Just another day in Kowak

While we have definitely fallen into the rhythm of daily life of Kowak, most days bring us some sort of surprise, reminding us that we are very far from the United States! Here are some highlights from the week so far...

Sunday afternoon (we have Sundays off!), we decided to explore the area a little more, and went on a longer run/walk to find a nearby river we had heard about. After asking a few people directions, we found the Mori river (which was a pretty muddy), only to joined by a heard of cows and some donkies getting a drink! On the way back, we decided to climb one of the many huge clumps of boulders that are scattered throughout the area. In the process, we aquired a following of about 10 kids, who joined us in admiring the the view of the area from the top! Climbing down, we met an older man, who proceeded to show us a human skeleton that was under one of these huge rocks. He said something about it being the body of a wizard from about 20 years ago...you know, just a normal Sunday afternoon walk!

Working in hospitals, no matter where, will always give you a few good stories. I was so glad Steph was there to experience this one with me (Kat)! Tuesday morning, while rounding on the patients with the doctor, we were discussing different possible diagnoses for a 20yr old woman who had come in that night. She was not in good shape on arrival, having been to multiple other hospitals over the past few years. The doctor was in the process of writing new orders for her, when we looked over, and noticed that she stopped breathing! Steph and I looked at eachother, not sure what to do, being used to calling a code and starting CPR. But there was none of that. We just declared her dead, covered her up, called her family in, and moved onto the next patient, laying in the bed right next to her. The best part was later that day, we were sitting outside, and saw the family drive away with the body wrapped in a blanket, propped up between two people, on a motorcycle!! I guess there are no hurses in this part of Africa! Other highlights include helping deliver more babies, spur of the moment diagnostic bladder aspirations (non medical descrpition = big needle straight into the stomach without any pain meidicine) and assisting with stitching up a 6inch skin tear that went down to the muscle!

The other highlight would have to be yesterday evening. Hearing a bunch of cheering, we headed up to the soccer field only to find a game in process, being watched by about 100 people, mostly school-aged kids. We went home, grabbed a soccerball we had brought, and let the kids play with it. It was so much fun watching 70 kids chase one ball around the sidelines! When the game was over, the older guys who were watching, took the ball from the kids, and started their own game. And because we provided the ball, we got to play! Phew, these guys were fast and pretty good! But we had fun and held our own (aka touched the ball a few times when they let us!). Our game had a fair audience too, lots of the hospital workers, and some of the patients, came to watch! From what we were told, this was the first time most of these people had seen girls play soccer. Hopefully there will be more games in the future, just gotta let our legs recover first!