Mary in Malawi

Once againg, a wonderful stay at Liwonde national park!!

The best part of it all was during dinner yesterday and break fast today; A vervett monket with a baby on it's baby suuddenlöy jumped in to the restaurant, down on our table och stole my food! Forst time, yesterday dinner, she stole my dessert, some kind of pudding pie. Today she stole a muffin. Straight from my hand! she just jumped down on the table, calmy took my wrist in a firm grip with one hand an took my breakfast muffin with her other hand. All the time looking in my eyes. Then she jumped out again. Haha! I really didn't mind at all, she could have ahd all of my break fast if she wanted, buut the waiter didn't enjoy her eating our food... so he stood next to our table, guarfing it the rest of the meal. Hehe.

We also saw a elephant get really pissed off on a little tiny wart hog. The poor thinh got chased by a trumppeting elephant far off in the bush. He must be traumatized...

Sleeping time noww!

Christian says hello! =D

Mogonebwino

 

Politik, politik

 

This is in swedish, sorry. But this is not about malawi. Next time back to english again. The swedish election brought up a lot of hysteria, and I would like to comment some things.

 

Okej. Många vänner är snabba med att döma. En kommentar jag fått är ”Du som är en god människa, som jobbar i ett av världens fattigaste land, hur kan du rösta blått?” Det gjorde mig ledsen, arg och förbannad. Att folk är så himla okritiska och naiva, att folk bara kan lägga fram sådana påståenden utan att ha en aning om vad de pratar om.

 

1. Politik delas ganska rumphugget in i blått och rött. Många har från barnsben lärt sig av sina föräldrar att det ena är bra, och den andra är dåligt. De har sedan aldrig riktigt brytt sig om att forma en egen uppfattning eller läsa på vad de olika partierna står för. Många lever i tron att rött är gott och blått är ont, och tvärrtom. Många ”vanliga” svenskar har förutfattade meningar i politik, utna att egentligen veta vad det är rött och blått står för. Jag höll på en hel del med polititk för några år sedan, men ja blev så dålig och trött och irriterad och frustrerad av alla dessa förutfattade meningar och påståenden utan konsistens att jag rätt och slätt inte orkade med det längre. Nu nöjer jag mig med att rösta, men inte ens det kan man göra utan att få kritik av folk som inte har en aning vad de pratar om. Otroligt provocerande.

    

2. Angående påståendet att ”du som är en god människa, hur kan du rösta blått?” .. Politik är inte som moln ovanför oss som vi kastar våra röster mot. Vi är politiken. Jag är en del av det parti jag röstar på. En representant. Om du tycker jag är en bra människa, istället för att döma ut det jag röstar på som skit, tänk efter. Om jag privat är en vettig människa som du tycker om och tycker är godhjärtad, då kanske det faktiskt är så att det är en del av den mentaliteten i det parti jag är en del av?

    

3. Jämför politik med religion. Kristna snakkar skit om muslimer. ”Du som är snäll och bra, hur kan du vara muslim? Terrorister, al quaida, omskärelse av kvinnor....Hemsk religion!” Muslimer snakkar skit om kristna: ”De tror på fel Gud, de gör si och så, usch vad hemskt. Förföljelser av det och det... Hemsk religion” Det är så himla synd med dessa förutfattade meningar. Det finns mycket gott i alla religioner, och det finns rötägg och idioter i alla religioner. Ofta blir religion förväxlat med kultur, t.ex säger Mohamnmed i Koranen att det är synd att omskära kvinnor, att detta inte skall göras. Att det ändå görs är en del av kulturen. Men många tror att det är religionen, för de har inte själva läst koranen. En del kristina som inte har läst bibeln menar att biblen är bara god, men i gamla testamentet kan du läsa en hel del fruktansvärda saker. Lagar och regler t.ex. På ett ställe står det attt om en kvinna och en man har sex innan äktenskapet skall kvinnan föras till sin faders hus och stenas till döds. Det är det inte många som vet. Det är PRECIS samma sak med politik. Det finns idioter i alla partier, det finns idiotiska förslag inom alla färger och färgkonstellationer. Men att bara ta något man hört för givet, utan att läsa på och se det från båda sidor, både för och nackdelar, är oerhört naivt och okritiskt. Summa summarum: Döm inte oliktänkade. Diskutera med dem, försök förstå dem. Se både för och nackdelar i deras argument och förslag.

