Month 3

I cannot believe it has been another month. Time is flying! This last month has been a crazy one. I went on a long road trip, celebrated my birthday, spent some time in clinics, and got to work on the village project.

First was the road trip. Mike, James, and I traveled first to Zambia, which was the coolest place I have ever been. I wanted to just stay there forever! We went to South Luangwa National park and camped for two nights at a lodge near the park called Croc Valley. If you ever go to Zambia, you need to stay there! We arrived at the campsite in the dark, so I was unaware of how amazing it really was. I woke up at six very tired, until James announced there were elephants in the river. I sprinted out of the tent. It was amazing to see the sun rising and a heard of elephants in the river. We also watched hippos while eating breakfast and I watched a family of baboons while I took a shower. We went for our first game that night with the most amazing tour guide; Duncan. Duncan is a fearless man and is not concerned for our safety, just concerned about getting us a close to the action as possible. This was evident in the first twenty minutes of the drive. The truck came up to a bunch of other safari trucks, turns out there was a leopard lying next to the tree where it had just killed and impala. All of the trucks has kept a safe distance and so there was a gap very close to the leopard. Guess where our truck went? Oh yes, right next to the wild animal. Apparently Mike and James thought Duncan was making a noise to try to scare the leopard from coming closer to the car. He was not, he was trying to get them to shut the hell up so the leopard did not attack us. It came to the truck and just stared right at us. I was ok with this while it was on Mike's side. But then it came to my side and just stared at me. I was so nervous. I tried to not even look at it so it could not tell how afraid I was. Luckily it ended up just walking away. Duncan later told us he was very nervous when Mike and James were talking. Apparently when nobody talks the animal sees the vehicle as one huge object, it does not notice there are people inside. While talking the animal is able to make out that we are all individuals. Did I mention that this was an open vehicle? Well the rest of the night was amazing as well, we saw lions, warthogs, giraffes, zebras, hippos, crocodiles, elephants, and just about anything else you can think of. After an amazing night I did not think it could get any better. I was so happy.

Then that night I went to bed in our tent and was woken to the sound of very loud footsteps next to my head. I laid as still as possible knowing there were elephants walking within inches of my head. One wrong step and my head would have been a pancake. So I really did not want to startle the elephant. James woke up and decided we needed to see them. He opened the tent door and we watched the elephants tearing the leaves off of all the trees in the camp. Mike was then awoken to an elephant throwing dirt on the side of his tent. It was amazing the see such huge wild animals so close. Finally after watching them for a couple of hours they moved on. We got a couple more hours of sleep and then went out for another game drive. I did not think this one could be nearly as good as the one we went on the night before. I should have know to have faith in Duncan. After driving for a while, Duncan heard the monkeys barking. He immediately said, there must be a leopard. Of course he spotted it running from it seemed like miles away, none of us could even spot it. Didn't matter, Duncan would get us as close to the action as possible. So we were on the move to go see the leopard. When we got close we saw that it had killed a baby monkey. I was so impressed with the leopard knowing that even a few yards away, we were not a threat. At the same time it was very aware of the hyenas that were closing into try to steal the kill. The leopard took off with the monkey and headed up a tree. I felt like I was watching a special on national geographic. I have decided I will not be able to ever go on another safari, my expectations are now far too high.

Next in Zambia we went to Livingstone. In Livingstone we visited Victoria Falls, rode elephants, and went canoeing on the Great Zambezi. Also more reasons why I love Zambia. Of course the elephant ride was my favorite. My elephant's name was Chavuruka. She is a young eight year old, and she acts like it. The whole time the handler kept yelling at Chavuruka while she was distracted and eating everything in sight. At the end we got to sit on our elephant's knee and feed them. Well she got a bit too excited and was basically smacking me in the face with her trunk. I loved my little elephant!

After Zambia there was a lot of driving and me sitting in the back and watching a lot of movies on my laptop attempting to ignore all of the comments made from the two in the front. It was a great trip that was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I do not know a lot of people who rent a car and drive through five African countries. I could talk about the trip forever but I have something more important to talk about.

