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Published: October 14th 2007
CTYA
Brave (pointing), Alex (hat) and Theophilous (white shirt) dancing for a community HIV education programAnother week in Livingstone….what have I done this week? A whole new crop of volunteers came, about ten of them, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment - 3 new girls at Mambo, a Scot and 2 Germans, the house is no longer the American house. One of my housemates had to flee the country - his visa expired and he had to cross over to Zimbabwe - probably the first white person to flee TO Zimbabwe in the past ten years. He just had to spend one night out of Zambia so he was back in the morning.
I might have already written about this but I don’t think so. There was a pedestrian / taxi accident that I got to assist with at Maramba Clinic. The pedestrian went headfirst through the windshield of the taxi and was thrown about 30 ft, almost losing an ear in the process. He came into the clinic (with a HUGE crowd trying to see what was going on) and I helped hold him down while the nurses tried to stop the bleeding and determine the extent of his injuries, mostly head trauma but I was praying that he didn‘t have a
ella
ella, wanting in during a storm fractured pelvis or anything as I was laying across his legs. He got an IV but no pain meds and was very confused, trying to get up and off of the table - he ended up being transported to the hospital in an ambulance (converted combi bus) - I almost got to go with but couldn’t find another pair of gloves in time, and given that 20% of the population is HIV+, not a risk I really want or need to take.
Thursday and Friday I was teaching HIVE (HIV education) - it was very comical at times. Wednesday was a recruiting day, so I walked around Maramba community with Leah and Brave talking to anyone who was sitting outside. Thursday was the blood draw demonstration - me sitting in a rickety chair outside with a rubber glove as a tourniquet and a nursing student who hasn’t got much experience doing draws - the potential for disaster was there - thankfully I have ginormous veins. Friday was the condom demonstration - lots of bananas and lots of condoms. It’s one of those things you think doesn’t need to be explained - but most of these adults have done “experiments”
football game
my local football team on their way to victory in school where they put water in a condom and hang it on a tree. When they see water on the outside, that “proves” that the condom leaks and isn’t 100% safe - never mind that the temperature and moisture differences are the real cause of the condensation. So there’s a lot of misinformation out there. But the demonstration was still fairly comical, especially with Brave using a banana. I have two more sessions this week, then the class graduates, hopefully with a bit more knowledge.
Friday night was the launch of the new Mosi beer bottle - it’s disposable! I learned a new party trick - opening bottles with my teeth, I think it may save my life someday. I went out with a few guys from the clinic - lots of good music and good beer - in disposable bottles! Seriously doesn’t make a lot of sense, what with glass being expensive and trash being a problem here - it was promoted as an innovation - I think they have it a bit backwards. So Brave and I have some pretty intense conversations - Friday night was no exception. And I can write this because no one
HIV graduation
My class on graduation day at Maramba Farm who reads this will ever meet any of these people, but I now know the HIV status of some acquaintances/friends, and it’s not good - people that need to take anti retroviral drugs and simply aren’t….and all people that are really fit and healthy looking. The morbid joke is that if you have sex in Africa you will get AIDs and die - everyone in the house has been warned of that. But joking about that and then actually knowing….it messes with you. I think it’s the fact that now it’s suddenly personal - I’ve met plenty of people who are positive - I work in a clinic in the town that has the highest infection rate in Zambia, but working with someone and greeting them everyday - and finding out that they’re positive and not on ARV’s because of the stigma attached to HIV - it’s depressing. And of course I can’t share with anyone in the house because it’s so confidential and it could ruin people’s lives if their status was made public. I did home based care last week - a lady was HIV+ but not on ARV’s - because if her mother-in-law found out she would
Bridges of Hope
HIVe demonstration - and me with very poor balance at Maramba Farm where I spend most afternoons be beaten up and thrown out of the house. So what kind of choice is that? How do you prefer to die - of AIDs or starvation? So for now I just have to keep everything to myself and realize how very little I understand about Africa. So that was my Friday night - hard but necessary.
