Our group will be volunteering for the next 10 days at various health sites. 3 of the sites are orphanages working with kids and 2 are at clinics in townships. I was placed at the Gugulethu clinic in Gugulethu. I was kind of bummed i wasn't going to be working with kids but from what Jan has told us, everyone has had a good experience. Well all last night and this morning I was having stomach problems so that wasn't a good start to my day. Apparently there is some stomach bug going around because a few other students are experiencing the same ailments as myself. We arrived at the clinic around 10am and spoke with the manager of the facility. She was great. She talked about the mission of the clinic was to improve the health of the Gugulethu township by testing everyone for HIV and providing birth control and pap smears to women. She explained the importance of teamwork and if one group was lacking them everyone wouldn't be able to work together as a cohesive unit. Her passion for her job was inspiring to me. She said everything she does is for God and she works for Him. She mentioned she was apart of the Soweto uprising and that because she was not hurt or killed during it, God wants her to do something important in her life which is why she feels so committed to the clinic and improving lives. After this, I was very excited to get started. I thought, "wow this is going to be a life changing experience." I was pretty disappointed when I ended up spending half my time there in the "tea room" which is basically the lunch/break room. Although I did have some good conversations with some of the workers in the room, this is not how I wanted to spend my volunteer day. There was some miscommunication on my part on what the tea room was, but she said she would be back for me in 30 min. After a little over an hour I went back to where some of the other student were working. To my surprise, the students were the only ones there. The nurses had left them by themselves to take blood pressure and blood glucose. I guess it was really frustrating and stressful with the lack of communication, the immense amount of patients, and the differences at hospitals in the US. I expected to see workers not using gloves or hand sanitizer, but it was still very shocking. I tried to go into the situation with an open mind, but it was difficult to adjust to the system especially when I wasn't given a job to do. I told Jan and Andrew of the issues I faced at the clinic and I understand that the staff was very busy with patients, but I don't feel like if every day is like this one, I will not learn or gain anything from this experience. With the stomach problems and lack of involvement at the clinic today, I can say that today wasn't my best in Cape Town. My goal for tomorrow is to stay positive, keep an open mind, and be patient. At least I learned one thing today, that the "T room" literally means a room to have tea!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Day 1 Volunteering
Our group will be volunteering for the next 10 days at various health sites. 3 of the sites are orphanages working with kids and 2 are at clinics in townships. I was placed at the Gugulethu clinic in Gugulethu. I was kind of bummed i wasn't going to be working with kids but from what Jan has told us, everyone has had a good experience. Well all last night and this morning I was having stomach problems so that wasn't a good start to my day. Apparently there is some stomach bug going around because a few other students are experiencing the same ailments as myself. We arrived at the clinic around 10am and spoke with the manager of the facility. She was great. She talked about the mission of the clinic was to improve the health of the Gugulethu township by testing everyone for HIV and providing birth control and pap smears to women. She explained the importance of teamwork and if one group was lacking them everyone wouldn't be able to work together as a cohesive unit. Her passion for her job was inspiring to me. She said everything she does is for God and she works for Him. She mentioned she was apart of the Soweto uprising and that because she was not hurt or killed during it, God wants her to do something important in her life which is why she feels so committed to the clinic and improving lives. After this, I was very excited to get started. I thought, "wow this is going to be a life changing experience." I was pretty disappointed when I ended up spending half my time there in the "tea room" which is basically the lunch/break room. Although I did have some good conversations with some of the workers in the room, this is not how I wanted to spend my volunteer day. There was some miscommunication on my part on what the tea room was, but she said she would be back for me in 30 min. After a little over an hour I went back to where some of the other student were working. To my surprise, the students were the only ones there. The nurses had left them by themselves to take blood pressure and blood glucose. I guess it was really frustrating and stressful with the lack of communication, the immense amount of patients, and the differences at hospitals in the US. I expected to see workers not using gloves or hand sanitizer, but it was still very shocking. I tried to go into the situation with an open mind, but it was difficult to adjust to the system especially when I wasn't given a job to do. I told Jan and Andrew of the issues I faced at the clinic and I understand that the staff was very busy with patients, but I don't feel like if every day is like this one, I will not learn or gain anything from this experience. With the stomach problems and lack of involvement at the clinic today, I can say that today wasn't my best in Cape Town. My goal for tomorrow is to stay positive, keep an open mind, and be patient. At least I learned one thing today, that the "T room" literally means a room to have tea!
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