As I have mentioned in my previous blogs Mike and I have been working on a village project. We have finished the surveying portion. The first problem that we are going to try to tackle is the lack of mosquito nets. Having nets is one of the easiest ways to prevent malaria. Many people in the village do not have enough nets for their family. Therefor they are affected by malaria several times per year. There is treatment for malaria, but having chronic malaria can cause further issues such as anemia. It also costs the government and other organizations such as U.S. Aid tons of money per year. Families here are often also reluctant to take family members to the hospital at the first sign of illness and cannot afford the transportation to hospitals. Remember the little boy that was dying in Mzuzu, it turned out he had very severe malaria. It is treatable but also without proper treatment and a weakened immune system death often occurs. Some issues we anticipate in providing nets are the people will sell the nets for money, or they will use them for other uses such as fishing nets. We have talked about what we can do to ensure this does not happen. One idea we have is in order to hold people responsible for nets we will charge 200 kwacha per net. A standard net costs about 1200 kwacha (which is about three dollars). We think that by charging a small fee the nets will be cared for and used for the correct purpose. We also think that education is a key factor, in order for a family to have the opportunity to purchase a net they will have to attend an education session. I also think that staying involved with the community and doing frequent checks on the families to ensure they are using their nets will help as well. I am very excited about this project and think that it will go well and make some positive and lasting impact. We also have other plans for the community which I am very excited about. We are tying to focus on one task at a time

In order to buy these nets we will need some support! We are having a meeting on Tuesday morning with people in the community to discuss the plans. We will then get a rough estimate of how many people wish to purchase nets at a discounted price. There are approximately 110 households in the community, the chief has estimated about 50 nets will be needed in the community, I think an average of one per household are needed. This would be around 350 dollars needed to purchase these nets. If you would like to donate to the cause please visit my fundraising page http://www.acharityproject.com/f/PediatricNurse make a donation and put a comment and state that it is for mosquito nets. One net is about 3 dollars, so buying one net could potentially protect a couple of adults or help cover several children. It is amazing how so little money can be used for such a lifesaving cost. Thank you in advance. I know that I have an amazing support system, I could not be more grateful for that. I would not be here if it were not for all of the support I have received along the way.

Month 2

Sorry for the long gap between blogs. I have been busy!

So I have settled in at Mwaya Beach and have found some sort of schedule. Having a full work schedule makes this girl very happy! Monday and Wednesday I am able to go to Chintheche Hospital where I can assist with ward rounds, admitting patients, and whatever else the nurses need help doing. They already know I am a peds nurse and seem pretty pleased about it. When they asked if I could put an IV in a two year old you better believe I said yes! It is nice to use and practice my skills again. What is not nice is putting IVs in people, with dark skin and in a dark room. I think I may be a pro by the time I return home. Fridays are usually the under five clinic, this is where we weigh the kids and do their immunizations. I like this clinic because it is busy and I feel like it accomplishes a lot. Sometimes it is too busy and things get slightly out of hand. Lots of pushing and shoving and lots of me telling everyone to back up and hold on. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have devoted to working on a community project with Mike. We are trying to go into the community to assess their needs, we are doing a survey where we ask about malaria, water, toilets, food, sexual health, and basic medical questions. The survey has given us a lot of insight to needs already and we have only surveyed five people. We have learned that mosquito nets are not easily available, they are good at purifying water, they know where to get birth control and are aware that condoms and abstinence are the only ways to prevent HIV, they do not have a large variety of food and many do not have enough food, and they think putting eggs and urinating on a wound is basic first aid. So we will continue the survey and then develop a plan of action. I am loving this project, I love being in the communities and talking to people. I feel like this is why I came to Africa. Hopefully we can get a good plan going so I can keep it up when Mike leaves in a few months.

