Creepers, crawlers, and other creatures

Flying ants, a good source of protein! I arrived to work one day to find my night staff with a bag of them that he'd collected during his shift (seeing as they are attracted to the light in the ward office). This wee boy was diligently skewering them ready to roast.


Beetle - just a small one!


Turtles at the orphanage


Blue headed lizards


Ah yikes! SO pleased to find this one DEAD outside my bedroom. What a whopper! I've thankfully not seen one alive yet...



Snake skin


Army ants with their in-charges.


Baby lizard... these little fullas are everywhere, very cute!


Always finding interesting looking insects.


Chameleons - beautiful gangly creatures - the locals are terrified of them! Can't understand why...

They change colour quickly to camouflage to their environment...

These 3 pics are all of the same chameleon! Wow, check out that chin when it feels threatened!!

Snakes! Ah! I really am in Africa...


I haven't seen many snakes since I've been here, and I'm not complaining! I don't like them at all... and will only touch them if they're dead. This stick snake we came across when out for a run one morning. One of the missionaries dogs attacked it and killed it. This worm snake was found near our house (it's also dead).

A short trip away


Life is a struggle! We saw many amusing slogans on vehicles during my 2-day break in Kitwe.


The evening sky on the way home, and 2 village kids come to say hello while we stopped to clean all the bugs off the windscreen.

Some interesting cases on mens ward


Makayi traveled 2 days on the back of a motorcyle with a compound fracture.


Ngozo has been on my ward 6 months now with osteomylitis of his knee. He's had several operations including this external fixation.


Ironically, this man came in with abdominal pain and was completely unconcerned that his face was peeling off! He had had a rash, and went to the village witchdoctor for some local medicine which he then poured on his head.


A bad bone cancer in one of my patients.

Childrens ward

Anna has taken over as charge of childrens ward and is doing a fantastic job.

Kasera is 7 and has heart failure. She has polycythemia and had to have a unit of blood drained. Jenovic is the son of Ngozo on my ward and keeps us company, here he and Anna have swapped shoes.


Maggie and Humphrey have blounts disease (bow legs) which a visiting orthopedic surgeon operated on.


Chrispin is 2 and a half years old and we are unsure of what his diagnosis is, but it could be congenital syphillis. He cannot walk or crawl and has severe developmental delay.


Cecilia's mother had 2 other children die before the age of 2 months with the same condition, a peculiar congenital flesh eating disease. Cecilia was discharged aged 3 and a half months.


This young boy had a bad lymphoma. Nothing could be done.

Theatre


Anna and David in theatre.


A young man on my ward had this bad osteomylitis. This is the operation to remove the piece of dead bone, known as a "sequestrian" to allow the infection to clear.


Learning by doing... this is me suturing a foot.

Kalene Hill under the stars

On the weekend a small group of us trekked up Kalene Hill for a night under the stars.


Watching the sun set from an overhanging rock, with a cup of tea of course. The sunset and sunrise weren't as spectacular as hoped due to all the smoke on the horizon, but still beautiful!


Setting up camp... collecting firewood, and dinner on the fire.


We enjoyed a delicious one pot meal "pokjiekos" out on sunrise rock.


An evening around the campfire... with damper! A little taste of home.


David and Suzie, both medical students from the UK. More cups of tea, and roasted marshmallows. What a treat!


Calling it a night and getting cozy with Anna, Charlie and Grace on sunrise rock (followed by 7 hours of attempting to sleep with the hard surface below and the wind howling all night long).