On 28 December 2017, I flew to Lusaka the capital of Zambia. After sorting out my registration with the Zambian GMC, I arrived in the Eastern Province three days later, just in time to welcome in the New Year in my new home with my new friends. I spent the following six months working on the adult medical wards at St Francis Hospital, Katete.

During my time, I sent regular email updates to friends and family. These were very long (!) so I have cut them into shorter posts, as follows:

1) 28 January 2018:

• First impressions of Katete
• First steps on the ward

2) 11 March 2018:

• Herbs and healers, life and death
• ‘Bedsiders’ are the bomb
• Resources and resourcefulness
• What’s Chewa for “squeeze my finger”? (Learning the languages)
• The good life
• ‘This is Africa’ moments
• The animals
• Festivals and fun

3) 20 May 2018:

• Mzungus, patients and clinical officers
• Some comparisons: Zambia versus UK Medicine
• Paddy’s Day, parties and presents
• Highs and lows
• Plants, animals and kitenge

4) 4 June 2018:

• Behind the bush in Katete (cycling around the villages to visit TB patients)