well today is day two of the hospital being open. the beds are beginning to be filled up with little brown people - (as the focus at the moment is child orthopedic). yesterday morning it was just nurses and translators on the wards, dancing and praying and getting to know each other...and then slowly but surely the patients began coming up from the admissions tent on the dock. by my shift yesterday afternoon, four of the beds had been filled and we had a lovely afternoon taking our time settling them in. teaching the ways of the ward and the bathroom (toilet and shower teaching)
playdough and making men competitions, jenga and the joys of knocking over towers, building brick bridges, colouring delightful rainbows, cards and a game i've never played before, and then a new interesting game of singing into the writers dictaphone and playing it back! the tension and nervousness of the patients at the beginning of the shift fell away to chittachatta and excellent non verbal communications!
it was a different kind of shift, but good to be on the wards all the same. no one had had surgery, everyone was well, but being with african people - patients, caregivers and translator was a joy. getting to know them, learning a few awkward words in mina the local language, working with the translators again and seeing their defined faces and white smiles....its good to be where i am right now.
but 4 nights are ahead of me, being the most experienced nurse on duty....so i'll report back to let you know how it goes. i've also been to screening today...but will write all about that tomorrow. theres alot to share!
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