Monday 27 February 2012
Botswana Safari!
Feb. 26th, 2012: Today I had a lazy day, it was wonderful. I spent the day by the pool hanging out with some new friends that I have met while staying here at Jollyboys. The pool is really nice and very needed in the blazing hot 40 degree weather! I had a rather blonde moment when I hard boiled my eggs in the morning. I started them and then forgot about them until an hour later and had to explain to the person in the kitchen why my eggs were STILL there. They actually tasted pretty good!
Feb. 27th, 2012: Today I visited the Chobe National Park in Botswana! My day started out with a 45 minute bus ride to Botswana, where I had to go through immigration and got some new exciting stamps on my passport. I thought it was really funny how I had to walk on this little cement block with a towel on it which was supposed to help to prevent foot and mouth disease. I was confused on how that worked but walked on it anyways seeing as I didn’t have a choice. Botswana is very beautiful. It is a very nice place, with the most interesting part in my opinion being the animals that wander wherever they wish. This includes the roads. Cars have to stop for elephants and cows and many more animals to cross. There are no fences to keep the animals in one area! I was greeted with a very yummy little breakfast of muffins, coffee/tea and fruit. I then boarded the boat which we would be cruising down the Zambezi on for the first part of the safari. It was nice, I sat on the top floor to get a better view and some sunshine. I saw hippos, an elephant, lots of birds and a crocodile (in the water). It was really peaceful to just sit on the boat, listen to the waves, rock gently and every once and a while look up to see the gorgeous view. I stopped back at the chalet for a delicious lunch before heading out on the game drive. The lunch was so yummy. I had salad, like at home, for the first time since leaving home. I never realized how good salad was before! After lunch I boarded a little speed boat which brought me over the river to where we would be boarding the cars to go on the land safari. I couldn’t help but notice how the huge trucks were transported across the river. It looked like big pieces of a bridge had been detached and made to float. It was easy to see how all the trucks lined up waiting could wait a VERY long time to get across. It was rather creepy, hearing about the stories of human trafficking and why the new rule to check all the trucks cargo was put in place at the border. It was really cool because standing on the speed boat, I was at a 4 country corner with Botswana, Zambia, Nimibya and Zimbabwe around me. They say there is only one other place you can do this in the world!
I then began my game drive! I saw so many amazing animals very close up. I saw a LOT of elephants. There are 40000-60000 in total in the park. At one point, we were surrounded by about 10 elephants and had a chance to see them very up close. They were so close that they could have touched the front of the car. They are a chocolate colour with very wrinkly skin. Considering they are born at 90-120 kg, you can imagine how large they are fully grown. They can grow to be 60-80 years old. The oldest one that the guide thought we saw today was 55 years-he was massive! I saw one scratch itself on a tree and understood how they can rip their ears so easily when they scratch like that. I watched one have a mud bath and have a clear water bath in the river. I watched them eat and drink up close and flap their ears when they wanted to cool themselves. At one point, one little elephant started to play with us. It mock charged, flapping its ears and shaking its trunk at us. Then, when we stopped to take pictures of it and look at it, the elephant gave a large grunt of disapproval and hid behind a tree, all bashful about his recent behaviour! It was really cute. I saw a 2 week old elephant hiding behind it’s mom and I really wanted to take it home. I saw many hippos. Looking out at the river from afar, there were so many hippos it looked as though they were just rocks in the grass! At one point we ran into a big herd of them (called a pod) and got to see them all yawning, showing us their huge teeth, as a warning to back off. So we did and pretty fast because those teeth were pretty huge, haha. I saw a lioness in the heart of the jungle walking around, apparently looking for a place to rest after her hunt. She was beautiful. I saw a lot of impala and was surprised to learn that for every year that a male lives, he gets another twist in his horns. They can live up to 15 years old and I can’t even picture the horns at that point, how their heads would stay on I have no idea! They have little black boots on it looks like and white lines on their bodies. My favorite animal that I saw was the giraffes. I had been waiting to see them as they were not at the last safari we were at! They are amazing. So tall and graceful. They are brown and yellow in colour and I learned that the darker they are the older they are. Like many of the animals that I have described, little birds love to sit on the giraffe and eat little bugs off of it, in return for safety.
I got home from the safari at 7 pm. As tired as I was from my long day, I didn’t want to cook so I went with some friends to an Italian place called Olgas. Together with a friend I shared a pizza and a pasta. It was delicious. I am now just learning how to braid using hemp! I am looking forward to another lazy day tomorrow. I can’t believe I only have a few more days here in Livingstone, it is rather sad but also nice to know i'm on the home stretch here. Will be seeing everyone in a few days, or talking with you if you are out of Kelowna as usual!
Feb. 27th, 2012: Today I visited the Chobe National Park in Botswana! My day started out with a 45 minute bus ride to Botswana, where I had to go through immigration and got some new exciting stamps on my passport. I thought it was really funny how I had to walk on this little cement block with a towel on it which was supposed to help to prevent foot and mouth disease. I was confused on how that worked but walked on it anyways seeing as I didn’t have a choice. Botswana is very beautiful. It is a very nice place, with the most interesting part in my opinion being the animals that wander wherever they wish. This includes the roads. Cars have to stop for elephants and cows and many more animals to cross. There are no fences to keep the animals in one area! I was greeted with a very yummy little breakfast of muffins, coffee/tea and fruit. I then boarded the boat which we would be cruising down the Zambezi on for the first part of the safari. It was nice, I sat on the top floor to get a better view and some sunshine. I saw hippos, an elephant, lots of birds and a crocodile (in the water). It was really peaceful to just sit on the boat, listen to the waves, rock gently and every once and a while look up to see the gorgeous view. I stopped back at the chalet for a delicious lunch before heading out on the game drive. The lunch was so yummy. I had salad, like at home, for the first time since leaving home. I never realized how good salad was before! After lunch I boarded a little speed boat which brought me over the river to where we would be boarding the cars to go on the land safari. I couldn’t help but notice how the huge trucks were transported across the river. It looked like big pieces of a bridge had been detached and made to float. It was easy to see how all the trucks lined up waiting could wait a VERY long time to get across. It was rather creepy, hearing about the stories of human trafficking and why the new rule to check all the trucks cargo was put in place at the border. It was really cool because standing on the speed boat, I was at a 4 country corner with Botswana, Zambia, Nimibya and Zimbabwe around me. They say there is only one other place you can do this in the world!