In this past month I have been exposed to a few things that made me realize just how good we have it. Yes I knew the birthing conditions would not be ideal here. A woman lying on a trash bag, in a rusty bed, no pain medication, and no real support from the nurses was not shocking to me. What shocked me was that even her family was not with her. She had one guardian that was there to bring food when needed, but that was it. The fathers do not come because according to the nurse, "They do not like seeing their wives in labor. They will not love them after they see them that way." My response was, "I do not think women really enjoy being in labor either. And men at home still have sex with their wives after seeing them give birth, maybe it would help birthrates here go down." The nurses just laughed. I also said that I felt bad for her because it must be scary, they also thought that was funny. I pointed out that especially in Malawi many things can and do go wrong during childbirth and then the mother has to worry about how to afford to feed another child. I learned that they do not allow other people into the labor room because they believe it will bring bad luck to the birth. So it is the norm for women to deliver completely alone with no support. These women of course do not complain, I did not even hear them moan with labor pains. Because of this I assumed they were not very far along. Both women looked like they were sleeping. I really wanted to watch one of the women give birth but I figured I should go do the ward rounds and then come back. Of course one of the women just popped a baby out the moment I looked away. So I sat and waited for about three more hours. Of course no baby. I figured I should at sometime be able to see one of the many babies born every day!

I am also consistently amazed with the children. They are responsible for so many things here, collection of water, taking their siblings to get their parasite treatment, and so much more. These children also sit all day in a bus with much more patience than I have. They never complain and they work hard to help their families at a very young age. I constantly see small children walking alone with no adult, at first I would always think, "Who is watching them?" Now it just seems normal.

I have decided to go on a trip with Mike and his friend who is coming from England. We are renting a car and driving through Zambia, Namibia, and Botswana. This trip is off to a rather rocky start. First we went to Mzuzu on Friday to use the internet to do some planning. Turns out James is arriving from England six days sooner than we had thought, so yes, we had nothing planned. We went back to Mwaya on Sunday and packed and then left early on Monday morning. The trip up here was just a shit show. We found out after waiting for three hours that the big buses were broken down, so we hopped on a minibus. Oh the lovely minibus. After six minibuses and about 10 hours later we finally made it to Lilongwe. One of the most exciting times of the trip was a moment when our bus door suddenly fell off as we were trying to pull away. They managed to fix it by beating some of the parts with a rock and who knows what the hell else they did. Well apparently I missed some even that occurred during the door repair because we took off fast and then were trying to run another truck full of people off of the road. The other truck stopped, the driver grabbed a metal rod from behind his seat and came running at our driver. I honestly was never even afraid. The only part that made me nervous was the children that kept jumping in and out of the back when I was afraid the truck was going to take off. I have noticed the men here are much more talk than action. If they ever do get angry they are just usually drunk and yelling, nobody ever follows through with their threats. And there are no guns here, so when I saw the man reaching for something behind his seat I was just curious at to what he would get as his weapon. We eventually just took off very fast, which made me happy, I was just ready to start going again! With every bus change I got more annoyed. I started yelling to make sure all of my bags were shoved onto the bus somewhere and a man made an announcement to the whole bus about me that made everyone laugh. All it did was piss me off. I have realized traveling and not comfortable traveling turns me into a complete bitch. I am glad the harassment is not common or constant around Ripple, I think I would loose my mind or just start beating men with a metal rod. I would not even yell at them, I would just start swinging.

I am hoping the rest of this trip goes much better than the journey here! We have some amazing plans. Tomorrow we are going to a national park and then a couple of days later going to Victoria Falls. Of course I am most excited about seeing some animals! Last night I got a bit too excited when we saw a hedgehog, Mike says when you see a lion you will no longer give a shit about that thing. But I still think it is exciting that hedgehogs live in the wild here! They are so cute.

This is where I live

So I made it back to Ripple also known as Mwaya Beach.

I never knew when I decided to volunteer in Africa I would be living at the most beautiful place ever.

I live in this lovely little cabin.

Sorry for the poor Iphone quality.

Where I can sit on the porch and watch the monkeys act insane.

This baby monkey is so cute and curious.

Or I can go hang out on the beach.
It is kind of pretty there.

I am now in Lilongwe (which is the capitol if you remember) to get my paperwork turned it.

This is my last step!

I took the 8 hour bus ride today, it was not too bad.

I had a book and read the whole second half of it.

I need to look for another one.

