zzebrasMonday, February 22, 2010
Dam run pic...So our academic time in South Africa is almost at an end. Currently we are working in smaller case study groups looking at different aspects of health in Bush Buck Ridge. My group is looking at the health seeking behaviors of individuals. We have interviewed 13 different individuals and have found that people in this area choose between multiple health sectors including but not limited to home remedies, clinical care, traditional healers, and religion. The various reasons for people to seek these different aspects of care are very interesting and are going to provide us with an impressive presentation. It is amazing to see that much of the problem with health in this area is rooted in causes other than biology. For instance basic transportation and infrastructure are inadequate in many villages. This directly affects the availability and accessibility of health care that people have. A well paved road system and more effective ambulance system would go a long way at creating a better overall health in this rural area.
This weekend in during our breaks from paper writing we found the to go on a safari in Kruger park. We saw all of the big five ( lion, elephant, wildebeest, rhino, and cheetah) minus the cheetah. After our tour of the park we had a barbecue where we tried impala. The thought process on that one was "well we saw that animals now we have to taste it." The next morning a dedicated 5 of us got up at 430 am to drive an hour to the mountains to do a 3 mile run up to a dam. On the run we came across baboons in the road, which was slightly intimidating because I have heard of how aggressive they can be, just don't look them in the eyes hahaha. The dam itself was really cool and worth the up hill run. Post run we had an amazing breakfast where I had my first cup of coffee in 2 weeks it was Dam good ( get it no? no?). The rest of the day we relaxed and wrote our papers that were due the next day surrounded by mountains on all side. We had access to pool both heated and unheated, why you would need a heated pool is beyond me but it was there.
In a completely unrelated and non academic story I have been working on my mustache. Pretty impressive right now three weeks in and I am looking dirty.
Lastly a group of 8 of us are heading to Cape Town on Thursday for a week of vacation. As of now we plan to relax, do some hiking, kayaking, and other touristy things. I am really excited to check out Cape Town.
More pics to come later, the internet is just to slow...
Joel
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Just a normal drive to the college.
Host mother and IHP'ers
View from the bus...
Our host brother Fauna, Eliza, and Alex
At the Three EscarpmentsOur academic portion of SA is beginning to wind down with only two 8-12 page papers and a case study presentation all due by next Monday these next few days should be a breeze (haha). Over the past week we have had the privilege of coming in contact with many different people from the local community. We heard from a representative from a local NGO who has focused on bringing water (which is much needed) to Bushbuckridge. We have also had the pleasure of listening to a guest lecture on the issues of redistributing land in post apartheid SA. The highlight of the week was the visit to the local hospital. The experience was very different from any tour that of medical facilities that would be received in the US. First off the three wards shown to us were the Maternity Ward, Pediatric Ward, and Mental Illness Ward. We were escorted around these areas and it became obvious very quickly that privacy is not an issue in SA. Patients did not have separate rooms and the entire experience was a little awkward for us as we were literally walking through these hospital wards with 15 people. The facilities themselves were very impressive. Also the care that is provided by the hospital was impressive. A theme that I have noticed though is that places like these are excellent, but the problem is accessibility. This hospital is "centrally" located but some of the villages it serves are more then 100k away. There are clinics in most of the villages for minor health problems to be dealt with but for major issues people need to make the trip to this hospital.
Last night I ate fried locust for the first time. It tasted similar to bacon/fried chicken skin. If it wasn't for the visual of what I was eating I would have enjoyed it much more. To date exotic foods that I have tried since coming to SA have consisted of tripe (sheep's stomach), sun dried worms, and locust. All very interesting but none will in the near future become a staple in my diet.
Last weekend our group traveled from BBR to the mountains and got to survey the many different views and tourists sites that that mountains had to offer. One of them as the pictures above show was the Three Escarpments, the second were naturally occurring potholes (and no that wasn't just the least maintained road in SA) made by the river over the years. The final place that we stopped was at "God's Window" It was a lookout point that overlooked all of BBR and the surrounding area. A really amazing view I must saw. The heat in SA gives everything that you look at from far away a sort of hazy view so looking out from God's Window the plains below looked hazy and blue. It was easily one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen.
