Seattle to Mozambique

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.