Death by chicken

Hello friends. Halfway through my trip! Thanks for your faithfulness in reading these updates and for your prayers. I didn’t include this in my last blog post, but Tuesday afternoon I started to get sick. And it got worse from there. I am quite sure I had a nice case of food poisoning and am also pretty confident that I got it from KFC. Colonel Sanders and I are no longer friends…in real life or on Facebook. The good news is that I am basically back to my usual self today. Praise. Tuesday was also a rough day for one of our Baylor doctors. She splashed some fluid in her eyes while doing a procedure and had to start HIV prophylaxis along with several other medications. She is breastfeeding so has to be even more cautious. She has been sick as a dog the last few days because of the ARVs she now has to take for a month. Please remember her in your prayers.

On Wednesday, I only worked the second half of the day since I was sick. That night, Nina (my roommate) and I went out to eat with several of the Baylor doctors. We went to a restaurant run by a Swazi lady who cooks traditional Swazi food for her customers. We sat on a porch overlooking the mountains and a small waterfall while the sun set. It was so nice.

Yesterday was another clinic day. I began the morning by helping the TB nurse do gastric aspirates. I definitely felt like a real doctor since I made multiple children cry. I saw a few patients in the Challenge Clinic with one of the Challenge Clinic doctors and then spent the rest of the morning seeing patients on my own. Mid-afternoon, Nina and I walked to town to get groceries. On the way home we purchased some roasted maize and felt very Swazi. J Last night, we had a pretty chill evening at home and watched NCIS during dinner.  Afterwards, I went over to the Rehmeyers and Nina prepared to leave for Mozambique.

This morning, there was a big ceremony at the Baylor clinic for the opening of the breast and cervical cancer screening program. The Swazi staff dressed in traditional attire and performed several songs and dances. There were lots of important people there including Teresa Rehmeyer. J I really enjoyed it…mostly because I got to take a lot of pictures with my new friends. After the ceremony, Mr. Wayne Myers picked me up, and we ran a few errands before heading to South Africa. I am only allowed in Swaziland for a certain amount of consecutive days without leaving. So today I went to South Africa…for lunch. The usual. :) I really enjoyed catching up with Mr. Wayne. This evening, I have been at the Rehmeyers and am spending the night at their house. Tomorrow, I will head out to Hawane and stay at Nono Ngidi’s homestead and teach the youth on Sunday morning.

I only have 4.5 clinic days left with Baylor. Unreal. This week has been so good (despite being sick), and I have been able to spend time with a lot of the Swazi staff. I am also finally getting the hang of some medical siSwati and really enjoying my roommate, Nina. Looking forward to the next 3 weeks!

Have a great weekend! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hunter