Sunday, June 16, 2013

Made it to Kalomo! Happy Father's Day!

Dear Everyone,

Happy Father's Day to all the Father's out there....Especially to my Brothers who are very special Father's and Men!

I made it to Kalomo fine, PC actually drove me down which was great!  Kalomo is a small town, not as built up as Lusaka.  The closest town with a partial grocery store is in Choma about 65 km away.  But Kalomo has a market place so I will get veggies!  My house is large!  Very different from my one bedroom, no power and no water in Uganda.  I have running water, hot water heater and electricity!  The house is surrounded by a concrete wall with glass at the top and metal gates in the front.  PC will hire guards for me if I want them.  I have a large yard with alot of trees, and a large veranda.  The  house has a dining room, living room, kitchen, walk in panty, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathtubs, 3 toilets and 3 sinks.  So with no furniture in the house, it looks really large!  To settle in, Peace Corps Zambia gave me a refrigerator, stove, bed, mattress, pillow, sheets, a small sofa and a bike/helmet.  So I really am pretty set.  I don’t need anything more to live here.  The house needed alot of work, so the plumber, carpenter and electrcian have all been over many times to fix things.  But all in all, I am Blessed.

The second weekend that I was here, there was a white lab about 1 1/2 yrs old outside my gate.  She followed me all over town, everywhere I went she went.  When I got back to my house and opened the gate, she ran in.  I told her to get out and she was so cute.  She started crying and went down on her front paws and started moving very slowly to the gate.  Then she cried when I closed the gate.  So the next time I went out she was right there waiting for me.  I asked everyone that I came across, who’s dog was she.  No one knew.  My landlord said that she did not live in my house before, which is what I orginially thought.  My neighbor however said that she lived there before and the people just left her.  So that Sunday night I let her stay inside the gate and she followed me to work the next day.  My coworkers said to go to the Vet and the Police and see if they knew who she belonged to.  So when I went to the Vet they did not know the dog.  They told me that if the dog was bothering me, they would put her to sleep and she would not feel a thing.  I was surprised that they would just kill her that easy.  She was such a sweet, good puppy and told them that that was not an option.  So I told them that I would take her and for them to give her her vaccinations.  I named her Kristie.  Then I went to the police and filed a police report about Kristie, so if the owners came back and wanted her they would know where she was.  But, I don’t think that will ever happen, I am sure that they are long gone and left her abandon.

So then the next challenge was dog food!  There is no dog food, dog collar, dog leash or dog anything here in Kalomo.  You don’t find anything for dogs except in the capital and not in alot of stores.  I did make it to Choma (64 km away) one day and they had a 1.75 lbs bag which was very expensive,  But I picked up 2 bags, which will not last her very long.  One of the other Response Volunteers is coming down this way from Luska tomorrow and she is bring me an 8 lb bag.   So I will have some dog food.  In the meantime, I have taken a bucket to the resturant and they are putting scraps in it, so I have something to give her.   Hopefully, she will eat the dog food when I do get it.
As for work, I am still just learning what they want me to do.  I have met the BU Intern that works at ZCAHRD, but she will leave the end of June and  we will get another.  The rest of the ZCAHRD staff is Zambian.  We work from 8 to 5 Monday to Friday.  This group of workers actually work.  Most of the time we are out in the field going to one of the health centers.  At the centers we do mentoring, data collection on delieveries, complications, concerns, issues, check for Infection Control issues, look at referral of Mothers to the hospital and go over feedback forms.    Some of these centers take 3 hours to get to because they are far away and they have bad roads.  One center told me a story of a mother that went into labor during the raining season, she was a high risk pregancy and needed to get to the hospital.  She had no phone network access to call the ambulance (the ambulance would have taken 3 hours to get there from the hospital).  Also, it was raining season, so the ambulance could only go so far.  Bewildered, I said..then how did you get her to the hospital?  She said in a matter of fact tone...well we walked a ways and then got on an Ox cart and went down to the river about 40 kms.  Then I could call the ambulance, and we waited in the rain until they got there.  Now can you imagine being in Labor and having to go though that!  It really is amazing what the mothers endure here. 

Anyway, a couple of the things I am suppose to do along with the above is to help establish roles/scope and smooth fuctioning of the 24/7 District triage nurse for the emergency text component of the mUbumi project.  As well as, assist with synchronizing SMGL Emergency Referral System data collection with mHealth/mUbumi SMS data collection and activities in the District.  So I am not quite sure how I am going to do that when the centers don’t have network access to even activate the emergency referral system.  So I am open to ideas!

CDC has purchased a computer and a printer for me to do my work and ZCAHRD provides the transportation.  That is a good thing, because most of the places we go....no taxi or buses go there.  But that is good for me!

The people here are really friendly, and have alot of the same cultural mannerisms as Ugandans.  For example, one of the educational sessions that a Zambian was giving to another Zambian took 2 hours...but it would have been done in 15 minutes in the US.

I am still working with Mari Kelley’s Cow’s in Uganda!  So if you feel you want to donate...Please do.  If you know someone that would like to donate please pass on the information!  www.marikelleyscows.org  Remember it is Tax Deductible.

I will go down to Livingstone to visit one of the PCRV working with John Snow Institute the last weekend of June and stay until July 2.  July 1 and 2 are Zambian holidays.  We are planning to go to Victoria Falls and a 1 day Safari!  Should be fun and I will have pictures for you in my next blog.

For now, stay Safe and Be Happy!
Love & Light,
Mari “Lushomo”