Thursday, March 26, 2009
First Annual Youth Group Singing Competition
We’ve been working with a local youth organization to host a teen group singing competition here in Zombodze, and the event is coming up in about a month. I know you didn’t ask, but I’m going to tell you about it anyway.
The participants will write/compose an original song on the theme, “healthy living, healthy lives,” and perform it in front of a panel of 4 judges—3 of whom are well-known Swazi musicians. The grand prize: an all-expense paid trip to a professional recording studio in the capital city where they’ll get to record a 5-track demo CD. The CD will be produced by a popular Swazi musician/producer, DD Cool. Plus, the group will get to perform their winning song onstage at this year’s Live Life Music Festival, which is held in a big park in the capital city (second-place group will also get to perform there). Other prizes include T-shirts, local restaurant and grocery store vouchers, and a DVD of the event performances.
There are a wide range of song topics that fit the theme, from drug-free living to faithfulness/abstinence/safe sex, to respecting others and being role models. We’re giving the groups a lot of leeway, but we’ll check ahead of time (via registration forms) to ensure that their songs fit with the general theme. Our goal is to encourage an open, public exchange of ideas and attitudes about these topics, letting the youth be the messengers. We also want to encourage the abundance of musical talent in Zombodze, providing a venue to showcase it as well as provide an opportunity for the winners to meet some Swazi bigshots and learn a bit about the business. It’ll be a daylong event with lots of health-related information tables and guest speakers, and a mobile HIV testing and counseling unit will be located onsite—something we’re pretty serious about these days.
The local youth organization we’re working with is called Zombodze Youth in Action (ZYA). We’ve lined up some great partners in order to make this event happen: Red Cross, Population Services International (PSI), Dance with EMAFU (a Swazi non-profit), Zombodze Central High School, Nhlangano AIDS Training and Information Counseling Center (NATICC—they’ll provide a mobile HIV testing/counseling unit at the event), and of course the US Peace Corps. Our own afterschool club, Leaders in Health, will also help out, as well as Zombodze’s MP and Indvuna (elected officials), and plenty of local churches. We think it would be great if this turns into an annual event for ZYA and the community.
There are still a few small but important things for which we’re seeking financing: money to buy blank DVDs and blank Cds, and about $150 to cover grand-prize related expenses. So if this event is something you want to contribute to, you can! $25-$50 USD really goes a long way here… if interested drop me an email and I’ll send you some specifics: cooktimothy@hotmail.com.
As a thank you, we’ll send you a DVD of the event and a copy of the winning group’s CD.
The participants will write/compose an original song on the theme, “healthy living, healthy lives,” and perform it in front of a panel of 4 judges—3 of whom are well-known Swazi musicians. The grand prize: an all-expense paid trip to a professional recording studio in the capital city where they’ll get to record a 5-track demo CD. The CD will be produced by a popular Swazi musician/producer, DD Cool. Plus, the group will get to perform their winning song onstage at this year’s Live Life Music Festival, which is held in a big park in the capital city (second-place group will also get to perform there). Other prizes include T-shirts, local restaurant and grocery store vouchers, and a DVD of the event performances.
There are a wide range of song topics that fit the theme, from drug-free living to faithfulness/abstinence/safe sex, to respecting others and being role models. We’re giving the groups a lot of leeway, but we’ll check ahead of time (via registration forms) to ensure that their songs fit with the general theme. Our goal is to encourage an open, public exchange of ideas and attitudes about these topics, letting the youth be the messengers. We also want to encourage the abundance of musical talent in Zombodze, providing a venue to showcase it as well as provide an opportunity for the winners to meet some Swazi bigshots and learn a bit about the business. It’ll be a daylong event with lots of health-related information tables and guest speakers, and a mobile HIV testing and counseling unit will be located onsite—something we’re pretty serious about these days.
The local youth organization we’re working with is called Zombodze Youth in Action (ZYA). We’ve lined up some great partners in order to make this event happen: Red Cross, Population Services International (PSI), Dance with EMAFU (a Swazi non-profit), Zombodze Central High School, Nhlangano AIDS Training and Information Counseling Center (NATICC—they’ll provide a mobile HIV testing/counseling unit at the event), and of course the US Peace Corps. Our own afterschool club, Leaders in Health, will also help out, as well as Zombodze’s MP and Indvuna (elected officials), and plenty of local churches. We think it would be great if this turns into an annual event for ZYA and the community.
There are still a few small but important things for which we’re seeking financing: money to buy blank DVDs and blank Cds, and about $150 to cover grand-prize related expenses. So if this event is something you want to contribute to, you can! $25-$50 USD really goes a long way here… if interested drop me an email and I’ll send you some specifics: cooktimothy@hotmail.com.
As a thank you, we’ll send you a DVD of the event and a copy of the winning group’s CD.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Lists and big cities
Jamie-boy here. It’s a cloudy Sunday, March 15th, and we’ve sequestered ourselves inside our little home for the morning. We want to write some emails and get some paperwork ready for tomorrow, when I make a big trip north to the capital city. I’ll spend a few days there, having a few meetings and seeing an orthopedist about an achy leg (from all the jogging—it’s fine, just getting some advice on caring for it while training). And while I’m there I’ll be sending out emails and posting entries like this to the blog, checking various news websites to see what financial calamity has befallen America this week, indulging in big-city food like pizza slices and fried chicken.
