Emily L's loving her internship

This past week has been our first official “free” week, meaning orientation was over and our real lives in Cape Town were to begin. I have to admit, the new independence felt great and I was so excited to have my own time to explore this beautiful city on my own. This week was also the start of our internships! I could barely sleep Sunday night, knowing Monday morning I’d be tossed into Maitland Cottage Hospital having no real idea what I was going to be doing.

Maria, Emily L, and John at their internship

Let me tell you, I did not expect the experience I got on day one in any way. I was thrilled when Sister Jackson, the acting head nurse at Maitland Cottage Hospital, asked if two of us wanted to go into theatre and observe for the day. “Theatre” is what we refer to as the operating room in the States. I think theatre sounds a lot cooler though! Anyways, I witnessed my first surgery ever, and then four more after that. I was blown away by how the surgeons and nurses worked so in tune with one another, and how easy they made the procedures seem. I won’t lie, during the first surgery I felt slightly woozy and had to step out, but was finally able to return once I cooled down. The surgeons were also very willing to allow John and I assist them in the casting process, which I wasn’t expecting. Any question I had was quickly yet thoroughly answered, so I feel as though I walked out of theatre that day knowing so much more than I expected.

           

The next two days of internship were a little slower, medically speaking. There were several medical students present so they obviously needed to get some time with the patients before we did, which I understand! However, my experience on Tuesday with the children in the ward was more rewarding than I ever imagined. My heart exploded with love for the young girls and boys, who were so excited and joyful just to see us there. They all called me “auntie,” which I was confused by at first, but grew to love the name. I must’ve gotten my hair braided two dozen times that day, and each little girl was so proud of their work on my hair. The way these children looked at us, like we were some sort of super humans, was something I’ll never forget. I look forward to more medical experience at Maitland Cottage, and even more to spending time with these wonderful, happy, and loving children!

Dani getting into the swing of the semester

Now that orientation is over, we have started to get into the swing of the semester.  We’ve had our first few classes; walking around the UCT campus is amazing, as the campus is absolutely gorgeous.  UConn can’t really even compare.  

Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town

We also started our internships on Monday.  Emily L, John, Maria and I headed to Maitland Cottage Hospital, a pediatric orthopedic hospital, to begin our three-month long internship there.  Maria and I have been shadowing the physical therapist, who has been explaining her work very well to us.  Her work seems very interesting and dynamic, so observing and learning from her is great as physical therapy is a possible future career path for me.  Although it has only been three days, we have already started getting to know the children in the hospital, and spending time with them is very fun.  Because the hospital is quite out of the way, many parents of the residents do not get to visit their children while they are recovering.  The kids really seem to appreciate having us around to chat with, and they especially enjoy playing with our hair (although that is sometimes painful for us).  Maria and I did not get the chance to watch surgeries this week like John and Emily did, but we are hoping to get into the theatre sometime next week.  I am really looking forward to all of our upcoming experiences at Maitland Cottage and know that we will be learning a lot!

Caitlin's eager to learn more

The end of orientation was bittersweet for me, as I had a lot of fun seeing the city but was excited to start my own internship. The first few days of my internship at Treatment Action Campaign were not exactly what I had expected, and I had to adjust to the different social norms of South African culture. I realized that during orientation I had been isolated within our group of Americans and had never really interacted seriously with anyone living here, so it was cool for me to have real conversations with people from the area. I was surprised at the range of political opinions and perspectives present here in cape town- it's fascinating to see how peoples' upbringing and experiences affect the way they see the world. I'm also going to have to work on my Xhosa so I can speak more easily with everyone at my internship site. Even though I spent most of my time in the office this week, next week I'll be going out into the community, which I'm really looking forward to. Cape town continues to amaze me with its beauty everywhere I turn. We visited one of the beaches last week and went swimming in the other side of the Atlantic. There were a ton of people surfing who made me want to learn to surf too! Even as we're starting to settle in there are still so many things that keep me engaged and excited. I can't wait to learn more and experience everything I can about this place!

John's ready to make Cape Town feel even more like home

My love for this place is growing bigger and bigger everyday. It’s weird that even though I haven’t been here for long, I feel like this is home.  Now that orientation is over, I’m excited to finally being able to do things on my own and get into the swing of things and really making this place feel more and more like home. Since the orientation process led us through transportation exercises and showed us both the good and bad of Cape Town, I feel more comfortable traveling around on my own and exploring more of what Cape Town has to offer. Not only did the orientation make me feel more confident in the area, but it also made me see the areas that need improvement and helped me come up with a few ideas for my activist project. There's a lot of prosperity and beautiful areas in Cape Town, but there are also areas that need a lot of assistance and work to help bring out of poverty. I’m thankful that through orientation I was able to see the different sides of Cape Town and notice some of the issues the residents of townships endure. I personally don’t think I would have ever gone into the townships and seen a glimpse of the hardships they must face.

Bernie's getting to know some amazing babies

This past Sunday before the week started we all went on a hike to Lion's Head. The hike was beautiful but I was afraid for my life because the wind was crazy. It was knocking us around when walking across and up the mountain; dirt was blowing right in our eyes and mouths and we had to huddle to the ground to make sure we didn’t blow over. Without that wind the hike would’ve been a lot more fun but the view was spectacular and I am definitely going back on a calmer day to really enjoy it all.

After the hike I came home and got ready for bed because Monday was the first week of our internships so I wanted to get to bed early so I was ready to go when I woke up. I am interning at Sarah Fox Children’s Hospital. This hospital is more of a convalescent home for kids who just came from the hospital. What that means is the kids are healthier than they were when they were in the hospital but they are not healthy enough to be sent home with their families. I started work there this past Monday and have already fallen in love with many of the babies that I am looking after.

First days are always awkward and you feel like your in the way so the fact that I had that feeling Monday doesn’t surprise me. Even though I felt in the way, the babies that I get to play with and feed and take care of are amazing. Most of them are sick and have HIV or TB but they still act like healthy babies. They laugh and run and whack you on the head just like any baby and its great to see that because their sickness isn’t affecting them as much as you think it would.

What I do at the hospital is help the nurses feed the babies, give them their medicine (its already pre made for them don’t worry, I know I’m not that qualified yet to distribute medicine), take them out to play, and make them smile. I’ve only been there fore two days so far and I know most of the baby’s names and there are 26 of them. I know their personalities and what there most likely to do when were playing in the yard and I know what upsets them. I am very excited to learn more about the babies and the kids when I am in that ward so I am very excited to be working with these bundles of joy and hope for the next 3 months.