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Tää viikko on ollut raskas, väsyttää eikä huvittais yhtään olla enää harjoittelussa, koska siellä on tylsää ja päivät on lähemmäs 12 tuntisia. Vielä pitäis 2 viikkoa jaksaa, sit on ansaittu loma!!! Sit saakin lomailla melkeen 4 viikkoa ennen kuin pitää mennä takas kouluun.

 Tän viikon olen ollut naisten suljetulla osastolla, mielenkiintoinen paikka, mutta ei paljoo tekemistä sairaanhoitajalla. Potilaiden kohtelu täällä on kauheaa, hoitajat ja toiset potilaat lyövät, tönivät ja potkivat potilaita. Potilaiden suihkutuskin tapahtuu niit että laitetaan potilaita alasti riviin, heitetään vettä päälle ja sitten vähän saippuoidaan ja lopuksi huuhdellaan heitämällä vettä päälle. Jos pystyy itse toimimaan niin on siellä myös suihku jonne voi mennä. Suljetulla osastolla ei ole mitään aktiviteetteja, siellä on tv ja radio, jota potilaat voivat katsella ja kuunnella, mutta vain tiettyinä aikoina. 

New students have moved in with us, so now we have 2 Germans, 2 Austrians and 2 Finnish plus above our flat is 2 Kenyan medical students (also Norwegians are still here but not present at the moment). We will have then Austrian and Finnish xmas, here. We are planning to do secret santa and have a meal together. 

This week has been very busy, as I am coming back from work around 17-18hrs and so I don't have much time to do anything. Monday night I was studying as here the doctors are nurses ask lots of questions and because I didn't and other students didn't know answers so we needed to find out, but the other students didn't come to work on Tuesday so I needed to answer all the questions. It was good that I studied, so I was able to answer. Tuesday was market day, so I got lots of veg and fruits. Wednesday, we went to Mandahill mall as I need to buy a new camera because my old one broke down on the weekend. We decided to eat there as well, as we didn't feel like cooking. 

Rain season has started, we had rain for 2 days and the weather has been bit chilly as the temperatures has been dropped to around 25 degrees. Starting from the weekend we have had water all the time as the president of Zambia came to the hospital and found out that there were not water all the time, as he said in the hospital there needs to be water available all the time. We will have water too, because our accommodation is on the hospital grounds. It has been really great to be able to take a normal shower even though the water is quite cold.

Zambian Wedding in Kitwe

On Friday, I didn't go to work as I left in the morning to Kitwe with 2 nurses from UTH. Their friend, a nurse from UTH, was getting married in there, so Rabecca, nurse from renal unit, asked me if I would like to with here to the wedding. 

Kitwe is situated north of Lusaka around 4-5 hours drive. Bus drive there was comfortable, bus (Mazahandu Family) had aircon and the seats were same as in Finland but on the way back we used Euro Africa bus and it was very old there were small and crammed as there were 3 seats in one side and 2 on the other but the bus wasn't any wider that normal one.  It is in Copperbelt area where is lots of mines. The next few pictures are taken on the bus ride from Lusaka to Kitwe. On the pictures you can see the diversity of landscapes that are in Zambia. In Kitwe we stayed at Rabecca's sister's house and it was really nice and modern house. 

The rain season is starting, and on the way to Kitwe we drove middle of thunder storm. It was really cool, rain was so heavy you could barely see, thunder was really loud and lightening looked like fireworks. On Saturday, there were 3 more thunder storms, that were same as the first one. 

Zambian wedding are similar to european weddings. Ceremony in the church included lots of dancing and singing, and crowd making different noises. The wedding ceremony was really long at least 1,5 hours and I lost interest half way through as they spoke Bemba which I don't understand. 

Bride and Groom, Sabrina and Henry 

The next 2 pictures are taken before the wedding reception, but I don't have any pictures from there as my camera decided to break down. So I don't have camera anymore. I am going to have a look if I can find cheap one from here. The wedding reception was similar what I have been used to but it was really short only 4 hours long!! Everything happened at the same time while we ate our food, bride and groom was cutting the cake and speeches were made, and first dance, too. Note: If you attend a Zambian wedding, you are supposed to have 2 dresses, one for the church and another for the reception. Even the grooms men and bridesmaids changed their clothes.

 Me

Rabecca

Chainama, mental hospital

Ensimmäinen viikko mielisairaalssa takana, 3 viikkoa edessä. Paikka on erittäin mielenkiitoinen, mutta ainoana valkoihoisena hoitajana paikka on pelottava, varsinkin suljetut osastot. Onneksi samaan aikaan aloitti myös muita opiskelijoita, joiden tukeen olen voinnut turvautua. 

Ensimmäisen viikon olin filter klinikalla, johon tulee päivystys potilaita sekä potilaista tarkastuksiin. Tällä on yllätänyt että epilepsia ja cp-vammaiset potilaat käyvät psykiatrian vastaanotolla. Täälä on saanut harjoitella lihakseen pistämistä. Muuten on ollut aika tylsää istumista vain, kun potilaita on ollut vain aamupäivisin. Torstaina oli mielenkiintoista nähdä kuinka täällä saatetaan ihminen hoitoon vasten tahtoaan. 7 ihmistä piti kiinni/maassa, jotta rauhoittavaa lääkettä pystyttiin antamaan.

Ensimmäinen viikko oli rankka vaikka töitä tein vain 3 päivää. Chainama hills hospital on noin 20 min bussimatkan päässä, mutta matka sinne kestää melkeen tunnin, koska muita oppilaita viedään muille klinikoille. Eli mun pitäisi olla töissä 7:30 mut oon ehkä siellä noin 8:30 tai sen jälkeen, mutta sit mut tullaan hakee sieltä vasta 16 jälkeen joten, siinä tulee sit niit tunteja. 

Detox

I having detox of alcohol and dvds/tv while being here. I have no problem with alcohol as I don't drink much anyway, but dvds and tv on the other hand might be bit problem. I am surprised that not having any dvds with me and internet it too slow to be able to download, that I haven't been bored of my mind. I have bought a dvd, it was only 1 euro, but they are not very common in here so I won't be able to buy them anyway. I have been reading books, already gone through 3. Yesterday I went to buy more books for me, as I have only 1 book left. If I am too bad withdrawn symptoms then I can watch something ;) 

Few times this week I have hated to be here and wished to be somewhere else. Everything in here started to piss me off but it didn't last too long as most of things that pissed me off I have to get use to them as they daily things like people are late and no running water.

I had great time at the renal unit doing hemodialysis and seeing temporal catheter insertions. During those 2 days I have learned a lot as I was only student there on thursday so the nurses (4) had time to explain and show me how to do everything. The renal unit is one of the most modern places in the hospital. I think I had done something right at there as the nurses wanted me to come to work in the renal unit :) 

 Here I am with one of the chronic patient, she has fistula on her arm.

Me with the dialysis machine  and some students on the background.

I was trying to capture the moon as it has nice outline but it really didn't work.

This on one of the bugs that we have living in the kitchen, so that is the reason why I am keeping my dry food in my room.

My sunday dinner on saturday. First proper meal that I have cooked in here from scratch.

The weekend have been same as other, shopping and laundry. Now I have bought almost all xmas presents and souvenirs, only few bits and pieces left to buy. Next couple of weekend I might be going away. First weekend I might be going to wedding in Kitwe, Copperbelt, as one of the nurses in the renal unit invited me to go to her sister's wedding. The weekend after that I will be going to Lake Kariba, southern Zambia  to have couple days of relaxation. 

Travels

Everyone else is travelling around Africa except me. Edwin and David left today to Livingstone, Norwegians are going to Zanzibar on Saturday and Germans are still somewhere away. I am being a good student and first do my clinical practices and then I will have 3 weeks time to travel. Doing this still allows me to be able to see and visit the places I want.

On the weekend I will have the whole flat for myself as others are on their travels. I don't have have a room mate, yet and it is looking like that I won't be getting one either, yay!! My plans for the weekend are the same that I have had for almost every weekend, laundry, swimming and shopping. During the weekend I may bake something, so if I do I will take some pics of it: I quite fancy making cheesecake or brownies or mudcake.

Yesterday we went out to eat to the Oriental Garden and I had Indian food, chicken tikka masala, people who know me knows that I don't like spicy food and I'm not very keen on Indian food. So I was really proud of myself that I had Indian and didn't order Chinese like last time when we went there. Even though I asked the food to be extra mild, but it was still too hot for my liking. 

Mielenterveysharjoittelussa sisätaudeilla. Tän ja huomisen päivän olen hemodialyysi yksikössä. Siellä on ollut erittäin mielenkiintoista ja sairaanhoitajat siellä oikeasti opettaa mua!!! Peritoneaalidialyysi potilaita ei ole paljoa, koska täällä aseptiikka ei ole kovin kummoista ja heillä on sairaanhoitajien mukaan koko ajan peritoniitti, joten hemodialyysi on turvallisempi vaihtoehto. Tän voisi kanssa laskea kriisityöhön kun siellä on HIV-potilaita kanssa joille tehdään dialyysejä. Ensi viikkolla sitten alkaa mielenterveysharjoittelu kunnolla mielisairaalassa.

I have had time to plan my travels for next year, too. So on January I am going to Sunderland, on October I am going to Las Vegas and maybe I should pay a long overdue visit in New York/New Jersey (its been 9 years). I am also thinking to go to exchange as part of my studies on my last semester (that would be spring 2014) hopefully to New Zealand.

:(

Last few days haven't been very good in here. During the weekend I have started become sick, first I had stomach problems and after that I have had bit fever. Today, I haven't eaten anything as I not hungry, but I have been drinking lots, so that's good. I think all these are result of last week, drinking boiled water and not eating very well. Maybe everything is starting to catching up on me know, as I haven't been ill, yet.

This week I have started my mental health practice in hospital setting, and it is BORING, at least here in the out patient clinic. I have been admin duty for the past 2 days, and will be tomorrow. Thursday and Friday, there are not any doctors on the clinic and nurses are there if there is any emergencies. So I went to talk to the principal of nursing school if I could go somewhere else on those days. I will be spending Thursday and Friday on the renal unit (not really mental health but who cares :) it better to see more that just put stamps on the doctors prescriptions.

Next few week are supposed to be better, according to nurses, as the mental hospital, there is much more to do and see. The doctors/psychiatrists said that it would be better for me to be longer in the Clinic 6 as I would learn more because of the doctors there. I have found out that the mental hospital do not have doctors onsite and the consultants are from the clinic 6. I still haven't seen the Swedish psychiatrist, who I met few weeks ago.  

Today, I am supposed to get a room mate because there is an Austrian medical student coming. I tried that she should go to same room with the German medical student, but the housekeeper said no, because the German student is not here now, and they don't have spare keys for the room. That is really bullshit, as the German student are not even supposed to be here, and I have been here longer and I will be here longer than she so why she will have own room I don't. I am going to try to get the Austrian student to move room there when the German student is here. I want my own space!!!

Hengailua

Eilen tulin takas Lusakaan sieltä "puskasta", jossa oli erittäin mielenkiintoista ja opettavaista olla. Lähdettiin sieltä noin 6 aamulla ja oltiin täällä noin 10 aikoihin, eli koko päivä oli vielä edessä, mutta mitään ei aikaiseksi saanut. Eilen olisi pitänyt käydä tapaamassa klinikkaopettajaa sairaalassa ja käydä tulevalla osastolla, jonne menen maanantaina, mutta en jaksanut lähteä. Pitää viikonlopun aikana käydä kattomassa edes missä se osasto on että osaa mennä sinne sitten maanantaina.

Tällä hetkellä meidän kämpässä ei ole kuin 3 henkilöä, kun saksalaiset on jossain ja norjalaiset on Safarilla. Tänään oon saanut olla ihan rauhassa kun Edwin ja David lähti Doctors outreachille, niin olen ollut kämpässä yksin. 

Tänään oon saanut jotain tehtyäkin, tiskannut, täyttänyt vesi purkit, pessyt pyykit sekä viettänyt 4 tuntia uima-altaalla ottaen aurinkoa ja uiden. Kyllä se rusketus vielä ehtii tulla ennen kuin Suomeen palaan, se on mun tavoite. Iltapäivällä mun oli tarkoitus lähteä kauppaa, kun mul ei oo mitään ruokaa, mutta sitten alkoi sataa ja ukkostaa, joten se jäi tekemättä. Jos vaikka huomenna sai aikaiseksi käydä siellä kaupassa.

Koulutehtäviä pitäisi myös alkaa tekemään, mutta ei kiinnosta yhtään, joten teen ne sit myöhemmin. Jotasin oon kumminkin tehnyt, päivittänyt mun CV:n jobsteppiin, koska kun maanantaina pitäis yrittää saada lasten harjoittelupaikka ensi keväälle, toivottavasti täällä netti toimii hyvin et saisin kiinnostavan paikan varattu. Tosi vähän lasten harjoittelupaikkoja on, joten sattuman kauppaa on saako paikan vai ei. Pari kiinnostavaa paikkaa löysin, toivottavasti saisin jomman kumman.

Rural experience, Chikuni

This week I am in a small village called Chikuni, it is about 4 hours from Lusaka, but it took us about 6 hours to reach the Chikuni Mission Hospital. We took a long distance bus (Very good one, European standard) to Monze, where we took taxi to the Monze Mission Hospital, and from there the  hospital driver took us to Chikuni, which is about 30-40km from Monze, dirt roads, see pictures.  The mission hospital in Chikuni is a quite big, but there were not many patients in. In the hospital they have almost everything that they need, x-ray department, operating theatre, maternity and labour and also neonatal intensive care unit and few isolation rooms. There are pharmacy, laboratory, outpatient clinic and walk in clinic. Previously there have been only one doctor but now there is 3 doctors as there are 2 volunteers from France.  In the mornings there are around 6-8 nurses and lots of volunteers, who will do the cleaning, repairs, and cooking etc.

We are staying at a guest house called Mukanzubo and we are the only ones in this house, so we have the place for ourselves, but there are others living in the other houses.  There is running water, warm water in the shower, and no need to use buckets when having a shower, Luxury. Chikuni is a very small village, there isn’t even grocery shop, but there is a hospital, and at least 3 schools and radio station. There are not many cars, there are only dirt roads. Here you can find chickens, cows, donkeys and sheep just walking around.

Tuesday I went with the local hospice to outreach to villages called Namakube and Sintemba , where they have home based care programme for HIV patients.  The hospice has taught locals to be caregivers and how they can help the HIV patients, and the nurse from the hospice makes a visit to the villages once a month to check them up. The patients are gathered around a big tree, where there will be prayers, There is always a health talk to the patients, today there was a talk about safe sex and HIV drugs. Then the nurse talks with the patients, and will have them weight and measure their blood pressure before she will have one to one talk with each one and give some medication if needed.  Today, we visited 2 different places, in the bush, literally you will see from the pictures. I measured blood pressure from the patients and gave the medication that the nurse ordered them to have.  I had such a great time and it was great to hear and see benefits of the programme. We saw there maybe all together 50 patients (age range from 5 to 70 years old) and it took us the whole day, and there were 4 of us working. Typically the nurse does it all alone, which is lots of work, measuring, filling the papers and giving the medication. An American girl called Kimberly came with us to the outreach because she has just working for the hospice and she is going to stay for a year with them working in the home based care programme.  She has been here before working in a school. She was telling me about radio school that they have in here. Radio schools are in the rural area where the children don’t have money to go to school or the school is too far. The children gather around a big tree in the village, where someone had brought radio to and the lessons from normal school is broadcasted to them. I think that is excellent idea, to educate the children when otherwise they wouldn’t be able to get education.

 Out patient department, examination room.

 My room at the guest house.

 Living room at the guest house.

 There were some nice paintings at the guest house.

Ready go to first outreach.

 I know that I have small feet, but the size of this pine cone is huge!!

 The guest house in Chikuni.

 Me at the hospital entrance.

This road was quite good compared to the others.