This is a “big” trip not because the capital city is so far away; it’s actually only like 160km or so from us. But it takes a long time to get there—about 4 hours, using no less than 4 different public transport vehicles to get to PC headquarters in Mbabane. Compared to PCVs in other countries we have it easy here in the Swaziland, I know, but it’s still a real production to “head in,” especially because we want to get a lot done while there. As is usually the case when I go, Jamie-girl has prepared a list of all the tasks I want to accomplish and the items I need to get while there—PC office things and personal errands, internet tasks, special big-city grocery items, etc. I’ll actually be spending the night at a backpacker’s hostel in town just to have enough time to do everything and make the trip worthwhile.
She makes me the list because I’ve demonstrated a consistent pattern of forgetting to do things, neglecting to get things. I get to the city and maybe it’s all the traffic and people and seeing other PCVs in the office, but my mind goes blank. It’s all quite exciting, this going to town business, and apparently my memory is quite susceptible to excitement. So when I’m the one heading in, I adhere to Jamie-girl’s lists religiously, protecting them from harm or wandering eyes like a pirate guards a treasure map. Wandering eyes: I do not like people to know that I require a list from my wife to get by in the city, and I do not like people to know what items are on the list—it’s private and it’s our personal business and I’m not interested in discussing it with anyone. So I’m rather shy about pulling it out of my pocket to read and check, and I do so as inconspicuously as possible. Telling all of you about the list, in fact, is an oddly public confession. My name is Timothy Cook, and yes, I need a list from my wife when I go to town.
The state of the list will ultimately determine whether or not I had a successful trip into Mbabane. It will be pulled out when I get back home and reviewed; each item will be discussed—especially those items not crossed out. I would sooner lose my money than my list on these trips. I can always just go to an ATM in the big city and withdraw more money—bad, yes, but quite recoverable… but replacing the list would require a phonecall to Jamie-girl, an explanation (not likely to be very well crafted considering my state of panic), an attempt at recreating the list on-the-spot with frayed nerves and strained tones of voice… not to mention the troublesome thought that our private list is floating around somewhere, unguarded in the big city, free for anyone to find and read and perhaps pass around or send to one of those “Found” websites that post that kind of stuff.
This has never once happened to me, thank God. And if you’re reading this, it’s a good indication that I am still in possession of the list and successfully working my way through it: “post new entries to blog.” Check.
This is a “big” trip not because the capital city is so far away; it’s actually only like 160km or so from us. But it takes a long time to get there—about 4 hours, using no less than 4 different public transport vehicles to get to PC headquarters in Mbabane. Compared to PCVs in other countries we have it easy here in the Swaziland, I know, but it’s still a real production to “head in,” especially because we want to get a lot done while there. As is usually the case when I go, Jamie-girl has prepared a list of all the tasks I want to accomplish and the items I need to get while there—PC office things and personal errands, internet tasks, special big-city grocery items, etc. I’ll actually be spending the night at a backpacker’s hostel in town just to have enough time to do everything and make the trip worthwhile.
She makes me the list because I’ve demonstrated a consistent pattern of forgetting to do things, neglecting to get things. I get to the city and maybe it’s all the traffic and people and seeing other PCVs in the office, but my mind goes blank. It’s all quite exciting, this going to town business, and apparently my memory is quite susceptible to excitement. So when I’m the one heading in, I adhere to Jamie-girl’s lists religiously, protecting them from harm or wandering eyes like a pirate guards a treasure map. Wandering eyes: I do not like people to know that I require a list from my wife to get by in the city, and I do not like people to know what items are on the list—it’s private and it’s our personal business and I’m not interested in discussing it with anyone. So I’m rather shy about pulling it out of my pocket to read and check, and I do so as inconspicuously as possible. Telling all of you about the list, in fact, is an oddly public confession. My name is Timothy Cook, and yes, I need a list from my wife when I go to town.
The state of the list will ultimately determine whether or not I had a successful trip into Mbabane. It will be pulled out when I get back home and reviewed; each item will be discussed—especially those items not crossed out. I would sooner lose my money than my list on these trips. I can always just go to an ATM in the big city and withdraw more money—bad, yes, but quite recoverable… but replacing the list would require a phonecall to Jamie-girl, an explanation (not likely to be very well crafted considering my state of panic), an attempt at recreating the list on-the-spot with frayed nerves and strained tones of voice… not to mention the troublesome thought that our private list is floating around somewhere, unguarded in the big city, free for anyone to find and read and perhaps pass around or send to one of those “Found” websites that post that kind of stuff.
This has never once happened to me, thank God. And if you’re reading this, it’s a good indication that I am still in possession of the list and successfully working my way through it: “post new entries to blog.” Check.
