But anyway, that initial moment when you see the baby, wow...your heart just melts. As cliche as it is, it is exactly as beautiful a moment as you'd expect, if not more. However, the fathers are usually not present. I only saw one father present for the c-section of the twins actually, during the whole time that I was here. The other student who has been here over a month did not see any fathers at all. I was told by a Zulu man that the reason for this is modesty, actually, so that women can preserve their image in their husband's eyes. I suppose it is quite messy, but such a scary thing to have to undergo alone :( The natural birth was so encouraging to me as a woman :) The mother handled it like a champ. The actual birth lasted all of 30 seconds. The baby almost popped out, she made it look so easy, which calmed my anxiety a bit. There was very minimal tearing, and the mother seemed so relaxed anyway. I was very comforted :) While we were waiting then in the hall for another birth, she just walked out like nothing happened, an hour after giving birth! I guess South African women are quite strong!
I'm so glad that this was my last clinic. I absolutely loved it and was happy to end on this note :)
For social time, we did quite a few fun things this week. Dinner for my birthday, which was on 8/22 over the weekend. So we went to the restaurant inside the aquarium, which was really cool! We also went to the Victoria St. Market which is famous for all the wares and crafts. In the same area is the Juma Mosque, the largest in the southern hemisphere, so of course we had to check that out as well. The tour guide was so amazing and excited and truly made it a wonderful experience. We even got little goodie baggies when we left :) On Wednesday we went to a Johnny Clegg concert. He was an iconic singer/composer during the apartheid period and a strong activist as well. He worked with Nelson Mandela and the freedom movement. I absolutely fell in love with his music and was so grateful to have been able to see him live. I even bought his CD to take a little of South Africa home with me :) On Thursday we went to a wine festival and I was able to taste the famous South African wine! Overall an absolutely fantastic week!
Closing thoughts...wow...I don't even know where to begin. This trip has been absolutely incredible in so many ways. I can't believe still the amazing experiences I was able to have here, the things I saw and learned...it is truly once in a lifetime. I met some pretty incredible people as well and made some really good friends, to whom I am so grateful for making my experience here so meaningful. South Africa has truly captured my heart. There is just such a unique, beautiful yet broken energy here. I know I will definitely be back ~ I really could see myself doing HIV care here. I came here a little unsure about whether or not I wanted to pursue medicine, like many of my fellow students in the program. I know that for me at least these 4 weeks have answered that question loud and clear! Though it was a short time, we were exposed to so much with no filters that I felt I was able to really get a real picture of medicine in resource poor settings, and able to therefore make decisions based on these experiences. This program was so helpful and I am so grateful. I think it would be interesting to practice HIV care in South Africa in particular. I was surprised and very intrigued by all the barriers to accessing care, despite all the efforts being made to stop the epidemic and get people on ARV treatment. It would be an amazing and rewarding opportunity to return here as a doctor and be a part of these efforts. Only time will tell...
For now, I am homeward bound! :)
