(Ha Kee T'see) I don't know!; a useful expression for english travellers
We have now completed our first week at our placements. Myself and three other girls are working at the Holy Cross Hospice.
The first two days were very interesting. We have been warned, as a group, that the pace here is much much slower than we're used to, and the work ethic is very different. Initially, we mostly sat around all day and did nothing. It also appeared to us at first that very little happened, and other people stood around. The pateints would come at 11, be fed breakfast, sit around, be fed lunch, sit around, then leave at 2, at which point we would really do nothing for the last 2 hours of the day.
On Wednesday the Hospice does home visits, which we were really looking forward to. However, there was a meeting all morning. And then we had to wait an hour until lunch. And then it was about 2 hours from lunch being served until the nurses were ready to leave. So instead of the 10-20 visits she said they normally do, we did 3. Regardless of that, this was the most intense hour and a half I've had in quite some time... The patients we saw lived in what can only be described as shacks. Some had AIDS some had cancer, and some had both. As the nurse changed dressing on a massive open wound on an incredibly thin patient who was lying on a dirty mattress with no sheets, we stood and watched, and I nearly passed out from the thick stale hot air.
Thursday was our real breakthrough day. We realized that first of all, the slow pace is perfect for patients receiving palliative care, and the hospice accomplishes a lot more than I'd thought. And secondly, when people aren't being what North Americans would call efficient, they aren't doing nothing, they are talking to each other, and enjoying the day. As we got to know the patients and staff better, we learned to enjoy the quiet and the slow pace, and take the opportunity to talk to people and learn their stories.
On thursday we also started knitting - my first time ever learning! - so we would have an activity to do with the patients. I have also started teaching the head nurse piano lessons. Also, a social worker came and told us "you have to communicate with them [the patients]. You have to speak their language" (some of the patients speak little english). And so that day we started to really increase our efforts at learning Setswana.
We now feel much more settled in, and are able to gradually figure out what gifts we have to contribute, and to enjoy our time there more, and learn from it.
Otherwise, the trip has all been enjoyable. As our group is split between two houses, we all go to the other house at night to have dinner together and do some group activities. There is a lot to learn from each other, and it's good to hear about other peoples placements.
This weekend we are going to play sports with the children from one placement saturday morning, and going to church sunday with our cook's daughter.
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