I am planning on trying to get my paperwork done in the morning and heading right back to Mwaya.

This last week has been a pretty relaxing one.

I went up to the Chintheche Hospital on Monday and was able to see around.

Then Tuesday I went to Kachare clinic and did more malaria testing.

It is nice to see around and see what my options are for working.

I am getting anxious to figure out what I can do to really make a difference.

I am not a patient person when it comes to things like this.

I am trying to remind myself that I have a long time and it takes time to learn.

It is very important to learn the system of everything and build a rapport with the staff before diving in.

I am excited to have a full week next week and find some work to do! 

I am especially excited to get back to the beach already.

I think you can see why I prefer it to the city.

I will leave you with a picture of these school boys. Karate chopping for every picture seems to be necessary.
I was quite proud of one though, he remembered my name from when I visited his class over a month ago!

Done! (With Orientation Anyway)

I am officially done with my orientation.

I could not be happier!

I will be heading back to Ripple this afternoon.

Just one step left to make it official.

I have to go to Lilongwe on Monday and then back on Tuesday.

I am not excited about this, but I am excited to have a few days off and travel with only a small backpack.

Taking my huge duffel bag with me is a huge pain in the ass.

I am ready to drop that thing off and not use it again for a very long time.

Last weekend we went to the crisis nursery.

It is a place where babies go after their mother's die and their families cannot afford formula.

They are returned to their families after they no longer need formula, so generally about about 18 months.

The babies of course were cute, and a couple of the older ones were full of attitude.

This is Emmanuel. He kept trying to steal my camera. He wanted nothing else to do with me. 

Have you ever seen a baby so fat? Her face was squished in!

This is Lucy, she was my favorite. They suspect she has HIV, she is delayed and small. The sweetest, happiest baby ever.

Stella has a major attitude. She got over it rather quickly though.

 Then on Sunday I worked on planning a trip that I am going to take with Mike and his friend from home at the end of August.

We are planning on going to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, plus maybe more.

Which I am trying to talk them out of the two other countries.

Mike keeps saying it will be fine because I can just drive through the night.

No thank you.

 I am excited for the trip. 

I figured I better go while I have the chance and will not be traveling alone.

This week I finished up in Men's surgical ward.

Believe it or not I enjoyed my time here.

I took it upon myself to draw all of the blood samples one day.

This kept me busy and made the time go by fast.

Plus I love to draw blood and start IVs.

I was also pleased with the staff.

The nurses were so funny and always very lively.

The charge nurse yelled at some doctors, which made me very pleased, it is about time somebody stuck up for themselves and the staff.

The surgeon also kicked out his intern for not knowing information about a patient.

This also made me very pleased.

It was also nice to see people with problems that could be fixed.

So the week went by pretty fast. 

I also have discovered I love elderly men!

I think they are cuter than babies. 

Which you have now seen my pictures of the babies.

Yes, they are cuter.

One man was a retired school teacher so his English was very good, he would always tell me what people needed.

He was always sitting in his bed and just looked happy.

I have decided the men are much happier people because they have never stressed about anything like women do.

I am going to pack up my bags and catch a mini bus to go back to this beautiful place.

Another week done.

This week I spent my time at the under five clinic on Monday and Tuesday,

then at the female medical ward the rest of the week.

While at the under five clinic I did parachecking, which is the quick malaria test.

They check pretty much everyone for malaria here, it is very common.

So I poked a bunch of fingers.

I think about a total of 125 just myself.

The day before nursing students were also doing some.

So yeah, there were a lot of crying kids.

I feel so bad because of the lancets we use the stick the kids, it is pretty barbaric.

I would much rather have an IV started any day.

Yeah  I would be crying too.

There were a couple of kids that stood out during my days there.

One was a two year old little girl named Anne.

She was livid that I was about to poke her finger, it was quite the fight.

It is so hard to poke a finger with they squirming so much. 

They can wiggle their little joints in ways that should not be possible.

Then they always think the stick used to collect the blood  is another poke.

That is when all hell breaks loose.

It takes quite precision to get the drop of blood on that tiny hole.

