A student nurse from South Africa and I... I think their dresses are so much cooler than our scrubs. Haha
My roomie in my new home in Africa, my sweet kindred spirit, Kara (also a nursing major)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Pictures!!! :)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Clinical/Saturday Adventures
Okay so I was reading over my other post to make sure I didn't make any serious mistakes, and I saw that I wrote that the biggest attraction here is the monkeys.... I totally meant zebras. I must have only been thinking of the monkeys since they had just walked past my room. Hahaha.... My bad. The ZEBRAS are amazing here.... not the monkeys. The monkeys are terrifying and we constantly scream and act like we are big around them so that they won't attack us. Hahaha. Their cute and cuddly looks are deceiving... especially the baby ones. They have already broken into a couple of the girls' chalets (which is basically just a two story house). One of my friends has a room all to herself and while she was napping, she woke up to a monkey hanging out on her nightstand. Now that would be a terrifying sight to wake up to! I think she's scarred for life. Haha.
So clinicals here.... We are doing Community Nursing here, which basically means we are thrown into the community into various clinics or home-to-home visits. There are five different clinical sites that we will be rotating through within the next seven weeks or so, including various HIV clinics and hospice care centers. My first week, I was placed at an HIV clinic. I have never seen so many HIV positive patients in one place in my entire life. Fifty percent of the population of Kwazulu-Natal (the province we are currently residing in) have been tested and are HIV positive. The other half has either not been tested or have been tested and are negative. The HIV clinic was a rather depressing place. You see, healthcare here is universal. Meaning that anyone who needs any kind of medical attention can get it and medications completely free of charge. The problem is that there is a lack of compliance with treatment. The people seem to take the free medical care for granted. Patients come in to get their medication and then when the nurse instructs them to come back in a couple of weeks, they choose not to. They are in denial. They are HIV positive and they are ashamed of it, so they pretend like they do not have it. They go on their merry way and have unprotected sex with a single partner or multiple partners. When women are told that they need to make their sexual partner wear a condom, they say that they cannot force him to do anything because it is not their right. They do not see their worth and I desire more than anything that they see that they are children of God and they have value. The patients continue with their medications, but then they never come back in to to get more. Years pass by or maybe even just months and then they come in and they are literally dying because their immune system has gotten so weak and the virus has spread throughout their bodies so much. They come in seeking help when it is too late. If only they would have complied with their treatment plan in the first place. AIDS does not have to be a death sentence. If patients stay on their medications and continue to visit the free clinics, their chance of living is much higher compared to them pretending like they do not have it. As a student nurse, I have been shadowing the nurse at the HIV clinic and basically just acting as her therapist. She simply wants to vent to me about how frustrating it is that no matter how much she teaches them, she cannot force them to listen to her and take what she says to heart. The whole thing is very frustrating. God knows though. Hopefully, these people will see the love of Jesus in the nurses who are Christians and genuinely care for them. My roomie has been assigned to the hospice center for the week, where patients are actually in their last days of life. She goes door to door with her preceptor to share the love of Jesus with people and pray for them. Now THAT's what I'm talking about! I am most definitely excited about that! If we cannot force the people to comply with their treatment, we most definitely can tell them about Jesus and pray with them.
Every Saturday, we get to go on some kind of excursion and they are AMAZING. Today's excursion was to some place called the Birds of Prey. Basically, it's a place with a bunch of wild birds in captivity who need to stay in captivity in order to stay alive due to some kind of circumstance. My first impression: "Really? Our first excursion and we're going to go see birds?" Hahaha.... But it was amazing!!! We saw various kinds of birds, some of which are not in America, but are very similar to our birds, and some are just random. I may have been more interested in the dogs at the place, but it was still pretty impressive. Haha. It was suppose to rain on us today, but instead we all got the funniest farmer tan lines from watching the bird show and my fair Irish face is on fire because I got so much sun on it! Haha. The sun is intense here! We also saw the place where Ghandi started his fight for human rights. Basically, he bought a first class ticket for the train and when he went to sit there, he was refused and put into jail. From that point on, he decided to fight for justice. I absolutely love his quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." After touring Pietermaritzburg, we came back to the campus and did a slip and slide on the front lawn.... soooo much fun! :) Then we went on this treacherous hike, where we literally walked up a waterfall and slid down hills of mud. One of the craziest hikes I have ever been on. It was amazing! We serve an amazing God. Well, sleepy time she comes. :) Love you all!
