Its been a while since I last wrote and ive been so busy with several different things. Still settling in to the new job, and yes winter is on its way. I cant believe how cold it gets here and its not full winter till next month. None of the buildings have heating so during the day its nice to sit in the sun and warm up. Im heading shopping tomorrow for some more balnkets and clothes, the thing to do seems to be wearing plenty of layers, sadly this means more washing! Ive been trying a new skill of fire lighting, which ive discovered its not the lighting of the fire but keeping it going that is where the skill lies! It has been raining recently and because it was so loud (we have a gutter probelm at home so every time it rains we have a waterfall outside the front door! and also a dripping roof) it felt like I was in a caravan by the coast. I also had an atempt at doing some mosaic art to passs some time, which was fun. During the day im at work (730-4) and the evenings are spent watching TV or reading, sometimes researching different things, and once a week week we have started a bible study which is going great.
This year for me is all about trying as many new things as possible and enjoying life along the way. It has involved getting used to the thunder storms, meeting many new creatures -rain spiders, cameleons, many different birds, mongoose,snakes, walking past cows in the road most mornings (something you never see in the city!) including monkeys in the garden! Learning new languages - siswati, afrikans and Shona (from zimbabwe), learning new skills in my job -taking blood, giving baby vaccines, looking after pregant women and learning about HIV. Its been a huge learning curve for me and I believe I am rising to the challenge. It can be tough at times, thankfully not homesick too much, its just getting used to the way things work, and the system can be a bit frustrating at times. The challenge of being a nurse here in Bulembu is the difficulty of our location. Because the road either side of the town is not very good and public transport isnt great it can make things very difficult if patients need to go to the hospital, the other thing is if they also have no money for transport they are unable to get the the hospital, all we can do as a small clinic is to do the best for our patients with what we have. It can be heartbreaking at times, the first time I tested a young girl for HIV she was found to be HIV positive and also pregnant. How do you tell someone you have to take medicaton for the rest of your life and you are only 17? and pregnant? Each patient that tests positive reacts differently, some will be oblivious to what is being said, others it will be devestating, alot of counselling is needed to give these patients the right support to assist them in taking their medication to keep them well. Becasue there is still such a stigma attached to being HIV positive we often find the patients who are tested postive wont tell their partners, this is what I often find most sad. There seems to be an underlying perception that you cannot trust anyone even your husband/wife to remain faithful, Its then our job to convince them to tell their family of their status. Totally different to the western world where it is illegal to be HIV positive and knowingly infect another person!
Yes there are difficult moments to my new job but there are also very good days, where I know I am making a diffence to someones life, and only today we had 3 brand new babies in to the clinic. Below are just afew snap shots of what ive been up to. Thanks for reading and all your support.
