Inside and Outside the Hospital

Both inside and outside the Mission Hospital both Noortje and I feel welcome. In each ward I know the nurses by name and have found a good way to work amongst the chaos. The last two weeks we are doing the female ward rounds by ourselves. Every day presents a new and unexpected challenge or problem: a woman with a snakebite, a partial abortion, end stage cervical cancer, a dental abces, newly diagnosed HIV, tuberculosis. In the mornings at the handover I am finally able to understand the majority of the Malawian English of the night nurses and understand which patients are present in the ward.

Dr. Anneke has also been a mentor inside and outside the hospital and even a friend. It is very special to have your supervisor also feel like a family member. We have been welcomed to dinner at her house, read books for her children, watched their dance recital, enjoyed tea and cake after church together. At the same time we have had to cease resuscitation of a young child in the hospital and announce her death to her young mother. The mother’s screaming pierced through our souls at the loss of her child. Together with Dr. Anneke we have laughed and we have cried. We have shared dinner as we've shared a stethoscope.