Rhona has been assigned to work at an epilepsy clinic in Lilongwe on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. It is in the afternoons and the last 2 I’ve been able to go with her. (as driver) the first was during our midterm break and the second was yesterday. To get there on time I did leave school a little early and headed into town. We had time to run into the market to pick up some vegetables that we can’t get in Nkhoma and to the supermarket to get some basics that we like to have on hand. Very quick shopping and then to meet Katherine who takes us out to the clinic (the dirt roads get quite confusing). We meet Victor and Clara the translators and sit down. the first week I sat in a chair waiting to see what was going to happen and Clara said “oh good you can do the drug handout” What?! Um. Ok. The stack of health passports (used as patient files/history of past dr visits) piled on the table where Rhona was and the first patient was called. She did the examination—checking overall health, asking questions about seizures (have they had one, what happens, does the medication cause too much drowsiness, etc.) and then she writes in the book what meds they should get and when they should come back to be reviewed. Then they come to me and I count out the pills until their next review and send them to another woman who prays with them before they leave. It went very well for the first 15 patients…Rhona has very good handwriting (especially for a doctor writing about the drugs as in a prescription) and she takes into account that the pharmacist (me) has no clue about abbreviations. With the stack of health passports not seeming to grow any smaller, Rhona sped up and I had to ask more questions about what she was writing. But we made it through 27 patients the first time and 29 the second in about 3 hours. I guess the visits go faster when you know what is wrong with the patients (in this case epilepsy).
Our last patient was a boy about 9 years old. He came in as I was counting out pills for another patient so I didn’t see him and suddenly he was at my side talking a mile a minute to me. I looked at him and asked how he was…(muli bwanji?) I don’t know if he even answered me but he kept talking at a very fast paced whisper looking like he was telling me something of national importance but very secret with a huge smile on his face. I smiled back and said that I had no clue what he was saying to me but that he looked very happy. Then he moved on to someone else. He was the star of the room as everyone watched his antics. He came back a few minutes later with two coins in his hands that he rattled around and showed with great pride. And then it was time to go—Bye! With big waves and smiles.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
week back
This week the whole class has been there (well 2 of the 4 days I was there). And 12 isnt’ much different from 10. as a matter of fact it seemed better to have them all there. Even more extra hands this week as is brought on by the summer vacations of the rest of the world. Extra hands this week have been from the Netherlands, US, Malawi, and England—Laurah who was here last week, the McCall kids (Ruth (helping in 1st grade), Miriam (reading stories and playing out side), and 2 brothers who play soccer with the kids during break), Chifundo, and Rhona. Rhona came to school with me on Friday and lucky for her it was a really good day. The kids mostly listened and did what they were supposed to do. Practiced writing their numbers and dividing ladybug spots into 2 (mostly) equal groups were the worksheets we did. Read books, sang songs, built long trains of legos, did puzzles, wrote names on the board and kept busy. I love having all the extra hands—though it does get confusing because anyone big in class gets called teacher. The kids are constantly calling out “teacher, can you see? Teacher, can you see?” (meaning “look at this, look at this”) and I think they mean me but it is whoever is closest to them.
lake weekend
Back to the lake. This time to cape maclear which is new for me. Each time we planned to go in the past I got sick just before the weekend. Easy time there but after 3 hours in the car I was very glad to be at the lake. First things first—set up tents so we don’t have to think about it later. Found a great big tree that would shelter our 3 tents and went to work. Not hard to put up pop-ups but some are decidedly more complicated than others. As the one we borrowed was. Put the fly up first and then place the tent inside and clip it up…not rocket science but still. Just after we’d finished the guy from reception came over and asked us/told us we needed to move it as it was in the way of the driveway into the camp ground. Can’t they go around the other way (there were not many people here at all). I put it down to a communication problem that he wouldn’t let us stay…so we did move. That’s good. That’s good. A minute later he came back and told us to move one of our other tents…decidedly easier (2 cross poles that cover the whole thing) but still the principle of the thing. If you’re going to have certain places to put tents tell someone before they put up their tent. I continued muttering under my breath until I could run into the lake which washed all my contrariness away (as did the drink I had when I emerged from the lake). Sat on the beach and relaxed the rest of the weekend. Evidently a needed break as I arrived and realized that while packing I had not brought my Frisbee, ipod, book, brush…but I did have my swim suit and sleeping bag…glad I remembered the essentials.
Friday, July 16, 2010
80!
Tuesday was Dorothy’s 80th birthday! We sang to her at school and I think she had a great day. We had her party from 4-6 (as all of the parties have been since we got here). I think we had at least 40 people there which was amazing as some of the bigger families are on vacation and out of the country…It was a joint birthday party as Maria (Swedish nurse here for 10 months) was turning 25. Celebrating 105 years of life—and counting! We had 10 cakes, sugared peanuts and cookies baked by 6 people and plenty of tea and coffee. Dorothy’s daughter had come in May with the NC Presby group and had given me a box to give to Dorothy on her birthday. She opened it at breakfast to find 115 cards full of birthday wishes many of them signed by groups of people—the note said that since they couldn’t be here to celebrate with her this was the best they could do. If she opened one every 6 minutes it would take her 12 hours to get through the box. Pretty entertaining!
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