Oh hey Simba!

It’s been a crazy week! Last Friday we had some down time and a lot of us got some of our homework done… I’ve found it’s ridiculously hard to focus here because it’s just so pretty and I’d much rather sit and read for fun than work on school… but oh well =) That night a group of us went out to a restaurant called, the Keg and Hedgehog. I got Chicken Fingers and they were probably the best I’ve ever had, mostly because I really miss American food haha

Saturday was AMAZING!!! We went to this place called the Birds of Prey and we got to see a whole bunch of vultures, owls, and other birds that are native to South Africa. After that we got to go see LIONS! There was a fence between us and the lions, but they were coming right up to the fence so we got some amazing pictures. And I actually got the courage to reach my hand through the fence to pet a lion!!! It was so incredible being up close with gigantic, scary lions, but so much fun! We also got to go to this place called World’s View where we had incredible views over Pietermaritzburg. It was beautiful!

Sunday we went to church, we have 3 different options and I went to God’s Family Life Center. Everyone was so welcoming and the music/worship was amazing. So full of life and energy and true, honest praise. After that, most of us had to spend the rest of the day doing homework. I definitely took the most amazing nap outside. I was lying on a blanket near the waterfall with the sun shining down on me… by far the best nap I’ve ever taken!!!

Monday was filled with classes. I loved learning more about the history and culture of South Africa, it’s really interesting and I realized I barely know anything about it. My favorite part of the day was aerobics =) I brought a DVD called TurboJam, which is kind of like kickboxing. Well we decided that a couple of us would do the workout in the room where we have a large projector screen hooked up to a DVD player. We invited everyone to come, but didn’t think that many would be interested in it. Well it turns out that between 15 and 20 people came (that’s 1/2 - 2/3 of our group)!!!! So we were all in this room doing kickboxing and it was incredible!

On Tuesday the nursing students got to go back to our clinical sites. I was in the pediatric ward, which I really enjoyed. I got to help the nurse with the assessments and she even let me do a couple by myself. A lot of them were just there for the common cold, but we saw about 3 patients with pneumonia. One little boy walked up to me and was just staring at me and then coughed in my face…5 minutes later we diagnosed him with pneumonia… AWESOME! Haha One case that I found sad was a young boy around 3 years old who is HIV positive. After an assessment the nurse diagnosed him as having pneumonia and she told me to listen to his lung sounds. His lungs were so tight and so full of junk, I was surprised he could breathe at all. Later the Dr. showed me the chest X-rays that the child had done, and it turns out he had pneumonia as well as tuberculosis. This kid was so miserable and it was hard to see all his health problems. It’s interesting to compare what I’ve seen here with my hospital experiences in the U.S. This little boy would have had his own room to isolate the spread of any of his respiratory infections (especially TB!) where he could watch TV, play videogames, order food whenever he wanted, the list goes on. The care is at such extremes, it’s sometimes hard to comprehend.

The next day, Wednesday, I got to work in the PMTCT or the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission unit. This area of the clinic works to prevent the spread of HIV from HIV+ mothers to their children. The nurse I worked with that day was in charge of reading TB skin tests, doing blood draws, and assessments of babies! At this clinic, if a mother is HIV+ they suggest that 6 weeks after a child is born the parents should have their children tested for HIV. The test is a simple heel stick, so I watched a couple and saw how the test was set up. We saw a couple of patients come in to get their TB skin tests read. Two of the patients had higher reactions and had to get sent for chest X-rays to confirm or deny the existence of TB. Then a woman, in a different room went into labor (prematurely). Everything happened so quickly and I didn’t get into the actual room until the baby was being wrapped in a towel by the nurse. This was also extremely different from the U.S. It would take me forever to try and explain everything, but it was interesting to observe. And the baby was SO CUTE!! Very tiny, but adorable! At dinner that night the table I was sitting at got into some really interesting conversations. We discussed healthcare in the United States and compared the two systems, as well as the future possibilities for the U.S. It was just so nice being able to share our opinions and not be judged and to truly discuss an issue that is huge to us right now.

Today, Thursday, was our day off. Technically it was to work on homework for our online classes, but a lot of us needed a relaxing day to just unwind, especially with all of our clinical experiences this week. Two back-to-back clinical days is very emotionally and physically draining. It was nice, we went to the nearby mall and a couple of us grabbed some coffees =) So delicious! Then later we got to go out to PIZZA! And it was really good, surprisingly! They had a bacon and banana pizza… I wasn’t feeling that adventurous today, but maybe next time.

This is such a long post! And I have so much more that I wish I could share!!! This weekend we’re going into Durban and we’re excited for the beach and some good, local shopping =) I really do miss everyone!! I hope everyone’s doing well! Keep me updated on your lives!

