I had the honor of being included in a dinner party at the house of one of the PAC docs, which included all the new docs, as well as the two visiting scholars who are leaving on Sunday. He has a neighbor who caters Indian food, so we had the most amazing dinner-- seriously the best samosas I've ever eaten.
Then, we decided to head over to Good Times. It is basically the only bar in Maseru, and Thursday nights they have live music.
Scott, I thought of you the entire time that I was at Good Times. You would have loved it.
When we first walked in, there was some type of open mic night going on, with two men rapping in a blend of Sesotho and English. At first, I thought it was super silly. But after a few minutes, both the vibe and the people won me over.
The bar was in the middle of the rooom, and even though there was no specific dance floor, everyone was grooving in a way that I've never experienced. It didn't matter if they were sitting at a table in the corner and having a conversation, everyone in that room was moving to the beat, creating this fun energy. Different people went up on stage to sing, again in blends of languages, and one group was totally a Lesotho Boy Band. Girls screamed, the singers danced and beat at their hearts and reached out to the crowd, and then they sang a song that was a mix of the Cuban shuffle and the Electric Slide, but involved spelling out J-E-S-U-S. Fantastic! I've never been surrounded by so many good dancers, either. And the people surrounding us forced us to join them in their dancing and grooving-- full of smiles and so friendly.
Quote of the night: When Beyonce's "All the single ladies" song came on, the man next to me said-- "I love when they place this. Then I can look around and see who's raising their arms in the air and know who it is okay to ask to dance." How polite is that!?! Love it : - )
Next Thursday I'll be in Mohotklong, but the week after that I'm totally going back to Good Times . . .
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
First Day of Clinic (8/27)
In a word- surprising.
I spent my first day shadowing one of the veteran PAC (Pediatric Aids Corps) docs in the COE (Baylor Clinical Center of Excellence). Paul and I saw about 20 patients, and the clinic itself saw about 140 (which was a light day).
Typical daily schedule:
7:50am- Morning prayer (sung beautifully by the staff and patients, who have been waiting since around 6am outside my cottage)
8am- Clinic starts, and all the docs see patients, with translators if needed (none of the PAC docs speak Sesotho, but there are also African Medical Officers (similar to interns) as well as local nurses training at the COE to work at the rural clinics on their own).
1pm-ish-Lunch
5-6pm-ish-Clinic ends for the day once all of the patients have been seen.
Everyone is scheduled for an appointment date, but they are seen in order of first come first serve. Some of the patients we saw had traveled from 5 hours away, and have to stay overnight to travel back home, and then do it again next month! All patients on HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), have their pills counted with each visit, to help monitor adherence. If they have less than 95% adherence, they meet with a social worker to help discuss barriers to improving their compliance.
Apparently, I had the good fortune of starting out with a very positive day. Almost every single mom and child I saw had near perfect adherence with their HIV meds, a huge feat considering the meds require taking them multiple times a day, and they taste terrible. Almost every single patient I saw had no complaints, and was doing well-- likely due to their great adherence rates on HAART. It was wonderfully uplifting, and not at all what I had expected to encounter (only two kids with pneumonia and one with malnutrition who needed Plumpy-Nut-- more stories and specifics to come). What a great way to start. I know it won't be like this every day, but it was good to ease in this way.
Sunday I will travel to Mohotklong, to work in some rural clinics with two PAC docs. It's a five hour drive, and we'll stay there for the week.
Next up, I'll tell you about the Lesotho blankets and Good Times. And I'll work on posting more pics-- easier said than done here.
I spent my first day shadowing one of the veteran PAC (Pediatric Aids Corps) docs in the COE (Baylor Clinical Center of Excellence). Paul and I saw about 20 patients, and the clinic itself saw about 140 (which was a light day).
Typical daily schedule:
7:50am- Morning prayer (sung beautifully by the staff and patients, who have been waiting since around 6am outside my cottage)
8am- Clinic starts, and all the docs see patients, with translators if needed (none of the PAC docs speak Sesotho, but there are also African Medical Officers (similar to interns) as well as local nurses training at the COE to work at the rural clinics on their own).
1pm-ish-Lunch
5-6pm-ish-Clinic ends for the day once all of the patients have been seen.
Everyone is scheduled for an appointment date, but they are seen in order of first come first serve. Some of the patients we saw had traveled from 5 hours away, and have to stay overnight to travel back home, and then do it again next month! All patients on HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), have their pills counted with each visit, to help monitor adherence. If they have less than 95% adherence, they meet with a social worker to help discuss barriers to improving their compliance.
Apparently, I had the good fortune of starting out with a very positive day. Almost every single mom and child I saw had near perfect adherence with their HIV meds, a huge feat considering the meds require taking them multiple times a day, and they taste terrible. Almost every single patient I saw had no complaints, and was doing well-- likely due to their great adherence rates on HAART. It was wonderfully uplifting, and not at all what I had expected to encounter (only two kids with pneumonia and one with malnutrition who needed Plumpy-Nut-- more stories and specifics to come). What a great way to start. I know it won't be like this every day, but it was good to ease in this way.
Sunday I will travel to Mohotklong, to work in some rural clinics with two PAC docs. It's a five hour drive, and we'll stay there for the week.
Next up, I'll tell you about the Lesotho blankets and Good Times. And I'll work on posting more pics-- easier said than done here.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Landing in Maseru (8/26/09)
My flight this morning was on the smallest plane I’ve ever been on . . .
