(Derek)
Katherine and I have talked, and it seems like it makes most sense to slow down the blog posts from here on out. We are both settling into our routines, and to post as regularly as we have been might get to be a bit repetitive and boring. Certainly is has been necessary for these first couple weeks of our trip, but now that we are settling in, we don't plan to post as much. Also, with our Internet here on the island having to be purchased by the megabit, we are trying to be conservative with its use. Just thought we should keep everyone abreast of what is going on with regards to blog activity! Expect a new post from us perhaps early next week with an update of how our first week of work on the island panned out, along with a recap of St. Peter's Day celebrations and other independent weekend activities! But, there were some interesting happenings today we thought we would share!
Katherine and I have talked, and it seems like it makes most sense to slow down the blog posts from here on out. We are both settling into our routines, and to post as regularly as we have been might get to be a bit repetitive and boring. Certainly is has been necessary for these first couple weeks of our trip, but now that we are settling in, we don't plan to post as much. Also, with our Internet here on the island having to be purchased by the megabit, we are trying to be conservative with its use. Just thought we should keep everyone abreast of what is going on with regards to blog activity! Expect a new post from us perhaps early next week with an update of how our first week of work on the island panned out, along with a recap of St. Peter's Day celebrations and other independent weekend activities! But, there were some interesting happenings today we thought we would share!
(Katherine)
After a full day of teaching three separate classes, English
grammar and history to Form I and Life Skills to Form III, at Bishop Biggers
School with Derek today, I took a walk to the hospital to see if there was
anything interesting happening. When I got there, the maternity ward, to my
excitement, had 4 patients! One anemic patient, 23 weeks pregnant, receiving a blood
transfusion, occupied the bed closest to the nurses’ station. But, two other
patients were in labor, one of which awaited her cesarean section. A final
patient was being treated for acute malaria.
I asked around and learned that the C-section would be
occurring as soon as the power was turned back on by 2-2:30pm. I quickly ran
back to the house, changed into my scrubs, and returned to the hospital to
help. One of the UK students scrubbed in for the surgery to assist the clinical
officer, Rashid, who was performing the surgery. My role was to assist the
nurse acting as the neonatal caregiver. Under general anesthesia, the mother
moaned throughout the procedure, which unfortunately was extremely long. After
tugging and tugging and tugging, a limp baby girl came into the world. I took
her over to the counter (yes, counter, the hospital does not have a warmer or
proper table) and helped the nurse suction and stimulate her while drying her
off. When the baby still did not breath, I continued stimulating the baby while
checking her heartbeat, relying on my knowledge of neonatal resuscitation. Fifteen
minutes later, the baby girl still had not cried but she did have a stable heart
rate and was breathing on her own. I swaddled and cuddled her until the surgery
was finished.
Though resuscitation is necessary for about 10% of babies at
birth, this baby girl seemed to me to be in the 1% of those needing assistance.
On top of that, in the heat of the moment while I was giving the baby breaths from
the bag and mask rebreather, one of the surgical nurses came over and told me
that the baby was already dead. Yet, she had a heartbeat! I hope that this does
not mean the baby would have been ignored had I not been here. Most of all, I
am thankful that I could be of use!
Now, in a few hours, I will return to the hospital to assist
the night nurse with the other delivery we have and recheck the newborn. Tomorrow, I bet, will be an
early night!
One more thing we learned today is that St. Peter’s Cathedral will be
having baptisms on Saturday in honor of St. Peter’s Day. One of the young
women of the church that I met yesterday at the Under Fives Clinic, and who
happens to be the niece of our housekeeper, stopped by the Bishop’s house today
while I was preparing for my history class. She asked me, with a huge smile on
her face, to be the Godmother of her 8 week old son, Smith. What a huge honor!
Even though I tried to tell her that I was not the proper choice, she insisted.
(Derek)
Overall, I have absolutely loved teaching! I can certainly appreciate how much work it takes to prepare for a class, teach in an engaging way, grade assignments, then repeat. Because of how much I have enjoyed it, I decided that it would be the best use of my time to teach at the school full time M-F for the remainder of the school year, which is this week, then three more weeks. The teachers are certainly open to that idea! For the final week or so, I will find odd jobs around the hospital doing what I can, and hopefully staying out of Katherine's way.
