Sifunda isiZulu... and health!

Sorry for the lack of posting... my computer decided to crash last week and I'm still in the process of getting regular internet time. But here's a little update of our past week or so!

We've been coming to the SIT house every day (7 am pick up, between 4 and 5:30 dropoff) for a full day of Zulu, field study seminar and community health seminar. Zulu is pretty challenging but since we have 2 hours a day, we've already learned a ton. Later in the day, we generally have guest lectures come in from surrounding medical schools and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We've been learning so much about the South African health care system, leading health indicators, and current health issues in the country. Next week, we'll be going to hospitals, NGOs, and schools to see first hand whats going on around Durban.

Last weekend we had a little break from the daily schedule and stayed in apartments right on the beach in Durban. Waking up and looking out at people surfing in the Indian ocean was definitely a luxury :) We spent the weekend shopping, spending time on the beach, and we went to uShaka, an aquarium and water park. Even though it's technically still winter here, it was around 80 all weekend!

We're definitely starting to settle in in SA, and are really starting to understand the culture and people. In terms of public health, one thing our academic director said today really struck me. He said that there should be "African solutions to African problems", which goes along with a lot of what we learn in Syracuse. Coming in, we had such preset ideas of what works for which health problems, but we can already see thats going to completely change being in a new community. I'm really excited to be working in such a new setting.

Every student in our program does an Independent Learnership Project for the second half of the semester. I'm going to do mine on an evaluation of birth practices in a maternity ward in a rural hospital a few hours inland from Durban. I'll keep you updated as I figure out more specifically what I'm going to be doing!

For now, sala kahle :)