April 8th, 2018 by jamiefelzer

Tomorrow morning, I am headed out to the bush (I know many of you may think I am in the bush now, but am actually in more of a “wealthy suburb”). I have been invited to an orphanage a few miles away, across a bridge that actually has a massive hole in it, so I will likely have to walk across. I am still unclear of exactly what my role will be, but apparently the children and staff have not had a healthcare practitioner in years and they have invited me to help bridge that gap. I do not know what I am getting myself into, but am excited (and a bit nervous of course) about this opportunity to bridge another gap and help more people in need. It is unclear if I will have any medications at my disposal, but I will do the best with whatever I have.  I won’t be bringing my computer with me, as I am unsure of the security situation. I will post once I return about this experience.

Otherwise, it was a lovely weekend. We rounded on patients Saturday morning then went to outpatient clinic, where I ended up admitted a lady with HIV who likely had TB due to her 40lb weight loss in 2 months! We had a lovely lunch at the hospital guesthouse, cooked by the always wonderful Ester and then retired back to MRT for some relaxing as it was quite hot outside. Once it had cooled down a bit, I went on a run with some other ex-pats. The entire way, I felt as though people were staring us down, wondering what these strange white people were doing, and why we would want to run for fun. Saturday night in Macha was full of raging as we played LIFE! MRT has plenty of games to choose from! We had hoped to watch a DVD and after carefully choosing from the selection, we sadly realized the DVD player no longer worked. Sunday was lovely, as I slept in for the first time in weeks, and was actually able to enjoy my cup of coffee and read my book out on the veranda in the lovely cool breeze of the morning. I was able to get some work done and then a couple of us walked around town before cooking a family dinner 🙂

Beautiful wildflowers all over the area, as seen on a walk, with a typical thatched roof building in the distance