Katrina cleanup article
Back in 2005 I spent 3 months in New Orleans working on initial-phase recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina. A while after returning I did some research on the city’s cleanup efforts and then wrote a paper about it. Eventually I submitted that paper to an academic journal and after various peer reviews it was accepted for publication, pending my replies to reviewer comments. So I’m happy to report that at long last my work on this project is done: the reviewing and revisions are complete and actual publication is at-hand.
My article is titled “Cleaning up New Orleans: the impact of a missing population on disaster debris removal” and it will appear in the upcoming March/April 2009 issue of Journal of Emergency Management (Vol. 7, No. 2).
I’d love to tell you where to get a copy, but I don’t really know. Where are academic journals sold? But if you’re interested, here’s the JEM homepage—a good place to start: http://www.pnpco.com/pn06001.html
Also, if you still want a copy of the May 2008 issue of Subtropics, the literary journal that published one of my nonfiction essays, here’s their website: http://www.english.ufl.edu/subtropics/
My article is titled “Cleaning up New Orleans: the impact of a missing population on disaster debris removal” and it will appear in the upcoming March/April 2009 issue of Journal of Emergency Management (Vol. 7, No. 2).
I’d love to tell you where to get a copy, but I don’t really know. Where are academic journals sold? But if you’re interested, here’s the JEM homepage—a good place to start: http://www.pnpco.com/pn06001.html
Also, if you still want a copy of the May 2008 issue of Subtropics, the literary journal that published one of my nonfiction essays, here’s their website: http://www.english.ufl.edu/subtropics/
Babies back home
Since we’ve been in Swaziland 4 new babies have joined our group of friends and family. First to arrive was a cute little boy named Gabriel, then came Etienne, a beautiful baby boy, then came Allegra, a beautiful baby girl… and just within the past few weeks my brother and his wife welcomed their adorable little daughter into the world—Mya Grace Cook. Congratulations, newest parents!! We cannot wait to meet her in person.
So on the scorecard, it’s a tie ballgame right now: 2 for the boys and 2 for the girls. There is in fact a tie-breaker baby on the way (Jon & Jess)… is it a boy or a girl??
Yesterday Jamie-girl pointed out that there are nearly as many pics of babies on our wall-o-pictures as adults, despite the fact that we know far more adults than babies. It’s true: the babies and toddlers are disproportionately represented on the wall, and I think it’s unfair. We’ve known them for far less time than most other friends/family, and yet they’re getting top billing on the wall. But you know, it’s an injustice we’re both quite willing to overlook due to one overriding reason: these kids are really, really photogenic. I mean, they’re just cute—Lilly, Brennan, Gabriel, Mya, Etienne, Allegra—and I guess cuteness wins out. If any of you adult friends/family were as downright adorable as these kids are, then you too would dominate our wall-o-pictures… but the little ones have us all beat in that department.
So on the scorecard, it’s a tie ballgame right now: 2 for the boys and 2 for the girls. There is in fact a tie-breaker baby on the way (Jon & Jess)… is it a boy or a girl??
Yesterday Jamie-girl pointed out that there are nearly as many pics of babies on our wall-o-pictures as adults, despite the fact that we know far more adults than babies. It’s true: the babies and toddlers are disproportionately represented on the wall, and I think it’s unfair. We’ve known them for far less time than most other friends/family, and yet they’re getting top billing on the wall. But you know, it’s an injustice we’re both quite willing to overlook due to one overriding reason: these kids are really, really photogenic. I mean, they’re just cute—Lilly, Brennan, Gabriel, Mya, Etienne, Allegra—and I guess cuteness wins out. If any of you adult friends/family were as downright adorable as these kids are, then you too would dominate our wall-o-pictures… but the little ones have us all beat in that department.
And then there were 29
When our volunteer group arrived here in Swaziland there were 36 of us. Now, just over 8 months later, there are 29 of us left. So about 19% have gone back home for various reasons. I fully expect that percentage to increase over time. In fact, the group that arrived before us, now in their final months of service, have lost nearly half of their volunteers. I’d be surprised if our group loses that many, but volunteers going home early pretty common here in Swaziland… and us remaining PCVs hate to say goodbye. The news almost always comes as a bit of a shock, and in many cases it involves saying goodbye to someone we’ve grown to care about—someone we’re going to miss.
Fact is, this PCV thing can be quite hard. Our locations, work opportunities and personal issues vary greatly from person to person. And many leave due to situations back home—most of them entirely out of their direct control. We’re fortunate enough to have each other here in Swaziland, and to have great support and stability from friends and family back home. But some PCVs simply don’t, and it can make this kind of service abroad quite difficult.
So I’d like to say hi to any Group 6 Swaziland ex-PCVs who might be reading this blog from back home in the States: Beth, Drew, Jarrod, Amanda, Vanessa, Sara, and Tom—we miss you guys. Tom, thanks for bequeathing us your Chicago Tribune crossword book; you’re alright for a young whippersnapper. Kevin cries quietly into a lap-pillow during long meetings now that you’re not by his side and I think he needs a visit from Clowns Without Borders—maybe you can set something up. Beth, take a trip down to Ashland when you get the chance and send us a really cheesy postcard (and maybe some current real estate listings?). Drew, your departure marked a double tragedy for us remaining Group 6ers: our overall group height significantly decreased, and Jay lost his hair-twin. Miss you, man.
