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Hello from Zomba!
It seemed to take forever to get here as our plane got diverted via Nairobi much to Laura's disgust. Emily quite liked it because it meant we got 2 free dinners instead of one wooo! When we arrived in Malawi we didnt brave the minibuses with our bags the weight of a small child but decided to get a taxi to the campus where we are staying. Taxi driver tried to rip us off but we had been warned by a lovely Malawian lady on the plane and used our best bartering skills to get the price down.
Malawi is beautiful, we passed through lots of tiny villages on the way here with people selling things at the side of the dusty roads. When we made it to Zomba it was nearly dark and when we got out of the taxi the security guards didnt seem to know we were coming. At this point we were a bit worried but Ford, the security guard who arranged our accomodation happened to be walking back from town and welcomed us with tea and bread and butter :) We werent entirely sure how to make tea with tea leaves and a sieve but we perservered and I dont think he caught on to our ignorance haha. Then we were shown to our room. It is basic to say the least but fine. The floors are concrete and the beds are more like camp beds which sag in the middle when you get on them but with our four stone of luggage scattered around the room it is a lot more homely! We were lucky we had saved our crossaints from the plane as the canteen was closed when we arrived and said we couldnt eat until tuesday as they didnt have enough food for us! A lovely nursing student took us to town and round the market the next day though so we survived. We bought bananas, watermelon, pineapples and various other things from the supermarket including toilet roll as there was none when we got here. mmmmm. Thankgod we put a roll in our bag before we left!! For the next 2 nights we had spaghetti and marmite with carrots for dinner....you may think gross but Laura actually said "I think I might have this when I get home" haha.
We started in the hospital on monday. When we got there the 2 doctors we had written to were both on holiday but the medical department took us in anyway and everyone is very nice. The hospital is run by clinical officers who only have 3 years training (so technically we should be at the same level as them!) but they are so knowledgeable and put us to shame! The hospital is a million miles away from what we are used to in England but it is a lot bigger than we thought. Most of the wards have matresses on the floor. Yesterday we counted 60 patients in one room. All the patients are looked after by their family members who wait outside the hosptial all day in the sun for the few hours of visiting they are allowed at mealtimes. It is sad because if they dont have any guardians the nurses are too busy to look after them as we realised yesterday. We found a man who was mute and hadnt been examined properly so we decided to listen to his chest. When we lifted him up we found 7 pressure sores on the shoulders and back that were infected (as Emily found out when she put her hand in one.ewwww). They didnt have any dressings to cover them...luckily we had brought some with us and cleaned him up and played nurses for an hour! We have seen a lot of conditions we dont get to see at home...malaria, TB, lots of HIV related illnesses and pneumonia. The clinical officers know a LOT about these topics but not much about other things so it is quite good to combine their knowledge with ours from home. We are allowed to do a lot more procedures here than we would be at home....we were asked to do a lumbar puncture within an hour of being there! We declined but now we have watched one we might do the next one. They are done without anaesthetic here but the patients are amazing and dont make a sound even though they are very painful. We did an ascitic tap on a guy whose abdomen looked like he was pregnant with twins and drained 5 litres of fluid out of it.
For a change, we went to outpaitents one afternoon. When we say outpatients we actually mean a desk surrounded by a screen on the side of the pavement that goes around the outside of the hospital. There were at least 50 people waiting to be seen by the clinical officer...it was crazy! On the ward there is a tiny boy who is absolutely terrified of us as we are muzungus and his mum has to cover his head up so she can get him past us before he screams! One doctor said the kids get told they will get eaten by the white person if they are naughty...we later found out this isnt true but it is funny!
We have been into zomba quite a few times now and are getting alot braver.. the kids come out of their houses to say hello to us but they only know "hello" and "how are you?" so when we reply they look very confused!!! We have also been serended by some kids in what they think is english but we arent really sure what language they are speaking!!!
We are going to the Zomba plateau this weekend for a night of luxury in the ku chawe inn which has cost us 20 quid each which is a fortune by malawian standards.. the doctors get paid 70 pounds a month!!
We will write soon.. hope everyone is well and thanks for the messages keep them coming!!!
Love Emily and Laura xxxxxxx
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