The specs of the Jetstream 4100:
Max passengers: 29
Length: 19.25 m
Wing Span 18.29 m
Height: 5.74m
Distance in cabin between passengers: Not enough to escape the bad breath of the man across the aisle from me. Yuck!
View of Lesotho’s Mountains: Priceless
I went through customs and the health screening, which involved filling out a sheet saying that I didn’t have any of the possible symptoms of “Swine Flu”, and that if I developed any of them I would report it immediately. Like promised, my two bags of luggage actually were there to meet me (even though they probably took up half of whatever storage space there was on the plane). I was picked up from the airport by smiling Dimpo, and taken directly to the clinic, unfortunately in my travel clothes that I’d been wearing for almost 2 days. I was given a key and taken to the cottage where I will be staying to drop my stuff, which is within the gated grounds. My super nice roommates left me a cute welcome note (and an invitation to the sangria in the fridge : ), and then Dimpo drove me to the Shop-Rite. While I love grocery shopping, this was the most rushed and inadequate shopping I’ve ever done—good thing I brought lentils and trail mix and peanut butter. I was amazed by the number of food items in bags instead of cans/jars (i.e. pasta sauce).
I then got a quick tour of the clinic—which is ridiculously pretty. I’ll post pics soon. There is even a playground outside that was filled with kids. When I brought my computer over there to try to access the clinic’s wireless, I was quickly surrounded by kids who wanted a closer look at my laptop and wanted to talk to Rafe on Skype with me—unfortunately he was not online—next time. More clinic details to come after my first day tomorrow.
I have unpacked, and attempted unsuccessfully to recreate Rafe’s Dal recipe—even though he left me specific measurements for the spices and everything. I don’t have measuring spoons/cups, or a colander than can actually hold my lentils while I strain and rinse them. Hopefully I’ll do better next time.
Morning prayer before clinic is at 7:50am, and maybe my jet lag will have worn off by then for my first day of clinic. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Jo'burg
I've landed safely in Johannesburg, and I've checked into my hotel. However, I am without the bulk of my luggage, because it is in the basement of Jo'burg's airport in the "sorting system", and I am told it is supposed to meet me in Maseru tomorrow. Hmmm . . . we'll see.
It turns out that I can easily survive a 16 hour flight, especially when I get to eat Chick-Fil-A (YUM!) before, and then get a 3-seat row all to myself. This is especially great, considering I was on one of those planes where business elite class gets to lay out like a bed, so I was super jealous boarding, but I basically got the same thing back in coach. Hah! The TV's were broken, so movie's weren't available, but I had no problem occupying myself with reading for fun, reading for work, listening to music, drinking free drinks, and sleeping for 8 hours with the help of an ambien and a little chronic sleep deprivation.
I'm in the hotel waiting for room service, and most of the stations on this TV seem to be South African soap operas, so I think I'll do a little more reading continued from my flight. Tomorrow morning, I'll board a puddle-jumper to Lesotho, my "home" for the next month. I can't wait to meet all the docs and see the clinic and get started.
Miss everyone already! Lots of love.
It turns out that I can easily survive a 16 hour flight, especially when I get to eat Chick-Fil-A (YUM!) before, and then get a 3-seat row all to myself. This is especially great, considering I was on one of those planes where business elite class gets to lay out like a bed, so I was super jealous boarding, but I basically got the same thing back in coach. Hah! The TV's were broken, so movie's weren't available, but I had no problem occupying myself with reading for fun, reading for work, listening to music, drinking free drinks, and sleeping for 8 hours with the help of an ambien and a little chronic sleep deprivation.
I'm in the hotel waiting for room service, and most of the stations on this TV seem to be South African soap operas, so I think I'll do a little more reading continued from my flight. Tomorrow morning, I'll board a puddle-jumper to Lesotho, my "home" for the next month. I can't wait to meet all the docs and see the clinic and get started.
Miss everyone already! Lots of love.
Monday, August 17, 2009
T - 1 Week . . .
Today I am one week away from catching a plane to Lesotho. In case you are like most people and don't know where Lesotho is-- it is a small landlocked country completely surrounded by South Africa, and almost entirely in the mountains, the only country in the world that lies entirely above 1000 meters (3300 ft). Yes, that means even though I'm going to Africa, it's going to be fairly cold in September.
From Chicago, it will take me two days to get there. I will fly from Chicago to Atlanta on 8/24, then catch a plane all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa, which will land on 8/25 around 5pm. I will then stay overnight in Jo'burg and fly the next morning on a puddle-jumper to Maseru, Lesotho, where I will be living and working with the amazing Baylor Pediatric Infectious Disease Corps Physicians. I will be working in a Pediatric HIV clinic, as well as possibly doing some outreach work in rural Lesotho and/or some inpatient pediatric work at the Government-run hospital. Exciting and scary.
For now, I'm just finishing up my packing list, getting prescriptions for Malaria meds for traveling through South Africa that I'll be doing at the end of my trip, and getting excited about this new adventure. For my family and friends who I'll miss like crazy, I'll try to keep this blog updated. I also have a skype account now . . . and for those of you who don't have one, if you get one we can talk for free on the internet phone service . . . ask me for more details if you're interested. Rafe and I have already tried it out from our living room, next step will be between Chicago and Lesotho : )