Bittersweet Goodbye

Wed was my last day at work. I had half a lovely little blog post written out for this day that went something along the lines of "It was a quiet wind down to my wonderful time working at KIDCRU". Unfortunately, that post, my trip pictures and all hopes of a quiet wind down vanish when my laptop was stolen.

Most unfortunately, my security lapsed with my laptop, having gotten so used to the unit and having someone in the office where I keep my stuff 90% of the time. It was a hectic hour, as our two patients for the day rolled in at the same time and we were working out kinks with our new questionnaires. When I returned to the room, the case was sitting on the desk, but no laptop hidden beneath it. 30 minutes of frantic searching later, there was no explanation other than I was robbed. Others in the unit had noticed a man roaming the corridors, but when asked he said he was working in the hallway (the halls are under construction). He must have been scoping the doors and waiting for a second when no one was around. That day, there was at most a 10 minute gap where nobody was in the room. There were purses and bags lying all around the room, untouched, so clearly this guy was only after one thing.
Security was called, and then I began the procedure of filing a police report. I had been told there was a police desk at Lower Ground level in the hospital, so off I went, walking through the laundry bay and some awkward passageways to try and find the office. After getting turned around a bit, I found some security guards and asked them where to go. They directed me up two floors to Level 1, so up I went. At Level 1, I rambled through the units until I found a reception desk at Trauma. The nurse directed back down to Lower Level, promising the office was right under where her office was. And back down I went. I finally found the tiny office, which had no sign in English, but was promptly told that the office only dealt with people who were arriving injured and needed to make a police statement. I was given a number to call, and back up to Level 8 I went. I called the cops and an hour later a policewoman strode through the unit with a policeman tripping along behind her. The man turned out to be quite clumsy and tripped over his own feet twice, then tripped over the chair when attempting to sit down to get my statement. While looking at my passport to gain my identification details, he looked up and asked "What is your nationality". The policewoman and I just stared and him and then began laughing, and she pointed out the large font at the bottom of the passport stating "CANADA". All that said and done, the police report was filed and I went home.

 Although sad that my laptop and all my pictures from this trip are gone, I am quite thankful he did not take my wallet or passport. The staff at KID CRU was so wonderful to me on that last day. I was so sad to part on those terms, but it showed me just how many people I had connected with while I was there.

I went for a long run up and around Lions Head with Lola when I got home to clear my head and begin the photo project of mapping my runs. I may not be able to post it until I return home, but I'm taking more pictures and carrying on with my trip. I'm glad I have the few photos I've posted on this blog. I got lost in my head (not directionally) on my run and a quick glance at my ipod told me my ride to dinner was picking me up in 20 minutes. I scooted down the mountain as fast as I could, scratching my legs along the way, with Lola bounding ahead of me. Upon arriving home, I realized I had looked at the clock on my ipod upside down and that I actually would have time to shower.
For dinner, two co-workers and their partners and I went out for amazing Indian food. We ordered dishes for the table to share and they were absolutely excellent. I enjoyed my night so much and I was sad to say goodbye to these wonderful people.
At the end of the night, I plopped into bed exhausted.

I have some great plans for the rest of the week, so I hope the weather holds up. Thursday I am supposed to go to Robben Island; however, the PDF of my ticket was on my laptop, so I'm not sure what will happen there (the ferry is usually sold out). Lets hope for some good luck and better weather!

(Sorry no pictures in this post....I think it's self-explanatory why there are none.)

Up and Running

As the title suggests, I'm running :). After a 3 week hiatus of all things cardiovascular, I've started running again. Knees are still sore, but not as bad as they were before I left. I'm taking full advantage of being on the edge of a mountain and a national park. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, my first forays back into running were up a mountain :).

And running seems to be just what I needed. After a bit of a rough Friday, all I really wanted to do was stay in for the night. My host, Saskia, convinced me to go to a girls dinner. We had a lovely dinner and watched some Olympics. We then went out on the town to a club called Zula. Getting home in Cape Town after a night out can be a bit tricky and often people have a designated driver. We hadn't really thought out our night that well and ended up without a DD. Instead, we spent some time assessing the cabs on the street until we found a company that the girls recognized and hopped in. In South Africa, the girls would not dare to taxi home alone, even with a known company, at night. During the day, it's fine to taxi alone in certain certified cabs, but at night, all bets are off and girls travel in groups.

