the baby but the sister nurses did not seem to
think that it was an issue at all. One
thing that I found extremely interesting was how natural the birthing process
is here. While I did not see a birth
today others in my class described it yesterday and we spoke with the nursing
students who confirmed what they had seen.
Compared to America it is so much more relaxing and kind of in and
out. For mothers who are having normal
pregnancies with no complications they can come to gugulethu and walk around a
waiting area for mothers in early labor.
They groan and walk until they are dilated enough. When it is time they move to a bed (there are
about 4-5 beds for birthing) and the process begins. Men are not allowed in the ward. Post-labor the women all lay in beds in one
room and they are there with their child the whole time by their side—breast
feeding is much more open in south Africa as well. I went to speak to one of the young mothers
and she lifted her shirt to begin feeding—at first I was shocked but then
realized that they are used to this sort of thing. I should mention that many girls start having
children at age 12.
The maternity ward was pretty quiet today and soon our
nursing student left us to fend for ourselves.
I was moved to Outpatient (OPD) and that is where the real fun
began. I was given gloves and was able
to call names of patients, take blood pressure and assign them to either a
doctor or nurse. The most saddening
thing about this is that going to Gugulethu means they are there the whole
day. The lines are extremely long and
even once they have been in line to be sent to the doctor or nurse they still
must wait to see them too. In addition
to taking BP I also worked with another kid on my trip testing a few urine
samples (yes we had gloves but NO it was not anywhere near as sanitary as in
the US).
I apologize for these being such lengthy descriptions of my
day but there is so so much to tell. I
can try and make some more condescend posts that describe my experiences but I
am also handing these in for grades as journal entries. I will have a total of 3 papers (all around
3000-5000 words) as well but we are all hoping that they wont take away from
our traveling and adventuring!
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