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Showing posts from August, 2013

Stee is the name, Curing Backache is the game - Medicine in Rural Zambia

I’ve been away for some time. And what have I been up to exactly?  Redefining success. It had been over 15 years since my last family trip to ekhaya the village home my father comes from in rural Zambia near Kabwe town. No, we are not Zambian. We are Zimbabwean but my grandparents migrated there in the 60’s during the liberation struggle…and I guess they liked it so much they never left! A story for another day. You can imagine the magnificent reception at our arrival this month. My brothers and I all last seen as tiny tots and now returned as ‘degree'd somebodies’.  There was some debate, however, among the large extended family whether it was possible to have a female doctor. “No, no, no, there are no women doctors! They are called nurses,” overheard amongst men seated around the midnight fire as they caressed their traditional brew. My younger cousins would look at me as I walked across the homestead, unashamedly staring at this wonder that is a wom