Saying goodbye to Katete

Working hard on the ward 1

Our time at St Francis has finally come to an end.  Its been a busy few weeks, and two weeks ago we drove the 500km to Lusaka to collect Becca’s parents for their grand tour of Zambia.  It is always a bit odd going to the big city which provides more of a culture shock than London with its big malls, big cars and big people. When you’re sitting in ‘Mugg and Bean’ the South African coffee chain having coffee and muffins, you can’t believe this is the same Zambia we know and love.

More working hard

Sue and Peter headed off for a safari in South Luangwa and  we set about our last week of work.  It has been great to be able to hand over to Hamish and Yasmine, two doctors from New Zealand, and know that the wards will continue to run (very competetently!)

Tom and Mary!!

Getting ready for a girls night out...

Getting ready for a boys night out

Becca and Betty - not sleeping

Captain Patrick!

In TB corner with Dennis

Working hard 3

Last weekend we said our sad goodbyes to all our colleagues and friends from the last six months.  On Friday we had a reasonably civilised day without working too much and then on Friday night we tried to imitate a good Zambian party with plenty of very loud music, Mosi lager and dancing.  We had a fantastic time and lots of people came, which made it really special, a personal highlight was dancing with the translators without whom our work in clinic would not have been possible, they are just so fab (and have some amazing moves, once again showing us how it’s done!) For sake of tradition we finished the night at Drums our very classy local nightclub.

Tembo!

Becca and the boys

On Saturday Becca’s parents arrived back from South Luangwa, and we took them on a tour of Katete market.  At the weekend we visited Nelson (our gardener) and his family, as well as George (our favourite taxi driver) and were treated to a roast chicken, a cuddle from his lovely baby Jasmine and a song from his wife.  We felt honoured and humbled  and lucky to have got to know such genuine generous people.

Becca with more boys!

Our time in Katete has been the most amazing rewarding part of our career to date, and we will never forget the fantastic people we have worked with, and the many patients who have been so much fun and rewarding to treat.   It has been great to learn from and to teach our medical licentiates and clinical officers, and hopefully have had a positive influence on the patients and the hospital, although we know that six months is such a short time.  We would definitely recommend  working at somewhere like St Francis. The tropical medicine diploma was fantastic preparation and with an open-mind, a flexible approach and being prepared to be challenged at times, we found the whole experience incredible and definitely worthwhile.

There aint no party like a Zambian Party

We will add a little more soon following our travels to Livingstone and beyond!..