Afgelopen weekend ben ik gewoon in Nkhoma geweest, een rustig weekend thuis. Op zondag morgen om 5.30 opgestaan om de zonsopgang te zien. Ik had zaterdag al een btje last van mijn voet en zondag nog iets meer, maar ik dacht dat gaat wel over. Zondagnacht deed het zo’n pijn dat ik paracetamol slikte om te kunnen slapen. Op maandag smste ik Janneke(verpleegkundige) om te vragen of ze even naar mijn voet wilde kijken en dat ik dacht dat ik gewoon medicijnen nodig had, net zoals bij mijn ontstoken vinger.

Ze kwam kijken en dacht dat iemand het waarschijnlijk even open moest snijden. Ik maakte me al weer zorgen om de prikken. Om 10.30 besloot ik dat ik een half uurtje zou wachten met Janneke nogmaals bellen, de pijn werd erger, en ik hoopte dat het ook weer zou verminderen. Maar 5 minuten later belde ik omdat het niet echt meer te houden was. Janneke zei dat Daniel de beste was en dus belde ik hem. Hij zei kom maar langs bij de ART clinic. Dus ik onderweg, nadat hij een patient geholpen had keek hij naar mijn voet. Hij schreef het een en ander voor en zei ga het eerst maar halen en kom dan terug. Dus ik naar pharmacie, en toen naar de kassa om mn medicijnen af te rekenen. De rij was lang en ik stond in de zon. Ik voelde mn knieën schokken en dacht dit voelt niet goed! Ik kon niet blijven staan en viel tegen de man voor me aan, hij greep mijn armen vast op een of andere manier en ik lande langzaam op de grond. Ik was flauw gevallen en ik kon niet voor me uit kijken, ik zag allemaal vlekken. Ik kon Janneke bellen en zeggen waar ik ongeveer was en dat ik was flauwgevallen.

Er kwam een verpleegkundige langs en die hielp me opstaan. Ik denk dat ze me naar de schaduw wilde brengen, maar dat haalde ik niet, ik zei dat ik tegen de muur wilde leunen, maar daar storte ik weer in. Ellen Chizimba (een collega) was er ook bij en Janneke haalde een rolstoel. Ze brachten me naar private waar ik op het bed ben geklommen op een of andere manier. Toen ik lag ging het allemaal eindelijk wat beter en kon ik Janneke weer helemaal zien. In private was ook Niyatipa (een vrouwelijke clinical officer) me allemaal vragen stelde over mijn ontbijt, of ik een bijzonder dieet volgde en wat er met mijn voet aan de hand was. Ontbijt, okay had beter gekund(sinasappel en een cracker). Bijzonder dieet, nee niet echt, hou nog steeds teveel van lekker eten en taarten bakken. Mijn voet, ontstokken, waardoor? geen idee! Oja en ook nog de vraag wanneer ik mijn laatste malariaprofilaxis op had..de avond ervoor.

Dus eigenlijk niks wat echt kon helpen. Zij en Ellen zagen dat ik aan het rillen was en ik verklaarde dat met de schrik en niet de kou.

Niyatipa moest naar theatre voor een operatie en Ellen moest ook weer aan het werk. Ze wensten me beterschap

Janneke regelde dat Daniel mijn voet ging behandelen terwijl ik op bed lag en ging spullen halen.

Toen ze weg was besefd ik me dat ik het dus echt ijskoud had en met wat moeite klimde ik onder de dekens. Mijn hoofdpijn ging al richting migraine en buiten dat moest ik van de schrik van het flauwvallen ontzettend huilen. Janneke kwam weer terug met spullen maar werd weggeroepen om een patient te halen bij theatre.

Charity kwam langs en vroeg hoe gaat het met de patient? Toen ze me zo in dat ziekenhuis bed zag liggen schrok ze toch wel even. Ze had niet gehoord dat ik was flauwgevallen en ook daar schrok ze van. Daniel kwam binnen en vond het niet nodig om even op Janneke te wachten. Zelfs mijn argument van: “Als ik je uitscheld, snapt tenminste iemand het” werkte niet, hij dacht dat zijn Nederlands wel ver genoeg rekte. En met Charity als mijn Guardian daar zou het volgens heb wel goed komen.

Het verdoven van mijn voet was verschrikkelijk en ja, ik heb hem wel uitgescholden, was blij dat hij het niet verstond. Heb hem in het engels gesmeekt om op te houden, gelukkig luisterde hij niet! Toen sneed hij mijn voet open en verwijderde alle pus..het werd verbonden. Janneke kwam terug en ik zei dat ik wel terug naar huis ging. Een beetje tegen het advies in want ze dacht dat het slimmer was nog even te blijven liggen. Op zich had ze wel gelijk.

