Durban, Hluhluwe, & the Drakensberg Mountains!

Hello all! There is lots to tell since I haven't blogged in a while. Some of the previous blogs were altered/removed per hospital privacy rules. The past few days have been beyond breathtaking. We had our safari excursion this past week. Leaving at 4:30am last Tuesday, we headed to Cape Town International to catch our flight to Durban. Durban is another section of South Africa, which is northeast of Cape Town. The flight was about two hours - nothing in comparison to the distance from the States. The 14 of us, plus Ben Brown, Lisa-Marie, Vernon, & Dr. Guma hopped into two vans, and we drove about three hours to Hluhluwe. I took a million pictures on just the ride alone. The Hluhluwe/St. Lucia area is extremely rural, with farms, rolling hills, cows, goats, ostrich, native huts, & women walking with baskets on their heads. We listened to African music the whole ride, really getting to experience Africa from a whole new perspective. When we arrived in Hluhluwe we stopped at a small craft market to admire the handmade items, and then headed out for our "ferry" ride in this river. It was totally what you'd see on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel. We got on this wide boat or raft-like vehicle floating on murky brown water. Not two minutes into the ride we saw 3 huge crocodiles sunning on the river bank. We continued on to see hippos (lots of them), a monkey, a few grey herons, and other birds. Hippos usually travel in pairs or groups. They don't swim, but spend most of their time in water, and are large enough that they can walk on the bottom of the river, with their heads above the water. If there is a baby hippo, he is kept in the middle of the pack, to protect him from crocodiles or other predators. For the night we stayed at a camp-lodge in Hluhluwe. Carrie-Ellen, Kari, Ashley, and I shared a "chalet". It was a pretty nice lodge with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a common area living room. Here it wasn't safe to drink the water, so we got bottled water for brushing our teeth, and kept our mouths closed when showering. The owners of the campground made us dinner - pasta with some type of ground meat, chicken legs, salad, soup, and bread. It hit the spot after a long day of traveling and sightseeing. Right on these premises were zebra, buffalo, bush babies, and impalas. The buffalo get overly curious and one started running towards us. The camp director told us previously that if this happens not to scream and, more importantly, don't run. Well, when a large wild animal is coming towards you, instinct kicks in. We didn't exactly run, but walked as fast as we possibly could back away from the buffalo. 5:30 am started our safai the next morning. We left the Hluhluwe camp and hopped into two Toyota canvas-covered off-roading vehicles. Our safari guide was great - he knew all the animal tracks and droppings so we could find different wildlife. We first saw buffalo, who started to fight (head-butting) each other, but soon resorted to grass grazing and going separate ways. We then saw giraffes! They were also eating - but treetops instead of grass. We saw probably eight or so giraffes, who crossed the path right in front of our vehicle. It's so neat to see animals in their natural environment. We were literally traveling throughh a large nature reserve, not knowing what we'd find, keeping our eyes peeled, and tracking down different animals. Rhinos were next. Our guide explained that rhinos mostly travel independently. When a baby rhino is born, he will stay with his mother for a short time, before she "kicks hims out" and he must search for another baby rhino and mother who will adopt him as their child and look after him. When that mother thinks it is time she will kick both baby rhinos out, and the two rhinos are left to travel together and help each other. When these baby rhinos get older, they will separate and go their own ways. Males will find a female to mate with & females will get pregnant. The cycle starts over, with the female rhino raising her baby until he reaches a certain age she feels he must leave. In addition to buffalo, giraffes, and rhinos, we saw Nyala (deer-like animals), warthogs, and zeebra - they were posing for us probably within ten feet of our truck. So...this whole trip we were hoping to see lions but our tour guide told us it's rare to actually find them (they lay low and sleep during most of the day, and hunt at night or early morning). Towards the end of our safari though, Seemo (our tour guide) spotted lion tracks. We drove about ten minutes more and actually saw three beautiful lions (two male and one female). They were lying in the grass behind some trees, but we were able to get some shots after zooming in. Everyone was psyched we actually saw lions! It was almost this creepy feeling knowing that if you stepped outside the safari truck you could be lunch. Our safari concluded - an awesome experience! We then drove back to Durban where we would be spending the next couple of days. Durban is a city, but also right on the water. We stayed at the Blue Crest Hotel, which was directly across from the beach and the Indian Ocean! Carrie-Ellen, Iris, and I shared a room on the 18th floor. We unpacked our bags and oogled over the view from our balcony of the waves and sand and palm trees. Ashley and I went with Ben to pick up Dr. Engler from the airport - he had just arrived in South Africa! Dinner was at Havana Grill, with all 21 of us (we included the two drivers as well). I can't complain about the food here - I got this amazing "Castro salad" with feta, cashews, dark greens, balsamic dressing, red peppers, and greek olives. Then the main course was green curried salmon and basmati rice. Dessert was friend bananas with vanilla ice cream. Yum.

Baboons at UCT !

I saw a baboon on campus the other day. They're actually pretty fierce looking. I happened to arrive early on campus that day & while getting coffee I saw everyone start pointing to the roof. I also happened to have my camera with me, so here is a look at the baboon. You know you're in South Africa when things like this happen.

I love everyone's comments! Michael & Matthew - unfortunately I have not seen any lions yet. I will let you know when I see some. When we go on our safari to Durban I'll have to keep my eyes peeled (and camera ready). There is apparently a "Big Five" list of animals in South Africa - Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo, & Leopards. I am not doing so well in crossing off these animals on my list of things to see. I guess I have my work laid out. Hope all is well in school! See you around Christmas!