    

4. Påståenden utan konsistens. ”Rött är bra, blått är dumt” ”blått är bra, rött är dumt” ”De röda är dumma, se bara på stalin, han var röd. Ond, ond! De röda vill inte att någon ska lyckas, bara dra alla över en kam. Blått är framtiden för sverige”. ”De blåa är dumma, de vill att fattiga ska bli fattigare och rika rikare. Hitler var blå. Usch usch, rösta rött” Bara OKRITISKA NAIVA PÅSTÅENDEN UTAN KONSISTENS. Varken blått eller rött går in för att förstöra, de har bara olika åsikter. Du kan vara för eller emot, men att bara dissa alla blå eller röda förslag utan att ens veta vad de rör sig om är både dumt och farligt.

    

5. Jämför politik med bacon. Du hatar bacon. Bacon kommer från gris. Du hatar därmed också grisar, grisar är hemska. Men har du tänkt på kotlett? Skinkstek? Julskinka? Husdjur? Det finns fler aspekter av grisen än bacon. SAMMA MED POLITIK. Det finns fler sätt att se på röd och blå politik, och det finns alltid fördelar och nackdelar med alla förslag. Du kan inte hata hela grisen bara för att du inte gillar bacon.

    

6. Kasta gärna pajer på varandra, så länge du vet vad som är i pajen, och så länge du vet vad som är i motståndarens paj! Men har du ingen aning utan bara apar efter sånt du hört från någon utan att reflektera över det eller läsa på själv, har du fanimej ingen rätt att kasta paj. Okristisk pajkastning är pinsamt och provocerande.

    

7. Och angående sverigedemokraterna; en del helt okritiska och naiva röster säger ”neej, nu har vi fått in ett nasistparti* i riksdagen genom att använda demokrati. Vi borde avskaffa demokratin” Hallå?? Vi får in ett ODEMOKRATISKT* parti, och vi vill möta det med att avskaffa demokratin? Ja det kan jag garantera att alla odemokratiska partier uppskatta oerhört mycket! Hur fan tänker folk??? Det är ju precis såna rekationer som är farliga, precis såna reaktione som skapar klyfton mellan människor och ger utrymme för odemokratiiska, nasistiska och kommunistiska grupper att växa sig starka. Det farliga med politik är okritiska och naiva människor, inte partierna i sig. Det är så jävla lätt att bara följa nåt man hört när man var liten, och helt utan att egentligen ha en aning vad man pratar om kasta paj på de som tänker annorlunda. Hitler fick en hel nation att göra helt fruktansvärda saker, för de bara accepterade vad de hörde utan att reflektera. Och ni som tror att ni är så jävla goda människor bara för att ni röstar rött eller blått utan att egentligen ha en aning om vad ni röstar på, har jag ingen respekt för i de här sammanhangen. LÄS PÅ FÖR GUDS SKULL.
   
   * Jag vill tillägga att jag har egentligen ingen koll på huruvida SvD är nasistiska och odemokratiska eller inte, jag har faktiskt inte läst deras partiprogram och jag har inte satt mig in i det. Men jag hoppas att alla ni som går runt och beskyller de för att vara nasister HAR satt er in i partiprogrammet, och inte bara apar efter något ni hört..... Tyvärr tror det att det är väldiigt liten sannolikhet att ni faktsikt har gjort det.
   

8. Politik är som en cirkel och inte en rät linje. Går du för långt åt höger/blått blir det svart; du kommer till hitler och nasismen. Går du för långt åt vänster/rött blir det svart, du kommer till Stalin, Bägge hade koncentrationsläger, bägge var tyranner. Men folk verkar ha glömt det. Höger politik menar att alla är olika, och vänster att alla är lika. Håller det sig inom vissa ramar, är  både synsätt okej. Höger: Alla är olika, vi måste anpassa samhället efter allas olika behov. vänster: Alla är lika, vi måste göre ett samhälle som inte skiljer för mycket mellan olika människor. I en bra kombination kunde både dessa synsätt fungera tillsammans. Men drar du det för långt, som stalin och hitler.. då blir det mer som såhär; Hitler-Höger: Alla är olika. Bara den och den gruppen är bra. Döda alla andra. Stalin-Vänster: Alla är/ska vara lika. De som inte passar i i samhället ska bort. Döda de.
   
