Strike Is On

Yesterday I didn't blog because we were at the mall. Again. Oh well, at least we get to see that part of South African culture.

The strike got very violent yesterday around the country but particularly on the streets of Durban so our taxi driver took all of us to a few malls in the area. For some reason the strike does not seem to be getting a lot of international coverage. The New York Times article yesterday said that the strike was "confined to teachers, health care workers and other workers in the public service sector." Last time I checked, that's a lot of people. Apparently at the New York Times though it isn't. On Tuesday one of the hospice nurses asked us what we would do in America if a strike like this occurred. None of us could come up with a response other than it never would. Which is probably why it is so hard for us to understand this situation, let alone some reporter sitting at a desk in New York. Nevertheless, the BBC apparently has been giving some attention to the story and apparently President Mbeki (president of South Africa) and members of their Parliament are not accepting raises in their salaries....progress is progress.

Today at Hospice they were not going on home visits because their name is on their vehicles and they were scared to be driving around in them. Tomorrow will be the same. So we are planning a trip to the South Coast to go surfing and Kayaking.

On Sunday we will leave for the rural rotation. Because the strikers have reached that region as well we are only allowed to go and stay in the doctor's quarters on the hospital campus, which is heavily gated and guarded. While we will not be able to see where our patients live (unless hopefully the strike has ended by then), we will get to see a lot according to the group of students who just returned from there. The doctor's quarters are apparently like condos so that should be nice.

I am going to send out an email for everyone to view both Regina and my pictures from the trip so far. Finally!!

Love all of you so much.