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Scrubbing In, Jolly African Ladies, and a thought-provoking morning!
After a shaky start to the week (off on Monday due to illness) I soon picked myself up - determined not to miss ANYTHING!
On returning to Kikuyu Hospital, I started my next placement: ART (anti-retroviral treatment) clinic
This is a clinic purely for HIV positive patients. The clinic provides testing & counselling, check-ups, treatment, and a clinic for patients with contracted diseases (mainly TB).
It was an interesting experience working in an ART clinic in a country where HIV is so prevalent. Poor education, lack of products (e.g. condoms) and a number of rape cases each year is mostly to blame for the spread of the virus. Adherence to treatment (taking regularly as instructed) is also pretty low out here. Although adherence does not cure the virus or affect the spread, a lack of it keeps the clinic busy with regular patients with numerous complaints or contracted diseases. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) basically destroys the patients' immune system which means that they cannot fight off disease that the body would usually be able to control. Patients rarely die of HIV (even when it has progressed to AIDS); instead they die from the disease that the body cannot control (e.g. TB). 90% of people with a healthy immune system would be able to get rid of TB without even knowing that the had contracted it - but patients with low immunity are at major risk & this disease (unless treated) spreads rapidly, usually resulting in death.
To improve adherence, the clinic insists that newly diagnosed patients attend 3 "pre-treatment sessions". These sessions provide counselling and prepare the patient for the heavy treatment regime (usually a combination of 3 anti-virals). This has improved adherence over the last few years, however, it is still low as the medications cause bad side effects when taken on an empty stomach - and unfortunately most of the patients cannot afford the sufficient amount of food.
Later in the week I was placed in: General Surgery. I got to scrub in and everything!! Walking through theatre in my scrubs, cap and mask I felt like a real doctor (minus the knowledge!!). I attended an Explorative Laparotomy (exploring the bowels for obstructions). It was pretty cool! Cool is probably not the word that comes to most peoples' mind! There were intestines flying everywhere! Haha. Yeah, it was pretty gross - but so interesting! The theatre was pretty simple with basic equipment & sterilizing techniques, but extremely knowledgeable surgeons!
Enough of the science lesson…for now!
So, Wednesday was a chance for us to help out at 'The Feeding Project'. Pat Dixon, an 80-year-old woman, runs the programme every other Wednesday. She set the project up 17 years ago to provide relief for poor, elderly people in the local community. She now has 290 people enrolled on the programme who all receive 'a pack', which consists of rice and beans, materials to light a fire, cooking fats, clean bottles, 20 KSH (about 17p to spend on vegetables at the local market) and any other donations that Pat receives. The project is funded by donation from a couple of churches worldwide. It truly is a fantastic project, and Pat is one of the most inspirational women I've ever met! She does EVERYTHING, and greatly relies on volunteers (such as us) to help to hand out the food. As people lined up to receive their pack, 6 women stood at the front of the room - in front of us all - singing and dancing all morning! They were so greatful for this small donation and appreciated the volunteers' help to keep the programme running. It goes to show: these people do not have many possessions, food or even a home, but they are in no sense living in poverty. Don't we all live in some kind of poverty? When the word poverty is mentioned it is automatically associated with riches and materialistic properties. However, I would rather live without these than to lack in happiness, friends and spirit. I started off feeling sorry for these people (some having walked 2 hours to get to the programme!), but after seeing their community spirit, thankfulness and happiness I came to realise that - with help from the project - these people were living full, happy lives; maybe even more-so than the majority of wealthy people in England. I left that morning seeing my life and my priorities in a new light.
After a thought provoking morning, I went to help out at Mukeu School, a special school for kids who are mentally handicapped. It is called a School, but it is essentially an orphanage. 38 out of the 40 children (aged 8-21) live at the school after being rejected by their parents. Disability comes with a stigma here, and unfortunately it is not uncommon for children to be rejected by their families soon after diagnosis. We played pictionary with the kids - teaching them simple English words, and then had crafts time. It's sad; the children may be at "school", but they do not have enough teachers, who have not had any training for this specialised area of teaching, for them to get any form of a proper education. The kids' diagnosis's range from severe autism to dyslexia. The children with dyslexia could go far with a good education, but dyslexia is seen as a disability so unfortunately their potential is not seen!
Having a fantastic time on projects but this weekend is what I've been waiting for… SAFARI!!!!
Make sure to read the next entry...it should be a good'un xxxx
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