maandag 15 februari 2010

Where to start...

Where to start... My second try to start a blog. Not to try and level the blogs of my 'blog-and-south africa-hero' other-things-amanzi. But it is nice to share some stories with others. Or maybe its a way of 'therapeuting' myself?

First of all the title. It says exactly my route. Born, raised, studied in Amsterdam,  The Netherlands. Worked 2 years in The Hague, general surgery. Although in my case I did quite a lot of Orthopedic Trauma (which is, as some people know, part of Surgery in The Netherlands). I liked it, and my registrars (residents in the USA) at that time didn't. They rather stayed in the vascular or GI wards. Anyhow, it got my interests in Trauma going.

After an unsuccesful try to get into the registrar program in The Netherlands, I decided to move to South Africa, well....not in the last place because my wife lived there at that time (although not yet my wife as well). Plenty of Trauma in SA I thought, good for the experience ('quite an understatement, Watson').
Working in the notorious SA was exactly that...notorious. Maybe because I was so 'lucky' to work in Boksburg, I don't know. But I got my fair share of how things run, or not run in South Africa. It changed my view on the world, on Trauma/Medicine and on people for ever.
I wouldn't wanted to have missed it, although that's after spending some months in Denmark now. In June last year you would probably have received a different answer.

So...SA and now Denmark. Why? Because I wanted to cut. I wanted to do Trauma, and that part combined with bones didn't let me go. So I followed the path of the Opportunity.
Not that I didn't want or didn't try  in SA....but somehow there seems to be a problem with employing motivated people to some positions there. Not that they didn't need me....plenty of shortage in everything, also Surgeons. But I think its true when they say that once you've been in Africa, you can leave it, but Africa will never leave you. And thereby, South Africa is the most beautiful country in the world.....!


That's it for now. More later