Teaming Up

Here is the long-awaited picture of my classmate and travel companion, Kemi. It was taken in the beginning of third year during our surgery rotation, in the middle of a 30-hour shift. As you can tell, she's having tons of fun.


Since Kemi is pictured in her white coat, here is a picture of me at our "transition ceremony" between second and third year. I am on the right, with another classmate, Holly. (This is the most professional picture I could find from that day.)


Pictured at right is Dr. Nicholas, director of this rotation and founder of IFAP.



To read about Rev. Corine McClintock, founder and director of Sparrow Ministries, see the American version of the Sparrow Village website.


Finally, we gratefully acknowledge philanthropist David Pincus, who has long supported medical students taking this elective, and without whose assistance this trip could not take place.

Reading Up

Here are some books I've read recently that are vaguely or specifically related to my impending sojourn:


28: Stories of AIDS in Africa (2007)
By Stephanie Nolan

Simply written, this book by Toronto’s Globe and Mail Africa bureau chief gives a glimpse into the lives of 28 very different HIV-positive people living in Africa. The epilogue is depressing.


Disgrace (2000)
By J. M. Coetzee

The many novels by this South African Nobel laureate span the colonial, apartheid, and contemporary eras of his home country (though he recently emigrated to Australia). His other best-known books are Waiting for the Barbarians (1982) and The Life and Times of Michael K (2003). This particular story is a quick read about father-daughter relationships, midlife crises, and race relations after apartheid.


Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa (2000)
By Antjie Krog

This South African poet and radio journalist for the South African Broadcasting Company covered the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee starting in 1995, after the fall of apartheid. The book is a flowing mixture of history, victim and perpetrator stories, and the author's grappling with her identity as an Afrikaner in post-apartheid South Africa.

[Impressively, publicly available from the TRC website are transcripts from all committee hearings, including each personal testimony heard before the Human Rights Violations Committee, the decision made on every individual application to the Amnesty Committee, and submissions made by the major political parties and military groups regarding their role in apartheid and involvement in gross human rights violations. Fascinating stuff. And free.]


When Bodies Remember: Experiences and Politics of AIDS in South Africa (2007)
By Didier Fassin

I am stuck in the first few chapters of this one, what with the hardcore social sciences jargon and the occasionally off translation from the original French. Nevertheless, I have confidence it will pick up once I get into the meatier sections that contrast the perspective of one woman dying of AIDS in her township shack with that of South Africa's controversial president, Thabo Mbeki. The author is a French professor of sociology and anthropology, and former vice president of Doctors Without Borders (inspiration for the title of this blog).


Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (1995)
It's by Nelson Mandela.

Frankly, I have yet to read it.
(It is fat and I am slow).



P.S. All these books are available at your favorite online superstore, such as Amazon or B&N, but I recommend Politics & Prose, the neighborhood bookstore where I grew up in Washington, DC. Good people.

Meeting Up

Today I met with Dr. Stephen Nicholas, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University, Director of Pediatrics at Harlem Hospital, and founder of the aforementioned International Family AIDS Program as well as many other admirable and important entities. One of his roles is course director for my South Africa rotation, which, if you were wondering, is formally titled, "PE17P Insights into Global Health: HIV-Infected Children and their Families in South Africa & Russia." Only as far as I know I will not be spending any time in Russia.

This weekend I will, however, be in San Francisco. There I will see my classmate Kemi. Kemi and I rotated through 3rd year clerkships together, so we are basically war buddies. I was therefore rather excited when I found out she would also be doing this rotation in South Africa. We are meeting to discuss the trip since she wasn't able to make the meeting today. Because she's in San Francisco.
(I will also see if she'll let me post a moderately funny picture of her that I found recently on my cell phone. That should be fun.)

Counting Down

As a 4th year medical student, I have the privilege of taking several global health electives. In February 2008, I will be spending the month working in Johannesburg, South Africa. I will be graciously hosted by Sparrow Ministries and living in a dome at Sparrows' Nest, an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS.

I will also be working at the pediatric HIV clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, the largest hospital in the world (if you believe wikipedia). The rotation is organized through the International Family AIDS Program, which provides health care, research, training, and education at sites in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Russia, and South Africa.

Follow the links above for information on how to help.

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