I hiked the Berg!

On Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day for all you at home, the nursing students and I headed for the Drakensberg Mountains! Now, for those of you who know me well, you may not believe this, but I bacpacked up the mountain! :) Yep! Check out me all ready to go!

Our nursing professors, Wendy and Glenda, have a good friend who likes to take groups backpacking up the Drakensberg Mountains. Their friend, Michael, is really into backpacking so he let us use his "rucksacks." We had to bring up all our food and even the pots to cook it all in, everything! It was pretty intense.

We left AE at about 9am and arrived at the Mountain a little before noon. Each of us on the hike had to carry a bucket of food that we would have for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. I had to carry the three loaves of bread. :) In my rucksack, I packed two extra shirts, a pair of shorts, a flashlight, my glasses, suncscreen, my journal, and my toothbrush and toothpaste. Oh yeah and 3 extra bottles of water. He said that we could drink the water that was flwoing up there, but that was too intense for me! My rucksack with all my stuff and my sleeping bag and mat probably weighed about 30-40 lbs.

We headed up the mountain and hiked for four and a half hours. It was about 5 miles only, but it was very uphill and steep. It was such an experience to look up and around during the hike and just see beauty. This is a picture of me at the top of the mountain! :)

When we got to the cave, which we were going to sleep in, it was about 4:30pm so we went to this waterfall that ran into this area that you could swim in. It was so pretty. I didn't get in, because it was a little overcast and the water was really cold, but I put my feet in. :) We also had to collect water from this area to use for cooking. On the way back to camp, we looked for a dead tree, so that we could find wood to burn.

The one different, but exciting thing about this backpacking trip was that Michael brought really gourmet food for us to cook and eat for a camping trip. For dinner, we made Knorr brand bacon carbonara pasta and macaroni and cheese pasta with sausage. We used the pots we brought and everything! For desert, we had peaches and cream with custard! It was like camping with a guy from the food channel! :)

After dinner, we sat around the campfire and just talked and hung out. I slept near Lyndsey, Brianna, and Tony. We couldn't go to bed at first, so we started making a movie on Tony's camera. It was so funny! We started doing video confessions of our time here in South Africa...it was really fun! We ended staying up til only 10pm and then passed out. We were so tired from the hike up! It rained during the night, but we stayed dry from the cave. It was kinda cool to hear the rain and then wake up to complete mist all around. Before we left for the hike back down, we left our own cave painting. :)

The hike down was three hours, but it was alot better because it was downhill. :) I was so proud of myself for backpacking and sleeping in a cave, becuase that is so not me, but it was fun. Definitely something that I will always remember. Until next time....

Already the middle of March..

On Thursday this past week was our last official day of clinical. I was at Mason's Clinic, and I worked in the ARV clinic. It was pretty hectic, becuase there was a shortage of nurses. Ever since my first day at CAPRISA, I have had a passion for learning about HIV/AIDS and interacting/caring for those in that specific population.

I spent my day with Sister Terry. Most of the HIV positive patients we saw were women. But we did have one male patient. He was a middle-aged man who had defaulted on his ARV treatment, due to his work schedule. Sister Terry explined that he was a day laborer, and sometimes his work would take him very far from the clinic, so therefore he was not able to pick up his medication.

One issue that Sister Terry spoke about was the struggle that many of the patients here face, which is putting aside their own health in order to take care/provide for their family. This man that we saw could not even take care of himslef, because he was having to so musch to provide for his family. It is a dilemma that faces many people of the community, and in the whole of South Africa. Sister Terry also gave another exampe of how one of her patients traveled so far to pay her "last dues" to a family member who had passed away. The traveling had caused her to get very ill, and it also took her a while to get back into town becuase she ranout of money, all while her health continued to deteriorate. This truth had never been really been explained to me before and it is also quite foreign in the States, so it was very eye-opening for me to learn.

Overall, my clinical experience here in South Africa was more than I expected. I have learned so much, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else! There is so much to healthcare, patients, and treatment than what I was used to seeing in the States. Please continue to pray for me as I begin to process all that I have seen thus far, as well as pray for the country of South Africa in that there are many, many sick people here that need healing.

