Second times the charm?

            It’s safe to say that Tuesday was a bit more comfortable than Monday, yet no less awkward. That appears to be the key word in this experience thus far. The rest of this week and next are filled with little orientations in the various departments, so when we got to the clinic on Tuesday we headed to the Admissions section, where tons of people were queueing as that’s the first place they have to go in the clinic to get services.

            Before we even got to Admissions, however, we had to drive past a HUGE line of women with their tiny babies,many of which were wrapped in towels and hanging from the mother’s back. Luckily it wasn’t too hot at this point as many were sitting in the grass, waiting. Tuesday is a really busy day as it’s the day for Immunizations for babies, as well as Dentist appointments and Post-natal care.

Admissions: Lauren and I got to Admissions and met with the head supervisor Kendra, who thankfully put us right to work, and we spent the better part of the morning creating folders for new patients/clients. It was interesting to see the process. When a new client comes to the clinic, they come to one side of Admissions where they pay 40 Rand (R40) for services ( equivalent of $5), and this even includes all their medications, which is just amazing to me. They then have to get a slip from Admissions that said they paid the R40, or else they have to go to Reception, where Lauren and I were on Monday which involves an assessment of why someone is unable to pay. After Admissions, they get a direction sheet which details where they go next, which is usually straight to the Vitals station to get, well, their vitals checked.

Vitals:  This was our second stop, and it was SUPER busy! I shadowed Alice, who was really sweet and helpful, and let me awkwardly lean over her shoulder to see what taking vitals consists of. Basically a client will come in, hand her their folder, and she asks a serious of questions in order to screen for TB (coughing, night sweats, fever, etc), and then takes their blood pressure, pulse, and records their temperature as well as their height and weight that was taken earlier. They come with a tiny cup of urine, where Alice dips in a pH slip to check for infections. The second girl who came in actually had a slip that detected an infection of some sort, and Alice said she was going to do a pregnancy test. I was first shocked that the girl didn’t care that I was there, and that they would tell her right there if she was pregnant. Luckily she wasn’t. I was there for about an hour and Alice must have seen over 12 patients while I was there. They ranged in age from mid-30’s to probably in their 60’s, and most reported no sickness or problems, and were just there for a check-up with the doctor or something of the sort.

            **One really, interesting, for lack of better word, moment was with this young guy who came to her, and he seemed fairly healthy, apart from some stated symptoms of coughing and feeling really tired. Alice took his file and showed me that he had just had blood work done, and they detected a CD4 (white blood cell) count of 34. The preferred range is 500-1000, she said. So this guy was going to go straight to Counseling and then get started on ARV treatment immediately. I couldn’t believe the CD4 was so low. These are to what extent the immune system is compromised, and gives and indication of what phase of infection the person is in. So, his situation didn’t seem especially promising. Which is really sad to say.

            I really found this area interesting, especially the dignity that Alice gave each and every person who came to her station. She made it seem like she had never asked those questions before, and really paid attention to the person in front of her. Immediately loved her!

            After we left, Lauren, who had been observing at a station across the room from me, let me know that Alice actually only sees people who are already HIV positive- so everyone that I was observing already had HIV. I had no idea, apart from some who had a red sticker on their folder.

            The rest of the day was spent idly chatting with Lenny and Benni, as we were supposed to meet with someone from HR but she had just gone into a meeting. We also took a quick stop to the Pharmacy section, where TONS of people were queueing, and we got to see the craziness that happens there with all of the medications, complete with a huge storeroom filled with more ARVs. Luckily they are able to give 3 month supplies of prescriptions at the moment since they have ample stock, but they said they’re not always so lucky.

            Sadly we didn’t get a chance to see our lovely supposed supervisor, but I’m very much looking forward to speaking with her on Wednesday regarding transportation and job descriptions. I’m going to be as assertive as possible, and to let her know our expectations upon arriving here and see if a compromise can be made. Lauren and I are also going to ask to see the Exec. Director with whom we’ve had zero contact or introduction.

I think this experience is already so educational, especially made helpful with me asking thousands of possibly dumb questions in order to understand everything better. We also have a book that is South African focused on HIV/AIDS care and counseling that Paul’s wife Myra gave us to use, so that should prove helpful to read on our downtime, of which we have a lot currently!

            After we were finished for the day, Alfred dropped us at Olivia’s CoffeeBake where we’ve been using the internet for 30 minute free increments. We had to walk up the ridiculous hill afterwards to get back to the flat- great exercise at least!

            One of the girls who was here last year gave me the name of someone she met here, Dillon, who I contacted a bit before I got here. We arranged to meet up later today for “sundowners”, which is basically just drinking red wine as the sun sets. He picked us up and drove us up a bit to the top of the hill where we live, where there’s a HUGE water tower. Once we walked up to the top, the views were astounding- you could see EVERYTHING. He pointed out the CBD (central business district, or downtown Joburg) which doesn’t seem too far, and also some other neighhorhoods like Sandton and Fourways, where we work. We each started having a glass of wine, when we noticed a group of people about our age dancing to African music nearby, and they were beckoning us to come over.

            Naturally we did, and they said that they were making a music video for the African Cup (for soccer/football) and asked us if we would be in it. How could you turn it down? Clearly we didn’t! They put on some funky music and started dancing with these mad moves that I attempted to copy and got a few laughs from them about. It was hysterical, and of course I loved every minute of it. Once the song was done, they said they were from Cameroon and Gabon and were in South Africa for something to do with the African Cup. Then one of the dudes asked me if I would dance with him, and we got down to another ridiculous song-luckily Lauren got some lovely pics of my dancing debut so I’ll try to grab those from her! They were all super friendly, and although none of us spoke French, their English was good enough to ask us if we wanted to get together again this week to check out the music video- Dillon gave them his number, so we’ll see if I end up getting discovered. You heard it here first.

            After this amazingness and having to sneak through a fence since the gate was locked, we went to this really hip area called Melville, which reminds me of Cambridge for you Boston folks, and a mixture of Wicker Park and Andersonville for you Chicago peeps. It was filled with bookshops, dive bars, lounges, all-night pancake places (meaning crepes) and this really neat restaurant we went to called Wish! where we sat outside in a courtyard and met up with another friend of Dillons, Hamit. He was super interesting- born in Kuwait, grew up in both Egypt and Oman, and then moved to Sudan until he went to Harvard (heard of it?) and now he teaches African studies at the African Leadership Academy- not to be confused with Oprah’s Leadership Academy which is just for girls. We had some wine and made a to-do list while we’re here, including a Lion Park where you can play with lion cubs (!!) and the Apartheid museum among other excursions. It made me giddy to have made some new friends, and there’s a possibility of meeting up again tonight to go to the Market Theatre which is showing a play that was banned during Apartheid, so naturally I’m dying to see it. I tend to love things that are banned- used to have a I Love Banned Books pin that I wore everywhere.

            All in all, the day felt successful and very positive. Left a good spin on things, for sure.