Christmas here in Zambia was a little different to back home! For starters there isn't really a supermarket you can just pop into for food. We have an open market in Katete (about a mile away) which sells basic groceries and live birds or 2 v limited supermarkets over an hours drive away. Since we all have very busy jobs we decided to keep things simple and get everything from Katete. We bought 2 chickens and 2 ducks. The ducks came to us alive, then somehow sadly died of natural causes...
So we had to pluck and gut them, which was an experience! I have the keys to the empty house neighbouring mine, so we did it in there, which is definitely a good thing since it STANK! I may or may not have perforated its bowel while gutting...
Cooking was then slightly complicated as we had a power cut for the majority of the weekend! Luckily the power came back on half power for a few of hours on Christmas afternoon, so we managed to cook everything very slowly.
We had a feast! 2 chickens, 2 ducks, roast potatoes, stuffing, onion, cabbage with bacon (trying to be like sprouts + bacon), pigs in blankets, roast beetroot (Sammy's home grown), okra and a classic Christmas lasagne! (Not sure the Dutch have quite the same traditions as us!) And lots for dessert - mango crumble, mango trifle, mango mince pies, Christmas pudding and a chocolate tart. Food here is very seasonally dependent! But we all agreed it was definitely the best meal we've had in Zambia.
From L to R of faces, not round the table - Tim (GP), me (O&G F3), James (O&G reg), Kate (physio), Kars (research officer), Sammy (surgical F3), Adam (surgical CT3), Ken (medical F4), James (medical CT3) + missing Alex (surgical reg - in work) and Marloes (surgical F3 - sadly was sick)
Most of us were on call so spent a large amount of the day in work. I imagine our shifts are similar to the NHS 30 years ago - we're on call a lot (1 in 2 or 3), doing 24h shifts, but don't get called anywhere near as much as we do back home, so it's reasonably sustainable.
Me and Honestasia, one of my favourite nurses, who works on the gynae ward, York
Hope you all had fantastic days back home!
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