Ik heb op kantoor mijn spullen ingepakt en wilde opstaan, ik besloot toen toch nog maar even te blijven zitten. Uiteindelijk ben ik naar huis gelopen en op bed gaan liggen. Ik had het zo koud! Dus ja even temperatuur gemeten en jahoor ik had koorts. ‘s Avonds was het al gezakt en had ik nog maar verhoging. Ik heb aardig wat ziekenbezoek gehad die dag, maar vooral ook veel geslapen.

Gister was ik thuis en heb ik nog wat aan mijn ubm geschreven en wat filmpjes gekeken. Vanmorgen heb ik er een half uur bijna overgedaan om van boven(guesthouse) naar het ziekenhuis te lopen. Maar ik heb 2 interviews gedaan dus dat was erg belangrijk en het lopen waard. Ik ga misschien zo nog even opzoek naar wat sterkere painkillers, want deze are not killing any pain whatsoever, the pain is more killing me.

Dus nu nog 7 inclusief deze stagedagen over en dan komen mn ouders:D:D Kijk er naar uit!

]]> http://willekesteen.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/het-ziekenhuis-van-binnen/feed/ 2 willekesteen http://willekesteen.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/memorable-moments-quotes/ http://willekesteen.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/memorable-moments-quotes/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:30:49 +0000 Willeke Steen http://willekesteen.wordpress.com/?p=863 ]]> Hai Everyone,

The internet is working for the second day, so I thought let me take the chance to update you all and write something here.

So it has been a while since I last wrote something, about a month, and I have only 2 weeks and 2 days left of my placement. And 3 weeks and 2 days of Malawi left:-(.

Last time I wrote about Petros, the Malawian eye-doctor, well he really got to know us. At one of his last nights we had a waterfight, started by Ellen and Janneke (for people who know them both, yes of course!) Marieke and I also joined in. Petros was sitting relaxed at the table, until Marieke made him part of the fun. He was really surprised and ran to the toilet. He was saying he wasn’t so wet at all, so Marieke stood in front of the door and when he opened and saw her, he screamed: “I AM, I AM, I AM!!!!” He really appreciated being treated the same. On his last night he was watching soccer somewhere with people from work and he taped his door with seven balloons saying: “We will miss you!” I was working when he left but we found out he put all the balloons in the trunk of his car.

One night we invited Maralise over for dinner and we enjoyed the food and her company. We started talking about the pork at the market and she said the goats are also very nice. She touched her, shoulder and arms and said of a female goat, the front legs are very nice! Was so funny, just difficult to describe.

The other day I was sitting on the steps in front of the house, waiting for butterflies to come, so I could capture them on a picture. Maralise was on her way back to work and stopped to talk for a second, when I made a picture of her, she acted like a butterfly (see pictures;)).

In the house there have been some new additions, Matthea and Rick, who already left as well. Matthea and I shared a room, she took leave from her work to come for 3 weeks and help Willeke Ter Haar out with her school. Rick was in between studies and decided to join and experience Malawi. We had a lot of fun with them.
In the same they where her and about the same time they left Tamara, was in the house and also left again. Tamara is just as Petros a eye doctor from Blantyre, doing a elective in Nkhoma eye hospital. Tamara is a woman with big and strong opinions and I don’t easily back down in a discussion either. However after three evenings filled with discussion, I was too tired to participate. Rick even said to her face: “You have a big mouth!”, it wasn’t meant to offend, and she wasn’t, but it was really funny. She is a lovely person and she had to fight to come where she is now. If I go to Blantyre, in my weeks left or any other time in the future I can always go to her. She went along with me and Ellen to Lilongwe and we crossed the bridge between the normal and vegetable market and she was so scared. Ellen and I needed to hold her hand and she found it amazing that we needed to pay to be allowed to cross (10 MWK=5 cent).   
There is also a medical student in the house again, Hamish, from New Zealand. He is for 8 weeks in total in the hospital. Last weekend I joined him to Senga bay, Cool runnings again, was lots of fun! Not much sun though, very high waves! Hamish has this thing for Madasi, vetcakes, oliebollen(niet zo zoet), fried buns/rolls or however you want to call them, this weekend he ate, 3 on Friday, 7 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday..just crazy. We were walking in Senga and he was like: “I smell them, just need to find them!” I will never look the same at an oliebol!
Oh and Lombani left:-(, he had to go to a health centre to finish his study, but he did not feel like leaving, and was not sure if he would return to Nkhoma, bit sad saying good bye again to a good friend.

