Want to help us make a difference?

As some of the other students have mentioned, we have been spending time at Kamogelo, a day care center for children who are infected with - or affected by - HIV.

We've had a wonderful time at this site because it has allowed us to use our creativity and enthusiasm for nursing and community health and channel it into something really meaningful (for us) and useful (for the people who run Kamogelo).

I put together a short video about the center, and about our work and the work we hope to be doing there in the next few weeks. Take a look and tell us what you think!



(View a larger version at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flT2fya7VWo)

Let me elaborate on some of the things mentioned in the video:

What we've already done:
We've already created a health record form for the children's files, completed physical exams for about a third of the children, and held basic first aid and CPR classes for the teachers and administrators at the center. Tomorrow, we'll return to Kamogelo and conduct more physical exams, as well as provide health education to some of the childrens' parents; In the afternoon we'll tour some of the sustainable community projects that have been coordinated by Father Tony, the man who is responsible for many of the community health sites where we're doing our clinical rotations.

What we hope to do:
We have a lot of projects that we would like to take on before we leave the country at the end of the month.

• First, when school lets out for recess next week, we're going to put together food packages for the most impoverished families of the Kamogelo children. As mentioned in the video, the meals that some of these children receive during the school days may be the only food that these children eat all day. Imagine what would happen if those families are left with one more mouth to feed for three weeks?
• We hope to raise funds to start a few sustainable projects for some of the community members that live around Kamogleo - for example, we hope to buy chickens for some of the adult HIV patients in the area; these would provide both food and a source of income, which are both extremely difficult to come by for the very sick patients.
• We need to buy supplies for the center's volunteer nurse. She comes two or three days a week to address any health issues that the children might have, but as Kamogleo can't afford to supply her even with simple gauze, she is sometimes limited in her ability to treat the children. A recent outbreak of ringworm can attest to this.
• Other identified needs include preventive oral health education and treatment (we'd need toothbrushes, toothpaste, and single-applicator tooth varnish for 150+ children) and a women's health class for the teachers and staff of the center (judging from the many questions about everything from breast cancer to bathing that we received during our first aid talk earlier this week.)

So, where do you, our families and friends come in?

In the next few weeks, we'll be doing some fund raising via paypal. Donations can be made to holshue@nursing.upenn.edu via the paypal website; feel free to donate as little or as much as you would like. Even just a small amount will go a long, long way here.

And of course, we'll keep you updated on our progress. Thanks, everyone!

Planning and Executing!

Sixth night in this new and exciting country and I feel almost at home. This is definitely because of the people here. Everywhere I go I am greeted with friendliness and curiosity and kindness. In the streets, in stores, and around campus, once I say Dumela-mma or Dumela-rra (Setswana greeting for female and male), I get smiles and questions and generosity in return. Also, this country seems to be very slow-paced, slower than California. This is really refreshing for day-to-day interactions, but of course this could be frustrating sometimes like when we examine some glitches in the healthcare system.

Today was an exciting day for me. The past few days Jodi, our instructor, has been working hard to set up our clinical sites and get us started but, like I said earlier, things move slowly here. Today however, some of us went back to the Kamogelo Day Care Centre, which Derek described in the previous blogs (with the awesome pictures and video of kids dancing), and talked to Father Tony about how we can be most helpful to the community. He told us about a sewing project they have set up for the community where they provide sewing machines (with donated money) and teach the locals how to sew; this way they can then sell the clothes they make and feel ownership over a newfound talent… I wish I could sew! Some other projects include finding a way to get water to some remote villages (digging underground for wells), buying chickens for a few families to use for eggs and eventually to sell, and building rooms or roofs onto homes so that their aren’t 8 people in a small room – one can imagine how that cannot be healthy. It was an incredible experience just to witness how this type of work can be set up for students and volunteers. Conversations like the one we had today is vital around the world; as cheesy as it sounds, helping one another is the best thing we can do. Next week, we will teach the teachers at the Day Care about CPR, the Heimlich Maneuver, and basic first aide, like what to do when a child gets a cut or has ringworm. We will also do physical assessments on the children, and record their health info so that in the future, they have a baseline to compare to. In my experience, organization in many countries with needs secondary to poverty and inadequate healthcare is hard to come by, so we were all incredibly excited when Father Tony was so accommodating for us to come and help in any way we could. I can’t wait to get involved in these projects!