I then began my game drive! I saw so many amazing animals very close up. I saw a LOT of elephants. There are 40000-60000 in total in the park. At one point, we were surrounded by about 10 elephants and had a chance to see them very up close. They were so close that they could have touched the front of the car. They are a chocolate colour with very wrinkly skin. Considering they are born at 90-120 kg, you can imagine how large they are fully grown. They can grow to be 60-80 years old. The oldest one that the guide thought we saw today was 55 years-he was massive! I saw one scratch itself on a tree and understood how they can rip their ears so easily when they scratch like that. I watched one have a mud bath and have a clear water bath in the river. I watched them eat and drink up close and flap their ears when they wanted to cool themselves. At one point, one little elephant started to play with us. It mock charged, flapping its ears and shaking its trunk at us. Then, when we stopped to take pictures of it and look at it, the elephant gave a large grunt of disapproval and hid behind a tree, all bashful about his recent behaviour! It was really cute. I saw a 2 week old elephant hiding behind it’s mom and I really wanted to take it home. I saw many hippos. Looking out at the river from afar, there were so many hippos it looked as though they were just rocks in the grass! At one point we ran into a big herd of them (called a pod) and got to see them all yawning, showing us their huge teeth, as a warning to back off. So we did and pretty fast because those teeth were pretty huge, haha. I saw a lioness in the heart of the jungle walking around, apparently looking for a place to rest after her hunt. She was beautiful. I saw a lot of impala and was surprised to learn that for every year that a male lives, he gets another twist in his horns. They can live up to 15 years old and I can’t even picture the horns at that point, how their heads would stay on I have no idea! They have little black boots on it looks like and white lines on their bodies. My favorite animal that I saw was the giraffes. I had been waiting to see them as they were not at the last safari we were at! They are amazing. So tall and graceful. They are brown and yellow in colour and I learned that the darker they are the older they are. Like many of the animals that I have described, little birds love to sit on the giraffe and eat little bugs off of it, in return for safety.
I got home from the safari at 7 pm. As tired as I was from my long day, I didn’t want to cook so I went with some friends to an Italian place called Olgas. Together with a friend I shared a pizza and a pasta. It was delicious. I am now just learning how to braid using hemp! I am looking forward to another lazy day tomorrow. I can’t believe I only have a few more days here in Livingstone, it is rather sad but also nice to know i'm on the home stretch here. Will be seeing everyone in a few days, or talking with you if you are out of Kelowna as usual!
Saturday 25 February 2012
Livingstone from beneath the falls!
Feb. 25th, 2012:
Last night after I entered my last blog, I got to watch some of the local Zambian people dance for the guests at Jollyboys! They strapped on big beads that shook when they danced. They are so good at their dancing. Can they ever move! Their were two men playing the drums and the dancers sang and chanted while they danced. It was really cool to watch! Then, they danced with shetanges tied on like belts. I really enjoyed it, the colourful outfits were beautiful.
This morning I left to see the falls via the national park. We walked down many trails. The first trail we went down led us to a bridge right beside the falls. We didn't bring enough money for rain coats, so we stripped down into our bikinis and it was a good thing we did that because we got SOAKED! It was so beautiful. It's no wonder it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. We were a little bit disappointed because we weren't able to go around to where the biggest falls are because of the mist from the rain season but the "little" falls were pretty huge so that was okay. We then went down to "Boiling Point". As soon as we even stepped on the path a local Zambian stopped us and warned us about the baboons. He said that they will attack you and grab your bag if they think you have food, so we should bring his sling shot with us because they are scared of it. So we did and it was a good thing! On our way down to boiling point, which was a work out let me tell you (so many stairs and nature to climb over and under) we ran into a HUGE baboon! I ran behind my friend Amy and she shrieked. At the beginning of our trip, we met a nice man named Mattious who was travelling alone so he joined our group. He was at the front of the trio when the baboon came and we were happy he was with us. Not only was he great company, but he was also very tall and knew how to shoot the sling shot. The Boiling Point turned out to be the bottom of the massive bridge and the falls itself. The bridge is huge, 111 metres and it is the bridge that people bunji jump off of! I saw a few people jump and after watching them, I knew that I really really didn't want to do that, haha. The pool of water pools so rapidly in circles that it looks like a boiling pot of water. It was amazing and worth the rather sweaty walk back up :).
After the falls we went on a sunset booze cruise! it was really nice. it was rather cloudy so we couldn't see much of the sunset but the food was pretty good and it was nice to be back on the Zambezi River. When we got back, my friend Rachel and I played pool for an hour. We found some fellow backpackers to play and had a blast. Now, very tired but very happy, I am headed to bed. Tomorrow I am looking forward to a day of rest. Relaxing by the pool reading in the sun sounds like a pretty good day to me!
Last night after I entered my last blog, I got to watch some of the local Zambian people dance for the guests at Jollyboys! They strapped on big beads that shook when they danced. They are so good at their dancing. Can they ever move! Their were two men playing the drums and the dancers sang and chanted while they danced. It was really cool to watch! Then, they danced with shetanges tied on like belts. I really enjoyed it, the colourful outfits were beautiful.
This morning I left to see the falls via the national park. We walked down many trails. The first trail we went down led us to a bridge right beside the falls. We didn't bring enough money for rain coats, so we stripped down into our bikinis and it was a good thing we did that because we got SOAKED! It was so beautiful. It's no wonder it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. We were a little bit disappointed because we weren't able to go around to where the biggest falls are because of the mist from the rain season but the "little" falls were pretty huge so that was okay. We then went down to "Boiling Point". As soon as we even stepped on the path a local Zambian stopped us and warned us about the baboons. He said that they will attack you and grab your bag if they think you have food, so we should bring his sling shot with us because they are scared of it. So we did and it was a good thing! On our way down to boiling point, which was a work out let me tell you (so many stairs and nature to climb over and under) we ran into a HUGE baboon! I ran behind my friend Amy and she shrieked. At the beginning of our trip, we met a nice man named Mattious who was travelling alone so he joined our group. He was at the front of the trio when the baboon came and we were happy he was with us. Not only was he great company, but he was also very tall and knew how to shoot the sling shot. The Boiling Point turned out to be the bottom of the massive bridge and the falls itself. The bridge is huge, 111 metres and it is the bridge that people bunji jump off of! I saw a few people jump and after watching them, I knew that I really really didn't want to do that, haha. The pool of water pools so rapidly in circles that it looks like a boiling pot of water. It was amazing and worth the rather sweaty walk back up :).
After the falls we went on a sunset booze cruise! it was really nice. it was rather cloudy so we couldn't see much of the sunset but the food was pretty good and it was nice to be back on the Zambezi River. When we got back, my friend Rachel and I played pool for an hour. We found some fellow backpackers to play and had a blast. Now, very tired but very happy, I am headed to bed. Tomorrow I am looking forward to a day of rest. Relaxing by the pool reading in the sun sounds like a pretty good day to me!
Friday 24 February 2012
Livingstone!!
Feb. 24th, 2012:
I have finally made it to Livingstone! I have been sick with a very nasty cold and am just starting to feel better today, so took the last few days off doing nothing but resting. I did go to Hope church on Sunday in Mongu which I really enjoyed. I was a little bit put on the spot when they asked if anyone was a visitor, of course I wasnt about to shout "i am!" in a church full of people who all carried their own personal bibles...my friend, however, decided that she should raise my arm for me, so I got a pamphlet and a sucker. It was pretty funny. She said that we were even, after she came to Safula Secondary School and stood infront of 200 kids and spoke when I had told her it was about 15 kids! The choir had beautiful voices and although I couldnt sing to any of the songs it was wonderful to listen. Many people have beautiful voices here. At the Zen Nursing School, the class sung a song called My Desire which sounded like an orchestra it was so beautiful. They sing a song each morning before class. At Metoya Camp, my friend Catherine sang for me and it was amazing. I love to listen to their voices :).