 Ellen’s birthday was on the 8^th of June and Rick’s birthday was on the 15^th of June. For the occasion I bought some food colouring. Ellen favourite colour is blue and for Rick it is green. When Ellen makes cookies in the house she always makes them heart shaped. Therefore I had the great idea for a coffee cake and because Marie taught me how to make good butter icing (thanks!) I was able to make a beautiful bleu heart coffee cake. Besides that we had a cinnamon/apple cake and an orange cake. What went on even more that evening is that some people shouldn’t be left alone with food colouring.
For Rick I made brownies, with green icing with the red leaflike flowers that grow everywhere in Malawi (kerst sterren) because at his home they grow these flowers. The cake looked like it was meant for Christmas, Janneke made a appeltaart and I also made boterkoek. So lots of cakes in very very little time;) And this time Ellen could join Janneke in the fun of innovative ways to use food colouring…in the back of my mind I was hoping it wouldn’t go off anymore…anyway it came of easy and the next day they wouldn’t scare the cildren more than our skin already does.   

In the meantime there has also been another Dutch ‘builders’ group from Houten, to work on the renovation of the maternity ward. So that was two weeks of lots of seeing (not eating) lots of Dutch cheese, hagelslag and Rookworsten in the house.

Janneke, Ellen and Marieke, moved to the Veitch’s house. Reinnette Veitch is the manager of the guesthouse. She asked them and me, to move in their in the time she is away with her family in South-Africa. I decided to stay in the guesthouse.

3 Irish guys arrived last week and stayed at first in Sam Kabota’s (paediatrics clinical officer) guesthouse. Sam charges more than the guesthouse, and it is a lot more basic. Anyway they are now for 2 more weeks in Nkhoma, and are then going to travel in Africa.

Oh and also a memorable moment, Willeke using a virusscan and afterwards being unable to start up the computer. Yes, my computer crashed, and No, I did not back-up everthing..
The only file I had was the UBM, that most annoying and motivation draining report. So at least that is almost finished. My computer is home by the way, Cobi from the group van Houten took it home, and my father picked it up already… hopefully he and Lex will find my files. My pictures are saved by the way;)

I know I have been away long enough and that is almost time to come home, but it just feels sad. I am very happy that I can show my parents the people I have met, Nkhoma, the lake and a bit of Malawi. Because I can tell about it and show pictures, but is a feeling I have when I walk from the Veitch’s house to the guesthouse in the dark is that I feel like I am going home. The other day when I was walking with Hamish to the minibus to Nkhoma, this taxi driver asked me where are you going? And I said: “Home”, so he offered a taxi ride to the airport… Nkhoma Mountain is in sight a lot of times, also when you go to Senga Bay and that is home, unfortunately just for a couple of weeks more.

Don’t get me wrong, I will be very happy to see everyone again. But the Netherlands are just no match for Malawi. I mean an attempt on the royal family on Queensday and the PVV is the biggest winner in the elections for the European parliament, I don’t really know what is going on there, but can you blame me? Not everything is great here and yes I still get annoyed when people arrive 30 minutes later, but in the end it doesn’t really matter;-)

Okay anyway, I am going to try to resize my pictures on Ellen’s computer and upload them and I will write again I guess.

Willeke
I also added some old Senga Bay pictures of myself that Ellen made!!

After work on Friday we went towards Nkhoma Mountain. We past by the home of family Ter Haar. Where Raynier Ter Haar, the Medical director of the hospital, asked us if it was okay if his dogs, Spots and Tinka would come along..

When we said we would managed without them, he added: “But they really want to”

So we took them along, or more they ran in front of us and we followed the way they showed us. Very smart dogs. We made it to the hut around 5, at 6 it would be darker so after some resting we made(read: 4 girls made) our own campfire. At some point the dogs started barking, there where some Malawian people approaching, and Malawians really do not like dogs. They were scared to walk further until we called the dogs, great guardsman, and the way they listen to us, wish my dog was like that. 

On the fire we boiled water for soup, and with a stick we put our marshmallows and bread dough (that Metrine prepared for us) in the fire. Some of us gave Tinka and Spots some of their bread and others burned their bread. But we had a lot of fun. I also had some chocolate milk packages with me (dankje pap!) which were perfect for the occasion.

We went to bed when it was getting colder..just something everyone forgot to mention me is that in the mountain hut the temperatures are really really low…all I took with me was a sheet and a jacket…the rest also had a blanket. I did not sleep much, because I was frozen, but the others also didn’t sleep much.

The next morning the alarm went off at 4.15, just for us to discover it was still really really dark outside… so at 5 we started to get out off bed, to discover Spots was no where to be found..

Knowing that usually Spots and Tinka go home anyway we continued with our climb to the top. Halfway there we saw part of the sunrise, because we were in between the two rocks. It was quite a hike, where sometimes the grass was very functional to grab to be a bit steadier. Forgetting some of the slidings (mostly made by me) it was a nice climb. Around 6 we reached the top.

Where we made amazing pictures and of course did some crazy stuff. We had a chupa chupa lolly and enjoyed the view. We could see Lilongwe and the lake!! We also could see little fires everywhere and the villages. We also texted Raynier about Spots, he was safe at home, and that the helicopter could come to pick us up at 9.00:P.

