My last week in Zambia

Most of the week so far has been working on homebased care in the mornings and the orphanage in the afternoons.

Home based care was with the Maramba team Monday and Tuesday. Both these days were spent in different zones. Monday was in an area called Zekko and Maramba extension. Here i bathed a lady in her home (a very different experience to giving a bed bath) and met a few of the other patients. Tuesday i went into zone B, this consists of Maramba compound and Malota. These areas are very busy and noisy, lots of markets, music and crowded. Malota has a high rate of HIV and TB and this is often a result of the Shabings (illegal beer houses).

Wednesday i spent the morning at Libuyu clinic and with the homebased care team. The clinic was really busy and was a bit confused as there was no clinical medical officer to be seen, just two nurses and there was a really poorly man and a baby that came in. Libuye is quite different to Maramba and Malota, its quite quiet.

The orphanage is good fun, we have been teaching the children how to read. Tuesday i was listening to two girls (Dolly and Chambwa) read. They were actually very good but seemed a bit obsessed with my hair. Anyway once the reading was finished they started to braid my hair, three of them at once, I wouldn't mind but it hurts, they are so heavy handed for 8 year olds. They do it tight as well takes a while to remove it.

The rest of the week is mainly work really, have a few things planned at the weekend, Zambezi sun, Victoria falls, another cruise down the Zambezi river, watching the sunset at the Royal Livingstone and lots of other fun and games. All this prior to my transfer to Zimbabwe on Monday 5th February. I will probably do another blog entry before.

Take care

Love

Andreaxx