We now have internet access at our house, which I have never appreciated so much! For the update, this week we had clinical at Mitchells Plain Hospital on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. Mitchells Plain is a larger hospital than the previous clinics we have visited. The 14 of us (students) split up between this hospital and Gatesville Hospital. We will switch when we begin our Pediatric rotation. Mitchells Plain has similar "hospital technology" in comparison to the States - they actually have the same IV stands as Danbury Hospital & Carrie-Ellen said they have the same infant incubators as Uconn's Hospital. Last week there were 2 births during our visits, and plenty of babies to go around for feeding, burping, changing, & bathing. There are some tiny, tiny infants that need phototherapy (light treatment) to get rid of the excess bilirubin in their bodies (which makes them turn yellow). The babies are measured in grams, so it takes a bit of time to figure out what that number actually means. Another adjustment is different baby names - some I can't even pronounce. (And remembering them is another challenge.) We have been giving the moms discharge instructions, and teaching them how to diaper and breastfeed, etc.

I saw a baby come into the world today, in one of the clinics! It was a girl, and my first-ever experience of seeing a birth!! Hospitals in South Africa are much simpler than at home. There was the midwife and sister, as well as seven of us nursing students in the room with the mother and newborn. The baby wasn't suctioned, but was instead turned face-down on the bed, to drain any fluid in her lungs. They don't use the bulb suction here because it can break the baby's mucus membranes and create an outlet for bodily fluids from the mother to enter into the baby (specifically HIV/AIDS). The mother was indeed HIV positive, but the baby remained HIV free. Another means of transmission is through breast milk, but for many mothers they must breastfeed since there is no extra money for formula. The mothers are actually encouraged to breastfeed, even if they are positive for HIV, because the incidence of getting HIV from breastfeeding is only about a 7% chance, according to the sister, and breast milk provides the baby with all the critical nutrients and antibodies for it's immune system.

Of course I was the nursing student that had to step back because I almost fainted. Lisa Marie helped me to the bathroom and I was lying there with my feet elevated and wet cloths on my head - great. I saw the whole birth though (thank god), and it was about 15 minutes later that I started to feel lightheaded. I was just thinking how I actually witnessed the birth of a real, live baby, who took her first breaths in front of me, and was in her mother's arms for the first time. The whole event was emotional (as many things in South Africa have been), and I think it was the reflection on the experience that made me feel lightheaded.

We went to a mother & child clinic afterwards, where there were lines of mothers with their infants waiting (from 7:30am & it was then around 3:30pm) to get routine immunizations for their babies. A few of us watched a pair of twins receive their Vitamin A and various immunizations. The government provides money for these babies to get immunized, free of charge to the mothers. This is so great, because otherwise the majority (if not all) of the babies would never receive the necessary shots needed for their health, due to lack of money. However, if the government must provide meds for all babies, there is obviously a shortage that must go around and help everyone. Also, if we thought understaffing of nurses in America was bad, there were only 2 nurses to do routine check-ups and shots for about 300 babies per day. Insane. The nurse told us that they can't go home until all the people that arrived that day are helped, because the chance that these people will be able to get transportation at another time (for a different appointment) is slim to none.

Overall, life is good. The workload is picking up (lots of reading!), and there are opportunities to see things here that are so incredible. Hope everyone at home (& Australia-Jordan) is doing well! Miss you all.

Dr. Guma gave us all African names. He chose names based on each person's personality. Mine is Thandiswa (pronounced ton-dee-swaa). Translated into English, the meaning is something like one who brings happiness to others, or one who children feel better around. We are taking a cultural class here, to learn about the history and politics of South Africa. Currently in the news, the fight for power is between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Mbeki was formally asked to step down as a leader, since the country decided there cannot be two sources of power ruling over South Africa. Jacob Zuma will now rise to the top as the single leading authority, but before he can do that he must be a member of Parliament, which is a series of steps. I've been trying to read bits and pieces of news, but hopefully we will soon get a newspaper delivered to our house, so that should make matters easier.

Hello to all reading my blogs! I can't believe it's already almost the end of September...each day I find something new that I didn't notice from the day before. We have begun our visits to the area hospitals where we will be completing our "clinical internships" as they are called over here. The sites include the Themba Care HIV clinic for infants & children, the Christel House Elementary school where we will be doing school nursing & health education, the Bishop Lavis Maternity & Pediatric Hospital, and the Red Cross Children's Hospital. The past few days I have seen things that were incredibly shocking, immensly sad, and also intensly euphoric. To say the least, there has been a great deal of emotion with each visit! At the Red Cross Children's Hospital we visited the pediatric & neonatal burn unit. This was really tough. There were infants, toddlers, and young children with head and face, or worse - full body burns. The doctor explained to us that many of these accidents were caused by a hot water kettle falling on top of a child who pulled on the chord, or reached up and grabbed the handle. The majority of these burns occurred in the small township houses, where it wasn't uncommon for 3 or 4 children to be running around near a hot burner. Also, it is reality that there is often no supervision, because the parents or other adults have to work in order to survive - literally. On a more positive note, we saw the cutest pair of Siamese twins. This morning myself & a few others went to the Themba Care HIV clinic. I really loved it!! The 2 or 3 sisters (nurses) were in charge of 18 infants and young children, to which they happily assigned us duties to bathe, feed, diaper, get temperatures & weights, play with, & supervise the group. The kids would cry to be held; they were absolutely starving for attention. At one point I was holding an infant in one arm, and a toddler in another, and there were a few more tugging at my jeans and telling me something. The majority spoke English, so communicating with them wasn't the hard part. In fact, a couple of the older ones had quite an attitude! Nonetheless, they were all adorable. It was slightly different though, taking care of children you know have HIV/AIDS, or past TB, or scabies, etc. Each one had a long list of health issues, really requiring a lot of attention, compliance with meds, sufficient diet, and of course a lot of love and caring.