This kid did not make it easy.

Well luckily I had done a bunch before her so I had become pretty good at it.

So we got done quickly.

Her mom took her in the hall and was putting her on her back.

Anne was pissed.

She started yelling the worst things she could think of her in two year old Timbuka vocabulary.

All of the women were laughing and her mother was too, while telling her to stop.

I do not know that I have had a two year old that angry at me.

And I am pretty good at making kids mad.

She was just quite the little pistol.

I said, "Now I don't know what you are saying to me but I know that it isn't nice."

This made all of the mothers just laugh even harder.

I did feel bad.

I hate that I cannot explain to them what is coming and then that it is just one poke.

At home I rely so much on talking to my patients and empowering them with any choice they can have.

Of course I still talk to the kids, they just do not know what I am saying.

Some of them can just tell by the tone.

One little boy who was four sat down in his little suit and just held out his finger.

I asked are you ready?

He just nodded and did not flinch.

I am so amazed by the toughness of these kids sometimes.

Other kids think that because I am talking nicely to them I will not do anything hurtful to them.

I feel like a traitor.

I make all of the kids smile and giggle and then just stab them.

The other kid that stood out was a three year old little boy.

He climbed on his mom's lap and showed absolutely no expression.

I could not get him to crack a smile.

So I just got to it.

He cried but held pretty still and I got it done very quickly.

Then while waiting for the results he was sitting by his mom.

I saw him point to me and his mother just nodded.

He came over and gave me his ten kwacha coin.

After I stabbed this kid he wanted to give me a gift?

It was the cutest thing in the world.

I could not deny the gift from a toddler, he would not understand.

So I thought I would just give him something in return.

I started digging through my purse.

I would have given the kid ten million dollars if I had it.

But instead I thought a quarter would do.

The mother was so pleased and just grabbed and hand and said "Thank you!"

I had not done anything, it was her small child who really was kind.

Another observation I made was the fact that the older children help out with the younger ones.

When I say older I would guess they are around eight.

If a mother has two little children the older siblings have the expectation of caring for one of them.

They soothe the babies, carry them in chintenges on their backs.

I am always amazed at their ability to care for their siblings.

I was also thinking how bratty our children are at home.

Any eight year old that would have to sit all day with other screaming kids would be so annoyed.

We also always bring things for any kid to do to keep busy.

I have never once seen a child with a toy and especially not an ipad to keep quiet.

These children are taught patience and responsibility at a young age.

Yes maybe a bit too much responsibility.

But I definitely think there needs to be some sort of medium ground for kids at home.

I cannot get over how many of the children are such brats at home.

Parents constantly make excuses for their parents and everyone of them has an ipad or a gameboy.

I think this just makes the children feel entitled to everything in life to be handed to them.

They never have to earn anything or have any sort of responsibility.

How will they ever know how to be adults?

Kids here are forced to grow up too fast, 

but I enjoy seeing children with a sense of responsibility and knowing what it means to be grateful.

Then I was on the female medical ward.

Within the first few minutes of being there I was sitting in the break room and a rat almost ran over my feet.

The nurse asked if I have ever seen a rat?

I said yes plenty.

What I did not say was well not in a hospital because that is gross!

So I got my orientation started, they showed me around the ward.

I will say that it was pretty clean and organized!

Well for Africa standards, I know the rat thing kind of throws the picture of clean off a bit.

That morning we went to a meeting.

A meeting on performance management, but yet I am pretty sure we left the unit with no staff to go to it.

I was pretty annoyed.

He kept saying how they need to stop letting everyone die.

Yes, that is a good point.

Also if you do not have something call another unit and ask, do not just let people die.

Seems reasonable.

This went on for two hours.

I was so bored and tired of hearing it, the lack of motivation from a lot of the medical staff is hard to deal with everyday.

When we went back to the ward I noticed one very sick patient.

I helped changed her bed and got blood on my arm, here that is slightly scary.

I went and asked for soap.

They looked at me like I was crazy, so I just grabbed the alcohol stuff they use to clean things with and scrubbed my arm.

I started reading through her chart.

