Now that we’ve been here for nearly two weeks, things are beginning to settle into a routine. Work is going well—everyone continues to be welcoming. I’ve started branching out from the mother-children health room and to other parts of the clinic. This afternoon I assisted one of the nurses in the consultation room. Because the clinic is short staffed due to the strike, there is only one doctor in the entire clinic, and she is needed for HIV consulting. Therefore, the nurses have to complete the entire consultation and prescribe medications to patients. I am learning how to collect a patient history and the kinds of medications that are prescribed for various ailments. Tomorrow I will be going with a nurse to a local preschool to help administer Vitamin A drops to children between 12 and 59 months. I’m very excited, especially because I imagine the kids will get a kick out of me because I look and sound so different from them. I think on Wednesday I will go to the HIV testing part of the clinic. I have a feeling that this may be the most challenging part for me because patients are tested and receive their results all within a single consultation. I’m not sure what to expect, especially in the situation where a patient receives positive results. In this part of the clinic, patients are also counseled on the ARV (Anti-Retroviral) treatment protocol. All patients must complete extensive counseling because adherence to the treatment is crucial. There is a very small range between maximum efficacy and viral development of resistance to the drug, a fate possibly worse than no treatment at all. This Thursday is a holiday, and we may try to arrange an appointment to spend some time with the cheetahs at Mokolodi. If there are no available times, we will try for a later Sunday. I can’t believe that we only have 4 more weekends before our internships are over. Time is flying by, even in Botswana time, which is notoriously 20 minutes late…