Going down was even more interesting, because it is a lot more dangerous. Going up we could crap branches and grass going down, was down by Ellen and me a lot more in a sitting and just sliding (again especially me) position.

Back at the hut we cleaned up and took our bags and we where brought Tinka home (or she us) around 9.30. For next time we can borrow sleeping bags of Ter Haar.

At home there was ¼ of Coffee cake, made by me, waiting for each of us. First thinking this was too much, everyone agreed, in the end, it was just enough.

After a shower and a nap in the garden in the sun, I was even ready to go to Nkhoma market again.

So that was last weekend.

This week I have been busy with finally putting all Home based care client names in a database…all 410 finally done! After that I had to check if there were double names, or almost double names. Seeing that everything is handwritten by different people registered names seem to differ with the second. Next to that I finally have the names of the referred patients (which are only 70, but there are 410 clients so that is a bit weird, and it is only of 2008…) and finally have a list of 17 referred but unregistered patients… which means I can start interviewing them and finally finish my research! Which means I have time to work on my UBM of the department, UBM=Universal Business Model, a model to analyse an organisation, or better said, the most-boring-report-to-write-ever-which-drains-all-my-new-found-motivation…

Besides that I finally have the video material of the visit of the moderator, which I could edit, and with that I discovered, our idol(s) performance is also recorded..:s 

Anyway lots of love from not so warm Malawi(at least n), see you soon, Willy 

We were staying at cool runnings, a nice place, when we entered cool runnings, we saw a blue car which was more than familiar to us. Jan & Trudi, Jack & Henriette and Nel where also staying there! Was nice to see them outside Nkhoma for a change. Besides them there was another group of 4 Dutch students staying. With 2 of them(the other 2 left earlier that day) we talked and enjoyed a improvisted fire on the beach. They are in Malawi for 2.5 weeks and are doing a project, but did not calculate how slow things move in a African country..So a lot of Dutch people, always make you conscious about what you are saying..and that there are people who can understand it.;)

On Tuesday May 19th the elections were taking place here in Malawi. On Wednesday they were counting the votes and with some delay, it was already quite obvious in the beginning that President Bingu W. Mutharika would be re-elected. To great joy of the people who I share my office with. On Thursday the real results were in and, yes the president and the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) is re-elected. There was no violence in Lilongwe, or Blantyre(the major cities) and also not in the rest of the country. It is the first election in Malawi without violence and trouble, or so I am told. I would like to say bad stuff as well, but unfortunatly that is not possible. When we were in Senga there was an accident on the road between Nkhoma and Kamphata(15 km further). There was an ambulance coming from Nathenje Health centre transporting a woman in labour. On the road after Kamphata there was a demonstration for the upcoming elections on the road! The ambulance hit the crowd. 4 people died instantly, and 7 more on the scene, and more are in critical condition in the hospital, or have died already and I haven’t heard. Another ambulance was send from the hospital, transporting nurse students which went in the ambulance without thinking and went to the scene and did all the could. The patient in labour made it out safely.
The crazy thing about this is that the day before, the Friday there also was an accident on the road. Jeltje (a nurse working with the nurse students) was driving and Maralise (our sweet, lovely and caring neighbour and retired nurse from South-Africa) was sitting beside her, they where on their way to Lilongwe. They took over a bicycle and for some reason the man on the bicycle speeded up during that and lost control of his bicycle and went in front of the car.
The man made it out OK and Jeltje’s car not so much. Jeltje and Maralise are both still shocked.
But after Saturday everything could have been so much worse.

OK so that is the bad stuff..but no shooting and other violence intended to disrupt the election or the result. And ofcourse some of the opposistion people are saying the results are false and denying that the president is re-elected. The former president and other opposistion party wishes Bingu all the best and respects the choice of the people of Malawi.

So that is it for now..
This afternoon we are going to try and conquer Nkhoma Mountain, or at least go to the hut and sleep there and go up tomorrow morning to see the sunrise;)

Lots of love, Willeke

Ok that was the power and with that my internet so I will probably put this online Tuesday seeing that I will go to Senga again this weekend with Marieke and Ellen, two nurse students from Ede. In the house right now there is only a nurse left Janneke and a Malawian doctor Petros. Petros is here for the eye hospital for 1 more week. He is a real Malawian doctor, a medical officer. I am not sure if I ever mentioned the shortage of real Malawian doctors, nowadays there are each year 48 new doctors graduating, but when he became a doctor, in 2003, there were only 12! Just so you know, Malawi has a population of 14 million, and a lot of the Malawian doctors are abroad and not in Malawi where there is a real need for them.
Anyway the house is not packed with people anymore.
I had to say goodbye a lot last weekend, and it really doesn’t get easier. The builders from Houten left on Friday morning. On Thursday during lunch they arranged a chips party for their fellow builders and the rest of the guesthouse was also invited. At night we had a dessert party! So Marie was baking cakes with help from Marieke, Jenny American/Canadian pancakes with help from Gerwim and I made stroopwafels and was making cinnamon rolls and Ellen, Jenny and I made a team effort for 15s a recipe left by Duncan..
We had a lot of fun and sweet food. Daniel showed up with some pumpkin! Was lovely. Just the 15s, a recipe of biscuit, condensed milk and marshmallows was not such a great success.
Friday I left with Jenny for Lilongwe, she needed to pick-up her dad from the airport and I went to immigration, after some more copying stuff and paying too much money, I finally had a receipt saying I applied for temporary residence, so that was taken care off.