Saturday was very mellow - out to ZigZags for breakfast - then back home to sleep until the sunset cruise - I was fantastically tired so just a rest day. Lots of hippos on the cruise, then out to Step Rite with a few of the river guides - then off to Fairmount - pretty much the usual weekend circuit. I met up with John, a local who works with a local hunger relief organization, and Brave and Ozzy there - all really fun guys who I trust. Turns out that Brave and John are on the same soccer team - so I suddenly had plans for Sunday.
Church was good, but so hot! So I wear a chitenga (sarong) to church - only you have to wear something underneath like trousers - and a head covering. So I was just
HIVe session
My classroom at Maramba, nicely airconditioned pouring sweat the entire 4 hour service - which starts at 10 - yup, right through the hottest part of the day. No pastor today, so one of the men gave a short, impromptu sermon, then prayer and prophesying. I love the singing but the preaching can be a bit weak, depending on who’s speaking. I think a lot of the Bible background / knowledge just isn’t there - so the sermons can end up being very simple.
After service, and after ripping off my chitenga, it was off to the local pub to collect the soccer team. Half of them were drinking chibuku, which is a foul looking local brew made of roasted and sprouted corn served warm out of cut-off plastic bottles - really, its as good as it sounds. So I drank some, praying that no intestinal troubles would result. But it’s one of those things that make a big impression - sitting and drinking with people is a pretty universal gesture of friendship. After collecting everyone, we squeezed about 20 people into a combi and were off, singing and banging on the side of the combi to get everyone psyched up. I manage to constantly
HIVe students
And this is how you carry babies in Zambia, a very hi-tech piece of clothe find myself in situations where I am the only female and the only white person - today was no exception. I definitely prefer any local place over any tourist place - too many white people and I start to feel uncomfortable. I’m not joking either - at this point I find it so much easier to talk to locals than anyone else. Half the guys had cleats, half played in bare feet - not so bad when the pitch is grass, but in sand with pieces of glass - no thanks. So two wins later and we were back at the pub, by pub I mean a tiny store front and thatched mud huts. I now have a standing invite to watch the games on the weekends. It was a big deal for them that I, as a white female, would go out and spend the day with them. I really think that that mentality has been the hardest for me to get used to - the fact that being seen with me is something special. So anyway, the status of that soccer team is now improved because of me - just doing my part, being white. Dillon, one of
mambova village kids
some of the beautiful local children the players and a coworker at the clinic, scored three goals for me, so I probably owe him a coke or something - he always greets me with ‘mama’ which is a term of respect in Swahili. I usually end up dancing with his sister at some point on the weekends - she’s really friendly and works at night.
Yesterday I worked at the Maramba Old Peoples Home- it was actually a lot of fun. There are 25 residents, they are there because they have no family to take care of them and have no means of supporting themselves. They come from all over Zambia. Each one has a room with a bed and a wardrobe and a separate shelter that they sit in during the day. There is a very large garden that some of the men work in - one of the guys only works in the garden when he’s drunk, so he has permission to go out and get drunk when he wants. After sweeping and mopping the rooms we played games with the residents - drawing and memory were big hits. They were in hysterics after I wrote their names - not sure if it
Rafting the Zambezi
I'm the one in right side of the raft, second position from the front, Steven in front, Jamie (coordinator) opposite him, then the rest of my housemates with Steve the guide was because I’m left handed or because I could write, but they were thrilled. Drawing was interesting as well - they had great difficulty reproducing anything that I did (it was nearly impossible to get them to draw something on their own), I’m not sure if it’s because of their mental state or if they simply never ever learned how to draw.
So it was a really good week - nice and exciting. This week is the end of HIVE, then probably a party for Gama Cuulu, an HIV education program that guys at the clinic do, football on Saturday, church on Sunday, and Fairmount at night. I was supposed to go to Zimbabwe this weekend to do a lion walk and such, but that’s been postponed for a bit.
Lots of love to everyone
Kristin
Ps - Mom and Dad, could you please email me the exact phone number you call to reach me?
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Antonia
non-member comment
hey ...
... be nice to those Germans ;) wow, what a long journal entry. memories of my time in Romania are coming back. I can totally see you mading the soccer team gaining brownie points - cute you! take good care of yourself, wear gloves, spread love and your joyful soul ... LOVE: me!