That is all the news I have for now. Next week I will be traveling to Cape Town for our break and then heading to Vietnam after that.
Joel
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bush Buck Ridge
Sun set in Bush Buck Ridge
We have been separated into home stays and are all living in various houses in three separate villages. The villages have surprised me in many ways. There is electricity and cell phone service in all houses but no running water. This basically means that I can make phone calls and read at night but am taking bucket showers (which is very fun!!) and using an out house. The family that I am living with consists of my host mother her youngest daughter and her two nephews. My host mother is a teacher at the local school teaching 10th grade biology and a 12th grade tourism class (tourism being a major source of income). I am living with a fairly wealthy family who has many amenities that other people don't have. All the people in the village are very excited to have "mulungo" or white people living in their village and come every night to our house to play soccer or talk to us about American movies and music. Many people live in poverty with 80% of the population jobless yet the sense of community here is amazing. Everyone at least at first glance seems very happy and content. There is sharing of food and neighbors are always out and greating each other.
We are holding classes at the Wild Life College and the drive every morning to get to the college is basically a mini safari. Everyday we see an assortment of animals be it elephants, giraffes, baboons, or rhino's every ride is an adventure. The weather is very hot and dry aka a lot of sweaty clothes but it is much better then the snow I left behind.
Academically we have been going on many site visits to different people in neighboring villages. Yesterday we visited a herbalist who "does not practice witch craft but will attempt to cure sickness." People from all over will come to him and he through the use of herbs he will attempt to cure AIDS, Stroke, Diabetes, and high blood pressure. The experience was like nothing I have experienced before. The idea that modern medicine isn't the answer was difficult to accept but many people will choose the herbalists remedies over western medicine, is it more effective... probably not but that is the belief of many people from this area. We have been focusing our studies on HIV/AIDS since this is the primary problem that leads to TB, and other opportunistic diseases. Interestingly though we are focusing much of our time on assess how to get more adequate nutrition, water, and overall sanitation to this area to increase general health which would decrease sickness. We have meet with many groups that deal with domestic violence, and sex education in attempts to reduce the spread of this virus through these vectors. An overall better general knowledge of the disease and how it is spread is needed in order to effectively stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
We are holding classes at the Wild Life College and the drive every morning to get to the college is basically a mini safari. Everyday we see an assortment of animals be it elephants, giraffes, baboons, or rhino's every ride is an adventure. The weather is very hot and dry aka a lot of sweaty clothes but it is much better then the snow I left behind.
Academically we have been going on many site visits to different people in neighboring villages. Yesterday we visited a herbalist who "does not practice witch craft but will attempt to cure sickness." People from all over will come to him and he through the use of herbs he will attempt to cure AIDS, Stroke, Diabetes, and high blood pressure. The experience was like nothing I have experienced before. The idea that modern medicine isn't the answer was difficult to accept but many people will choose the herbalists remedies over western medicine, is it more effective... probably not but that is the belief of many people from this area. We have been focusing our studies on HIV/AIDS since this is the primary problem that leads to TB, and other opportunistic diseases. Interestingly though we are focusing much of our time on assess how to get more adequate nutrition, water, and overall sanitation to this area to increase general health which would decrease sickness. We have meet with many groups that deal with domestic violence, and sex education in attempts to reduce the spread of this virus through these vectors. An overall better general knowledge of the disease and how it is spread is needed in order to effectively stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
All in all I am loving SA the country is beautiful and the people are extremely friendly. The way of life is completely different but well worth living. In the near future our group will be busy learning more about the local culture, writing many papers, and participating in different case studies applying to health issues w/ in Bush Buck Ridge.
