Abby confronts the many contradictions that are Cape Town

This week’s blog is coming a little late because I needed time to fully process and form my thoughts. On Monday, we had another resuscitation and lost another child. This time he was four years old. I was allowed to contribute a little to the resuscitation process this time, but we still could not save him. The EMT also did not arrive for an hour after they were called for, at which time the child had already passed. I’m not sure if it was because I wasn’t as shocked as last time or if the image of the infant on the bed was harder for me to digest, but my emotions towards this event did not hit me until last night. To make matters worse, the child’s younger 2-month old sibling passed away the next morning from the same complaints. We found out today that the parents are drug users and all of them had been living in a drug house. I have told my friends and families about the amazing experiences I have been having here, but I often refrain from giving too many details about my internship because I know that it’s not what people want to hear. And I’ve also been getting overwhelmed by the realities of the townships here. At the start of the trip, I felt really empowered to learn about the history here and to make a difference, but the more time I spend at the clinic, the more discouraged I feel. Health care should be a basic human right that is accessible for all. I really don’t comprehend why it is so unequal across the world. Beyond the limited resources that we have to help patients, how is it possible that there was only one EMT available for a very wide radius? This on top of seeing patients coming in with things like stab wounds, injuries from being robbed, and sexual assault cases are really hurting me. I can’t believe how many places in the world have these conditions and even worse and I feel so helpless. I don’t know how to come home from this trip and go back to the lifestyle that I’m used to while everyone here will still be dealing with these realities. I know that it’s unrealistic to think that I could be the one to fix all of these problems, but I’m losing my hope that things will eventually get better. But working in Child Health this week has also helped me to see all of the healthy children we have here and that has helped. It was cool learning about all of the measurements, vaccines, and medications children are given for the first few years of life.

           

This past weekend I went paragliding which was really fun. I was nervous at the beginning even though I had been bungee jumping. I think no matter what I’ll still always be afraid of heights. But once we left the mountain, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I couldn’t stop smiling and looking around. It was absolutely beautiful and I’m very happy I went. It was also a very nice day which was good after all of the rainy days we had. 

We also went to a soccer tournament for the Firefighters. We bought lunch and snacks for all the boys and they ended up winning both games that we saw! Unfortunately, they lost the next day, but it was really great to be out there supporting our team. Bongi said they all felt very supported by us and were happy to have real fans with them so that was great to hear. I’m looking forward to spending more time with them before we leave.