After a long 8 hour bus ride on a rather rickety bus, we arrived in Lusaka to our Kalulu Backpackers Hostel! It was very nice. We went out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Papitos and I had pizza for the first time in 6 weeks, it was heavanly! I also had steamed milk. It was delicious, I didn´t realize how much I missed it until then. We went to bed pretty early that night as we had to get up the next morning at 5 to catch the bus to Livingstone. When we boarded the next bus, which was much nicer (had an emergency exit and much nicer seats) I couldn´t figure out why my legs were so itchy....only to find 30 misquito bites! There were no nets at Kalulus and I guess one misquito got in my little cotton sleeper and ate me alive. I think I fed it for the next month? I will definetly request a net on my way back, haha. After that bus ride which was only 6 hours this time, we arrived at Jollyboys. It is gorgeous here. There are two pools, a bar, a ping pong table, a pool table, lots of squishy chairs to sit and read your book, souvenir shops and computers to use internet on. I gave up last night on the internet when the one computer shut down randomly and the next one i tried to use had a haunted keyboard which garbled up your typing to what ever it thought looked better. I have been forced to ask random people to use their computers, haha! We are in Zebra room which is nice. We went to the Ocean Basket and I had delicious fish and chips. A huge storm rolled in when we got home so we had to wait that out before getting into bed.
This morning, we went to Livingstone Island! It was AMAZING. You leave from the Royal Livingstone Hotel which was so beautiful, it even had people singing at the front when you walked in. After a short boat ride you are instructed to strip down and leave all your items in a tent with the staff. Now I didn´t think that I should wear my bikini. I was also not wearing the best underwear to take my shorts off unfortunetly....so I went in with my shorts on and my sports bra. The guides thought that was really funny and so did we. You hike up a little bit and then you dive in the water. It is so warm, like a really nice hot bath. You sit right on the edge of the falls! The guide is very careful, you don´t move a muscle without him with you. He says no one has fallen off the falls with them there and I can understand why with how careful they are. You can see Devil´s pool and right down the falls. It is 108 metres down. I stood right over the edge, it was so cool! Then you wade into another little pool to get a different view of the falls. The guide escorts you to this little rock and then he said "okay, no I will hide". Before I could even say anything he was gone! All I could think was "oh my god, now i´m stuck on the edge of Victoria Falls. great!" He then brought me where he was hiding and it turned out to be under this little bit of spray, it was awesome to sit under it and see the water. On the swim back, I slipped and was flailing my remaining limbs so scared I was going to go right over the falls! The guide had such an iron grip on me though that he just dragged me back to a rock. It was so exciting!
After the island, we bought our bus tickets home and checked out the craft market. Which was a huge mistake because I wanted to buy the whole market. You can bargain as well, so I was having a blast! It is really cool because you can trade Canadian things in for the items, like socks, sunscreen, etc. I was asked 3 times if I wanted the hair elastic I was wearing! There are about 15 little shops all in a strip that sell roughly the same thing but are all hand made. Most things they say take a week to a month to make. Very cool. I played a lot of ping pong and chess and am now just sitting waiting to eat some dinner. I am very excited to go to the National Park tomorrow and see the falls from the bottom this time! They say you get just as wet from the spray, which you can see miles and miles away. We are also going on the Booze Cruise tomorrow which will be interesting. I am excited to go with the people that we have met here, I have met so many people here from all over the world, all here for different reasons. It is really fun here, a wonderful way to end my trip to Africa! Until next time, I hope everyone is well at home and I wish you were here with me to see one of the 7 wonders of the world :).
I have finally made it to Livingstone! I have been sick with a very nasty cold and am just starting to feel better today, so took the last few days off doing nothing but resting. I did go to Hope church on Sunday in Mongu which I really enjoyed. I was a little bit put on the spot when they asked if anyone was a visitor, of course I wasnt about to shout "i am!" in a church full of people who all carried their own personal bibles...my friend, however, decided that she should raise my arm for me, so I got a pamphlet and a sucker. It was pretty funny. She said that we were even, after she came to Safula Secondary School and stood infront of 200 kids and spoke when I had told her it was about 15 kids! The choir had beautiful voices and although I couldnt sing to any of the songs it was wonderful to listen. Many people have beautiful voices here. At the Zen Nursing School, the class sung a song called My Desire which sounded like an orchestra it was so beautiful. They sing a song each morning before class. At Metoya Camp, my friend Catherine sang for me and it was amazing. I love to listen to their voices :).
After a long 8 hour bus ride on a rather rickety bus, we arrived in Lusaka to our Kalulu Backpackers Hostel! It was very nice. We went out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Papitos and I had pizza for the first time in 6 weeks, it was heavanly! I also had steamed milk. It was delicious, I didn´t realize how much I missed it until then. We went to bed pretty early that night as we had to get up the next morning at 5 to catch the bus to Livingstone. When we boarded the next bus, which was much nicer (had an emergency exit and much nicer seats) I couldn´t figure out why my legs were so itchy....only to find 30 misquito bites! There were no nets at Kalulus and I guess one misquito got in my little cotton sleeper and ate me alive. I think I fed it for the next month? I will definetly request a net on my way back, haha. After that bus ride which was only 6 hours this time, we arrived at Jollyboys. It is gorgeous here. There are two pools, a bar, a ping pong table, a pool table, lots of squishy chairs to sit and read your book, souvenir shops and computers to use internet on. I gave up last night on the internet when the one computer shut down randomly and the next one i tried to use had a haunted keyboard which garbled up your typing to what ever it thought looked better. I have been forced to ask random people to use their computers, haha! We are in Zebra room which is nice. We went to the Ocean Basket and I had delicious fish and chips. A huge storm rolled in when we got home so we had to wait that out before getting into bed.
This morning, we went to Livingstone Island! It was AMAZING. You leave from the Royal Livingstone Hotel which was so beautiful, it even had people singing at the front when you walked in. After a short boat ride you are instructed to strip down and leave all your items in a tent with the staff. Now I didn´t think that I should wear my bikini. I was also not wearing the best underwear to take my shorts off unfortunetly....so I went in with my shorts on and my sports bra. The guides thought that was really funny and so did we. You hike up a little bit and then you dive in the water. It is so warm, like a really nice hot bath. You sit right on the edge of the falls! The guide is very careful, you don´t move a muscle without him with you. He says no one has fallen off the falls with them there and I can understand why with how careful they are. You can see Devil´s pool and right down the falls. It is 108 metres down. I stood right over the edge, it was so cool! Then you wade into another little pool to get a different view of the falls. The guide escorts you to this little rock and then he said "okay, no I will hide". Before I could even say anything he was gone! All I could think was "oh my god, now i´m stuck on the edge of Victoria Falls. great!" He then brought me where he was hiding and it turned out to be under this little bit of spray, it was awesome to sit under it and see the water. On the swim back, I slipped and was flailing my remaining limbs so scared I was going to go right over the falls! The guide had such an iron grip on me though that he just dragged me back to a rock. It was so exciting!
