Happy Valentine's Day to All

Dear All,

Hope you had a great holiday season!  It seems like 2014 is already flying by!  WOW, Valentine’s Day already!

As you know I moved to Choma the 1st of December, into this really cute place.  I have alot of vegetables, grapes and the following trees in my yard: Banana, lemon, guava and mango.  I have cooked the corn in my yard as well as some of the vegetables and eaten the grapes and everything else.  It has really been wonderful trying out new vegetables and potato leaves.  I have running water, but it cuts off about 4 times a day for about 3 hours each time. 

 

The electricity is pretty stable only goes off about once per day, but is only out for about one hour.  One down side to Choma is that alot of people are moving to the area, which increases thief.  They have designated Choma to be the Southern Provincial Capital.  Kristie is a great watchdog, however she was poisoned in December.  Thieves do that here so that they can get in and rob you.  Kristie was really sick for about 3 weeks, but has survived.  The Vets here really astonish me!  The Vet MD in Choma came to my house every day to give Kristie injections to make her well, she was getting 2 a day for a while and then went to antibiotics by month.  It was hard to see her suffer like that.  You don’t find committed vets making daily house calls like that in the US!  She is all better and healthy now.  I wanted to get her spayed in January, but waited for a while until she was completely well.  So now she is in Mazabuka with the Vet MD and will have her surgery Monday the 3rd.  Again, the vet surprised me.  I was having trouble finding a way to get her there.  Mazabuka is a 2 hours drive from Choma.  Like from LA to San Diego or VA Beach to Hatteras.   The vet found a farmer to bring her to Mazabuka from Choma today and the Vet MD would bring her back on Tuesday!  It cannot get any better than that!  Plus, the Vet MD in Lusaka has gone way out of her way to help me make arrangements for Kristie to come back to the US!  Even going so far as to talk to someone at the KLM Airline office.  She also pointed me to someone who had a large crate for Kristie.  I purchased that and got it home.  Kristie did not go into it the first 2 days, but after that I cannot get her out of it!  She Loves it!  She also loves eating lying down.

Over December I took vacation and went to Mozambique with another PC Response volunteer.  We had a small oceanfront chalet on the Indian Ocean.  You may have seen some pictures on facebook.  I did scuba dive, and horseback ride on the beach and up in the mountains, rested, read and just relaxed.  It really was wonderful!

 

I have been working on my small project grant with the Health Center’s and the community, installing the lock gated fences around the rubbish pits at the health centers.  It is rainy season here now and alot of the roads to the health centers are flooded.  I took this video of us riding in the truck from one of the health centers (hope I am able to post it).  You can see how flooded it gets, it is like you are riding though rivers. 

 
But the fences are really needed around the rubbish pits.  Ministry of Health requires it, however none of the centers have one.  I was looking at all the rubbish (needles, medicine bottles, and syringes) outside of the pit while we were putting up one of the center’s poles and the Environmental Health Technician (EHT) told me what happens.  He stated that the kids go into the pits, pull out used syringes, and take them home to their mother’s.  The mother’s put an herb in the syringe and inject it into the children’s rectum, which causes diarrhea.  They believe that the diarrhea gets rid of worms.  Can you imagine all the disease as well as HIV that can be spread this way!  This is just one story I have heard, so the project is really needed.

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Along with this project, I am still doing the infection prevention data collections, and SMGL data collection and mentoring at the rural health centers. 

However, I have been given my Close of Service (COS) date!  April 17th is my COS date and I will be returning to the US!

 

I will go back to LA with Kristie.  The end of April I will be going down to San Diego for 4 days; I have a panel presentation at Scripps 5th Annual Integrative Conference.

 I am still working with Mari Kelley’s Foundation in Uganda!  I was planning on going to Uganda in March to check on the purchase of the cows and the project.  But right now I am not sure I am going, however if I do not go in March I will go later in the year.  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.

 

Cheryl, Jane and I are planning a Greek Island Cruise in June.  We will fly into Istanbul, Turkey 2 days before the cruise.  We will pick the cruise up in Turkey, cruise the Islands and then return in Rome, Italy where we will stay for a night prior to flying back to the US.  I am so looking forward to that!  We have room for one more if you are interested in going, let me know.

I think these next 2 2/1 months are going to fly by.  February 14th is a full moon, so Betsey and I are planning to go to Victoria Falls that weekend to see the glow of the moon on the falls!  It is magical!

I think that is all for now!  I wish each one of you Love from my Heart to yours....Happy Valentine’s Day!

Stay Safe and Be Happy!

Love & Light,

Mari

“Lushomo”