Safrica Day 4

I remember priding myself on my ability to roll out of bed and get ready within five minutes. Amazingly, we managed to shove breakfast into our mouths and run out the door to catch our ride back to Atlantis. There, we received a quick briefing and schedule for today.

After that, we were shipped off to our respective areas. Jenny and I were dropped off at the Chatsworth clinic and we were ready to tackle the next day of seeing patients. We blazed through the morning and managed to assess twenty-eight patients before our afternoon break. I saw a couple of amazing cases and was blown away by some of the ailments that I thought I would never see in real life. Shortly after I saw my last patient, we were told that one of the other sites was becoming overwhelmed and needed an extra person. As such, Jenny left to help and I was supposed to talk with Dr. Petersen about this morning’s cases.

When all was said and done, it was 2:00pm and Dr. Petersen arrived to review our cases from yesterday and council us on treatment courses. The concept was basically that anyone who wasn’t deathly ill was going to wait until next week to be reevaluated. With that, he rushed passed patients and drove off. It was surprising to me that we had a near riot when I told everyone that they would not be seeing Dr. Petersen and would instead be referred to the local clinics and hospitals if their condition warranted further care. Until that point, everyone appeared so content with their care – it was semi-heartbreaking. It was good to see that once we explained to everyone the situation that they appeared to be fine with our decision. After I ran through the eighteen patients we had told to come back today, I was ready to call it a day.

We ran and picked up the rest of the crew who appeared equally tattered and worn-down. We were ready for a hearty dinner. Lucky for us, we had been invited to have dinner at the house of a local Atlantis resident. The story goes that this family had a large part in the religious aspect of the WorldVision program we had recently joined. Dinner was fantastic and I sat in amazement that one woman could cook up dinner for eighteen on a single stove. Not like a four-flame stove, but a single electric hot-plate. We concluded with a gigantic plate of Malva Pudding, a local specialty which was reminiscent of warm chocolate cake drenched in a thick egg custard. It was truly a blessing to have been given the opportunity to see that side of Atlantis and eat with such fantastic people.