My First Three Days (5/30-6/2)

After a sad farewell from my parents and my beautiful girlfriend, Elizabeth, I started my 22 hour trip to Gaberone, Botswana. After a quick flight from Washington to New York, I boarded the large international flight to South Africa. A "quick and painless" non-stop 14.5 hour flight to South Africa pass unexpectedly quickly. I was luck enough to sit next to a young, spirited and inspirational South African native. Antje spoke emotionally and playfully about her life story (at least a small part of it). I learned about her large family, her love life and most of all, her desire to travel...everywhere. I will always remember her, however, because of her cut on her hand that left her entire blouse bloodied from sleeping. The entire front of the shirt was dotted and stained with blood. However, she was able to clean it all off with ease. Which, I'm sure, spared her family from certain shock. Antje currently works in New York for a transportation company and she was on her way to South Africa to visit family and to babysit a package. My general excitement of meeting her and enjoying life kept me awake. And somehow I managed to not get a minute of sleep on that long flight. I was sad to depart from her, as she put my anxiety of going into the unknown at ease, but we parted ways as I headed to a different international flight, now on my way to Gaberone.

It was in the South African airport (at 8am local time; 2am DC time) that I got my first taste of the relaxed African mentality. I sad half asleep for hours waiting for the "delayed" sign to remove itself from the Gaberone flight. When it finally did, and I finally boarded the plane i slept like a baby. Although the turbulent flight often woke me, I was happy to get some shut eye.

I arrived in Gaberone an hour later (3pm), got my bags, went through customs, exchanged money (5.6 pula for $1; not a good exchange rate apparently) and saw my name on the taxis sign. I took my short ride, paying 70 pula to the local Hotel (Gabs Sun). Ryan (Dr. Phelps) picks me up and drove me across the street to my home (Baylor 1). This neighborhood seems to be nice, with large white homes. However, our place is a 3Br/1Bath with a giant yard, great flowers and other plants. A wall surrounds the property and an electric fence tops that. This is a scary sight to see, but everything I've experienced so far has been pleasant.

Meeting me at Baylor 1 was Marihya (I will check the spelling soon), a pediatric resident here for a month's rotation. She is kind and has a fantastic heart. She is here primarily to help and it is great to see that in a doctor. Later that night arrived our 3rd roommate, Lisa. A PhD in Pharmacology, here to see what ever she can see in the clinic and surrounding hospital. We all settled down in our respective rooms for the night.

After a very ineasy and anxiety ridden "sleep" I woke at 6am to get my self ready for the first day at Botswana-Baylor Chlidren's Clinical Center of Excellence (COE). Following a little ironing and oatmeal I made the 5 min walk through the paved street neighborhood and one dirt alley to Clinic. The COE is beyond fantastic. Designed by American engineers, but built by Botswanan, the building is a picture of beauty and excellence. When I opened the front door I was eyed by nearly a hundred patiently waiting families with sick children all waiting to be seen by the Doctor. Patients (called "clients" here) are given a day to come to clinic, but arrive on a first-come-first-serve basis. Doctors work non-stop to move patients in a well designed flow and complete the day anywhere between 12-4pm without stopping for lunch.

I took the day to organize my ideas and plan out my summer. I ate lunch at home and then left the clinic around 3pm to make my way to the local mall (RiverWalk). We got groceries and ate dinner there. On returning home we met our fourth roommate, JW, a rising junior at Georgetown looking to learn a lot. After a better night of sleep, I awoke this morning and made my way to the clinic, presented my plan to Ryan and got the go ahead to start chugging. I also plan to do a lot of clinical events, but more on that later. So, This is where I end for the day, on my way to get work done during my first week in Gaberone, Botswana! I plan to figure out how to post pictures in the near future.