Best weekend yet?

I'm pretty sure we are just coming to the close of the best weekend here so far [and there's been some great ones].

Friday grand rounds saw us in paeds with Taryn presenting a malnourished child (cue discussion about things I didn't understand) then along in maternity with two premature babies, both weighing around 1.3 kgs. One of them was doing really well and was looking so much better than the previous week when he had been presented to everyone for a talk on neo natal jaundice [and of that talk I can only remember that it has to do with conjugated and non-conjugated bilirubin (?!) and you cure it with light] but the other one was in a coma and had a very very poor prognosis and in fact died just an hour and a half after we saw him.

At work I spent the whole morning sorting out a mass of patients who had come on the wrong day or were getting transferred out or had done something annoying warranting extra admin. Liz finally dragged me out at 1pm to go for some lunch [bear in mind that 1pm on Friday is closing time]. We were soon back in at work, Liz mixing up some potassium chloride and elemental mixture and me doing paperwork, lots of paperwork. We've run out of distilled water which is kind of an essential for mixing drugs so were using boiled kettle water, then causing the problem of needing to cool the water back down to make the mixes. At one point Liz was standing holding a bowl of water up to the air conditioning unit [the only one in the hospital I might add] in a bid to cool it down. This place = crazy. Finally at 6pm we left, all jobs done. Well not really, but like hell were we staying any longer.

Friday night saw us watching a Super 14 rugby match: Brumbies vs Stormers, which was pretty good, espeically the finish where two tries were scored in the last five minutes. Sadly the Cape Town Stormers lost so Karl was a bit gutted but I think he will get over it. Maybe. If you were wondering where the braais have been this week then you will be glad to know that next up was a braai courtesy of the Le Roux :D It was a really really tasty one with lots of boerwors sausage, potato gratin bake thing, salad, yum yum yum. Everyone was there: Sally, Karl, Megan, Joff, Sarah, Bernard, Liz, Lisa, Sam and I, maybe some others, I can't remember. I had my first cup of coffee in what must be more than 10 years and it was gooooooood. The banter was high, and you can tell it was a good night by the fact that we didn't return home until half past twelve. That is a LATE night by Zithulele standards. It's great to have these big social nights that are so completely casual, especially after a long week at work. I think we may be living the easy life in comparison to some of the other Project Trust volunteers [Hi to Catherine in China ;)]. I went to bed to the sound of the stupid cockerel and then woke up to the same sound 5 hours later. I think chicken will be on the menu this week if it doesn't pipe down.

Saturday was a day I've been buzzing for for absolutely ages [call me sad, I don't care] because Project Trust were visiting. I was lying in bed at 7am wondering if the cars pulling up were them, even though they quite blantantly weren't given that they had stayed in Umtata the previous night and it's 2 hours away. We gave the place a quick tidy, but it's nice and clean any way so there was no manic rush to get it looking up to scratch for Ingrid, Susie and Keish. I went and sat out with our next-door-but-one neighbours Megan and Joff (from London, very good chat, remember from previous posts?) and had a coffee, check me with the coffee ha, and was later joined by Sam and Sarah [that's the JRHF manager].

PT finally rolled up just after eleven and it was the start of a good times day. It was so nice to be able to show them what we've been doing and to get a complete outsiders reaction to our life here. The chat was v. good, even though Susie was abusive 2k10 [just kidding]. After a tour of the hospital, our beautiful rondavel[apparently the best PT accomodation in South Africa] and the preschool we started the long drive to White Clay for lunch. We had the inevitable conversations about how we are doing here, is the project working out, what would have prepared you better but also some excellent banter, it's refreshing to see people you know and have some sarcastic British humour and taking the mickey (Alright, Cambridge?) We also caught up on 2 pieces of vital world news, that earthquake in Haiti, thanks everyone for keeping me updated on the biggest natural disaster in modern history, and the devasatation that is the divorce of Chezza Cole and Ashley. What ever happened to Fight for This Love? I'm sure by now they are back together and have a TV show a la Katie and Peter but oh well. 