And Meredith from Group 5, if you’re out there—hi there! We didn’t get to say goodbye. Swaziland isn’t the same without Versailles… we got a big red towel from the massive give-away that your departure triggered. Hope all is well with you.
Anyway, there are still plenty of PCVs here in Swaziland, and there are about to be about 40 new ones, set to arrive in June. Just as it’s sad to see friends go, it’s exciting to see new ones come. This has been much more of a social experience than we ever imagined—and we’re site-rats compared to some PCVs.
Truthfully, the time is flying by for us, and we’re going to need every day we can get in Swaziland just to do the things we’ve already planned. So for the record: we’re here for the long-haul.
Fact is, this PCV thing can be quite hard. Our locations, work opportunities and personal issues vary greatly from person to person. And many leave due to situations back home—most of them entirely out of their direct control. We’re fortunate enough to have each other here in Swaziland, and to have great support and stability from friends and family back home. But some PCVs simply don’t, and it can make this kind of service abroad quite difficult.
So I’d like to say hi to any Group 6 Swaziland ex-PCVs who might be reading this blog from back home in the States: Beth, Drew, Jarrod, Amanda, Vanessa, Sara, and Tom—we miss you guys. Tom, thanks for bequeathing us your Chicago Tribune crossword book; you’re alright for a young whippersnapper. Kevin cries quietly into a lap-pillow during long meetings now that you’re not by his side and I think he needs a visit from Clowns Without Borders—maybe you can set something up. Beth, take a trip down to Ashland when you get the chance and send us a really cheesy postcard (and maybe some current real estate listings?). Drew, your departure marked a double tragedy for us remaining Group 6ers: our overall group height significantly decreased, and Jay lost his hair-twin. Miss you, man.
And Meredith from Group 5, if you’re out there—hi there! We didn’t get to say goodbye. Swaziland isn’t the same without Versailles… we got a big red towel from the massive give-away that your departure triggered. Hope all is well with you.
Anyway, there are still plenty of PCVs here in Swaziland, and there are about to be about 40 new ones, set to arrive in June. Just as it’s sad to see friends go, it’s exciting to see new ones come. This has been much more of a social experience than we ever imagined—and we’re site-rats compared to some PCVs.
Truthfully, the time is flying by for us, and we’re going to need every day we can get in Swaziland just to do the things we’ve already planned. So for the record: we’re here for the long-haul.
we went for a hike
Two weekends ago we joined 5 other PCVs for a hiking/camping trip in Swaziland’s Malalotja Nature Reserve. Finally: a good reason to buy myself a big bush knife.
The trails in Malalotja are pretty well overgrown this time of year (grass up to 9 feet tall), and according to the main entrance registry we were the only people in the whole park. On the first day we walked along open, grassy ridges and hillsides and then descended deep into the rocky gorge of a swift-moving river, reaching our shady little riverside campsite at dusk. We spent the next day exploring the gorge and adjoining valley… just beautiful. At night I spent an inordinate amount of time sharpening my new knife, trying out various types of river stones to see which worked best.
About 1/2 km downriver from our campsite was a 35-foot waterfall, sheer and wide and thunderous in the narrow gorge, spilling into a large pool below. We scampered down the granite slopes to the pool’s edge and swam in and out of the current—not too cold, not too hot. On the opposite side of the waterfall was a bare granite cliff with a rounded, overhanging edge. I swam over to its base and dove beneath the surface to check the pool’s depth: didn’t find the bottom. Perfect—deep enough for some cliff-jumping. So I picked my way back up to the waterfall’s top, swam across a calm little section of river about 10 meters above the falls (by far the most nerve-racking part of this adventure) and made the first jump off the cliff with a couple of friends.
I’ve always been a sucker for jumping into water from cliffs and bridges, and this 35-foot cliff wasn’t high enough to warrant any dread—just big smiles. The real thrill for me was jumping alongside that roaring waterfall. One of the guys who jumped with me is an expert whitewater kayaker. He checked out the water flow in the pool (and in the crossing above the waterfall) and showed me where it was and was not safe to swim… given our remote location, I wouldn’t have done it without his trained eye helping out. Anyway, it was fun (and safe) enough that I did it twice more before leaving.
About 50 meters downriver from that pool was another waterfall, this one about twice as high. But there was no obvious route down to the pool below, so we just peered over the edge and enjoyed the view.
Malalotja is home to a lot of wildlife— plenty of rare African birds and about 63 species of mammals, including baboons, eland, wildebeest and hartebeest, oribi, aardwolf, and even a small herd of elephants (which came in from South Africa some years ago and have apparently bred successfully in one of the park’s larger, more remote valleys). We didn’t see any elephants or leopards, but loud baboon barks were common, echoing off the steep rock walls around our campsite. They sound like dogs, minus the howl. The most common animal we encountered were not welcome: ticks. With the grass so tall and thick it’s tick season here in Swaziland (a handful of PCVs have had to deal with tick-bite fever). So we’d stop pretty frequently to check for ticks and brush them off before they had a chance to bite.
