The Age Game

Very few people here know their age. Due to the war, there was no school system for many years in the South. Only now are kids starting to go to school. With no calendars or technology to keep track of the time, people don't know when they were born. When I do registration, 90% of the time I ask the patient's age it is unknown. So, I usually have to guess their age. It's a lot harder than it sounds. When Margaret is around, we guess together. Sometimes we are close to each other and sometimes we are way off. Other times, English speakers in the line will add their two cents in. So between all of us, we vote and then tell them their age.

Gender in kids is an issue too. When I ask "boy or girl" some of them get mad. It's hard to tell if they have shaved heads and are just wearing a t-shirt.

I loved doing registration. It has been fun to interact with all the patients and make them laugh. I apparently am hilarious and entertaining. I get laughed at all day. People enjoy when I try to say their names or say anything in Dinka. The alphabet is quite different so I feel sorry for the staff trying to read the names in the patients' books. I write it out phonetically because I don't know how to spell it the correct way. For the most part, it works out. However, I do get it very wrong on occasion. I was in the pharmacy and laughed as Pritty, the pharmacist, called out someone's name according to how I spelled it and no one came to the window!

For the most part, the patients are great. Every now and then I get someone who is upset. With 130+ patients and only two doctors (now just one), some people have a long wait so I understand the frustration. When we have an emergency or a child with a fever, those cases get taken to the front of the line. Not everyone is ok with that. I explain why they are going to the front, but some people still argue. Then I give them two choices: wait or go home. Is that mean? I don't want to argue with people about it. If their child was dying, they certainly would want them to be seen first.

Now that the Sudanese staff is back, I won't be needed as much in registration. Even though it's hectic and exhausting, it's so much fun. I will miss it.