On Saturday we and the whole Zithulele crew headed off to Rhini location, to the wedding of Ebye, a German Doctor, to Alicia a local Xhosa-speaking woman from the area. Ebye (pronounced “I-ba”) came out here to the Transkei 4 years ago initially as a volunteer at Zithulele. He then transferred to Madwaleni hospital where he spent 2 ½ to 3 years working until he decided to branch out and work at two of the peripheral clinics. We don’t know him particularly well but like all traditional African weddings everyone from the area is invited! It really was an amazing experience!

The wedding was set to start at 9am however not even German efficiency could overcome African inertia! There had been pamphlets advertising the wedding on many doors in and around the hospital and ARV clinics however the only instructions were a very vague location and no time just the date…! Anyway so we set out around 10am getting to the area-ish by 10:45. Luckily in the distance up on a hill we could see a fairly large white marquee with a gathering crowd. Hoping it was the right wedding and not another wedding or possibly even a funeral we parked our car and headed up in the direction of the marquee. After being warmly welcomed in by Alicia’s brother (whom we had never met before); meeting the father of the bride; helping him do his tie; witnessing the local nursing sisters from the Ngcwumguba clinic ululating and dancing up the hill as they arrived; playing follow the leader with all the little children also waiting around - we were no closer to the start of the wedding! At around 12:30 we were assured the wedding would be starting in 10 minutes time.





Anyway, when it did kick off it was a really awesome –everyone stood as Eybe with his parents and 2 best men from Germany walked up the hill into the marquee. Then we got a very vibey dance from the groomsmen and bridesmaids from Alicia’s side dancing up the hill, with African Kwito-type beats –definitely beat any mundane entrance we’ve always been exposed to! Then finally the bride, in a beautiful white traditional wedding dress.



The ceremony went on for quite some time with very broken snippets of someone translating 2 or 3 sentences in English and an awesome MC who had a constant impulse to check the mic every time it was handed over to someone new rushing forward going testing testing, 1,2,3 and singing a few songs unaccompanied or which he accompanied himself with back up beats whenever he felt the time was right…! Ebye obviously was referred to many times throughout the service mentioned on most occasions as “elbow” and once or twice as Ibo… -fairly amusing!




Anyway, it was a real privilege to be able to be a part of such a special event which was taken very seriously by both respective parties and where we were made to feel so welcome! The generosity shown by Alicia’s family was really overwhelming and something we were really pleased to witness!!

Homestay

Homestay

On Friday evening we had the privilege of spending the night at the Siyephu’s – fifth generation Xhosa farmers. We arrived after a somewhat precarious drive in the rain, which had made a portion of clay road particularly slippery, at our accommodation for the evening. Tata Siyephu is actually a staff member at the hospital (in charge of the water supply – a very important role!) was there to meet us with his extended family. He doesn’t speak a word of English but with lots of “molo’s”, “unjani’s”, handshaking, smiles and nods, we were welcomed into his home. There is a separate hut especially for the “guests” where we could make ourselves at home and relax.


It was an amazing experience to see first-hand how a working homestead is run. At dusk Tata Siyephu gave a gentle cry and the sheep, slowly at first, started making their way towards the kraal, each counted in turn on entry into the kraal. Tata Siyephu owns 64 sheep! There is also a kraal for the cows, which were also brought back in the evening. In the morning around 06h30 each sheep is counted one by one as they are lead out of the enclosure to go and graze again for the next day.



One thing that struck us about our experience is that, whilst novel to us, rural farming such as this typifies Africa more than any other scene – it is the absolute norm. Forget civil wars and famine (yes, there are lots of them) and lush jungles, exotic wildlife and open plains (there are lots of them too) – if there is one scene that encapsulates Africa more than any other it is this. People quietly going about their lives trying to survive…

For supper we were served traditional samp and beans with a very basic tomato sauce. The next day we had an awesome little fry-up on our Cadac cooker for brekkie and then left pretty shortly thereafter to get home, get dressed and go to the next adventure – a local Xhosa wedding with a slight twist…

News from the TK

Our apologies for not being better at posting entries on our blog. We guess that it boils down to getting into a routine - something which seems to be quite difficult to do here in the TK!

Since our last post we have no crazy stories to share; instead we find ourselves settling in more and finding ourselves far busier than we ever thought possible!

Jo’s work has been crazy. No post-calls and only six full time doctors serving a 140 bed hospital mean that she works 07h30 to 17h30 every day. Chuck in, on average, one to two calls a week, and there unfortunately is not much free time (and the free time that she does get is usually spent getting some R&R).

Whilst chilling at our home is great, the hospital can be claustrophobic so it is great to be able to get out. Last weekend we spent a weekend at a cottage at Hole-in-the-Wall, which was nothing short of incredible. Most of the photos have been posted on our Facebook profiles, but we have included a few below.









Warm water, no traffic, safe, rural, green and lush – give us the Wild Coast over the Cape Peninsula any day!