The trails in Malalotja are currently so overgrown that it was a real chore just to stay on them. Bushwhacking was unavoidable. One morning, four of us set out to go see some huge waterfalls a few hours’ hike upriver from camp, but we couldn’t follow the trail. After an hour and a half of traveling we weren’t even 1/4 of the way there: we’d spent most of our time bushwhacking through a broad, bowl-shaped field of high grass and ferns after our trail had disappeared into a maze of elusive game trails. So we made our way to a clearing (where we actually found the trail again), ate apples and nursed our wounds, then turned back for camp—and the swimming hole.
Anyway, we hope to return and explore other parts of this beautiful park, especially in the winter when the trails are easier to follow.
The trails in Malalotja are pretty well overgrown this time of year (grass up to 9 feet tall), and according to the main entrance registry we were the only people in the whole park. On the first day we walked along open, grassy ridges and hillsides and then descended deep into the rocky gorge of a swift-moving river, reaching our shady little riverside campsite at dusk. We spent the next day exploring the gorge and adjoining valley… just beautiful. At night I spent an inordinate amount of time sharpening my new knife, trying out various types of river stones to see which worked best.
About 1/2 km downriver from our campsite was a 35-foot waterfall, sheer and wide and thunderous in the narrow gorge, spilling into a large pool below. We scampered down the granite slopes to the pool’s edge and swam in and out of the current—not too cold, not too hot. On the opposite side of the waterfall was a bare granite cliff with a rounded, overhanging edge. I swam over to its base and dove beneath the surface to check the pool’s depth: didn’t find the bottom. Perfect—deep enough for some cliff-jumping. So I picked my way back up to the waterfall’s top, swam across a calm little section of river about 10 meters above the falls (by far the most nerve-racking part of this adventure) and made the first jump off the cliff with a couple of friends.
I’ve always been a sucker for jumping into water from cliffs and bridges, and this 35-foot cliff wasn’t high enough to warrant any dread—just big smiles. The real thrill for me was jumping alongside that roaring waterfall. One of the guys who jumped with me is an expert whitewater kayaker. He checked out the water flow in the pool (and in the crossing above the waterfall) and showed me where it was and was not safe to swim… given our remote location, I wouldn’t have done it without his trained eye helping out. Anyway, it was fun (and safe) enough that I did it twice more before leaving.
About 50 meters downriver from that pool was another waterfall, this one about twice as high. But there was no obvious route down to the pool below, so we just peered over the edge and enjoyed the view.
Malalotja is home to a lot of wildlife— plenty of rare African birds and about 63 species of mammals, including baboons, eland, wildebeest and hartebeest, oribi, aardwolf, and even a small herd of elephants (which came in from South Africa some years ago and have apparently bred successfully in one of the park’s larger, more remote valleys). We didn’t see any elephants or leopards, but loud baboon barks were common, echoing off the steep rock walls around our campsite. They sound like dogs, minus the howl. The most common animal we encountered were not welcome: ticks. With the grass so tall and thick it’s tick season here in Swaziland (a handful of PCVs have had to deal with tick-bite fever). So we’d stop pretty frequently to check for ticks and brush them off before they had a chance to bite.
The trails in Malalotja are currently so overgrown that it was a real chore just to stay on them. Bushwhacking was unavoidable. One morning, four of us set out to go see some huge waterfalls a few hours’ hike upriver from camp, but we couldn’t follow the trail. After an hour and a half of traveling we weren’t even 1/4 of the way there: we’d spent most of our time bushwhacking through a broad, bowl-shaped field of high grass and ferns after our trail had disappeared into a maze of elusive game trails. So we made our way to a clearing (where we actually found the trail again), ate apples and nursed our wounds, then turned back for camp—and the swimming hole.
Anyway, we hope to return and explore other parts of this beautiful park, especially in the winter when the trails are easier to follow.
We received great news last month.
Doctors Without Borders (Medecines Sans Frontieres) will be coming to Zombodze’s health clinic. Not just once or twice, but every Wednesday for the foreseeable future. They’ll bring an RN and sometimes a doctor to treat patients and provide critical services our clinic can’t currently provide. The most significant of these services are TB testing and monitored TB treatment, HIV testing, counseling and treatment, and CD-4 counts.
We’re thrilled. Their decision to come to Zombodze had nothing to do with us, but we’ll make sure to support their efforts here, especially regarding referrals. We can now do targeted homestead visits, looking for people who need medical attention (esp. TB cases) and help them get to the clinic on Wednesdays. Before, all we could do was encourage them to go into Nhlangano’s health center—but many can’t afford the kumbi ride into town and back, and there’s something troubling about directing a TB-infected person to use crowded public transportation…which left us with no good options to help. Now we can refer them to the clinic on Wednesdays, then show up ourselves to see who does and does not come, then do follow-up visits to those who didn’t show.
