Blog 2 from Jessica in South Africa
Today completes my first week in South Africa, and it was amazing. As the locals would say, I’m practically a South African now. =)
We have learned so much already about the people, the culture, and the healthcare situation in such a short period of time. I can hardly imagine all the knowledge I will have gained after a month here. On Monday and Tuesday of this week we were in orientation with both the study abroad department at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the department of Nursing. Then on Wednesday we spent our first day in the clinics–an enlightening experience for all of us. The clinics are free for the public and are predominantly for primary healthcare, almost like a Patient First, though much more primitive. People are treated purely on a first come first serve basis and the clinics are often only open from 8am till noonish, so many people must be turned away. They line up very early in the morning to get on the list and hope that they will be seen by a nurse. Nurses are the ones who run the clinics and we were there with some of the nursing students from NMMU. We observed and helped with health assessments, and I was actually surprised by how similar the assessment is to what we learned in our first semester. The nursing students were so nice and we formed a relationship right away. I look forward to spending more time with these girls while we are here and getting to know more about their lives and backgrounds. The patients we saw were excited to see us there helping out, and they were very open to our presence. We will continue to return to the clinics and will rotate to various ones throughout Port Elizabeth.
Today was our best day by far. We visited Sapphire Primary School just outside Port Elizabeth in a remote village surrounded by more townships. It is a school not only for the children, but also for the families of the children so their approach is holistic. They serve over 1,000 children there with just 27 teachers. The school does not charge any fees for the students, which is not the norm in SA. So it is the parents who help keep the school running when there is no money to hire outside help for yard work, construction, gardening, etc. It is a wonderful community and we were touched by the love of the teachers, parents and children. We even met some of the mothers who were being taught to make beaded jewelry as a means of income. I have some great pictures and even a little video of the kids singing for us. The school has many children who are HIV positive, and they pride themselves in educating the students about health promotion. They also have a clinic that is being built to serve the children and families which will be much closer than the clinic they currently must travel to.
After visiting with the children, we went out into the community to visit some families in their homes. We were welcomed into the home of a man named Owen who has been living with HIV since 2000. We spoke with him for awhile about his health and learned more about what the group named Emmanuel helps do for the people of this community who are ill. Emmanuel is composed of volunteers who help care for these people in their homes. They encourage them to be active to maintain their strength and health, and they help them to take their medicines as prescribed. These volunteers are especially helpful when the people are unable to leave their homes. We will continue to work with Emmanuel while we are here, which I know will be a blessing. Before we left Owen’s home, the volunteer said that she had typed up a word from the Bible this morning and wanted to share it with him. She read John 15:1-17 while we all stood around this man and I cannot begin to describe the overwhelming emotions flowing through that tiny room. Everyone person was in tears. Owen was so thankful for our presence and we all hugged as we left. I cannot wait until we return to this village and meet more of the people. -Jessica