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One last Holy Cross sunset
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| The Craver Clan |
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Well, it is all over. I finished my job at Holy Cross over three
weeks ago now. Since then my family have been over for an awesome holiday, I
have had a couple of leaving parties and the slow process of packing my life up
after almost two years of living in South Africa has begun. The hospital has
seen the arrival of a new doctor all the way from the UK: Dr Rob. He’s taking
over my job, house and even Mitch: he’s basically taking over my life. I know
he is going to have a swell time; just like I wrote in my first ever post: “It’s
going to be an amazing experience.” Well, I certainly have had that and would
whole heartedly recommend this to anyone looking for a change or new adventure.
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Myself rocking my new attire trying to
keep up with my main man Soby. |
There have been ups and downs; times where the work was
exceptionally demanding; points where I felt a little lonely. However, never
have I experienced the job satisfaction that I felt here, despite what can sometimes
feel like a constant head banging affair. I leave knowing that I have met some
wonderful people and made some new friends for life; so many happy memories;
even a good bit of ring worm on my shoulder, just so I don’t forget all the
children that crawled over me on a daily basis; and, best of all, I leave
having fallen in love. I have been nothing but glowing for the past four
months, hence, I am incredibly excited to return home. However, I really am
going to miss this place and the prospect of starting emergency medicine
training back in London does fill me with a little bit of fear and
apprehension.
The Holy Cross website is soon to have a new address (www.holycrosshospital.co.za
rather than www.holycrosshospitalza.org
) and my colleagues here are going to keep it updated, once they have a spare
moment. Things are looking up for the hospital, despite having the usual staff
shortage. Dingerman and Femke, the Dutch couple, are taking over the medical management
and are planning to stay for a few more years. Even more exciting is that Femke
is pregnant, now in her second trimester. Holy Cross is a magical place where
people fall in love and babies are made. I’m not even kidding, my boss told me
that since he started working here 15 years ago there have been ten babies, two
weddings and one love story. There must
be something in the muddy water that comes out of the taps here.
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| Turns out I'm not leaving, I'm for sale. |
In addition to sprucing up the website, Femke and I have
been shooting a movie to promote Holy Cross as a fun and lively place to work,
which it most certainly is. The first
screening was held in my last week during an impromptu leaving, welcoming and
birthday
doo for myself, Rob and Dingerman, respectively. I had my only pair of
jeans pimped up in the traditional Xhosa way and danced for an 80 strong crowd
of nurses and other staff with one of the porters, who happens to be an
excellent tribal dancer. I didn’t have much say in the matter, but nor was I
anti it; in fact, I loved it. As I was en route to the party, I got cornered by
a nurse who instructed me to get changed and prepare to dance. Anything goes
here. The video of the hospital should be uploaded onto the website soon.
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| I've never seen such a big cake. |
I want to write one more piece about my time at Holy Cross,
but, if I don’t get around to it this could be my last ever post on my first,
and most likely last, ever blog. It has been great fun to write, exceptionally
cathartic and, I hope, spurred a few people on to have similar adventures.
Right
now I have one last Holy Cross braai to host and a two week road trip with my
good friends from the UK (Ben, George, Andy and Amar) where I’ll be taking them to
Afrika Burn festival and some of my favourite spots on the Wild Coast. After that,
I’ll be homeward bound, but not without stopping off in Kenya to ascend Mount
Kenya and see a few friends there. Life really is wonderful
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| Spoilt by the nurses on medical ward. |
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| Man sells us a massive fish he just caught. Why not make sashimi out of it. Now, that was a damn fine idea. |
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| A lonely patient. |
