Every Friday, Katrina and I get picked up at 12, an hour early than school ends, to go to a feeding program in a part of town called Old Naledi. It is where orphans and vulnerable children are given a free lunch. I’m not 100% sure if this is right or not, but I think that a lot of the kids that go there are living with a relative because their parents have AIDS. Since the relatives don’t have enough money to care for them, they get free meals to take the stress off the relative’s family. Old Naledi is also the very poor part of town, kind of like the slums of Gaborone. This past week was our third time there. The first week, Katrina and I were pulled into helping a lady with some computer work, but the computer shut off twice while we were trying to type up the data she gave us, and then the printer wasn’t working, and we had several other technical difficulties. It took the entire time so we didn’t get to help out with cooking or playing with the kids. The second time we got there later than usual and just gave the kids the food, but there was plenty of help in the kitchen and I just felt in the way. This past time was an adventure…
We got there earlier than before, and the kids had just started coming. They’re from all ages, I’m guessing from 3 to 12. I went over to some kids hanging out under a tree, and at first they were really shy, but when more kids came it was like a mob attacked me. They would all run up to me and either hold their hands up to be held, climb on my back, or ask me to spin them. I was a human jungle gym. Some of them weren’t that little, either, but they wanted constant attention. They would fight to get on my back. It was a little overwhelming, but it was also fun. They found my headband very entertaining and it got passed around a lot. They also liked to play with my hair, since it’s so different from theirs. Two older girls tried to teach me a hand-clapping game but I still don’t get it. It’s a bit hard to communicate, since a lot of them only speak Setswana, and if they do speak English it is with a very thick accent.
Before they eat, some of the other short-termers lead singing and act out a bible story. Then they all get in a line and have water poured over their hands, get their food, and sit down to eat. Usually it is either rice or mealie-meal with goat or beef on top. I would guess that there is about 30-40 kids that come, but not all of them eat, some just come after school to have fun. It is a good program and I’m excited to keep going there even though it sure is tiring.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
HARD DECISIONS AND MEMORIES OF ANOTHER MERCY FLIGHT - ROGER
Since I got my paperwork sorted out I have been very busy flying, one flight even called out at night to one of the few places we can fly into at night – arriving back at 3:00AM. The mercy flights seem to come in waves, and right now we are riding a high one. I have had numerous car accident victims, a few maternity cases, at least one assault victim, a donkey cart accident, and a few newborn babies as patients. This is all in the last two weeks. Three of the patients have been completely paralyzed from the neck down, with little hope for a recovery. Two of those patients were transported to South Africa, but the rest of the flights have all been from a smaller referral hospital to one of the two better equipped hospitals in the country. When we lived here in the 80’s and 90’s many of our mercy flights went to South Africa, but today almost all of the patients can be treated in Botswana. The health care in the country is vastly improved and doctors are stationed throughout the country and can treat many patients in the new hospitals. It is great to see the improvement. The last time I was here the most frequent mercy flight was for maternity cases. Today vehicle accidents seem to be the major cause.
The last three days some difficult decisions had to be made by the paramedics onboard. Last night we got a call late for a mercy flight from the hospital a little over an hour’s flight away to go to South Africa. They decided it could wait until morning, so we left early today for the flight. While the paramedics were at the hospital preparing the patient for transport we got a call of a very critical patient in Maun, and it was decided since the patient for South Africa was fairly stable we should go for the other patient at Maun. That is over an hour away as well, and while loading the patient we got another call for a pre-mature baby at Hukuntsi. Since we did not have enough duty time to do both remaining flights the doctors and the paramedics had to discuss which one we should do. It was decided we would go to South Africa and the baby would have to be transported by road, but it was very likely the baby would not survive.
Two days ago we also had a situation where a decision had to be made quickly. We had to go to Ghanzi to pick up a three day old baby in critical condition – a 1.5 hour flight. When we arrived they decided to send another cancer patient along. About 30 minutes after takeoff the cancer patient stopped breathing and the paramedics were frantically trying to resuscitate him. While they were trying to revive him the baby’s mother told them her baby was blue and was not breathing. Decisions, decisions! Which one do they try to revive with their limited equipment? Which one was more likely to survive? They decided on the baby, and did get her revived, but the other patient did not make it. It was a stressful day for the paramedics, and made me appreciate some of the life and death decisions medical personnel are called to make at times.