So clinicals here.... We are doing Community Nursing here, which basically means we are thrown into the community into various clinics or home-to-home visits. There are five different clinical sites that we will be rotating through within the next seven weeks or so, including various HIV clinics and hospice care centers. My first week, I was placed at an HIV clinic. I have never seen so many HIV positive patients in one place in my entire life. Fifty percent of the population of Kwazulu-Natal (the province we are currently residing in) have been tested and are HIV positive. The other half has either not been tested or have been tested and are negative. The HIV clinic was a rather depressing place. You see, healthcare here is universal. Meaning that anyone who needs any kind of medical attention can get it and medications completely free of charge. The problem is that there is a lack of compliance with treatment. The people seem to take the free medical care for granted. Patients come in to get their medication and then when the nurse instructs them to come back in a couple of weeks, they choose not to. They are in denial. They are HIV positive and they are ashamed of it, so they pretend like they do not have it. They go on their merry way and have unprotected sex with a single partner or multiple partners. When women are told that they need to make their sexual partner wear a condom, they say that they cannot force him to do anything because it is not their right. They do not see their worth and I desire more than anything that they see that they are children of God and they have value. The patients continue with their medications, but then they never come back in to to get more. Years pass by or maybe even just months and then they come in and they are literally dying because their immune system has gotten so weak and the virus has spread throughout their bodies so much. They come in seeking help when it is too late. If only they would have complied with their treatment plan in the first place. AIDS does not have to be a death sentence. If patients stay on their medications and continue to visit the free clinics, their chance of living is much higher compared to them pretending like they do not have it. As a student nurse, I have been shadowing the nurse at the HIV clinic and basically just acting as her therapist. She simply wants to vent to me about how frustrating it is that no matter how much she teaches them, she cannot force them to listen to her and take what she says to heart. The whole thing is very frustrating. God knows though. Hopefully, these people will see the love of Jesus in the nurses who are Christians and genuinely care for them. My roomie has been assigned to the hospice center for the week, where patients are actually in their last days of life. She goes door to door with her preceptor to share the love of Jesus with people and pray for them. Now THAT's what I'm talking about! I am most definitely excited about that! If we cannot force the people to comply with their treatment, we most definitely can tell them about Jesus and pray with them.
Every Saturday, we get to go on some kind of excursion and they are AMAZING. Today's excursion was to some place called the Birds of Prey. Basically, it's a place with a bunch of wild birds in captivity who need to stay in captivity in order to stay alive due to some kind of circumstance. My first impression: "Really? Our first excursion and we're going to go see birds?" Hahaha.... But it was amazing!!! We saw various kinds of birds, some of which are not in America, but are very similar to our birds, and some are just random. I may have been more interested in the dogs at the place, but it was still pretty impressive. Haha. It was suppose to rain on us today, but instead we all got the funniest farmer tan lines from watching the bird show and my fair Irish face is on fire because I got so much sun on it! Haha. The sun is intense here! We also saw the place where Ghandi started his fight for human rights. Basically, he bought a first class ticket for the train and when he went to sit there, he was refused and put into jail. From that point on, he decided to fight for justice. I absolutely love his quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." After touring Pietermaritzburg, we came back to the campus and did a slip and slide on the front lawn.... soooo much fun! :) Then we went on this treacherous hike, where we literally walked up a waterfall and slid down hills of mud. One of the craziest hikes I have ever been on. It was amazing! We serve an amazing God. Well, sleepy time she comes. :) Love you all!