Joel
Thursday, February 4, 2010
South Africa
First off I would like to address two things 1. sorry for the delay in any updates there hasn't been computer access for a week but I now have it available, 2. Please look past any spelling errors as my education has not exceeded the 5th grade/I dont have time to proof read. That being said...
I made it into SA last week and our frist week or "orientation" has been crazy. For the frist week the group stayed in the burbs of Johannesburg. We went to the Aphartied muesum and toured around J'burg. SA's struggle w/ Aphertied can still be seen very easily in the everyday fabric of SA, but from all we have heard the country is moving in the right direction. A noted speakers that we have heard from were from Andrew Fluck who was the ex minister of police under the Aphartied regime. His story was very interesting and long story very very short he has since reconciled his actions during the previous government and worked towards an equal SA. During our first week we lived in Wilgesprite which is a community area that played a large role in the promotion of equal rights during Aphartied. The area is beautiful and hilly and in the hills across from us it is rumored that Nelson Mandella hide in the caves of the mountain during exile. Needless to say Francis, Yoshi, and I found the cave picture below.
Yesterday we left Jo'burg and traveled 8 hours to Bush Buck Ridge where we are currently staying at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) until Friday when we move into our homestays. The drive here was beautiful resembling New Zealand with its huge mountains down to rolling green hills. The weather is hot and sunny all the time with an occasional rain shower that lasts only an hour or so. At SAWC we are in the middle of Kruger park and at night we can hear lions roaring from just outside the protected areas that we are staying. While on a run this morning just on the other side of the fence we looked on to herds of gazelle and wildabeast and even an elephant.
Tomorrow classes start up again and we will continue our studies on health and the community with visits to hospitals, local traditional healers and other site visits. The National Center for Youth Development has also offered out group to participate in a data collection task to gather information on what needs the youth in Bush Buck Ridge have. So over the course of the next 3 weeks we will be partaking in this study as well. It is going to be really cool to have work that we do actually implemented to help positively affect the health of others.
That is all for now but there will be much more to follow as well as some more recaps if time permits. I hope everyone is doing well! (Picutes arent working at the moment, but I will update with them soon.)
Joel
I made it into SA last week and our frist week or "orientation" has been crazy. For the frist week the group stayed in the burbs of Johannesburg. We went to the Aphartied muesum and toured around J'burg. SA's struggle w/ Aphertied can still be seen very easily in the everyday fabric of SA, but from all we have heard the country is moving in the right direction. A noted speakers that we have heard from were from Andrew Fluck who was the ex minister of police under the Aphartied regime. His story was very interesting and long story very very short he has since reconciled his actions during the previous government and worked towards an equal SA. During our first week we lived in Wilgesprite which is a community area that played a large role in the promotion of equal rights during Aphartied. The area is beautiful and hilly and in the hills across from us it is rumored that Nelson Mandella hide in the caves of the mountain during exile. Needless to say Francis, Yoshi, and I found the cave picture below.
Yesterday we left Jo'burg and traveled 8 hours to Bush Buck Ridge where we are currently staying at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) until Friday when we move into our homestays. The drive here was beautiful resembling New Zealand with its huge mountains down to rolling green hills. The weather is hot and sunny all the time with an occasional rain shower that lasts only an hour or so. At SAWC we are in the middle of Kruger park and at night we can hear lions roaring from just outside the protected areas that we are staying. While on a run this morning just on the other side of the fence we looked on to herds of gazelle and wildabeast and even an elephant.
Tomorrow classes start up again and we will continue our studies on health and the community with visits to hospitals, local traditional healers and other site visits. The National Center for Youth Development has also offered out group to participate in a data collection task to gather information on what needs the youth in Bush Buck Ridge have. So over the course of the next 3 weeks we will be partaking in this study as well. It is going to be really cool to have work that we do actually implemented to help positively affect the health of others.
That is all for now but there will be much more to follow as well as some more recaps if time permits. I hope everyone is doing well! (Picutes arent working at the moment, but I will update with them soon.)
Joel
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