In this manner, DWB’s presence in Zombodze will undoubtedly save lives. They are here to stop a TB epidemic. In and around Nhlangano (the nearest city, 19km away) they’ve identified something like 26 cases of MDR-TB (not XDR, thank God), which is a highly lethal form of TB that’s developed resistance to the typical drug treatment. So DWB has likely drawn a “catchment area” around Nhlangano and are now hurrying to get doctors into those communities to try and halt a nasty epidemic. Furthermore, cases of XDR-TB, the worst and most drug-resistant form of TB currently known, have been found in the South African state of KwaZulu-Natal—which directly borders our chiefdom. So when Zombodze’s high HIV infection rates are combined with this heightened regional TB risk, there’s no question as to why DWB is setting up shop. And we’re overjoyed that they’ve come. I cannot help but think that, had they been here back in November/December, Gogo (grandma) Nkambule might still be alive: she didn’t get tested/treated soon enough and TB quickly killed her, leaving about 5 young kids without a caretaker.
As I’ve noted before on this blog, Swaziland’s HIV-TB co-infection rate is (by far) the highest in the world, at 80%. HIV weakens the immune system, TB infects the vulnerable person and—unless they get rapid treatment—swiftly kills them. Thing is, TB is curable. But it requires the patient to adhere strictly to a drug-treatment regimen for the full duration (usually 6-9 months), which is difficult. When adherence breaks down, resistant forms of TB emerge. That’s where the highly lethal MDR and XDR strains came from: they’re essentially manmade super-bugs—and an HIV patient with a low CD4 count does not stand a chance against them. Anyone who’s read “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” or is otherwise familiar with Paul Farmer’s work, knows what’s up with this resistant-TB thing… it’s serious, it’s devastating, and it’s preventable.
So here’s the short of it: thanks to DWB, we’ve been given the opportunity to help stop an epidemic of MDR- and XDR-TB from sweeping through this community. Accordingly, this development shifts our project priorities a bit. Homestead visits, for example, now take on an entirely new level of importance. We’re in a great position to help—we know the area’s homesteads by now, we know enough siSwati to ask the right questions and check people out for symptoms and tell them when/where to go, and we’re healthy enough not to be vulnerable to sickness ourselves. We’ll help DWB train and support the local RHMs (Rural Health Motivators), we’ll finally be able to encourage people to get an HIV test right here in Zombodze, and we can help with adherence follow-up on those receiving TB treatment.
Our basic goal is to make sure that DWB staffers are busy every Wednesday they spend in Zombodze.
As we walked over to a meeting to meet with a DWB rep, we brainstormed a wish list of things we wanted them to do in Zombodze. Before we got there we went through a “magic wand” scenario: if we could have them do anything we wanted in our community, what would it be? We figured that this exercise would prepare us for the unlikely event that someone asked us what we wanted from DWB. And when we sat down in the meeting and the DWB rep explained what services they’d be providing, she basically described our whole “magic wand” scenario. Every single thing on our little DWB wish list was named and will be coming to Zombodze—even some things we hadn’t thought to wish for. Hearing of these plans was, for both of us, a stunning moment. Thank God for DWB.
We’re so very glad to be here.
We’re thrilled. Their decision to come to Zombodze had nothing to do with us, but we’ll make sure to support their efforts here, especially regarding referrals. We can now do targeted homestead visits, looking for people who need medical attention (esp. TB cases) and help them get to the clinic on Wednesdays. Before, all we could do was encourage them to go into Nhlangano’s health center—but many can’t afford the kumbi ride into town and back, and there’s something troubling about directing a TB-infected person to use crowded public transportation…which left us with no good options to help. Now we can refer them to the clinic on Wednesdays, then show up ourselves to see who does and does not come, then do follow-up visits to those who didn’t show.
In this manner, DWB’s presence in Zombodze will undoubtedly save lives. They are here to stop a TB epidemic. In and around Nhlangano (the nearest city, 19km away) they’ve identified something like 26 cases of MDR-TB (not XDR, thank God), which is a highly lethal form of TB that’s developed resistance to the typical drug treatment. So DWB has likely drawn a “catchment area” around Nhlangano and are now hurrying to get doctors into those communities to try and halt a nasty epidemic. Furthermore, cases of XDR-TB, the worst and most drug-resistant form of TB currently known, have been found in the South African state of KwaZulu-Natal—which directly borders our chiefdom. So when Zombodze’s high HIV infection rates are combined with this heightened regional TB risk, there’s no question as to why DWB is setting up shop. And we’re overjoyed that they’ve come. I cannot help but think that, had they been here back in November/December, Gogo (grandma) Nkambule might still be alive: she didn’t get tested/treated soon enough and TB quickly killed her, leaving about 5 young kids without a caretaker.
