letter from Mukinge to Cheryl

Dear One,
Them phone line was nonop over a few days last week and so mail got bunched.
I’m on call this weekend for the WHOLE hospital. YIKES. So far so good as I have yet to run into any major catastrophe. There has been a major premie epidemic since my arrival however. We are kicking a set of 2 day old twins out of their incubator (1.7 & 1.3 kg) in order to get two other Unrelated babies into a separate incubator each. NO IV’s just ng feeds. Gave a talk re NRP (newborn resuscitation) Thurs. It bore fruit this morning as a ZEN (Zambia educated nurse) bagged a kid for 30’ and got her back. I did rounds today and saw Burkitt’s (lymphoma), Kaposi’s (sarcoma), Hansen’s (leprosy) and a tree-felling accident (Newton's Disease??).
I sent an email yest for the 3-5 year old class. I hope it can get to them before I return. Walked into town yesterday and bought you two of the more fashionable kesapis about. It will make you proud. I spent a little over $5.
I am feeling remarkably fit, well rested and comfortable. The rains have stopped and nights are quite cool and crystal clear. The southern cross and alpha & beta Centauri are just over there. Saw the Coal Sack, Beehive, Large Magellanic cloud, Canopus and a bunch of constellations which are even less obvious than up Nawth. Orion is still very recognizable even if he has fallen on his front rather than his back.