venda

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Well it took a while for me to get here and honestly the number of stories I have saved up in doing so would take a day and a half to recall and you all don't have that kind of time...so I'll give you the abbreviated version and you can ask me more later.

Missed my connecting flight in Paris and spent the day in Charles de Gaul waiting for the next flight. I drank 6 dollar expressos trying to stay awake and deal with the jet lag before I got to South Africa. It worked, barely, and at 11pm that night I got on the plane to Joburg and passed out for the next 10 hours or so. I spent one night in Johannesburg and then travelled with other researchers to Blydespoort where we met up with one of my advisor's Dr. Swap. There I changed travel partners and a group of 8 of us set out for Venda on Sun AM. Three are building a biodigester (bag of maure in the groud that produces methane gas for cooking), one is working on Medicinal plants, another is workin on mosquito control and one more is teaching classes on water quality. I'll be investigating anemia in children ages 0-5 and trying to see what causes exist.

We all got into Venda on Sunday night and spent that night in the Tusk Venda Casino...a sketchy little number that looks like it belongs on the set of star trek...faded carpets and a haze of smoke that does a poor job of concealing the few shady patrons of the slot machines. Needless to say I was glad to get out of there. On Monday we moved into our "Guest houses" which are really just one room dorms that open onto a dusty courtyard. There are two to a room and I ended up in the one with a fridge...ya hoo. TThis is good as I don't have to go far for food, but then again neither do the roaches...its winter yet there seem to be more each day..,should have gone into ecology I guess. Also there is only one outlet so we cook on a hot plate in the room next door. Its not too bad but just another reminder that I'm not in C'ville any more. The good news is, I am able to satisfy my coffee jones each morning with a big cup of Nescafe...its almost sludge by the time I get the caffeine level adequate but it keeps the DTs away and as some of you know...Coffe makes everything better....even roaches

Although the housing may be less than optimal, my collegues here at the University of Venda are anything but. Samie Amidou and Pascal Bessong have gone out of their way to make me and the other students feel welcome from day one. I am very grateful for the amount of ground work they have done before my arrival, lining up clinics for me to work in around the area. Most promising is the Thohoyandou Health Center, a public clinic a 40 min walk from campus that sees close to 1500 patients every 2 months. I had the privledge of meeting two of the Nurses, Rambani and Shakes, who have agreed to work with me directly in my research. I met the head Matron today, and although I'm having a difficult time readin her I think she's happy to be working with me, or at least tolerant of my presence, at this point either is fine with me.

That is all for now but hopefully I'll be able to cover more things in detail as I settle into more of a routine. I hope all is well with everyone...until next time


Jimmy

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