Cape Town

 A month does not seem like a substantial amount of time to make an impact on an individual person, however I have found that a month of traveling to a different country alone is like a pressure cooker for individual change. You are forced to be incredibly self sufficient, you interact with so many new people on a daily basis and many of these people are from different cultures. You constantly have to think about your own culture, your own identity, your strengths and your weaknesses. You need to solve your own problems or at least be able to identify who can help you solve the problem. In addition, being in a completely different hospital system, quickly needing to identify the different needs of the system and the patients can be quite challenging, but in the same way it forces you to think more about our own system and identify the advantages and weaknesses of it. 

Once I arrived in Cape Town I quickly learned the term "load shedding" and its meaning. About 1 hour after I arrived all the power in my homestay went out. This power outage was a scheduled outing that occurred multiple times a day and was referred to as load shedding. This had been occurring for a few months before I arrived and there still is no plan for it ending. To the people in Africa this is an occurrence that greatly inconveniences their lives and adds regular challenges to their days, however they took on this inconvenience with such a positive manner. The entire concept was often a subject of jokes and utilized as an opportunity to come together and help one another. The family I was with would tell me that they as a people have suffered many challenges over the years, but that they are people who dance and sing when they are sad and struggling and that was extremely evident over the course of time I spent there. 

 This is my second time working very closely with pediatric patients in the hospital. Before I started medical school I worked at Nationwide Children's Hospital as a patient care assistant. I remember this being extremely challenging because of seeing children in such bad conditions and in such bad health and also seeing their parents have to watch them and feel so helpless. This field and this specialty is extremely challenging, but what is so important is the difference it can make. My role is only as an international student here, but I am able to spend time playing with the children in the wards helping them to make friends with the other children and to help keep them feeling like children even when they are sick in the hospital. For anyone interested in this specialty or interested in this rotation, I think it is important to know that it does take an emotional toll and many people you talk to can tell you how it has affected them and how they try to cope, but the most common...

During the weekends and when I am not spending time in the hospital I have had the opportunity to see why Cape Town is a city that people from all over the world flock to for a holiday. There is incredible scenic views, a surplus of activities, wildlife, and hiking. I was able to go to a beach and have penguins come up right beside me. I was also able to go for a ride in a boat and see seals, dolphins, and whales. You can go skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding, and even shark diving. There are endless possibilities for what you can see and do here and through the program I have had plenty of opportunity to enjoy Cape Town. 

 The University of Cape Town gets medical students from across the world doing rotations at the various hospitals in town including the one I am at. As a result of this, I have met other medical students from a variety of different countries across the world. I have spent a lot of my time with a student from Italy and a surgical resident from Spain. Over the short time we have been here we have formed close friendships with on another that I know will last a lifetime. We have also had a number of conversations over differences in healthcare, culture, and our perspectives on issues across the world. These conversations have deepened my insight and greatly broadened my perspective helping me become a more thoughtful and rounded individual. Most of all I have been able to spend time with truly wonderful people creating memories I will cherish for my entire life. 

 The hospital I am at is a public hospital and in South Africa the poorest individuals in the country are the ones who receive care at the public hospitals. Walking around South Africa, there is a well distributed mix of individuals who the people here distinguish as "white", "black", or "colored". In the hospital, the children receiving care are almost all black and are from neighborhoods that during the time of apartheid were distinguished as black neighborhoods. When being driven around Cape Town, I am shown the different neighborhoods that were designated as being for "white", "black", and "colored" and the difference in housing quality and location is massive. Although apartheid has ended, these neighborhoods are still pretty true to those designations largely because of the way apartheid has set individuals who were not white back in terms of wealth and equality. I am also seeing first hand in the hospital the way in whi...