Fun

The weather warmed up last week, but is blustery and cold again... I'm
wearing my red ski jacket more now-a-days...

The girls and I have been getting along really well.  I've been having
a really good time with them all.  Every night, it seems like we
either play games, talk, or watch a movie together.  Like the other night,
we made S'mores in front of my awesome heater with coconut
marshmallows, coconut/butter crackers and Cadbury chocolate.  I love
it!

Watching movies on people's laptops...

Good times... gooood ttiiiimmmmessss :)

The Gorge

Today, I didn't go to church because I was feeling sick.  I've been fighting a cold for the past two days.  Instead, I stayed in bed with a cup of bush tea and a book ;) with my heater blasting and music :)

Today and a week from today, our class visited The Gorge for our Sabbath afternoon stroll.  It was about a 45 minute hike, one way.  The first few pictures are of the Kanye SDA Church from a week ago. 

 

Marika, stray dog, Tswana children from church ;)

Sitting inside church with part of my public health crew ;)

English is the official language of Botswana, but not everyone knows English well enough.  Every event/gathering I have been to has an English translator. 

A school right next to the church.

The children sit in the front of the church during the entire service and the service lasts from 9 AM to 1PM (except for sabbath school from 10-10:30AM)

Their hymnal.  They write music using do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti instead of the musical signs we're familiar with. 

Sabbath school was outside in the warm sun.  There weren't enough chairs, so a number of us sat on these wobbly concrete bricks. 

Now these were taken on the way to the Gorge and at the Gorge.

Kids are always outside of their house, playing in their small yards...

The terrain reminds me of Moses and the burning bush we see in cartoons... or of the Prince of Egypt (movie)

Broken glass/Litter/trash EVERYWHERE, including the gorge...

Dr. Wright and me.  She works so hard to make sure we are comfortable and getting all that we need/want.

A deserted eagle's nest at the top of a cliff

For some reason, iron is not easily transferred into the foods that grow in Botswana.  Many people suffer from iron deficient anemia while the dirt of the Botswana earth remains rich with iron.

These thorns are super vicious! Once you're caught in a thorn bush, they attack you like quicksand.  You cannot get out without help. 

Pollution! arg!

Hung laundry on a fence -- and an American flag for the 4th of July (last week)

Happy Sabbath, all :)

"Is America great?"

"Is it nice to live in America?" they ask me. 

How do I answer that? I feel like I would need to live in Africa for a long time to answer honestly and more objectively.  However, after thinking about it some, I decided that it's all relative.  People here dream about living in America as if it is heaven, but life for immigrants in America is not heaven.  Some may argue that even the life of immigrants in America is better than that of people in Africa, but I don't think that is necessarily true for the people of Kanye, particularly for those who have jobs. 

Perhaps, if having nice things and more expensive lifestyle is very important to him, then it may be worth it... Tabang, a man nurse working on KMC asked me this question and I told him what I wrote in here... however, I think his fate greatly depends on his connections, work ethic, and the luck of the draw.  If I was him with his job as a nurse here, I would just stay here and continue to work hard here.  or perhaps I don't really understand the hardships of living in Botswana or Africa yet...

Who knows.

i am in a developing country

Today, clinic was a jungle.

Nurses here take advantage of us students.  The nurses desert us at the stations almost as soon as we arrive.  They run off to buy themselves fatcakes or lounge outside and chat their lives away.  Thought frustrating, I found it to be quite a good opportunity to be creative and own up to difficult situations.

The fact that we are in a developing country finally hit me today.  Patients came in needing simple dressing changes for surgical wounds.  However, the clinic ran out of medical/cloth tape necessary to apply the new, sterile bandages.  Instead, I refused to treat a couple patients with bigger wounds and ended up using the Botswana equivalent to MASKING TAPE to bandage the patients.  Patients that came in with masking tape from previous wound care had irritated, red, or even bloody marks from the masking tape.  I was so stressed because I didn't want to use the masking tape, but that's all we had!  

