Last Saturday, after the 26 hour trip to get to Cape Town, I arrived safely in the hands of my friend Cydnee who was kind enough to be my chauffeur and guide for the weekend. Refusing to allow myself to get jet lagged, we went to lunch with a group of her friends at a local chain cafe. It was a nice ex-pat group travelling through Southern Africa and hearing their stories of work and travel only excited me more about the upcoming months of travelling and people-meeting.
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| Cydnee and I out my first night |
The weekend included a braai (Afrikaaner's word for bbq) where I got to meet South Africans, Zimbabweans, and other Americans, touring around Greenpoint (Cydnee's neighborhood), and an outdoor concert at Kirstenbosch Park to see Johnny Clegg perform. Kirstenbosch might be one of the most scenic and lush places I've been--definitely the coolest outdoor concert venue I've been.
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| Johnny Clegg Concert |
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| Kirstenbosch |
It was great to see Johnny Clegg perform and watch the dancing woman and crowd. Cydnee mentioned that South Africans are serious picnicers but it was nothing I imagined. The food, drinks, and overall geniality of the experience was very inspiring.
Over the last few days, I've moved into my house in which I'm renting a room with mostly other volunteers and travellers from Oregon, Michigan, Germany, Australia, and then two local South Africans who have been a great source to turn to for the millions of questions I ask. I've also gone through a Cape Town orientation and traveled around the city to get my bearings. It's not a lie that this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
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| View of Cape Town from Table Mountain Road |
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| Camps Bay |
Yesterday I started interning at Cross Roads Community Health Clinic, a primary/basic care health center that is overflowing with people, understaffed, and very hot, but the spirit of the sisters (nurses) and staff is exceptionally high and I've enjoyed meeting everyone. In South Africa, most of the blacks speak Xhosa (the x is a click, so it kind of sounds like "Khosa" but with a click instead of a "K"), so the language barrier has proved to be a little frustrating but I do love listening to it and hearing all the clicks as it so strange to anything I've ever heard before.
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| Cross Roads Community Health Center |
I spent the first day in the BANC (Basic AnteNatal Care) Center after I told them of my interest in obstetrics. Basically, BANC is a WHO-initiative for women to receive antenatal care until they are 32-34 weeks pregnant (as long as they are healthy). This relieves stress on the actual maternity clinics and labor wards as they only take charge of those with high risk pregnancies and those at the end of pregnancy. Sister Siyo was the only nurse in the unit and her role was to listen to the heart beat (no Doppler, just a little wooden instrument that looks like a horn that she puts up to the stomach to hear), check vitals, and measure the women. If something is abnormal, she refers the patient to the doctor, and I actually walked a patient and presented her case to the doctor yesterday. She told me it was good practice for my future career, and overall, I am so thankful for all her guidance and encouragement throughout the day and hope to spend more time with her.
Today I spent the day in the pharmacy, where I never imagined going, but it was a very enlightening process. The pharmacy was about what you might think, very similar to US pharmacies but slightly less efficient and about 100x more chaotic. The great thing about being back there was talking to all the staff--it was a day spent learning and teaching about our respective cultures. I learned that the inside of a cow is apparently the best meat, and they were SHOCKED that I've never had cow heart. They were also shocked at how "plain and normal" (their words) I look as they assumed Americans all look like Beyonce--where was all my bling?? I'm glad I could set that straight for them.
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| Noluyolo and I in the pharmacy |
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