So cheembo is Meheba slang for "backwards" or "from the country" (or from the middle of the bush). We constantly refer to any broken item or silly behavior as cheembo. Cheembo is also the name of one of the two cats that live in the FORGE compound. Because I'm allergic, I was less-than-happy to discover we had feline pets, but we keep away from each other and they are actually pretty cute to look at most of the time. The second cat is called Eeway, which may or may not have a meaning in a local language. Eeway is a really smart conniving cat, but Cheembo is, honestly, incredibly slow....perhaps even a bit retarded. Recently Eeway got some mysterious cut on his neck, which is gross and refuses to heal because he keeps scratching it raw. So this past week has seen a number of emergency surgery attempts by our group to keep this wound clean and keep the cat full of painkillers. The last resort involved putting duct tape on Eeway's paws (to cover his little claws), as well as putting gauze and duct tape all around his neck. It is absolutely hilarious and ridiculous--I will send pictures at some point! It's sad for the cat, but pretty amusing for the rest of us.
Not everything has been 100% cheerful and sunshiney. Although our group is incredibly upbeat and energetic at all times, there are so many difficult situations that have been coming our way lately. A few weeks ago, Joe and I were in Solwezi and we ran into a Congolese refugee we know from Meheba who was returning from a trade fair in a nearby town. We all went to dinner together, and we asked a few questions about this man's plans to resettle to Norway next month. The conversation turned to how he had arrived in Zambia in 2003. He told us he had been involved in efforts to support peace and justice in the DRC and had been arrested several times. While in jail, he was tortured extensively. He rolled up his pants to show us some of the scars on his legs. When Joe asked if he was the firstborn son in his family, he told us he had two older brothers who had also disappeared in DRC along with his parents. He escaped from jail and took refuge with some Catholic nuns, who helped him later escape across the border to Zambia. There are more details about his family that were hard to hear. But as he told us, it was striking to realize that most of the people FORGE employs in Meheba have similar stories. I was really struck by the way he mentioned that he has no idea where his brothers and parents are. What's amazing about this man is that he is absolutely the most positive, upbeat person I've ever met. He is a pastor at one of the churches in Meheba and is just loved by everyone who meets him. Admittedly, I felt guilty later about what I consider to be problems in my personal life. There is just no comparison.
We had a medical emergency over last weekend, too. The mother of a FORGE employee passed away after some sort of weird "attack". The clinic staff in Meheba thought it was malaria (the standard diagnosis for anything non-diarrheal), but it sounded a lot more like a stroke to us. The ambulance that usually can run between Meheba and Solwezi was broken this past week, so we decided to use the FORGE vehicle to drive her to the hospital in Solwezi. There was no physician available in the middle of the night when she arrived, and she passed the following morning. It was really intense and sad on several levels. We attended the funeral and burial. I don't do well when males cry, so it was tough. All the headstones (well, wooden crosses) that were legible in the graveyard showed ages around 35-40. Intense. We're all still processing the past few days. It is impossible to convey the amount of need related to health care, transportation, and food rations in this community.
Wow. Sorry to get so heavy. I am still doing well, feeling great, sleeping a lot, getting some sun, reading a lot and thinking about life even more. My mom's birthday was on the 17th. Every time I think about my family I am overwhelmed with gratitude for how fortunate we have been and how lucky we are to know where each of us lives. Sending lots of big hugs to everyone.
As more details about the project are lining up, I am feeling incredibly motivated to use the remaining 3-4 weeks we have in the camp. We're conducting focus groups about HIV/AIDS knowledge and behavior among adults in each of the zones next week. I'm pretty excited to hear what the community has to say and am particularly interested in what variations might emerge based on nationality and/or tribe. Also, I think I mentioned earlier that one of the big Implementing Partners in the camp (CORD) just pulled out of Meheba. The UNHCR field officer approached us this week to see if we would be interested in overseeing the remaining months of the PEPFAR grant CORD received for Meheba--pretty cool. Should be interesting and might allow us to do a little more with the project than we had anticipated. Makes me (almost) believe that I am happy about what my tax dollars are doing in the world. We'll see.
The project managers (who will live in the camp for a year and oversee our projects) arrive this weekend! Will be fun to see them again and to have a full house.
