We owe it to our nurses – let’s say to them: ‘Thank you!’

STUDIES abiout those who went into exile in pursuit of liberation are apt to ignore the human side of their stories, particularly those of women and nurses.

Almost all without exception, the decision to leave their native land required personal sacrifice to a greater or lesser degree.

Just before Umkhonto weSizwe was launched by the ANC in December 1961, a group of 21 nurses left South Africa because of the 1957 Nurses Act, which provided for separate training according to racial group. One of the nurses, because of pregnancy, could not proceed to Tanganyika (now Tanzania), but returned to South Africa.

When Tanzania became independent on December 9, 1961, it decided to show solidarity with the South African liberation struggle by asking the ANC to send a contingent of qualified nurses to replace white British and South African expatriates who had opted to resign rather than work for an African government. These African nurses included Kholeka and Edith Thunyiswa, Edna Miya and Mary Jane Socenywa.

Albertina Sisulu, a qualified nurse working in Soweto, Johnny Makhathini in Natal and Zululand, and Govan Mbeki in the Eastern Cape, recruited the nurses.

As we celebrate International Nurses Day to mark the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, we tend to ignore the sacrifices and strife that nurses have to endure.

What is always missed is to indicate that the daily experience of nurses is closely related to a story of human sacrifice and struggle.

Under the theme: “Nurses: A Force for Change; Care Effective, Cost Effective”, this year’s commemoration must begin a process of recognising and according due recognition to their contribution to our lives.

Today we tend to focus on those few nurses who ditch their professional ethics and ignore the fact that there are still thousands who keep the flame of sacrifice, dedication and caring alight.

With the continued pressures of nurse shortages and the pressures of financial constraints, it can be easy to let those unique, beautiful moments of patient/nurse interaction slip by without contemplating the underlying meaning of each of those events.

Maybe it’s time nurses, on their own initiative, begin to document their experiences and share them with the nation.

They work in circumstances that are defined by stresses.

Even on the most successful day, our nurses are predisposed to moving in two directions: they are either polished by the pressure, or they will crumble under the weight of it all.

At times when they go home they cry the worst kind of tears – the silent and streaming tears, the kind of cry that allows one to speak not in words – but with a glazed look and reddened cheeks.

They leave their loved ones perplexed by what they do, and sometimes discuss their day at work with no more enthusiasm than describing what they had for lunch.

But there are moments that polish them – the ones that shine your soul – these are the moments that remind them why they chose the road less travelled in the first place.

I’ve come to realise that nurses have very long memories when it comes to those amazing saves or miraculous recoveries, because they make dealing with the strife and struggle more bearable.

They come across as relatives and friends, with our complaints and fellow nurses who bicker and patients who need their call buttons removed.

But through it all, they find laughter and positivity that shift the dynamics of a bad day.

Even though they don’t know us, they hold our hands when we need someone to speak to.

Spider silk

THE march of science – orb-weaver spider silk is one of the toughest materials found in nature. Now a research team from the University of Trento, in Italy, has sprayed 15 of the spiders with carbon nanotube and graphene solutions.

Result: some of the spiders have spun silk up to 3.5 times stronger than their typical web. The researchers next want to begin a large-scale hybrid silk production process that could create a giant stretchable net capable of catching falling aircraft.

Hey, great! But how do you know where to set the nets? Where the aeroplanes are going to fall? Duh?

Revolutionaries

IAN GIBSON, poet laureate of Hillcrest, pens some lines on student revolutionaries toppling statues, invading administration offices and intimidating mildmannered academics.

Colonial statues are biting the dust,

With students frothing with revolutionary lust;

Nurses have learnt what comforts us as human beings: love and laughter coupled with the simplest act of human kindness. Most of all, they have learnt what drives us – not money or power or greed, but simply put, it boils down to being happy.

As we commemorate this important day, let us do so befittingly and in recognition of the nurses’ true value in our lives. Let’s take time to visit our nearest clinic or hospital to say “thank you” to the men and women in white.

We owe them that little.

Maxon is with the Gauteng Department of Health’s communication division.

Yet history has shown, The future’s quite prone To show today’s heroes flaking with rust.

Tailpiece

A TEACHER asks her class what their fathers do for a living.

“Sam, what does your father do?” “My dad’s a policeman.” “Jane, what does your father do?”

“My father is a lawyer, handling legal things.”

“Mark, what does your father do?”

“My dad’s a male pole dancer and stripper in a gay bar.”

Shocked, she stops the questions and changes the subject. Later she encounters Mark in the playground.

“Mark, is that what your dad really does?”

“No, Miss. I was embarrassed to say. He plays rugby for the Sharks.”

Last word THE great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid. – Art Spander