Happy Easter!

So finally updating after over a week. I have been really struggling in Swaziland. I have been all over the world, worked in many different cultures, and somehow connected with most, but I feel like I am struggling with Swaziland. I have made some incredible friends, dont get me wrong, but I feel that I am lacking a connection to the people as a whole and to the culture. Stef, Lauren and I were trying to pinpoint what it is and it may be the blatant degrading of women, or the violence we see working in the emergency room, but the cultural just seems more difficult to understand than other travels. I hope that I can work through these feelings over my last 2 weeks and really see the beauty of Swaziland that I know is there.

Throughout the last week, I have been working in the emergency room on evenings. I am getting experience working with very sick patients and with procedures. All 3 of us are feeling very homesick and took the afternoon off on Thursday to head down to the mall for ice cream. Nothing a little fat and sugar cant help with!

I had a hard week when it comes to difficult patients. I had multiple women come in from domestic violence. One woman was about 20 weeks pregnant and she said her boyfriend tried to kill her, he strangled her and repeatedly kicked her stomach. She was then having abdominal pains. I told her I would find her a place to stay and give her food for the night so that she could have an ultrasound in the morning (they dont do ultrasounds at night) and she said no. She begged me to call her boyfriend to ask him to come get her. She said that he promised her he wouldnt hurt her again. I told her that she was beautiful and deserved to be loved by someone. I told her that she needed to know she was worth being loved and didnt have to live a life with a man like that. I told her that he was going to hit her again guaranteed. She still begged me to call. I couldnt get a hold of him so she just left. I just hate being in a situation where I cant help someone. She has no resources, there are no non profits that help abused woman, there is no one that will take care of her baby. She has no options and I could do nothing for her.

We also had a man come in with anaphylatic shock from some allergic reaction. We immediately started to rescusitate him. After about 40 minutes of CPR, epinephrine, and multiple failed attempts at intubation, he was pronounced dead. The ER is one open room with about 10 beds all around with curtains in between, but clearly all of the patients were able to see the patient die. At least 3 patients were within 5 feet of us while we attempted rescusitation. It seems like everyone is so accustomed to death and loss that it is no big deal.

Warning- bloody details! Dont read if queasy!

Last, I saw a women be carried into the far cubicle on the end. She was yelling and rolling around on the bed. She was having a miscarriage at 2 months and I walked in to see her covered in blood. I will spare the details, but I ended up having to help her finish the miscarriage. I have never done that before, never seen that before, but it was really difficult. I dont think I will ever forget that.

In Kenya, the atmosphere of Jesus loving people was incredible. It brought love to any situation and comfort during the difficult cases. Swaziland doesnt necessarily have that other than Stefanie and Lauren around me. There isnt comfort and prayer during difficult cases. Death is so normal and so inevitable to these people that nothing seems to faze them. I would love to see God's love spread to this country and lift their spirits.



Stefanie and I in the ER during a fairly calm moment.

On some happy notes, we were able to visit a vacation area in Swaziland to shop and look around on Friday. It was awesome! The area was beautiful. We went shopping at a woven basket store (which we bought an incredible amount from) and had the most amazing lunch, literally the best food we have had in Swaziland by far.

On Saturday, we drove to Hlane Game Park near Mozambique for a safari. Four of our friends that we met in Swaziland went with us. Zakhele works in statistics at the hospital, Sandile is in charge of infection control at the hospital, Ceby is friends with Sandile, and she brought a friend from South Africa, Lindelo. While the Americans went on a safari, the Africans cooked up some amazing food on the grill. We came back and had an awesome picnic with delicious food.



Group photo before the picnic!

 

The 3 of us before the safari!



 Zahkele and Sandile sporting their Kentucky shirts that were a gift from Emily!

The internet is being ridiculously slow right now so I cant add anymore pictures, but we spent our Easter back at Malandelas, the touristy area. We originally walked to a large Easter Church service that was in all Siswati so we decided to leave since there was no English. We decided to go back to Malandelas and lie on a sheet while Stefanie played her ukulele and we sang worship songs, read some passages from the Bible and prayed, just the 3 of us having a church service on our own. It was exactly what we needed. We have been able to get around Swaziland on our own now. We are efficient at taking Kombis which are basically vans that drive around and pick people up on the side of the road and take them along a predetermined route. They stuff as many people as possible into them, usually around 20. People are sitting on laps, and several stand in the aisle way. We learn to get really close to each other. We are really starting to feel self sufficient in Swaziland.