Today

Im on my way home right now...

Wandered through airport in Germany...

Nobody was around... It was weird.

Airport's are all the same...

Need to update blog...

Long trip

Nyanga Gardening

This past Friday, we took a trip to a township in the Cape Flats, called Nyanga. Many of the individuals who work/help with VAC are from this particular township and Gabby was lucky enough to find an opportunity to help this community in a huge way.

There is an amazing unused large area that we are clearing to transform into a community garden! In this space, there is a nursery and different "crop-like" areas where we, and members of the community, are planting different vegetables and such for the people of Nyanga to grow and eat or sell their own food. I am so excited to be able to leave a mark here in Africa.... Something we all did to improve the livelihood of these individuals. This will be an ongoing project for the interns of VAC and I hope to see it grow and prosper. Below is a link to some pics we took at the garden.

Work the last couple of weeks has also been great! I have seen even more "stuff" and learned so much from the Doctors and Nurses I am working with. If you don't have a weak stomach and want to know about some of the crazy things I have seen, feel free to ask! Dr. Steytler has taken me in the last couple of weeks and allowed me to sit with him and his patients. He is teaching me the basic's of examining a patient and getting to the root of everyone's ailments. He is a great doctor to learn from and is teaching me in a way that I can understand and put things together. Medicine is like a jigsaw puzzle-- you have to extract all of the information possible from a patient (find all of the pieces) in order to figure out what is causing their problem (put it all together). This may be obvious, but it is something that I am seeing first-hand, and its great!

Yesterday, I brought in a package sent by my wonderful parents. It's amazing to see that something as simple as soap, gloves, and hand sanitizer can make everyone feel special and give them a sense of pride in their work. They were very grateful for the surprise (and so am I). There are a lot of things that should be done with gloves and such, that aren't. It isn't because they don't want to protect themselves by using them or washing their hands-- there just aren't enough resources from the government to give these township hospitals everything they need. We must conserve as much as possible-- something people in the USA take for granted.

Well, I am preparing for an exciting weekend-- so updates to come soon!

Have a great week-- thanks for reading!!!!

Nyanga Gardening Pictures

The Loft

This is where I live:

5 Howe Street

Loft 7

Also, went to the Biscuit Mill today. Delicious food every Saturday-- kind of like a farmers market with lots of different stands of food!!! I had a pita filled with lamb, hummus, lettuce, tomato, tzatziki, and yummyness!

Interesting... on the way there, you walk through obs. and into a bit of a ghetto with a lot of beggers and barred shops, then you get to the BM and it is packed with mainly white people. It is a bit sad in a way to still see the separation. And it is frustrating to know there is nothing you can do about it.

No. 2

I have been so bad about keeping up on this… but I promise after this update I will give you short and sweet blurbs about the happenings and observations of the day!!

Since I last wrote, I have definitely felt more of the essence of Cape Town. This city is so amazing and beautiful in so many ways! I adore the multi-cultural aspect of this place and the sense of pride everyone has for this country. It is also interesting to learn about different perspectives about the apartheid reign and the time since it ended. There is still extreme poverty and subtle/not so subtle segregation but all in all, they are moving forward—which is great.

Some activities that I have done with the group are: Touring the township of Langa and visiting a medicine man aka “Healer,” experiencing a traditional African Braai (barbeque) at Mzoli's, the V & A Waterfront, the Vangard mall with some coworkers, Hiking to the top of Lion’s Head, partying with the local’s until 5AM, Wine Tasting, and touring the southern part of the Cape—including a bike ride to Cape Point with another wine tasting!!!!!

I was going to try and pick a favorite, but it is too difficult. Each event is so unique and special in its own way. I LOVE the V&A Waterfront especially at night—when it lights up it is breathtaking! Seeing the whole city and as far as you can see of the ocean from on top of a mountain was incredible—something everyone should experience! The hike was not easy but totally worth it! Bike riding to the end of the Cape was also wonderful! There are amazing beaches and you can spot sunken ships in the ocean by looking for a pooling of water (which turns white). On that trip we also saw some more penguins, wild ostrich, naughty baboons along the road – they will steal anything, its pretty funny, breaching whales, and some animal that is the equivalent of a deer in CO (in my mind at least)!!! The wine here is great, as they have the perfect environment for growing grapes in a valley along Table Mountain. It is similar to California (Napa Valley) I guess.

Moving on to work… I love my clinic and the people I work with! Everyone has been extremely welcoming and helpful! My first impression was impressive in the fact that women pretty much run the clinic!!! From the first day, my supervisor of sorts, Anthea, has taken me under her wing. She makes sure that every day counts and that I am experiencing as much as possible related to nursing.

I started out in the administration part of the clinic, learning how to check people in, finding/filing charts, scheduling, etc… pretty mundane but a great place to get introduced to the clinic. I think it is important to learn every aspect of the “business” when entering a new environment.