When we did vital signs nothing looked good.

I have learned that people that look this way will not get better and I do not think putting a bunch of supplies into her is going to help.

So I figured I was not going to fight this time, it does not seem fair to.

Sometimes I think it is better to not constantly poke and prod at people who are not going to make it.

So I went home and expected her to not be alive in the morning.

But I walked in and could hear her moaning with every breath from the nursing station.

I was shocked.

So I went through her chart more, I noticed a lot of things could have been done to at least try.

The patient was actively bleeding out.

They tried to put a feeding tube in her the day before.

I told the nurse there was no way she could handle it.

I also recommended a repeat blood test, maybe another transfusion, and some drugs to help with clotting.

She seemed very attentive to my recommendations.

I asked how would we get them done, she said call a doctor.

Then she told me she was going on break and would be back.

We had been there approximately thirty minutes.

I have realized there is no rush in anything here and it will not change the outcome anyway.

So I just said whatever and she went for a forty five minute break.

So I sat alone and watched the unit.

Finally some doctors came in, I had noticed a doctor from the day before.

I asked her if I could talk with her about a patient. 

She was extremely receptive to it.

She asked me what I thought was wrong and what I thought should be done.

I was impressed that she even cared to listen to me.

She went to see the patient and wrote some orders.

I was glad that something was going to be done.

Especially since the lady had survived the night.

She did not survive the next night though.

I got to the hospital and noticed that I did not hear her constant moans but nurses were doing rounds and her family never left her side.

So I did not get up to check.

We went for a meeting and I came back the doctor asked how she was doing.

I told her I had not checked, just looked at her chart briefly.

When she went to go check on her, she was dead.

I do not know how somebody did not notice.

They prepared her for the morgue.

I did not choose to be involved in this process.

Cleaning her up when she was still alive was almost too much for me to handle.

I spent the rest of the day pretty much doing nothing.

The one doctor would have me assist her with things, which I liked but other people were not doing much.

I went for lunch and both days when I came back nobody was at the station, they were all in the break room.

How would they even know a new patient came?

I just sat there and read every magazine or medical book I could get my hands on.

I texted Mike to tell him everyone was at their forever long lunch, I asked who do you think is watching the unit?

He replied, the rats.

I said well yes, and me.

I usually try to not correct nurses, because I am in orientation and I am here to learn.

But some things are just too much to take.

Just simple things like putting in an IV and knowing that you have blown the vein.

I already have control issues watching other people do things, I just want to do it myself.

Well I told her that it blew.

She thought that putting the antibiotic in it to see if it worked was acceptable.

I actually told her no.

I said if you want to check it you need to use saline.

She tried and it would not flush so she just pushed harder, the patient was grimacing.

I finally said stop, if it hurts her and you cannot flush it is not good.

I find a vein and put the IV in myself.

Like I said I have control issues.

I think part of me has started to shut down from being in this hospital and seeing people die everyday.

There is just no way I can deal with all of it and come out sane.

I think this is what happens to nurses in units where sadness is all around you.

You become insensitive.

But yet I see how it affects my attitude and mood in general.

I just start to feel worn down.

Luckily this happened very close to the weekend.

So I have all weekend to just relax and hang out.

I also am going to go to a place called the crisis nursery this afternoon, and get my hands on some babies.

It is basically a large group home for babies.

I figure this will have to put me in a good mood.

I already feel better after not having to go back today and getting to sleep in til eight thirty!

I woke up at six and thought oh I really need to get up, then I remembered it was Saturday.

I could not have been more happy!

Only three days left.

I will be doing men's surgical ward next week.

I figured I would save it for last because taking care of pre-op and post-op patients is something I know.

I am so excited to head back to warmer weather and the beach!

Just one last annoying thing I need to do.

In order to process my paperwork I have to take it back to Lilongwe.

If you remember this is an eight hour bus ride, yes that lovely crowded bus.

I have decided I will buy myself something from the market in Lilongwe for rewarding myself for getting through this process and maybe one other thing for the bus ride.

They have a really awesome market place there.

More wood carvings then you could ever imagine.

It will be my goal to get something for a good price.