It was planned for this past weekend that our group would go to UShaka, a marine park in Durban, but the weather wasn't the greatest so it got postponed to another weekend. So Friday day, I worked on some homework and then went to the mall with a group of people to get off campus. After dinner, there was a commissioning for Foxfire, which is a group of young evangelists for South Africa. Just like we are supported by African Enterprise (the place here that we stay), so are they. So Friday night, a group of about 20 of us went to the commissioning service, and it was really nice. IT was encouraging to see that there are young people who want to change South Africa and tell people about Jesus. IT was also encouraging to see how how well they are supported. There were many family members, ex-Foxfire, church members, and friends at the service to support the Foxfire.

Saturday was an unplanned day, which was very different from what I've been used to. Since our group is so large, it is rare that something is not planned for us to do. I decided to take advantage of the day and sleep in and then work on senior scholarly paper. In order to graduate, every senior needs to take the senior seminar class and write a final scholarly paper. I am writing mine on pediatric HIV disclosure. In my time here, I have come across alot of cases where parents have not disclosed to their children their child's HIV status. So these children live their lives not being told that they are HIV positive. It is a difficult ehtical issue, because there are many reasons why parents do not tell their children of thier child's HIV status, such as guilt and fear. Also, other personal scenarios that I have come across is where the parents tell their children that they are taking TB medication rather than ARV medication. It's tough. So Saturday the other nursing students and I went to the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal library to work on our paper. For the rest of the night, I continued working on my paper.

Also this weekend, I was able to spend some time with new friends, Becca and Hilary. We went to a coffee shop and worked on a little homework, but mostly talked. Overall, a restful, productive weekend. :) Until next time...

Weenen Game Reserve and the Battlefields Tour

This past Thursday, we got the day off of clinial, and I had to take advantage of it! So a group of 8 of us decided to adventure out to the Weenen Game Reserve. It was really nice for once to travel in a small group, because it can get overwhelming when there are 53 people always together. :)

The drive out there was about two hours, but we definitely kept Baba Phillip and ourselves entertained. We are so lucky to have such a good driver as Phillip. He never got us lost, even when it was super foggy on the way home!

It only cost 20rand to enter the game reserve, which is not even $3US dollars! INSANE...I know, and we ended up seeing some really cool animals! We saw black rhinos, giraffes, zebras, different kinds of birds, "pumbas," antelope, impala, and many others that I can't really name. :) The giraffes and the rhinos were definitely my favorite!

After our adventure, which lasted all day, we went out to eat at the Butcher Block, Phillip's favorite steakhouse. I ordered a 200g sirloin steak with veggies, and it was a little under $5US dollars, becuase it was ladies night! :) The day was so much fun, becuase I got to spend it with a small gorup of people that I really didn't know well before this trip. :)

This past weekend, we went to the Battlefields Tour. It was informative and exciting. It i important to understnad the history of a country and the wars they fought in orer t get where they are today. Visiting the battlefeld sites put into perspective all that we have been studying in our History and Culture of South Africa class. We had a speaker, who was 75 years old, and super passionate about the South African Anglo-Boer-Zulu Wars with us on our trip! He did a great job depicting the strength that the Zulu warriors had in fighting these battles. He also did a great job detailing the role that the British played in these wars. Even though the British had the fire power, it was evident that the Zulu warriors were fearless.

My favorite part of the trip was visiting Bloed Rivier, where the historic battle between the Voortrekkers and the Zulu's took place. It was here that I learned about smart war tactics. It was exciting, because we actually got to see all the wagons still in the "D" formation that Andries Pretorius and his men set up. At thisbattle, there were only about 464 Boers, and they ended up defeating about 10,000 Zulu warriors. Essentially, the Boers victory meant the beginning of the end of the Zulu kingdom.

Also, we got to stay in this really nice hotel. They cooked us one of the best meals I have had thus far! :) The trip was a 2-day trip. Overall, I still am missing home, but I am so excited that I get to experience the opportunity to learn about and see South Africa. :) Until next time....