Gettin' down to Cape Town: Wednesday, Day 11

Today we went back to Mitchells Plain to work with the UWC nursing students on a service learning project. My group (the sexual health team + three social work students) went with four UWC nursing students to St. Luke’s Hospice facility to work with a group of about 10 young-middle aged adults, some (if not all) of which we knew were HIV positive, but the status of each individual was not known to us. The nursing students work with this organization every Wednesday for each term (7weeks) to educate the clients about opportunistic infections, ARVs, complications of ARVs, CD4 count and other terms, differences between western medicine and traditional healers, and other topics surrounding HIV/AIDS infection. St. Luke’s is a really great organization that houses patients for two-ish weeks at a time. As a way to give the patients a break, especially if they are suffering with an opportunistic infection, from their life at home and to give their families a break for awhile too. While they are at St. Luke’s, they are educated in order to send them back and educate their community as well as help themselves as much as possible.

We met with the nursing students before heading over to discuss what we were going to talk about during the session. We were made to feel comfortable, but we also didn’t want to impede, or interfere so we said we would step back, and observe. It was a truly once in a lifetime experience. I felt privileged to be able to experience this with my fellow peers, especially nursing students (since I am one) here in Cape Town. Although the information the nursing students taught was not new to me (we discussed opportunistic infections), I have never taught to people living with HIV about their disease, knowingly. We really sat back and just observed the interactions and lessons. I thought the students did a great job and really got their messages across. There was a language barrier, some patients only speak Xhosa, some speak English and some speak Afrikaans. So they taught in English and Xhosa, because they are the major languages of this population.

After leaving the group, I realized that these students are doing a really great thing and their teacher, Mamalita, was an amazing woman who was able to communicate with the patients really well. They spoke a little about the importance of continuing to take their western medicine while still going to their traditional healers- if they choose to see the healers. I thought that the patients would benefit from a more in depth discussion about the difference between western medicine and traditional healers. I spoke to the students about this and they were already planning on talking more about it next week. I do realize that it’s easy for us to critique because we are coming from the outside, and we have different interactions and programs, but it’s definitely important to realize what the situation is here and what kind of resources they have. They have different challenges to overcome and I am blown away at the programs they have built as well as the eagerness to share them with us. The students were so happy to share their program with us, which made me happy, too! No photos today because we were asked not to take pictures at St. Luke's, and I feel a tad awkward snapping pics all in the townships, like I am trying to exploit the people and their lives. It doesn't feel right. The students like it, cause its fun, but I just stopped bringing my camera this week.

Side note: I only brought enough clothes to get me through yesterday, so Kelsey and I took all our clothes to a laundromat down the street from our hotel. This place is the bee's knees. For real, they take your clothes, wash and dry them, fold them all cute and vaccum seal them in a bag to present to you the next day. awesome awesome. Also, how much? Only $10usd. WHAT? Best day ever.

And I took a few pictures to document this, since it will probably never happen again.