19.7.07
12.7.07
TIZ
This week has seen a lot of small shifts and decisions regarding our project. In light of the fact that ZPCT will be coming into Meheba, we no longer will engage New Start to bring VCT teams in periodically. This is a blessing on many levels, primarily because ZPCT will bring a much more comprehensive and higher-quality program to the community. Additionally, it frees up several thousand dollars of our project budget. We will be working with GRS to train the CSL staff. We also will be supporting a small team called MAAP—Meheba AIDS Awareness Project. They will hold educational workshops for adults and youth in the different zones. We have found them a small office space and are building a small library of resource materials.
We were allowed to participate in ZPCT’s assessment meeting at the Zone A Clinic yesterday afternoon. The Zone A Clinic is the only site in all of Meheba offering VCT and also the clinic generally regarded as the best in the community. It was sad, frustrating and inspirational all at once.
There is one clinic officer, one nurse, and two lab technicians working there. The staff is not able to provide antiretroviral therapy due to resource issues and lack of training. There has been confusion over what “patient confidentiality” truly entails, and as such the staff has seen no need to track patient records or maintain counts of patients tested or currently receiving ART. There is no electricity or running water in the clinic. The staff does not offer any information or care regarding prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). Joe and I had hoped for better, but are not surprised to learn that the rumors and anecdotes about the low level of HIV care have all been true. Comparing what we saw with the level of care in any facility in the U.S. is really powerful. We are so fortunate.
I visited the Meheba Friendly Library this week. It was one of FORGE’s first projects in the camp, and it is a really great facility. I paid 10,000 kwacha (US$2.25) for a year-long membership and checked out two books. I’ve been reading nonstop down here and it’s really great. At least, I tell myself it's really great (which it is), but there also aren't too many other options for free time. Ha.
What else what else....I got about 25 GB of music off my friend's computer last week. Very nice. Since our minibus broke down last week partially due to a dead battery, it's been a bit tempermental. It's hilarious, however, because in order to start the engine, about 10 of us have to go out and push it. The lack of battery (it's way too expensive in this small town) somehow means we have to get a rolling start going for the engine to start. Yes, it is straight out of Little Miss Sunshine. Pretty cute. We'll take some video of the process.
We were allowed to participate in ZPCT’s assessment meeting at the Zone A Clinic yesterday afternoon. The Zone A Clinic is the only site in all of Meheba offering VCT and also the clinic generally regarded as the best in the community. It was sad, frustrating and inspirational all at once.
There is one clinic officer, one nurse, and two lab technicians working there. The staff is not able to provide antiretroviral therapy due to resource issues and lack of training. There has been confusion over what “patient confidentiality” truly entails, and as such the staff has seen no need to track patient records or maintain counts of patients tested or currently receiving ART. There is no electricity or running water in the clinic. The staff does not offer any information or care regarding prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). Joe and I had hoped for better, but are not surprised to learn that the rumors and anecdotes about the low level of HIV care have all been true. Comparing what we saw with the level of care in any facility in the U.S. is really powerful. We are so fortunate.
I visited the Meheba Friendly Library this week. It was one of FORGE’s first projects in the camp, and it is a really great facility. I paid 10,000 kwacha (US$2.25) for a year-long membership and checked out two books. I’ve been reading nonstop down here and it’s really great. At least, I tell myself it's really great (which it is), but there also aren't too many other options for free time. Ha.
What else what else....I got about 25 GB of music off my friend's computer last week. Very nice. Since our minibus broke down last week partially due to a dead battery, it's been a bit tempermental. It's hilarious, however, because in order to start the engine, about 10 of us have to go out and push it. The lack of battery (it's way too expensive in this small town) somehow means we have to get a rolling start going for the engine to start. Yes, it is straight out of Little Miss Sunshine. Pretty cute. We'll take some video of the process.
6.7.07
wow
Happy Friday!
We are in Solwezi for a day of meetings that has proved totally amazing. The two FORGE Project Facilitators working on the women's center project referred us to an organization called ZPCT (Zambian Prevention Care and Treatment Partnership) last week. We met with 4 of their staff this morning, and their plans for Meheba are incredible. Next week they will be assessing the capacity at the Zone D Clinic and lab. Their plans are, beginning in October, to expand clinic services, staff and equipment to support comprehensive HIV care in Meheba. They want to improve clinic space, working culture, personnel training, and outreach activities.
