6/23/09
I want to tell you a little about Samantha. Sam is a transplant in Malawi. She was born in Zimbabwe, has traveled extensively, lived in South Africa for a while, and eventually settled here in Senga Bay about 7 years ago. She owns Cool Runnings, where we are staying, and another hostel a few kilometers away. She runs a tight ship here, and the place is invariably clean and nice looking, and the food is fantastic. Her staff is composed of locals, whom she has trained, and who have come to love her almost as a mother. There is no website or other advertising for Cool Runnings, yet the entire time we've been here, there has been no shortage of people staying here. Most who come through are backpackers, and have been told by other backpackers that this is the place to stay in Senga Bay. This, however, is not what Sam is all about. She is a warrior for the community. Besides her "Clinic at the Gate," she is involved in or in charge of countless other community centered endeavors, most of which she keeps quiet. At the hospital yesterday, we noticed that when the nurses see her come in, they suddenly jump to at least look busy, as they were not really doing anything when we got there. She runs a school and a library, to help ensure that young people have an opportunity to get thier education started on the right foot. She runs a youth soccer league with 15 teams of kids and pays for it out of her own pocket (though proper soccer balls are in short supply). The people, young and old, of the community look up to Sam and respect her. It seems as though every person between here and Salima, which is about 20 km up the road, knows her. She works closely with Margaret, who runs the Baptist Clinic up the road to ensure that the locals are getting the best medical treatment they can muster up. I would liken her to Mary Poppins: she is firm, yet loving and a champion for these people under her care. She has taken us in and helped us to understand the people of this country. We have already learned so much in our short time here, and look forward to getting to know Sam, and her community better.
Jarrod and Kate
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
06-22-2009
(Kate)
well the last 24hrs have been a learning experience...the feeling of vacation has started to wear off. it started last night with sam explaining to us some cultural differences. in trying to keep our blog clean and for many eyes i will not go into much detail but it was a lot of info about blunt knifes and salt used to swell areas. a large reason for the AIDS issues in this part of the world is not because of lack of education but pride; many adults in the villages do not get tested because they don't want to know or they dont want others to know or find out that they have AIDS. and becuase of their lifestyles a village can easily discover if you change your day to day activities due to being infected. i think you all understand. also ifections can be spread during tribal rituals. knifes are not sterylized and sometimes chiefs of tribes are the hardest to change because their rituals have been done for hundreds of years and there is no changing them.so then this morning we went to the salima district hospital which is the only hopital for all of salima and senga bay. there are many clincs around the area but many lack the equipment to perform anything. well...the hospital can only do so much as well. we had to take a 21 year old clinic patent of sam's to the hospial, named diana. she is a runaway from Mangochi who has contracted an STD from selling herself which has become very infected. Sam has done all see can to help her wounds but she needed medicane from the hospital and she needs counciling because she doesn't understand what is happening to her. she is very poorly educated and scared. so sam is trying to get her as healthly as she can to send her home to her sister's but becuase of her fear she will not tell sam where her sister lives.we when we got to the aids ward the doctor was not in yet! it was 9am and the place was packed, sam explained that there is no accountablity for any of the doctors and most of them just do it as a job and dont care so they come and go as they please.we left diana in the office to wait in line and sam gave us a tour of the hopital. the rooms were large but there were not enough beds for the people, and so many crying babies. sam then took us into the lab, which was the most advanced section of the hopital, they had air conditioning, a microscope, and a fridge for blood with 10 bags of blood. 10 bags of blood for the whole hospital...and that is a lot for them. blood is hard to come by because most malawian people can not donate. so what did my amazing husband do but donate. don't worry, everything was very very clean and according to Jarrod they did it better than most of the red cross nurses in the states.
