We arrived in Bloemfontein yesterday morning....and what a morning it was. We had to be at the airport by 6:30 am to catch our flight. We got up, caught a taxi, checked our luggage (an adventure in itself...it's hard to pack for 5 weeks in a foreign country when there is a weight limit!!), and even boarded the plane on time. We were shocked because we had been warned that South African domestic flights were often late. Well...guess what...ours was too. After boarding every passenger on the plane, the crew made an announcement that "one of our passengers has decided not to join us today (can you even do that???!!!) and so we must now find their luggage". WHAT?! Because of this one person, we sat on that cramped plane for an hour before even thinking about leaving the gate. Luckily we were all able to have seats together so we could talk to one another during our delay.
Once we arrived in Bloem, we were immediately taken to campus and given our room assignments. Contrary to our original belief, we were placed with each other as roommates. All four of us are in the same hostile (our equivalent of a dorm) one floor apart. Brittany and I are on the 3rd floor and Kalie and Ryland are just below us on the 2nd. We were quite excited that we weren't separated.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and unpacking before we were picked up for dinner with the nutrition department that we will be working with. They took us to a restaurant in the mall (it was quite good) and we just had an informal getting to know you dinner. The other girls were very nice and seemed very excited to be working with us. We predominantly talked to one the the program directors (I think...either that our she was one of the lecturers) and we learned so much from her. She told us where we would be and what we would be doing for the next four weeks. Here's a quick run down:
1. Medi-Clinic. Here we will be shadowing a dietitian who has her own private practice and works in the private sector. (South Africa has both a public and private sector of health care...you guess which one is better)
2. MUCPP. Here we will be traveling to one of the local townships (like a slum of sorts in the US) and conducting nutritional assessments on the children. It is supposed to be quite eye opening.
2. Southern Free State. Here we will actually be staying in a "guest house" in another township of sorts. We will have to travel there on a Monday morning and not return until Thursday afternoon. I think here we will do much of the same things done at the MUCPP.
4. University Hospital. Here we will be shadowing dietitians that I believe are in more of the public sector. The hospital is on the University campus and is maybe a 10 minute walk from our hostel.
As you can see, each week is going to be very different and we are going to be very busy! I will try my best to update all of you as much as possible.
Today was our first day in the internship and I'm starting out with my first week in the Medi-Clinic. At the Medi-Clinic, I will be working with a dietitian who has her own private practice and works in the private sector. It is her job to ensure that the patients in pediatric and neonatal intensive care units are receiving the proper nutritional supplements to aid in their growth and healing. In order to do this, she calculates their energy needs based on their weight and health condition and then counsels the doctors about appropriate levels for liquid and protein supplementation. When a patient is being released from the hospital, she will then counsel the family on how to move forward.
After shadowing Vandghie, I shadowed one of her partners, Anna Marie, while she did the same nutrition counseling for adults in an intensive care unit and those who are part of an assisted living community. They both said that the rest of the week would be much of the same old thing.
However, I did have the opportunity to chat with both of them about different cultural practices in South Africa in comparison to those in the States. Vandghi and I talked about the differences between the public and private sectors in SA and how most people would not be able to afford the private sector without medical aid (something that is very similar to our health insurance). In terms of the public sector, the government subsidizes the facilities and as we may all assume, they are not in the best conditions.
While traveling to and from different hospitals, Anna Marie and I talked about the different cultural practices of Black South Africans. She was telling me how it is often a struggle to work in the public sector as a white woman because they don't always respect or believe in what she is telling them. For example, the Black community does not believe in birth control or family planning, so they will give birth to many children without the means of supporting them throughout their lives. In fact, many black men will impregnate a woman before marrying her to ensure that she is able to give birth to his children. Often times, these women will be left behind in the dust to raise the children on their own. It's really quite sad.
Anna Marie also told me about her research in breast feeding and how she's been reading the Healthy People 2020/2010 goals. I got really excited when I knew exactly what she was talking about--as a health promotion student, we discuss the Healthy People goals often. We also talked about the WHO and CDC. It was nice to have a conversation that didn't deal strictly with nutrition.
Anna Marie and her husband are heavily considering moving overseas and so she's asked if we'd like to come over for dinner some time this week (an offer we simply cannot refuse). I'm excited to be working with both Vandghie and Anna Marie this week and I think that I will learn a lot.
My days at the Medi-Clinic are not very long...I will start each day at 8 am and be finished around noon which leaves a lot of time in the afternoon (I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing yet). Luckily, Ryland will be finished around 1 o'clock each day and so I will only be lonely for an hour or so.
After finishing up today, one of the students who works at the International Affairs office took me around campus to sign up for a gym membership (YES!!!) and set up my Internet access. Here, you need to have a username and password to use the Internet. He also showed me around the administration building and other important areas of the campus. We quickly ran back to the hostel for me to put away my passport and grab money before he and the International Affairs director that we've been speaking to took us shopping. Luckily, I saw a note from Ryland on my door saying that she was back so she went shopping too!
We went to the mall at the Waterfront (one of the only major attractions in Bloem), where we just walked around and then bought some groceries at the Pick N Pay (South Africa's equivalent to a Walmart). We are also trying to get me a South African cell phone for the month so that I will be able to contact the other Appalachian students and the girls in the department. Hopefully we can get that sorted out tomorrow.
The rest of the week should be much of the same. I am excited for Brittany to come back from the Southern Free State on Thursday...I think that my room is going to be quite lonely tonight! On the bright side, this weekend should be a lot of fun. We are hoping to have dinner with Anna Marie and her husband on Friday, on Saturday the student from the University of the Free State that visited Appalachian in the fall are planning a braii for us (the South African version of a BBQ) and then on Sunday we are having a large welcoming function because all of the Appalachian students will have arrived in Bloem.
This is not the most interesting place in the world, but we are hoping to make the most of it!
Until next time, love to all of you overseas. Missing you all so much.
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