The entire last week

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OK, here goes an attempt to get myself up to date before I disappear and fall way behind again.

Saturday was a somewhat light day. The famous Julie (for those of you who don't know, she's basically the reason why there have been UMass students coming to Zambia for the last several years) arrived early in the afternoon, and I just barely got to the internet cafe in time to see her arrival time and call for a ride for her. Whew! I took it easy that day, seeing a movie in the afternoon, and then we all had a nice dinner out.

Sunday we went to Kafula's church again, and this time he really was leading the choir/band. He's quite the showman when he's up on stage, you'd never guess it from meeting him in any other context. The afternoon was devoted to making sure things were coming together for the trainings that Rebecca and Amanda were planning to run through the week.

Monday we finished preparations, buying a lot of the food for the week, and then later met with the guys from Ubuntu again-- this time, as a full group-- and set some firm goals to get taken care of while Julie is here. There was also some good planning for a meeting with USAID scheduled for the next morning. That night, we had dinner at the home of the defense attache from the US to Zambia, who happens to be our next door neighbor. Credit for that connection belongs to Mick, who evidently just started talking to the guy in the grocery store one day, with no idea who he was. Much to the delight of all of us, but Amanda in particular, we got an invite to THE 4th of July party for Zambia, with all the embassy people scheduled to attend.

Tuesday the trainings started. We all went out to Ngwerere, and while Rebecca, Amanda, and Loveness instructed the group on STIs and contraceptives, Julie and I helped to run a surprisingly busy clinic day. It remains the only site with no children enrolled in the malnutrition program, but at least I saw enough children that I'm not quite as worried as before that word of our clinics isn't getting around in that area. Mick went with Nicholas to USAID to talk with them about food security issues among the Ubuntu clients, and they came away with a lot of excitement at the amount of interest shown toward the program in general; after all, it really is one of the only programs in this country working directly with the disabled, and it's being very much run by people in Zambia, giving it a rare dose of continuity and sustainability. Tuesday night, Mick treated us all to dinner (mmmm, Indian).

Wednesday there was a little confusion. Normally, it's a day for Mungule, but because there was a TB education session already planned for that site that day, we had to switch it with Lukata. The problem is, even though word got around that the STI/contraceptive training days were switched, somehow the message didn't get through to either site that the clinic would therefore have to switch as well. As such, I ended up at Lukata with no patients, while patients showed up at Mungule with nobody to see them. Oops. Going to have to remember to be extra careful about changing plans in the future. Wednesday night, there was a farewell to Mick/thank-you to Ubuntu dinner at Abundant Life. As with Becca's going-away dinner, there were LOTS of adorable kids around, which of course completely made my night.

Thursday was the Bwafwano training day for Rebecca and Amanda's course. I spent some time polishing up and updating a spreadsheet for the malnutrition program, and helped out with the trainings a bit. I ducked out early, since I didn't have a ton to do at the clinic, and took care of the pile of e-mails I'd accumulated by getting home late every day. This was also the only night where we had to cook for ourselves.

Friday, we ran the trainings at Mungule. I made sure that all the RUTF was getting delivered as promised, and then sat in on the training some more. The clinic was pretty light, since it was on the wrong day, only bringing in one patient, but evidently two more children had been enrolled to the malnutrition program the day before by Ethel. We managed to wrap up on time (for once), and then after getting home, we went back to the defense attache's home for the OFFICIAL 4th of July celebration for Zambia. It had all the necessities: delicious roasted meat, potato salad, alcohol, and fireworks, one of which went slightly astray and exploded right in the neighbor's backyard. I got to meet the American and Irish ambassadors to Zambia, both of whom were very interesting people, and generally had a great time.

Today I got up early and got my marathon training started in earnest. Did I mention that I signed up to run the Chicago marathon? Probably not, but there it is. I did a nice 12-miler, kept a decent pace, and felt great doing it.

The rest of the day is looking fairly light. I'm going to try to finish up the spreadsheet for the malnutrition clinic, get some writing done, finish my book, and upload all my pictures to my flash drive so I can clear it out in preparation for my trip to South Luangua tomorrow. On the advice of previous visitors, that was the place that we selected to go on safari, and it should be a great time. I won't really be missing any clinic time for this one, since Monday and Tuesday are both holidays here. On the other hand, you'll all have to wait a few days for updates. Hopefully I'll have a chance to upload things before heading to Zanzibar on Thursday. Busy times!

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