Week 2 Monday - Friday

This week hasn't been the easiest week in the world and a lot of things have happened and changed at the dream centre.

Day 8 - 9/3/09
There is a lot of speculation flying around at the moment with regards to the finances of the Dream centre and a lot of the nurses are getting angry and frustrated. We heard on friday last week that there might be a strike today and when I woke up this morning there was a huge group of nurses protesting at the front of the building. As a group and with the advice of our regional we decided that we too would not work and for most of the morning we watched the strike/protest develop out of a window at our flat.
At first we weren't sure what was happening on the wards but, we asked one of the nurses who said that there is a staff nurse (the nurse in charge) and a ward nurse on each ward, which meant that the patients were still getting their medication and some level of care.

Day 9 - 10/3/09
The nurses were striking again today, but Margo, Petra and I decided to help wash the patients as normal (still only 2 nurses per ward). It was tough because there was more to do than normal, but the nurses were very grateful for the help.
There's one patient who doesn't like to have a shower and would rather have a bed bath, but this is not good for her, especially when she is still capable of washing herself. I spent a lot of time with her last week and she would only let me shower her. There's a new patient whose blind and has very deep wounds all over her body, so the nurse and I soaked her in a special medicated solution.
I also managed to spend some time with the staff nurse on 5th floor who told me about the various injections that the nurses are able to give the patients to ease their pain or administer treatment.

I didn't feel too great when I went back to our flat and had to lay down for a few hours. After lunch I decided to make banana bread for the patients to have at bingo night.
When it was time to collect the patients for bingo night, the nurses were behind on their schedule.. so to speak.. and they needed help feeding some of the patients so we were late starting the evening. The Banana bread was just about ready to serve at the end of the evening and was a great success with the patients :) It made a change from the normal, chips (crisps) and chocolate.

Day 10 - 11/3/09
Today was volunteer day, where the Be more volunteers in the Durban area have the opportunity to visit some of the other projects. We had a reasonably early start and our first stop was 'the tree' which is part of the Bobbi Bear project. The tree is a meeting place for women, men a children once a week, where they sing, prey and tell their stories. There is also the opportunity to receive basic medical care and supplies and I helped one of the bobbi bear volunteers clean a very bad dog bite. The dog bite occurred in november, but because she's unable to get regular transport to hospital to have it cleaned properly, it has become badly infected and almost surrounds her leg just above the ankle. Apparently I saw it on a good day, so goodness knows what its normally like, because I've never seen a wound as bad as that one. She was obviously in a lot of pain and can only walk a couple of metres at a time, which also makes catching a taxi to the hospital very difficult. The bobbi bear volunteers and a 'nurse' advised her on how to keep it clean when she cant get to the hospital and they are in the process of trying to arrange weekly transport to get her proper care.
After the tree we had a tour on Mother of Peace, which is a home for children who have been abused or orphaned. They also arrange school transport for those who are old enough and run after school and homework clubs. Its in a beautiful area and the children are given a great support network.
After lunch we met with Jackie, the founder of Bobbi bear, who explained to us what her project involves. They help young children who have been sexually abused and ensure that they have sufficient medical care and preparation if the case goes to court. They also educate children about HIV and AIDs, which is not an easy task because they are not allowed to mention anything to do with sex and can only describe it in terms of body fluid. Jackie had devised a very clever interactive program which uses puppets and fabric objects to make it easier for the group of children to understand how HIV is spread and what it does to your body. Its an amazing project and Jackie is a very inspiring woman, who knows how to get things done and makes a huge difference in the lives of the children she helps.
Before dinner we also visited Isiaiah 54 (a temporary home for abused/orphaned children) and Umthombo (a shelter for street children during the day, a source of medical care and helps children go back home). 

For dinner we went to the cape town fish market at Uskaka, which was a good opportunity to get to know the other volunteers better and tell each other about what we've been up to at our projects. 
It was a very exciting and very long day, but well worth it and i'm looking forward to going to Drakensberg and Lesotho this weekend with some of the volunteers from other projects. 

Day 11 - 12/3/09
Its difficult to know whether to work or not because on one hand we support the nurses on strike and don't want to do anything that suggests otherwise (ie working) and on the other hand we don't want the patients to suffer. Instead of helping to wash the patients this morning I decided to go and talk to the patients. I went to see the patient on the 5th floor who I helped shower on 10th (the lady who would only let me take shower her)... her bed was empty and her name washed off the wall. This normally means that the patient has passed away and one of the nurses confirmed this. She was very sick, very thin and in a lot of pain but that didn't make knowing she had passed away any easier.

I also went to visit Thandi on 4th floor. The nurses moved her last week to room 401, which is where the very sick patients are. All of the patients know this, but the nurses didn't tell Thandi why she was moving, so she automatically presumed the worst. The nurse told Malou and I that she hadn't been taking her mediation and wasn't looking after herself properly and they wanted to move her somewhere they could keep and eye on what she was doing.
When I went to see her today she was in a very bad way and in a lot of pain. Its almost as though she's given up, she has no family and I don't think she feels as though she has any reason to fight anymore. It was her stomach that was the problem and after massaging her back, I finally managed to get her to sleep. Its really hard to see someone that was once such a strong person (like she was when i started at the dream centre) give up hope like that and the fact that she has no family, made it that bit much harder.
 
Day 12 - 13/3/09
Thandi was much worse today and I decided to spend most of the day with her. She has no one and I didn't want her to feel as though she was being left alone. She kept saying how much she appreciated me helping her, which kept making me well up. She's talking differently now, almost as though she's saying good bye and Malou and I keep telling her that she's a strong person and that she will get through it. She was in so much pain today and despite being incredibly tired, she couldn't sleep. It was only when I left her at 7.15 that I think she finally managed to drift to sleep.
I cried properly for the first time since arriving at the dream centre this evening.. I was scared that she wouldn't get through this infection and that she maybe wouldn't last the weekend... I didn't want to go away and I think all of the emotions from the last to weeks had been building up and everything with Thandi had toppled me over the edge.

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