June 19th

June 18, 2012

It’s so weird now that Jane and I are the only volunteers in the house. Angel and Amahoro are around but Angel is more of a coordinator and Amahoro doesn’t speak much English. Even though Amahoro’s English is not so great I still really like him. He is always there to let me in the house, cook my meals, and do my laundry. I tried to help him with the dishes once but he would not let me, I know he is paid but I really appreciate it. Although I love him to death there are a few things I could go without, first he could let me do the dishes once in a while, second I wish we could find a better place to hang my drying clothes, I come home and I see my underwear hanging across the bushes, and third his pet chicken Machovilie. The stupid bird starts squawking every morning precisely at 4am. Half joking I told him I was going to kill it if it didn’t shut up. He must have thought I was asking where she was because he replied she was sleeping. As if one chicken isn’t bad enough Machovilie now has a boyfriend, I have no clue where this rooster came from but it’s now following Machovilie around the yard. Amahoro is really eager to learn English so I think while I am here I’m going to try to help him out, in return I want to learn a little more Kinyarwanda, I’m actually amazed with how much I’m able to pick up, imagine if I actually tried.

Today I spent my day at the clinic. No babies… I’m dying to get another delivery. Even though there were not any deliveries I actually had a really busy day. Several people came in for prenatal exams and several for HIV testing. Today we performed 30 HIV tests, all came back negative, and I would say that was a successful day. One of the coolest things about working at the clinic is the teaching I get to do. Not that I’m and expert on HIV but you would be surprised how little some people know. I usually discuss what HIV is, how you get it, and ways to avoid getting it. Doing the teaching is actually pretty fulfilling, hopefully these patients will be able to carry this information into the future and avoid contracting HIV or even educate others on HIV prevention. The government also seems to be taking an active role on HIV prevention. You can’t walk down the street without seeing signs about safe sex and using condoms. Although the government is strongly encouraging safe sex I do wonder if this is really put into practice since a majority of the country is Catholic. From what I understand traditional Catholics don’t seem so keen on birth control, including condoms. I wonder if their religious morals influence whether or not they are willing use condoms in a country stricken with HIV? Next time I go to the supermarket I am going to see if people even have access, how easy is it to be safe here? The government certainly supports it, but do the peoples moral interfere with the willingness to provide.

June 19, 2012

Today was another busy day. Since I have been here I have only had 4 patients come back positive for HIV, today I had 11. This is so emotionally draining because it shows what an epidemic HIV is in Africa. I don’t know each individuals story but I know some of them probably couldn't help contracting it. Today I also took blood from my first child. He was two and being tested for HIV. Like any child he was not happy about the needle but I got him on the first stick. I was really happy because he had such tiny veins and I know he wouldn’t let me stick him more than once. Thankfully he came back negative but still the situation was heart wrenching.  

I also delivered another baby today, this time it was a little girl weighting in at 3.5kg. She was healthy but the delivery was a lot more dramatic than the other one. The mom was crying (rightfully so), her mother was in the room pacing saying prayers, and it took a lot longer. But still the mother did great and the baby came out healthy. During the delivery I felt the Mother’s crying was justify, I imagine it’s extremely painful, but I guess one of the nurses didn’t think so, she came in the room right in mid push and slapped her across the legs. She proceeded out of the room but not before she screamed at her. I guess in America you are trained to be a little more sensitive than that.

This time I spent a lot more time with the baby after the birth. It took several minutes for the mother to deliver the placenta so I spent my time with the baby tying its cord, cleaning her up, and checking her lung sounds. When I left for the day baby and mom where doing great.