Eshowe update

My first few days at Eshowe have certainly been exciting! To explain everything would take forever, but here's some highlights:

-I got to see my first delivery on Friday! Two girls came in at the same time around 9 in the morning, so I got to see the whole process from admission to delivery. It was pretty exciting, and the nurses were great at answering questions for me and explaining how charting works. Yes, the baby was pretty adorable, and no, I wasn't grossed out at all! I guess my career choice of being an obstetric & gynecology PA won't have to change :)

-Saturday was my 21st birthday! Not quite as exciting as many 21sts are in the states, but we had a good day including seeing some zebras, taking a walk on the beach (I've officially spent more time at the Indian Ocean than the Atlantic...), and having a braai (South African's bbq... delicious).

-Today we checked out the Dlinza forest, a 20 minute walk from the B&B. There's a cool aerial boardwalk, a viewing tower, and some trails that wind through the forest. It was beautiful, and our tour guide/security guy took pictures of us and let us climb some 600 year old trees in the forest (according to him, all the trees were "too old")

Tomorrow starts our first full week at the hospital. I'll be spending the majority of the time on the labor ward, but we're planning on helping out in the pharmacy for a day as well. This unlimited wi-fi is definitely a luxury, which means lots more posts in the next few weeks :)

-Kristen

Independent Study Projects Begin!

After our hectic week of traveling in rural South Africa and hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains we returned to a busy week of classes and lectures. Our proposals for our independent studies took up quite a bit of our time as we worked through all of the necessary steps to provide human subject consent forms and completed confidentiality and privacy requirements for each of our research projects. From there we worked on finalizing our placement sites, found housing locations, and contacted local advisors for our projects who are experts in the field we wish to study. We enjoyed our weekend in Durban and relaxed on the beach in the time we had off over the weekend. The next week jumped right back into intensive work as we each completed our Community Health Seminar final papers which ended up being upwards of 30 pages. By the time we turned in our papers it was already time to get started on our independent study projects. The next day we moved out of our flats on the beach and had drop offs all over…depending on where students decided to pursue their projects.

Kristen and another student were dropped off in a rural village, Eshowe where she will be working at a local hospital.

Myself and another student ended up heading back to the Drakensberg area in an area known as Underberg. The small town is located in the foothills of the mountains and we are both working at the local orphanage, “Clouds of Hope AIDS Project.” Today was only our second day at our site but we already love it! The children and the staff are truly amazing. The founder of the organization Gogo Abi, is pretty much a modern day Mother Theresa. Her father never believed in schooling for women so she wasn’t able to start her education until she was 14 and decided to enter 1^st grade. She finished her schooling and went on to become a nurse and midwife. She traveled throughout South Africa as a nurse until the AIDS epidemic broke out and she started adopting orphans in the area. At one point she had 6 adopted children and 6 foster children all living with her in her tiny 2 bedroom home. She wrote several articles for the local paper talking about the needs of these orphaned children in the community. The community responded and ended up raising enough funds to start the Clouds of Hope project. The orphanage has been quite successful and currently has 12 “cottages” on their property which each house up to 8 children with a house Mama living in each one of the cottages. Gogo Abi was recently presented with an award in San Francisco by the Dalai Lama. As we settled in Gogo told us about a few of the little kids as we sat down for tea. One little girl who looks to be about the size of 2 year old is actually over 4 years old. She was born very premature at 24 weeks, the nurses in the hospital thought the woman was having an abortion until they saw the fetus breathing. The mother was extremely sick at the time she gave birth with complications from AIDS and ended up dying of pneumonia 3 days after giving birth. Gogo Abi was called into the hospital and the nurses told her that the little girl was paralyzed, deaf, blind, and mentally retarded and would probably die soon. They asked Gogo Abi to take her in so that she could at least die in loving arms. Today, the little girl is 4 years old, she’s not mentally retarded, and able to see and hear just fine. She’s mobile but is still working to build up muscle in her legs to start walking…other than that she is quite healthy and speaks English quite well as I noticed when she crawled over to me and told me she wanted to sit in my lap. She’s quite adorable and I know already that she will be one of the children that I will grow to be attached to.

I thought that the kids would be afraid of us at first from previous experiences in rural villages with children having little exposure to white people. But I was more than happy to be greeted by a swarm of hugs from the entire pre-school class. There seem to be a million things to write about the organization so I will try to consistently update the blog on interesting stories and experiences that I have throughout the next three weeks here at Clouds.