After the island, we bought our bus tickets home and checked out the craft market. Which was a huge mistake because I wanted to buy the whole market. You can bargain as well, so I was having a blast! It is really cool because you can trade Canadian things in for the items, like socks, sunscreen, etc. I was asked 3 times if I wanted the hair elastic I was wearing! There are about 15 little shops all in a strip that sell roughly the same thing but are all hand made. Most things they say take a week to a month to make. Very cool. I played a lot of ping pong and chess and am now just sitting waiting to eat some dinner. I am very excited to go to the National Park tomorrow and see the falls from the bottom this time! They say you get just as wet from the spray, which you can see miles and miles away. We are also going on the Booze Cruise tomorrow which will be interesting. I am excited to go with the people that we have met here, I have met so many people here from all over the world, all here for different reasons. It is really fun here, a wonderful way to end my trip to Africa! Until next time, I hope everyone is well at home and I wish you were here with me to see one of the 7 wonders of the world :).
Saturday 18 February 2012
Metoya Camp!
Feb. 12-17th 2012: This week I spent the week at Metoya Camp. It is about 25 minutes from my home in Melengwa where I usually live. My first impression of Metoya was that it is beautiful. It sits right on the flood plains, which are now starting to fill with so much rain that you can see it coming down the plains. Soon, in April, the whole plains will have flooded! Our house was about a five minute walk from the Health Clinic and the Feeding Clinic. There were about 2 rather steep sand hills and some stairs to go up and down so needless to say I got my exercise there, haha. My feet got so dirty from all the sand it was really funny. A day later I am still trying to scrub them clean!
Each day, the three of us would rotate places. So I started at the Health Clinic. It was very strange diagnosing and prescribing medications to patients. Granted, I didn't see any very serious conditions, but it was still very weird because in Canada as a nurse you can suggest what you think the patient has to a doctor but obviously we don't prescribe. I saw a lot of lung infections, malaria and skin conditions. I used a lot of books that were there and my friends and I worked together on the harder cases to figure out what was going on.
I then moved on to the Feeding Clinic, which is attached to the Health Clinic. Every four hours I supervised the child's guardian as they fed their child. Yes, even during the night we would wake up at 2 am and go up all the stairs and hills to make sure they ate! That was a really funny experience. I never fully appreciated a full nights uninterrupted sleep before that point! The whole point of the program is to teach the caretakers how to care for the child, so that when they go home, they can keep the child healthy! The program also helps the parents get on their feet and start little businesses so that when they leave the program they can afford to feed their child. We fed the kids a special recipe of milk, oil, sugar and water. They also got eggs, fruit and food from home if they could tolerate it. There were two children. One of the children was older and had a special kind of malnutrition where their skin pales (sometimes they can be as white as me) and their hair pales. Their bodies literally are using up everything they have to keep them going! This little child amazed me. The grandmother had stepped in to care for the child as the mother was not fit to care for the child, the reason the child was brought to the clinic in the first place. The child had already improved so much and gained so much weight while we were there :). This kid gave the best hugs I have ever received. I would come in the morning and get bulldozed by a running child who would wrap her legs around you and squeeze until I couldn't even breathe! The smile always made me smile, it was so big and so brave. The second child was younger and had been born blind. Because of the blindness the mother abandoned the child so other members of the family stepped in to care for the child. Each day we had to do physio with this child as on admission, the limbs were so stiff that the kid could not even open the hand (due to the lack of nutrition, including calcium, the muscles couldn't work properly). This little kid was so brave. On admission the child couldn't swallow and wouldn't smile. Now, the child is laughing and smiling like crazy. Especially when we put on Disney music and when the family communicates with the kid. The child can now stretch out all limbs and is moving voluntarily!! Even during the five days that we were there, I saw a HUGE improvement. The lady in charge of everything said that within 6 months, this child will be walking out of here. The family is learning how to help their child grow up in a world without sight in this program as well. My only wish is that I could see these kids years from now and see how they have grown up. The program is truly amazing. 3 people started this program from nothing and now they help around 30 children each month. Mothers from the community come once a week with their children to get them weighed and get their food as well. It is run purely on donations and it costs $75.00 a month to feed these kids. To sponser, you commit to 6 months worth of food. This is something that when I actually have money, I will sponser. Because I have been there and I have seen how it saves lives. If anyone is looking for something to put their money towards, this would be it in my opinion!
The other thing that I did while at the camp is work with the Community Health Care Workers. There were 9 students and each one of them was so friendly and were so wonderful. They are all volunteers which amazed me, considering many of them had at least 7 children to look after at home as well as their other jobs. I went out into nearby villages with these women and one man and it was the most interesting experience yet for me. These villages were truly African villages. Every person clapped and shook hands when you met. The houses were made of 'rib' or branch like sticks from the river. Some were made out of mud and bricks. Some of the houses were run down and others were nice enough that I would live in them! Just like in Canada, it depends on your financial situation. The all 10 of us would squish into these little houses and the workers would assess their patients, letting them know whether they think they should go to the hospital or not. It was funny because my job was to make sure that they were recommending the right thing. This task became really difficult though, because none of the patients spoke english! Luckily a few of the workers spoke really good english and translated for me. But sometimes they would all stop and look at me like I should be saying something and it would be a really awkward moment before I would laugh and say, "um, excuse me, remember, I don't know much Lozi.....". We would care for all these women's children at the Feeding Clinic while they were out in the field which was a blast. They were all so cute I wanted to take them all home. On the last day that we were at the camp, they graduated! We threw them a big party, printed them off certificates and gave them little gifts from Canada. I made them a little story book of their journey in their program which they thought was really funny.
I learned many things at this camp. The workers taught me how to make nshima! This is the staple food here in Zambia. It is so hard to make. I broke a sweat 5 minutes in! You start with a powder and add water and boil it, stirring constantly until it becomes like a hard paste which you eat. Kind of like a potatoe? They also taught me how to pound Kasava leaves. They thought it was so funny because I tried so hard but this task was also really hard! You really have to pound them. They then boil the leaves with salt and oil and eat them with nshima. I took some funny pictures which I will post when I get home :). I learned that they also eat pumpkin leaves. They thought it was really funny that we carved pumpkins on Halloween. Talking to a lady that worked there I learned a lot I didn't know about the culture here. Things that aren't exactly advertised. I learned that marraige here is something that women really have to think about. Culturally, it is more acceptable for a man to have many wives. They are not expected to help with house work or they are ridiculed by other men. So the women do all the housework and care for the children. This may be how the culture is, but it is not how all the families work. There are people here who want to change this. Like this one lady, they realize that they have rights and that a marraige should be a partnership. She said that one day she saw a pregnant lady carrying a child on her back and a huge box on her head while the husband carried his briefcase walking beside her. This lady approached the couple, offering to help the lady and this request was not smiled upon. Even so, she walked a half an hour out of her way to help this woman. It is really nice to see that there are people here who see that some things need to change. That they can be different. And they are trying to change it, even if it is hard and seems impossible.
This camp was a wonderful way to end my nursing experience here in Zambia. So much hope here. I am so thankful that I came to this camp and had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I will never forget those people or any one that I have met here. After I got home from the camp we had a retirement party for my professor who came here with us. It was a lot of fun! They had a traditional Lozi 'missis' made for her which was beautiful. It is a huge honor to be given one so my professor was overjoyed and wore it with pride.