The next week, I moved on to the injection room/ER. It isn’t even close to what you are thinking, which you will see when I snap some photos. The sisters (what they call nurses) are awesome! They let me do as much as I feel comfortable doing which includes: drawing blood, pregnancy testing, HIV testing, TB (tuberculosis) testing, Hb (hemoglobin) testing, giving injections of medication, and performing ECG’s. It usually takes an intern a while to be comfortable doing this all on their own but they say I learn fast! Although I haven’t had the proper training to do any of these things—I am in Africa—that is why I am here. This is the way I learn! It’s great ☺ I also know that what I am learning here may not be relevant when I return in the fact that most of the hospitals and clinics in the US are much more advanced ie. Different ECG machines, different ways of testing for HIV and Hb etc… But it is eye opening to see such a different culture of medicine—in a way more unconventional yet still functional. It is different to see mostly everything done WITHOUT computers!! For a person like me (Generation Y or the Millenial’s) it almost sounds undoable! But, they do it and it works.

Now, I can elaborate on the facilities and the differences there, but I am not sure it would be appropriate because it may come out as criticism, so if you want to know, just ask me!

I think I have given you enough for now. I attached some more links for photos and if you have any questions or want me to write about something specific, let me know!! Until then… totseins!! (Goodbye in Afrikaans)!!!

Partying

Lion's Head

Mzoli's

Trip so far.....

I am finally feeling settled into my new place in the Observatory (a sort of “suburb” of Cape Town). I am living at 5 Howe Street L7—aka The Loft. My journey here was looooong, but not as bad as I expected! My stay in Chicago O’hare was brief and from there I went to London Heathrow. Flying in, the weather didn’t look so great and when I got into the terminal, I couldn’t decide if I should go out or not. I wandered around for a bit and talked to a few of the local’s. They said it was supposed to be a nice day but to be careful because it was a Bank holiday and some of the underground lines may be diverted. I decided I couldn’t just sit in the airport for 11 hours, so I put my carry on luggage in day storage and took the London Underground into the city.

London was beautiful! As soon as I emerged onto the surface of the street (lol, its really far down) Big Ben was directly above me! Many of the sites you would expect to see were all right there. The London Eye was across the street, house of Parliament was right there, the Westminster Abbey and tons of historic buildings and beautiful parks. I have to admit I was super tired, so I was walking around like a zombie! But I got some great pictures and got outside!

On my way back to the airport, I made a couple stops—one in a shopping center and one (hectic) trip to Notting Hill. Little did I know that it was the Notting Hill Carnival that day and all of the trains into Notting Hill were ridiculously over-packed. I thought that was the norm until I got there and saw thousands of people on the street. I couldn’t continue on that line to the airport, so I had to walk around and find another station. On my way there, I stopped at Kensington garden and took a quick walk around—it was nice. I finally got back to the airport, about two hours before my flight. I made a quick call to my mom (which I found out today- looking at my account- that it cost me $35!!!!) and went and sat at the gate.

The 11.5 hour flight to Cape Town wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I flew South African Airways on an older plane, but the flight attendants were nice. I sat next to a woman from Canada who moved to CT with her husband 45 years ago. She gave me some great advice on the city and safety (which I have gotten from everyone by now!)!!

Once I got to CT at 9:30 AM, I collected my luggage and went out to the front of the airport. At this point, my biggest fear that I had before my trip HAPPENED! There was nobody at the airport to pick me up! I sat for about an hour and a half before I figured I had to make a move, so I called Oliver, the owner of VAC. Apparently Sly, who was picking me up, thought I wasn’t arriving until 10:10 PM! It was refreshing to know that I could calmly handle the situation and once Sly came I was and still am able to give him trouble for it ;-)

That is my trip here in a nutshell, there are some links to my pic’s up to now… I will write more later! Thanks for reading!!!

Going Away Party

London

Penguins

RIP Marlene Riccatone 9/5/09

Quick FYI

I got a few questions this week about the previous site I was using to raise money (fundable.com)....

Just a reminder, I am no longer using that site to collect money as they wanted to take a huge chunk of it for themselves!

If you pledged any money, they WILL NOT (or at least they shouldn't) take any money out of your account!!!! If they do-- it has not gone to me and I apologize! You should be fine though!

Thanks!!!

12 Days!

Wow, I can't believe it!!! Only 12 days to go until I am on the plane to Chicago-->London--> Cape Town!

I am so excited/nervous! Although, I am also ready to get OUT of here! Sometimes you just gotta get away, right?

I think this internship is going to get me even more addicted to traveling the world and learning about every culture possible! I truly enjoy learning about people; the way they interact, different cultures, life perspectives, etc...

I would love to become a philanthropist. I don't know if you have seen the new show called "The Philanthropist" but I love it and suggest watching it if you have time. It is a great show based on a real guy who does great things for the world along with his family (Bobby Sager).

I guess the only thing left is to earn my billions! Not really... I hate money. I guess that is why I would share it, though.

Anyway... I have pretty much reached my goal for fundraising. A couple hundred short, but I got a new CC so its not a big deal!!!! I want to thank all of you who have contributed! I am so grateful and humbled by the amount of money you all so generously gave. A thousand thank you's to you all!

Dont forget to follow the blog so you can keep up with what is going on!!!!

Lots of Love

Lindsay