Sunday, December 31, 2006
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!
I am boiling in Moz waiting for the brand new spanking year. Everyone here celebrates with family until midnight and then they get together with friends. I have been invited to a co-workers family party but I don't know if I'm in the mood. I'll defintely be going out after midnight though.
Happy New Year Everyone!!!!! I miss you all very much.
Happy New Year Everyone!!!!! I miss you all very much.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Here was my day the other day—step by step
7:00—I wake up in Chimoio and grind coffee beans with a flashlight because I’m a total coffee addict and the only coffee was in whole beans.
7:30—Go to the Chimoio office and sit down with two of my assistants who are fighting. Everyone is arguing and the work is suffering. I’m going to have to keep on top of this situation. It’s hard when I’m based in Beira.
8:30—Meeting with one of the clinical advisors to discuss how we are going to do joint supervisory visits to all of the towns. She is a pediatrician and thinks that children are being left out of the treatment process. We discuss ways to monitor and track children in our activities and what kind of information we need to pass onto neighborhood leaders about children at risk
10:30—The car arrives that will take me back to Beira but first we have to go to the farm of my co-workers mother to pick up Mangos. We drive out toward Zimbabwe and stop at her basic but beautiful farm with donkeys, goats, ducks, chickens and a cooked pig hanging from the rafters of the kitchen. There are also three different kinds of mango trees and coconuts. We pick mangos, eat mangos, and chat for way to long and don’t end up leaving there until noon
12:30—We return to the office to pick up some packages that need to come to Beira. The woman getting them together is late so we head over to the Guest House where I was staying and I rip up the lemongrass and basil plants to put in my own yard. We return back to the office and then pick up the drivers kids. One more stop in the market to buy potatoes and we are off. We stop again on the road to buy charcoal and tomatoes but we fly in a new car (I was driving!!).
4:00—Arrive back in Beira, drop of my things, go back to the office to deal with paper work, pick up a car for personal use—tonight I’m taking the whole office out to a dance club. I’m given the minivan that fits 12 people.
5:00—Get home, take a shower (it is soooo hot), rest and do some laundry
11:00—Start to pick up the crew for the nightclub
6:00am—return home
7:30—Go to the Chimoio office and sit down with two of my assistants who are fighting. Everyone is arguing and the work is suffering. I’m going to have to keep on top of this situation. It’s hard when I’m based in Beira.
8:30—Meeting with one of the clinical advisors to discuss how we are going to do joint supervisory visits to all of the towns. She is a pediatrician and thinks that children are being left out of the treatment process. We discuss ways to monitor and track children in our activities and what kind of information we need to pass onto neighborhood leaders about children at risk
10:30—The car arrives that will take me back to Beira but first we have to go to the farm of my co-workers mother to pick up Mangos. We drive out toward Zimbabwe and stop at her basic but beautiful farm with donkeys, goats, ducks, chickens and a cooked pig hanging from the rafters of the kitchen. There are also three different kinds of mango trees and coconuts. We pick mangos, eat mangos, and chat for way to long and don’t end up leaving there until noon
12:30—We return to the office to pick up some packages that need to come to Beira. The woman getting them together is late so we head over to the Guest House where I was staying and I rip up the lemongrass and basil plants to put in my own yard. We return back to the office and then pick up the drivers kids. One more stop in the market to buy potatoes and we are off. We stop again on the road to buy charcoal and tomatoes but we fly in a new car (I was driving!!).
4:00—Arrive back in Beira, drop of my things, go back to the office to deal with paper work, pick up a car for personal use—tonight I’m taking the whole office out to a dance club. I’m given the minivan that fits 12 people.
5:00—Get home, take a shower (it is soooo hot), rest and do some laundry
11:00—Start to pick up the crew for the nightclub
6:00am—return home
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Photos
I've finally got photos up on Snapfish. I thought I would be able to create a link from here but I don't think that is possible. I'll send out an email with the link information. Let me know if you don't get the email.
Overworked and Hot
Wow, I just realized how long it has been since I’ve updated my blog. It hasn’t actually been all that long but it feels like a lifetime to me. I’m in a roller coaster ride here in Moz. Some days I feel like I just don’t like it here—AT ALL—and that all I want to do is get on the first plane out of here. Other days I feel good and feel like my work is important and that I need to stay and follow this through. I’m not so thrilled about general cultural things here. This country does not grab me the way that Brazil did. There are few opportunities to dance, to go out, to interact with people. I’m all work and very little play and that is making Molly a sad girl.