Today I am going to visit the museum and go for a walk in Lumilinga, the first placement that I had here in Zambia. I am sad that my time here in Mongu is coming to an end. It is very hard to explain, but going home seems like such a strange dream to me. I have adapted to this way of life, with no running water and power some days, riding the mini bus and taking public transit all the time and living with little material things. I am excited to come home, though. I am excited to see my family and friends, to drink fresh dairy milk (not long-life shelf milk), have power all the time, have my cell phone back, my computer that always has internet, eat my regular foods, drive my own car and most of all (sadly), eat Tim Hortons!!! I will miss much here though. I will miss the Mongu rice which is to die for, the welcoming and friendly people, the markets, the music and most of all the relaxed way of life here. I am so happy that I have come here. It has truly changed my life :).
Each day, the three of us would rotate places. So I started at the Health Clinic. It was very strange diagnosing and prescribing medications to patients. Granted, I didn't see any very serious conditions, but it was still very weird because in Canada as a nurse you can suggest what you think the patient has to a doctor but obviously we don't prescribe. I saw a lot of lung infections, malaria and skin conditions. I used a lot of books that were there and my friends and I worked together on the harder cases to figure out what was going on.
I then moved on to the Feeding Clinic, which is attached to the Health Clinic. Every four hours I supervised the child's guardian as they fed their child. Yes, even during the night we would wake up at 2 am and go up all the stairs and hills to make sure they ate! That was a really funny experience. I never fully appreciated a full nights uninterrupted sleep before that point! The whole point of the program is to teach the caretakers how to care for the child, so that when they go home, they can keep the child healthy! The program also helps the parents get on their feet and start little businesses so that when they leave the program they can afford to feed their child. We fed the kids a special recipe of milk, oil, sugar and water. They also got eggs, fruit and food from home if they could tolerate it. There were two children. One of the children was older and had a special kind of malnutrition where their skin pales (sometimes they can be as white as me) and their hair pales. Their bodies literally are using up everything they have to keep them going! This little child amazed me. The grandmother had stepped in to care for the child as the mother was not fit to care for the child, the reason the child was brought to the clinic in the first place. The child had already improved so much and gained so much weight while we were there :). This kid gave the best hugs I have ever received. I would come in the morning and get bulldozed by a running child who would wrap her legs around you and squeeze until I couldn't even breathe! The smile always made me smile, it was so big and so brave. The second child was younger and had been born blind. Because of the blindness the mother abandoned the child so other members of the family stepped in to care for the child. Each day we had to do physio with this child as on admission, the limbs were so stiff that the kid could not even open the hand (due to the lack of nutrition, including calcium, the muscles couldn't work properly). This little kid was so brave. On admission the child couldn't swallow and wouldn't smile. Now, the child is laughing and smiling like crazy. Especially when we put on Disney music and when the family communicates with the kid. The child can now stretch out all limbs and is moving voluntarily!! Even during the five days that we were there, I saw a HUGE improvement. The lady in charge of everything said that within 6 months, this child will be walking out of here. The family is learning how to help their child grow up in a world without sight in this program as well. My only wish is that I could see these kids years from now and see how they have grown up. The program is truly amazing. 3 people started this program from nothing and now they help around 30 children each month. Mothers from the community come once a week with their children to get them weighed and get their food as well. It is run purely on donations and it costs $75.00 a month to feed these kids. To sponser, you commit to 6 months worth of food. This is something that when I actually have money, I will sponser. Because I have been there and I have seen how it saves lives. If anyone is looking for something to put their money towards, this would be it in my opinion!
The other thing that I did while at the camp is work with the Community Health Care Workers. There were 9 students and each one of them was so friendly and were so wonderful. They are all volunteers which amazed me, considering many of them had at least 7 children to look after at home as well as their other jobs. I went out into nearby villages with these women and one man and it was the most interesting experience yet for me. These villages were truly African villages. Every person clapped and shook hands when you met. The houses were made of 'rib' or branch like sticks from the river. Some were made out of mud and bricks. Some of the houses were run down and others were nice enough that I would live in them! Just like in Canada, it depends on your financial situation. The all 10 of us would squish into these little houses and the workers would assess their patients, letting them know whether they think they should go to the hospital or not. It was funny because my job was to make sure that they were recommending the right thing. This task became really difficult though, because none of the patients spoke english! Luckily a few of the workers spoke really good english and translated for me. But sometimes they would all stop and look at me like I should be saying something and it would be a really awkward moment before I would laugh and say, "um, excuse me, remember, I don't know much Lozi.....". We would care for all these women's children at the Feeding Clinic while they were out in the field which was a blast. They were all so cute I wanted to take them all home. On the last day that we were at the camp, they graduated! We threw them a big party, printed them off certificates and gave them little gifts from Canada. I made them a little story book of their journey in their program which they thought was really funny.
I learned many things at this camp. The workers taught me how to make nshima! This is the staple food here in Zambia. It is so hard to make. I broke a sweat 5 minutes in! You start with a powder and add water and boil it, stirring constantly until it becomes like a hard paste which you eat. Kind of like a potatoe? They also taught me how to pound Kasava leaves. They thought it was so funny because I tried so hard but this task was also really hard! You really have to pound them. They then boil the leaves with salt and oil and eat them with nshima. I took some funny pictures which I will post when I get home :). I learned that they also eat pumpkin leaves. They thought it was really funny that we carved pumpkins on Halloween. Talking to a lady that worked there I learned a lot I didn't know about the culture here. Things that aren't exactly advertised. I learned that marraige here is something that women really have to think about. Culturally, it is more acceptable for a man to have many wives. They are not expected to help with house work or they are ridiculed by other men. So the women do all the housework and care for the children. This may be how the culture is, but it is not how all the families work. There are people here who want to change this. Like this one lady, they realize that they have rights and that a marraige should be a partnership. She said that one day she saw a pregnant lady carrying a child on her back and a huge box on her head while the husband carried his briefcase walking beside her. This lady approached the couple, offering to help the lady and this request was not smiled upon. Even so, she walked a half an hour out of her way to help this woman. It is really nice to see that there are people here who see that some things need to change. That they can be different. And they are trying to change it, even if it is hard and seems impossible.
This camp was a wonderful way to end my nursing experience here in Zambia. So much hope here. I am so thankful that I came to this camp and had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I will never forget those people or any one that I have met here. After I got home from the camp we had a retirement party for my professor who came here with us. It was a lot of fun! They had a traditional Lozi 'missis' made for her which was beautiful. It is a huge honor to be given one so my professor was overjoyed and wore it with pride.
Today I am going to visit the museum and go for a walk in Lumilinga, the first placement that I had here in Zambia. I am sad that my time here in Mongu is coming to an end. It is very hard to explain, but going home seems like such a strange dream to me. I have adapted to this way of life, with no running water and power some days, riding the mini bus and taking public transit all the time and living with little material things. I am excited to come home, though. I am excited to see my family and friends, to drink fresh dairy milk (not long-life shelf milk), have power all the time, have my cell phone back, my computer that always has internet, eat my regular foods, drive my own car and most of all (sadly), eat Tim Hortons!!! I will miss much here though. I will miss the Mongu rice which is to die for, the welcoming and friendly people, the markets, the music and most of all the relaxed way of life here. I am so happy that I have come here. It has truly changed my life :).
