When in Africa...

back in gaborone! we made it back yesterday afternoon from johannesburg. our time in joburg was an exciting time.  we learned a lot and got to see some.  like i have previously mentioned we were there for the bipai network meeting.  representatives from all the other bipai's gathered to discuss their center of excellences (coe's).  There are coe's in the following countries: romania, angola, libya, ethiopia, malawi, swaziland, uganda, tanzania, lesotho, and representatives from houston.  of course, botswana was represented as well.  so, the purpose for this meeting was to come together and give reports on each coe and their successes, struggles, and anything else that is occurring within their centers.  although i am not studying anything related to medicine, i saw how important the business side to all of this actually was.  all of these clinics are functioning based on grants, sponsors, and donations.  the business behind it is so important because without proposals for grants and such there would be no clinic.  these clinics face problems such as not having enough funds to get medicine for their patients all the way to not even having the proper equipment due to the low funding received.  these doctors not only face the struggles of funding, but they are also trying to help these children regain their health.  each country had a different problem in which they gave reports on at the meeting.  although these are all aids/hiv clinics they see a variety of other medically related challenges due to the patients hiv/aids. there were many cases of sickle cell, tb, malaria, vitamin b deficiency, low circumcision rates, and many other topics.  it made me think how fortunate we truly are in america that upon birth we are immediately screened as a baseline test for illness and disease.  the people over in africa don't get that opportunity in some of these countries.  the incredible part of this program is that these doctors are healing these children and raising them to live a healthy lifestyle.  they are able to deliver hiv negative children with two hiv positive parents due to plan b+. 

so that is a brief overview of the network meeting, but we also got to explore joburg a little bit.  one day, sam and i were able to go visit a lion park in which we saw many lions, played with a lion cub, and fed a giraffe.  it was so fun and a good introduction for our safari later on in our trip.  we went to the apartheid museum.  this museum is rich in the history of south africa during their race riots and the story of nelson mandela.  it was very interesting yet depressing to see all of the struggles that people faced.  we then proceeded to go to mandela square.  it is an area located in central joburg that has great restaurants and shopping.  we were able to spend some time there and we ate a delicious meal at a place named walnut grove.  it was by far the best meal that we have eaten thus far, but then again, the food here has been challenging.  

we are now back in gaborone and are very excited for this upcoming week.  not only will it be our first full week in the clinic but on tuesday we are opening our adolescence center.  part of the clinic deals with teens through our teen club.  the teen club and overall young adult programs have skyrocketed due to the impact that the clinic has made on this community.  because of this the coe is opening an adolescence center across the street from the main clinic.  the grand opening is on tuesday, therefore, there are many exciting events going on this week and we are fortunate to be here at such a fun and exciting time.  

i think that is all for now!

natalie