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(Jarrod)
So Matteus the lab tech pricked my finger to get a sample for a hemoglobin count. I don't know much about these things, but my hemoglobin was at about 18%, which is apparently very high (at least for this area of the world). He was very excited to get started and we moved to another room with 2 old, beat up beds. To make a long story short, by the time I was done, I had probably given just over 2 pints of blood. Matteus and the man in charge of the lab were most appreciative, assuring me that I had just saved the lives of 4 children. From there, we toured some more of the hospital and made our way back to Diana. Sam went to take care of her, and Kate and I went outside to get some pictures of the hospital. Soon Sam and Diana were back with us, and we were discussing the lack of accountability in the hospital. I was leaning on Sam's truck, feeling fine. Next thing I knew, I was about 10 feet from the truck, on the ground, with Sam holding my head up. Apparently, I had stumbled away from my perch and fainted. I probably should have had a better breakfast before giving blood...my mistake. I said something stupid like, "did I fall down?" and we all had a good laugh. Sam and Kate got me some water, Coke (Coke is huge here, by the way) a banana, and some shade, and I was fine, though still a little groggy. We ran a few errands from there, and that pretty much ended our day. We came home, where I slept the afternoon away, and felt much better. Now I want to tell you a little about Sam, but that is for another blog.
Jarrod and Kate
(Kate)
well the last 24hrs have been a learning experience...the feeling of vacation has started to wear off. it started last night with sam explaining to us some cultural differences. in trying to keep our blog clean and for many eyes i will not go into much detail but it was a lot of info about blunt knifes and salt used to swell areas. a large reason for the AIDS issues in this part of the world is not because of lack of education but pride; many adults in the villages do not get tested because they don't want to know or they dont want others to know or find out that they have AIDS. and becuase of their lifestyles a village can easily discover if you change your day to day activities due to being infected. i think you all understand. also ifections can be spread during tribal rituals. knifes are not sterylized and sometimes chiefs of tribes are the hardest to change because their rituals have been done for hundreds of years and there is no changing them.so then this morning we went to the salima district hospital which is the only hopital for all of salima and senga bay. there are many clincs around the area but many lack the equipment to perform anything. well...the hospital can only do so much as well. we had to take a 21 year old clinic patent of sam's to the hospial, named diana. she is a runaway from Mangochi who has contracted an STD from selling herself which has become very infected. Sam has done all see can to help her wounds but she needed medicane from the hospital and she needs counciling because she doesn't understand what is happening to her. she is very poorly educated and scared. so sam is trying to get her as healthly as she can to send her home to her sister's but becuase of her fear she will not tell sam where her sister lives.we when we got to the aids ward the doctor was not in yet! it was 9am and the place was packed, sam explained that there is no accountablity for any of the doctors and most of them just do it as a job and dont care so they come and go as they please.we left diana in the office to wait in line and sam gave us a tour of the hopital. the rooms were large but there were not enough beds for the people, and so many crying babies. sam then took us into the lab, which was the most advanced section of the hopital, they had air conditioning, a microscope, and a fridge for blood with 10 bags of blood. 10 bags of blood for the whole hospital...and that is a lot for them. blood is hard to come by because most malawian people can not donate. so what did my amazing husband do but donate. don't worry, everything was very very clean and according to Jarrod they did it better than most of the red cross nurses in the states.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jarrod)
So Matteus the lab tech pricked my finger to get a sample for a hemoglobin count. I don't know much about these things, but my hemoglobin was at about 18%, which is apparently very high (at least for this area of the world). He was very excited to get started and we moved to another room with 2 old, beat up beds. To make a long story short, by the time I was done, I had probably given just over 2 pints of blood. Matteus and the man in charge of the lab were most appreciative, assuring me that I had just saved the lives of 4 children. From there, we toured some more of the hospital and made our way back to Diana. Sam went to take care of her, and Kate and I went outside to get some pictures of the hospital. Soon Sam and Diana were back with us, and we were discussing the lack of accountability in the hospital. I was leaning on Sam's truck, feeling fine. Next thing I knew, I was about 10 feet from the truck, on the ground, with Sam holding my head up. Apparently, I had stumbled away from my perch and fainted. I probably should have had a better breakfast before giving blood...my mistake. I said something stupid like, "did I fall down?" and we all had a good laugh. Sam and Kate got me some water, Coke (Coke is huge here, by the way) a banana, and some shade, and I was fine, though still a little groggy. We ran a few errands from there, and that pretty much ended our day. We came home, where I slept the afternoon away, and felt much better. Now I want to tell you a little about Sam, but that is for another blog.
Jarrod and Kate
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