Saturday, I had lunch on Long Street, one of the main streets in Cape Town. I perused the African Markets and Green Market Square, where I bought a few souveniers and trinkets. I walked home from there, about a  20 minute walk. I surprisingly didn't get lost on the way home as I was walking towards Table Mountain and Lions Head. Each time I thought I was lost, I would see another shop or landmark I recognized from my car rides to or from work.

Here are some pictures of the market and my walk home :)

Green Square Market

Some buildings on my walk.

More buildings. Museum or something :)

After arriving back from my stroll, I grabbed Lola and she dragged me up the mountain. I tried to find the trail going around Lions Head, but instead managed to get on the path going up (I think I posted a pic of Lions Head somewhere in my last post). Essentially, my first run in South Africa was a walk/run up a mountain. Surprisingly, I was not not sore afterwards, probably because I walked more than ran. I had Saturday night to myself, which was quite relaxing and I snugged into some blankets and watched the Olympics.

Sunday, we drove over to the other side of the penninsula and drove through a few national parks. We had lunch at the small, sleepy village of Fish Hoek.

View from Fish Hoek waterfront

The way back we drove along Chapman's Peak, a beautiful scenic drive over the mountains. I really need to look at a map to understand exactly where we drove and what sections of mountain we drove over. We skipped going to the very point of South Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet because it was a bit cloudy (and you need clear skies to see the stunning view). However, the views from the drive back were quite beautiful as it was.

Me and Saskia, my host

Crazy engineering to keep the rocks off the road

The road winds along the mountains, over looking the sea

Chapman's Peak pass is the valley just to the left of centre. On the other side of it lies Cape Town

The Sentinal

After my scenic car ride, Monica and Johan took me on a run that goes between Lion's Head and Signal Hill. They also showed me the correct path to run on should I wish to run around Lion's Head (a bit flatter of a route than going up). As eager as I am to explore that side of the trail (and take pictures of the water on the other side), I think I will take it easy Monday and just stick to walking with Lola. Tuesday is supposed to have nicer weather (I know it doesn't look like it from Sunday's pictures, but we had intermittent rain on the drive) and thus nicer views.

Well, goodnight to you all. I hope you are all watching the Olympics. Luckily for me, I'm in the perfect timezone to watch the events, especially the running. And everybody here knows that if they switch on the TV, I will be asking them to check what's happening in the running.

Home in one week! 3 days of work. Should get some sleep or tomorrow at work will be tough. 

Stay well!

A hint of HOPE

Welcome back!
So sad to think my time here is quickly winding down and my to-do list is still so large!

The first exciting news of the week is that on Tuesday we had our first study participant return for her in-clinic visit. My job for the visit was to make sure that everything flowed smoothly and that everybody-the counselors, nurses and doctor- knew what was going on; a job that's easier said than done. I also had to time each section of the visit to see roughly how long it took and where there were lags or long waiting times. It was a weird combination of being incredibly busy and then having absolutely nothing to do. In short, the first visit is exhausting. It consists of an examination by the nurse, followed by a nurses questionnaire, then the counselor does a visit and fills out 3 questionnaires; last is the doctors visit and questionnaire. Other than a few rough patches, such as finalizing and printing a questionnaire during the visit, and rushing to get the correct translated version, our trial run went well. I'm sure everything will hold up for the next 3 patients that arrive on Friday. The best part of the whole visit for me was holding the little 2 week old baby. And I'm sure on Friday I will  find a way to hold all 3 of the babies that come in (with the mothers permission, of course).

Tuesday night, my gracious hosts, Monica and Johan returned from their vacation. As you can remember, I've been staying at the house since last Wed with their daughter Saskia. It was the first time I'd met Monica and Johan, and they were very nice. They are such an energetic and hard working couple. After their flight landed at 4pm, Johan rushed to the hospital to do a pre-surgery consult for a patient, while Monica came straight home. The next morning, Johan left at 6:20am, and Monica was up for a run before leaving for work at 7:15. They both have a lot on the go and lots of energy. (Monica also co-founded HOPE...see below).