God bless,

Kelsey

Zebras and monkeys and buck oh my

I can’t believe we’ve only been gone a week! It’s not a bad thing, but it feels like it’s been at least 2 weeks. After I blogged on Tuesday, 6 of us decided to go for a run. There’s a nature reserve called Queen Elizabeth Park (QEP) that’s less than ¼ of a mile away from AE, where we were told we could run. Supposedly the run is about 5 kilometers or 3.2 miles... but not when you get lost =) In the beginning of our run we saw 3 zebras just chillin’ on the side of the road eating some grass, it was incredible! And the whole “course” was absolutely gorgeous, it’s so green and we went uphill a lot so we had some amazing views.

When we realized we had gone too far, but we asked for directions and finally ended up on the main road…4 km away from campus (uphill) haha We eventually made it back just in time for dinner.

The next day, Wednesday, was a day off for nursing majors… it’s not actually a day off, we have 2 writing intensive classes that are online so those are our homework days. Most of us were actually extremely productive and got everything we needed to done!

But that’s boring so on to the fun story. I don’t know if I already said that there are monkeys on our campus, but there are monkeys EVERYWHERE! At orientation we were told not to back down from a monkey, because it makes them feel superior. Anyways, I walked out of my chalet to go to my friend’s room and there were some monkeys kind of far away and I just ignored them and kept walking. ALL OF A SUDDEN… about 10 monkeys came down from the tree and from the lawn and blocked my exit! It was so scary! And I didn’t know what to do and I tried to shoot fake guns at them, and yell at them, but they kept coming closer!!! So I retreated, extremely quickly, back to my chalet almost in tears (not really, but I was terrified!) That’s my scary monkey story and I’m sure I’ll have more in the weeks to come!!!! We also went on another run, got to see some buck (antelope), and didn’t get lost this time, YAY!!!!!

Today, Thursday, was the first day that us nursing majors got to go out to the clinics! 3 of us went to East Boom Clinic, which is located right here in Pietermaritzburg. I got to spend the day in the ARV section of the clinic. ARV stands for antiretroviral, which are drugs used to treat HIV. At first, I helped the nurses by signing in patient’s while they filled out the charts. After tea break, I got to go back to the amagazi room or “bloods” room, where they do blood draws for tests. I didn’t get to draw blood, but I helped the nurse out by setting up the bags and forms to send the blood samples to the lab. In the hospital in the U.S. I sometimes feel like I get in the way of the nurses, but here I actually got to make a difference. I helped the nurses, which allowed them to see more patients quicker than they normally would have. It was kind of sad, because by 2:00 PM (7 hours after opening) the clinic had already seen 175 patients, all of which were HIV+. That was ONE day… the clinic is open Monday-Friday and each day is just as busy if not busier. To see this disease up close is heartbreaking. You see the mothers that are HIV+ with their children and wonder what’s going to happen to them… are they going to be motherless soon or are they infected with HIV? The questions are endless. I’m going back to East Boom clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, and will get to go to the TB clinic and hopefully pediatrics.

This weekend we get to go see the birds of Africa and lions!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait! Thank you for your continued prayers! I miss everyone! And I definitely got a craving for Chipotle and In-N-Out already… uh-oh! Oh yeah and P.S. I still suck at isiZulu haha

Ngiyakuthanda (I think that means love in Zulu),

Kelsey

“You wrote a 200 page paper?... That’s almost as hard as Zulu”

We’re finally on campus and all settled in! On Sunday we flew into Durban and were greeted by Reg, who is in charge of API (Azusa Pacific International, South Africa). Then all 29 of us loaded our luggage and ourselves into a couple vans for the hour drive to Pietermaritzburg. It was a beautiful drive! It’s so green and there are so many different types of trees and flowers everywhere. We were so excited when we saw the sign for African Enterprise, which is the name of the conference center that we stay at! First, we got assigned to our rooms. We’re staying in these cute little chalets that have 2 floors and 4 rooms per floor (on each floor there are 2 double rooms and 2 single rooms). I have a room to myself on the second floor and it’s incredible!! The room itself is nice and cozy… very simple, which is just what we need… but then I looked out the window!! Oh my goodness, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Right outside my window is some of the greenest grass and trees I’ve ever seen, oh wait and a WATERFALL!!!! It’s about 20-something feet (I think, I honestly have no idea). And I get to fall asleep to the sound of it every single night! Okay I know you’re all jealous so I’ll stop bragging =)

The rest of Sunday was just filled with orientation and a couple of us explored the grounds, which are absolutely gorgeous! On Monday we started our day off with chapel, which in this small community was amazing. After chapel we had a tea break (yup, this is heaven). We get 2 tea breaks a day. One at 10:30 AM and one at 4:00 PM, it’s a rough life haha. After tea, the 9 nursing majors on campus got to meet our professors and look at our schedules. We get to start in the clinics on Thursday, which I am so stoked about! After our 4 PM tea break all 29 of us got to go to introductory isiZulu, which is an introduction to the language, Zulu, enough for us to have very limited conversations… mostly greetings. Um can I just tell you that Zulu is extremely difficult, and that’s an understatement. That is where the title of this post came from haha. Here’s a little example of a simple greeting formula basically saying hello, how are you, and good.

Sawubona
Yebo, sawubona
Unjani?
Ngisaphila. Wena unjani?
Nami ngiyaphila
Kuhle. Ngiyajabula ukuzwa lokho.

