Even though I still wasn’t feeling 100%,
today was pretty great. Our lecture this morning was run by another nurse from
Mzuni, and it was about palliative care. I found it really interesting because
of the cultural differences in the approach to care (for instance, they don’t
tell patients an estimated time they have left to live, because it’s often
incorrect and they prioritize doctor-patient trust). I also learned that in
Malawi, all forms of treatment for HIV/AIDS are considered palliative care
because they’re modifiers of an incurable illness. Though thinking again about
that now, it’s a bit backwards because the lecturer also said that palliative
care wasn’t meant to delay or hasten death, but the entire point of prescribing
ARVs (the usual treatment for HIV/AIDS now) is to keep the person healthy as
long as possible so they don’t die. Either way, it was very cool to learn about
health care in another culture; it made me excited to maybe take this knowledge
back to Canada if I get into med school.
After class, we went to Shoprite (which
we’ve started calling our second home because we go there so much), which is in
a strip mall. Also in that strip mall is an Airtel, which is the main service
provider for cell service here. A few days ago, a local guy told us that Airtel
has free Wifi. So today I got to finally get in contact with some of my friends
and family! It was 4AM in Ottawa, so obviously none of them responded, but
hopefully I’ll be able to hang around the Airtel again soon so I can hear from
them again.
Once everyone had stocked up on beer,
snacks, and Kwacha (a bunch of people exchanged some more American money), we
headed to the beach! I’m pretty sure I already said this at some point, but
Lake Malawi is SO BEAUTIFUL. It’s incredibly blue, and it’s so big that it
looks like an ocean. We spent the afternoon and early evening on the beach,
taking pictures, relaxing, and hanging out. A few people went swimming, but
there’s a parasite in the lake that you need to take antibiotics for, and I
wasn’t super enthused about taking antibiotics just for a swim. One of my
favourite parts of the afternoon was when all these kids started hanging out
with Susan, and eventually Kelsey, Susan, Laura, and I were playing with them.
We taught them the Macarena and the “whip nay nay” dance. They were all super
cute and it was really great to see how much fun we could have without speaking
the same language.
After we got back from the beach, we
dropped by Shoprite (seriously, we basically live there) and got Natalee a
small birthday cake. We sang her happy birthday and it was a lovely house
moment. Then we had an evening of games! We played Heads Up for a bit, then
some of us played Dutch Blitz. But we got distracted partway through Dutch
Blitz because some of the others had started playing a game where one person
where’s headphones with the music on loud, while other people say things to
them and the person has to guess what they’re saying. It’s HILARIOUS. I’ve
never been good at reading lips, but this was a whole new level of bad. I spent
probably the first minute just staring at Aileen and laughing so hard I was
crying because I couldn’t even begin to guess what she was saying.
I’m pretty tired, though I’m feeling a bit
better since I had a real meal for dinner tonight (last night, dinner was a
banana, and breakfast today was also a banana… and both times, it made my
stomach hurt, so I’m enjoying being able to eat food without being in pain). I
was pretty pooched after the beach since it was a lot of social time and a lot
of time in the sun, though I still haven’t gotten burnt!!!
Tomorrow after class, we’re hoping to hang
around the university for a bit, which will hopefully mean we’ll get connected
to the Wifi there! I’m pretty excited about that, especially combined with the
newfound free Wifi at Airtel, because it means I can check in with people
almost daily.
-Jen
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