waiting in line

yesterday i had my first real taste of what it is to wait in line as 'regular punter' here in south africa, i had offered to visit the red cross children's hospital in cape town to pick up the ARV meds for one of our little boys. a job which i thought would be a quick in and out turned into a bit of a mission which meant that i missed my soccer outreach in hillside in the afternoon.

the red cross children's hospital is a huge complex and it was somewhat humbling to see so many sick children waiting in line with their parents, i am not going to complain about the service or the amount of time that i spent waiting for a file to be found or the the large amount of people waiting patiently for the medicines to be drawn up at the pharmacy, the hospital are doing an amazing job but the problem is so big that their team is overstretched and understaffed.

after waiting for nearly an hour just to pick up the young child's file, i was then struck by the sign at the pharmacy counter which read something like 'it will take between 1 to 2 hours for us to draw up the medication, please be patient whilst we ensure that the drugs are prescribed correctly to avoid further complications'.

i was given number 163, when i arrived at the counter they were distribution number 98....wow i was so humbled by the peoples patients as they waited calmly in the overcrowded and very warm room.......an experience i would have wanted to miss but not one i really want to rush back to quickly.