Hellooooo everyone!
In 33 days I will be departing the shores of our fair country for deepest darkest Africa, where I'm spending 8 weeks exploring and attempting to learn something about how to be a doctor (since it's really quite soon that I will actually be one, which is ridiculous).
So I decided to start a blog about it...
What I am actually doing is a 4 week placement at the Good Shepherd Hospital in Siteki Swaziland (see maps). This is a little part of my medical degree, known as a medical elective. All students between 5th and 6th year must complete an elective in a field and hospital of their choice. The best part is that there are no restrictions, so I have chosen to do something a little different and I'll do a little bit of everything at this little hospital.
The GSH is a Catholic mission hospital in a region called Lubumbo, and is the only hospital in this area of around 300,000 people. It's a 125 bed hospital (not that big), but there are heaps of clinics in surrounding areas that I hopefully will be able to be a part of.
Swaziland is a tiny country of 1.185 million people. Although it's sort of in South Africa, it's completely different. Swaziland is a tribal country; it is ruled by a King, they speak siSwati preferentially (although English is the preferred second language) and the people hold very traditional beliefs. They have very limited government support for health care, and most hospitals are run by NGO's and church organisations (at GSH the hospital is run by the church, but staff wages are paid by the government). They have the highest HIV prevalence in the world (>40% of the population have HIV), and a number of other health issues (malaria, thankfully, is relatively limited).
During my travels I'll also be travelling through South Africa and after my elective I will head up to Zambia to spend a few weeks at the MMM base in Ndola.
I'm REALLY EXCITED...but I have lots to do first!
So for those of you who would like to, I have some massive prayer requests...
1. I need to pass my Women's and Children's block at uni. I'm getting rather distracted from study by my trip (as you can see I am writing my blog instead of studying!)
2. I have some medication issues to sort out before I leave- it's been rather difficult to organise
3. I'm going by myself. Which surprisingly doesn't scare me as much as it should (I'm normally a panicky person, so my overwhelming calm about this is a shock to the system). I'm trying not to be too naive though: I realise it's quite dangerous, and have taken lots of precautions. But I need to be on my guard when I get there!
4. The HIV issue is a little scary, considering I work with needles a lot. Some of the medication I'm taking should protect me from this, but it's a very real risk and I need to be very wary (I've never had a needlestick and I don't plan to start now!)
5. I haven't heard from Swaziland in a bit (it can take some time to hear back because of internet issues). I'm a little paranoid it might fall through- probably not likely, but the little seed of doubt is there!
6. That I learn lots and have a great time and don't get too lonely.
Thanks heaps, I shall update before I head off