There is nothing I love more than bargaining!

1 Month in Malawi

As of yesterday I have officially been here for one month.

Crazy!

I do not feel like it has been that long at all.

I do miss some things about home.

The top two being Rosie and my bed.

But there is no way in hell I would even think about making that journey back.

I have bad dreams that I have to go all the way back home!

Sitting on the plane and in airports for 27 hours was more than I can handle again for awhile. 

To reward myself for making it a month I bought a chintenge. 

A chintenge is the piece of fabric African women use for just about everything.

A skirt, to hold things, and to tie their babies on their backs.

I will be using mine as a cover up.

I bought these awesome travel towels, they pack small, dry fast, and apparently I needed an XL.

I have to get dressed in the shower just so everyone does not see my vagina.

I figure this is not a great first impression to make.

So my chintenge will come in handy!

Maybe a towel or beach towel would be a great birthday or Christmas gift (ahem family). 

This weekend has been very uneventful. 

But I have not minded. 

It has been chilly and rainy here the past few days.

Turns out here when it is fifty degrees the locals think they are going to freeze to death.

I heard, "It is very cold here." no less than 25 times on Thursday and Friday.

My time in the eye ward was extremely boring.

I got left in a room three different times by the nurse in charge, she said, "Just wait."

I am not as patient as the locals and I do not appreciate just waiting.

I have never had time creep by so slowly!

So come Friday I went with the intentions of leaving at lunch so that I could get my visa extended.

Ella, the nurse in charge told me to just go in the morning and then come back.

It was true that I needed to get it done in case they decided to close before three that day, you just never know here.

So I went  back in the cab and headed back toward town.

When I got to the visa office there was a long line.

Of course the immigration officer came right up to me since I was the only Mzungu (white person) in the place.

He took me back to a room, where they just stamped my passport, then sent me to the cashier.

Of course I was shoved right in front of all the other Malawians and they were told to let me go first.

I felt pretty guilty, honestly I wanted to wait in line longer, I did not want to go back!

But I was grateful for the first time in a long time I was not being pushed.

The pushing makes me want to punch somebody in the throat.

I keep my hands to myself though.

So I paid my money and realized it was only eight thirty.

How did it only take thirty minutes to take a cab, walk, and get through the line?!

So I headed to the Coffee Den where I can pay to use Wifi.

Yeah I ran out of things to do on the internet in about thirty minutes.

Well I figured I needed to go to the store and get something for lunch.

Then I thought I should walk home (about a mile away) and make my lunch and drop my laptop off.

Then I walked back to the taxi stand and got a cab and headed back. 

I got back at 10:15 am, how the hell did all of that not last longer?!

So I decided to sit in registration, I think the guy wants a mzungu wife so he at least talks to me non-stop and gave me the very important job of writing what he has already written into a book.

Then we took an hour and a half lunch.

I ate my lunch in about fifteen minutes because I was the only one eating at first.

Then I just sat and waited for lunch to be over.

Finally it was time to go back to writing things in my book. 

We saw only about five patients and the clock was ticking very slowly.

I was smart and had already had Ella sign my paper saying I had completed my days before lunch was over.

So I informed the guy at three that I had to leave. 

He asked why? 

I said I needed to go to town, which I did but just for a bottle of wine (I left that part out).

I left and felt like a kid skipping school.

I avoided running into Ella and got to the cab as fast as I could!

I was free!!!!

I am hoping this week is better than last, I may not make it if it isn't!

Friday night I stayed in and cooked some pasta, drank some wine and watched TV.

Saturday I went to the market, took a nap, used the internet, drank some rum and coke and ate left over pasta, and also had a good talk about culture and life in Pakistan with one of the guys who lives in the house where I am staying.

This morning I washed my clothes, and then came to town.

I am glad for a sunny day!

It was so nice just washing my clothes outside in the sun.

There are several local men hired to help at the house where I am staying.

I used to feel guilty about this, but now I know that we are providing them a job.

90% of Malawians are unemployed.

And the ones that are employed make next to nothing.

I asked the other day what a nurse makes and it is 94,000 kwacha a month.

