Monkey Bay Hospital.

Today I was working at Monkey Bay Hospital, we are limited by what we can do whether we are qualified or not. So basically it means doing blood pressures with broken stethescopes, weighing people on broken scales and taking temperatures with faulty thermometers...

The wards were not actually as busy as normal today and I spent my time in maternity and paediatrics...it is incredible what the women here do and I don't know how the patients that survive actually do so. Put it this way, I wont be moaning about the NHS ever again.

The women come in to give birth in huge numbers, they give birth in a small room....together, there are two beds so if more than two are in labour they are on the floor. They give birth without drugs, usually without supervision and without making a sound. It is the most undignified thing I have ever seen but they never ever complain.

The kids don't complain in the childrens ward, they just sleep and lie there very still no matter how bad they feel. There were babies admitted with severe dehydration yet weren't attached to any fluids. Those lucky enough to be on drips were empty anyway.

There is a new maternity wing being built so they are hoping to encourage the fathers to be with their wives during labour and birth. This is not common currently and I did not see a single pregnant woman with a man and trust me there were hundreds, most of them as young as fifteen and certainly not on their first child. It is a million miles from what we know. But I don't think there is any way of changing it. The staff at the hospital weren't horrible, I don't think it is possible for a Malawian to BE horrible but they didn't seem to happy about us being there. Maybe it is a bit patronising of the Mazungus to think we know better than them when they have leaved and breathed this this life for so long.

Luckily I survived the morning without a death, they had lost a baby shortly before we began I think, it is harder for the volunteers with vast medical knowledge because they are watching people die who could be treated very easily in the West. More upsetting to see is that there are people there quite literally just waiting to die...there is nothing more that can be done with them, not here in Malawi anyway.

On the other hand at least there are people here trying, a poorly equipped hospital is better than no hospital at all...

This afternoon I was teaching a HBC class in Namakoma village, this is what we call Home Based Care. People are selected from each village to come to classes and they learn basic first aid and biology etc and they can then learn about illness and disease and how they can treat it. So few people can actually reach a hospital that by giving someone within the village some medical knowledge, the villagers stand a much better chance of surviving whatever they come down with.

Yesterday I managed to see Grace, she was back at school and although a little subdued she was feeling better. I'm not sure if she had malaria as they tend to just label any illness as malaria over here but none the less I am relieved she returned. I am dreading the day a child does not come back...Kevin has been absent from Chilombo orphanage for two days now...

Tionana...