The Vegetable Garden

As mentioned in our previous post, we have started a veggie garden. Before we talk about this, we thought it might be make sense for to post a picture of our house.



We are the unit on the left. Each unit has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen that opens onto a lounge – it is very spacious and we are very happy here (especially considering the accommodation nightmares that some of our colleagues have had to ensure – more of which will be discussed in a later post).

Just to the left of the tyre in the picture above is an area that previous doctors fenced off to create a vegetable garden. We have been allocated some space, and inherited the patch below.



After much work by Tom (Jo was conspicuously absent during the manual labour needed to get the patch in shape) as evidenced in the picture below…



… we created a compost heap and planted fennel, basil, potatoes, tomatoes, mixed lettuce, carrots, baby cabbage and leeks. Whether all or any of these will succeed in our garden remains to be seen – on one hand, we are cautiously optimistic given that the land here is so fertile but other the other, refuse to get our hopes up given that we are absolute novices at this game. Either way, watch this space!

A Shaky Start

In our previously post, we mentioned quite nonchalantly that Jo was feeling a bit sick. “A bit sick” was an understatement of note! Shortly after posting our entry, Jo started throwing up, following which things got progressively worse as she developed a temperature, fever and gastro, and lost 4 kg in 3 days! By the Thursday (we had arrived on the previous Saturday) she had developed a rash, and it seemed she had measles. We went through to East London to have her admitted to hospital there (where it was confirmed that she did indeed have measles) and where she was put on IV antibiotics. She spent four days in hospital and then three days recovering in East London before we drove back to Zithulele. Subsequently, things have improved dramatically and we are really starting to settle in – we have started a veggie garden, had quite a few braais, been down to our nearest beach a few times and generally started to adapt to life in the Transkei.

To give you an idea of just how sick Jo was, we have attached a picture of her after being admitted to hospital.



Not a happy chappie, and indeed not nearly as happy as the jo in the picture below as she embarked on her first day of “proper” work (due to being sick, she had previously only completed a grand total of one two hour ward round before crawling back into bed). Her sickness earned her a mention (by reference, not by name) on the front page of the Daily Dispatch where, in an article discussing the measles outbreak, it referred to a “doctor from Zithulele had been admitted to St Dominic’s”.



Jo’s first day was a busy but fulfilling one. First day back and first day on call (in maternity ward)! One of her first patients had a cord prolapse –that’s when the umbilical cord connected to the mother and baby prolapses out of vagina before the head has come out, causing the baby to potentially have a serious lack of oxygen. The bottom line it’s hectic and involves someone (luckily an elective student was available) to stick their hand up the vagina and keep it lodged there to prevent the baby’s head from coming down further and pushing the cord up. The mother has to be put onto a stretcher and the nominated health professional has to run with hand up vagina to theatre for a Caesar.

Tom (due to being such a dedicated and supportive husband!) had also not properly commenced work until yesterday, although he had had numerous meetings with various stakeholders as he attempted to more clearly define his role within the foundation. Being a young foundation with very little in terms of existing structures, his role will be a malleable one that will undoubtedly evolve as the year progresses; but even at this early stage he is extremely excited about the prospects ahead.

On 1 January we left this:



In this:



And, on 2 January, arrived not far from this:



The drive on Friday was long, especially considering that we had packed all our CD's bar one in the depths of the trailer! But the drive was broken up by stopping off and seeing Tom's folks (in Heidelberg), Adi and Sav (in Plett), Jo's cousins (in Nature's Valley) and Jo's brother, Ken (in Port Alfred). All these stops meant that we arrived in East London later than we had initially hoped but, after dodging a black cow in the middle of the N2 at 120km / hour, we arrived safely. Saturday was spent doing a last minute shop in East London (which, for the duration of this year, will be considered our oasis of civilisation and a place associated with luxuries such as Woolworths) before the final leg of our journey to Zithulele. This journey comprised of 180 km of a decent road (the N2 between East London and Mthatha) before negoiating 50 km of "the worst tar road in South Africa" and 20 km of fairly average gravel road. They say paradise, by definition, is hard to get to. At least buying the Hardbody had now been justified.

Our first few days have been spent with Tom unpacking and Jo being sick, meaning that she missed her first two days of work. Tom's work only officially starts on 11 January, but in the meantime he has swum in the ocean (twice), gone for a mountain bike ride (what a pleasure dealing with sheep and friendly children as opposed to irate Cape Town drivers) and tried (mostly unsuccessfully) paddling an Eskimo.

It is early days, but we are both so excited to be here, and the year ahead does look like a promising one. Going forward, we plan for our posts to follow one of three themes: (1) general news, (2) intersting medical stories (Jo's work) and (3) developmental economics - a snazzy phrase for doing things like selling chickens (Tom's work). Comments are welcomed and encouraged!!

Finally, we thought it might be nice to end all our posts with one or two Xhosa phrases:
"Molo sisi / bhuti, uyaphila" (Morning brother / sister, how are you today)
"Ndiyaphila enkosi, kodwa kushushu namhlanje" (I am well, but it is hot today)