   Så går du för långt åt rött eller blått, bli det som jag ser det i vilket fall som helst svart.
   

 

GODNATT!

First of all! Congratulations to Fredrik Reinfeldt and Alliansen! =D Swedish election is over, and I am very happy with the result =) except that sveriedemokraterna got enough votes to get in to the government.. But none of the other parties wants to co-operate with them anyway, so I don't think It will make any harm.. Maybe it is just a good wake up call for a lot of people. Maybe some more people will go for voting next time, to avoid this to happen again?

And then, summary of this week = Amazing! I have really experienced an oasis of luxury... Crispy white bed sheets, king size bed, sun downer cruise every evening (litterally taking our drinks in the water, floating on pool noodles, watching the sunset. Amazing!!) Snorkling every morning, playing bow game with christian every evening...  He is getting very good actually, he managed to beat me 3 out of 10 times! =) ;) hehe.

Christian enjoying the warm waters of lake malawi (27-30 degrees C!!!)

For anyone who wants to visit malawi, please make a visit at this place. The couple whoo runs it are amazing people, kind and welcoming, and very informal. They had dinner with us every night, and they joined the sundowner cruise.. This is their life, ther actuallt LIVE here permanently. I asked Jenny, the hostess, if they never got tired of having tourists at their home every day. But she just said that: "I am so lucky to live here, this is really a piece of paradise, and I just can't keep it to myself! Everyone must have an opportunity to experience this" she and her husband Taffy says that they love meeting all the interesting people coming, and they both have so many stories to tell. Some evenings have been pure story telling evenings.  Taffy is like a mix between Gandhi and John Cleese. Sucessful, fun, peaceful. 

Last night we had a giant monkey in our shower (the shower are beautiful out door atriums, so youu shower under the stars, and sometime monkeys look down at you from the trees). This monkey sat calmly in our shower, chewing a fruit. Didn't mind me looking at him, and i HAD to look! He had to biggest balls I ever seen! They where HUGE! And best of all, they were completly BLUE. (???) Have you never seen blue balls, I mean, it's amazing! Why can't human guys have blue balls? It would make a lot of things much more fun! I tried to take a photo, but then he left. Maybe he knew I would post his balls on the internet....? ;) welll, If I had blue balls, I would proudly post them on the internet, so I seriously think he acted a little childish... ;)

Tomorrow we will leave Normann Carr cottage for Namchengwa lodge, further down the lake. And on wednesday we are going for Safari at Mvuu Camp for two nights, and then we are going to climb a mountain in Zomba, The "Zomba Plateau". It is about 1.800 metres high...............

Anyone who is interested can visit www.normancarrcottage.com

Kisssssses!

Im never coming back!!!! I will spend the rest of my life at Normann Carr cottage by monkey bay!!! I am here for  one week with my beloved Christian, who arrived on Friday! I ttell you, this si paradise! Everyone must see lake malawi! It is incredible, the sunsets are amazing and the water is always around 28 C. I will post a lot more about this when I get bakc to Nkhoma, and be prepared for amazing sunsets photos!

And yes, as you all understand, Christian is here in malawi! and he is adapting wondefully!! He just realised that he has been without a watch, internet and cell phone for almost a week, and he describes it at lovely! =D Right now, we are in paradise, but before we came here, christian followed me everywhere. We visited malawian friends of mine in their homes in the villages, and we sat together, eating Nzima on the floor. Christian with a little tiny baby in his lap! =D He is amazing, follows me to crazy places without complaining.. Aaa I love you, man!! =D

Now it is time for dinnes at Normann Carr! Chambo fillet with rice, amarula on ice and some kind om  delightful desert. Malawian gin and tonic for christian. I Love this place!!!

Write more next week! =D And I will post a lot of nice photos.