Saturday morning we woke up at six to see Marie off..no saying goodbye, more a see-you-soon..which I plan to do..;)
On Saturday night there was an idol(s) evening planned. We decided during the week, Wednesday or something, to do something but as the week progressed we decided not to..still it came up a lot of times again and at 18.45 it was really time for a decision because it would start at 19.30. With encouragement from Ellen we decided to give it our all! So 15 minutes practise, 15 minutes diner and then some last minute touch ups..
We went there and registered ourselves as the Idolettes, with our song Super Trooper! We knew Jeltje, Bianca and Naomi were doing dancing queen, and after some discussion we where planned directly after their performance. We had lots of fun and the nursing students, for whom it was originally organised, loved us. After our performance and some pictures Jens father made. Jen, her dad, and I went home. About one hour later I got a call, we were runner-up?!, total surprise but 2nd place earned us a nice scarf..
On Sunday morning at a quarter to 9 I walked Jen and her dad to the minibuses and said see-you-soon again.
I made some crazy and amazing friendships in the past 12/13 weeks.. in a house like the guesthouse where people make their home for a couple of weeks or months, it is quite logical that sometimes things go wrong but in the end of the day, everyone can rant about the crazy, twisted and just-doesn’t-make-sense experiences in the hospital and everyone can make some nice comfort food or innovative ways, like my own cinnamon rolls, dancing in the living room or melting marshmallows over a candle, to ventilate all the frustrations and relieve the stress. It has proven to work, so why not?

Very much looking forward to being home in about 10 weeks and seeing my parents in 8 and Erik and Esther in 9 weeks, but still have a lot to do here, so better get back to it.

Lots of love, Willeke

Of course are the pictures not in order or anything, and not all are uploaded, so maybe on monday..

Finally internet is able to open my wordpress, so that I can leave a message and update about how I am doing. Yesterday I was in Lilongwe to sort some things out with immigration, and no it isn´t Ok yet, but that is not the point right now. I wanted to go to an internet cafe, that I could at least leave a message again. But I walked in to ask if they were open, they were, but they didn´t have power..typical around here.

In their case it was just a couple of hours, our guesthouse on the other hand did not have power from monday during lunch till tuesday during lunch. This time it was not a power cut, the synod, did not pay their bill. The debt was 100.000 kwacha(around 500 euro) amazing amount of money around here.

Ok that was just about this week, and I know I am a few weeks behind.. so I am just picking out some things that happend in the weekends and next time I will write more about work and stuff..

A weekend or some ago(25th of April) Maralise took Ruth, Marie, Jenny and me to Senga Bay. Maralise is a retired nurse from South-Africa, doing missionary work on the surgical ward of the hospital and lives in one of the sides of the guesthouse. She is a sweet lady, and knows a lot about Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. So all the questions about safaris and money issues also go to her.
The house in Senga Bay, on the lake, where we stayed is a CCAP (Christian Church of African Presbyterian) cottage, just like our guesthouse is. There is always a watchman, even when there is no one at the cottage. The watchman is a brother of one of our watchmen.
Maralise owns a car, where the four of us fit in perfectly and well, everything is better than a minibus.
We leaved the house at 7 on Saturday and stopped in Lilongwe to withdraw money, and I made the rest very happy with the news of finally finding chocolate spread in the supermarket. We drove further and bought a watermelon and tomatoes and continued to Salima where we bought 2 ripe Popo (papayas!)! When we arrived first thing was going on our ‘private’ beach and step into the lake.
We went swimming, rowing in a boat and getting a nice tan. Later we went for a very nice lunch at the wheelhouse and go the the market. Which consists of 49 shops, filled with wooden stuff and paintings, after 10 shops I had seen enough wooden statues and some paintings did stand out but others where the same as the past 30 shops. I did found some very nice ones. We returned home to chambo!!(fish) baked by the watchman and rice, and salad, really lovely!
Even though the fish is lovely Lake Malawi reminds me of one of our last assignment about Lake Mweru. The assignment was about overfishing. If you ask the Malawians do you ever catch no fish, they say there is plenty. However if you ask them if the fishes get smaller every year they say yes. They don’t understand why though. (too much fishing in the water, will first take the big fish out and the years after, fish do not have the full opportunity to grow before being fished out so the fish are smaller each year.)
Before everyone starts worrying about bilhartzia, yes the lake is contaminated with it. and yes I was told not to go swimming buy my GP and the student doctor. But in Africa they have antibiotic for it and seeing that we are friends with many clinical officers and the girls are allowed to write a prescription themselves there is no problem in getting that antibiotic. Seeing that with Easter we went to Cape McClear, in 2 weeks I will take the first dose. Cape McClear is a lot more clearer than Senga, which is what the bilhartzia likes. We heard from all the people who are already here for several years that Senga is clean. That is also why, little fish shouldn’t be fished out of the water, they keep the snails away.

