Relaxing Saturday Night

So tonight we went out to the dam to watch the sunset and then the stars. There are no lights out there, so the stars are breath-taking. Absolutely amazing. We bought some beers at the illegal store and sat around to have a great night. Mark's, a dutch medical student, parents are visiting for the weekend and came with us. It was nice to just sit back, relax, and breathe. I haven't been sleeping well since being here. I haven't got more than 5 hours in a night, often less. Part of it is from nightmares from the malaria medication. Part is just from the stress of the hospital and worrying/thinking about everything. So it was good to relax.

Tonight one of the girls, who is just doing research, was asking me about the hospital and how things were going. I told her a lot of the stories. She has been on the wards twice now and she says she still can't believe it. Mark's parents walked through the hospital today. His mom cried when she was in the pediatric ward. It is so hard to describe how awful things are here. It is difficult to comprehend for anyone, even me. Some nights I wonder if events really happened during the day. Sometimes I reread my blogs or the diary I keep, and I can't believe it. Things are much worse than you could imagine, than pictures or stories could convey. Just walking on the wards would bring you to tears.

So you can see, I needed the beer tonight. :)