First things first: Congratulations to Sharon, Rafa and Talon!!! I am so happy for you guys! I can't wait to come home and have a celebratory mojito with you.
Ok, long time no update!!!
I'm not sure that I'll get much better at updating, but I wanted to let everyone know that I'm finally here! And also, Tai, the package I sent to you got returned to my home, so if you want, you can email me a new address :)
AFRICA!
I arrived here on Tuesday morning at 3am. After a little airport mix-up that left me hanging out by the taxi stand until 6:30, I finally was picked up and made it to the guest house that I'm staying at by 7ish. I pretty much slept the whole first day!
The next day was my first day working with Unite for Sight, and man do they ever throw you right in there! I went with some other volunteers to a village called Choechoe where we were running an outreach program. I went with another volunteer to set up the visual acuity tests, and after a few patients I'd gotten the hang of it. The only difficult part is that there is often a language barrier. We have translators, but they've been known to wander off at times! The day wasn't too busy (so i was told) - we only saw about 50 patients.
Thursday wasn't quite as good - I went with the other new volunteer (my roomate) to the Eye Clinic to watch surgeries. Well, it was pretty much just like the last time I watched surgeries, except it was after a questionable lunch and followed by a bumpy ride home. I went to sleep for the rest of the night. I think I am definitely going to lose all of the weight that I packed on in Europe.
Yesterday was uneventful, except that I ate a bit and wasn't sick :)
Today, however, was awesome. We had another outreach, and ended up seeing 140 patients. I did registration all day, which means that I did a basic interview with each patient to find out what their major eye complaint was. There was a bit of a lull in the middle of the day so I played frisbee with the kids that were hanging around - so much fun!
Now I think I'm going to have myself a shower. And by shower, I mean fill buckets of water and dump them over my head.
3 comments:
Wow, what an adventure. I hope you are able to update more often... I love hearing stories and getting emails and seeing pictures on facebook. Oh! Will you send another postcard for me? You should send me your mailing address as well.
I miss Jen. I am going to sit here and feel sad for a moment...
:(
Wow, it's awesome to hear about awesome people like you doing awesome good things.
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