Love!! Maria

Today, we were bussh doctors! =)

we went to a village to examine and vaccinate children that can't come to hospital. I was examining them, and Link did the vaccinations. We had no doctor, so what I did was to check the baby, did it gain weight good? how did it look? I did general, full body examinations on maybe 50 children, and when someone had signs of Malaria, I simple prescirbed them malaria drugs and sent them to collect the medicin at a patient attendant. Some needed vaccinations, and those I sent to Link. It was really very fun! =)

6 september – My very own Abscess! =D

 

Today I did an abscess draining! =D The child had a giant abscess on his back (abscess: Infektion under the skin or in the fat tissue that causes big pus produktion. The infektion spreads, and creates a ”ball” under the skin). To drain an abscess you must first sterilise the area, and then take a surgical blade and cut a generous opening in the abscess. When you're inside, pus will start pouring out, together with blood. You squeeze out as much as you can, and then you inert your finger and breaks all the pockets of pus that are hiding inside the tissue. I moved my index finger around, and when all the pockets where broken and all the pus had come out, I could feel the boys ribs. With no skin between, i acutally felt the bone. That was amazing!! =D Maybe I really should be a surgeon...? Naaah, tooo many years in school.

Something else that is amazing: 4 days left til Christian arrives!!!! =D

 

Today we have 5 first year students in OPD. They are very positive and willing to learn, and they seem very intrested in the triage. They have not learned so much yet, so I get to teach a bit. And that's really fun! I love having students. I remember when I was a student I had some really horrible nurses as tutors, they were just pointing out everything I did wrong... I promised myself to never be like that, so I all the time try to encourage the students and focus on what they do good. If they do something wrong, I just show them how they are supposed to do it, and tell them that it is perfectly normal to make misstakes. Trial and error, learning by doing. Thats just the way it is. Everyone has to learn to crawl before you can walk. I think I learned that from my parents. They are both teachers, and have shown me a lot of patience and understanding during all my misstakes and personal disasters when growing up.. ;-)

I'm getting good at making Nzima! I've made it three times now, last time today, I made it all by myself without help. I made it for our gardener and maid for their lunch. The gardener is so happy I'm learning to make Nzima, he says that when I make the perfect Nzima, Im a true Malawian. I'm not really there yet, but I'll keep on trying.. ;)

5 september

5 days til Christians arrival!! =D It feels like a visit from another planet... I looked at the monkeys in the garden today, and I didn''t really react. And suddenly it hit me that I got used to them. They were no longer that special. So I started thinking about everything I see here everyday.. Women carrying water on the head, smiling, dirty children in torn apart clothes, men biking on old fashioned bikes with five alive goats tied to the back of the bike... Little boys selling dried mice on stick along the road.. And I remembered how I reacted to everything in the beginning. Will Christian, when he comes, he will see things the way I sae them when I came, and I might react to his reactions... It will for sure be fun and interesting! =)

 

Concering Insects.. As I wrote yesterday didn't the preymantis scare the shit out of me as I had expected. I actually managed to lift it up on a piece of paper. I actually considered it to be a beautiiful creature. And I looked at some grasshoppers today, and i could even touch one! Without freaking out. But they have lovely colours, and they look cute. The insects at home are more.. zombie-like, ugly and scary.. And you know what? A few nights ago a big cochroach fell down on my head when I was lying in bed. It had been hiding inside the mosquito net! Ok, I admit, I freaked out a little, but not at all as much as I would have done three moonths ago. I didn't even fall out of the bed. I caught it with a towel and throw it out, with the purpose to let him out in the garden, nopt to kill him. But then I accidentaly dropped a book on him so he died... that wasn't my plan, but... well. Well well.

But no matter what progress I made here, spider still is out of the question to consider as cute. They are even worse here than home, big and hairy and long disgusting legs... Ick!

 

Oh and I forgot to tell you, Immigration FINALLY decided to accept our papers. But while we where in the office, we actually saw a guy giving a bribe. No money was supposed to be paid in that office, all payment was done in another room. But we saw him giving money, trying to be discrete. Bah. That what they waited for us to do. Anyway, we could leave our application. But is was a little bit funny, we first got a stamp that the papers where correct. Then we went to the other room to pay, and got a receipt and a stamp that we had paid. Than we had to go to another room, where they looked at the receipt, and then they gave us another receipt that confirmed that we had a reciept. And off course new stamps. Then we went back to the first office, where we got another stamp, and finally we could GO! Wohooo!!! We will probobly never get the working permit, it takes almost a year to get it after sending in an application. But anyway, we have done what we can.

 

These "little" guys are starting to invade Nkhoma! They are called Preymantis and are a little more than 10 cm long! I must admit.. I find them cute. Maybe I've been here for to long?



Mother ("amai") washing clothes and children in Nkhoma River.

