World Cup Madness
Are you ready for football?!
I know that the title of this entry probably makes some of our program directors nervous, but really, you don’t need to be in Jo-burg to feel the excitement generated from the World Cup. I woke up this morning to what sounded like loud Canadian Geese honking outside of my window. The obnoxious noises turned out to be coming from plastic horns (vuvuzela) that the local cell phone giant MTN has been giving out in celebration of Bafana Bafana (the South African World Cup team, meaning “Boys” in Zulu and Siswati). It seems like no one can contain their excitement because the horns have been constantly blowing throughout the day. For those of you who are watching the World Cup from back home, listen for the buzzing noises in the background: EVERYONE has a horn to celebrate, “Ayoba!”.
The clinic was only open for half-a-day so that everyone could watch the opening game (Bafana Bafana vs. Mexico) from home. But before I go and partake in the World Cup festivities, a quick recap of the work week (disclaimer: this blog is being posted the day after):
Though the clinic was only open for a few hours, it was a very important half-day for Lauren and me because we had our formal presentation in front of the all of the clinic doctors this morning (bright and early at 7:30am). Our mentors, Stephanie and Michelle, had us over earlier in the week for lasagna as a way to welcome us to Swaziland and to also get to see the technologies beforehand so that they could finish planning our schedule. We also met with the head laboratory tech and the pharmacists to present our technologies. From these meetings, we were able to get a lot of great feedback as to which technologies would be helpful for this particular site and what would be the best way to implement these technologies. Also, now that our mentors have a better sense of what our technologies are and have gotten feedback from the other physicians, they will be able to iron out the details for the rest of our stay. As of right now, it looks like we will be mostly staying in Mbabane and taking more day trips out to the rural clinics. They’re also working on setting up meetings with other healthcare providers working the area such as the Clinton Foundation and the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP).
I must admit that Lauren and I were a little bit intimidated when we were immediately asked to come in and begin presenting/implementing our technologies (our orientation told us that this first week should be used for observing and acclimating). But when you have such fantastic mentors who are constantly thinking of new ways to get our devices out there, it’s hard not to get excited and to work hard to make sure we’re as productive as possible. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the summer.
But first, time some football!