Tänään (to 8.11) pääsin tekemään paljon uusia asioita ja opin paljon uutta. Oltiin sairaalan järjestämällä mothers and children outreachilla , jossa oli alle 5 v. lapsia ja raskaana olevia naisia. Osa lapsista ja äideistä on HIV positiivisia, joten tämä sopii hyvin mielenterveys- ja päihdetyön harjoitteluun kriisityö osiona vaikka en sitä varsinaisesti tehnyt. Ensimmäisessä kylässä Moonya, olin ensin raskaana olevien naisten luona, jossa mittasin painon, verenpaineen, raskausviikot sekä ensimmäistä kertaa olevilta verinäytteen. Pääsin myös kuuntelemaan sikiön sydän ääniä sekä tunnustelemaan sikiötä. Tämä oli opettavaista, koska Suomessa en pääse tätä tekemään. Sain ottaa näytteitä HIV-pikatestejä varten aikuisilta ja vauvoilta. Täällä ei ole neuvoloita kuin Suomessa, joten vauvat ja lapset tulevat outreacheille rokotettavaksi, joten pääsin myös sitä tekemään. Pistin rokotteita alle 1v. lapsille reiteen sekä annoin suun kautta polio-rokotetta. Olin myös sairaanhoitajan mukana kun hän tarkasti 6 päivää vanhan vauvan, ja kaikki oli kunnossa. Toisessa kylässä Hanamaila, ensin kirjasin ylös lapsien painoja, kasvavatko he normaalista sekä mitä rokotteita heidän kuuluu saada tällä kertaa ja sitten pääsin antamaan rokotteita heille.

 Giving immunizations.

Here I am giving Polio immunization.

Illalla pääsin näkemään perinteistä Tongalaista tanssia (Tonga on yksi Sambian kielistä/heimoista, joka sijaitsee etelä Sambiassa). Jouduin/pääsin itse tanssimaan, kun tanssijat tulivat hakemaan, niin oli pakko mennä, joten nyt osaan hieman Tongalaista tanssia. Valitettavasti tästä tapahtumasta ei ole kuvia, kun ajauduin ihan sattumalta katsomaan tanssia, ja kameraa ei ollut mukana. 

Didn't have internet for a week, so here is few posts

Sunday is a laundry day!!

As here hand washing clothes takes quite lot of time, so I usually leave it until the weekend as I don’t have anything else to do.  I have enough clothes here that I need to do laundry only once a week. Today I had cleaning and organising day, too.  I cleaned my room, organised my stuff in my room, it was a mess. Today I need to pack as I am going to the countryside on Monday until Friday or Saturday.

This past week I have socialising more. We all went to eat together in the Oriental Garden on Wednesday night, and it was really good food and I had great time. On Thursday I went to the mall with the Norwegians and we had dinner there, it was good food, too.  We had plans to go out on Friday, but didn’t go as our local party master couldn’t come. Then we had plans to go out on Saturday night but that didn’t happen either.  I am not too bothered to go out, as I won’t be drinking anyway, I just want to see the party culture in here.  (So people in England, when I am coming over on January I haven’t had a drink for a 3 months, so be prepared to hold my hair J when we go out to party!!)

Weather has been cold for the past few days, temperature has been around +20 degrees, typical Finnish summer weather, but it has felt very cold. I have had trousers and long sleeve top on, it is so weird how fast you can get use to the hot weather.  One good thing about the cooler weather is that it has been nice and cool to sleep at the night. There has been rain/thunder showers almost every day now, as soon here starts the rain season.  Good thing about the rain is that we have had water in the bathroom, so I have been able to take a proper shower, cold one though, not washing my hair in the bucket as I have done in the past 3 weeks.

Saturday I spent again at the mall, as I didn’t have anything else to do and it was cloudy and cold so I couldn’t go to the swimming pool. It is really nice to have a look around at the mall, as it is going to be summer in here, so nice summer clothes but at the same time it is coming Christmas, so here are all the Christmas decorations together with the summer clothes. On Saturday I heard a Christmas song playing in the store.  This year I am going to have bit different Christmas, as I will be spending it in here, probably it is me and Edwin at the flat as all the other students have gone by then also the local students.  I may spend my Christmas working /helping at the hospital or see if there is anything on at the Swedish school, maybe go to the sauna that they have there. On Boxing Day, I and Edwin are leaving to Lusaka to go to Zanzibar, Tanzania and 8-9 days there.