Sam, Keish, Susie and I at Hole in the Wall

We had an amazing lunch at White Clay, homemade cheeseburgers followed by chocolate brownie, the most stunning chocolate brownie since the dawn of time. I figured since this is the only time I'll be seeing Project Trust while I'm here I could swap one day of Lent for an extra week at the end so yes I broke the rules but Ingrid said she's repatriate me if I didn't. Back at Zithulele we went to meet Karl and Sally for a chat and apple pie and coffee [I was determined to make the most of my 24 hour lent reprieve!]. Soon after that our three visitors had to leave :( I wish they could have stayed longer and seen us at work but that's life! Pretty gutted that the visit isn't on the cards to look forward to any more but it was a great day. Any one else that wants to visit feel free - I'm already buzzing for Mum's visit in May, it will be a guaranteed good time.

Saturday night was, err, rugby and a braai. Sound familiar? This time it was England vs Ireland, argh that match was horrible to watch, I forgot how much I hate watching sport because whoever I support ALWAYS loses. Patrick, a volunteer from Louisiana who has been doing admin for Ben amongst a host of other things had a going away braai at Roger's house so an even bigger crowd than the night before sat around the fire and had the traditional combination of meat, salad etc etc. For anyone who's interested, the additional people to yesterday were Jess [physio, not OT Jess], Roger, Karen, and obv Patrick. I spent most of the night having a good old chat with Jess and Sam and maximising the amount of Lent-banned items I ate.

Today has been a spectacularly beautiful day – sunny but not so hot that you want to sit in the freezer and die. We all met up at 8.45am to go for a beach frisbee session at Lubanzi. It was a brilliant game because we played right in the surf and I was actually playing like someone whose head and hands were connected. Maybe one day I will actually be a decent player? After we were all suitably tired, we went for a swim in the sea which was almost calm enough to be a swim as opposed to a battle with 382497348349 tonnes of sea water today :D It was so relaxing just to chill at the beach with everyone – it's been really nice to spend a weekend together as a larger group. Eventually we had to leave to sun, sea and sand, although I could stay there for almost forever.

Megan and Joff were hosting brunch/lunch/coffee at their house so Lisa, Liz, Sam and I pitched up with various breakfast items and had a veritable feast of french toast, bacon, coffee and pancakes (I didn't have any sugar on them so they don't count as desert). It was about 2.30pm by the time we called it a day. Oh, the good times keep on rolling here.

Joff and our random neighbour

Postal update: multiple failures. They wouldnt accept my letter at the post office because I'd reused an old envelope so I'll resend it some point this week. Sorry!I also haven't picked up any more mail so I don't know who to thank for sending me post. I'm sending some pics I've printed too.

Phone update: due to an unfortunate incident where I answered a call from Gregor on the wrong SIM I only have 10 txts to last me until March the 15^th! I hope you cadets enjoyed that chat with me, it cost £8.30!

Feet update: looking better, the infection is gone, I'm off the antibiotics. I'm not even sleeping under a net anymore and I'm fine. Yay :D

Bug update: we had a praying mantis in the house..cool?

Other chat...not sure why I wrote that thing about the Easter holidays, I meant the February holidays. Thanks to anonymous for that joke, very funny...I have thought about it and is it by any chance from one of my employers at the Town House? ;)

Happy Birthday Grannie!

Please leave me a comment, who's all reading?

Salani kakuhle

xxxxx

Going Solo

The desk where I slave away...

Wednesday and Thursday ARV clinics this week have been fun. You may recall from previous blogs that I occasionally get left to go it alone without a translator. Well, now we have progressed to the stage where I don't even get one! Luckily I've nearly mastered all the necessary phrases for it to work but it only takes one sentence that I don't understand to delay us for a considerable time.




On Wednesday I worked ten hours with a 'tea break' at 12pm and the patient count stood at about 85 by the time we were done so it was fun times all round. Ben Gaunt (chief medical officer) came to tell me that we are adding another clinic to down referral [Wilo clinic if you're interested] and then another one every month after that so now we are expanding more on the ARV front. I see busy days ahead!