Basically, they aim to create the Meheba equivalent of every Solwezi-based organization we are currently trying to link to the refugee HIV patients. It's incredible. Although they are USAID funded (which can be controversial in terms of donor agendas and the need to align indicators with these agendas), their attitude and ideas were amazing. So we are interested to see the results of their assessment and their next steps.
This completely reshapes our project plans for the next few months (and beyond), but hopefully just means that we no longer are going to be responsible for creating any type of clinical programming on our own (with very limited resources). We're thinking of conducting research/focus groups in each zone to help prepare for ZPCT's entrance this fall. Hopefully some of this research could comprise the basis for the thesis I need to write this coming year. We're also focusing more on the community sports league and some smaller ideas, like condom distribution in each of the stalls in the main market in Meheba.
The FORGE vehicle broke down a few days ago, so we had to hitch a ride into Solwezi last night with Mr. Mendes, the UNHCR Refugee Officer. He is a very nice man originally from Mozambique. We talked a lot about African politics on our ride into town. He also helped us find a guest house to stay in last night. We ran into our friend from Meheba, a Congolese refugee named Stephen, in the internet cafe. He was just returning from a trade fair in Ndola. We had dinner with him and talked a bit about his life prior to arriving in Meheba. It is a really powerful story which I'll save for my next post.
Then this morning walking along the main road in town, we ran into the country coordinator for the medical missions group that was in zone F two weeks ago. Ten minutes later, in Shoprite (a big chain like Safeway), we ran into William, the director of the organization that has just taken over operating responsibilities from CORD in Meheba. Small world!
What else, what else. The Finding Nemo watch I bought last week died after exactly 8 hours. Great. I am slowly able to ride my bike without excruciating amounts of lower body pain, but it is still pretty brutal. We had a great 4th of July celebration on Wednesday. In a rare flash of culinary inspiration, I helped make a batch of beer-battered sweet potato fries. They were delicious, even if Alice and Flora (our house ladies) could not stop laughing at me when I described the process for preparing them. They laughed at us the whole time. We also grilled some goat meat and made smores around the fire.
No fireworks, but a neighboring farm had some fires on their land late that night, so we watched this huge fire move across the horizon. (AAR left a nonfunctional water tower in the courtyard of the compound. If you climb on top of it, you get a pretty nice view) I thought people mostly did that to clear land for farming purposes, but apparently they also will light areas of the bush on fire in order to drive wild animals into a line of hunters moving toward the fire. Interesting!
We are in Solwezi for a day of meetings that has proved totally amazing. The two FORGE Project Facilitators working on the women's center project referred us to an organization called ZPCT (Zambian Prevention Care and Treatment Partnership) last week. We met with 4 of their staff this morning, and their plans for Meheba are incredible. Next week they will be assessing the capacity at the Zone D Clinic and lab. Their plans are, beginning in October, to expand clinic services, staff and equipment to support comprehensive HIV care in Meheba. They want to improve clinic space, working culture, personnel training, and outreach activities.
Basically, they aim to create the Meheba equivalent of every Solwezi-based organization we are currently trying to link to the refugee HIV patients. It's incredible. Although they are USAID funded (which can be controversial in terms of donor agendas and the need to align indicators with these agendas), their attitude and ideas were amazing. So we are interested to see the results of their assessment and their next steps.
This completely reshapes our project plans for the next few months (and beyond), but hopefully just means that we no longer are going to be responsible for creating any type of clinical programming on our own (with very limited resources). We're thinking of conducting research/focus groups in each zone to help prepare for ZPCT's entrance this fall. Hopefully some of this research could comprise the basis for the thesis I need to write this coming year. We're also focusing more on the community sports league and some smaller ideas, like condom distribution in each of the stalls in the main market in Meheba.
The FORGE vehicle broke down a few days ago, so we had to hitch a ride into Solwezi last night with Mr. Mendes, the UNHCR Refugee Officer. He is a very nice man originally from Mozambique. We talked a lot about African politics on our ride into town. He also helped us find a guest house to stay in last night. We ran into our friend from Meheba, a Congolese refugee named Stephen, in the internet cafe. He was just returning from a trade fair in Ndola. We had dinner with him and talked a bit about his life prior to arriving in Meheba. It is a really powerful story which I'll save for my next post.
