Phunziro

Phunziro means learning in Chichewa. Which is exactly what my first couple weeks here have been like. Learning about new people, a new country, a new culture, and new technologies.

As stated in my previous blog, the other weekend, we went to Lilongwe to get new internet! And then on Wednesday, the day before our big presentation at the morning meeting, I dropped my laptop! Luckily, the hospital staff was kind and allowed a technician to fix it, but it’s still in Lilongwe right now. Thanks to Renata for letting me borrow hers.

A major theme of this trip has been me being shocked at both how many resources are present and how few resources are present. While our internet has been pretty fast and allows for Skype calls, back home in my small town, my family has been without WIFI for the past week. The hospital has an amazing ART software and program, but the X-RAY machine has been gone. Perhaps the most shocking was the diversity of the Namitete market compared to the Chipiku store in Lilongwe. I saw Tabasco sauce there from back home in Louisiana! There was also Cajun chicken pasta and Louisiana Fried Chicken in the restaurant we went to. We live in a global world, friends.

People have been asking me so much what I have been doing. Currently our average day goes something like this

7:00 AM- Wake up; eat breakfast

7:30 AM- Go to the morning meeting. The nurses from the night shift give a summary of the patients who have been admitted, died, and of the special cases. After this presentations are given by the staff on a relevant morning topic. This is we did our presentation on our technologies to the clinicians.

8:00 AM- 12:00 AM- Shadowing clinicians, watching surgeries, meeting with contacts, but mostly working on Morphine Tracker Improvements

12:00PM-2:00PM- Malawian lunch time is a little bit longer. You have to have time to go home and cook nsima. Renata and I try to eat nsima at least once a week, if not more. It actually taste exactly like Nigerian fufu, and you eat it the same way, with your hands!

2:00PM-5:00PM- More meetings, and working on Morphine Tracker.