My African Birthday

Well, as of the 5th of September, I am officially 24 years old! Can I start by saying a huge thank you to all those who sent me birthday wishes, I was so blessed to open my inbox to a huge number of emails from home! It is honestly the only time I have ever been pleased that facebook emails you every time a message is left on your wall because the hospital have just banned facebook on our internet and so I was able to read all the birthday messages even though I could not access the website!

My birthday morning began with a 6am ward round. It seems there is no rest for the wicked, even on your birthday! Later in the morning I had time for a chai and ndazi break with the lovely obs and gynae team (Chai is taken with an abundance of sugar and ndazis are African deep fried doughnuts).

Frank and I



Munge and Joshua

We then went on with our busy day. A gynae clinic and an emergency caesarean section later, the girls Emily (Wales) and Gail (Northern Ireland) found me in casualty and took me away for a traditional African lunch in the sun.

Later on in the evening we had a few friends over for dinner, including the two new recruits, Matthew and Chris who are medical students from Bristol. We made pizza and chips and were just sitting down to eat, when Juliette and her boyfriend Richard arrived bearing gifts. My main present was a Masai blanket, and a box of chocolates covered in flamingos, but they also brought a huge bunch of lilies and roses. This is me pretending to be a real masai… I just had to.

And then the best part, my birthday cake!

So it was a great night for everyone and I was extremely spoilt. Today I’m on call for the weekend, ie. The whole 48 hours until Monday morning ward round. Unfortunately it means I have to hang around close to a phone, but I guess I get to enjoy my beautiful flowers :) I hope you are all well and enjoying the beginning of spring. Kwaheri!