First Day at AU

I lost this post and haven't had the time to redo it until now.  Here it is, finally!

My first day at AU, I had the opportunity to go to a rural hospital, orphanage and school at a place called Bonda Mission.  One of the people I was with, Petra, had gone to check on the arrangements for at "attachment" (something like a practicum or internship) for a student there, and while she was conducting her business the other two of us were shown the hospital.  Its capacity is 164, but the women's ward, which I went into, had about 1/3 of the beds filled.  It was organized into four big bays, each with six beds, and then a separate room for one intensive care patient and another with two beds for infectious disease patients. I saw nothing more complex than a pole for an IV drip (unused) in the women's unit.

Next we went to an orphanage nearby, which is run by some Anglican nuns.  It houses 26 children, ranging in age from 5-19.  We sat and talked in a traditional building, which is made with thick walls of mud bricks, similar to adobe and has a thatched roof.  It was a hot, humid day, and these structures are surprisingly cool.  In rural areas, this is the form of building that almost everyone lives in.  Here's a photo of one, a smaller building that is used as a guest house:

 The children sleep in dormatories, which have a common room with a television and a couple of couches and sleeping rooms that have either 2 cots or 2 bunk beds.  Each child has a single shelf for clothing, and they're not at all full.  Here's a photo of one of those rooms:

In addition to having many orphanages, there are many families in which grandparents or extended family members are caring for children because of the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS.

The children were in school, so we didn't see them there, but went on to the elementary school nearby.  There we saw several buildings, each with 2-3 classrooms.  The one we walked into had about forty children in it.  The yard/garden was impressively tended, and later we saw all the children on break from their classes weeding it.  We were there to see about one particular boy, whose fees are being paid by the church of one of my colleagues.  They were in arrears and wanted to settle the fees so he could remain in school.  I learned that fees are $20 per term (2 terms a year), and books and school uniform cost another $30-35 per year.  These prices are prohibitive for many families, so there are many children who do not go to school.  This is a public school, so anyone can go there, but they must have the fees paid.  Here is a photo of one of the classrooms:

The highlands in this part of Zimbabwe, near the Mozambique border, are lush during this, the rainy season.  I'm adding one more photo of the scenery on the way back from Bonda Mission: