slow...

I'm sitting at a dreadfully slow internet cafe about one km north of Zambia University Teaching Hospital (UTCH). Well, I suppose the cafe itself isn't slow - it's actually rather busy with people - but rather the internet itself is.

ANYWAYS! I arrived safely in Zambia, was picked up by my old WHO supervisor's son, Kevin Osborne, and proceeded to go on a series of adventures trying to find both where I was supposed to work and where I was supposed to live. On the plus side, I managed to sleep for about 16 hours yesterday (roughly from 2 PM in the afternon to 6 AM the next morning), with the occasional lapse into consciousness.

I am staying at the nurse's hostel - it isn't the cleanest place in the world, but has a nice and comfy bed, isn't too hot during the day, and has got decent bathroom/showering facilities. There are also apparently three Finnish nursing students on my floor, but I have yet to see them. As for work, I eventually managed to bumble my way into the care of one Dr. Nirenda (that is how I would sound out his name - I've no idea about the actual spelling). The patients that we saw had presentations ranging from the 'regular' (by western standards) to the rather bizarre. There were several cases of hypertensive diabetics, a pregnany lady with epiletic seizures, some people with HIV and associated sexual! and renal complications, a lady with suspected cryptococcal meningitis. My doctor and I encountered something a little more unusual in the line-up for the canteen: Dr. Nirenda struck up a conversation with a kid who had a swollen belly, and found that he had previously been infected by Bechozia? (not sure how that is spelt), which led to portal fibrosis leading to persistent ascites that required drainage. The conjunctiva of his eyes were also completely pale - a sign of anemia that we learned about in renal block. I didn't understand the dialogue between doctor and patient since they were communicating in an indigenous language, but their exchange did end up with my doctor giving him 40000 Kwacha (about 10 dollars) to buy a few meals with - something that I thought was rather kind. Dr. Nirenda seems like a fairly smart guy, even though he looks incredibly young (in actualality, he is 32). We start again tomorrow at 8, and apparently I will be on call both Friday and Sunday of this week.

As far as a city goes, Lusaka is very, very random. There are essentially no sidewalks, only a tenth of the traffic lights per unit area that Edmonton might have, and lots of pedestrians carrying anything from big jars on their heads to wheelbarrows dodging traffic in their quest to cross the street. I also saw a big truck with cows (the logo on the side read Zambeef - feeding Zambia) driving right into the middle of town. I am somewhat scared about walking here due to the random traffic, let alone biking - and this is saying something since I braved the streets of Beijing for hours a day on my bike with no fear of consequences. I promise to take some pictures later for your viewing enjoyment.

Another random tidbit: China is actually quite involved with Zambia as a trading partner (Zambia has loads of mineral wealth) and a donor - though the exact balance between said two factors is unclear.

OKAY - time is running up - until next time :)