On Thursday morning I went on grand rounds, can't remember if I've mentioned this before. Basically, the whole multi disciplinary team [plus me for the random crack] go round the wards and doctors present interesting or problematic cases for discussion and to refresh everyone's knowledge. The therapy department and dentists also give talks on various topics and outpatients and the therapy ones in particular are inspiring to hear. It's a useful experience for future medical experience and I'm picking up bits and pieces of useful information but I have to admit when they start talking in acronyms it goes straight over my head and I never know the correct reaction when the presenting doctor says, 'Oh my word, their potassium is 2/Their HIE score was off the cards/Their U and E was craaaazy' but one day I will! Today Mhla was presenting two patients from female ward but I can't remember very much about it at all so clearly I was in the zone for that talk.







More clinic work until I had to go and teach another computer lesson to two of the students who had missed one a few weeks back. We showed them how to type up C.Vs and then printed them for them and they were so chuffed, both rushing off to show their friends. It was nice to see, but shows as usual how much we take for granted, especially as the two students were both actually older than me!



Another inspiring story from the Thursday clinic (obv I had to go back there after computer class) came right at the end of the day. A one year old who is on ARVs came in with her granny and nine year old sister to have more meds dispensed. The mother of the two girls had abandoned them to go to Cape Town and had explained to the nine year old how to mix up the baby's meds and how often to give them etc before leaving them with their granny [who was completely clueless]. This amazing little girl has been administering the ARVs to her sister for well over a month all on her own and when we spoke to her to check her knowledge of it all she was so sharp. It puts many of our patients whose have completely shocking adherence to shame! She acts like more of a mother to her sister than her granny; she's a brilliant kid who is doing a great job in a horrible situation.



After work it was time for another trip to Papazela's for a round of delicious pizza and good chats. This time it was a smaller group: Sam and I, Liz, Lisa, Megan and Joff. It was a really fun night [only marred by a dog fight which took place under the table...] as usual.

Pharmacy Slavery and Lent Failure

Well, continuing with the theme of epic fails...




I had been planning on sticking to the family tradition of giving up dessert for Lent which started last Wednesday. When did I find out that this Lent had started? Err, Tuesday night. Great, just perfect. I am now back on track, but it is so so hard here, especially when we don't have that much else to do in the evening except eat (okay that's a lie, but the fridge is in the middle of the living room so it’s tempting). I am combating the need to eat in a number of ways including staying at work for as long as possible and not actually buying any food that would break the Lent rules. I have to admit I did take one day off this weekend, but you can find out about that in a later post...



Monday was really not worth typing about – Jabulani meeting, work, Frisbee. Tuesday however was another stunning clinic day at Ngcwanguba. Not as many patients as last time (thankfully) and Nokuthula the counsellor had really sorted the system out so I think we may be able to leave the work to her after a few more visits. It's really great when you find people here who are motivated and efficient and it will be a relief to hand over to the clinic in the near future. On the way back to Zithulele we had a full car once again because we were taking a mother and child to see the doctors at the hospital and bringing one of the other counsellors back, saving both a considerable sum of money for a taxi or a very long walk. People are very generous in picking up strangers, and most people are happy even just to sit in the back of a pickup – it's not uncommon to see eight or nine kids crammed into the back of a 4 x 4 speeding along the dirt road.



Back at work, we were pretty busy so I got on with some dispensing. An update on my Xhosa is that I can now say almost all the combinations of 'Take one/two/three pills one/two/three times a day' and my personal favourite 'Tata aff a teaspoon ngemini' which is 'Take half a teaspoon per day'. I always feel so stupid saying it :D We shut the window at half five, but the patients here are pretty persistent and were rattling the bars over the door so I made the mistake of going out to see one of them and ended up being accosted from all sides with patients speaking rapidly in Xhosa. Eventually I managed to clear them all away and Sally came and saved me from another crowd and dragged me out of the hospital.



Sam had made a great dinner as usual, tonight's was spaghetti carbonara. After dinner we went to the monthly Jabulani general meeting where they talk about important stuff like money and donations and NGO status and employment and financial year and I sit and understand none of it and drink my glass of water very slowly and concentrate on nodding in the right place. (Ok, well it wasn't THAT confusing, but you get the message) Two and a half hours later, we were out of there and it was time for bed.