My personal life is suffering but I have one good friend and my roommate Magda who is a total gift. Between the two of them I get out occasionally and at least I generally have someone to vent to when I get home. The other night I took matters into my own hands and organized a large group of co-workers to go out dancing. I stayed completely sober because I was the driver but my co-workers all got lit and let their booties shake. It was a lot of fun.
Today is the day after Christmas and I definitely feel like I missed the whole holiday. Not only is it broiling hot but I was alone for most of Christmas eve and Christmas until my friend Manuela came over to cook and my friends family (mostly Muslim) came over for lunch. My family finally called too and it was great to talk to them.
I’m trying to think of interesting stories to tell but its mostly just work. I’m trying to develop a model for home-based care here and develop monitoring and evaluation systems to go with this model. This all has to be coordinated with the national health care system with is proving to be difficult. Most people are so immersed in just trying to do all the tasks that they are required to do…when I come and tell them that systems are going to change and the model is going to change I can understand the look of exhaustion that this brings to their faces. But I have absolute faith that this system will work, it will be great, we will be able to help thousands of patients take care of themselves, take their drugs, make it to their appointments, and learn about how to stop the further spread of this horrible disease.
My energy is failing a bit but I expect to be revitalized by my trip to South Africa to visit Jens, Arnold, Isabel and Rebecca!!! I’m so excited that I could pee but that would just make me overheat even more. Send me your Christmas stories!!! I would love to hear what everyone has been doing. Much much love and holiday cheer!!!!!!!
My personal life is suffering but I have one good friend and my roommate Magda who is a total gift. Between the two of them I get out occasionally and at least I generally have someone to vent to when I get home. The other night I took matters into my own hands and organized a large group of co-workers to go out dancing. I stayed completely sober because I was the driver but my co-workers all got lit and let their booties shake. It was a lot of fun.
Today is the day after Christmas and I definitely feel like I missed the whole holiday. Not only is it broiling hot but I was alone for most of Christmas eve and Christmas until my friend Manuela came over to cook and my friends family (mostly Muslim) came over for lunch. My family finally called too and it was great to talk to them.
I’m trying to think of interesting stories to tell but its mostly just work. I’m trying to develop a model for home-based care here and develop monitoring and evaluation systems to go with this model. This all has to be coordinated with the national health care system with is proving to be difficult. Most people are so immersed in just trying to do all the tasks that they are required to do…when I come and tell them that systems are going to change and the model is going to change I can understand the look of exhaustion that this brings to their faces. But I have absolute faith that this system will work, it will be great, we will be able to help thousands of patients take care of themselves, take their drugs, make it to their appointments, and learn about how to stop the further spread of this horrible disease.
My energy is failing a bit but I expect to be revitalized by my trip to South Africa to visit Jens, Arnold, Isabel and Rebecca!!! I’m so excited that I could pee but that would just make me overheat even more. Send me your Christmas stories!!! I would love to hear what everyone has been doing. Much much love and holiday cheer!!!!!!!
You can dance if you want to:
Dancing…y’all know how I love to dance. Today I was overseeing the end of the crazy breastfeeding cessation study in Catandica, a beautiful little town close to the border with Zimbabwe. The moms were all very enthusiastic about the baby food recipes that we had taught them and were preparing them every day. The only trouble was that some of their neighbors begun to say that these recipes were only for HIV+ moms and that every one making them was sick. That was a bad sign but the women were still happy to make the babyfood and the kids loved it. They even looked fatter and healthier. At the end of the focus group all the moms got up and started to sing and dance. I couldn’t help but join in!! It was so nice. I have finally got some pictures to show you all. Some of me and the moms and some are of the trip from Chimoio to Catadica. I’ll try to load them all up on snapfish with captions and all. Right now I’m so tired that I’m writing this kneeling on the floor with my head on the bed and typing without looking at the screen. I’ll have to edit things later. I haven’t had a break in what seems like a very long time. To add to that…I had hives all week. Nasty hives that I think are due to stress. I would have loved to stay in bed and have my hives get better!!! I turned on the AC at night for the first time since I’ve been here. They were itchy and hurt and even covered one of my breasts…ahhh. I had to go to work, under a tree, in the blazing heat, with a long sleave shirt on so that I wouldn’t worry the mothers. God it was awful. But I just had to step back for a moment and remember that these mothers have a much tougher time than some hives.
