Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners,

so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning

English.

On today's program you will hear Brian Lynn report on a way South Africa is providing medical care.

Ashley reports on student mobile phone restrictions in California.

Learn about a positives on everyday grammar and then the lesson of the day.

But first... lesson of the day, but first.

In South Africa, a former passenger train now serves as a traveling medical center

to provide health services to people in need.

The train is known as Peelopepa.

In the Sasoto language, this means good clean health.

It travels across South Africa to provide medical care to a mix of patients for whom usual health care is

unavailable or rare.

The train has been operating since South Africa's government ended its racist system of

apartheid in the early 1990s.

The train carries medical professionals around the country even to the most rural

villages. Officials say the service helps at least 375,000 South Africans each year.

The care patients receive is separate from the government's main public health care system.

That system serves an estimated 84% of the population. But government insurance plans are too

...