Zithulele Weekend

Well another weekend in the village is almost over. Not much to report really – I worked most of Saturday and then today have been in the house doing some chores etc. I decided I'd had enough of Rambos at 6am and have moved into the Jabulani office room, should be good! It's a lovely day here today :D

Plans for next week: frisbee tomorrow, a clinic day at Ngcwanguba on Tuesday and the Project Trust visit on Saturday. Hopefully there'll be some pizza thrown in there too at some point!

Short blog much?

White Clay

What's new since last time...

No more East London this weekend, Anita and Etienne's car isn't ready for them to pick up yet. Bad times :( It is actually not so bad though – I made a list of all the things I need to do by the end of this week (and there are about 3 working hours left of it) and there's so much that I will be spending this weekend in the pharmacy anyway!

On bed bugs watch, things are much improved: I think I killed them all with a mixture of exposure to the African sun when I left my matress outside and then soaked it in a tonne of DOOM insect killer. Sally decided my bites had got so badly infected that I have impetigo, so she wrote me a for antibiotics and such which I then went and dispensed for myself, perks of the job much? The itching has miraculously gone and I am looking less and less like a leper each day.

Last night we went out for dinner, hoping to go the legendary establishment that is Papazela's pizza, but it was apparently shut because of the wedding (see previous post). None of us are sure why last weekend's wedding warrants shutting on a Thursday, but oh well! We ended up at White Clay, which is a cool little restaurant all decorated with surfing stuff etc etc. It mainly serves fish and steak dishes, something which we can't really prepare on our hob at the rondavel so it was a nice change. There were ten of us: Lisa, Megan, Joff, Sarah, Bernard, Tom, Jo, Jess, Sam and I so it was an enjoyable night :D If anyone has been following this closely enough to know who any of those people are I'll be impressed!

That's it for now, hope you are all enjoying the Easter holidays! [especially you lucky ones going to see Wicked, I am veeeeeeery jealous ;)]

xxx

Week six: a Xhosa wedding, beach frisbee and bed bugs

It's been another week of fun out here in the sticks...




First up was the long awaited wedding on Saturday. Eybe Meents, the doctor at Ngcwanguba and Mapuzi, was marrying a local woman called Alicia Simoyi at a ceremony at his house near Coffee Bay, which promised to be a once-of cultural experience. Eybe is German and Alicia is Xhosa so the mixture of German efficiency and Xhosa chaos was always going to be interesting!



The invitation literally said 'Date: 13th Feb, Location: Coffee Bay' so it was a bit of guess work and a case of looking out for tents and a big crowd when it came to finding the place and arriving on time. We rolled up just after 11am by which time there was probably around 150 people and the pleasant sight of a pack of dogs feasting on the skin of a cow that had been slaughtered to feed the masses. There were tonnes of cute kids running around and a big contingent from Zithulele to talk to which was a good job considering that the wedding only started at 2pm! As white people, we were assumed to be Eybe's relatives and close friends [even though most of us have met him once, twice or not at all!] so we sat at the guest tables right at the front of the tent, with crowds waiting outside. Over the course of about half an hour, they managed to get all the real relatives etc into the tent as well, and then the entire crowd pretty much came in too so the place was well and truly packed.

Part of the crowd

Another part of the crowd ;)

There were four ministers at the top table, who started off by leading us in a prayer in Xhosa, before starting some singing. The Xhosa people are incredible singers – they all automatically harmonise perfectly so a group of complete strangers can sound like a proper choir whatever they sing. I often hear the nurses singing morning prayers when I open the pharmacy at 7.30am and it’s impressive to listen to. Sadly, the MC of the wedding felt the need to accompany the lovely singing with a techno beat on a keyboard, a common theme which continued throughout the next three hours. Groom and parents entering accompanied by techno beat, bride entering accompanied by techno beat, exchanging of vows accompanied by techno beat...I think you get the picture. Anyway – after the prayers, Eybe came in to screams of delights from all the guests and then sometime later, Alicia came down the 'aisle' looking stunning in a traditional (for us) white wedding dress, something I was quite surprised about as the wedding was conducted in Xhosa. All the bridesmaids and pageboys were dancing and the guests went absolutely crazy, it was so funny to watch.