We had to dodge thunderstorms the last part of the trip, and I couldn’t help but think of the last time I had a 3 day old baby on board dodging thunderstorms across the Central Kalahari Desert, with a doctor frantically trying to keep her breathing. The mother that night handed her baby over to the doctor, not wanting to have her baby die in her arms. At least this time I had weather detection equipment, and I had not lost my alternator as well as communications and all electrics. That long 2 ½ flight, over 19 years ago, was the most stressful flight of my career. I prayed that the child in the back struggling to breathe would also grow up to be a beautiful healthy young woman, just like the other baby I flew 19 years ago – our daughter Lisa.
The last three days some difficult decisions had to be made by the paramedics onboard. Last night we got a call late for a mercy flight from the hospital a little over an hour’s flight away to go to South Africa. They decided it could wait until morning, so we left early today for the flight. While the paramedics were at the hospital preparing the patient for transport we got a call of a very critical patient in Maun, and it was decided since the patient for South Africa was fairly stable we should go for the other patient at Maun. That is over an hour away as well, and while loading the patient we got another call for a pre-mature baby at Hukuntsi. Since we did not have enough duty time to do both remaining flights the doctors and the paramedics had to discuss which one we should do. It was decided we would go to South Africa and the baby would have to be transported by road, but it was very likely the baby would not survive.
Two days ago we also had a situation where a decision had to be made quickly. We had to go to Ghanzi to pick up a three day old baby in critical condition – a 1.5 hour flight. When we arrived they decided to send another cancer patient along. About 30 minutes after takeoff the cancer patient stopped breathing and the paramedics were frantically trying to resuscitate him. While they were trying to revive him the baby’s mother told them her baby was blue and was not breathing. Decisions, decisions! Which one do they try to revive with their limited equipment? Which one was more likely to survive? They decided on the baby, and did get her revived, but the other patient did not make it. It was a stressful day for the paramedics, and made me appreciate some of the life and death decisions medical personnel are called to make at times.
We had to dodge thunderstorms the last part of the trip, and I couldn’t help but think of the last time I had a 3 day old baby on board dodging thunderstorms across the Central Kalahari Desert, with a doctor frantically trying to keep her breathing. The mother that night handed her baby over to the doctor, not wanting to have her baby die in her arms. At least this time I had weather detection equipment, and I had not lost my alternator as well as communications and all electrics. That long 2 ½ flight, over 19 years ago, was the most stressful flight of my career. I prayed that the child in the back struggling to breathe would also grow up to be a beautiful healthy young woman, just like the other baby I flew 19 years ago – our daughter Lisa.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Standing in Line and a Stolen Bag - Jolene
Last Friday I decided it was time for me to get my Botswana driver’s license. Basically we’re getting it because if you have an accident after you’ve been here three months and don’t have a Botswana license, insurance won’t pay. So, now was as good a time as any, right? Roger had gotten his earlier in the week and it was fairly painless, although he also had to wait, just not as long as I did!
I arrived at the driver license center about 7:30 am, which I realized as soon as I got there, wasn’t nearly early enough since there was a very long line already and the doors weren’t even going to open for another 15 minutes. Finally the line started moving into the building and I got my number – I was #75! After that line, I stood in another line to get my eyes tested, and then another line to make sure I had all the papers that I needed (thankfully I did), and then it was a matter of waiting until they called my number – which they did five hours later! I did leave for a couple of hours and came back later, so that part wasn’t SO bad. I had everything I needed the first time and got my license!
