Bram van Bruggen

The life of a final year medical student in the surgical department of St Francis’ Hospital in Katete, Zambia
Bram van Bruggen 2023: January 18 to April 14

The more than three months in Zambia are over, and I have tried to summarize the three months. For those who have little patience I wrote a short version, then an extended one. The short version is published here.
In the beginning it took some getting used to, lonely and shitty, pardon my French. Because none of the ANIOS talked to or with me, and I got the impression that they only saw me as the Western student tourist who came to fill the hospital coffers. Just when I started to lose hope and wonder how I would survive the 12 weeks, there was a sudden turnaround after three weeks. My colleagues opened up, it became interesting, fun, bizarre things happened, there was a chronic shortage of everything, there was absolutely no structure, the Zambian doctors worked very hard but not as efficiently and sustainably, and I have two very nice friendships built on top of many other valuable contacts. Everything was possible. In the end, I feel strongly connected to the surgical team. Saying goodbye felt like I had to amputate part of myself and that hurts, partly because there is a chance that I will never come back – God only knows.