Week 1 summary continued

To continue where I left off yesterday…

I have also been spending a few afternoons in outpatients, which is certainly a bit different from the UK! There are two consulting desks per room, but only one examining couch (with somewhat inadequate curtains). There is also only one translator between two doctors, making communication even more difficult than it already was. Most of the patients only have very little English, so I am never sure exactly how much they understand my questions if not translated, and also how whether they are answering honestly or saying what they think we want to hear! I have learned a few words of SiSwati, but nowhere near enough to be able to consult in it – but it’s still nice to make an effort.

Communication issues aside, medicine in general is very different. Investigations are expensive, so a lot of conditions are treated empirically without definitive diagnosis. Antibiotics really are handed out like sweeties here – the UK can’t even begin to compare! We are trying to work out why they don’t have MRSA here, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to be a problem, which is good as they don’t have any vancomycin.

Away from the hospital, I have been settling in nicely. Mabuda Farm really is lovely, and we have been sampling the various citrus fruits from the garden – I’d never seen a grapefruit tree before! There are some other people around from the UK, some of whom are staying at Mabuda and others at the hospital, so I’m nowhere near as alone as I feared I might be. Last weekend we hired a car and went to Hlane game reserve; formerly the royal hunting grounds and now a very nice compact reserve (making spotting animals much more likely!)

We arrived in the early afternoon and by coincidence they were holding their annual traditional dance competition, which was an unexpected extra treat! Joel (another elective student) and I then went on a sunset game drive while the others went to the airport to pick up another guest. I was somewhat apprehensive as a large group of Americans got in behind us, moaning about how difficult it was to climb into the truck, how they couldn’t see anything with the sides down etc, but after that they were reasonably civilised! The drive lasted about 2 ½ hours and we saw lions, elephants, rhino, hippos, lots of impala and a couple of warthogs. By the time we got back to camp it was almost dark, and Joel and I set about making a fire for the others when they returned. We got it going quite nicely (with the help of a bit of paper but not much else!) and kept it like that while we waited…and waited…turns out they’d had a puncture on the way back and so were delayed, but made it safely in the end. We had a braai (barbecue) with all the traditional stuff plus pap (a South African maize meal dish) and various exciting bits of meat, finishing with the obligatory chocolate bananas and marshmallows.

It was a beautiful evening; the stars were spectacular, it wasn’t too cold and we could hear all the noises of the animals in the background. The lions did sound rather too close for comfort but we were reassured that they were stuck behind several layers of fence. The main danger was a stray ostrich who proved to be a major tripping hazard when wandering in the dark! We camped out for the night and in the morning went on a self-drive game drive, which was more of an adventure for the poor car than for us! 4x4 definitely recommended for this sort of thing. All in all though, a wonderful weekend and a real feeling of “this is Africa!”

Back to work this week on my project, fitting some clinical in around the side and trying to work out if it’s possible to unlock my phone in this country…