Ukwanda

I’m based in the department for rural health. It’s called Ukwanda and is a 4 staff team in the heart of Stellenbosh medical school. You see that tree to the left of the photo...the office is directly behind it, one floor down. The team mostly organize medical students placement to rural areas - sometimes up to 500 km away from Cape Town. But they have a very broad social view of health, which is partly why I'm here.

In fact, the one word Ukwanda, translated from Xhosa means:

“Grow advantageously and develop within the context of the community.”
It’s said: ooo (gutturally like a monkey, lips out ) - kw (a clicking sound from top of mouth) – and - a. I’ve been practicing much to the rest of department's amusement!

So their hope is that after students spend part of their degree out in rural areas that more docs, and other health people, end up have a grasp of community development and working in rural areas professionally. In the times of global health worker migration, with rural areas beocoming void of health professionals, this is a big deal. However, I’ve joined them to learn about and research TB. I’ve been straight into work and so far thoroughly enjoyed it.

And I spent the weekend getting to know the international student crowd out here on elective.

First week done!