A week of surprises

Last Friday, having settled on having a quiet weekend in Maseru we decided to head to Clarens and the Golden Gate Highlands Park in the South African Free State for a bit more exploring and potentially some hiking. The weekend was glorious weather – sunny bright blue skies and not too cold. Since the world cup has finished the jams at the border crossings seems to have eased which makes trips like this a bit easier. Clarens itself is a bit of a unique place. A central grass square lined on all sides with cafes, deli’s, antique shops and art galleries. People are walking around and sitting at the roadsides drinking a beer or having a cup of tea (not really seen this in any other place in SA). It sits amid a range of hills so the scenery is lovely but it did feel more like a village you would find in the Canadian Rockies rather than in Africa. On the Saturday we relaxed and explored Clarens itself and then on Sunday we put on our hiking gear and headed to the nearby Golden Gate Highlands Park which is at the beginning of the Drakensburg Mountain range. Impressive though it was, the scale and beauty of Lesotho has certainly spoiled us and we felt a little uninspired and ended up driving through the park and out the other side to see what else we could find. At least we looked the part sitting in the Jeep wearing out outdoor wear!

We decided to enter back into Lesotho via a new border crossing which was a bit like a mini ‘sani-pass’. The dirt track then led us alongside the Caledon River (the river that marks the border between Lesotho and South Africa). At points you could easily have one foot in each country. Our 2 hour journey led us through the mountains and through village after village. The grass had turned a rusty red in the winter and most of the streams had dried up. It was beautiful and new territory for us. We ended up picking up some hitch-hikers along the way, a couple of young footballers who were off to play their weekly game of soccer on the only flat football pitch for miles around. They said it takes them 2 hours to walk there and 2 back – that’s dedication! They were lovely guys and obviously enjoyed the experience of going by Jeep as they waved and hooted at their friends. We then picked up a miner who had come home to see his family for ‘month’s end’ and was starting the long journey back to North of Jo’Burg to the Gold mines for his next month of work. He had a hacking cough and I could tell Matt was just itching to get his doctor’s hat on and investigate this miner’s lung, but instead we let the guy rest and enjoy the journey.

After a lovely weekend the working week has been varied. Matt had his meeting with the Public Service Commission, after which they decide whether to give him an employment contract and pay him. An interesting way round to do things considering Matt has been working here for 6 months already. But at least it has happened. The ENT department had some excitement yesterday morning as we closed the waiting room so that a bullet could be extracted from a patient’s neck! It took a while as the bullet kept moving but the patient was up and about after so all went well. I saw my oldest patient and youngest patients so far yesterday, a lady of 76 years and a 11 month old baby. Certainly keeps you on your toes.

We had a surprise guest staying this week with us in the flat. Yesterday morning I opened the boiler cupboard to find a bemused pigeon staring back at me. I was late for work so decided to free him when I came home for lunch. The pigeon obviously had other ideas – when I got home it was downstairs settled in a blanket on the sofa with playing cards out on the table and the radio on the floor. Perhaps it had been doing this all week and I only just caught him in the act!

Today, we are off for a....drum roll....Bridge weekend! We are heading to Ramabanta lodge which is 1 half hours from Maseru for a weekend of Bridge and walking with Hesse and Kathy. Matt is super-excited as it is combining both a trip in Jeepy and 2 whole days of Bridge, his idea of perfection I think.

Winter Work

Well, the world cup is over and despite there being a slightly deflated Dutchman around the flat, I am quite relieved. After a somewhat unhealthy 6 weeks the detox starts here. Work and warmth (wherever we can find it) will get us through the winter months. Another cold spell has arrived, no snow yet but the blankets are back out and the instinct to hibernate is strong. But there is work to be done...

