First impressions

Well, I’ve made it in one piece and am starting to get the hang of things. The internet is painfully slow (and expensive) here so I am not sure how well this is going to go in the long term.

Anyway, the journey was as expected; long-haul flights are never fun, although the little propeller plane over to Manzini was quite exciting! The hostel I’m staying at, Mabuda Farm, is really lovely – it’s a family run place, and is still a working farm (with roosters waking up at about 5am each day!) The main house is an amazing sandstone building in old Colonial style, with the heads of various antelope on the wall. I’m staying in the backpackers lodge which is a more traditional Rondavel – a round hut with thatched roof. It’s very cute and really quite comfortable. There are a couple of other British elective students here with me but apart from that we have the lodge to ourselves. The whole area is very pretty, with lots of exotic flowers even at this time of year, and rolling hills stretching off into the distance. Sadly though, pictures will have to wait till I get home.

The hospital is about 2 miles away, which in the current weather is quite a pleasant walk – I would hate to do it in the height of summer (it’s currently midwinter here, but still around 20 degrees most days). Apparently it’s one of the best in Swaziland, but it’s still worlds apart from the UK. On the whole, however, it’s a nice place – crowded and very busy, but clean and all the staff are friendly. I’ve only really just started my clinical work here – in the PMTCT (Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission) clinic and a bit of gynae theatre too. I'm still trying to create some structure for my actual project but everyone here seems quite keen to help out, which is great!

More to follow later in the week, I hope.