A whole lotta 'firsts'

A whole lot of firsts (written on Monday)

            Well. Today was surely a day filled with ‘firsts’. The first time that I’ve been picked up for work in a funny looking van, driving by a man named Albert who asked us thousands of questions about life in America, each sentence beginning with “tell me about America…” ; the first time that I’ve entered an HIV clinic and faced a room filled with entirely black people, sitting on benches, waiting; and the first time that I’ve encountered people that I know are living with HIV.

            Our first day began with a whirlwind tour of the social welfare side of Witkoppen (pronounced ‘vit-cope-in’), as well as a tour of the health clinic. Our tour guide was a fantastically flamboyant gent, Lenny, who was referred to as “a gay”, and he introduced us to at LEAST 40 staff members. I’m going to attempt to describe the clinic as best as I can remember it- it’s all a bit of a blur at the moment.

Social Welfare section: This is where our tour began. This is where Pam, our main contact for the placement, has her office, as well as Benni, who is the emergency director and has been working at the clinic for over 15 years! This is where people come to after they check in at the admissions desk, and if they are unable to pay. They then come to this section and either have to be counseled (why they are unable to pay- is it lack of job?) or just get assessed as not having enough funds. This section is also where the staff kitchen is, and where Lauren and I spent most of the time in an empty office when we had down time.

             The antenatal (ANC) services are also in the social welfare building. There was a huge group of pregnant women waiting here to be seen. Next to this there is the gyno room where women can get pap smears, as well as a room for immunizations, especially for children.

Main building: Hoo boy. We entered through a side entrance and came right into the pharmacy area, where people were waiting on benches for their prescriptions. There’s this nice open walkway from the pharmacy to the admissions area, where people first have to check in. Once they check in here, they have to go get their vitals checked, which is right across from the admissions. Also in this section is the TB building, where people get tested and treatment. I don’t know much about TB, but I do know that its deadly when people also have HIV and TB. I’m hoping to learn much more.

            There’s also the emergency room as well as dentists’ office in this main building. Outside of this area, there are three little wooden huts that serve as the counseling centers, where people come to get counseled before they get tested for their HIV status. The children’s area is also outside though we didn’t get to see much of it. A bit aways from this building is another set of buildings for the administrative and HR staff, I believe.

After this whirlwind tour, Lauren and I met with Pam, who had interviewed both of us back in November via Skype. She was fairly pleasant, though very busy so we didn’t see much of her in the morning. We ended up sitting with Benni and Lenny at reception, watching them as they checked people in who were unable to pay. It was nice to just chat with them and start to build a rapport.

            Although everything went fairly well, albeit a bit slowly in the morning, we got into a frustrating situation when meeting with Pam in the afternoon. First off, she asked us how our driving was going. I was going to do an earlier post about this but suffice it to say, Lauren and I had a driving lesson on Sunday that was a DISASTER. I’ve never felt more inept, or more annoyed at the stupid handbrake, and driving on the left- but I digress. So, we let Pam know that we wouldn’t be ready for the driving assessment on Wednesday and she said, “well about transportation. We actually don’t think we’ll have a car for you to drive. What were you thinking of using?”

            A bit speechless, I stated that we were told we’d use the clinic car. Pam then went on to suggest that “isn’t there a bus you can take?” I said that I had been strictly advised NOT to take any public transportation, and there wasn’t any near us. She even suggested we ask Linda to drive us halfway- Linda, who would have to go out of her way and who is already doing so much for us! Lauren stated that wasn’t an option and Pam looked a bit taken aback, and said she wasn’t sure what we would do. I felt like she was putting all the responsibility on us to figure this out, when we were promised transportation from the get-go. She said she would look into other options, but that we’d continue to be picked up from Albert until at least Wednesday.

            Another frustrating moment with Pam was when she stated that she had our job descriptions down as “lay counselors”, but that tomorrow she was having a senior mgmt meeting and they’d figure things out further. Um. I was told I’d be doing work in the post-natal clinic, which is my MAIN interest in being here, so the idea of being a counselor doesn’t really jazz me up. Pam mentioned that she’d be our supervisor, and that we’d have our weekly supervision together. This was also frustrating, as it’d be much more conducive to meet one-on-one, especially since Lauren is often very shy and I tend to talk over her without meaning to. We’ll wait and see how the rest of the week goes!

            It left a sour taste in our mouths, but we felt much better after going to this western themed restaurant with Linda, her son Paul and his wife Myra, and her son Ross and his wife Farah. We had the “carvery”, where you basically get all these homecooked goodies like beef, potatoes, creamed spinach, butternut squash. MM. that, and a giant glass of red wine leaves me feeling much better, knowing that it was just the first day and that eventually everything will be sorted and we’ll find our places at the clinic.