Hello! I am home in San Francisco! Here are some photos from Malawi. Will post more later!
Me, Mus, and Buck
Clean
Kids at Kevin's
We do it right, yo!
Chitenges in the wind
Order
Beach house from above
Yey!
Sunset
Friday, March 7, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Last day
It's my last day with Baylor today. I can't believe it--time flies! I am feeling a bit homesick and ready to see you all.
Last weekend was a long-weekend spent in Chinteche, where we spent 3 days and 2 nights at Lake Malawi. It was fabulous!! Everyone made awesome homecookin' grub. Janell made a Thai dinner. yum. It rained in the morning, with hard thunderstorms, but the afternoons were gorgeous and the water was warm. I will have to take my praziquantel in a few months for schisto :)
Then on Tuesday, I spent the day with Dr. Eric in the wards. The things I saw in the NRU (PICU) were crazy! You know how they talk about "stiff necks" in meningitis, and how I've never felt one? Well, here I felt 2 out 5 kids with necks as stiff as boards. The physical exam findings here are incredible and very sad. Plus, the kids are piled up on the wards and their parents, too. There aren't enough nurses, and so the kids can't be admitted unless someone can stay with them and give them their meds and change their sheets. I saw the most malnourished children I have ever seen, with big, wide-eyes that pierce. They look like they have come from concentration camps. What gets me most is that because of lack of staff and materials (sheets, etc.), kids here lay in their urine for most of the day. Their diapers are basically cloths wrapped around and so they soak their sheets pretty frequently and no one changes them. You can only imagine what it smells like. Then every few hours, a mother screams hysterically in the wards since her child has died..a shrill, bone-chilling scream. Everyone still goes about their business as if they can't hear it. And it's interesting because I have never seen any parent or guardian cry, even when we tell them their child has HIV. They seem so stoic, but are so filled with emotions.
Today was spent with Eric again in the morning, where I did another spinal tap on a kid who had convulsions and still had altered mental status. Then the afternoon was spent running errands after eating a fabulous local Malawian meal of rice, beans, greens and chicken. yum.
Tomorrow, I am off to go to Nairobi again, then Amsterdam, and finally home by Friday. I hope this trip will be smoother than the last and that I will not be held up anywhere in particular.
By the way, I have to say, Malawians have the best names. These are my favorite:
Chisomo (Grace)
Chiwewe (Happy)
Blessings
Gift
I will post pics when I get to high-speed internet!
Zikomo (thank you) Malawi, it's been fun!
Last weekend was a long-weekend spent in Chinteche, where we spent 3 days and 2 nights at Lake Malawi. It was fabulous!! Everyone made awesome homecookin' grub. Janell made a Thai dinner. yum. It rained in the morning, with hard thunderstorms, but the afternoons were gorgeous and the water was warm. I will have to take my praziquantel in a few months for schisto :)
Then on Tuesday, I spent the day with Dr. Eric in the wards. The things I saw in the NRU (PICU) were crazy! You know how they talk about "stiff necks" in meningitis, and how I've never felt one? Well, here I felt 2 out 5 kids with necks as stiff as boards. The physical exam findings here are incredible and very sad. Plus, the kids are piled up on the wards and their parents, too. There aren't enough nurses, and so the kids can't be admitted unless someone can stay with them and give them their meds and change their sheets. I saw the most malnourished children I have ever seen, with big, wide-eyes that pierce. They look like they have come from concentration camps. What gets me most is that because of lack of staff and materials (sheets, etc.), kids here lay in their urine for most of the day. Their diapers are basically cloths wrapped around and so they soak their sheets pretty frequently and no one changes them. You can only imagine what it smells like. Then every few hours, a mother screams hysterically in the wards since her child has died..a shrill, bone-chilling scream. Everyone still goes about their business as if they can't hear it. And it's interesting because I have never seen any parent or guardian cry, even when we tell them their child has HIV. They seem so stoic, but are so filled with emotions.
Today was spent with Eric again in the morning, where I did another spinal tap on a kid who had convulsions and still had altered mental status. Then the afternoon was spent running errands after eating a fabulous local Malawian meal of rice, beans, greens and chicken. yum.
Tomorrow, I am off to go to Nairobi again, then Amsterdam, and finally home by Friday. I hope this trip will be smoother than the last and that I will not be held up anywhere in particular.
By the way, I have to say, Malawians have the best names. These are my favorite:
Chisomo (Grace)
Chiwewe (Happy)
Blessings
Gift
I will post pics when I get to high-speed internet!
Zikomo (thank you) Malawi, it's been fun!
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