'Me & my bruvver'

'Bees around a honeypot'









Monday 12 July

We were a sad looking bunch at work today. Walking wounded. P---- has a large bruise on her ankle, Sister Pauline has a bandage round her foot, J---- has her calf strapped, and the red area on my left leg is not showing today, so I got away lightly. But proudly around our necks we wore our medallions.

The Bishop had come to the hospital early on Sunday morning straight after Mass to bless the new medical ward. Unfortunately, the ‘Liberty Loo’ was not on the list, so it missed out on a blessing. But I will send you the latest pics - it has now been painted, looks good.

I just wish the patients had a path to get to it - at the moment they have to walk across a sea of mud and builders rubbish. I am sure fixing that will be in the plans somewhere.

Our lovely felled tree has been another source of entertainment this week. The children found a honeypot in it, so have been having a great time, all getting sugar hits - see photo.

Our new students started working on the wards for 1hr every morning, just making beds and damp dusting. It’s good to see them interacting with the patients. They were saying they are feeling like real nurses now. This group are so different from last year; there are 3 girls and 13 men. All have had at least 4 years education, some more. Most are used to studying, just finished school, so they don’t find the exams they have most weeks too challenging.

Pauline and I have been doing some extra teaching these last 2 weeks as they needed revision on a few subjects. It is years since I opened an anatomy and physiology book, never mind teach it. My topics were the ear, the skeletal system, bones, joints and all that is attached. Pauline was covering the digestive system and the skin. They sit their exam next week, so we will wait and see!

Once again, thank you Ronnie, Joan and others for your presentations on many topics. We seem to find one for most of our subjects, so then we just have to simplify them, add extra pictures, and make sure we are covering all that is written in the curriculum.

Yesterday, I was teaching ‘last offices’, or ‘care of the dying and the deceased patient’. It was a really interesting two hours, because I did not pretend to know what the Dinkas do with their loved ones. So I learned heaps. It was a very interactive class.

When you read this, you should realise that they face death so much. Death is so commonplace in Africa and a high percentage happens in South Sudan.

People prefer to die at home, so they are buried close to the house, but in an area that you do not walk past every day. They could not understand the concept of cremation, thought that it was terrible, as was a post mortem – why do you need one? They also believe that if someone dies owing cows, the family will be punished in some way until the debt is paid.

If someone is struck by lightning, it is because the gods are angry with you, you must have done something bad, and the parents cannot grieve for them, or look at them after death. Many believe that they will come back to earth as something else - a tree, or a cow - a bit like the Aboriginal people having a totem. It is the family members that wash the body and wrap it in a cloth.

To let people know that there has been a death in one village, a drum call goes out with a special beat. As it is so flat here, the sound travels well. People will walk to the next village to attend the funeral, so they are big affairs.

The students said that old people (life expectancy in South Sudan is 42 yrs) seem to know when they are going to die and will gather the family around the fire and tell them as much history as they know, so it will be passed down to the next generations.

Nothing is written down. Jewellery is passed to the women in the family, no written wills. When someone dies in the hospital there is no death certificate to give to the family. It is just recorded in the hospital stats that there was a death. At the end of the lesson, I think I learnt more than them - they should set me an exam!!