The Week in Rural South Africa

Pictured Above: Taking a patient's blood pressure during a home care visit last Tuesday

Well everyone, seeing as it’s been over a week since my last post, and so much has happened since, I thought it might warrant two: the first about our weekend on the Garden Route, and this one about our week in the rural town of Genadendal.  We arrived here on Sunday evening and stayed here until Friday, when we returned to our home stays just outside of Cape Town. 

Here in Genadendal we did quite a variety of things, each day was different.  There are other students staying here in the town as well, a few from the University of Western Cape who practice physical therapy, but also sixteen students from Holland all studying various fields and applying them here in the town as a study abroad project. 

Our lodgings have been quite pleasant; we are staying in the guest house in the historic church square.  It is furnished almost completely with antique furniture and a woman named Maureen from the town is in and out all the time, cooking three meals a day for us.  We’ve used the fireplace every night to beat the cold nights. Overall, fantastic accommodations!

After all the orientations in Cape Town and sight-seeing, it’s been great to finally get into the service component of our trip.  Monday morning was spent at the clinic which is sadly understaffed.  Two general nurse practioners service everybody on most days.  The doctor comes by only to volunteer two hours at the clinic every week when patients are referred to him by the nurses.  The dentist, the most popular (many of the public are missing teeth and some older individuals have none), only comes by once a month. 

Tuesday, we teamed up with about 15 young women with the health department who go into the surrounding residential areas and literally go door-to-door to check up on the inhabitants who are dealing with any sort of condition (very frequently high blood pressure or diabetes).  That morning, I accompanied two the women and visited about twelve homes.  At each one, we usually took blood pressure and/or tested their glucose level.  After coming in with virtually no nursing experience, at least I got good at those!

Wednesday was similar, except in the nearby town of Greyton with the local chapter of the South African Red Cross.  They also offer kids care in the afternoons so the three girls and I have gone over a couple times this week to see the kids and play with them.

The final days are more geared towards introducing health-themed topics in the education system.  This morning we assisted the UWC students in introducing the topics of bullying, drugs, and nutrition to young students in the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade.  Tomorrow, we will be splitting up to each talk to a different group. The girls will discuss hand-washing and other hygiene with preschool children while I plan to speak to older kids, 6^th and 7^th graders, about substance abuse.  We’ll see how they take to it!

Besides being the minority gender in the group, I have also been working through the challenge concerning the decisions for my future.  Many of you may know that I study biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan, a very rigorous field of study technically, but also with a significant number of students who plan to go into medicine.  For a while, I’ve been on the fence about what I may choose to pursue after: either medicine; or research, something a little more technical and science-ey. 

The three girls I’m here with are all pretty stuck on the pre-med track, and in that way also, I feel like the odd man out, still trying to figure out if clinical work is something I enjoy and would like to take further.  At least here in South Africa, I feel like I’m starting to understand the essence of being a clinician and what the mentality behind care-giving is. 

Well, I suppose enough rambling. I’m looking forward to returning to Cape Town to see what our clinical duties will be there, as well as continue on our impossible task of seeing everything there is to take in.  We still have intentions to catch the view from Signal Hill, tour some wineries, and see Cape Point, the bottom of the peninsula to the south of the city and the accepted point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. 

Hope everybody is enjoying their summer! Even here in the southern hemisphere it still feels like it most times, though some of the trees are starting to change color.

Totsiens,

David