We woke up this morning to yet
another cooler day (we are unsure if this is because we are becoming acclimatised
or if it actually is cooler)! We all enjoyed a delicious breakfast of french
toast, pineapple and dorian fruit (from the tree in our yard!). We then went
into our second half hour Swahili class where we learned different parts of the
human body. Our mwalimu (teacher) had to spend a lot of time helping us with the pronunciation of certain words.
Some words have semi- vowels, which means that they are somewhat silent
when you pronounce them. One example of a word we struggled with was “nywele”
meaning hair and “goti”(knee) with the “ i” being the semi vowel.
Today we split into two groups
again and each group spent the day at a clinic. The clinic we went to had a few
clients in which we could learn the process of what happened from the beginning
to the end of the visit. The charting they did was also a lot different and not
as lengthy as is done in Canada. There were a couple of babies who came to get
weighed (they use a fish scale and each mother brought their own cloth in which
the baby sits in and hangs from the scale). The mothers each have a card for
their baby with their current immunizations/growth chart that they bring to
each visit. One baby who was three and a half months needed his immunizations
done (TDAP, Polio and Pneumonia) so we got to observe these being done (they do
not wear gloves or use alcohol swabs).
We had a discussion with the doctor
about contraceptives; depot (injection you get once every three months) and the
implant which goes into the upper arm are the more popular options. Oral
contraceptives although they are not very popular here (they believe if they
take them they will not be able to have kids) are very cheap in comparison to
Canada. For the exact same pills they cost about .80 cents for three months. We
were also able to observe a woman getting tested for malaria (she went straight
to the lab to get tests done), after she found out her results were positive
the lab technician got her the appropriate medication (she did not see the
doctor- some choose not to because it costs quite a bit more). In order to test for malaria they take a
sample of blood and put it onto a test strip. They then add a few drops of solution to it
and wait for 20 minutes. If there are 2 or 3 lines present they are positive
for malaria. Another client got his blood glucose checked and it was 25.7 so he
was told to go immediately to the hospital which specializes in diabetes. This
clinic was not equipped to provide him with the adequate care he needed.
Both groups were able to do
community assessments of the areas around the clinic to get a better
understanding of the area the clients live in. As we were walking we were
quizzing each other on the Swahili words we had learned, while trying to pay attention to the busy streets and vehicles going every which way. The ladies at the clinic
were getting a good laugh at us trying to pronounce the words! As part of the
community assessment the other group was able to do an interview with one of
the local doctors in order to learn some history about the area. On their walk
around the community they came across an organization that ran an orphanage and
a school, which was started about three years ago. They were able to get some
information about the politics in the area and have a tour of both the
orphanage and school, which were very well run, clean, and the kids seemed to
be very happy. We all arrived home
safely just after 3:00 with the smell of fresh buns filling the house!!
-Courtney
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