The Clinic and a Tri-Country Visa Run

The great purposeless Inhambane lifestyle came to an end when I accepted a volunteer position at a Clinic in Zavora, Inharrime,  Inhambane. The clinic is run by a Christian organization called Doctors for Life (http://www.doctorsforlife.co.za/pg/zavora-clinic-mz/ ). I am one of two nurses though I am the only nurse who works in the Triage, the other nurse does Maternity exclusively. In the Triage I am responsible for the adults and a local nursing assistant is responsible for seeing the children and babies; although, because there are always less adults once I finish with them I help with the little ones. I assess, diagnose and prescribe which was terrifying to begin with and basically goes against everything we are taught... but, in the house were I stay there is the Diploma in Tropical Nursing binder and a clinical pathways book that I have been studying.  These two resources + the internet have helped a lot and I am already feeling more comfortable as many of the issues are the same. For example, there is lots of Malaria, skin problems and eye irritations. I have done many malaria, syphilis and HIV tests. I still have lots to learn but I am enjoying it a lot.

Zavora turn off from the highway

Day 1 in the clinic! 

Super high-tech equipment 

Injections wooooo

Study Study Study 

My current life-line

Work

Zavora beach, 4km away door to door

After work relax

The cottage I stay in at the clinic is so luxurious! Warm water, private bathroom (flushing toilet) ,washing machine (first time my clothes have been machine washed in 6 months!), private kitchen and basically the whole house to myself (for now)!

New temporary home 

On Wednesday, we end clinic at noon and I was heading to town (Inharrime) to meet a friend when an emergency came in. There was a 3 year old boy who had "a cut ". I headed back to the clinic and saw they had wrapped his leg and the bandage was already soaked with blood. I called my colleague to come and open the wound dressing room and show me the materials we had. Turns out the boy had two large "cuts" that looked as though he had sheared the skin down. The family had also put some "black stuff " on it to stop the bleeding. We irritated and cleaned the wounds with an antiseptic, applied jellonet, gauze and then a gauze wrap. I would put the picture here but I think it may offend some readers, I will add it as a Page called Leg Wounds so if you want to see it please go there. He will have to come back every two days for dressing changes.

But, my "boss" and the Pastor at the clinic, Mario, the financial manager, Johannes, and a local boy, Benerio, and I left on Thursday to head towards the Mission in South Africa.  I was accompanying them because my visa expired that day. There was a wedding on Sunday so we stayed until Monday. Thursday night we spent at lovely Bed and Breakfast/ Backpackers in Swaziland and then we continued onward to South Africa on Friday. The Mission, it turns out, is a huge compound run by this organization. They have a lot of hectares of land growing avocado and strawberries. They also produce flavoured water from the spring here Aquelle and their own dairy products Bonlé. The auditorium seats 10,000. It's really quite impressive. The wedding was very lovely to see and I enjoyed how the Zulus sang and cheered, especially when the bride walked in.

On Monday we started our adventure back to Mozambique. Mario wanted to bring his Bucky (pickup truck) back this time as he had had to leave it there a few weeks prior, so that meant I got to drive a standard truck back to Mozambique! Just driving along we saw giraffes, zebras, nyalas, worthogs and some monkeys! The drive was very smooth with no problems at the South African or Swaziland boarders. I drove with Benerio mostly in silence because he slept most of the way, but I jammed to my music of course so I was perfectly content.

Standard right side driving... feeling confident! 

We spent the night at the same B&B as on the way there but this time we arrives early enough I was able to go for a walk on the grounds.

Swaziland B&B, Mabuda Farm, beautiful grounds

Sunset walk at Mabuda's

Dangerous encounter with nature's wild beasts

Next morning we left early to the Mozambican boarder. Good thing we left early... of course there was an issue with my visa. The guy didn't want to give me a tourist visa because he saw that I used the last visa wrong, when I explained that I had paid the fine and left and understood what I did wrong... he still said no and told me to leave and go back to Swaziland.

So I left the room and the building, obviously quite upset. Messaged Theresa that the world was over and all hope had been lost. Then about 30 mins later Mario came out and said "okay, you just need to pay the tourist visa fee " so I entered paid the fee, took a horrible picture for the visa and then bam was back in Mozambique somehow. I still don't understand what happened but I know I am here.

From the boarder to Zavora was another 7 or 8 hours and I got stopped three times by police before we finally switched cars (because Mario's Bucky had SA plates) And he only got stopped once after that.

Made it to Zavora by 1700h. What a day....!

And now the trip in a series of photos Snakie made me take...

Snakie making friends with Benerio

Coffee stop. Snakie needs her caffine

She dibsed the bottom bunk 

Don't worry, we still snuggled

Snakie feeling adventurous

The girl is a Chocoholic

Or maybe a Sweetoholic

Always back seat driving!