Friday 10 February 2012
February 9th and 10th: These last few days have been wonderful! One of my favorite parts was going out for dinner at Oasis Restaurant with my friend Esther. We both had a huge chick slovaki dinner, presented the old way with the chicken on a huge fork thing hanging above the rest of the meal. It was delicious and looked amazing. On the way home in the taxi we met some nice new people who drove us by the Mongu Airport which is currently not operating unfortunetly. Work wise, I spent Thursday on children's ward and spent the day in the malnutrition room. I ensured that the patients were eating what they were supposed to and took care of them in general. The patients were adorable and it was wonderful to see the parents so devoted to their children's well-being. There was one sad incidence of a patient passing away in very sad and unfortunate circumstances. I discovered that the respect for people who have passed away here is very different than at home.
Today, I spent the day at Lewanika Nursing/Midwifery School. It was a blast! I didn't get to teach unfortunetly as we ran out of time, but the Canadian students taught the Zambian students about baby resusitation, cancer and cardiac complications. Then, the Zambian students taught us about malaria! They laughed at me because I took so many notes. It was so interesting, especially to hear how they care for these patients without all the resources we have at home. Their knowledge is so vast. They listened much more than I expected them to, the student beside me had his entire question worksheet filled out before the Canadian students even started the worksheet. It was awesome to be able to interact with all the students that I have met throughout my time at the hospital. After the lecture we did a simulation of a patient with severe malaria. It was very challenging. There were a lot of people and the Zambian students have never done anything like this before so we all were trying to do the same task. It was really interesting though! :)
There is a concert tonight and I am very excited to go because many of the students that have become my friends are coming! It will be sad leaving them. They say that they will miss us when we leave as well. The nurses that I worked with at the Female Ward found me on Children's and were sad to hear that I was not coming back to the Female Ward. One of my favorite parts of this trip has been meeting people. Especially the Zambian nurses and nursing students. This entire experience has been a huge eye opener for me. As I stay here longer, I can see that the traditional culture is engrained in this country everywhere you go. It is wonderful. I try to think of Canadian cultures to share with the people here but I find it hard to find really interesting ones to compare them to the customs here. More than anything, the people here have such big hearts. They will drop everything to help you, even the Makuwas! Many people I have met have voiced their concerns about Zambia. They are fighting for more education and more services, like a working airport. They all have such high hopes for their country and I really hope that this new government listens to them this time around as the last government was tragically corrupt. Looking at Zambia from a distance, it may seem as though the issues that they have are too rooted to some day be fixed. But as I talk to the people here I see first hand that they will some day be fixed because of the determination of the people living in this country.
I can't believe I only have a week (roughly) left in Mongu. I leave for Metoya camp on Sunday with 2 colleagues after the football match. We will be running the rural health clinic while the supervisor is out with other nursing students for the week. Apparently we will be diagnosing patients, running the feeding clinic as well as teaching community health workers with the help of the nurses at the clinic of course. A little nerve racking as diagnosing and prescribing are definitively not in our scope of practice at home. Wish me luck! I will blog if the internet is working.
Today, I spent the day at Lewanika Nursing/Midwifery School. It was a blast! I didn't get to teach unfortunetly as we ran out of time, but the Canadian students taught the Zambian students about baby resusitation, cancer and cardiac complications. Then, the Zambian students taught us about malaria! They laughed at me because I took so many notes. It was so interesting, especially to hear how they care for these patients without all the resources we have at home. Their knowledge is so vast. They listened much more than I expected them to, the student beside me had his entire question worksheet filled out before the Canadian students even started the worksheet. It was awesome to be able to interact with all the students that I have met throughout my time at the hospital. After the lecture we did a simulation of a patient with severe malaria. It was very challenging. There were a lot of people and the Zambian students have never done anything like this before so we all were trying to do the same task. It was really interesting though! :)
There is a concert tonight and I am very excited to go because many of the students that have become my friends are coming! It will be sad leaving them. They say that they will miss us when we leave as well. The nurses that I worked with at the Female Ward found me on Children's and were sad to hear that I was not coming back to the Female Ward. One of my favorite parts of this trip has been meeting people. Especially the Zambian nurses and nursing students. This entire experience has been a huge eye opener for me. As I stay here longer, I can see that the traditional culture is engrained in this country everywhere you go. It is wonderful. I try to think of Canadian cultures to share with the people here but I find it hard to find really interesting ones to compare them to the customs here. More than anything, the people here have such big hearts. They will drop everything to help you, even the Makuwas! Many people I have met have voiced their concerns about Zambia. They are fighting for more education and more services, like a working airport. They all have such high hopes for their country and I really hope that this new government listens to them this time around as the last government was tragically corrupt. Looking at Zambia from a distance, it may seem as though the issues that they have are too rooted to some day be fixed. But as I talk to the people here I see first hand that they will some day be fixed because of the determination of the people living in this country.
I can't believe I only have a week (roughly) left in Mongu. I leave for Metoya camp on Sunday with 2 colleagues after the football match. We will be running the rural health clinic while the supervisor is out with other nursing students for the week. Apparently we will be diagnosing patients, running the feeding clinic as well as teaching community health workers with the help of the nurses at the clinic of course. A little nerve racking as diagnosing and prescribing are definitively not in our scope of practice at home. Wish me luck! I will blog if the internet is working.
Thursday 9 February 2012
And the stories continue...
February 7th, 2012: Today I was on the ICU unit of the Children's Ward. I started out taking care of a young patient who had drank cleaning solution and was poisoned because of it. It was interesting because on my assessment I thought I felt a hernia, but later found out that it was just stool. The things you learn here! I was worried he was getting pneumonia and his heart rate was not steady so I was happy to see he was in the ICU where he could be monitored. Out of no where, a doctor rushes in and says "get this child out of here right now!" we tried to suggest that the patient that was coming in be put in the bed beside the child but he refused, so we unhooked the child, found a bed and I focused on my new patient that had arrived. The nursing student that was working on the ward where the patient came from briefed me and I discovered that the patient had been admitted with uterine prolapse but it was obvious there were many other things going on. Turns out, the patient was HIV and TB positive with esphageal varices and DIC (Dissemenated Intervascular Coagulation). For any non-medical people reading this, this is a very sick patient. We started many IVs and eventually the blood pressure improved enough to sit the patient up to help the patient breathe as breathing was very laboured from all the secretions from the patient's throat. We had to do the blood pressure on the patient's leg which was new for us. We hung blood, got many samples to see what was going on and observed a femoral blood draw which was very interesting. The other nursing student went to the lab to deliver the blood and about 2 minutes after she left I noticed the heart rate decreasing. At a stable heart rate (75 beats/minute) I told the Zambian nursing student to run for help, this patient is going to crash. So she goes to get the nurse. Who stands there beside the other nursing student watching me try to get ready to resusitate the patient. Finally, at a heart rate of 42 I yelled "FIND ME SOMEONE WHITE!" As racist as I felt saying that, I knew that if they found a doctor or student from Canada they would help me resusitate. A doctor from home came in at that moment and after I inserted an airway he bagged. I was very upset because a student had borrowed my stethoscope for their exam and I could not listen for an apical heart rate to determine whether I should do compressions or not. The doctor on call came in at this point and using his stethoscope determined there was no heart beat so I started compressions. As soon as I saw that all the little blood vessels in the patient's throat had burst and she was bleeding out from everywhere, I listened for a full minute for any heart beat and the doctor called the patient. I was very composed until one of the graduated nurses that came with us came in the room. Then I heard the wail. It is so haunting it makes my skin crawl even thinking about it now. I just lost it then and had to leave the room to compose myself. I was so frustrated. It is said that the most important part of nursing is knowing when your patient is unstable and call for help. I was so angry because I did recognize it and I did call for help with ample time to get help, but there were no resources and no people that were helping me. After that bad day at the hospital I went to Safula Secondary School with 5 of my collegeaes and we spoke to 150 students about nursing and why you should enter it. It really helped me deal with the day that I had just had. It was really cool, they were so excited and asked many questions. At the end we let them listen to their heart beats and I was thrilled to meet a student who wanted to become a doctor. We set it up with the next year's group that this school will be a placement for nurses to come again and again. We got many amazing pictures! After the school we had dinner at Oasis Restaurant which was really good and that was the end of my day.
