For the last two weeks, I’ve been shadowing in the pediatrics ward and neonatal unit on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It’s been a really interesting experience. The pediatric ward is composed of four rooms; each has 6-8 patients on beds or sometimes mattresses on the floor. The child’s parent (a mom, grandma, or aunt) sleeps in plastic chairs next to the child. They do most of the caretaking. The doctors are very busy going from patient to patient fairly quickly. The majority children have meningitis or TB. Many of the children in the ward have HIV as well.

I loved shadowing in the neonatal unit. The NICU has constant activity and each patient is very different. Botswana has a fairly high infant mortality rate, so unfortunately many of the preterm babies die. There are only two working neonatal ventilators in the hospital, so many times the doctors have to choose which baby is in more respiratory distress or, in some cases, which baby has a better chance of making it. It definitely makes me appreciate the technology in the US. There aren’t any ECGs and only a broken CT scanner, so most of the doctors are working off of only clinical signs, x-rays, and the occasional ultrasound to diagnose the children. The doctors are fantastic people and there are a surprising amount of success stories, considering the limited technology. I was also surprised by the limited space in the NICU. I hadn’t thought about keeping devices extremely compact. There is very little table surface area and so tools on stands seem more helpful here. Most babies are placed in small plastic tubs with many blankets due to the low availability of warming cribs and the lack of space for new warming cribs.

I spend my Tuesdays and Thursdays helping out on clinical trial for a new type of cervical cancer detection system. Thus far we haven’t gotten that many patients, but we’re starting to be able to move at a faster pace when we’re actually using the device. Everyone pitches in which helps speed up the long procedure. I usually take down notes on the forms in the back. Everyone at the women’s clinic is great. They’re constantly teasing each other and cracking jokes.

Last weekend I went to a Botswana wedding. Our student host for the program had a relative getting married and she took us along. It was almost like a block party/wedding. There was a lot of singing and dancing and it was the awesome kind of African singing and dancing. They cooked the meal in 10-15 giant iron pots over hot coals with giant wooden spoons to stir and serve it with. The people here seem to like Americans. When we say ‘hi’ to people, they get really excited and ask to be our friends. At first this confused me. Our student host told us that Americans are rare to meet in person and prevalent on television. People are just excited to come across an American. It might also be because they think that our accent is hilarious.