Monday, October 23, 2006

Lubango


Well, we`ve gotten a chance to see a bit of the city here, and have
really enjoyed how nice everyone is here. What little portuguese we
thought we had learned now seems quite insignificant, and we´re
realizing what a battle we have ahead of us in learning enough to get
by without someone to translate for us.



I´ve seen the hospital, which just actually opened last week, and has
its OR opening this coming week~... pending successful instalation of
the backup autostart system for the generator. The power frequently
goes out (sometimes due to lightning strikes, but usually because it`s
been cut). This dry season was quite dry, and there isn`t enough
water in the hydroelectric system to provide more power. It`s pretty
much impossible to predict, though, as to when you`ll get your 4 or so
hours of power for the day. Fortunately, we do have a generator,
though, and have even managed to puzzle out a system in how to use it
occasionally, when we need to get our refridgerator below room
temperature for a while.

On friday, I sat in on a whole ream of consultations with patients,
and consistantly had my little anatomical and physiological knowledge
tested by an ever educational Dr. Foster. I´ve been finding myself
longing for the textbooks carefully hidden away in boxes back in
Canada - even though their weight would have been quite prohibitive.
Oh, well, I´ll see what medical books I can borrow from downstairs to
satisfy my curiosity\poor recall. Even though it`s only been the one
day in the hospital so far, I´m fairly certain that I definately want
to go into medicine (if there had been any doubt). I can´t wait until
the OR is functional, and I can hopefully see\help with some
surgeries.

Julia will be teaching English at either one of or both the hospital
and the seminary with Peggy, a friend of the Fosters, visiting from
Toronto. At this point, we don´t know exactly who at the hospital she
will be teaching (nurses, guards, maintenance...), so she may have to
brush up on a little medical vocab herself.

It`s been a good thing that she`s had the past 4 years to get
desensitized to gory\detailed discussions about injuries and
operations, because there are pretty much no holds barred over the
tables here, when doctors get together. I love it, and she seems to
be surviving remarkably well.

The guesthouse we have is quite spacious, by our Japanese standards,
though we will be likely sharing with another STA (from TWU,
apparently) in November. There`s still plenty of room for that, with
another bedroom still spare.

Below us live 2 American doctors (one who has finished his residency
already in surgery, and the other who still needs to finish hers.
It`s been great getting to know them, and their help has been
invaluable.

We´re a short 10 minute walk away from Dr. Foster´s house, and about 5
minutes from the church (in Portuguese, of course). We´ve also met
Dr. Collins (an opthomological surgeon), whom I believe we read about
in a book that a friend of Julia`s lent us in Botswanna, - God,
Medicine & Miracles, by Dr. Daniel Fountain. It was quite an
interesting read, written by a doctor who lived in the Congo for
years, and worked with Dr. Collins there too.

Oh, well. More later - I`m running out of time here!

-Ben

No comments: