Just thought I'd share a bit of happiness with y'all. My days anymore are mostly straight forward and simple, but I am starting to find joy in my routines. There's a good chance that in a couple of years I'll be back to my old busy, busy life. For now, I'm taking time to take care of my body (first zumba class this morning...loved it!) and mind (school school school and Jane Eyre) and it feels really good.
Last night I was able to leave work early--no tables in two hours, yikes! Tonight's experiment: whether slight rain makes people want half price pizza more or less.
Tomorrow I'm meeting with a campus doctor about a potential thesis topic...fingers crossed for something good!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Life is Good
Hello, hello!
I am writing to you all in good spirits! The last week was certainly busy with lots of prepping and paper writing, but I handed in my first Biostats assignment and turned in a major paper for my Gender and Health course which was a gender analysis of rape in South Africa. I put a lot of reading, note taking, and thought into the paper and am pretty proud of the work I did. We'll see what the professor thinks though! Regardless of the mark, I certainly learned a lot from the research process.
Although I am giving myself a bit of a break, I don't want to lose momentum. I have two more big papers due at the end of May. One will be on homicide in South Africa and El Salvador and the other I still need to choose a final topic for, but will be an evaluation of how gender sensitive a program is. Although I won't be turning in my mini-dissertation until the end of next year, I decided to contact some people doing research at UCT to learn about what they are doing and see if it might be appropriate for my project. Hopefully at least one of them gets back to me with interest. Will let y'all know if something pans out!
As per usual I am changing my mind often about what I want to do with my degree when I graduate. Currently, I've been thinking a lot about ways to improve health services, both for staff and patients. A friend of mine used to be a nurse here and actually changed careers because she became so frustrated with the system and barriers to giving good care. We also did a class on childbirth in South Africa last week and talked a lot about patient abuse and neglect in that setting, something that also came up in the abortion lecture and likely exists in other health care settings as well. They are such large problems that it is hard to know where to begin to address them, but it would something I would certainly be interested in dedicating my career to. Of course science and medicine are incredibly important, but why deliver those services without treating patients with dignity and care? And isn't mistreatment detrimental to health outcomes (well actually, I don't know, will have to look into what research has been done)? These are things I would be interested in further examining not only in South Africa but in the U.S. as well.
As for my social life, it's doing well! Thursday night an MPHer from Italy, Annibale, had a group of us over for "International Dinner" night. We were all supposed to bring a dish from our culture. Well, I didn't have time to even attempt cooking something, so I bought an apple tart (closest thing I could find to apple pie, one of the few dishes I could associate with America!) and ice cream. I was glad it was the only dessert and folks seemed to enjoy it. We also had guacamole, curry, lentil rice, AWESOME pasta, and arepas (by Federico and Nany, los colombianos). And of course, lots of wine. :) It was really nice to spend more time with the MPHers outside of class to just talk and enjoy delicious food. We all agreed it should happen again soon.
Saturday was the night of the birthday party my customers invited me to. They are a really friendly group, so I figured why not, but didn't know what to expect. I had no reason to be nervous as everyone at the party were just as warm and welcoming as my regulars. It was quite the fun event that I could go on in detail about....summarized version: amazing spicy seafood curry, monk cleansing the house, one of my adorable regulars, Shane, regailing us with Whitney Houston songs (amazing coming out of a boy!), Dutch lesson from folks from the Netherlands and, once again, lots of good wine! I also met one of Shane's friends who works for Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and has been working on the research that shows ARV treatment can prevent HIV infection in those uninfected--kinda like meeting a local rock star, imho!
I was torn about whether to leave such a fun gathering, but headed out a little after midnight to catch up with some MPHers out for a lady's night in town. From there, I decided to go dancing with Eliana at a place called DecoDance, which she always talks about. It's a more expensive cab ride for me, but it was a really fun time--they play a lot of hits from the '80s and '90s and we really enjoyed ourselves. It felt to get out and dance after all of that paper writing!
I guess the last update is that I LOVE my gym! I met with one of their staff on Friday and she helped me with an exercise plan. This is SO hopefully for me because I am a planner and really need structure for motivation. I'm planning on doing yoga once a week in addition to my regular workouts, and will probably be checking out a dance class on Saturday. There is also a yummy smoothie place in the gym, so I treated myself today. They have those frequent buyer cards and if you buy a smoothie on a Monday you get two stickers instead of one. So I've decided that for each week a stick to my workout plan, I will reward myself the following Monday with a smoothie!
Oh and Thomas is wonderful. :) He's away again for two weeks but I have a lot of good things going for me to keep me busy til he gets back. Our couch should be arriving in a little over week which, speaking for both of us, we are super excited about! He also got us a coffee table and microwave, so once the couch arrives we'll be pretty settled in.
I can't delude myself into believing I'm never going to feel homesick again, but my first wave has passed and I am soaking up the sun and loving life here. I think part of what was helpful was to begin planning my visit home in the winter--hopefully I'll be back in time for Thanksgiving!
That's all for now. Remember, I have skype at home now, so get in touch with me if you want to have a chat! Sundays are best for me, usually.
Love y'all,
Kristen
I am writing to you all in good spirits! The last week was certainly busy with lots of prepping and paper writing, but I handed in my first Biostats assignment and turned in a major paper for my Gender and Health course which was a gender analysis of rape in South Africa. I put a lot of reading, note taking, and thought into the paper and am pretty proud of the work I did. We'll see what the professor thinks though! Regardless of the mark, I certainly learned a lot from the research process.
Although I am giving myself a bit of a break, I don't want to lose momentum. I have two more big papers due at the end of May. One will be on homicide in South Africa and El Salvador and the other I still need to choose a final topic for, but will be an evaluation of how gender sensitive a program is. Although I won't be turning in my mini-dissertation until the end of next year, I decided to contact some people doing research at UCT to learn about what they are doing and see if it might be appropriate for my project. Hopefully at least one of them gets back to me with interest. Will let y'all know if something pans out!
As per usual I am changing my mind often about what I want to do with my degree when I graduate. Currently, I've been thinking a lot about ways to improve health services, both for staff and patients. A friend of mine used to be a nurse here and actually changed careers because she became so frustrated with the system and barriers to giving good care. We also did a class on childbirth in South Africa last week and talked a lot about patient abuse and neglect in that setting, something that also came up in the abortion lecture and likely exists in other health care settings as well. They are such large problems that it is hard to know where to begin to address them, but it would something I would certainly be interested in dedicating my career to. Of course science and medicine are incredibly important, but why deliver those services without treating patients with dignity and care? And isn't mistreatment detrimental to health outcomes (well actually, I don't know, will have to look into what research has been done)? These are things I would be interested in further examining not only in South Africa but in the U.S. as well.
As for my social life, it's doing well! Thursday night an MPHer from Italy, Annibale, had a group of us over for "International Dinner" night. We were all supposed to bring a dish from our culture. Well, I didn't have time to even attempt cooking something, so I bought an apple tart (closest thing I could find to apple pie, one of the few dishes I could associate with America!) and ice cream. I was glad it was the only dessert and folks seemed to enjoy it. We also had guacamole, curry, lentil rice, AWESOME pasta, and arepas (by Federico and Nany, los colombianos). And of course, lots of wine. :) It was really nice to spend more time with the MPHers outside of class to just talk and enjoy delicious food. We all agreed it should happen again soon.
Saturday was the night of the birthday party my customers invited me to. They are a really friendly group, so I figured why not, but didn't know what to expect. I had no reason to be nervous as everyone at the party were just as warm and welcoming as my regulars. It was quite the fun event that I could go on in detail about....summarized version: amazing spicy seafood curry, monk cleansing the house, one of my adorable regulars, Shane, regailing us with Whitney Houston songs (amazing coming out of a boy!), Dutch lesson from folks from the Netherlands and, once again, lots of good wine! I also met one of Shane's friends who works for Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and has been working on the research that shows ARV treatment can prevent HIV infection in those uninfected--kinda like meeting a local rock star, imho!
I was torn about whether to leave such a fun gathering, but headed out a little after midnight to catch up with some MPHers out for a lady's night in town. From there, I decided to go dancing with Eliana at a place called DecoDance, which she always talks about. It's a more expensive cab ride for me, but it was a really fun time--they play a lot of hits from the '80s and '90s and we really enjoyed ourselves. It felt to get out and dance after all of that paper writing!
I guess the last update is that I LOVE my gym! I met with one of their staff on Friday and she helped me with an exercise plan. This is SO hopefully for me because I am a planner and really need structure for motivation. I'm planning on doing yoga once a week in addition to my regular workouts, and will probably be checking out a dance class on Saturday. There is also a yummy smoothie place in the gym, so I treated myself today. They have those frequent buyer cards and if you buy a smoothie on a Monday you get two stickers instead of one. So I've decided that for each week a stick to my workout plan, I will reward myself the following Monday with a smoothie!
Oh and Thomas is wonderful. :) He's away again for two weeks but I have a lot of good things going for me to keep me busy til he gets back. Our couch should be arriving in a little over week which, speaking for both of us, we are super excited about! He also got us a coffee table and microwave, so once the couch arrives we'll be pretty settled in.
I can't delude myself into believing I'm never going to feel homesick again, but my first wave has passed and I am soaking up the sun and loving life here. I think part of what was helpful was to begin planning my visit home in the winter--hopefully I'll be back in time for Thanksgiving!
That's all for now. Remember, I have skype at home now, so get in touch with me if you want to have a chat! Sundays are best for me, usually.
Love y'all,
Kristen
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Busy busy!
Hi folks!
It's a busy week, but as I've fallen behind once again, I figured I would give a quick update!
I'm very bogged down this week with school work: an assignment due tomorrow and paper due Monday, but it's going okay and I'm trying to stay positive! Thomas has been home the last few days and while I've mostly just been reading and writing, it's been great having him nearby.
My exciting news is that I finally joined a gym! It's a really beautiful facility and I'm looking forward to using it more. I took a yoga class on Sunday and will be exploring more of what it has to offer once I turn this paper in.
Waitressing is going alright. Sometimes it's a little stressful because of how the place is run, but I really enjoy the regulars who come in. Several of them have taken to calling me "Jersey Girl." :) A few of them actually invited me to a birthday party Saturday night, which was really sweet. I'm definitely still looking for other jobs pertaining more to public health, but I'm really glad to have the extra pocket money and different scenery throughout the week.
At this point, I'm pretty dedicated to just doing a general track MPH, but I will hopefully be meeting with the head of the health systems track soon to learn more about health systems and possibly incorporating more systems courses into my degree.
That's all for now! Sounds like the weather is improving for y'all back home. We had some KILLER hot days over the weekend, but it's cooled down considerably and been a bit overcast.
More from me soon!
Love,
Kristen
It's a busy week, but as I've fallen behind once again, I figured I would give a quick update!
I'm very bogged down this week with school work: an assignment due tomorrow and paper due Monday, but it's going okay and I'm trying to stay positive! Thomas has been home the last few days and while I've mostly just been reading and writing, it's been great having him nearby.
My exciting news is that I finally joined a gym! It's a really beautiful facility and I'm looking forward to using it more. I took a yoga class on Sunday and will be exploring more of what it has to offer once I turn this paper in.
Waitressing is going alright. Sometimes it's a little stressful because of how the place is run, but I really enjoy the regulars who come in. Several of them have taken to calling me "Jersey Girl." :) A few of them actually invited me to a birthday party Saturday night, which was really sweet. I'm definitely still looking for other jobs pertaining more to public health, but I'm really glad to have the extra pocket money and different scenery throughout the week.
At this point, I'm pretty dedicated to just doing a general track MPH, but I will hopefully be meeting with the head of the health systems track soon to learn more about health systems and possibly incorporating more systems courses into my degree.
That's all for now! Sounds like the weather is improving for y'all back home. We had some KILLER hot days over the weekend, but it's cooled down considerably and been a bit overcast.
More from me soon!
Love,
Kristen
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Hey everyone,
Sorry I'm so far behind on updating. For a little while I was waiting to have things to write about and then I got a bit busy and didn't get around to writing!
First of all, a little over a week ago I finally got that pang of homesickness I was expecting much earlier. I was feeling frustrated knowing that back home I have an amazing set of friends, my family, had a job I loved, community organizations I believed in...sometimes I can't help but wonder what exactly it is that I'm doing here. Those moments are rare, but they happen. I think that even when we are pursuing things that we love, we all have moments of questioning.
After a couple of days, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and figure out what to do with my life here. I chose to stop banking on finding a research job and starting looking into being a server again. The fact is, I just needed to get out of the apartment, interact with people, and have something else to think about besides school, my relationship, and what I should make for dinner. I dropped my CV off at a few places and was basically offered two jobs almost immediately, one of which is in Vredehoek. I decided to take that one since I could walk to work and because the manager I spoke with made it sound like a local place with a lot of regulars. I liked that vibe.
I started training last night and it was a pretty good time. Unfortunately, it was a slow night and somewhat boring--I like to keep busy. But the people I work with are cool and I was pretty amused that kitchen staff automatically took to me because I was American. There was also a hysterical moment when two of the regulars were discussing me. The one guy told the other that I was a "Jersey girl" and he took it to mean I was from Jersey...like Europe...yeah no. :) But we had a good laugh. The whole experience helped me realize just how much I've come to like working with people (even though I still think I'm an introvert!). I think it's going to be a good experience for me.
I also made some new friends which helped get me out of my slump, too. I had a met a woman, Catherine, who worked in a shop on Long Street a couple of weeks ago. We had chatted for a bit and when we realized we were both interested in women's health, decided to connect later on facebook. At first we didn't really talk, but my friend Federico's girlfriend, Nany, invited me to a SWEAT march for sex workers' rights. I passed the info on to Catherine and sure enough she came. The march was a really good experience and it felt awesome to be involved with activism again. As Federico pointed out to me, it was really amazing and brave that so many of the sex workers came to march--the purpose of the march was to call for decriminalization of sex work, but sex work is still illegal in South Africa (to learn more about decriminalization, check out SWEAT's website, linked above). Afterwards, Catherine, Federico, Nany, another SWEAT volunteer, Flor, and I went to the Eastern Food Bizarre, which is one of my fave places to eat in town. Cheap, delicious food of Asian influences? Yes, please! Everyone seemed to hit it off with each other and we had good conversation before heading off to class.
I mentioned to Catherine that I was going to watch the Pride parade on Saturday, and she told me not to be silly, that I should walk with her and the store in the parade! It was really cool with her to be so welcoming. I did walk with her and the store owner. I had an awesome time! It was very hot, but the walk was nice and some of the floats sprayed water to cool us off. After the parade you could pay R30 (less than 5 USD) to hang out outside the stadium to watch different performances. My initial thought after the parade was that I was tired and wanted to go home, but we ended up dancing for several hours! Federico and Nany also showed up. My new friend Natasha (who is friends with Catherine) then invited us all to go back to her place to eat dinner. We stopped to pick up food and then Catherine put together the meal for us! So there I was, randomly hanging out with a whole lot of people I'd just met (including more of Natasha's friends whom were at home) having a great time. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Leave it to Pride to bring people together!
So I would say that between the job and spending time with new friends has really helped me feel better. I don't think it's ever going to be easy being away from so many people I love, but I am starting to make more connections here, too.
Tomorrow night I am going to a documentary about women's sexual and reproductive rights. Thursday is a double class day and then I'll be finishing training at work on Friday and Saturday. Then I can start taking real shifts and actually make money!
Just writing this post was really helpful to remind me of all the good stuff I have going on, as I was starting to feel a bit down again today. I really miss you all!
Sorry I'm so far behind on updating. For a little while I was waiting to have things to write about and then I got a bit busy and didn't get around to writing!
First of all, a little over a week ago I finally got that pang of homesickness I was expecting much earlier. I was feeling frustrated knowing that back home I have an amazing set of friends, my family, had a job I loved, community organizations I believed in...sometimes I can't help but wonder what exactly it is that I'm doing here. Those moments are rare, but they happen. I think that even when we are pursuing things that we love, we all have moments of questioning.
After a couple of days, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and figure out what to do with my life here. I chose to stop banking on finding a research job and starting looking into being a server again. The fact is, I just needed to get out of the apartment, interact with people, and have something else to think about besides school, my relationship, and what I should make for dinner. I dropped my CV off at a few places and was basically offered two jobs almost immediately, one of which is in Vredehoek. I decided to take that one since I could walk to work and because the manager I spoke with made it sound like a local place with a lot of regulars. I liked that vibe.
I started training last night and it was a pretty good time. Unfortunately, it was a slow night and somewhat boring--I like to keep busy. But the people I work with are cool and I was pretty amused that kitchen staff automatically took to me because I was American. There was also a hysterical moment when two of the regulars were discussing me. The one guy told the other that I was a "Jersey girl" and he took it to mean I was from Jersey...like Europe...yeah no. :) But we had a good laugh. The whole experience helped me realize just how much I've come to like working with people (even though I still think I'm an introvert!). I think it's going to be a good experience for me.
I also made some new friends which helped get me out of my slump, too. I had a met a woman, Catherine, who worked in a shop on Long Street a couple of weeks ago. We had chatted for a bit and when we realized we were both interested in women's health, decided to connect later on facebook. At first we didn't really talk, but my friend Federico's girlfriend, Nany, invited me to a SWEAT march for sex workers' rights. I passed the info on to Catherine and sure enough she came. The march was a really good experience and it felt awesome to be involved with activism again. As Federico pointed out to me, it was really amazing and brave that so many of the sex workers came to march--the purpose of the march was to call for decriminalization of sex work, but sex work is still illegal in South Africa (to learn more about decriminalization, check out SWEAT's website, linked above). Afterwards, Catherine, Federico, Nany, another SWEAT volunteer, Flor, and I went to the Eastern Food Bizarre, which is one of my fave places to eat in town. Cheap, delicious food of Asian influences? Yes, please! Everyone seemed to hit it off with each other and we had good conversation before heading off to class.
I mentioned to Catherine that I was going to watch the Pride parade on Saturday, and she told me not to be silly, that I should walk with her and the store in the parade! It was really cool with her to be so welcoming. I did walk with her and the store owner. I had an awesome time! It was very hot, but the walk was nice and some of the floats sprayed water to cool us off. After the parade you could pay R30 (less than 5 USD) to hang out outside the stadium to watch different performances. My initial thought after the parade was that I was tired and wanted to go home, but we ended up dancing for several hours! Federico and Nany also showed up. My new friend Natasha (who is friends with Catherine) then invited us all to go back to her place to eat dinner. We stopped to pick up food and then Catherine put together the meal for us! So there I was, randomly hanging out with a whole lot of people I'd just met (including more of Natasha's friends whom were at home) having a great time. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Leave it to Pride to bring people together!
So I would say that between the job and spending time with new friends has really helped me feel better. I don't think it's ever going to be easy being away from so many people I love, but I am starting to make more connections here, too.
Tomorrow night I am going to a documentary about women's sexual and reproductive rights. Thursday is a double class day and then I'll be finishing training at work on Friday and Saturday. Then I can start taking real shifts and actually make money!
Just writing this post was really helpful to remind me of all the good stuff I have going on, as I was starting to feel a bit down again today. I really miss you all!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
More Pictures!
Hi folks! I have a written post coming soon, but I've been receiving a lot of requests for pictures. Click here to see some from hiking, the beach, and more!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The Abortion Entry
If you know me well, you knew this was coming. Maybe you didn't know it was coming. This post isn't meant to be controversial in anyway or start up moral debates.
On Tuesday we had a lecture on abortion in South Africa in my Gender and Health course. Prior to the class, we read two studies that the guest speaker, Jane Harries, had conducted: one on health workers' attitudes on abortion and the other on delays in seeking abortion until the second trimester. She also recently did another study but is having trouble finding a publisher. As one might imagine, it can be difficult for researchers to receive support in examining abortion.
It's impossible to cover everything that I learned in one entry, so I'll try to summarize my thoughts (all of the info is coming from her presentation and studies. Email me if you want more detailed info). First of all, South Africa has some of the most liberal abortion legislation in the world. This is a recent development that occurred in 1996; prior to that it was very restricted. Most of the rest of African nations still have very restrictive laws on abortion, which leads to unsafe, illegal abortions. Approximately 68,000 women die every year from illegal abortion and many more are injured, often permanently. Keep in mind that abortion is an extremely safe procedure when done in a legitimate medical setting, so the liberal laws in South Africa have saved thousands of lives. Abortion is available on demand in the first trimester of pregnancy, though it is more restricted in the second trimester (only for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, fetal abnormality, life threat to the woman carrying, or if the woman can prove low income status). Abortions are also FREE in the public sector. Yes, free! In the U.S, first trimester abortions cost about $300-$700 depending on where you are, and second trimester procedures can be $2000-3000. Something else exciting is that "mid-level" providers, such as midwives, are allowed to perform first trimester abortions here with MVA. (By the way, abortion rights are increasingly under attack in the U.S. If you'd like to learn more and support abortion access in the U.S., please click here).
Something surprising was the high percentage of South African abortions that occur in the second trimester. Later term abortions are relatively rare in the States, but here they account for 20+% of all abortions. Harries' study on delays in seeking abortion covered most of the same issues I've heard from women back home, so I haven't drawn a conclusion myself for why there are more delays here.
Probably the biggest shock for me was that medication abortion is very commonly used for second trimester procedures. Back home, it was offered to nine weeks at the latest, and to seven weeks in the FDA approved version. Here, a woman in the second trimester can be admitted to a hospital, administered medication, and then waits it out until she passes the pregnancy. To me, I can only imagine that that is a very difficult, painful (physically and emotionally) process for the woman. I would really love to see a study on women's experiences of second trimester medication abortion (I believe that is what Harries' latest study examines, so I am going to try and get my hands on it!).
Overall, despite the liberal legislation, there are certainly problems with the implementation. When the most recent legislation came out in the nineties, very few doctors were trained or prepared to offer abortion services. Also, the stigma of abortion often keeps providers from getting training even when they are seeking it out. Most disheartening to me was to hear that there isn't much pre or post abortion counseling being given to clients, and that includes contraceptive counseling. I wish there were some type of organization to offer these services, even outside of the clinic setting, like CHOICE or Exhale back home. Giving women safe spaces to discuss their health, particularly with a professional, is something that I am very passionate about. I wish I could find away to be involved with such initiatives here.
I'm going to leave the abortion portion of this entry there. But if you have questions or want more info, leave it in the comments or email me (disrespectful anti comments will be removed, so please show courtesy!).
Some updates in addition to all of that...we now have home internet (thank you, Thomas)! Schedule your skype call with me when you have time!
I've been a bit of a hermit this weekend after a bunch of classmates and I went out on Thursday to celebrate handing in our first paper. Tonight, I am going with my friends Bob and Ozie to some type of church gala dinner thingy. I have no idea what religion it's for, so it could be interesting! But it should be fun. Tomorrow night, Thomas gets home for a couple of days (yay!), so we're planning on possibly going to beach and also going out with the MPHers on Monday. I'm also going to try to persuade him that we should buy our couch this week!
Missing y'all!
On Tuesday we had a lecture on abortion in South Africa in my Gender and Health course. Prior to the class, we read two studies that the guest speaker, Jane Harries, had conducted: one on health workers' attitudes on abortion and the other on delays in seeking abortion until the second trimester. She also recently did another study but is having trouble finding a publisher. As one might imagine, it can be difficult for researchers to receive support in examining abortion.
It's impossible to cover everything that I learned in one entry, so I'll try to summarize my thoughts (all of the info is coming from her presentation and studies. Email me if you want more detailed info). First of all, South Africa has some of the most liberal abortion legislation in the world. This is a recent development that occurred in 1996; prior to that it was very restricted. Most of the rest of African nations still have very restrictive laws on abortion, which leads to unsafe, illegal abortions. Approximately 68,000 women die every year from illegal abortion and many more are injured, often permanently. Keep in mind that abortion is an extremely safe procedure when done in a legitimate medical setting, so the liberal laws in South Africa have saved thousands of lives. Abortion is available on demand in the first trimester of pregnancy, though it is more restricted in the second trimester (only for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, fetal abnormality, life threat to the woman carrying, or if the woman can prove low income status). Abortions are also FREE in the public sector. Yes, free! In the U.S, first trimester abortions cost about $300-$700 depending on where you are, and second trimester procedures can be $2000-3000. Something else exciting is that "mid-level" providers, such as midwives, are allowed to perform first trimester abortions here with MVA. (By the way, abortion rights are increasingly under attack in the U.S. If you'd like to learn more and support abortion access in the U.S., please click here).
Something surprising was the high percentage of South African abortions that occur in the second trimester. Later term abortions are relatively rare in the States, but here they account for 20+% of all abortions. Harries' study on delays in seeking abortion covered most of the same issues I've heard from women back home, so I haven't drawn a conclusion myself for why there are more delays here.
Probably the biggest shock for me was that medication abortion is very commonly used for second trimester procedures. Back home, it was offered to nine weeks at the latest, and to seven weeks in the FDA approved version. Here, a woman in the second trimester can be admitted to a hospital, administered medication, and then waits it out until she passes the pregnancy. To me, I can only imagine that that is a very difficult, painful (physically and emotionally) process for the woman. I would really love to see a study on women's experiences of second trimester medication abortion (I believe that is what Harries' latest study examines, so I am going to try and get my hands on it!).
