Mariko grappling to understand

So many amazing things have happened between my last blog post and now. Last weekend, most of our group ventured off on a three-day Garden Route excursion, which ended up being one of the best weekends so far. The initial six-hour scenic drive brought us to the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn, ostrich capital of the world. Although it may not sound exciting, caving was actually an intense adventure of squeezing through spaces that don’t exactly accommodate a human my size. 

The following morning, we woke up early to go walk with elephants on a reserve, followed by canoeing and bungee jumping, which I opted out of because jumping off the highest bridge is definitely not on my bucket list. Everybody on the trip agreed that Saturday was one of the best days of their lives, but Sunday was my personal favorite. The hostel we stayed in that night was located right on the beach, meaning I got to spend the morning sitting in the sand by the Indian Ocean before heading off for a game drive on a ranch that truly looked like a scene straight out of Lion King.

As incredible as that weekend was, it was only the start to an even better week. Monday marked the first day at my new internship placement, Melomed GatesvilleHospital. I had no idea what to expect and tried not to get my hopes up, but it has been such a positive experience thus far. We spent the first day meeting the staff throughout the relatively large hospital, which offers almost every type of service you would expect to see in an American hospital. Everyone was extremely welcoming and couldn’t wait to spark conversation with us. Hopefully we will end up rotating through all the wards, including the trauma unit, which I’m looking forward to the most, but this week was spent entirely in the maternity unit.  

I’ve mostly been situated in the NICU, where I got to help with the premature babies or newborns who have some sort of illness. I also got to go into the OR to see a C-section and assist the doctor with the baby as soon as it came out. That was by far the highlight of my week and possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Despite the very strict policies that the facility abides by, the staff are still so trusting of my capabilities and I’m benefiting a lot from the resultant hands on experience. However, I can’t stop comparing this facility to my my past internship, Sarah Fox, because it blows my mind that there can be such a disparity solely due to the manner of funding between two health facilities across the street from each other. Children suffering from TB and HIV who aren’t fortunate enough to have been born into a family with health insurance are stuck getting the bare minimum in terms of treatment, while those born into an insured or wealthy family receive incredibly advanced and modern treatment before being sent home in little embroidered blankets. I have no problem with the prestige of my current placement and agree with how they run the practice, but I’m just surprised at how much I am still grappling to understand the extent of inequality after having been in this country for over a month now.