Hi all,

Hello from another sunny Saturday in Tonj.  This morning began with class led by our pharmacist pertaining to basics of pharmacy and drugs.  One of the topics was how to complete a prescription to give to the pharmacy.  As one of the resident “doctors” here (I have completely one year of medical school in the States), I have been filling out prescriptions since day 1 here.  I had to laugh when we talked about completing prescriptions only on appropriate prescription pads.  Here, every patient who comes in pays a one-time fee for his own patient book, which is a 20-page children’s notebook, usually with pictures of imitation Pokemon or Power-Rangers on the cover.  And this patient booklet also doubles as the official prescription pad.  And though these Pokemon prescription pads lack a snazzy In Deed and Truth letterhead, every prescription is nonetheless filled with accuracy and precision.  I found it a humorous example of the way we make the most out of the resources we have here without sacrificing the service we provide to patients too much.

The rest of the afternoon was quite leisurely, and the evening was capped off by a trip to the local Don Bosco Catholic mission for a party.  The occasion was to celebrate the years of service and upcoming departure of one priest and the new arrival of another priest.  It was a fun night, as we were served a delicious meal of rice, goat stew, and soda.  Afterwards we saw some entertaining, if not very confusing, skits about the importance of going to school and the importance of raising a good family (at least this is what I think they were about, although I’m far from clear about this).  I think this was one occasion where the Sudanese humor went right over our American heads, as the whole crowd was howling with laughter except for our American corner.  Don’t let this fool you into thinking this wasn’t an evening of great fun, because it was surely that.

Thanks for reading, and see you next week.