Blogs from Swaziland, Africa
May 12th 2012
Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in the world and it seems that it is belonging to ‘real’ Africa. For first time during our Africa journey we crossed the border in our own car and we were met by dirty and almost 4x4 roads. On these small forest roads our small car left just a ball of dust behind and surprised local eyes. The kids were running after our car, people walking and starring on the roads – welcome back to Africa. The real Africa was here once again and reminded us about our challenging time around Africa which we have forgotten a little bit and seem it was ages ago. South Africa is so far away from the other African nations that we visited or perhaps that it is quite comfortable now. In fact ... read more
April 8th 2012
Day12 – Leaving Mozambique is in a certain sense the end of our trip. We left Maputo early and looked for a filling station on our way out. A Policeman noticed that we look a little lost, came driving to us across an intersection with his motorcycle and told us to follow him. We crossed a red robot and on the way he shouted at some taxis who were apparently misbehaving. Finally he pointed us to the entrance of the filling station and waved good-bye. Man, I like driving a bike! Once again we did not have many experiences along the way and I contribute it to the fact that mentally our holiday was over. We also tried to cover longer distances and therefore stopped less. The crossing at the Swazi border (Goba / Mhlumeni Border ... read more
March 25th 2012
Sorry this is out of order. I'm writing you from the airport in Johannesburg - just before our flight back Stateside. We leave in about 3 hours for Atlanta - a 16-17 hour haul! We left the Kruger Game Park early this morning, so have been in a van for the 6 1/2 drive to J-burg. Individually, I think we are all ready to come home and contemplate an impressive trip. Reflecting back, we've done a lot from our first night here in Jburg, a church service in Manzini, HIV/AIDS task force visits while in Manzini, the game park near Manzini, eye clinics in Manzini, Mbabuda and Siteki, Luke Commission general clinics in rural areas, Mabuda Farms, surgery -clinics-postops at Good Shepherd and Mabuda Farms - the idyllic setting we enjoyed for too little time. This ... read more
March 22nd 2012
0 0 1 143 816 Oculoplastics 6 1 958 14.0 Mabuda or "Place of Dreams" is the romantic farm atop the beautiful Lebombo Mountains in Eastern Swaziland near the Mozambique border. It is a place where time stands still, where the memories of colonial days are still alive and well. Mabuda Farms is ... read more
March 22nd 2012
We began surgery today with Dr. Pons at Good Shepherd Hospital. Twenty-two patients were on the schedule for today – ambitious considering we’ll were to be teaching techniques. We started off with a tear duct bypass, a couple of cataracts, a bilateral squamous cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva, a pediatric cataract that had to be cancelled because of a small pupil, another cataract with a posterior capsulectomy, another internal DCR I did with the ENT doctor while Dr. Pons did the anesthesia (general) because our nurse anesthetist left and went upstairs for an emergency C-section. We then started an impressive array of adult and pediatric cataract cases: one family where the mother and four children all had bilateral severe crystalline cataracts. The residents were involved and engaged and also performed conjuctival resection of severe pterygia and ... read more
March 21st 2012
Today, after breakfast in the Green Shed, the DMEI team joined Dr. Pons to head up to the Eye Clinic at Good Shepherd Hospital. This is a Catholic Hospital where Dr. Pons has established his eye service … for over a decade the only eye clinic in the country. He has grown and refined the services offered there, but is constantly challenged with equipment breakdowns, supply shortages and challenging clinical presentations. His staff has been honed and is quite good. He has evolved a computer database to track his practice with rudimentary data on over a decade of patients here. We began the day meeting with the medical staff. Rather interesting – one of them was an internist from Manhattan that is here working on an AIDS home care project. The rest of the staff were ... read more
March 21st 2012
0 0 1 56 323 Oculoplastics 2 1 378 14.0 Dr. Pons and his wife Helen hosted the Eye team for lunch at their home here on Mabuda Farms. An elegant turn of the century African farm home. It is a large stone lodge on a large yard with gardens (roses, vegetables, fruit) adjacent to all the farm bu... read more
March 21st 2012
Shortly after we arrived back at the clinic, the van with another group from the big team arrived to pick us up to take us to a remote village to join the Luke Commission. Their vision is to save the Swazi people from extinction due to the pandemics of TB and HIV/AIDS by delivering compassionate comprehensive healthcare to the most isolated rural pareas of Swaziland. It was founded in 2004 by Dr. Harry and Echo (PAC) VanderWal and since then, the VanderWals have conducted more than 120 mobile medical clinics throughout this country with the highest AIDS rate in the world. A non-profit organization from the United States, The Luke Commission is funded by individuals, schools, businesses, churches, and community organizations in the U.S.A. and Canada, who donate their time and their money to enable the ... read more
March 20th 2012
0 0 1 286 1631 Oculoplastics 13 3 1914 14.0 Tuesday meant getting packed and pulling out of the George Hotel in Manzini and headed out to do some lectures, clinics and then end up in Mabuda Farms in Siteki on the far eastern edge of Swaziland…just shy of the Mozambique border. The Eye Team ... read more
March 20th 2012
The drive to Mabuda Farms took us to the three layers of the country named after the Dutch names for the geographic elevations – the High Feld mountain region; the Middle Feld – rolling hills just high enough elevation to avoid the malarial mosquitos and the Lower Feld sugar plantations in the valleys. The Mabuda Farms itself is an oasis in a beautiful country. We met Mrs. Pons – Helen – whose family has owned and vacationed at Mabuda Farms her whole life. Through a series of circumstances, the Pons family has come to own it and she runs a bed and breakfast here – multiple cabins with capacity for a lot of people to stay. They have a central kitchen and cafeteria (“The Green Shed”) where we met for dinner and had a great visit ... read more