Waist lands of Nkhoma.


Pictures from the wedding will come! =) But not today. Im to tired, as usual.

And TADA! ONLY 6 DAYS LEFT TIL CHRISTIAN (See I spelled your name right this time honey!!) GETS HERE!!!! <3<3<3

*Happiness*

4 september

 

Today we attended a wedding! It was Maxwell, a nurse at pediatric ward, and Joyce, a patient attendant at surgical ward. It started at 6 am (real time: 8:45. Always add at least two hours if a malawian asks you to be somewhere at a certain time. Otherwise you will have to wait. A lot...!)

Everyone danced in to the chruch, first kids in beautiful dresses, and then the brides maids. Dnacing and singing! It was really beautiful. Then the bride came in, danccing. And half way through the church, the groom started dancing from the other side of the corridore. And they met in the middle and joined each others hand and kept on dancing all the way up to the priest together. It was really really nice, both me and Link got tears in our eyes! I also want to!!!!

 

Actually a guy proposed to me today. I told him that I was married. And then he said ”But I would like to give you a baby! Do you want?” So I said NO, not from you. Then we had a long, but intresting discussion about wether I should have his babies or not. I told him, ”I love my husband, and I only want his babies” and he said ”Why?” and me: ”What do you mean why?” him: ”I mean, why his babies, not mine??” Me: ”Cause I love him, and I am MARRIED to him” He: ”Why?”

 

Gaa! Haha! I told him that Christian is coming next week, and than he said Ok, and asked if we could be in love when he left. Oh my God.

 

What else? The projectis going better and better. We had a good but difficult discussion with our colleagues a few days ago. We discussed some things, and I think we reach a good agreement. Now all of them are helping out down in reception, to triage the patients and stabilize the really sick ones. And that is really good, and needed. Almost every day we find someone, mostly small babies, waiting in line that are actually dying, or close to be. Many babies suffer from so many different thing, very many suffers from malnutrion combined with HIV and Malaria. We have a lot of babies with measles, the measles epidemy is still going strong, and we can't reallly see any signs of it to end. The epudemy might be caused because of a miss in the vaccinations a few years ago. Everyone here have to take measles vaccine againg now, because many that where told they got it when they were little, didn't actually get it. So now we have an epidemy that kills a lot of people. That is something to think about at home, where many people are refusing vaccines. Without vaccines, sweden and norway would still havev a lot of problems with... for example maybe polio, tbc, measles etc. What if someone could make a vaccin for HIV? Wow. That we make a whole new start for africa.

 

A sad case in medical ward: 18 year old girl came in. Her husband belonged to the Zion-cult i told you about earlier. The girl was pregant, but she got sick from measles, and the baby died. Her husband, who due to Zion, refused medical care, refused her to go to hospital. So nothing where done. She kept on being 7 months pregnant, with a dead baby. And seriously ill from measles.. Finally, she in one way or another, made it to the hospital in secret. She got help and treatment, but it was to late... She died 24 hours after admission.. It is a very tragic story. And it is not the only one. This is as I said before a completely different world.

Communication is a different thing here than it is at home. It is easy to insult someone without knowing it, and also when you always communicating in english that is noone first language there can be some missinterprations. YES is sometimes NO and the other way around.. Never ask a malawian something in negative form! For example, you ask ”Are there no more apples in there?” The malawian answer ”Yes”. Ok, I think she means; ”Yes, there are apples in there”. But she really means No. Because with her ”yes” she is confirming that what I said is correct. So she means, ” Yes, you are right, there are no more apples”. You see? When it concerns more inportant things than apples, it can be a problem. For example ”Didn't you give that lady her medication?” ”Yes”... hmmm... Than you think dhe did give her the meds, but she really means that she didn't. And if it is the other way around, if the malawian asks you ”Didn't you give her the medication?” and you answer ”No” , she thinks what she says is wrong and that you did give the patient medication... Gaa you see the problem? ;)

Also, remember; if someone is pregnant, don't mention it! If it is a good friend you can talk about it, but not if it is just a colleague or something. Reason: The belief is that if you talk about the baby before it is born, you can put a curse on it, and if the baby is born dead or with only one leg and six fingers or some other problem, it is your fault because you cursed the baby by asking about it before it was born.

