Day 13

Today turned out to be a lot of fun! We were told that today we would be traveling back to the village in Kafue from yesterday in order to just pick up some data sheets from the nurse at the health center. Many of the med students didn't show up this morning because they knew we were just going to be traveling 2 hours to pick up a few forms and that's it. However, upon arrival to the health center in the village, the nurse asked us to see a few patients while she gathered the data sheets. I partnered up with one of the med students, Gregory, and we began to see patients in the examination room. Though I couldn't understand any of the language, it was very interesting to watch the entire examination. Throughout the exam, Gregory would stop and explain to me what was going on, what the patient's complaint was, how to diagnose it, what medications to give, side effects, etc. It was sad to see the lack of supplies and medications in the clinic. During one of the exams Gregory told me that he wanted to prescribe this one drug to the patient but the clinic and the surrounding health centers did not carry it, so he would have to give the patient a less effective drug with more side-effects. Latex examining gloves and soap soon ran out as well, but the examinations continued as there were only a few of us and about 40 patients waiting to be seen. The nurse later informed us that the single doctor for the health center didn't show up today and that's why she needed us to examine the patients. It is definitely easy to see the lack in access to healthcare that these people have to deal with everyday.

For this reason it's so difficult for places like this to ever keep doctors around. Many of the medical students have told me that they plan to leave Zambia after they graduate in order to work in the US or Europe so they can make more money and have better access to technology. However, most of the students are on scholarship from the Zambian government, so their deal is that upon graduation they must work 2 years in a rural area clinic/hospital before they are free to do as they wish. This is similar in the US, the US government offers scholarships for medical students if they promise a certain amount of time to working in a poor area upon graduation. Or if you join the military, they will pay entirely for your medical school if you devote at least 4 years to being a military physician upon graduation. I definitely don't think I would ever be someone to join the military...way too much for me to handle.

After seeing some of the patients today, we loaded back onto the bus and went to the Kafue River. Because of how close the villages are to the river, most men of the village are fishermen. At the river, some of the fishermen asked all of us if we'd like a ride on their fishing canoes/boats, we all agreed (though I was pretty hesitant, as the boat didn't look too safe...) and rowed off into the water.

All of us in front of the Kafue River. This picture is seriously amazing because one of the old fisherman photobombed it! (second on the right)

This is Gregory, the student I was partnered with today.

Some of the fish being sold near the river.

Blurry, but Lou Pierre, me and Francisca on the boat.

They were yelling, "Jenn take pictures of us!!"

All of the med students in our group!

This is the best picture I could get of the landscape. Cotton fields and palm trees are seriously the strangest combination...

Tomorrow we have the day off so we will definitely be sleeping in!! (Haven't done that in over a week...we wake up around 7am everyday..) Also, we probably need to go by the grocery store to stock up on food for the weekend.

My dad wanted me to include what the weather is like here, so most days are cool in the morning and night, probably around 40-50 and during the afternoon pretty warm in the 80s. Everything is very dry because it only rains in this part of Africa during the months of December through March.

Until next time,

Jenn