Friday, January 30, 2004

Let us all consider the definition of taxi: a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money. Now what comes to your mind? Before today I would have pictured a brightly colored car, perhaps, that picks you up at one place and transports you and whomever you may be with to whatever your destination may be. But my Western view of life is changing in so many ways.

A taxi is not a yellow car that prompts you to wear your seatbelt. It is a white van that holds about 20 people…usually with random children in your lap. It is a conductor that literally pulls you into the van whether or not it is going by the place you really want to go. It is a driver who tells you it is your stop, so you get out at a place that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. It is an additional two-hour walk to your actual destination.

Jeremy, a fellow BU graduate and experienced Peace Corp volunteer, led us (Arden, Shelley, and I) on our taxi adventure. And even though it took two hours of walking in the HOT sun, we eventually did find our way to our destination, and (much to our relief) a Peace Corp staff member happened to pass by us on our return trip and gave us a ride. The back of a pick-up never looked so good!

And as much fun as I had today, I really wish I could have been back in Pittsburgh to help celebrate two very special people!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VICTORIA AND KENNY! Oh to be 9 and 10 again!

  Thursday, January 29, 2004

After a brief stop at the Ministry of Health, we headed over to the Lesotho College of Education where we met again with Director Musaazi and also with the AIDS and HIV Advisor, Peter. It was very educational. It turns out that the college already has a course on AIDS that is required of all graduates starting last year. Shelley and I may not have this semester off from school after all! It is very likely that we will have the opportunity to take the class, and I am excited about having the opportunity to meet the students.

As a really cool sidenote, during our meeting, Scott Billy (with PSI) called to say that they would love to have us work for them and that PSI would pay for us to continue our stay at Lancer’s for the interim month we needed housing for…since Arden and Bill will then be back to rent the chatel for another month from March 22 until April 22. That means I will only have to find housing for 3 weeks. Not a bad deal at all! And in many ways, our chatel has more luxuries than my apartment in Boston.

We had a short break to do some grocery shopping and I bought my own cell phone line. So people can call me now! My number is: 58 99 75 80, so you would dial 011-266-58 99 75 80. It is free for me to receive calls, so feel free to call! Just realize that I am 7 hours ahead of you East Coast people.

This afternoon we went to the UN Building for the Expanded Theme Group Meeting on AIDS and HIV. Basically, this is a meeting of all the important donors in the country to discuss ways to work together in pushing the country to do something about AIDS. Among the representatives there were the First Lady, the US Ambassador, UNDP, UNAID, WHO, UNICEF, WFP, Ireland AID, Chinese Ambassador, Peace Corp, LAPKA, Positive Action, CARE, and many more. It was an incredible honor to be there.

At the end of the meeting, we got the chance to speak with the US Ambassador who then gave us a ride back to Lancer’s in his armored car. How cool is that!

  Wednesday, January 28, 2004

We registered at the American Embassy today. Talk about your top security! It took about all of 5 minutes. We wanted to walk back to Lancer’s but were warned that the stretch of road in front of the Embassy was not at all safe for us to walk. Apparently it was about a month ago that a group of 3 Peace Corps volunteers were robbed at knife-point at 1:00 in the afternoon just down from the Embassy. So we waited an hour until a car picked us up.

We then met with the Education Resource Director of Ireland AID. Upon returning to the chalet, Shelley and I took our first Lesotho nap. It was wonderful. Arden and Bill had a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister during which Shelley and I had our first lesson in Sesotho (the language of the Basotho people…the people who live in Lesotho). We have started a friendship with one of the waitresses at Lancers, Qachlle Matla (“q” is a click and “tl” is a click), and she has agreed to become our Sesotho tutor. She is a wonderful woman and VERY patient.

Upon his request, Shelley and I met with Scott Billy for a drink at which point we discussed the possibility of doing some work for PSI. Essentially, we would be doing the greater part of the research for modifying the Zimbabwe National VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) Guidelines (written by PSI, adopted by the government) into VCT Guidelines appropriate to Lesotho. This would be our main task, but we would be doing at least the beginning work towards developing material for referrals as well.