When everything settled down, they started the readings from the bible, which were spoken in both English and Xhosa and the minister/reverend increased the hilarity of the occasion by dropping in a large amount of innuendo: 'God said, “In marriage there must be nakedness...mmmmmm”' We heard the story of how God created Eve from Adam's rib and how that meant men and women should get married, then somehow the MC decided to put on some beats again and it all got a bit crazy for a while...my favourite moment was when he answered his phone while still on the microphone!

Eybe and Alicia

Finally [because after waiting 3 hours for the event to start, we were now 'pressed for time' apparently] we came to the marriage itself. The fathers of the bride and groom had to agree to the marriage, and then Eybe had to receive Alicia from her father. They said their vows and exchanged rings etc but since the vows were mainly in Xhosa I didn't catch much of them! However, the minister insisted in calling Eybe (pronounced Iba) 'Elbow' and 'Ibo'...stunning! Next up was a ritual cake cutting where they tied their arms together and had to cut cake up and eat it, then serve it to their families. This went on for quite some time! By this point it was absolutely baking hot in the tent and it was getting late so we had to leave so we missed the all night party that would have followed but it was a great day. I really enjoyed it and although a little crazy in parts it was a lovely ceremony!



On Sunday we had a lazy Zithulele day. I just read over my diary to see what I actually did and aside from eat, I did absolutely nothing until I got a text from Jess (a physio) asking if I wanted to go on a run so her, Kate and I went for about 5k which was nice. It's hard to get much running in because I can never motivate myself to get up at 6am and equally well can't be bothered if I finish work after 6pm. Hopefully I can get more in at the weekends and when the ARV down referrals calm down.



Monday was a fun day at work – we have almost completely run out of Lamivudine, an ARV that I reckon about 95% of our patients take. We have two ARV clinic days this week and a Ngcwanguba day next week to pack for so we are desperately trying to get more stock from nearby Madwaleni hospital, otherwise we may be just a little stuck, given the necessity of strict adherence when you are taking ARVs.



Monday night Frisbee was relocated to Lubanzi beach, good times, so we had a good game in the sand and then a swim/paddle in the sea. Tonnes of local kids came down to watch/play with our spare Frisbee, and ended up getting a lift back to their homes in the back of Tom's 4x4. Jess and I also rode in the back (as in the pickup bit that’s uncovered) and it's the best way to travel – standing up lets you see way more than just sitting in the cab, and it felt slightly more stable than sitting on the roof of Etienne's truck! After the beach I went to watch Grey's Anatomy which I haven't seen since Meredith almost drowned in the ferry crash, so I was a tad confused when we were in the middle of season 6. Having not seen any TV for 6 weeks it suited me just fine though!



Now what was missing from this day? Pharmacy, check. Beach, check...yes it's time for a braai! This time we were at Anita and Etienne's new house and we had a fun night drinking pink champagne and eating braai meat and these chocolate marshmallow things :D All in all, Monday was a good night.



However, Tuesday was not a good day – I woke up with ridiculously itchy feet and decided that there's no way I could be the only one getting bitten by mosquitoes this badly so examined the seams of my mattress to find tonnes of bed bugs, how completely SICK. My feet are a total mess of bites that itch like hell! I had had very little sleep due to 1. A tad too much champagne. 2. Bed bugs and 3. Rambo's 5.20am music at 30000 decibels so I felt awful and it got worse throughout the day. At one point I was shivering (see previous posts about 30'C plus heat) but was burning up on my skin...and you'll all know that I rarely ever feel ill. It must have been pretty bad as I wasn't even hungry! Who knows what was wrong with me, but I went to bed early in the hope of feeling better in the morning.



