Another October

Hi Friends!

Sorry its been so long since my last post but the internet was out last time I was in town and I've been pretty busy. I just returned from my mid-term conference in Lusaka which was mostly filled with doctor and dentist appointments but really a good chance to see all the people I came into country with. It was great to hear all their work stories and challenges to help keep myself grounded that its not just me who can't seem to get things going sometimes. Mostly it was just a lot of fun to hang out with them all and remember when we were young and naive trainees. Its amazing how much everyone has grown and changed over the last year. I also managed to see a movie and enjoy food with seasoning, two of my favorite Lusaka activities, but as always by the time we left I was tired of the expensive city.

After MTC I went with a few friends to Lake Malawi for a few days of relaxation before heading back to the village. Lake Malawi is beautiful and it reminded me why I prefer freshwater to saltwater as we could swim longer and didn't feel salty afterwords. We even got to take a boat ride to see fish eagles feed, go cliff driving ( I didn't go for reasons I will explain), and hit a nice sandy beach. Sadly I ended up pretty sick due to a parasite/bacterial problem in my intestine so I spent a lot of time in bed. The place we stayed was on a cliff I had to hike it up and down to get to the bathroom so when I was out of bed I lacked a lot of energy but luckily for the most part sitting by a lake doesn't require much energy. I'm doing much better now and just spending a few days in Chipata to make sure I'm 100 percent before heading back to site.

At site I've been busy holding Voluntary Testing and Counseling (VCT) events in various villages in my catchment. I've been going out with two trained health volunteers and conducting these day long clinics. So far they've been very popular with us turning people away each time either due to time or because we are out of tests. Unfortunately we ran out of tests before we could finish and then I had to leave for MTC but hopefully we will be picking up again once I return. In just three days we've tested 144 people, all the tests we had, which is great because normally in a month maybe 10-12 people are usually tested in my area. Our next challenge will be to try and increase the number of men coming for VCT and the number of couples attending together.

One of the hardest parts of my job has been being in the room when a person is told that they are positive. I don't do any of the counseling myself, mostly I just do our register, but its still tough. From what I've seen people seem to handle it pretty well and take it in stride which I guess is both part of the Zambian culture of not crying and from living with HIV/AIDS all around you. The worst is telling mothers that their children are positive; there are so many measures that can help prevent mother to child transmission and I feel that somehow these children were let down by the system, it breaks my heart. But no matter how hard it is to see a positive result, I know that its much better for them to know so that they can take care of themselves and get the help they need.

On an entirely different note, at the end of August I went to the annual Chewa ( the tribe I live with ) or Kulamba Festival. Its held the last weekend in August each year and all the Chiefs attend plus the Presidents of Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi, since the Chewa tribe is found in all three countries. The ceremony included a lot of people talking and the giving of gifts to the Paramount Chief (ie the head Chief) including two mattresses which we found really funny. But the best part was all the dancing first it was a lot of different groups, mainly women but then we got to see the traditional dancing, nyao. My village has nyao dancers but they mostly use mud and mealie-meal sacks to make costumes, these guys had masks and really cool outfits made from chitenje. One guy even climbed up a pole and danced on it, very impressive.

I also got a big dose of culture when my own village held its Chinamwali ceremony, the initiation ceremony for girls. At the time I was hosting four new volunteers, for second site visit, who are going to Eastern so they got to see it too. The girls are taught to dance for a month by being locked in a house and trained. I got to attend a couple of their training sessions which was mostly just the other women in my village dancing for them as a demonstration, they made me dance too but I'm terrible so mostly it was a lot of laughing. The actual ceremony took place one afternoon and began with the girls doing all the lessons they learned then going through some strange role plays and ending up very muddy, which once they washed off symbolized the fact that they are now women. The dancing is very cool but its hard to see something that is teaching women to be submissive to men. I strongly believe that there is a place for Chinamwali but that it needs to be modified to encourage the empowerment of women.

Arianna and Denise were there with me for hosting, and to go to the festival, but also because we celebrated Denise's birthday. Our celebration included watching Glee on an i-pod in my bed and making a cake with hot chocolate on my brazier, who said we weren't talented. It was nice to have them spend some time at my site ans to have people to talk to when the trainees went to language class each day. It was really interesting to listen to the language class to realize how much I actually know and how little of formal nyanja I actually use anymore.

But now its October and way too hot for me. I'm finding myself wishing for the rains even through my roof needs a little work before they come. But right now I am drinking a lot of water, limiting my biking and just avoiding the sun. At least its my last hot season....time sure does fly.

Well that's all I've got for now, I'll try to be better with updates but technology remains a challenge in Zambia. Take care and enjoy the fall colors for me!

Love,
Allie