My expectations, My fears, My perceptions

The time at Hotel Ramada allowed me to reflect about my trip beyond the “Hey I’m going to Africa, everyone.” (Imagine me saying that in obnoxious George Constanza voice.) I began planning my Africa trip in Dec 04 with the help of Anil Mangla, United Nations of Minnesota Co-President and Susan Fox the United Nations HERO (Help Educate at Risk Orphans) Program Coordinator (Check my website for the full details of the program) at Saint Benedictine Hospital in Nongoma, South Africa. Realities of my expedition trickled into my awareness, but no one really knew what South Africa held for me.

What I know:
1) HIV/AIDS is a pandemic throughout South Africa.
2) Anti-retroviral Therapy (ARV) is limited, but starting one year became more accessible and accepted throughout South Africa.
3) Benedictine Hospital is a key provincial hospital in Zulu Land.
4) Nongoma is deep in rural South Africa, approximately 300 km north of Durban and 1 hour north of Richard’s bay and is part of Zulu Land.
5) I like my girl Krista (pictured above)
6) The Pixies rock.
7) The taste of India is hidden in Durban.
8) I can’t speak Zulu and most of the residents of Zulu do not speak English.
9) I suck at driving a manual.

My Wants:
1) I want to be a global citizen.
2) I want to sharpen my clinical skills.
3) I want to begin to understand the cultural, socioeconomic, and political ramifications of HIV/AIDS
4) I want a break from the med school madness
5) I want to find out what my future holds in medicine.
6) I want to see the wildlife and the big city life of Cape Town.

My Fears:
1) Becoming cynical and losing faith in humanity.
2) Looking like an idiot from the states.
3) Stalling my car up a mountain.
4) Realizing that I cannot survive out of my own comfort zone.
5) Feeling tremendously lonely.
6) Not finding an ATM.

My Perceptions:
1) South Africa is still healing from Apartheid.
2) South Africans are rugby thugs.
3) South Africa is unsafe at night, particularly for travelers.
4) South Africa is one of the more economically sound nations in Africa, but rural South Africa lack resources and is filled with poverty.
5) HIV/AIDS is rooted from poverty, gender inequity, mis-education, stigma
6) Benedectine Hospital serves thousands of rural people with HIV/AIDS, TB, trauma, malnourishment from miles around without adequate facilities and is need of more physicians.
7) No CT or MRI scans, Ohhh my.
8) Dr. Emanual Ajav, a professor in Ag Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria told me to just say “No” to the South African women.