Abby contemplates many differences

We finally got to see my internship this week and I’m super excited! It was really interesting to visit everyone’s internships and see what they will be doing for the semester. But of course Tafelsig Clinic, where I will be working, is the last place we visited. I was getting very apprehensive, but it was great to meet one of the head nurses and to see how busy the clinic gets. I can already tell that I am about to learn so much there. Out of everything that we’ve see so far, it hit me the hardest to see how medicine is practiced here. I knew that the US was advanced, but I didn’t realize just how much. Stepping into the wards here was like stepping back in time for me. There are far less resources and it seems as though their procedures are very outdated compared to what I’m used to. I’m very interested to observe and see how things are done here. I was also surprised to hear that nurses basically run the clinics here and that doctors report to them, so I’m curious to see what that relationship is like. I really can’t wait to start work on Monday!

           

We also started classes this week which was great because we were all able to start reflecting on our experiences as a group rather than just in our journals. It helped me to better understand what we had been experiencing as well as learn new things I hadn’t thought of. One thing in particular that struck me was, again, a feeling of stepping back in time. Many of the perspectives here seem outdated to me. For example, when we visited my clinic, the nurse said that Eric would immediately be referred to as ‘white doctor’ while I would be considered a nurse. It’s also very evident how much more recent their end to segregation is because skin color is an even bigger divider than it is at home. As we discussed, many of the schools are designated just for blacks and just for whites and even in wealthy areas, a place could have all white customer and all black workers. It’s a weird experience to have after learning and hearing about this in history class but never actually knowing what it was like. Pauline also talked about how she felt as a black woman here, and what she felt the perception of her was and it made me think of how I was being perceived. I think this whole time I’ve been associating myself with everyone because I very strongly identify as American, culturally. But when it comes to skin color, I really don’t look like everyone else. I honestly haven’t seen any Asians here either so I don’t know if there is a perception of Asians, or if I would fit into the category of ‘colored’. I’m lucky to say that I’ve never had to wonder what my skin color made people think of me, and it’s a very strange thing to consider.  

University of Cape Town