friday

A slower day today which has been no bad thing !
We spent the morning in the HIV clinic. Despite it being run totally in French we got alot out of it , the records being in english help
As with all Rwandan set ups it is very structured and protocol driven and no room for individualising for patient need and dare i say a little short on compassion . On paper all areas are covered . A very sad 82 year old gentleman came to clinic who is totally alone,  he contracted HIV from his wife who in turn contracted it from her daughter when she helped her through a home birth,  they all  now dead, but most had a sad tale to tell and a far cry from the lady at Hagley WI who , when I gave the talk there asked , how can we stop the black men having sex !
We went back to the ward to catch up on a couple of patients and have manged to arrange  meeting on monday with the family of the dying lady with the brain tumour to get her home . we  also went back to our young papraplegic , we got him sitting up in the bed . we established that the fear of getting him in a wheel chair as he once 'became unconscious' - presumably fainted after being flat on his back for so long. he is going to be sat up by his carer over the week end . Ruth and I then went into the shops to try and find him a soft ball for hand therapy - we tried every shop and the best we could do was 2 baby rattles. His face lit up when we took them back and he was very keen to practise and have something to do. It turns our the wheel chair at the end of the bed is his , we had been told there was no wheel chair , no one had asked !, We also went to a scrap yard to see if we could find something to make a back rest but no luck
Friday afternoon in Rwanda is national sports afternoon ( = wednesday afternoons in UK schools and unis) so nothing on our timetable
It has poured with rain all afternoon and been rather chilly so we have been at our computers in the dining area , light v dim , several power cuts and we had the last of our chocolate supplies!! and I have been updating my appraisal and recording info for our reports , we are about to try and post someting on our THET google group
2 rather well spoken young english boys on gap year passed through for a cup of tea and chips  on their motor bikes! they got a teapot , I have been having African sweet tea they just asked for English tea and it came in a pot -.............next time !!