News from Nurses Abroard

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XVII, Issue 4, 1 October 1928, Page 195

News from Nurses Abroard

An interesting letter from Miss Olive Drewitt shows an enterprising departure from nursing. Miss Drewitt has undertaken the management of a property out of Lushoto, in East Africa. It is an estate of 1,400 acres, 6,000 feet high, in the Usambaea Mountains. It had been lying idle since the Germans left it, and was in a primitive condition. Miss Drewitt was getting fencing and clearing done, building and repairing of the old house. She has plenty of labour, an average of 60 men working. Natives have built huts and settled on the estate. They have hundreds of cows, sheep and goats, and pay rent by supplying milk, and each man has to work 90 days in the year for the owner at the ruling rate of wages— 6d. a day !

Miss Drewitt intends to rear pigs and plant coffee, and has black wattle ready for cutting, which a contractor has taken at £1 Is. a ton for the bark.

The home is only three miles from a country club, so Miss Drewitt and her friend have plenty of visitors. During the rainy season they have to be most careful about walking round, as the lions and leopards cannot get their food so easily, and come round looking for stock, so they are not inclined to offer them a tempting morsel in the way of human flesh.

It is a beautiful spot, and the temperature never excessively hot or cold. The natives take all their animals into their huts at night, and seeing they have no ventilation or light, it is wonderful what big sturdy people they are, but probably only the fittest survive. They are good workers, cheerful and civil and very shrewd. Miss Drewitt has not altogether abandoned her nursing, for the natives keep her busy doling out medicine. " Their troubles are mostly digestive, too much baked maize, sugar cane and green fruit, and they get a lot of mild bronchitis.

Nurse Elsie Scanlon writes from Berkley, California, where she had gone to her

sister, who was very ill there, to bring her home, she hopes, this year. The nurses in California were asking for a ten hours' duty, which was endorsed by the Association, and it would mean seven dollars for the twelve-hour duty. Hospitals were increasing rapidly ; very few people are nursed at home. Most of the private hospitals were training schools, and are all built for the purpose. A few cottage hospitals are built for medical cases and convalescents, and even they are equipped with hot and cold running water and lavatory conveniences for each room. The charges are from six dollars a day for two bedrooms to 20 dollars for a large room with bathroom.

Miss Thurston writes that she had a delightful trip to the Continent. She visited Geneva and the headquarters of the International Council of Nurses, also the Palais of League of Nations, where she listened to a conference on International Labour and met some of the delegates, and was entertained by Dame Rachel Crowdey, Avho is head of the Social Welfare section. Some of her drives up mountain sides reminded her of New Zealand scenery, especially the Otira. The wild flowers were beautiful masses of Lily of the Valley, Blue Genitan and mauve Scabious. Miss Thurston mentioned that she might possibly be able to attend the International Conference at Montreal next year. New Zealand would then have a good represenative.