 

I think I accidentaly might have cursed a few babies... Tina, whatever problems Casper might get, it is probobly my fault... ;)

 

An intresting thing about sex: people don't talk about sexuality here. Even couples don't talk about it. I mean, some do, but the offical story is that noone talks about it ever. Instead, the women where a band of pearls around their waist. When the man wants to have sex with her, he simply touches the pearl band. As a silent question. And depending on what colour the pearls are, the answer is yes or no. I don't know the colours, but one colour represents yes, another one no. And then there are some with mixed colours... And I don't know what they might mean... ;) Maybe ”Yes, If you do the dishes” or something? ;)

 

Another thing tha tis intresting is the relationship between mother and daugther. When someone gets pregnant, her mother moves in with her and stays with her through all the pregnancy, delivery and several months after the baby is born. Not all families do this, but the more traditional families do this. And also, they never plan the name of the baby before it is born.The name is chosen by the mother alone, and is often based on the feeling thee mother her while giving birth. We have some special names here, some are beautiful like: Innocent, Happy, Memory, Wonderful, Beautiful, Blessing, Gift etc.. Some names are less flattering, such as; Trouble and Painful. And then there are the mysterious names, like Secret. I wonder what people at home would have named thier babies, if the name woulld be based on the feeling during delivery? =)



Today we went for a party with the Norweigan embassy. I looked forward to spek swedish! =)vAll scandinavians in Malawi was inviated. It was nice, but unfortunately most of the people where from Denmark, only a few from Norway and only me from sweden. I accidentally always ended with with danish people, and had to speak mostly english anyway. Well well. You can't have it all... ;) At least, the bar made very good mojitos! =D

29/8

 

Sick! Soar throat, pain in ears! Not indications of malaria. Probobly just some shit.. It will be allright.

Been working since 7 am today, and will knock off at 7 pm. Asch. Not nice working hours.. sundays are boring.. Not many patients coming in.. One girl with plausible meningitis, a kid with measles, a man with split lip after bicycle accident and a guy who stepped on a cannula (???) outside the hospital. He will get PEP treatment to minimize the risk of HIV. He was also supposed to get tetanus vaccination (stelkramp) but the man who had the keys to pharmacy was in church, and could according to other staff members not be distubed on a church day. Gaah. So the guy had to go home, and come back the next day to get the shot and the PEP. Nothing is more important than church. Hallelujha!

Oo yes, we have bought a dvd-player! =) we have already had two movie nights! =) Jippiiee!

Watched wall-e and Avatar! =) And we have an AMAZING tv-channel; TSN, The Style Network! I know my sister Sofia would love it aswell.. All day long they only sent project runway, top model, documentaries about strange people, "16 and pregnant", project hair saloon, catwalk etc etc... It is only girly reality shows, and they are all completely, wonderfully brain dead and 100% watchable! Just what you need after a hard day's work! =)

 

Other intresting things: We have some problems with patients belonging to a religion or cult called Zion. I no nothing about it, more than that they refuse medical care. The police came with a man who was very sick from measles. He had 7 children and the mother was already dead. But he denied medical care 'cause of zion... He was taken here by police and they chained him to the bed, hands and feet. So he is now in chains, receiving medication against his will. He is getting much better and will probobly survive now, which is good.. As the brother said ”I can't afford to take care of his children if he dies!” I don't really know what I think about this... Hehe.. Here, this is what is right to do. At home, it would be up to him wether he wants treatmant or not.. well, it's intresting to see the differences.

 

We also had some children from the same cult. The parents denied them medical care, so the neighbours had to break in to their house and kidnap them. But at the hospital, the children also refused treatment.. Hmm... What to do, what to do.. The staff in Peadiatrics gave them an ultimatum; no blankets on the beds if they didn't take medication, and trust me, it is cold during nights here. So finally they took the meds.

 

We had a little boy who came in with his finger cut off.. It was completely off, only hanging in a small piece of skin. The clinical officer put a cannula (about 5 cm long) under the nail of the fingertip and pushed it all the way through the finger.. It was the worst thing I ever seen. I even hate that in movies, when they put things under the fingernails... Ick. This was friday, the boy came back in today and the finger was all black and yellow, so it must be amputated. Poor kid =(. But it is just a finger, it could deffinately been worse.