As I’ve noted before on this blog, Swaziland’s HIV-TB co-infection rate is (by far) the highest in the world, at 80%. HIV weakens the immune system, TB infects the vulnerable person and—unless they get rapid treatment—swiftly kills them. Thing is, TB is curable. But it requires the patient to adhere strictly to a drug-treatment regimen for the full duration (usually 6-9 months), which is difficult. When adherence breaks down, resistant forms of TB emerge. That’s where the highly lethal MDR and XDR strains came from: they’re essentially manmade super-bugs—and an HIV patient with a low CD4 count does not stand a chance against them. Anyone who’s read “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” or is otherwise familiar with Paul Farmer’s work, knows what’s up with this resistant-TB thing… it’s serious, it’s devastating, and it’s preventable.
So here’s the short of it: thanks to DWB, we’ve been given the opportunity to help stop an epidemic of MDR- and XDR-TB from sweeping through this community. Accordingly, this development shifts our project priorities a bit. Homestead visits, for example, now take on an entirely new level of importance. We’re in a great position to help—we know the area’s homesteads by now, we know enough siSwati to ask the right questions and check people out for symptoms and tell them when/where to go, and we’re healthy enough not to be vulnerable to sickness ourselves. We’ll help DWB train and support the local RHMs (Rural Health Motivators), we’ll finally be able to encourage people to get an HIV test right here in Zombodze, and we can help with adherence follow-up on those receiving TB treatment.
Our basic goal is to make sure that DWB staffers are busy every Wednesday they spend in Zombodze.
As we walked over to a meeting to meet with a DWB rep, we brainstormed a wish list of things we wanted them to do in Zombodze. Before we got there we went through a “magic wand” scenario: if we could have them do anything we wanted in our community, what would it be? We figured that this exercise would prepare us for the unlikely event that someone asked us what we wanted from DWB. And when we sat down in the meeting and the DWB rep explained what services they’d be providing, she basically described our whole “magic wand” scenario. Every single thing on our little DWB wish list was named and will be coming to Zombodze—even some things we hadn’t thought to wish for. Hearing of these plans was, for both of us, a stunning moment. Thank God for DWB.
We’re so very glad to be here.
Monday, March 16, 2009
some pics
Jamie-boy gets to play on a roof.
Hiking in Malalotja Nature Preserve (Swaziland)
Hiking buddies and fellow PCVs
camp in Malalotja
More fun working on the roof
Jamie-girl at training event she organized
puppies. everyone likes puppies.
warthogs. not everyone likes warthogs.
Jamie-boy standing in his corn. If you build it...
Jamie-girl tending to the sweet potatoes.
Beans.
spider webs on a dewy morning... very Hallmark, I know.
at the fruit/veggie market
a rainbow in Zombodze.care package bliss
Hi all-
We’ve been spoiled by all the care packages you’ve sent us over the months, and we want to sincerely thank you for your kindness and generosity. We have good coffee and drink mixes, pain pills and daily vitamins galore, beef jerky and sausage and all kinds of tasty treats, great music and movies (getting movies/DVDs are cause for major celebration), yarn and crosswords, Splenda, magazines and newspapers, pictures, lots of seeds for the garden, socks and undies… it’s like year-round Christmas. And many packages have included things for people in our community too—which is really fun to give away. We once received a packet of Halloween stickers and the local kids loved them. We’re always excited to go to the post office… thanks to your thoughtfulness, we don’t feel particularly deprived of anything.
Well, maybe a few things.
After all these months, we still get quite excited about receiving any and all of the stuff on our long-standing care package wish list, but there are a couple of new items we’d like to add.
Duct Tape. Even here in Swaziland, not a week goes by that I don’t long for a roll of the greatest tape on earth.
Pens and pencils. For some reason, basic black-ink writing pens are kind of expensive and hard to find in Nhlangano-- and I’ve yet to find my pencil of choice, the Dixon Ticonderoga #2. go ahead and laugh if you want, but the DT2 is a beautifully crafted piece of hand-held goodness. Ever the cutting-edge futurist, Jamie-girl loves her mechanical pencils, but they don’t do it for me. One cannot chew on the mechanical variety-- I’m a Ticonderoga man.
Highlighters, and maybe a few Sharpies. We do a lot of flip-chart stuff for various events and displays. And we’d like to hand out highlighters to some of our students as prizes (instead of candy).
More pictures. I know pics are already on the list and we’ve been getting them, but we want more of YOU hanging from our walls. And we lost a bunch of ours (long story). So even CDs full of digital pics would be (and have been) great.
Rechargeable batteries—AA and AAA. Our headlamps and reading lamps take AAA and we don’t have rechargeables in that size.
Podcasts (on CD). We recently got a CD full of NPR/PRI podcasts, and it’s been great listening to them. Here are some podcasts we really like: This American Life, Radio Lab, KEXP Live Performances, surf video podcasts (like Fuel TV, DVS, Rip Curl or Shralp), Bill Moyers Journal, NOW, 60 minutes, Democracy Now… whatever you think we’d enjoy. We’re able to download some shorter podcasts when at the internet café, but the larger ones (esp. video) remain out of our reach.