If you remember the exchange rate is about 350 kwacha per USD.

That makes the yearly salary of a nurse about 3,222 USD.

This is somebody who went to college and got a degree.

I do not know how they even live and support a family off of that.

Many of the people here do not only support their immediate family, they also send money to extended family members.

It is crazy to me.

I still do not like the men to do all of my work for me.

I feel bad because they are not being paid anymore while I am there.

And also I am quite bored and was so happy to just wash my own clothes.

Also by wash I mean with a bucket and some washing powder.

I do not think washing machines exist in this country. 

It got me thinking about all of the things in the US that we think of as being necessary.

Washing machines, dishwashers, and oven, electricity, a car, and many more things.

I am also guilty of thinking that way.

I would have never at home been ok with one uniform top (yeah the other one did not last long, it now only has one button left, I think he was trying to hurry and finish that one! So it stays in my bag.) and one pair of pants.

But it really is not a big deal.

Also I can count on my hands the amount of times I have even washed a single item by hand at home.

I only have one stove top ring to cook on, no microwave or oven.

I do not have a hair dryer or straightener.

I always rely on public transportation to get around, and I am cheap so cramming in with a bunch of locals is always the way I travel. 

But I am not really missing or lacking anything.

Granted I rarely even get the chance to do my own laundry, I have to be sneaky to get it done without it being taken from me!

But it is nice to live a life of simplicity.

I am sorry in advance if I come back a freak and refuse to wash my clothes if I have worn them less than five times.

Also in sad news Jimmy the pre school coordinator drowned in the lake on Friday while trying to help a girl that was struggling.

I have only met Jimmy a few times while being at Ripple.

He is the one who did my orientation.

I knew right away that Jimmy had a passion for life, his community, Ripple, and all of the children that he taught.

I am learning very quickly how very fragile life is.

At home I feel like nothing bad really ever happens.

We somehow always end up ok.

That is not the case here.

In the past two weeks I have already seen two dead bodies, and heard of three other people dying.

I also hear the cries of many families everyday at the hospital.

Even the dogs I pass on the way to town constantly look like they are dying.

I was sure the one had died, it really needs to.

But no of course it has to still be alive and walk next to the road just while I am walking by.

You know those ASPCA commercials that always come on and make you so depressed?

Yeah those are the same commercials I always liked to use as an example for Douglas and Rosie about the great life they had and how they should stop being such assholes and more appreciative. 

Well this dog will make you about ten times more depressed than that commercial.

It is mangy, looks like a skeleton, and I swear it was barely breathing the day I saw it in the ditch.

Mike always asked if I wanted him to put it out of his misery.

Of course I would scream no! 

I do not even know why I gave him the satisfaction of getting me worked up, he would never hurt a fly even if it was dying.

In good news I was able to skype with my dad for the first time yesterday!

We have been emailing and texting some, but it was nice to actually talk to him.

He of course filled me in on how Rosie is doing.

And it seems like she is adjusting just fine.

I guess my sister told my dad that she did not think she could give Rosie back when I do come home.

My dad told me that he knows the moment I came home Rosie would leave her and never look back!

I agree completely.

Before I left she would not even get in the bed with Merik while I showered, she would sit on the mat outside of the bathroom door.

And if Merik thinks I would ever in my life would I part with Rosie she is crazy!

Well that is my non exciting week.

Here is to hoping this week goes by fast!

I am in the five and under clinic tomorrow and Tuesday.

I guess it is not at the hospital.

So let's hope some taxi driver will know where it is!

I will leave you with a picture of the chintenge and the cat Simba who is quite the character!

Oh and a picture of the group I stole from the Ripple blog, I am ready to get back to Mwaya! 

Only four of the volunteers from this group are still at Ripple. I am going to be seeing a lot of different volunteers in my time here!

Yes, he was just staring at me. He is pretty crazy.

My pretty chintenge! I want a lot of them, I want a quilt made and a dress! I also think that I will carry my babies like they do. I'm sure somebody will call CPS when I pick the baby up by one arm and sling it on my back. But hey, it works!