So that was that weekend, last weekend we were in Lilongwe. Jenny, Marie and I invited Lombani and Chisomo to join is, we would pay there stay and food. They loved it. We stayed in Mabuya, a backpackers camp in Lilongwe where I have been before. We went out to Harry’s Bar, because Jenny’s boyfriend’s mother is a friend of Harry’s mom. and suprise, the mother even arrived there that evening, so that was a bog coinsedence. Harry’s bar had a very nice cocktail list(around 3euro’s each):P. The next day Lombani took us to meet his uncle and aunt, they raised him, because his parents died when he was little. His uncle and aunt come across as very nice, knowledgable people, but the question always remain if that is just because we are three white girls are if it is real. He has had a very diffecult life. His uncle drove us home afterwards.

Last week I moved rooms again, I had a one persons bedroom, moved out into Duncans room(1-persons room) when he left and a week later moved into Ruth room when she left(1-persons room as well), so I might not see the logic, but at least I am finally unpacked, room is still a mess though, but the suitcase is empty. Found that quite good of myself knowing that I have more weeks behind me than still to be here.

For almost 2 weeks there is a group from Houten here. They come to renovate the hospital, this group is breaking it down, the next group, arriving in June is going to rebuild it. The come from EMWT. I went with them to Lilongwe yesterday, to visit the wood ‘market’ it is more like the you-annoy-me-and-you-think-I-am-going-to-look-to-your-wood-stuff-and-pay-asungu-price market. But anyway, I ordered a painting for someone at home and gave half of the money to someone I don’t know, in the hope that the person who arranged it, James(friend of Daniel, clinical officer here in the hospital) is as trustworthy as everyone says.
So everyone around here would say, again a painting..ehm yes..I have a small addiction here, paintings and chintenji(fabrics, still not totally sure how it should be written though) So I can open my art gallery, at least that is what everyone says..I bought a lot of painting and fabrics.. but they are beautifull!
Ok, now I am going to figure out my database, and all the saving issues, that go along with it. I am going to try not to stress too much about the fact that my visa is expires next week and I am going to try to put some Senga bay pictures online;)

Miss you all, Willeke

Anyway, safari was great and relaxing and tuesday I was working in the office..and all I did was reading emails, replying and sending emails out. When I left Charity told me we were going to the field half an hour later, great..always love last-minute-change-of-plans. I received a monthly planning from her, but that only works, if there is a car, a driver, a good road(officialy rainy season is over, however you could be mistaken when you are here).
So plannings are always diffecult to stick to here, not a learning objective I will achieve here.

Wednesday I was only in the office for the morning, where we had a meeting at 9.00, we started at a quarter to ten..
Erik already noticed he might be turning to Malawian habits..anyway it was a nice meeting. The meeting was about the presentation on monday(6th april) for the Moderator of the Church of Schotland. This was a big presentation about the Nathenje Safe Motherhood program and the moderator was coming because it was 150 years ago that David Livingstone was in Malawi. Besides the fact that the moderator is treated as the president of Schotland, in his program there was also a meeting with the President of Malawi and he was driven around with convoi, the Church of Schotland funded the  Nathenje Safe Motherhood Program.

Wednesday afternoon we left for Mangochi, 6 hour drive south, where it is very warm and sticky. And they have lost of mosquitoes..so me sleeping under a net(always) and using repellent(DEET) still gave me 30 bites on my left arm and 20 on my right arm, and about 10 new ones on my legs in 2,5 days..quite a record, so with some anti-histamine, I am OK. Anyway Mangochi was a visit to learn from their Safe Motherhood Program. Their Safe Motherhood Program is more a Safe Familyhood Program, they involve the men in a very early stage, PERFECT!!

