Peace Corps: One week at permanent site

This week I was at my permanent site; The one I'll be living at for two years. The real deal. And it went well! The following is a day-by-day account of how the week went, what I did, and what I learned.

This was for one week only, and as I write this I have already returned to the training village for another month of learning before we swear in, officially become Peace Corps Volunteers, and move to our permanent sites. Enjoy the recap!

Monday

​First day at the clinic and what an adventure it was. I started out helping with drawing blood from 7:30 to around 10:00 am. I was tasked with filling in paperwork for the people who came in; My clinic primarily uses paper-based information storage, so this is what I was helping keep record of. Most of the ~30 patients this morning were doing routine bloodwork to monitor HIV viral load and ensure they are still virally suppressed.

Basically, ART treatment can reduce the presence of HIV in a patients blood by so much that they won't be able to transmit HIV to others; This is what's called viral suppression, and around 97% of HIV positive Basotho are already virally suppressed. So, even though Lesotho's overall HIV percentage rate seems alarming, in reality most of those cases are not transmissible and they will live full lives.

After this I shadowed a Village Health Worker (VHW) as she did TB screening for the same people who had blood drawn earlier. This is a simple check to make sure the patients haven't developed a cough, bloody mucus, or recently lost weight (these are common signs of TB). This is just a precaution, and our clinic has only had one TB infection this year.

After the TB screening, around noon, I departed the clinic in an ambulance with my supervisor and a kid with a wrist injury. We went to a nearby hospital and I waited while this kid got an x-ray and a cast for his fractured wrist. This took around three hours in total. By the time we got back to the health clinic, it was 5pm and I began a tired trek home.

Tuesday

Slow day, patient wise. We had maybe ten come in all day, and this seems to be a common pattern in health clinics in Lesotho; there are busy days and more relaxed ones.

I ended up helping manage the stock rooms by putting medicine counts into the Lesotho national health database. This is done at the beginning of each month, so each health facility gets the medicines that are low or out of stock.

Despite how tedious this sounds (and how tedious it was) the vibes were great. We played music and the health workers sang and danced as we punched records into the computer. I played "Hohle Le Lesotho" by Cityzeen LS and my coworkers thought it was hilarious that I knew it (this song is like the unofficial national anthem over here, give it a listen). They were also shocked at how quick I was at using the computer; I explained that I studied computers in college, and used them haholo (a lot).

I got out earlier, and I was home around 4:30. I ate dinner and played with the local bana (children). This is always a highlight of the day. We played frisbee, climbed all over the soccer goalposts, and exchanged dance moves. I also had one of the older kids write down everyone's names into my phone so I will remember them better. During this session there was also a legendary double rainbow sunset, photos and video below!

Wednesday

The day started with a longer run on new roads; Just like when I was living in Philly, I am slowly building a mental model of the paths and trails here. Every run is a new adventure!

After the workout I made breakfast and was at the clinic by 8:00. In the morning I shadowed health talks on oral hygiene and breastfeeding for new mothers. These are informational sessions for anyone who wants to come, and we had about 25 people in total attend sessions.

Then we spent the late morning putting medication stock cards back on the shelves. These cards are physical storage trackers, so I was tasked to ensure the amount listed on the card matched the amount we had; This is critical for when the clinic submits its monthly medicine request, so we can get what we need.

I got off work early, around 2, so I went home and went back out into the mountains for round two of the day. This time, no running, just climbing cliff faces and walking around forests. Building the mental map hape (again). I captured some great photos from this adventure, especially while seated on a cliff edge (see below).

Thursday

The clinic was low volume today, so I just did some more work in the medicine stock room, and then left around noon with my counterpart. We went and climbed a nearby mountain, and talked about US politics, the medical system in Lesotho, and the food of America/Lesotho. I got home early to pack up and prepare to navigate back to the training village, via public taxis, alone.

Friday

The great day of travelling. I mentioned in a previous post that there would come a time when I would have to use public transit in Lesotho alone. And that day was today. I successfully got from my permanent village to Maseru to my training village. It was around four hours of transport time, but it took most of the day because I waited for hours in Maseru for other volunteers to arrive so we could head back together.

I waited in Maseru with a fellow volunteer, and we explored parts of the city. We checked out the grocery store, some vendor stalls, and splurged on a nicer meal plus ice cream to boot.

Overall, this week was a success, and I look forward to my two year stay at my permanent site. Enjoy all the photos below.