A little more on the Red Cross...

I haven’t written too much about my internship, and since I do spend 4 days a week at the hospital I thought it would be a good idea to elaborate on what I’m doing there. First, I have two projects that I am responsible for. My main project (which I am turning into a research paper/final paper for the study abroad program) is under neurosurgeon Dr. Padayachee; I am doing a risk factor and clinical assessment on patients with myelomeningocele, a form of spina bifida. Currently, there are only two babies with myelomeningocele at the hospital and I’ve already interviewed their mothers, so now I must go through medical records of past patients in order to collect information. My second project is under Dr. Rode; he wants me survey moms of children with burns resulting from kettles and to research kettle companies, looking at possible problems in manufacturing. I really like watching surgery, but my favorite part about the Red Cross is volunteering on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. My sports watch and name badges are always a big hit. Many of the kids don’t speak English, but kids are kids everywhere and it isn’t a problem; we play and I talk to them in English and they talk to me (or just don’t) in either Afrikaans or Xhosa. It's hard interacting with the older ones because most of the donated toys we bring up to the wards are geared towards younger kids. They all must get so bored during the day, and their parents too. It's not like hospitals in the US where there seems to be a good system in place for providing children with entertainment, as well as resources for parents and spaces for them to wander about.

Last Tuesday in the oncology ward, I let one little girl – who had to have been no older than 4 years old – draw on my hands with marker. She was quiet and shy, and I wasn’t doing a good job of making her happy, but I’ll always remember how she used one pink marker to poke and jab at my left wrist, in a spot comparable to that on her own wrist where an IV line was secured with a bandage. I’m fairly confident in the fact that she was mocking what she experiences every day – the administration of drugs in an IV. How pensive and naïve and too knowing she was, all at the same time. On Thursday, I volunteered in the burns ward and felt much more useful. This ward is always crazy and over-crowded and kids roam the hall; they’re fun to be around because usually they’re playful despite their injuries. Generally, children in the other wards are sick and seem much sadder. They are all so brave though. The highlight of playtime in the burns was me comforting a crying girl (burns covering her chest and back and legs were bandaged). I didn’t expect her to let me pick her up but she held onto me for a while and think she just needed some attention and human contact.

On a different note, it’s HOT here! Sunday, twelve of us crammed into a taxi (typical) and rode to a beach nearby. On Saturday I visited Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which was absolutely beautiful. If I were a bird or a flower, my home would be Kirstenbosch. This weekend, we're leaving for a week-long excursion to Johannesburg and Pretoria and Kruger National Park, where I’ll embark on actual game drives!

Still in love with South Africa.