 

Me ad Linn are a little annoyed right now. There are a lot of people asking for money. As soon as you get to know someone, and become friends with them, they start asking you for money. I have some people that I want to help, and when they ask it is fine. But absolutely everyone is asking. Some are crying, some are begging.. Some are just commanding ”give me money”.. Sometimes you feel just.. helpless. It is impossible to help everyone, and we really don't wish to make a distance between us and the malawians, but if every one you become friends with start asking you for money.. you just have to make a distance. It is difficult to be friends with someone who is always placing themselves underneath you, like you are some kind of god... aa I don't like that at all. It is just annoying. And we just found out that a kid we helped to pay some school books and school fees allready had been sponsored by our neighbour for those things.. That was really sad, and it is to bad because he also destroys for others. If someone acts like that, than in the end noone will be able to trust anyone, and noone can get their school fees paid. Gaa. Frustrating.

 

 

29/8

 

Sick! Soar throat, pain in ears! Not indications of malaria. Probobly just some shit.. It will be allright.

Been working since 7 am today, and will knock off at 7 pm. Asch. Not nice working hours.. sundays are boring.. Not many patients coming in.. One girl with plausible meningitis, a kid with measles, a man with split lip after bicycle accident and a guy who stepped on a cannula (???) outside the hospital. He will get PEP treatment to minimize the risk of HIV. He was also supposed to get tetanus vaccination (stelkramp) but the man who had the keys to pharmacy was in church, and could according to other staff members not be distubed on a church day. Gaah. So the guy had to go home, and come back the next day to get the shot and the PEP. Nothing is more important than church. Hallelujha!

Oo yes, we have bought a dvd-player! =) we have already had two movie nights! =) Jippiiee!

Watched wall-e and Avatar! =) And we have an AMAZING tv-channel; TSN, The Style Network! I know my sister Sofia would love it aswell.. All day long they only sent project runway, top model, documentaries about strange people, "16 and pregnant", project hair saloon, catwalk etc etc... It is only girly reality shows, and they are all completely, wonderfully brain dead and 100% watchable! Just what you need after a hard day's work! =)

 

Other intresting things: We have some problems with patients belonging to a religion or cult called Zion. I no nothing about it, more than that they refuse medical care. The police came with a man who was very sick from measles. He had 7 children and the mother was already dead. But he denied medical care 'cause of zion... He was taken here by police and they chained him to the bed, hands and feet. So he is now in chains, receiving medication against his will. He is getting much better and will probobly survive now, which is good.. As the brother said ”I can't afford to take care of his children if he dies!” I don't really know what I think about this... Hehe.. Here, this is what is right to do. At home, it would be up to him wether he wants treatmant or not.. well, it's intresting to see the differences.

 

We also had some children from the same cult. The parents denied them medical care, so the neighbours had to break in to their house and kidnap them. But at the hospital, the children also refused treatment.. Hmm... What to do, what to do.. The staff in Peadiatrics gave them an ultimatum; no blankets on the beds if they didn't take medication, and trust me, it is cold during nights here. So finally they took the meds.

 

We had a little boy who came in with his finger cut off.. It was completely off, only hanging in a small piece of skin. The clinical officer put a cannula (about 5 cm long) under the nail of the fingertip and pushed it all the way through the finger.. It was the worst thing I ever seen. I even hate that in movies, when they put things under the fingernails... Ick. This was friday, the boy came back in today and the finger was all black and yellow, so it must be amputated. Poor kid =(. But it is just a finger, it could deffinately been worse.

 

Me ad Linn are a little annoyed right now. There are a lot of people asking for money. As soon as you get to know someone, and become friends with them, they start asking you for money. I have some people that I want to help, and when they ask it is fine. But absolutely everyone is asking. Some are crying, some are begging.. Some are just commanding ”give me money”.. Sometimes you feel just.. helpless. It is impossible to help everyone, and we really don't wish to make a distance between us and the malawians, but if every one you become friends with start asking you for money.. you just have to make a distance. It is difficult to be friends with someone who is always placing themselves underneath you, like you are some kind of god... aa I don't like that at all. It is just annoying. And we just found out that a kid we helped to pay some school books and school fees allready had been sponsored by our neighbour for those things.. That was really sad, and it is to bad because he also destroys for others. If someone acts like that, than in the end noone will be able to trust anyone, and noone can get their school fees paid. Gaa. Frustrating.