A Picture is worth a thousand words…

Molwene!  (Hello to everyone)

      I won’t pretend I’ve learned Xhosa, this language is EXTREMELY difficult to speak and understand because of the clicks, so I have to show off and throw in one of my 20 vocabulary words in the blog!  Haha. 

      Things are going well here in South Africa.  I can’t believe I’ve already been here over a month!  Time seems to be flying, as I expected, so I’m trying to enjoy every moment.  And most have been just that: enjoyable, memorable, and rewarding.  Well….maybe not every moment has been enjoyable.  I got tick bite fever last Friday and I was sick for 4 days with a 102 fever, chills, body aches, and migraines.  I must say, that has been my least favorite experience so far.  Imagine that!  I have fully recovered now and am feeling much better.  There is a saying a lot of the volunteers and doctors use around here abbreviated T.A.B. That’s Africa Baby!  I have now adopted it as well. 

      I have finally figured out how to get some pictures to you all so I’ve copied them here.  There are so many wonderful ones of the children but I had to just pick a few favorites.   I hope you enjoy!! 

Picture descriptions: 

• The first two are of two of my clubfoot babies and their Mom.  The one wrapped in the towel (the traditional way of carrying children here because no one owns a stroller or baby bjorn so they made their own invention) is the patient I got to assist with the tenotomy on.  The other is a severe bilateral clubfoot baby we’re currently treating.
• The round houses are called “rondavels” which is the traditional Xhosa house.  They cover the green hills for miles and miles!  It’s a beautiful site.  They are made of brick and clay and they only paint one side typically, the side that gets the rain is left unpainted b/c the paint is not water proof so they don’t bother!  Funny.  The color is traditional, been used for years, and is supposed to bring good luck. 
• The picture of me standing on the edge of the cliff is the famous Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape of South Africa.  I walked six miles on this hike to a rock formation in the middle of the ocean called “hole in the wall.”  Self explanatory but I’ll show pictures when I return.
• Twice a week, more if weather permits, I take my patients and other children outside for play time!  I bought balls, bubbles, hula hoops, you name it, to entertain them and they LOVE it.  They all know how to say in English now, “play ball?”  This is a picture of some of them with me.
• The one with the beautiful smile and hand on her chin is Nomhle, a patient of mine with TB of the spine.  She has been in the hospital since I got here but always smiles and loves to be held. 
• Walking in the way too big for her walker is Potsana, who has osteogenesis imperfecta.  She’s been in casts for SO long due to contractures that formed from no one doing therapy with her.  She is not only walking but has since had the casts removed, trained in calipers and is now walking with the walker and nothing on her legs AND no pain!  She’s come a long way and will be going home next week.  Yeah for her, sad for me. 
• The last one is my little angel, Pumeza, who I talked about last post.  I have a lot of pictures of her little body and the condition she’s in but I will spare you those sites.  She is making progress slowly but surely with her burns and contractures but has made HUGE progress emotionally and mentally.  She can now say, “Hello Joy” and waves at me every time I pass by her bed.  She is tolerating wheelchair sitting now so I am taking her to the little school they have on grounds for a couple hours a day and I think she really enjoys it.  She smiles every time I see her. 

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