Day 2 in Tugela Ferry

This is Tugela Ferry, where I live.

7.9.07

Today I had an orientation to my clinical experience in Tugela Ferry. Mary, the amazing woman running the home based care program here, showed us around the hospital grounds and introduced us to the administrative staff. We met the manager of all hospital nurses known as a matron, Matron Dube. We discussed with Mary and the matron of the nurses at the hospice what our role would be here as students as well as regarding ways in which we can contribute. The plan, which is extremely exciting, is that we will put on a conference for the nurses of the hospital, the AIDS hospice nurses, & for the community clinic based nurses. The conference will be to provide training on HIV/AIDS related topics and we will organize it and bring in some guests to speak on special topics. The idea is only in the works now, but topics will likely include pathophysiology of HIV, information about medications/ARV therapy & antiretroviral side effects, nutrition considerations, adherence to medications, infection control practices, and such topics. We are thinking it will be a 2 day conference. Here the nurses never-to-rarely get such an opportunity. This will take place on our last week here and the week prior to this our plan is to conduct trainings for the (300!!) volunteer home based care givers, as I think I mentioned yesterday. We will go to various locations out in the community to conduct these trainings, b/c the volunteers are throughout the Msinga district, as are the patients they serve. We are so excited by the prospects.

Today Mary discussed various needs throughout the day as we determined what we would be doing. One of the many things she mentioned that stuck with me was when she discussed the women that make up the volunteer home-based HIV/AIDS care givers. These women do this with no pay & no recognition. They do this very trying work, travelling to people's homes, many, very remote, and they oftentimes find themselves in very difficult situations, with someone dying, or a home extremely disheveled, perhaps they find children at home alone with no food in the house. These volunteers offer care & support to them and bring them supplies such as food. The fact is that many of the caregivers have little to nothing to eat themselves. They hand over supplies of materials that they do not have for themselves at home. They do this selflessly. It is truly impressive, and I cannot wait to meet them and venture out with them in their work.

We met so many great people today, who dedicate their lives to working here and providing health care to people in the surrounding community. Kun & I also had a brief adventure into the bustling center of town, which is just down the roa. All of the "town" is off one main road. There is a shopping center, rural south african style. We passed women selling platic baggies full of cheetos, women selling bags of oranges & banannas, women in traditional Zulu dress with babies attached to their backs like an appendage, & men hanging out around cars and talking with other men, some grilling meat on makeshift grills. The grocery store we entered was packed and dusty. We did a quick run through & headed back to our nice, temporary new home. I attempted my Zulu along the way, Saubona: hello to 1 person; Sanibona: hello to more than 2 people; Ngiyabonga: thank you; kakhulu: very much; wema: amazing...