Mochudi and Other Assorted Sidenotes

Hello from yet another internet cafe!
As suggested by the title, I spent last week in the village of Mochudi, about 40 minutes' drive from Gaborone. The purpose of this was to see how rural medicine works in Botswana, and also for the students who are staying the the dorms at the University of Botswana to get a chance to do homestays as well. (We were given a choice of where to stay in Gaborone, but everyone did homestays in Mochudi, so I've had two separate host families this trip!)

I'll address the rural medicine first. Essentially, clinics in Mochudi are exactly the same as in Gaborone. This makes sense, since the public clinics are all run by the Ministry of Health. Mochudi just wasn't as crowded; in Gaborone, when I arrive at the clinic at 6:45 each morning (my host mother drops me on her way to work), there are always people already lined up wating for the clinic to open at 7:30. In Mochudi, no one really got there until 9:00. So, what did I do all day? Not much. I literally read The Last of the Mohicans during my week in the clinic. Oh well.

My host family was great, however. When I arrived on Saturday, my mother took me to the funeral of one of her relatives, where I ended up making bread and was finally given a Setswana name (Banyana!). She wanted to know what all my pills were for and why my hair changed color after I washed it. (Answer: Because it was wet.) We had a good time.

On a side note, I have temporarily developed a phobia of dogs here. The dogs here aren't really pets; they're kept for security. Unfortunately, they do their jobs very well and I have been chased by dogs no less than four times in the past week. (Why me? It can't be the meat they smell in my blood.) I'm told they rarely actually bite, and they just bark to scare people. Well, it's working. Plus, I didn't get the rabies shot, so I really don't feel like taking chances. If anyone has a nice, chubby American dog that I can pet for a while when I get home, I'm sure I'll get over my fear in no time.

The program is starting to wind down now, as we have only twelve days left before departure. I'll have my last clinics and classwork next week, and then there's a long weekend during which I'll explore Gaborone, station myself in various cafes, and write my paper on my clinical experience. Then final exam, and then...airport! I'm looking forward to hanging out in Gaborone but also, of course, to coming home.