Everyone at the school has been so very welcoming, helpful, and supportive. One thing that has been extraordinary frustrating for me is that the social studies textbooks I am working with involve plenty of data and statistics, which certainly is nice, but it is all from the year 2000 or earlier. Additionally, the school doesn't have money for student textbooks. Thus, it is up to the teacher to synthesize the (outdated) information and teach it to the students, with none of them having read it or ever being able to reference any information for themselves. Of course, there is no copy machine to make handouts or worksheets for the students, or even tests. Everything must be written on and copied from the blackboard.
My schedule for now will be as follows:
M: English Form III
T: Social Studies Form III
W: Computers Form I, English Form III (two sections of this today)
Th: Computers Form III, Social Studies Form III
F: English Form III, Social Studies Form III
Right now the Form II and Form IV students are not in class. The national exams are being held right now. Form II students are writing the exam in order to receive their "junior-level certification," while Form IV students are writing the exam to be able to graduate, and also as a Malawi college entrance exam. So, the school certainly is quieter without them around, but there is still plenty of work to be done with the Form I and Form III students!
Katherine and I will be able to return to our home each day around noon to eat a lunch together, prepared by our house staff. At 2:15pm each day, school is dismissed, and I am able to leave my office for the 1 minute walk home! Judging by the first few days on the job, it should be a pretty nice schedule, with Katherine at the hospital and me at school until mid-afternoon. After the official work day is done, I have had a bit of work here and there to do in order to prepare for my next day's classes. Other than that, Katherine and I have been exploring the island, reading and relaxing. This coming weekend, we are told is a "St. Peter's Day Celebration," which is a big deal here because of the name of the cathedral. Apparently the whole island shows up around the cathedral campus for games, festivities, singing, dancing, from Friday afternoon straight through Monday. In fact, next Monday school is cancelled due to all of the festivities; apparently in lieu of my teaching responsibilities, I have been told that I will be joining the clergy's team for an island-wide soccer tournament that will be held on Monday. It should be an interesting weekend coming up, and certainly a noisy one given where our house is located!!
(Derek)
Overall, I have absolutely loved teaching! I can certainly appreciate how much work it takes to prepare for a class, teach in an engaging way, grade assignments, then repeat. Because of how much I have enjoyed it, I decided that it would be the best use of my time to teach at the school full time M-F for the remainder of the school year, which is this week, then three more weeks. The teachers are certainly open to that idea! For the final week or so, I will find odd jobs around the hospital doing what I can, and hopefully staying out of Katherine's way.
Everyone at the school has been so very welcoming, helpful, and supportive. One thing that has been extraordinary frustrating for me is that the social studies textbooks I am working with involve plenty of data and statistics, which certainly is nice, but it is all from the year 2000 or earlier. Additionally, the school doesn't have money for student textbooks. Thus, it is up to the teacher to synthesize the (outdated) information and teach it to the students, with none of them having read it or ever being able to reference any information for themselves. Of course, there is no copy machine to make handouts or worksheets for the students, or even tests. Everything must be written on and copied from the blackboard.
My schedule for now will be as follows:
M: English Form III
T: Social Studies Form III
W: Computers Form I, English Form III (two sections of this today)
Th: Computers Form III, Social Studies Form III
F: English Form III, Social Studies Form III
Right now the Form II and Form IV students are not in class. The national exams are being held right now. Form II students are writing the exam in order to receive their "junior-level certification," while Form IV students are writing the exam to be able to graduate, and also as a Malawi college entrance exam. So, the school certainly is quieter without them around, but there is still plenty of work to be done with the Form I and Form III students!
Katherine and I will be able to return to our home each day around noon to eat a lunch together, prepared by our house staff. At 2:15pm each day, school is dismissed, and I am able to leave my office for the 1 minute walk home! Judging by the first few days on the job, it should be a pretty nice schedule, with Katherine at the hospital and me at school until mid-afternoon. After the official work day is done, I have had a bit of work here and there to do in order to prepare for my next day's classes. Other than that, Katherine and I have been exploring the island, reading and relaxing. This coming weekend, we are told is a "St. Peter's Day Celebration," which is a big deal here because of the name of the cathedral. Apparently the whole island shows up around the cathedral campus for games, festivities, singing, dancing, from Friday afternoon straight through Monday. In fact, next Monday school is cancelled due to all of the festivities; apparently in lieu of my teaching responsibilities, I have been told that I will be joining the clergy's team for an island-wide soccer tournament that will be held on Monday. It should be an interesting weekend coming up, and certainly a noisy one given where our house is located!!
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