And on top of that there are different clicks for c’s, q’s, and x’s. I can’t even being to try and explain them, but it’s an adventure to say the least! And now today’s Tuesday! We had the introduction to history and culture of South Africa, and a man named, Michael Cassidy, who is the CEO of African Enterprise, told us a summary of South African history. It was really interesting and I can’t wait to learn more in our weekly class. After that we had Community health (nursing) and talked about the history of nursing in South Africa. The differences in the between the scope of practices for U.S. nurses and S.A. nurses is really fascinating. When they complete their 4 years of nursing studies, they graduate with being certified in midwifery, psychiatric nursing, and community nursing. And then we talked about our clinic sites, which we get to visit Thursday!!!!!! I can’t wait to get out into the community and learn more about the health care over here. I’ll probably blog again on Thursday about my experiences!

I am just absolutely loving it here! I was so nervous to leave at first, but I can’t imagine not doing this now. It’s hard being away from all my friends and family and people that I love, but I know that this is where God wants me. I can already tell He’s going to teach all 29 of us amazing things, and I can’t wait to see how we all change over the next couple of months. And a little side note… everyone here this semester is incredible and I can’t wait to get to know them more!

I hope you are all doing well at home!!! I miss you all a lot, so come visit =)

God bless!

I'm falling asleep...

to the waterfall right outside my window... is this really my life? God is amazing!

Joburg!

Okay so normally I won’t blog 2 days back to back, but we did a lot today and I have some free time now so I thought I’d share with everyone! We started the day off with going to the Apartheid museum, here in Joburg. It was really cool to get some history behind the country we are going to call home for the next 3 months. I copied down some of the information from one of the placards in the museum, it read:

“By 1960 the efforts by apartheid state to contain the size of urban African population had failed. State planners developed the policy of population removals: forcibly uprooting whole communities of people, considered by the state to be ‘surplus’ to the labour needs of the cities or otherwise inappropriately located. Removals began mid 1960’s and ten years later over 1.5 million people had been relocated to black resettlement camps, suitably far removed from white areas.”

The museum was filled with information just like this… it was really sad to see and we definitely went through many emotions to say the least. Some people were feeling guilty and so a group of us talked about it with sour student life coordinator, Leslie (who is absolutely amazing). A woman from western Africa came up to us and said she felt guilty, because her ancestors sold her own people into slavery. It’s an interesting feeling, because even though we have not directly enslaved anyone we feel the pain and we empathize with those who have been hurt by our ancestors.

After the museum we met up with a woman named Alina who showed us around Soweto (South west township). There is a lot of government subsidized housing that people are able to get for different levels of income. It was really fascinating to see the different “levels” of housing there were and just see the communities that people live in. She took us to her restaurant for lunch and we had a real African meal with chicken, lamb, corn and potato dishes and a couple other random things I can’t remember. It was pretty good, definitely different from the U.S. and I’m already missing Chipotle uh oh. And when we were done with lunch some of the boys from the neighborhood danced for all us, it was FLIPPIN’ AMAZING!!!! There really isn’t anyway to describe it, but I wish I could dance like that. After that we saw Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu’s house. It’s the only street where two Nobel Peace Prize winner’s live, pretty crazy considering they were less than ¼ of a mile from each other! The rest of the day was pretty chill and now we’re getting ready to leave for Pietermaritzburg! We leave the hotel tomorrow at 7 AM and fly to Durban then drive to our campus, African Enterprise (AE) conference center and home for the next 10 or so weeks! Thanks everyone for your continued prayers! Don’t forget to let me know how you are all doing through e-mails/comments!!!

God bless,

Kelsey

P.S. I'll probably post pictures once we get settled on campus, so get excited!!!!!

YAY!

We made it safely to South Africa!!!! We landed in Johannesburg at 8:15 AM our time (we're 9 hours ahead of California). The flight was ridiculous haha we had a 5 hour flight from LAX to JFK and then a 5 hour layover in JFK then we boarded South African Airlines for a lovely 14.5 hour flight!!! I got an aisle seat, PRAISE THE LORD!!!! The flight was smooth but I definitely only got about a total of 4 hours of sleep on that flight so I watched lots of movies! When we got into Joburg we all got on a bus, went to lunch and then we got to go to a Theme Park! I would like to say that we got to do this while all of you students were in class bahaha! The park was fun, but they have crazy rides that I'm sure would not necessarily pass U.S. standards haha A couple of us went on a tube raft ride thing that takes you down the "white rapids" and it definitely got stuck. At least 4 other rafts passed us before we were able to start moving again, but the saying we've all been told to get used to is TIA (this is Africa). After the theme park we finally got to check in at our hotel and now we're just getting ready before dinner. Let me tell you, that was the most amazing shower ever!!!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that went to the send off at APU. It meant so much to have you all there and I seriously can't express how loved I felt! And thank you to everyone for your supports, your prayers, and your thoughts! Hopefully I'll be able to update in the next couple of days, but TIA so I guess I won't really know! Love you all!!!

God bless,

Kelsey