We went in the field as well, I understood from the rest this was the real field, honestly for me is it the same degree of  ‘in the field’ as in Nkhoma it is just  further away, 84 km from Mangochi=2,5 hours drive. We visited Traditional Birth Attendents, which are mostly elderly women, helping with the delivery in the field without any official material or training. Nowadays they are forbidden by the goverment to do a delivery!
This Safe Motherhood Progam even lets them, the chief and the community pay a fine if they perform a delivery. However when the woman is in destress or her situation is severe they are allowed to help her, if the inform the chief and group village headman.
Everything was in chichewa, but still I learned some things. On Friday we left Mangochi the planning was to leave at 11.00 o’clock, we actualy left at 21.00 o’clock..great..This led to me being home at 00.30, so I decided not to go to the lake, because than I had to leave at 6.00 on saturday and already come back on sunday to make sure that I was at home monday to record the whole Moderator-visit.

So Monday was a busy and stressy day..The moderator was supposed to arrive at 9.00, if he left on time, 6.00, from Blantyre(far south of Malawi). Convoi or not, either way, 3 hours to get from Blantyre to Nkhoma..impossible..
So he arrived around 11.30, he was suppose to leave at 15.00 and left around 17.00, I believe.
The day was quite a success. It was one of the first day to see Malawians stressed.

Yesterday was Tuesday and we went to Mchinci, left from Lilongwe, close to the Zambian border. To visit  a project of womengroups, which is a big part of Nathenje Safe Motherhood program. We returned to Nkhoma around 18.30 instead of 16.00.
So today I am in the office trying to do something on the research(the hospital might not be so big, but locating people is terrible) and ofcourse writing this;) Tomorrow one more day office or I might visit a health centre. And from Friday till Monday I will be in Cape McClear/Monkey Bay(believe me, the name is very typical), the lake near Mangochi..therefore I might go to a health centre tomorrow because it is near Cape McClear.

So next week I will be back with stories, pictures, mosquitoes bites and red skin, and a stomach filled with Chambo(fish!).

Lots of love and hugs, Willeke

They say a picture says more than 1000 words, and because of time pressure only pictures today of the last weekend.

This weekend I am at the lake, but maybe I will write something about the safari as well when I am back..

Knuffels Willeke

So monday it was Duncans birthday and he wanted pancakes, which Nienke and I made..I also made brownies.We were both wearing our titenzi’s:D
We just didn’t plan for so many people to come. So in the end Daniel went to pick up some extra eggs from his home..

Today it is Nienke’s last day here in the hospital. She is leaving tomorrow to travel for 4 more weeks. When Renate inlaws came they brought a big bag of toys for the peads department(kinder afdeling) So Nienke decided to give them today on her last day. It was really crazy. There are 160 children admitted, which means lots and lots of mothers, and children, and they look the same. So one moment one mother received 2 gifts, this was the alarm for all mothers to demand another gift. That is where she stopped. She would continue after rounds. but the pictures are great!

Tonight is her goodbye party, and for that I am making chips this afternoon, pictures will follow!

Hugs!!

Denk doe eens een berichtje in het oude vertouwde Nederlands..dus als er spelfouten in zitten..daarom schrijf ik dus in het engels;)

Oke dit weekend weer naar de stad geweest, we moesten even boodschappen doen bij een supermarkt..hoezo verwend;) We zijn op zaterdag even heen en weer gegaan.
In eerste instantie waren Nienke, Duncan en ik van plan om op vrijdag de berg op te lopen en dan daar te overnachten. Om vervolgens op zaterdag om 4 uur op te staan, om de zonsopgang te zien..Helaas was de hut volgeboekt..jammer! Maar nu konden we wel met Annette mee naar Lilongwe, want Hanneke was ziek geworden(is ze nog en we weten niet precies wat het is). Om 8 uur gingen we ongeveer weg van huis om in een minibus te gaan zitten, die echt stonk. We gingen eerst naar de markt.

Daar heb ik mijn nieuwste verslaving gezien, Titenzi’s!!!! Titenzi’s (als je het zo schrijft)..zijn stoffen, die alle vrouwen hier omwikkelen, als rok, als jurk, als babydraagzak, als tas, of  spullen mee omwikkelen om op hun hoofd te zetten.
Dus ik dacht ik ga eerst rondkijken, dat deed ik en toen ging ik dingen kopen. Ach ja en als de meiden dan zeggen, denk nou eens na wat het kost..2 meter is 400 kwacha..iets meer dan 2 euro! dan ben ik zo om, dus uitendelijk ging ik weg met 11 meter, 4 verschillende stoffen. Ze zijn erg mooi, zal hier later foto’s toevoegen dan kunnen jullie het zien.
Toen nog even over de rest van de kleding markt. De kleding die hier verkocht word is kleding die word verzameld door instanties als het leger des heils, hier in grote hoeveelheden wordt opgekocht en weer verkocht op de markt. Een werkend maar vreemd systeem eigenlijk. Alles ziet er wel hip uit daardoor en je beseft hoe lang je eigenlijk nog kleding kan dragen.