February 8th, 2012: Children's ward again today. Refused to go into the ICU so did general peds. Saw a few hydrocephalis patients, hernia patients, malaria patients and burn victims. Alot of the patients were improving which was wonderful! After my day my friends and I met up with a couple from America and a friend that I met on the boat cruise on the weekend to watch the football match at Nalumba 2 pub. It was so crazy! The food there was amazing. It took a long time to get but it was worth it. We were eating when Zambia scored and won the game! It was raining so hard it was flooding the shelter we were in, but people were outside dancing and sloshing beer everywhere and celebrating. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone at home couldn't hear us! The final game is on Sunday against the Ivory Coast so I am looking forward to that.
February 8th, 2012: Children's ward again today. Refused to go into the ICU so did general peds. Saw a few hydrocephalis patients, hernia patients, malaria patients and burn victims. Alot of the patients were improving which was wonderful! After my day my friends and I met up with a couple from America and a friend that I met on the boat cruise on the weekend to watch the football match at Nalumba 2 pub. It was so crazy! The food there was amazing. It took a long time to get but it was worth it. We were eating when Zambia scored and won the game! It was raining so hard it was flooding the shelter we were in, but people were outside dancing and sloshing beer everywhere and celebrating. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone at home couldn't hear us! The final game is on Sunday against the Ivory Coast so I am looking forward to that.
Monday 6 February 2012
February 6th, 2012: I had a very nice weekend! On Friday I stayed home to try to beat my strep throat. I was sad that I couldn't go to the female ward. Today when I was back at the hospital on childrens ward (which is where I will be all week), I was touched that the students from the female ward found me and made sure that I was doing okay because they heard I had been ill.
On Saturday, all 22 of us went on the "Zuno-Canadian Nurses Fundraiser". It was a boat cruise down the Zambezi for $10.00 Canadian. There was food provided for us (some interesting meat, pasta salad and lots of alcohol and softies) and music for the ride back that we danced to. I even learned a few Zambian moves! I taught one lady that I met named Monde the sprinkler. It was really funny :). We stopped half way down the river to see the lower royal village in Mongu where the King has one of his palaces. We listened to one of the royal members talk about the palace. I learned that the king has one wife which bears the royal children, but the king has many other women he can call on that live in the palace. I thought it was interesting how the queen and king live in separate buildings. You never speak directly to the king. You speak to the king's speaker who then speaks to the king and then tells you what the king has said (even if you have heard it from the king). We saw where the king sits before he starts the big Koemboka Ceremony. The ceremony is huge here. People come from all over, my other friend Memory said that about 8,000 people show up and it continues to grow. The king starts from this palace that we saw and starts on the boat on the river which by the time the ceremony comes, is at it's peak and very high. He sits in a white tent thing on the boat which has 200 paddlers. It is said that if you make a mistake while rowing, you are thrown out of the boat and then someone in a speed boat comes to get you. So, don't make any mistakes! One of the customs is that when you see the king you kneel and clap three times as a sign of respect. Every member of the palace wears a red hat to signify royalty. We saw the man who whips you if you do not behave while in the palace. The whip was rather intimidating, it was made out of layers and layers of rhino skin. After the boat ride most people went to Oasis to dance and continue the party but I went home to sleep and make sure I was better for work on Monday!
Sunday was a lazy day. I did my laundry, bought many beautiful bracelets that were made by women who are HIV positive. They are made out of paper and say inspirational things on them like 'peace' and 'passion' and that. Buying one bracelet fed one child for a month and buying three fed a malnourished child for a month. So needless to say, I loved them so much and the cause that the money was going to that I think I fed a few kids for a year? We played some crib and while we were making dinner the biggest storm to come to Mongu since we have been there hit. Some of the girls were outside excersizing and they were drenched! I couldn't believe the rain and the thunder. I even did some of my laundry outside in the rain :). We watched Harry Potter before going to bed which was nice, it reminded me of home a little bit.
Today I was at the Children's Ward. I was delighted to see the little boy that had severe malaria and almost didn't make it through go home today. It was a really nice reminder that through all the deaths here, some do survive and what we do can make a difference. The family agreed to let me put the child's picture on the internet, so when I can, I will. I saw many malnourished children and it was interesting to see what the doctor's did about the malnutrition. A pediatrician from Kelowna arrived today and it was wonderful to work with him. He is so knowledgable and joked that he probably cared for me as a baby, considering he has been practising for 30 years in Kelowna! We saw a dose of Digoxin that was for an adult, not an infant. The pediatrician from Kelowna caught it and the dose was changed which was excellent. I saw a lot of malaria and a hernia. Working with the students was interesting as always! I really like working on the children's ward but find that besides assessments, not much can really be done until the pediatricians come around. Which is different for me coming from the female ward where I could a LOT.
On Saturday, all 22 of us went on the "Zuno-Canadian Nurses Fundraiser". It was a boat cruise down the Zambezi for $10.00 Canadian. There was food provided for us (some interesting meat, pasta salad and lots of alcohol and softies) and music for the ride back that we danced to. I even learned a few Zambian moves! I taught one lady that I met named Monde the sprinkler. It was really funny :). We stopped half way down the river to see the lower royal village in Mongu where the King has one of his palaces. We listened to one of the royal members talk about the palace. I learned that the king has one wife which bears the royal children, but the king has many other women he can call on that live in the palace. I thought it was interesting how the queen and king live in separate buildings. You never speak directly to the king. You speak to the king's speaker who then speaks to the king and then tells you what the king has said (even if you have heard it from the king). We saw where the king sits before he starts the big Koemboka Ceremony. The ceremony is huge here. People come from all over, my other friend Memory said that about 8,000 people show up and it continues to grow. The king starts from this palace that we saw and starts on the boat on the river which by the time the ceremony comes, is at it's peak and very high. He sits in a white tent thing on the boat which has 200 paddlers. It is said that if you make a mistake while rowing, you are thrown out of the boat and then someone in a speed boat comes to get you. So, don't make any mistakes! One of the customs is that when you see the king you kneel and clap three times as a sign of respect. Every member of the palace wears a red hat to signify royalty. We saw the man who whips you if you do not behave while in the palace. The whip was rather intimidating, it was made out of layers and layers of rhino skin. After the boat ride most people went to Oasis to dance and continue the party but I went home to sleep and make sure I was better for work on Monday!
