Home Again

Morning view from my front porch.







Clothing optional beach.








Beach closed.









My neighbors across the valley.









.. In Johannesburg I spent a half day as a tourist. Went 700 ft. down into an inactive gold mine, saw a live pour of molten gold, and wandered around the gold museum. An amusement park has grown up around the mine, and the Apartheid Museum is across one street and a casino across another. I could have spent another full day in that neighborhood, but had to catch a plane home.

The trip home was a marathon. Eighteen and a half hours on the plane, including a stop in Dakkar where we weren't allowed to get off. The people in the seats next to me did get off in Dakkar and I thought I'd have a little extra room for the last eight hours, but 2 teenage boys from Gambia got on to take their place. They asked for my help a couple times, to work the interactive video and to fill out immigration and customs forms, but they slept most of the way to Washington. After an hour in line at customs, had just enough time for a cup of coffee before the flight from Washington to Syracuse. The sight of my daughter at the airport was the high point of my trip.

It's been a little difficult adjusting to the 6 hour time difference. I woke up at 3 AM today and didn't really get back to sleep till I had to get up at 6. I'll try and skip my afternoon siesta today and see if I can stay up a little later and sleep in till 6 tomorrow.

Yesterday I got my pictures developed. Yes, old fashioned film. Here are a couple from one roll. I'm still not quite sure how to put on captions, but maybe they will magically appear.

Heading Home

Packing

Tomorrow I start heading home. A two day trip with a 20 hour layover in Johannesburg. Should be able to get a night's sleep and be a tourist for a half day.

Yesterday I had 8 people show up at my afternoon lecture. A new world record. At first only interns would come to the lectures. Then a couple COSMOS (Community Service Medical Officers) started coming. And yesterday one of the senior medical officers appeared. Too bad that I have to leave now that I'm on a roll.

Today there was a shortage of consultants to get the first cases of the day started. So, I deputized myself and helped one of the medical officers start anesthesia on a 3 month old for a VP shunt. Then I went out to the orthopedic hospital to help. Broken humeruses and elbows seem to be the diseases of the week.

Tonight the volunteers are getting together for dinner at a local restaurant, Ebony. Ebony and Ivory. Does anyone have tickets for a Michael Jackson show? I haven't heard any news about him or Paris Hilton for 2 1/2 weeks. I am officially out of the loop.

Weekend

A couple nights ago the volunteers had dinner with a priest who was a chaplain for the ANC (Afican National Congress) when it was in exile in the 80's. He had a few stories about being deported, jailed and generally harassed when he was in South Africa during the fight against apartheid.

Yesterday was my big trip to Port St. John's on the Indian Ocean. Driving on the left wasn't quite as difficult as I expected. Avoiding people, cows, horses, sheep, goats, and mules every few miles was. The road itself was pretty good, but slowing down from 60 mph to avoid jaywalking cows was a test of reflexes. When we got to the beach the shark flags were up so I didn't go swimming. But the restaurant overlooking the bay was open and we had a leisurely lunch. The town itself was busy, hot and dusty. Most of the small surrounding villages don't have anything more than small convenience stores. It looked like everyone had come to town to shop and stock up on supplies for the week. Sidewalks were filled with vendors and people overflowed into the streets.

Today I went to the cathedral for Palm Sunday services. There was a blessing of the palms and a procession down the street into church. I taped the music on my cell phone. Maybe I'll be able to put it on the blog when I get home. Halfway through the Gospel I had a sinking feeling. Last week they read the Gospel in both Xhosa and English. Would we have to listen to the Passion twice? It was already over 80 and the church was packed. And of course, no air conditioning. But we only listened to the Xhosan translation. For some reason we sang three songs in the middle of the Gospel. All together, with the blessing of the palms, the procession, the longest gospel of the church year, a sermon, and about 20 assorted songs the Mass lasted 2 1/2 hours. This would not be acceptable back home.

This afternoon will be a shopping day. They have a local red table wine from Chateau Libertas that costs $2.50 a bottle but they have been sold out at the nearest liquor store. And I'd like to get some music. I bought a CD from the South African Music Awards which had 21 different artists. The "Gang of Instruments" had a pretty good track, so I'll get one of their CD's. Fololo, a local jazz musician, has something coming out this week. If I had planned ahead I would have made plans to go the Capetown Jazz Festival this weekend. Too bad it's 700 miles and a 13 hour drive away.

Itipini

Sorry for dwelling on the power and water outages. These temporary inconviences are nothing compared to spending every day without power or running water as many people do. There are between 125,000 and 300,000 people in Umtata and the surrounding areas. I couldn't guess how many live off the grid. Unemployment is between 50 and 70%. Between 10 and 25% of people carry HIV. It's hard to make estimates because stigmata of having the disease keeps people from being tested. People are a lot alike everywhere.

Today I visited Itipini. It's a shantytown built on an abandoned dump on the edge of town. Even though I had seen pictures and knew about the clinic there, I wasn't quite prepared for what I saw. No electricity or running water. "Houses" built out of discarded pieces of wood, tin, plastic, canvas and whatever else could be scavanged. But, the people were friendly and the kids were great. The sight of a camera was cause for big smiles. How can people with so little appear so happy? It you want to see pictures by a professional photographer, google "Itipini". If you wan to read a blog by a professional journalist/volunteer, google "Jesse Zink" or "Mthatha".

This morning I was at the orthopedic hospital 6 km. from town. Helped take care of a 6 mo. old with osteomyelitis of the forearm and tibia. And then a patient in the High Care Ward (ICU) with a cervical spine injury had a cardiorespiratory arrest. He was resuscitated, but since they don't have ventilators, he came to the OR and was kept on the anesthesia ventilator till the ambulance arrived. Luckily I didn't have to ride to town over the pot holes. The EMT's seemed competent as long as we provided them with a tank of oxygen and an Ambu bag for the trip.

Three Days

After being here a week I am adjusting to a different rhythm of life. There are three kinds of days: Water days, Power days, and Power & Water days. Yesterday was a Power day. Today we had both Power and Water. Everything at the hospital worked. At least till the suction failed in the afternoon. The anesthesia machines are brand new Ohmeda S/5's, but the probes fail quite regularly. There are sometimes extras around if a room is not being used. Sometimes not.

Part of my day is spent on ICU rounds. Several tragic trauma cases. Relatively young people involved in accidents at places 2-4 hours away. Poor prognosis for what look to me like non-life threatening injuries.

Next weekend I hope to see the ocean. It will mean renting a car and driving a standard transmission from the right side of the car. The local traditional healers are alleged to be throwing bloody carcasses into the ocean at Port St. John's. This seems to attract sharks. Who have attacked two surfers this year. Statistically, I think I will be safe swimming. There have only been two attacks so far this year. And they have been in deeper water. On the other hand it will be even safer on the beach. Port St. John has a small artists' colony so that is another reason to go. Or, I could go to a traditional village and sleep in one of the round houses with a thatched roof. Either choice looks good.