Daarna naar de groentenmarkt. Dan moet je dus een brug over, en wat voor een brug. Zo’n brug die echt beweegt bij elke stap die je neemt. En dan zijn er van die ‘behulpzame’ Afrikaanse jongens de me hand willen vasthouden, omdat ze denken dat ik het eng vind(wat ook zo is, daar niet van). Maar dat ging dus niet gebeuren, ik ga zelf die brug wel over, geen probleem, maar wel zelf, dat ik zelf de controle heb..dus zo ging het. Dit was ook zo’n typische brug waarbij je aan de overkant moest gaan betalen..20kwacha iets meer dan 10 cent.

Daarna op de markt ook op zoek naar champignons, want dat mis ik echt. Oke geen echte champignons gevonden, wel oesterzwammen en andere paddestoelen die rood/roze en geel zijn. Mmmm vraag me af hoe het gebakken smaakt.
Nog een rare groene soort komkommer gekocht die we moeten k0ken..oke dat gaan we dus uit proberen.

Daarna naar de Shoprite, de supermarkt. Dus daar even alle dingen die je bij ons niet hebt inslaan. Yoghurt, golden sirup, chips!!(voor de guacamole), chocolade, cheddar, sardientjes in tomatensaus, shampoo, zeep & pastasaus. Oke toen geld pinnen en wat eten in de stad. Summer park is een soort snackbar maar dan anders. Lekkere Tonijnpizza gehad met champignons. Oh en een heerlijke milkshake hazelnoot, vond dat ik dat wel verdiende:P!

En daarna op zoek naar een minibus. Bijna bestolen..gelukkig net niet dankzij Duncan. En toen in een minibus waar mijn knieen egt niet paste. Daarbij ben ik in dit land al zo vaak gevallen en uitgegleden, dat ik de blauwe plekken dan nog meer voel. Dus toen op een bepaald moment de minibus stopte en Sam z’n hoofd in de minibus stak en ons begroete, kon ik wel een gat in de lucht springen, als ik daar de ruimte voor had. Sam Kabota is de Clinical officer van de kinderafdeling. Hij kwam net uit Lilongwe met de auto terug naar Nkhoma.

En dan zit je in die auto, en dan besef dus hoeveel je toch om luxe geeft, een auto met leren bekleding waardoor je, ik denk, 3 kwartier eerder terug komt dan wat je had gedacht. En je kan gewoon zitten, je benen neerzetten, ipv van opvouwen. Echt super! De minibus is leuk hoor, voelt als vakantie en moet er waarschijnlijk dit weekend weer in, geen probleem mee, maar als het anders kan dan graag!!

‘s Avonds was er een idols playbackshow georganiseerd voor de nurse students, maar natuurlijk geen stroom..dus wij om kwart voor 8, begon om 7 uur, tog maar eens kijken of er iets was..nee helaas, toen om kwart over 8 de stroom weer aan ging, kwamen er wel wat studenten die eerder herrie gingen maken dan muziek, btje jammer, gezien het feit dat het op ziekenhuis terrein was. Wij, de meiden uit het guesthouse, hadden trouwens ook iets bedacht, “Het land van” van lange frans en baas b, en dan allemaal leuke foto’s, zal proberen het online te zetten later. Maar helaas aan het einde had niemand er echt meer zin in, het filmpje is wel heel mooi!
Deze week word de idols overgedaan, en als het op vrijdag is dan doen we miss alsnog mee..we’ll see.

De zondag was rustig, het weer hier valt een beetje tegen de afgelopen week, heel veel regen. En vannacht had ik zelfs de neiging om een deken te pakken, omdat ik, IK, het koud had..
Zondag wel nog even naar Jeltje gegaan(verpleegkundige die hier al 1 jaar is) om wat films te lenen. Daarna richting de markt gelopen om te kijken bij een grote bao, Malawiaans spel. Lijkt een beetje op Moraboraba, uit Botswana, maar dan anders. Deze versie was weer anders, want deze had 4x 45 gaten, ipv 4x 8, klein verschil dus:P. In ieder geval ik snap er niks van maar Nienke wel geloof ik.

Op de terug weg even lang Daniel, Clinical officer van de Female ward. Alleen hij was er niet dus kregen we van Selina, de oppas wat nsima aangeboden, wat je natuurlijk niet kan weigeren. We zijn toen rond 5en met Daniel meegegaan naar het zingen. Elke zondag komen bepaalde gezinnen en mensen samen om christelijke liedjes te zingen. Ook chichewa liedjes, het is erg leuk. 

Dus dat was het weekend, vorige week donderdag heeft Nienke een kip geslacht, dus als ik hier morgen foto’s bij plaats zullen die hier ook tussen staan. Just so you know, normaal gesproken(de vorige 2x die ik heb gezien) is het niet zo bloederig;) En het was erg lekker! En je ziet ook het nsima maak proces.

Heel veel liefs Willeke

Foto’s staan niet op volgorde, zijn er teveel om dat te doen..