First day at Queens

Although Sam and I have been in Malawi for a week already, today was our first day at Queen Elizabeth’s Central Hospital. We started off our day by sitting in on the daily pediatric morning meetings. It was fascinating and depressing because the medical school students and doctors reported on all the deaths in the department over the weekend. When the pediatric department head was quizzing students over reasons why a 10 year old would have hypertension, I was quite happy to realize that I understood some of what they were discussing!

Then we went back to Jocelyn’s office (which is the best smelling room in the hospital because it is also where the soap is stored) and tested the new bCPAP. Good news: they are all functioning very well.

In the afternoon, we started setting up how bCPAP data collection would work in the pediatric ward. Aside from walking past different wards, this was my first actual experience being up close with patients. As we were tracking down patients with respiratory problems, I was astonished by the number of people that had to fit in one space. Every bed had at least one or two children in them. And every patient had a caretaker next to the bed, which further crowded the room. Since there are a limited number of nurses available, every patient usually has a caretaker which takes care of the basic needs of the patient. There are always caretakers in the grounds of the hospital doing laundry and cooking because most of these people travel far distances to come to QECH for treatment.

While going through the hospital and talking to various people, it really sounds like the availability of medicine and medical technologies are often the limiting factor of whether or not a patient can be treated. A doctor who is visiting QECH for the month said that people referenced the bCPAP as a technology that is really making a difference in saving lives. This was very nice to hear. Hopefully tomorrow we can get the bCPAP data collection started in the neonatal ward.

Malawi Mondays

At the end of the day, Sam and I successfully went grocery shopping on our own, and came back to CURE for Malawi Mondays. Malawi Mondays is a tradition here where ex-pats in Blantyre get together and eat Malawian food. Today our food was prepared by one of the translators at CURE and his girlfriend. The power went out, so we ended up having a very romantic candlelit dinner with 15 people. I got to meet a lot of awesome people and learned a lot about a Malawian’s perspective on their healthcare system.

A Casual Weekend Safari

This past weekend, MK, Sam, and I drove up to Liwonde National Game Park (this is not the exact name) and went on an African Safari! We stayed at this hotel and campsite hybrid with a great atmosphere called Liwonde Safari Camp. It was embedded seamlessly with the forest, and at night, all the guests enjoyed the company of each other over candlelight and music. My words do not do it justice.

I also learned this past weekend that I probably watched too many Disney movies as a child. Everytime I saw another safari animal, a Disney song would play in my head. It was mainly Pumba from Lion King singing “When I was a young wart hog….”, but I really think I should start broadening my movie repetoire.

More Random Tidbits about Malawi

• Don’t mess with Malawian women. They are very strong from cooking nsima everyday. Nsima is very thick and requires a lot of muscle strength to constantly stir it.
• Giraffes do not exist in Malawi 🙁
• Power outages are quite common, so don’t be alarmed if the room suddenly goes dark.
• Avocados here are twice the size of American ones for the price of 25 cents!
• It gets cold here. Trust me.
• Healthcare in Malawi is free for everyone, which has both pros and cons.