Then this morning walking along the main road in town, we ran into the country coordinator for the medical missions group that was in zone F two weeks ago. Ten minutes later, in Shoprite (a big chain like Safeway), we ran into William, the director of the organization that has just taken over operating responsibilities from CORD in Meheba. Small world!
What else, what else. The Finding Nemo watch I bought last week died after exactly 8 hours. Great. I am slowly able to ride my bike without excruciating amounts of lower body pain, but it is still pretty brutal. We had a great 4th of July celebration on Wednesday. In a rare flash of culinary inspiration, I helped make a batch of beer-battered sweet potato fries. They were delicious, even if Alice and Flora (our house ladies) could not stop laughing at me when I described the process for preparing them. They laughed at us the whole time. We also grilled some goat meat and made smores around the fire.
No fireworks, but a neighboring farm had some fires on their land late that night, so we watched this huge fire move across the horizon. (AAR left a nonfunctional water tower in the courtyard of the compound. If you climb on top of it, you get a pretty nice view) I thought people mostly did that to clear land for farming purposes, but apparently they also will light areas of the bush on fire in order to drive wild animals into a line of hunters moving toward the fire. Interesting!
1.7.07
holiday
(The title of this blog post goes out to Caela and Jason, my co-audience for the early-high-school carpooling extravaganzas put on by Stuart and his Madonna CDs)
This weekend is a super long holiday weekend in Zambia--Monday and Tuesday are national holidays, so no one is working. We're rocking a 4th of July party Wednesday, as well, so....basically....not too much will get done until Thursday.
Esther, a former Project Manager for FORGE (and so much more....she basically owns this camp) left Meheba last night. Friday we had a farewell dinner for her. She has so many friends in the community. It was very moving. This man named Ernest played several songs on the guitar and his sister sang with him in French, English, and Swahili. I can't really describe how beautiful it was....low candlelight and a room full of very close FORGE friends.....so nice.
Lots of details about our project are going to be determined by other NGOs, it appears.....we are waiting to hear from Lusaka staff of IOM and New Start. We're working in Meheba at an interesting time. Christian Outreach Relief and Development (CORD), one of the largest Implementing Partners in the camp, has just pulled out of Meheba. As such, lots of programming is on hold until the replacement IP comes in this month. It holds up our project plans, but also could be an opportunity to clean up many processes and channels that are no longer functioning optimally. Specifically, extra food rations, specialized health care, and transportation to Solwezi for HIV+ patients in Meheba are all in bad shape at the moment....hopefully we can be part of conversations in the coming weeks to improve these areas.
Did anyone see the Refugee All Stars documentary this past week on PBS? I heard it was running beginning June 26. Such a good one!!!
More soon. Happy 4th to everyone!
This weekend is a super long holiday weekend in Zambia--Monday and Tuesday are national holidays, so no one is working. We're rocking a 4th of July party Wednesday, as well, so....basically....not too much will get done until Thursday.
Esther, a former Project Manager for FORGE (and so much more....she basically owns this camp) left Meheba last night. Friday we had a farewell dinner for her. She has so many friends in the community. It was very moving. This man named Ernest played several songs on the guitar and his sister sang with him in French, English, and Swahili. I can't really describe how beautiful it was....low candlelight and a room full of very close FORGE friends.....so nice.
Lots of details about our project are going to be determined by other NGOs, it appears.....we are waiting to hear from Lusaka staff of IOM and New Start. We're working in Meheba at an interesting time. Christian Outreach Relief and Development (CORD), one of the largest Implementing Partners in the camp, has just pulled out of Meheba. As such, lots of programming is on hold until the replacement IP comes in this month. It holds up our project plans, but also could be an opportunity to clean up many processes and channels that are no longer functioning optimally. Specifically, extra food rations, specialized health care, and transportation to Solwezi for HIV+ patients in Meheba are all in bad shape at the moment....hopefully we can be part of conversations in the coming weeks to improve these areas.
Did anyone see the Refugee All Stars documentary this past week on PBS? I heard it was running beginning June 26. Such a good one!!!
More soon. Happy 4th to everyone!
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