Video of an NBA game: the Cavs’ first home-court loss to the Lakers last month. But I’m not picky—any good Cavs game will do… I just want to see LeBron James play. If you can figure out how to get it and put it on a DVD, I’ll be forever indebted.
Same goes for the Super Bowl. Heard all about it… love to actually see it.
GU or GOO… not sure how it’s spelled. It’s high-energy “food” sold in little squeezable packets that runners use during long runs and races. We want to have some for our upcoming 1/2 marathon in April.
Little things we can give to kids in our community—small toys or stickers or kid-size toothbrushes or small bars of soap or crayons or… whatever you might think of; we have fun giving and they have fun receiving.
As much as we love getting them, we’d like to offer you an alternative to sending care packages. Instead of spending all that money on postage, consider donating a similar amount to one of our projects-- or tell us what charitable idea you’d like your “care package” money to go toward. You wouldn’t believe how far $50 goes in Swaziland (as a reference, we’re currently living on a stipend of around $250 US dollars per month—which covers both of us). So for example, instead of sending us 2 care packages in 2009, just send us one—and donate the postage cost of the other one to a project we’re doing here in Zombodze. Or maybe make one of the packages a “charity pack” full of things we can provide to our community.
We still want to get your packages, believe me, but we don’t want their cost to cut into anyone’s charity budget.
Again, thanks everyone for your generosity, friendship and support!
We’ve been spoiled by all the care packages you’ve sent us over the months, and we want to sincerely thank you for your kindness and generosity. We have good coffee and drink mixes, pain pills and daily vitamins galore, beef jerky and sausage and all kinds of tasty treats, great music and movies (getting movies/DVDs are cause for major celebration), yarn and crosswords, Splenda, magazines and newspapers, pictures, lots of seeds for the garden, socks and undies… it’s like year-round Christmas. And many packages have included things for people in our community too—which is really fun to give away. We once received a packet of Halloween stickers and the local kids loved them. We’re always excited to go to the post office… thanks to your thoughtfulness, we don’t feel particularly deprived of anything.
Well, maybe a few things.
After all these months, we still get quite excited about receiving any and all of the stuff on our long-standing care package wish list, but there are a couple of new items we’d like to add.
Duct Tape. Even here in Swaziland, not a week goes by that I don’t long for a roll of the greatest tape on earth.
Pens and pencils. For some reason, basic black-ink writing pens are kind of expensive and hard to find in Nhlangano-- and I’ve yet to find my pencil of choice, the Dixon Ticonderoga #2. go ahead and laugh if you want, but the DT2 is a beautifully crafted piece of hand-held goodness. Ever the cutting-edge futurist, Jamie-girl loves her mechanical pencils, but they don’t do it for me. One cannot chew on the mechanical variety-- I’m a Ticonderoga man.
Highlighters, and maybe a few Sharpies. We do a lot of flip-chart stuff for various events and displays. And we’d like to hand out highlighters to some of our students as prizes (instead of candy).
More pictures. I know pics are already on the list and we’ve been getting them, but we want more of YOU hanging from our walls. And we lost a bunch of ours (long story). So even CDs full of digital pics would be (and have been) great.
Rechargeable batteries—AA and AAA. Our headlamps and reading lamps take AAA and we don’t have rechargeables in that size.
Podcasts (on CD). We recently got a CD full of NPR/PRI podcasts, and it’s been great listening to them. Here are some podcasts we really like: This American Life, Radio Lab, KEXP Live Performances, surf video podcasts (like Fuel TV, DVS, Rip Curl or Shralp), Bill Moyers Journal, NOW, 60 minutes, Democracy Now… whatever you think we’d enjoy. We’re able to download some shorter podcasts when at the internet café, but the larger ones (esp. video) remain out of our reach.
Video of an NBA game: the Cavs’ first home-court loss to the Lakers last month. But I’m not picky—any good Cavs game will do… I just want to see LeBron James play. If you can figure out how to get it and put it on a DVD, I’ll be forever indebted.
Same goes for the Super Bowl. Heard all about it… love to actually see it.
GU or GOO… not sure how it’s spelled. It’s high-energy “food” sold in little squeezable packets that runners use during long runs and races. We want to have some for our upcoming 1/2 marathon in April.
Little things we can give to kids in our community—small toys or stickers or kid-size toothbrushes or small bars of soap or crayons or… whatever you might think of; we have fun giving and they have fun receiving.
As much as we love getting them, we’d like to offer you an alternative to sending care packages. Instead of spending all that money on postage, consider donating a similar amount to one of our projects-- or tell us what charitable idea you’d like your “care package” money to go toward. You wouldn’t believe how far $50 goes in Swaziland (as a reference, we’re currently living on a stipend of around $250 US dollars per month—which covers both of us). So for example, instead of sending us 2 care packages in 2009, just send us one—and donate the postage cost of the other one to a project we’re doing here in Zombodze. Or maybe make one of the packages a “charity pack” full of things we can provide to our community.
We still want to get your packages, believe me, but we don’t want their cost to cut into anyone’s charity budget.
Again, thanks everyone for your generosity, friendship and support!
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