Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
regularly block the turbine. It turns out these eels from the Lebombo plain go out to sea and
travel up to off of western Madagascar as part of their life cycle before returning to the
streams. If there was an emergency, for example caesarian section at night, the doctors would
turn on the diesel engine on the way to the operating room. There were many Albert
Schweitzer like physicians across Southern Africa working selflessly under harsh conditions
helping the sick. My father had a passion for building these “startup” new hospitals and did
this in Swaziland, Botswana, and Mozambique. Under his tutelage and with the help of
Swedish donors and the Swedish Peace Corp (SIDA), Shongwe grew into a modern hospital
network with ten satellite clinics staffed by dedicated doctors such as John Hoyland and Bill
Andrew who started there soon after my father arrived in 1951. I would often go out with my
father on building projects where cinder like blocks built on site. At night we would often
sleep in the local African's huts, the floor polished to a shining sheen by cattle manure and a
warming fire hearth in the center. Unfortunately, many children came is with severe burns from
rolling into the fires while sleeping at night. While the manure certainly had some smell, in
general Nguni cattle manure does not have as strong a bovine smell as regular European bred
cattle. When the new hospital wing at Shongwe was opened a few years ago President Mbeki
came to the opening. The hospital now has 350 beds and 25 satellite clinics, mostly for
midwifery and HIV patient care.
Snakes remain a problem in the area. A few years ago a medical paper was published from
the Shongwe Hospital, reporting on 251 snake bites treated over a 5 year period. While there,
a friend Arthur and I would catch about 250 snakes a year and sell them to snake parks. For the
very dangerous snakes like Boomslangs (an invisible dried drop on a needle tip can kill a
person from hemolysis) or cobras or mambas, if I could not catch them, I would shoot them,
sometimes 40 feet up in a tree with a small rifle.
Mozambique Spitting Cobra also Known as the Imphezi
Some of those I caught I would take on the train to our snake pit at Treverton College but
every now and again one would escape around the house or the train. One nine foot mamba we
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