The audiometer was fixed and to my relief the problem was only a blown fuse. The technician I have found in Pretoria has turned out to be a godsend, collecting the equipment on a Sunday morning and working on his weekend so that I can have a functioning machine ready to return to Lesotho on the Monday. He is a star and I have used him to check and calibrate other equipment that had been sitting in a cupboard for 3 years unused!! Things are looking up. On his advice I have protected the audiometer with a UPS battery device in an attempt to prevent it blowing a fuse again with any surge in electricity. This battery served me well last week as I was able to continue working despite the 10+ powercuts we had one morning. I was thinking just how used to things you get with time – the powercuts, ants, operations in the waiting room....all seem fairly run of the mill now!

As the news spreads that equipment and personnel are at the hospital I am certainly getting busier. I am seeing a range of patients, both children and adults. Some patients are ex-miners who have been working in the gold mines of South Africa for over 30 years and are complaining of hearing loss caused by the noise and seeking compensation. Trying to establish genuine results is sometimes tricky! Post-meningitis children are frequent patients on the clinic. Last week I saw a 12 year old who is HIV+ and had meningitis in March of this year and had lost hearing. Each patient presents with different problems, limited English versus my limited Sesotho being a frequent challenge as the nurses are often occupied in the over-busy ENT clinic (who are seeing over 100 patients every morning). Without a translator I am having to use a lot of mime – those years of Christmas charades are certainly paying off.

I even had a referral from a certain Dr M Brouns last Friday for assessment of a dizzy patient, challenging considering there is no balance testing equipment. I did the best I could and Matt told me later that the patient was discharged after I’d seen him – fingers crossed my assessment was correct! Adapting to the situation and the tools available (or unavailable) is a definite must here and despite not being able to do as much as could be done back home on the NHS at least something is happening. Now that the assessment side of the service is up and running, the rehabilitation side needs development as many patients have to travel into South Africa to hearing aid clinics at the moment. However, a proper hearing aid service will need some investment as provision and maintenance requires resources. I am not sure how forthcoming these resources will be as I have seen little evidence so far that audiology is considered important.

Future plans include approaching donor organisations for support to run the training and screening clinics in the districts. I am also looking at organising training in Pretoria for earmould manufacturing so that patients will no longer have to travel into South Africa at great expense. More news on that soon hopefully...

As Matt has said we are now in for a quiet few months before friends and family arrive in October. We are having fun planning some trips.

I can’t believe we have been here nearly 6 months now – time is flying!

emotional times

Life in Lesotho has changed quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. The most dramatic change being that the world cup is over. As I estimate I only missed about half a dozen games, I suddenly have lots of free evenings again. The week leading up to the final was particularly emotional as there was a mad hunt to get tickets for the match. Some of you may have been under the impression, as I was, that I had managed to secure some tickets, unfortunately they did not materialise. It is a long and disappointing story which ends with me and my fellow Anlgo-Dutch friend, Hesse, standing outside Soccer City stadium on the afternoon of 11^th of July, faces painted, flags flying but with no way in!! As the days have gone past the pain is numbing somewhat!!

Apart from football, the other major change is the departures of friends. June and July appear to be when many contracts end, so a lot of the expat community is leaving or has left. Most of the Welsh teachers and their mentor, Helen, have also left. In the last few weeks a number of them have stayed with us, but now after farewell parties, they have left us too. As a result our social life has taken a bit of a hit! The weather remains bitterly cold in the evenings especially so Kit and I are spending them covered in blankets, by our gas heater, watching films on the laptop. Although it is cold, I cannot recall having seen a cloud for the last month, so the afternoons are often pleasantly warm. The days are getting longer and tennis is back on the agenda. Last weekend, we ventured back out onto the courts after the winter break and I even managed to win a set (...just)! We have been busy planning for visits from our nearest and dearest over the spring and summer months. In summary, we are in a transition. Friends have left, but the winter is coming to an end and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of friends and relatives over the coming months.

Work is going well although it has been particularly busy. A number of my colleagues have been moved out of Maseru into the district hospitals and haven’t been replaced, so we are a little short staffed. I am also making time three days a week, to go to the TB clinic and am successfully identifying patients for my study. After a hiccup with equipment failure, Kit is now also getting into full swing. I’m sure she’ll let you all know about that soon.