Cruising

I drove back from Durban today after a weekend at the cricket and going mountain biking with a friend who i met in Liverpool and is also working out here now. It is about a 3 hour drive initially on the motorway and then up through the hills. The scenery is absolutely stunning with sugar cane fields, eagles flying above, and hundreds of people just walking along the side of the road. However, if you don't concentrate you are bound to hit a pothole, roaming cow or another driver with equal probability! Thankfully no more scrapes for me but it is thrilling to drive here for lots of reasons....
As i am about 100km inland at about 1500m above sea level it gets pretty cold, wet and misty. I am writing this whilst sitting with my 'Anglesea' woolie hat and big fleece on - its more like Scotland than Zululand. Durban in contrast is normally hot all year round and i was sitting in a t-shirt watching India beat the Aussies on Saturday night. Twenty-20 is definately the future for cricket, the atmosphere was awesome and reminded me of some great football grounds i have been to.
So far i have been finding the right balance between my rural experience and being able to relax at weekends. On Friday there were only 3 of us doctors in the hospital and during the 24 hours i was the anaesthetist at 5 Emergency Caesarian Sections. We finished the last one at 0100 and just before i went to bed i was asked to help out with some assaulted patients who had pitched up. This one lad had been attacked with a bushknife and his skull bone was visible and his ear was hanging off!! Damn it is violent around here
Speaking of which i hope to go to the Zulu Battlefields next weekend to see Rorke's Drift - which i believe is the site of the heaviest ever loss in one day by the British Army. Judging by what i saw on Friday night, those boys had no chance..

Hearing Aids

I'm feeling pretty down after today's work as the harsh reality of poverty punched me in the face again. One boy came to see me as he couldn't afford a new battery for his hearing aid (approx R220) and he was requesting a Disability Grant (DG). Unfortunately that reason does not make him eligible and i was about to give him the money myself but the nurse told me not to as i would set a precedent (she was right of course).
Then later in the day a lady came to see me also requesting a DG. According to Government rules she did not qualify either, but i was left speechless as she begged me to give her the form as her children are starving and the family has no money at all. Each Wednesday this drama unfolds as it is DG day and the doctor has to medically assess these patient's applications. I hate it.
Its a public holiday this weekend and i am going to the Twenty-20 World Cup semi-final in Durban, will have to drown my sorrows there whilst barracking the 2 teams (likely to be Australia and South Africa). Its one way to relieve my frustration...

Hijacking

Thankfully my week did not get worse, but there was a hijacking alarmingly near to the hospital on Wednesday night. I was on-call and was asked to see a boy of 12 who had been thrown from the hospital transport which was returning from our referral hospital. Hijackers then made off with the hospital van! Fortunately the boy was fine but it reinforced my decision to avoid driving anywhere at night.
Aside from crime, South Africa has lots of other benefits including the fresh fruit one can buy at the roadside. Like any African country people buy from stalls and not supermarkets and although the choice is more limited, I have been used to eating the tastiest avocados and juiciest oranges direct from the grower. Its very organic!!
Off to Durban this weekend for a course on TB, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, not planning to get one myself!!

Wildlife

I feel quite lucky to be alive after my weekend in a nature reserve. My friend Catherine was driving us to the beach through a small game park when suddenly a huge Waterbuck (the size of a small horse) ran in front of us and jumped in to the windscreen!! It happened in a split second and when we skidded to a stop thankfully none of us was hurt. I was covered in shards of glass but we all walked away from the car. Cat's VW CitiGolf had a huge dent in the roof and the windscreen was destroyed, basically we were very lucky not to be killed. The animal had staggered off in to the bush and the rangers couldn't find it.
Wow! It certainly rivalled the experience of seeing rhinos, hippos, eagles and crocodiles that i saw during the rest of the weekend. I will have so many after-dinner stories after this that i may go on the circuit!!