The following night’s sleep was not much better although the number of new bites was down due to the fact I doused my mattress in bug killer and left it out in the sun. I woke up with a bad headache and felt like passing out, but decided I should drag myself to work to take my mind off things. It seems a long day in ARVs [seeing patients by myself is now the norm there] has sorted me out! I feel much better now and despite the fact that my feet look like they have been eaten by a small animal, they should be back to normal soon. How epic does it get?



Tomorrow is ARV and the last computer class for this block, fun times all round :D No more Bulungula this weekend as were are going to East London instead. Hopefully I can post some more letters and this time I'll send them airmail!



Moral of the story: bed bugs are SICK, definitely don't let them bite!



OLANDELAIYO!



X

Hectic days, starry nights

Five weeks over and counting! Since Transkei New Year, things have been heeeeeeeeeectic here. For those of you who don't know, hectic is one of the three favourite words of South Africa (the other two are YAR and shame)




The hospital has been crazily busy – we've been working 7.30am to around 6pm and later every day, and the unfortunate doctors on call have been out at all hours of the night as well. Zithulele ARV clinic last Wednesday was utter joy, it seemed like every patient there had decided they would come to the wrong place, at the wrong time for the wrong reason. I ended up going all over the hospital trying to track down files, doctors and medicine so by the end of the day I was totally knackered.



Last Wednesday night we had a braai at Marlie and Megan's (a physio and an OT) which was good times. We sat around the fire until midnight and watched an incredible lightning storm that was going on in the sky. The lightning here is something else – storms often cause people's rondavels to burn down! I've also never seen so many stars as there are here, you can see billions of them because no one has power.



Thursday was never going to be easy with two of the three pharmacy staff away for training. Between myself and Thabo we had to run the main dispensary, do the ward orders and run a massive clinic day. Eventually we decided to let me run ARV clinic with a translator and Thabo would struggle on down at the main dispensary. It was a looooooooong day. My translator was also working for the doctors so I only had help about half the time and had to try my best in isiXhosa the rest of the time. It actually worked out alright and I'm getting much better at speaking the language :D I then progressed to the next level of my Pharmacy 101 training and started dispensing at the front counter, i.e. making up the prescriptions for all the patients that get seen in out patients department and on the wards. This job is crazy! Can you imagine the NHS letting a random loose with zero training?



On Friday, we had the inaugural 'Jabulani Grand Tea' which is basically an excuse to eat cake and drink tea once a week. The hospital has their own grand tea after rounds on a Friday so we thought our little group of volunteers would have one too. Kate (who used to be an OT but is now running a programme to support local mothers) made a massive plate of flapjacks which were stunnnnnning. Now you will probably be imagining those nice oaty/honey things (especially Ella if she's reading) but in South Africa a flapjack is kind of like a Scotch pancake. See my previous posts about pancakes and you'll understand why this was major success...



Anyway, back at work I carried on with all the usual chaos until finally at 3 o'clock I was dragged out by Dr Gatley. Somehow I ended up looking after the Le Roux's daughter Emma (cutest child on earth) which involved running away from lions and driving to Johannesburg and exciting imaginary stuff like that – good times! Next up was my first chance to see something other than ARVs in the hospital when Liz (aka Dr Gatley) took me on call with her. First up we went to see a woman who had miscarried but still had her placenta in place so needed a uterus evacuation. Liz sent her up to theatre, then on the way there (about a 300m walk) ended up having to see a further two patients [two babies who looked horrendous, but you'll be glad to know they are looking better now!] before actually scrubbing in.



The theatre here has all the equipment you'd expect for surgery so it's in no way inferior medicine, but I was struck by how different it is from surgery I've seen in the UK. When I was watching cataract surgery in Dumfries, there was a doctor and about 3 nurses sitting in, scrubbing in and out took forever, I had to be briefed on where to stand etc etc etc. For a uterus evacuation [which I presume is a slightly more risky procedure], I just wandered into theatre with Liz, who scrubbed in, anaesthetised the patient, prepared her with the drapes, iodine, stirrups etc all by herself. There was one nurse who stood and watched, so I think we just about contributed equally. It's incredible that here a doctor in their third/fourth (?) year of practice can do all that by themselves! This would be such an amazing place to train as a doctor.