Friday, January 28, 2011
My First Week in South Africa
So I was trying my very hardest to not give in to the peer pressure of writing my own blog because they tend to be hard to follow and rather long, but I gave in. That being said, please do not feel obligated to read the whole thing unless you absolutely want to. This blog was created so that my friends and family could follow me through my adventures in South Africa. Now that this has been prefaced, I will really begin this post about the time leading up to this trip and my actual first week:
I applied for this Study Abroad program over a year ago and have had it in the back of my mind since I started school at Azusa Pacific University four years ago. As a nursing student, the only chance to study abroad is this semester and this is the only place we could go. My nursing cohort of forty people had the highest interest in this program that APU has ever seen. There are only 12 nursing students accepted and 24 from my cohort applied for Spring 2011 in South Africa. I turned in my application over a year ago and put it in God's hands. If it was God's will for me to go, I knew that He would make it happen. I received an email from the chair of the School of Nursing last spring while I was with my brother in my Dad's office at work. I had to have my Dad read the email because I was so nervous. I knew it was in God's hands, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to see what God's answer was. When my Dad told me I was accepted, I can't even begin to describe the way I felt and the mixed emotions that overwhelmed me. I told him that he must be wrong and made him read it again as I read over his shoulder. I was most definitely accepted and I have been preparing my heart for this trip since that day. God is good. :)
Why did I come to South Africa? I came here to be broken. I came here to grow. I came here to meet God in a foreign country. I came here to be God's hands and feet in a new place as a student nurse. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Lord. The group left America on Wednesday, January 19th and landed in Johannesburg on Thursday, January 20th. Loooooooongest travel time of any of our lives. We are 10 hours ahead of Pacific Coast Time back home and we all adjusted to the time rather quickly because we landed at night and we were exhausted. There are 55 students total - 12 nursing girls, 32 girls who have other majors, and 11 guys. I'd say the girl-guy ratio is pretty even. Haha. The nursing girls are the oldest students here, as we are all in our last year of school and everyone else is Kyle's age. We reside at the African Enterprise Conference Center in Pietermaritzburg that Azusa Pacific International rents for the school year. It has only been a little over a week and I have already fallen in love with this country. The people here and the sites and animals are so very amazing and I do not think it is possible to ever get sick of it all. We get to go running through a game reserve right by the campus whenever we have the time to. The reserve has all sorts of wild animals, the main attraction to us, however is the monkeys..... OH MY GOODNESS!!! As I am writing this, a monkey just walked past the door of my place. Monkeys are like squirrels here... they are everywhere and they are cute and cuddly.... but they are NOT friendly. The staff here gave each floor a can of pepper spray to protect ourselves. They seem to like the high-pitched screams of girls more. Hahaha. I do not plan on getting attacked by a monkey.... OH MY GOSH!!!! Another one just walked past! I got to go! More later!
I applied for this Study Abroad program over a year ago and have had it in the back of my mind since I started school at Azusa Pacific University four years ago. As a nursing student, the only chance to study abroad is this semester and this is the only place we could go. My nursing cohort of forty people had the highest interest in this program that APU has ever seen. There are only 12 nursing students accepted and 24 from my cohort applied for Spring 2011 in South Africa. I turned in my application over a year ago and put it in God's hands. If it was God's will for me to go, I knew that He would make it happen. I received an email from the chair of the School of Nursing last spring while I was with my brother in my Dad's office at work. I had to have my Dad read the email because I was so nervous. I knew it was in God's hands, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to see what God's answer was. When my Dad told me I was accepted, I can't even begin to describe the way I felt and the mixed emotions that overwhelmed me. I told him that he must be wrong and made him read it again as I read over his shoulder. I was most definitely accepted and I have been preparing my heart for this trip since that day. God is good. :)
Why did I come to South Africa? I came here to be broken. I came here to grow. I came here to meet God in a foreign country. I came here to be God's hands and feet in a new place as a student nurse. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Lord. The group left America on Wednesday, January 19th and landed in Johannesburg on Thursday, January 20th. Loooooooongest travel time of any of our lives. We are 10 hours ahead of Pacific Coast Time back home and we all adjusted to the time rather quickly because we landed at night and we were exhausted. There are 55 students total - 12 nursing girls, 32 girls who have other majors, and 11 guys. I'd say the girl-guy ratio is pretty even. Haha. The nursing girls are the oldest students here, as we are all in our last year of school and everyone else is Kyle's age. We reside at the African Enterprise Conference Center in Pietermaritzburg that Azusa Pacific International rents for the school year. It has only been a little over a week and I have already fallen in love with this country. The people here and the sites and animals are so very amazing and I do not think it is possible to ever get sick of it all. We get to go running through a game reserve right by the campus whenever we have the time to. The reserve has all sorts of wild animals, the main attraction to us, however is the monkeys..... OH MY GOODNESS!!! As I am writing this, a monkey just walked past the door of my place. Monkeys are like squirrels here... they are everywhere and they are cute and cuddly.... but they are NOT friendly. The staff here gave each floor a can of pepper spray to protect ourselves. They seem to like the high-pitched screams of girls more. Hahaha. I do not plan on getting attacked by a monkey.... OH MY GOSH!!!! Another one just walked past! I got to go! More later!
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