Having been very productive on the morning, I was rewarding myself by shopping. I went to the Sunday Market, where I bought quite much stuff, but most of them are presents and souvenirs. There were very nice handmade carvings, bags, and paintings. Some of them are too big and others are too heavy to bring back to Finland. I could decorate my room in Africa theme, if I wanted.  

Kuukausi takana ja 2 vielä edessä

Kuukausi on mennyt tosi nopeasti, tuntuu siltä kun just olis tänne tullut. Rutiineja alkaa jo olemaan ja täkäläiseen elämän tyyliin alkaa jo pikku hiljaa oppimaan ja tottumaan. Uutuuden viehätys tästä paikasta on jo kadonnut. Enään ei ärsytä niin paljon kun aluksi että kaikkea joutuu odottamaan, mikään ei tapahdu ajallaan sekä kaikkea joutuu varmistamaan ja kyselemaan useampaan kertaan, jotta saa varmasti oikean tiedon. Täällä oppii arvostamaan pieniä asioita kuten juoksevaa vettä hanasta ja lämmintä vettä ja sitä että pyykkien pesuun ei mene paria tuntia!! 

Iäkkäiden harjoittelu on nyt ohi ja ensi viikolla alkaa mielenterveys- ja päihdetyönharjoittelu. Viimeinen viikko paikallisessa vanhainkodissa oli aivan mieletön kokemus, asukkaat ja henkilökunta oli erittäin ystävällistä ja avuliaita. Mitään siellä ei oppinut, koska täkäläisessä vanhainkodissa asuu vain vanhoja ihmisiä eikä siellä ole hoitajia, joten jos vanhukset tarvitset apua terveydellisiin asioihin heidän viedään terveyskeskukseen. Joten vanhainkoti harjoittelussa tutustuin asukkaisiin ja siellä olevaan henkilökuntaan. 

Paikallisissa minibusseissa on tullut melko usein jo matkusteltu, siihen tottuu et siellä ollaan kun sillit suolassa, koska ne haluavat mahdollisimman paljon rahaa, joten siellä on välillä noin reilut 20 ihmistä vaikka paikkoja on vain noin 12-16. Ja jos on ensimmäisiä bussissa niin sit joutuu odotteleman, kun se lähtee vasta kun bussi on täysi. Sen takia kaikki on täällä aina myöhässä, kun ei oo mitään aikatauluja. Minibussit tulee viel tutummaksi kun menen sinne mielisairaalaan harjoitteluun kun sinne joudun menemään bussilla. 

Ensi viikolla harjoittelu on maaseudulla paikassa Chikuni, joka  on noin 3,5 tunnin päässä Lusakasta. Siellä pääsen tutustumaan sairaanhoitajien työhön, millasta se on ja mitä kaikkea he siellä tekevät. Siellä pitäisi olla mahdollisuus tutustua kriisityöhön hiv-potilaiden kanssa.

Tää viikko on ollut asioiden hoitamista. Kouluasioita on tullut hoidettua, nyt pitäisi taas kaikki olla ajan tasalla. Sitten tänään ollaan käyty uusimassa viisumit, joka oli yllättävän helppoa, eikä meijän tarvinut edes maksaa siitä mitään. Nyt on viisumi voimassa joulukuun alkuun, jolloin se pitää sitten taas uusia. Täällähän saa olla 12kkn aikana turisti viisumilla 90pv ja me ollaan yli sen joten kun siitä kyselin et miten meijän pitäisi tehdä niin siellä vaan sanottiin että kyllä se järjestyy. Sitten käytiin ostamassa bussiliput sitä Chikunin reissua varten, siellä bussiasemalla on kaaos, kaikki yrittää saada meitä omiin busseihinsa, mut onneksi tiedettiin mikä on hyvä yhtiö, jolla kannattaa mennä.

Laitan jotain kuvia myös tänne blogiin, mutta kaikki mun Sambia kuvat löytää mun facebookista, jos kiinnostaa kattoa.

Shalapo!!