When we came out of the building, our tire was completely flat, so Roger put air in it, and we went to a place where they could fix the tire. We backed up into the garage and a guy started working on it right away. When we were getting back into the truck to leave I noticed right away my bag was nowhere to be found. Roger, Renae & I were right outside the vehicle the whole time, but someone had stolen my bag right out of the vehicle in broad daylight with people all around. We’re sure we know who did it, and in looking back he was suspicious looking, but we weren’t thinking of anything at the time. The main thing that was missing was my passport (which I needed to get my driver’s license or I wouldn’t have had it with me), my brand new license that I had waited 5 hrs to get, a credit card, my wallet, my sunglasses and various & sundry other small things. Thankfully my cell phone was not in the purse, nor much money at all, only a couple of dollars. Normally when purses are stolen it’s cash and a cell phone they’re after, and neither of those were in it. SO, we went to the police station and filed a report, and then decided that since I had just gotten my license that day maybe I could go back & they could issue another one for me right away. So, I went back to the person I had seen before and told her the story. She said that she could help me after she had helped everyone else that was still waiting. So I sat down and waited for close to two more hours, and when everyone else was finished I again went up to her window, but now she said, no she can’t help me today, I’ll have to come back Monday, that there is another form I need to fill out for the duplicate license and I’ll have to re-test my eyes. Needless to say, I was not very happy. All in all, it was NOT a very good day!
BUT, there is a silver lining in this cloud! Two days later, I got a call on my cell phone from a guy that said he found my bag! So Roger met him and indeed he did have my bag. It had my passport in it and some other cards that are worthless here, but not my U.S. or Botswana license, credit card, sun glasses, etc. But I was very thankful to have my passport, which was the main loss and the hardest to replace. Hopefully I learned a lesson through this – I can’t be too careful – there are some very clever thieves out there just waiting for an unsuspecting person. In thinking about it later, we think it was an inside job, and the guy that was fixing the tire and the thief were working together, although of course the guy working on the tire insisted he didn’t know the man or anything.
I arrived at the driver license center about 7:30 am, which I realized as soon as I got there, wasn’t nearly early enough since there was a very long line already and the doors weren’t even going to open for another 15 minutes. Finally the line started moving into the building and I got my number – I was #75! After that line, I stood in another line to get my eyes tested, and then another line to make sure I had all the papers that I needed (thankfully I did), and then it was a matter of waiting until they called my number – which they did five hours later! I did leave for a couple of hours and came back later, so that part wasn’t SO bad. I had everything I needed the first time and got my license!
When we came out of the building, our tire was completely flat, so Roger put air in it, and we went to a place where they could fix the tire. We backed up into the garage and a guy started working on it right away. When we were getting back into the truck to leave I noticed right away my bag was nowhere to be found. Roger, Renae & I were right outside the vehicle the whole time, but someone had stolen my bag right out of the vehicle in broad daylight with people all around. We’re sure we know who did it, and in looking back he was suspicious looking, but we weren’t thinking of anything at the time. The main thing that was missing was my passport (which I needed to get my driver’s license or I wouldn’t have had it with me), my brand new license that I had waited 5 hrs to get, a credit card, my wallet, my sunglasses and various & sundry other small things. Thankfully my cell phone was not in the purse, nor much money at all, only a couple of dollars. Normally when purses are stolen it’s cash and a cell phone they’re after, and neither of those were in it. SO, we went to the police station and filed a report, and then decided that since I had just gotten my license that day maybe I could go back & they could issue another one for me right away. So, I went back to the person I had seen before and told her the story. She said that she could help me after she had helped everyone else that was still waiting. So I sat down and waited for close to two more hours, and when everyone else was finished I again went up to her window, but now she said, no she can’t help me today, I’ll have to come back Monday, that there is another form I need to fill out for the duplicate license and I’ll have to re-test my eyes. Needless to say, I was not very happy. All in all, it was NOT a very good day!
BUT, there is a silver lining in this cloud! Two days later, I got a call on my cell phone from a guy that said he found my bag! So Roger met him and indeed he did have my bag. It had my passport in it and some other cards that are worthless here, but not my U.S. or Botswana license, credit card, sun glasses, etc. But I was very thankful to have my passport, which was the main loss and the hardest to replace. Hopefully I learned a lesson through this – I can’t be too careful – there are some very clever thieves out there just waiting for an unsuspecting person. In thinking about it later, we think it was an inside job, and the guy that was fixing the tire and the thief were working together, although of course the guy working on the tire insisted he didn’t know the man or anything.
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