Clinic Tea

This morning we were brought to the Malakazi clinic in the Umlazi township. We were shown this clinic on the tour of Durban our first day here. We were brought in and introduced to a sister (how you refer to a nurse here) named Goodness, and she was the sweetest lady. She was very glad to meet us and gave us each a huge welcoming hug and thanked us for coming. We immediately met another sister named Clementia who was also very cute. We went with her, where she was setting up clinic to see women for their depo-vera shots. All of the women with appointments sat lined up on a bench in a small room, and when it was their turn, stood up, turned around and pulled their pants down, and got the shot in front of everyone. The nurse explained that because of the lack of size and space of the facility, there couldn’t be privacy. After all of the ladies were done, it was time for baby immunizations, held in the same room. Following this, it was time to see all of the general patients that had come to be seen that day. For some reason, there were no doctors here, just nurses, and only two of them were seeing patients. Miles went with Clementia and I went with the other sister, Charity. As patients starting coming in, I could see their confusion as I sat in the room during their visit, checking their charts and talking with the sister about treatment and asking her to ask them questions for me in Zulu. Finally I asked if she would tell the incoming patients who I was so that they would feel more comfortable. She told them that I was a medical intern from the United States. Each patient was so amazed that I was from “America”; that’s literally the farthest place in the whole world they could travel to, so it is rare to find Americans here. One man even asked me if I knew California. I told him that I did, and he asked in wonder if I knew who Arnold Schwarzenegger was, and I said yes to this too. He got very excited and exclaimed “he is so good in movies, he makes a good robot!!” I cracked up and nodded to continue his happiness.

Patients were coming in with a lot of sicknesses that you don’t really find in the United States. So many children had measles because they hadn’t gotten vaccinations as a baby, and tons of them had body sores, even covering their faces. I saw a child with scabies as well. Worms are a very common thing to get here, so I saw a lot of people with these too; you could tell from visible rings on the skin, and sometimes you could even see the worm moving through the patient’s skin. A girl came in with a rotting tooth that was infected and swollen, and had gone “unnoticed “ for so long that it was shooting pain all down her throat, neck, shoulders and upper back. Another man came in with an STI, the same one that was fascinated with California and Arnold Schwarzenegger. As these patients were administered medication I noted that we are very fortunate to be so advanced and supplied. At home, we are given one medication that has multiple purposes; maybe an antibiotic that is a pain reliever and also fights allergies, itching and lethargy. Here in South Africa, one has to be given a different medication for each one of these purposes, so instead of leaving with one bottle, they end up with five that each needs to be taken at different times in various doses. In terms of being supplied, again I found a great lack of. So many pertinent medications were out of stock with no known restock date; maybe they would see some in four months, they guessed. Until then, they had to make do without, which means that sometimes they have to decline treatment because they don’t have anything to help. We are more fortunate that we know in terms of our health care.

Tea is a very popular thing in South Africa. I don’t think I’ve mentioned much about it thus far. Doctors take a half hour to an hour tea break every single day at around 10 am, and since we are here as future doctors, we take this break as well. Everywhere that we have gone has provided us with tea for this break, and this was just the same at the Malakazi Clinic. It was so sweet; as I mentioned above, there was no space here but some of the staff cleared a table in the back where patients weren’t being seen, and set tea up on a serving platter for us. The serving platter is also a common thing here, at least as we have experienced it to be. They came and told us that tea was ready while we were seeing patients. As this isn’t an American custom, it still surprises us sometimes, and we find ourselves saying, “oh, right!” Both Miles and I stepped out to have our little ‘tea break’, and we have come to really enjoy them. A break here is like a real break, or what a break should be. In the States, my ‘break’ is a five minute let me grab something to go at the café so I can eat while I walk to class/do homework/run this errand etc. Here, a break lets you really relax from your busy day and is a fabulous refresher. You get to sit down in a quiet area for a substantial period of time and just clear your mind and rest. I fully support South African “tea breaks” and might have to try and implement them into my days back home.

After our break, we continued to see patients with the sisters until Roy arrived to pick us up. Both of the nurses we had worked closely with gave us huge hugs goodbye and wished us the best of luck in our studies. They were the sweetest ladies ever. Later that night we decided to take our brothers to Gateway to the arcade/bowling alley part (yes, it’s that big). We brought Boom Boom, Thulani, Mini and their friend whose name I cannot recall. We played in the arcade for a while, which was fun, and then looked around the mall for a few more things that Miles and I wanted to get before leaving. When we got home, the boys all wanted to play donkey spoons again. I (luckily) got out of playing because momma called me right at the beginning of the game (: but, my oldest brother Mzamo lost, and I kind of feel bad about this. That would be because before we started he said he was weary of playing because he had a bad feeling. I told him that that was silly and he should play….aaaand he lost. Of course—I should have known. He was told to eat sand, but refused to instead catch and lick a frog. I somehow don’t see how that is any better…?