This week we got to spend a few days in Blantyre, Malawi, with WUSC. For anyone who doesn't know, Blantyre is the largest city in Malawi, and is located in the south-central region. It feels much more like a city than Lilongwe and many people wonder why it isn't the capital. We were only there a short time but I definitely preferred the landscape to that of Lilongwe's. It is set within tons of mountains and there are so many trees - it was so beautiful!
We were scheduled to depart on Wednesday morning at 7:00 am. As things often go here in Malawi, the coach bus broke down. Since they only have one, we didn't leave Lilongwe until close to 10:30 am and it definitely wasn't on a coach bus. They basically just pack as many people into the bus as possible, so not everyone has a seat. We were lucky to have seats but because people can also stand in the aisle, the two girls on the outside seats had people basically sitting on them. Blantyre is approximately 180 km from Lilongwe, but it took us over 6 hours to get there! The bus stopped every 5 to 15 minutes to let people off and then swarms of Malawians would lift vegetables, donuts, eggs, etc. above their heads to try and sell them to people through the windows of the bus. At one point four of us girls got off to go to the washroom (which we had to pay to use) and it ended up only being a hole in the ground - it was so disgusting! Times like that I really resent men, haha.... anyway as we were leaving the washroom our bus started driving away. We had to run after it a bit before it finally stopped to let us back on.
We spent Thursday at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. It is the largest publically funded hospital in Malawi. We spent the morning in the palliative care unit with a doctor from England (here to work for 6 weeks) and a counselling officer (which are basically given all the same priveledges as are doctors but they don't have to go to medical school), quite reassuring eh... Just an FYI, palliative care is focused on relieving suffering and improving quality of life, most often in the end stages of life. We got to sit in on appointments with HIV/AIDS patients, which was so amazing. The majority were there due to karposi sarcoma (a skin cancer common in AIDS patients). I've seen many pictures of karposi sarcoma in textbooks, but nothing prepared me for actually seeing the real thing. One guy's legs were so swollen, the skin was cracking/bleeding. They gave him more gauze to wrap them up, but it was hard seeing the "doc's" not really being able to do too much besides give more pain killers, because their resources are just so scarce.
One thing that was notably different in terms of patient autonomy is that, the patients were never asked if it was okay for us to be in the same room. It was just assumed that it was okay, and although some seemed relatively shy, most were okay with it... even when they were told to undress. It just seemed so weird as a North American because patient confidentiality is such a key component of our health care system. After spending time in the palliative care unit, we went to the VCT unit. VCT stands for Voluntary Counselling and Testing which is for HIV/AIDS patients. There are several different staging rooms, some of which we could go into, and other's not, but we did get to see patients being given their ARVs.
That afternoon we were still at QECH and got a tour of the pediatrics and neo-natal wards. Within pediatrics, we were shown where patients are admitted (and their parents are counselled on HIV), had a tour of the oncology unit and saw a nutritional ward (basically for malnourished children). Visiting the pediatrics oncology unit was the hardest for me because this little girl (maybe age 2), who was sooooo cute was smilng and waving at me, but then the nurse told us her chances of survival are very small. It was just so hard seeing her so happy and knowing that she'll never get to experience life. I hate not being able to do anything for these children, but am still so greatful I had the opportunity to see what so many people in the world face every day. I know people have cancer all over the world but being told that not all kids can receive chemotherapy treatments because it's only paid for by private donors, so there aren't enough, was so disturbing.
I will never forget this day, the sights, the sounds, even the smells of this hospital, will be stuck with me forever. I wish every North American could have experienced what I did today, so that at the very least our acceptance of taxes which go to health care, our respect for health care professionals, and our overall patience with the health care system could be greater.
The rest of our time in Blantyre was spent at different NGO's similar to those with whom we are working here in Lilongwe. It was so great to see organizations that have been well-functioning since the early 90s as YOUDAO is relatively new, and therefore still trying to sort out some of the organizational "wrinkles".
We got a bus back to Lilongwe early this morning and have exactly one week left here before flying home next Sunday. I can't believe how fast this summer has gone and am so happy to have had this incredible experience. I am sooooooooooooooooo excited to get back to Canada and to spend the rest of the summer in Owen Sound. Summer just insn't summer when I'm not on Georgian Bay. Hopefully I'll get one more post in this week, and I'll definitely keep trying to load pictures too!
I hope everyone is enjoying their summers!
xo Michelle
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