Libby A
A little bit of \"continental ADD\" and a desire to share it with everyone I know. Madrasi Libby
Travel Blog Posts
May 1st 2012
Many years ago when Hena realized she had to register the births of her two daughters she decided she would make it easier for herself. If she had to make up dates anyway (she couldn't remember exactly when she'd had either girl) she might as well be strategic about it: Johora's, May 1st, Rahima's, May 2nd. One cake, one party to arrange, twice the girly excitement. Everybody wins. In America kids are usually pretty pissed if they have to share a birthday with a relative or a major holiday--it means less attention for them. But for Rahima, who is turning ten, and Johora, two years younger, the formula somehow works. So much so that I'm pretty sure I just witnessed the most fun ever had in one birthday celebration. Dancing on the bed, balloon popping, glitter ... read more
April 28th 2012
Life in Bangladesh as I know it revolves around water: the overnight launch trip to down to Barisal, waiting for the never-on-time ferries that keep life moving between the islands and mainland (you wouldn't know the difference though since everything is surrounded by the fingerlets of rivers letting out into the Bay of Bengal), and speed boat rides to the more remote chars. Apparently I'm getting too lazy to write real blog entires so again there are photos: of fishermen hawking wares from their rowboats before the fish have even had a chance to die; of fields that march right into the river with no proper distinction between land and water (the boundaries are always changing down here); of sunrises and sunsets; of old boats and new boats; of cows on ferries and bideshis in rivers; ... read more
April 23rd 2012
I have arrived--back in the warm, sweaty embrace of Bangladesh. I'm not sure that this trip will produce any proper blogs, but I thought that I'd share some photos as a start. I spent my first few evenings in Dhaka with Hena and her girls. These photos are what happens when you give a point and shoot to two snap happy camera novices--a view of their own home in Kairal slum, Dhaka.... read more
August 30th 2010
Ten weeks is not enough. I knew from the beginning that my summer internship would fly by, but I wouldn’t have guessed that at the end of ten weeks I would be so reluctant to leave Lundazi. For most of the summer I talked with my mom about her mid-August arrival in Zambia as if it was something that was too far away to really start dealing with yet. All of a sudden mid-August arrived, and so did my mother (Mami tabuela!). I am thankful for the distraction that was provided by adventure with my mom (the woman who taught me to love traveling)—a welcome diversion from the reality of the end of summer. The adventures began with mom’s 14 hour bus ride to Lundazi, where she was received warmly by a town who knew who ... read more
July 28th 2010
Kafukufuku (n): The fabulous Tumbuka word for “survey” and the primary reason behind my relative business/blog silence in the last few weeks. As I’ve mentioned before I am here to help out with the mid-term evaluation of a CARE project looking at the integration of HIV/AIDS and family planning services, as well as the use of behavior change communication methods to address norms and beliefs around reproductive health and gender. To carry out that evaluation I’ve worked very closely with the M&E Officer here in Lundazi (Brian) to train research assistants, identify a sample, oversee data collection, and enter and clean data. Though Brian and I did not conduct any of the interviews ourselves, the 20 days of data collection were still somehow quite taxing. We spent long days and weekends out in Mwase Lundazi, organizing ... read more
July 8th 2010
Our survey has begun, and last week we scheduled some community meetings to start spreading the word--preparing villagers for the sight of our city-kid research assistants cycling lost and confused around their communities, doing their best to dress and speak like locals. On Wednesday we had a meeting set for a village in Chilola, but when we rolled in around 4 pm we found the whole village drunk. The old men swarmed, greeting all of us with slurred words and wobbly stances--one man shook my hand so hard I jolted from the force. He then proceeded to introduce himself to two of my colleagues and me, thoroughly butchering each of our names (mine became "Maybe," Victoria became "Dora;" she corrected him three times until she gave up: "Fine, yes. Dora."). Of course it doesn't do much ... read more
The Life of a Muzungu in Lundazi
Published: June 30th 2010Africa » Zambia » Eastern Province » Lundazi
June 29th 2010
A true adventurer I am not. Though I love the experience of living in new places it is not the thrill of discovery that keeps me coming back, but the feeling of comfort that comes with having settled in a foreign environment. With each new temporary life I build, I confirm something I should have admitted to a long time ago: that I live for the establishment of routine. And so it is that I happily report the very boring and every day accomplishments that have helped me weave my own pattern of life in Lundazi. The first of the successes was liberating myself from the paved road. Lundazi has only one of these, and in my first few days of living here I could pretty much only get myself from one point to another if ... read more
June 15th 2010
The last few days have finally gotten me from the capital, Lusaka, to my summer home, Lundazi. We left Lusaka on Wednesday, deterred from our 8 am departure target by a mere 6.5 hours. Though long, the drive from the country’s capital to Chipata (capital of Eastern Province) was also valuable—an introduction to Zambia beyond the confines of my Lusaka hotel and office, as well as an opportunity to better get to know Brian. The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer for the project I will be helping to evaluate this summer, Brian is both my supervisor and my colleague. He is quiet and thoughtful, but also very easy going and easy to get along with. He is very receptive to my thoughts and comments, and also very tolerant of the constant questions I am asking him ... read more
June 11th 2010
Despite the fact that I am working on an HIV and family planning project here in Zambia, I’ve so far found it easy to forget about the reality of HIV in this country. Currently approximately14% of the population is suspected to be living with HIV/AIDS; in Lundazi, the estimate is significantly lower (around 10 or 11%). Some of the most recent figures rank Zambia somewhere around 7th in terms of global HIV/AIDS prevalence. And this is with considerable improvement—in the early 90s one in five Zambians were suspected to be positive. So things could certainly be worse and Zambia has shown commendable progress. But Lundazi’s 10% remains a staggering number. It means that walking down the street one out of every ten people I pass could be living with the disease—a statistic that I still have ... read more
The Cheapest Thing You Can Find in Zambia is a Smile
Published: June 9th 2010Africa » Zambia » Lusaka
June 9th 2010
One of the advantages of doing very little background research before arriving in a place is that everything is new and exciting. In the course of my first 72 hours here I have, therefore, learned and experienced a great many things about Zambia that I would never have expected. One of the greatest surprises I’ve encountered is the population’s general fluency with English. Literally everyone (at least in Lusaka) that I have interacted with down to the bathroom guard at the shopping plaza speaks perfect English. This is, it turns out, because English is the only official national language (which I will admit I did not know) and the language of instruction in all public schools. Of course this is a remnant of the British era, but also a fairly practical choice. There are 72 other ... read more
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