First visit to the clinic

Today I headed out to the basic health clinic that ORA runs just outside of Kabul. Was amazing to see. I took photos and tried conversing with the patients who were waiting. With almost no language, it was mostly smiles and sign language. The kids were super cute and loved having their picture taken. Lots of mums wanted me to take photos of their babies, but kept themselves well hidden under their burqas. At the 'old clinic' there was a room for immunising babies, a little laboratory for testing blood, a room for all the medicines and a couple of rooms for the doctors to see patients (emphasis on 'see' as they rarely touch them). The old men in the photo above had problems with their eyes.

At the new clinic there was a garden which they are setting up as a model for coming training on kitchen gardens. There was an outdoor classroom where they are running a course for some selected village women- today it was on family planning. Inside were LOTS of mums with malnourished babies and lots of young girls. I watched Dr. Bronwyn in action weighing babies, listening to their chests and prescribing them superflour and medicines.

Across from the new clinic was a tent camp for internally displaced people. They are from an area in Eastern Afghanistan that has been completely destroyed. There is no possibility for them to return and start a life there, with their houses completely obliterated and their irrigation systems ruined etc.

I found the drive out there so interesting, also walking from the old to the new clinic, thru the village. There are so many sights and smells and sounds to take in. Tomorrow I'm going to meet my language teacher and hopefully start some Dari lessons, will be great. It looks like I will be teaching English too, to some staff from the HIV/Aids education centre. More on that when it happens!