Until then…Sala Kahle

Alyssa

Umthwalume to Drakensberg!!!

The next morning before heading north, we stopped by at a TB hospital. It was interesting to see the facilities and talk with some of the patients who were currently receiving treatment while living in the hospital. There were a lot of empty beds (a good thing!) and only one child living there during the time of our visit.

Outside of the TB Hospital in Umthwalume

After our hospital visit we said good-bye to Umthwalume and then had a 4 hour drive inland to Underberg, and then another short drive to Cobham, where our campsite was. Because it was pretty rainy, most of us chose to sleep in the hut that was right next to our site, it had tons of bunk beds and even a flushing toilet (but no electricity…). There was still a little sun when we first got there, so we got to see our beautiful surroundings. I’ve seen lots of mountains in my life, but these were by far the most amazing. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, enjoying a group dinner, and got to bed early for our big hike the next day.

Saturday

We were all a little nervous for our big hike… we were told that it was rare the whole group to make it to the top! The first hour of the hike was completely flat and followed along a stream- and because there were very few trees, we had amazing views the whole way.

In the Drakensberg Mountains

After the first hour, we started heading up. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this was the hardest hike that most of us had ever been on. It was incredibly steep, but luckily the view was incredible.

On our way up the mountain

A few of us (including the two of us) were feeling the altitude, and had to take a pretty long break before we didn’t feel so dizzy. Luckily, it was easy to continue at our own pace so we ended up splitting up. After what seemed like an endless climb, we finally reached the bushman paintings almost at the top. Even though they were only a few hundred years old, they were still pretty cool! After that, the trail seemed to end, and we couldn’t see the rest of the group, so we kind of had to figure out our own way to the top. We thought we had found a relatively easy way, until we were trying to traverse a near vertical drop to get to the top. It was pretty scary, and made some of us realize that we actually do have a fear of heights…. We finally reached the top, but had to scale a rock face (and almost died again) to reach the rest of the group. It was definitely worth it when we got to the top! All of us made it up, and Zed, our director, was pretty impressed. Clouds looked to be rolling in, so we started heading down pretty quick, but luckily we got tons of pictures. By the time we got to the base our feet were killing and we were all exhausted, but Zed pointed out a pool in the stream that we could swim in! It was pretty cold but super refreshing after our long hike, and we had an amazing time cooling off. We then had to walk the hour back to the site- a 6 hour hike in all! We were all sooo tired by the time we got back, and spent the afternoon relaxing and eating.

Drakensberg to....our Penthouse apartment!?

The next morning we packed up early and began the trip back to Durban. After stopping at the SIT house quick to pick up our extra luggage, we got to move into our penthouse apartment at Windemere (an apartment complex right on the Indian Ocean)! Our apartment is HUGE, I think we all went through a little bit of reverse culture shock of our new living conditions. The six of us in our apartment settled into our own beds, enjoyed our first hot shower in a good 10 days, and got prepared for a new week of lectures and classes back in Durban.

This week was quite an adventure, but we're happy to be settled again. We'll be here for another week and a half before we start our independent study projects!

Hope you enjoyed all the updates!

Sala Kahle

Alyssa & Kristen

Amatikulu to Umthwalume...

Kids waving good-bye to us at the Bangabizo Primary School

On Wednesday we got picked up in the morning and headed straight to Umthwalume, about 45 minutes south of Durban right on the coast. We first visited a school, called the Bangabizo Primary School, which was absolutely amazing. They were very focused on teaching life skills, and incorporated gardening and recycling projects into their lessons. The students recited poems they had written on a variety of different issues in their community from sexual violence to traditional Zulu dancing. After the poems a group of girls came in and did traditional Zulu dancing for us. By now we've seen a LOT of Zulu dancing but it still doesn't get old, it's still so amazing to watch! They were all so welcoming and we all wanted to go back! In the afternoon, we visited a Love Life center. Love Life was started in 1999, and was South Africa’s largest HIV/AIDS prevention program in the country. It targets teenagers, and has a range of programs and hundreds of different centers focused on improving their lives and keeping them from contracting HIV/AIDS. Apparently a few years back, Love Life was a huge presence in SA, but due to lack of funding, their impact has dropped a little bit. We were all a little unimpressed at the current state of this center, but could tell the impact it must have had in the past ten years. We then were dropped off at our home stays to spend the rest of the evening with them.