Sunday was a lazy day. I did my laundry, bought many beautiful bracelets that were made by women who are HIV positive. They are made out of paper and say inspirational things on them like 'peace' and 'passion' and that. Buying one bracelet fed one child for a month and buying three fed a malnourished child for a month. So needless to say, I loved them so much and the cause that the money was going to that I think I fed a few kids for a year? We played some crib and while we were making dinner the biggest storm to come to Mongu since we have been there hit. Some of the girls were outside excersizing and they were drenched! I couldn't believe the rain and the thunder. I even did some of my laundry outside in the rain :). We watched Harry Potter before going to bed which was nice, it reminded me of home a little bit.
Today I was at the Children's Ward. I was delighted to see the little boy that had severe malaria and almost didn't make it through go home today. It was a really nice reminder that through all the deaths here, some do survive and what we do can make a difference. The family agreed to let me put the child's picture on the internet, so when I can, I will. I saw many malnourished children and it was interesting to see what the doctor's did about the malnutrition. A pediatrician from Kelowna arrived today and it was wonderful to work with him. He is so knowledgable and joked that he probably cared for me as a baby, considering he has been practising for 30 years in Kelowna! We saw a dose of Digoxin that was for an adult, not an infant. The pediatrician from Kelowna caught it and the dose was changed which was excellent. I saw a lot of malaria and a hernia. Working with the students was interesting as always! I really like working on the children's ward but find that besides assessments, not much can really be done until the pediatricians come around. Which is different for me coming from the female ward where I could a LOT.
Thursday 2 February 2012
February 2nd, 2012: Another day at the hospital. I spent a lot of time with the students today showing them how to do head-to-toe assessments and such. I felt like a few students really learned something. If that is all that I accomplish this trip, then that is good enough for me! That student will graduate and share their knew knowledge with other nurses, and so on. We dressed the wound that I described yesterday. My friend did a wonderful job and all the nursing students were referring to her as the 'wound nurse'! It is what she is thinking of doing after she graduates so it was really nice to see her doing her thing. I discovered that the patient who had what I thought was a urostomy actually had 2 fistulas, or tunnels from the bladder to the skin that were not supposed to be there. It turns out, the surgery that she had to fix her bowels and give her a colostomy was botched. So now, these fistulas are showing up. That was really frustrating to see. The student I was with helped to clean her up and such and when she aws done charting and everything I asked her if she learned this all in school? She replied yes. I asked why she doesn't do these things and she replied I don't have the time. So that was really sad to see. When I was eating my lunch, I heard a "I NEED A DOCTOR!" so I dropped my lunch and ran towards my friend who was now yelling my name trying to get me to find her. She had traveled in the back of a truck with a young patient who had been seizing from a terrible case of malaria. I hopped in the back of the truck and helped her bag the patient and such. Luckily a doctor came to our aide and he ordered some medication. We moved the patient to a room and the pediatrician joined us and helped as well. When we left, the patient had been moved to ICU and was stable. When I returned to get my bag that I had left in a hurry, it was gone. No one could find it and my instructor told me that there was a psychiatric patient that sometimes picked up stray things. So I just lost it. All I could think was that I had tried to save a little boys life and now my bag has been stolen and I am screwed because my bag had EVERYTHING in it. My visa, debit card, passport, everything. I panicked because I wouldn't be able to get home. A few minutes later my partner found me and told me that she had my bag! She had picked it up when I went running and she brought it to the ward that I was working on originally. I was so relieved. The rest of the day was good we got pictures with the students and nurses on the ward! Unfortunetly I am not feeling so well. I think I have got strep throat again, probably from such a stressful week. I am looking forward to a night of rest though and on Saturday we are going on a boat cruise which will be a lovely break. It is very emotionally and physically straining working here, but worth every minute and all the sweat.
Wednesday 1 February 2012
February 1st, 2012: Today I was working in the female ward once again. The nursing students were there today so I spent the day mostly with them. The first thing that they did was clean (dust and wash everything down). They say it is because it is a nursing duty to ensure that the environment is not dusty to protect the patients. The next thing they did was work with me on some head-to-toe assessments. It took a long time. It is not until I have come here that I have realized how much I truly know. It is really hard to start from the very beginning I am finding. I tried to teach them how to chart and they seemed to be liking that. While doing head to toe assessments we noticed a patient that was bleeding from many different areas, who was doing great yesterday after recieving blood the day before. So my colleague and I collected all the information we could on the patient and called the doctor (that was the first time I have ever called a doctor!) and he came in a few hours to assess the patient. His final diagnosis was Disseminated Inter Coagulation, which means the patient had such a big infection that the body used up all the clotting abilities it had and it is now just bleeding freely. We were so thankful the doctor came in and proud that we advocated for our patient like we did.
Another patient that I saw was a patient with a colostomy and a urostomy (hole made in the bladder for urine to come out of). They were using a garbage bag for the colostomy and nothing for the urostomy. So working with the students we practised using a proper colostomy bag and how to care for both the holes. The next patient that I saw was a patient with a very large pelvic absess that had burst. It is the craziest wound I have ever seen. The student stops, looks at it, looks at me, then says "so, I guess i'll just watch you do it tomorrow then?" I just laughed and thought holy crap. So tonight with my fellow students we are going to brainstorm how the heck we are going to help this patient out.
It was very interesting, because one of the doctors did not do rounds yesterday. So very different from home. I was lucky to have my cell phone on me to call the doctor because the power was out, so they can't use the phones on the unit. Nor do they like to phone the doctors, which reminded me of home, haha. So in all, today was very interesting. It is also interesting to see the difference in nursing programs. Here, they are very task orientated. If you ask them why they are doing something, they have to think really hard about that and sometimes aren't sure. So we are trying to teach them as much as possible about why they do what they do. I am learning alot from the nurses and nursing students here and they are learning from my collegeauges and I as well. I am doing things here that nurses would faint if they found out students were doing. I actually feel like a real nurse! People listen to you and value your opinion, it is really nice. Until next time! :)
Another patient that I saw was a patient with a colostomy and a urostomy (hole made in the bladder for urine to come out of). They were using a garbage bag for the colostomy and nothing for the urostomy. So working with the students we practised using a proper colostomy bag and how to care for both the holes. The next patient that I saw was a patient with a very large pelvic absess that had burst. It is the craziest wound I have ever seen. The student stops, looks at it, looks at me, then says "so, I guess i'll just watch you do it tomorrow then?" I just laughed and thought holy crap. So tonight with my fellow students we are going to brainstorm how the heck we are going to help this patient out.
It was very interesting, because one of the doctors did not do rounds yesterday. So very different from home. I was lucky to have my cell phone on me to call the doctor because the power was out, so they can't use the phones on the unit. Nor do they like to phone the doctors, which reminded me of home, haha. So in all, today was very interesting. It is also interesting to see the difference in nursing programs. Here, they are very task orientated. If you ask them why they are doing something, they have to think really hard about that and sometimes aren't sure. So we are trying to teach them as much as possible about why they do what they do. I am learning alot from the nurses and nursing students here and they are learning from my collegeauges and I as well. I am doing things here that nurses would faint if they found out students were doing. I actually feel like a real nurse! People listen to you and value your opinion, it is really nice. Until next time! :)
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