Wed was an exciting day for me. Monica arranged so that I could go visit the townships through the NGO HOPE (http://www.hopecapetown.com) that provides outreach, education and counselling at the community level focusing on HIV and TB. I started with a tour of the HIV ward in Tygerberg Hospital. Situated 1 floor below KID CRU, where I spent most of my time. Boy, it was such a drastic change. At KID CRU, because they do controlled studies, there a mix of HIV infected and uninfected children roaming the unit and the children that are infected are on medications and their HIV is generally well controlled. In contrast, the HIV unit is where the kids go once they have been moved out of the intensive care unit (ICU). They are often malnourished and ravished by HIV and the host of infections that occur when one has a weaken immune system. Sadly, there were two children in the unit whose mothers abandoned them once they were admitted to the unit. HOPE's role in the unit is to provide counselling and solace for the mothers and families who stay in the ward, sometimes for up to a year. The counselors host sessions about HIV/AIDs and other topics the mothers would like to know about, as well as provide the mothers with food and clothing as necessary. Every day, the counselors makes sandwiches for the families on the ward. If you are ever looking for a charity to donate to, this one is always in need of food supplies, clothing, and donations.

Next, we visited the Health Centres in the townships surrounding Cape Town. Basically, each small area or township has a health centre. You can only go to that Health Centre if you are a resident of the area. From there, they refer people to the hospital or deal with the cases. Basically, this centre because the equivalent of a doctor's office for the people of the area. Each centre has a HOPE counselor who takes on a variety of roles, including counseling about HIV, TB, nutrition etc. These counselors are amazing and have clearly built up a relationship with the people, especially those who belong to "the club"- aka those with chronic diseases such as diabetes, HIV, TB, who must come in daily or weekly to receive their medications. What really demonstrated the relationship that HOPE has with these communities was our driver's comment that one of the areas we visited generally doesn't tolerate unknown cars in the area, but the HOPE van is so well known and respected that people don't bother the van.

The HOPE van

Our last stop was my favourite and re-affirmed why I love health promotion. Our last visit was to the informal settlement of Blikkiesdorp (pictured below). (A comprehensive understanding of Blikkiesdorp:  http://hopecapetown.com/dyn/File/Clinic%20information/Blikkiesdorp.pdf

This settlement was created after demands by the people for more affordable housing (because the housing the government created across the road was too expensive and was not being distributed in a fair manner). The government created 1073 aluminum 'houses', each 6m by 3m, which became the community of Blikkiesdorp. This community houses 12,000 people. Often, people rent out parts of their house in order to obtain money to by food and clothing. This means that about 10-12 people share a 6m x 3m space. These people are some of the most poor and disadvantaged of urban citizens, but you can see from the care taken to invidivualize and maintain the houses that these people are proud of what they have.

Here, HOPE has set up 3 trailers here where they provide counselling and support. They have made a beautiful library for the children to come and read and do homework in after school.

The library- always in need of book donations

This year, they have begun to plant a garden to supplement their nutrition classes, provide food, and show people how to support themselves. This clinic, consisting of the 3 trailers you see below, does about 400 HIV tests per month, about 1/2 of which return positive. It is a sobering thought, but one the HOPE workers aim to try and guide the individuals and communities through in order to develop a strong, proud and healthy community.  Finally, the community has put together a soccer league that is 200 youth strong. Providing the youth with opportunities to stay out of trouble and experience positive role models.

 The three HOPE trailers and gardens

 Some children chasing the van

HOPE is something that will stay in my heart forever and I hope that in the future, whether it be next week or on another trip, I can work more closely with this amazing organization.

On a brighter note, Wed and Thursday nights, Lola and I went for a stroll up the mountainside to Signal Hill. Here are the stunning views from there :).

 Table Mountain

 Cape Town

Signal Hill

Thursday was also full of new experiences. I was able to shadow a pediatric neurologist as she did examinations on children who are developmentally delayed. It was amazing to see her commitment and how she juggled many things at once. She is the sole person to evaluate the progress and needs of developmentally delayed children before they enter the school system. Once in the school system, she can no longer refer them and they are corralled into a system with a long waiting line. She is so dedicated and compassionate, it was very inspiring.

I can't wait for Friday, with three more patients (and babies) arriving. Friday will also by my 4th last day of work. I found out today that next Thurs and Friday are stat holidays, so my time at KID CRU will finish this coming Wed. Lots to do in the last 4 days of work and 10 days of my stay here!
Stay tuned.

Keep Well. And please message me if you have any questions about HOPE :)

Alecia