Later, I also used the last anti-rabies vaccine.  They store their vaccines in an ice box.  We have to roll our own cotton when available.  

Apparently, there's a supply truck that runs from clinic to clinic, but even the supply truck does not carry all supplies that clinics may demand.  Only basic medications are available upon demand.

Sadly, our much loved doctor was re-located to another clinic and a new, young doctor came to the clinic for the first time today.  This new doctor is the most horrible man I have ever met.  He told Summer, a classmate, that she was taking blood pressure wrong because the cuff wasn't rotated by a cm!  He wants to correct all our skills and explain the physiology and technique to everything.  I do appreciate instruction and correction when indicated, but this man was unkind and belittling! His condescending tone and behavior even bothered Summer and she has never, ever shown any annoyance of anyone before.  He truly defines a new level of arrogance.

After finishing an injection, I gave the greatest sigh of relief.

Never have I been so relieved to see the hour hand reach noon.

First Safari Ride Ever

A week ago from today, I went on a Safari Adventure at Mokolodi Nature Reserve.  

I am totally a tourist in Botswana.

I still can't believe I'm in Africa. :P

In the school bus on our way to Mokolodi Nature Reserve

The Gift Shop.  I love the spiky plants on the left :)

The Reserve served Orange Juice in pretty glasses :)

Pretending to be a tree in the playground @ Mokolodi

Tire Swing

Our Safari-mobile

Inside our Safari-mobile.

 

Inside the Safari-mobile.  I wanted to sit in the front with the old ladies so that I could hear our informative guide :)

 

Our Safari Guide

The Safari-Mobile we rode felt like, smelled like, and sounded like Indiana Jones at Disneyland except that IT WAS REAL!

A termite hill: it works as a compass and helps find water sources.  It indicates that there is a shallow water source nearby and the hill leans toward the western horizon. 

BUCKBEAK in real life.  They really call it a Banana Beak.
At this point, I started singing the Intro to Circle of Life from Lion King.

"~From the we arrive on the planet~And blinking, step into the sun"
A WILD GIRAFF.
We saw a lot of her friends.  The females have horns while males have horns with tufts of hair at the end.
Also, darker patches indicate that they are older.  This one is middle aged.

~"It's the CIRRCCCLLLEEE OF LIIIIFFFE! AND IT MOOOVES US AAAALLL"
AFRICAN WATER HOLE

~"TILL WE FIND OUR PLAAAACCE, ON THE PATH UNWIIINDING"
"IN THE CIIIRCLE...IN THE CIRCCCLLLEE OF LIIFFE"

Empalas or Kudos (they look the same to me)

When these birds fly off in their flocks, it's BEAUTIFUL.  My camera wasn't able to catch it, but here they are when they're still!

Empala/kudo butt

Male Kudo.  Each curvature in their horns indicate 2.5 yrs of age.  This one is about 3 yrs old.

An Empala: Their stripes are like our finger prints.

AFRICAN WARTHOGS
They have short necks and often need to kneel on their forelegs in order to reach the food on the ground.

NOT WILD, AFRICAN CHEETAH. 

The cheetahs were cubs abandoned by their dead mother.  The reserve decided to care for them and they decided that they would be kept in captivation forever because they never learned how survival skills from their mother.

It feels like a kitten -- it's so soft.  Its happy purrs, however, sound villainous.

The other cheetah kept in captivation got lonely and joined the first. :)

I really wanted to see both, but unfortunately, they remained in hiding today...

Our lunch waiting for us in the middle of the Mokolodi Reserve... next to a beautiful lake/waterhole

Our dining tables for our glorious lunch.

The sign for female at the restroom - I don't know why I like signs. 

The waterhole we had lunch next to.

Our DELICIOUS Botswanan lunch.  The orange stuff is the butternut squash I love so much.

:) Feeling lucky to be in Botswana, Africa :)