Reflections

Here are some photos from Table Mountain two weekends ago. One shows how steep the trail was; I was imagining more of a meandering dirt pathway, not so much a vertical climb composed only of large, rugged (but stable) rocks. It was extremely hard, but the views and company and sense of accomplishment upon reaching the top definitely made the difficulty worthwhile.









































A few things to note:
- it took us an hour and a half from the base to the summit, proving our professor wrong
- the cable car ride down was completely necessary
- I should probably do an advertisement for Merrill now


I would like to write about my recent experiences at my internship. This first week – Monday through Thursday – those of us who had the furthest commutes for our internships were driven to and from work by Parks, who we have all come to love. I was often last to be dropped and first to be picked up as Tafelsig is so far outside of the city. I spent most of my time in Child Health and Family Planning, watching and observing. I did like helping the sisters in Child Health who initially saw the children; I took weights and temperatures, asked about the child’s symptoms, and wrote notes in their files for the benefit of the sisters who would next see them and treat them. I gave vitamin A drops and got Hb values using, as one sister described it, an ancient Hemoglobin Reader. Mostly, though, I’ve been standing around and listening to Afrikaans, not understanding what’s being said.

It is amazing how long people who come to the clinic must wait to be seen; some are there all day long. Because it is a primary health care facility, referrals to other hospitals are granted in more severe cases. Those patients in need of transport wait on an ambulance for sometimes hours at a time. Tafelsig Clinic provides healthcare services to the people of Tafelsig with the resources it has, however meager they are, especially as compared to the extremely high standards of American healthcare. Privacy is very limited, for one thing. Plastic spoons are simply rinsed and reused for children receiving a basic fever-reducing medicine. Urine samples for pregnancy tests are collected in plastic cups that are also rinsed and reused. Nurses don’t seem to wear gloves; how water is rarely available and soap isn’t always around. While watching the children receiving immunizations, I couldn’t help but think about my own experiences at the doctor’s office, in particular how I always received a sticker after getting a shot. And maybe a colorful Band-aid. These children, you can imagine, were given neither of those things.

The language barrier is really proving to be a bigger challenge than I anticipated, because the staff only speaks to the patients in Afrikaans and they don’t have time to translate and keep me informed. I ask questions after patients leave, but again there really isn’t time for much explanation. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to learn as much working at Tafelsig because of this, and am still concerned about my role there. I honestly don’t think my supervisor, Sister Damons, knows what to do with me. I do recognize that to some degree, I must take an imitative and make things happen if I want to be helpful. However, I am overwhelmed by the robustness of the clinic, and can’t seem to see how I’ll be able to change things or make a difference there. Instead, I feel like I’m being more of a hindrance right now. For these reasons, I’m thinking about trying to switch over to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. I’m struggling because I don’t want to give up so easily, and I’ve emphasized to Vernon, our program coordinator, since day one that I would prefer to be placed the townships, in the midst of poverty. I’ll keep you posted as to where I’ll really be for the next two and a half months when I figure it all out.