Kristin

My family was super welcoming and fun, and spoke great English which made communication a whole lot easier. My friend Sally and I spent the evening hanging out with the family (which included 4 aunts, an uncle, a gogo, and 5 kids) and watching Rhythm City and Generations (the soapies of choice for most Zulu families).

Alyssa

My family was also really friendly and excited to have us stay in their home. The family we stayed with had a really nice house, there was no running water but the inside of the house was furnished nicer than my apartment in Syracuse! There were a total of about 9 kids living with us in the home who were all really adorable and a lot of fun to play with. We hung out with them and played a few different card games that I had brought along with me. Our Mama made us a delicious Zulu dinner and then we were off to bed!

Thursday:

Our first stop of the day was visiting another traditional healer, considered to be a "spiritual healer" which was pretty much the same as the other sangomas and traditional healers we've seen. We were all a little anxious for the rest of the day- it was definitely the most fun rural day we’ve had. For lunch, we went to a restaurant right on the beach, and got to spend a few hours taking pictures and hanging out. Even though it was super windy, we were all so happy that it wasn’t raining for once!

Kristen & Alyssa at the beach in Umthwalume

We then went to an arts center, and learned how to do Zulu beading! Zulu beads are HUGE here, every Zulu woman has lots of necklaces, bracelets, belts, and skirts worn for traditional events, and we’ve all been stocking up at the little markets around Durban. At the center, we were taught how to make AIDS ribbon pins, and even though they were pretty small, it took us about 3 hours to make. Everyone was teasing Kristen about her camp counselor arts and crafts skills, and challenged her to finish first. Not surprisingly, she was able to uphold her title J.

Kristen and her AIDS ribbon

We headed back that afternoon and had another fun and relaxing evening and got ready to head to the Drakensberg the next day!

Cato Manor to Amatikulu...

Sanibona Everyone!

We apologize for the lack of posting in the past week; we have been spending a lot of time in the rural areas of South Africa and with no plumbing and electricity there is obviously also no internet access…

However, we still want to share our experiences from the past week with you all because we truly have had some amazing experiences.

On Monday we moved out of our home stays in Cato Manor (the five weeks we spent living there really flew by!) and then we were off to Amatikulu! Both of us wanted to share our different experiences in each of our rural home stays so provided both of our notes for each location…enjoy!

Kristen’s Amatikulu Adventure…

We drove about an hour and a half north to Amatikulu/Wangu and spent the morning listening about Community Health Workers. We then had a quick lunch at Steers (SA’s McDonald’s equivalent) and then drove all over Wangu to our home stays. My friend Alexa and I were the last ones to be dropped off, so we spent 2 hours in the van while everyone else got to their home stays- all of the houses were about 20 minutes apart. Our home was definitely the most rural of all the ones I’ve been in- it had just 3 tiny rooms with 7 people living in it! Our mama lived there with her two sons, Mthoko (11), and Bongani (7), and her two nieces, Noxolo (12), and Anele (6). Noxolo and Anele’s parents had both died five years ago, and lived permanently with our mama. There were also 3 other kids that spent the night with us, Banele (3), Nonto (3), and Wandile (4). Needless to say, it was pretty crowded! That night, we all packed into the bedroom that had three beds, and we ended up sharing one with Anele (and quickly found out that she punches in her sleep….). We woke up around 5:30 on Tuesday morning; everyone else was getting up and since we were all in the same room, that means we got up too. After the kids headed off to school, we went with mama to visit some houses in the community. We visited all kinds of people with all kinds of ailments- from arthritis to TB to diabetes. The last woman had to have her leg amputated from diabetes and had a large necrotic patch on her other foot. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many people to see that day, so we ended up heading back to the house around 11. Since it was pretty rainy and gross out, me and Alexa ended up spending the rest of the day in the house and got bored pretty quickly. Although we had electricity and a TV, we didn’t want to waste it so we spent most of the day reading in bed. I’ve already made it through 5 books since I’ve been here- we’ll see how many I get through by December! After the kids got home it was a little bit more entertaining, but we were both ready for the day to be over.

