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.