Overall, despite the liberal legislation, there are certainly problems with the implementation. When the most recent legislation came out in the nineties, very few doctors were trained or prepared to offer abortion services. Also, the stigma of abortion often keeps providers from getting training even when they are seeking it out. Most disheartening to me was to hear that there isn't much pre or post abortion counseling being given to clients, and that includes contraceptive counseling. I wish there were some type of organization to offer these services, even outside of the clinic setting, like CHOICE or Exhale back home. Giving women safe spaces to discuss their health, particularly with a professional, is something that I am very passionate about. I wish I could find away to be involved with such initiatives here.
I'm going to leave the abortion portion of this entry there. But if you have questions or want more info, leave it in the comments or email me (disrespectful anti comments will be removed, so please show courtesy!).
Some updates in addition to all of that...we now have home internet (thank you, Thomas)! Schedule your skype call with me when you have time!
I've been a bit of a hermit this weekend after a bunch of classmates and I went out on Thursday to celebrate handing in our first paper. Tonight, I am going with my friends Bob and Ozie to some type of church gala dinner thingy. I have no idea what religion it's for, so it could be interesting! But it should be fun. Tomorrow night, Thomas gets home for a couple of days (yay!), so we're planning on possibly going to beach and also going out with the MPHers on Monday. I'm also going to try to persuade him that we should buy our couch this week!
Missing y'all!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thar She Blows!
Hello folks,
Oh what a day. This morning, while the Telecom guy was here to install our internet (hooray! however, we won’t be totally up and running for at least a couple more days), the wind blew one of our balcony doors open (which were locked, by the way) and shattered the glass in one of the four doors. At the time, I was downstairs letting the guy out to check the box. At the sound of broken glass, I went upstairs to discover it!
The wind has been very, very strong since last night. I was loving it since we finally had a nice, cool evening, but obviously this is the downside. I have to say, our landlord was amazing about it—it’s already repaired. Phew. I couldn’t figure out what actually broke the glass, but the repair guy said very likely it was just a direct result of the wind. Geez.
Otherwise, it’s been an uneventful week. Studying, catching up on laundry, etc.
I finally started that dreaded history paper and have a decent chunk complete. To prep, I read some of our professor’s (Howard Phillips) book UCT: The Formative Years. It was actually a really interesting read, especially as a student. When UCT first started training doctors, they were only able to provide the first year of medical school and then students would travel overseas to complete their studies. In 1920, they were able to offer the full program for the first time. It was soon evident that class rooms and clinical space were too limited for the amount of students training, so in the late ‘20s, they moved to a new Health Sciences campus in Observatory, which is where I take classes now! They also built Groote Schuur Hospital specially to be a University hospital, which I didn’t know. It was finished in 1938. I had thought the hospital was older than that.
Something else really interesting (and horrifying) was that originally Indian and Colored (people of mixed race) medical students were forced to complete clinical trainings abroad, as they were not to work in white wards. No one in the faculty really spoke up about it, because it was thought breaking that rule would place the medical program in jeopardy. Because of WWII, in 1943 Indian and Colored students were allowed to do clinical in Groote Schuur, but they weren’t allowed to see White patients—even if they were deceased! Seriously?! Seriously. And even that policy was thought of as liberal! His book says the policy continued until the 1960s, but I’m not sure what changes were put in place then.
Another interesting thing we learned in class was how the outbreak of the bubonic plague at the beginning of the twentieth century followed by the flu outbreak of 1918 (which was devastating…dead bodies in the streets, etc.) led to some of the first racially segregated living. The plague was blamed on dock workers (of color) for bringing it in with their cargo and they were driven out of Cape Town. A similar thing happened in 1918, especially because more and more Black residents were arriving.
I should totally get an A in this class, right? J
I’m working on some Epidemiology right now, since I had to miss class today for the repairs (thankfully this professor had made it very clear that it’s okay to miss class if we need to). Hopefully I’ll be posting this in an hour or so since my plan is to head to Sidewalk Café for dinner and internet! (actually, Sidewalk's internet cut out while I was there, probably due to the wind? So I'm posting this a day late, from another Vredehoek cafe with free internet that I recently discovered).
I’ve been spending so much time alone, it’s strange. Definitely missing my friends and family back home. <3
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