Alyssa in Amatikulu…

After we were paired up with our Mamas at the local Amatikulu clinic (they are all also community health workers) then we piled in the van and were off to our new homes. My friend Sally and I were the first ones to be dropped off at the bottom of a giant hill that we climbed to get to our home. Our home was really nice it was about three rooms in total with no plumbing or electricity but it was still a comfortable place to stay. The house was in a grouping with several other small homes and round houses (huts) where the rest of our Mama’s family lived. It essentially was like living on a family compound which is quite a common practice here in South Africa. We helped our Mama with dinner (for all 15 people living on the compound) stayed up and chatted for a while with our family and then headed to bed. Once the sun goes down around 7:30 there isn’t much else to do without electricity so bedtime is pretty early. Unfortunately it stormed the entire night, and sleeping under a tin roof was quite noisy. There were also a lot of leaks in the roof but luckily my sleeping bag was waterproof, otherwise I would have been soaking wet by the morning. In the morning we got up around 6 with our Mama ate breakfast and left with her on her rounds as a community health worker. We first visited a man with TB who had already defaulted on his first round of treatment tablets. Our Mama checks in with him a few days a week as a part of the DOT strategy. After we left his home we went to a few of his neighbors to see if they would agree to be the man’s DOT person for the days of the week when our Mama was unable to make it to his home. Then we checked in on a grandmother with two little girls to see if they were up-to-date with their immunizations. Next, we visited a man who was sick with AIDS…he was extremely thin and was suffering from a severe cough. Our Mama encouraged him to go to the clinic for medicine and told him that she would come back the next day to check in and bring him some porridge as well. Rounds ended around noon and then we headed back to our home. We hung out with our siblings for a little while playing soccer. Sally and I also started picking mangos off the trees and eating them like all of the other children were doing…unfortunately we both broke out in a super itchy rash similar to poison ivy after a few days all over our necks! We got back and ate dinner and once again went to bed pretty early.

The next morning we were up early and got picked up by our driver and were off to our next rural home stay in Umthwalume!!!

October Already!? Time to hit the beach...

Good-Bye to Cato Manor

Sanibona!

It's hard to believe that October is here already, September flew by too fast!! Last Friday was Heritage day here in South Africa. Everyone is off of school and work that day so we all took our families to the beach for the day. Lots of people like to dress in traditional Zulu clothing and there were lots of Zulu dances going on along the beach to watch. It was a windy day in the 70's which means it's time to get on the winter coats for most of the locals. We all enjoyed the warm weather though and didn't hesitate to go for a swim in the ocean. It was my two-year-old sister's first time to see the ocean, but she was too scared to get in the water! Later that evening when we got home my little sister got really sick and was vomiting non-stop. My older sister told me that she was "sea-sick." She explained that it's Zulu culture that if the first time you see the ocean and don't go under the water that you'll end up sick later that day. I felt bad for my little sister, fortunately she was fine the next morning when she woke up! It was quite an interesting Zulu cultural experience for me!

Last weekend we all stayed at a backpackers hostel in town and got a chance to go out with our study abroad group and de-stress which was really great.

This past week we were busy attending classes at the Red Cross here in South Africa. The week long course and final exam certified us each in International First Aid. It was interesting to learn about things like shark and crocodile attacks and how to treat those wounds...things we don't quite cover in the United States. After our exam we celebrated by going to the beach for the rest of the afternoon to relax. It seems strange going to the beach in October...it definitely doesn't resemble fall here as we are just about to enter the summer season!

Yesterday, Friday, we had a farewell dinner with our families in Cato Manor. I can't believe that I will be leaving my host family on Monday, I'll definitely be sad to say good-bye to my family and the Cato Manor community. We had a great dinner and enjoyed a lot of dancing to Shakira's "Waka Waka," with all of the little kids from Cato.

My Zulu Family and I

Kristen & I at our Cato Manor Farewell Party

Monday morning we move out and head for another busy week. We're first driving to Amatikulu, another rural home stay followed by another rural homestay in Umthwalume. From there we will be driving to Underberg, a town in the Drakensberg Mountains (where I hope to be living during the time of my independent study in November). There, we will go out on an all day hike through the mountains followed by camping over night. I'm not quite sure when our next shower opportunity will be... but I think that it will be a great week!

I'll be sure to post pictures when we return!

Until then sala kahle :)