Sunday was another Hole in the Wall day, this time actually at the Hole :D It is THE most beautiful beach. The sea there is actually still enough to swim in, good times, so we had a relaxing day sunbathing, swimming, reading, chatting and of course the inevitable beach braai. I also got my phone sorted out [thanks Mum :D] so I am back in the world! Thank you everyone for your texts: Megan especially for the daily updates and Tides for the epically long one you sent on Thursday, keep me posted on the wonderful courier headlines!



Monday night after work was...you guessed it, a beach braai! You have to believe me when I say I am working hard here, not just eating and going to the beach. This time we were at Lubanzi (see the pic of me on a beach with cows) and a massive crew from Zithulele was there: Sam and I; Liz; Tom, head of JRHF healthcare; his wife Jo, a doctor; Roger the gazelle, JRHF manager; Lisa, an OT; Patrick, a random volunteer from Louisiana and Asanda and Jumi, HIV counsellors. There was an epic sunset and plenty of food, what more could I want?



Tuesday, what a day. It was my first clinic that I had prepared for solo, from the referrals, printing prescriptions, packing them and then actually going out and dispensing. We made the 40 minute journey to Ngcwanguba in the blistering heat, a theme that continued throughout the day. We had an expected list of133, plus another 6 who decided to turn up randomly and we counted pills, gave out packs and did the paperwork for four and a half hours straight. It was really hard work and I was sweating after about 5 minutes, but we were finally finished and it was an overall success. The great news is that it all starts again next week!



On my return on Tuesday, I found that Sam had the house key in Umtata, a big town about 1.5 hours away. Homeless, somehow I ended up going to...could it be? Yes, the beach! This time the wind proved a bit much so Liz and I went home after about 20 minutes where she cooked dinner (mince on a roll with chips which sounds random but is soooooooooooooo good) for me and also for Sam who had returned.



That night also saw the arrival of two new couples: Bernard and Sarah from Belgium and Megan and Jof?Geoff? (no idea how to spell it) from the UK. Bernard and Joff are doctors, Megan is a physio and Sarah is taking over from Roger as JRHF manager. It's great to have new people to chat to :D



Wednesday and Thursday were both ARV days, completely ridiculous in terms of how many patients there were and when we finished (7pm on Wed!). Some highlights were seeing patients completely on my own for an hour due to lack of translator and then breaking into the clinic through the window after we closed to get meds for a sick baby who was being admitted. You've got to love this place :D



Today had been the most scorching day ever – 37'C! I've never been anywhere so hot in my life. The temperature stays near 30'C all night as well. Be thankful for Haddy weather! Although I won't lie, I love how sunny it is here. Pharmacy was as per, then here we go again, guess where we went? A third trip to the beach this week :D I should just give up on blogging and just write pharmacy, beach, food because that is the three words that sum up my life right now!



I received SEVEN letters today, I am absolutely chuffed – thank you Auntie Kathryn [although no one else would agree that my writing is legible let alone nice!], Grandma, Marje, Fiona CLEAT, Megan [especially loved that photo] and obviously Mum x2, the toothbrush was a great source of amusement to the doctors! I'll get around to writing back soon, I think the reason my mail hasn't hit the UK may be that I sent it by land mail...I blame my bad isiXhosa for that one. I tried to post some on Tuesday but the post office queue was an hour (not quite as long as the really inefficient Haddy PO tho!).



Plans for the next while: a wedding tomorrow [good times], Bulungula weekend next week and Project Trust are coming at the end of Feb. I'll send a virtual prize to anyone who can guess how many braais/beach visits I have before I next blog!



Off to have dinner now, and there is a killer storm outside so power will probably be out in the morning!



Salani Kakuhle



xxxxx



P.S. Gregor I'm still working on finding that isiXhosa word for you....

Another Epic Fail

Once again I forgot to bring the right file to upload my blog... I've written a mega long one as well! I did however remember the pictures so here is a preview:

Cute kids

Sunset :)

Cat, Jules, Liz and I at Hole in the Wall