For dinner, we had onion rings (actually very easy to make). You can tell how much we are suffering here :o).

  Tuesday, January 27, 2004

We were out the door by 8 to meet our driver. He took us to the UN building where we met with UNDP policy team leader, Joe Feeney. I love him! He has so many incredible things to say and he has such an understanding of this country’s AIDS situation. I was wishing the whole time I had a tape recorder because every word that came out of his mouth was quotable. The meeting was too amazing to recount here, but I am sure I will refer to it and him for the rest of my life. And now I am passionate about my new concentration paper idea…really PASSIONATE (although who knows what tomorrow may bring). The idea is based on the issue of the term “human rights,” and the affect it has had and continues to have on the AIDS epidemic.

We then met with the Vice Minister of Trade and Industry who has kick-started this idea within his Ministry. The employees there voted by ballot for the 30 people within the Ministry that would be chosen to be trained as counselors. Those 30 people then underwent a 3 day training, and at this very moment, they are on a rotation schedule to provide 2 hour sessions with groups of employees who have a choice of which person they would like to be counseled by. By the end of this week or early next week, the Vice Minister and Minister will be the first to test and then offer the testing to the rest of the ministry. It is setting an incredible example of a new, hopefully effective way of doing things. And the Vice Minister is such an amazing, young, enthusiastic individual who really has a vision for his country. Shelley may very well get involved with documenting the whole process he is going through to make things happen.

Next stop was Ireland AID where we met with Paula Nolan. It was a wonderful meeting and a very different perspective of Lesotho (that of a very important donor). Shelley and I went directly from there to get some DOOM (plug-in bug-killer) and groceries before heading to dinner with Scott Billy from Population Services International (PSI) which is yet another incredible organization. And 4 meetings later, we returned to our chalet for the day.

  Monday, January 26, 2004

Shelley and I were on our own today while Bill and Arden met with the Minister of Health and the US Ambassador. After running out of here at 8am to hop into Dr. Ramatlapeng’s car, we headed south for Mafuteng District Hospital.

About 30 minutes down the road, we pulled over at a busy village corner where Dr. Ramatlapang got out to collect the money from the phone booth there. She was actually investing in a phone booth (very different from most since they are regular phones monitored by a hired man and people pay him what they owe) so she could convince the people that it works in hopes that they will take the initiative to invest themselves.


We went on to the hospital where we toured the maternal and child health ward and the family planning services. This was certainly a hopping ward. We moved onto the maternity ward and antenatal care where all the newborns were lined up in a row on one of the beds. So cute! After that was adolescent health, the TB ward (very full), and the outpatient area.

We ate lunch at Mafuteng Hotel where we met a man from Zimbabwe taking care of a friend’s child. The three-year-old little boy was afraid of us even after we gave him pompong (candy). The man explained to us that if we were to go to a village, the dogs would bark and the children would be sent to see why they were barking. The children would report back: “It is not human, it is white.”

Our next stop was the District 5 AIDS Task Force where we spoke with one of the staff, Ngaka, and a Peace Corp volunteer, Dorothy, from California. Besides hearing about the incredible programs they run, we learned about some more of the commonly held AIDS myths. My favorite is probably the belief that condoms have worms. This started as the result of the effect produced by putting condoms in water…the lubricant takes on a worm-like appearance.

The hour flew by and then Dorothy walked us over to Dr. Ramatlapang’s clinic. On the way, Shelley and I wanted to stop for a pop so we went into a store to buy a drink. There, we met a friendly Masotho, Boyce, who spent 5 minutes teaching us some Sesotho. He gave Shelley and I our Basotho names. I was given the name Lerato (love) and she was given the name Mphu (gift), both good names I think.

Then we were off to the RCC (Roman Catholic ‘something starting with a “C” that means school’). This was a boarding school of about 30 girls that is unique in that it integrates girls and women with disabilities into the classroom. Eight of the students had disabilities. By the time we arrived it was around 5:30, so we really only had less than 20 minutes to see the school. Having been a student for the last 18 years, this was the place where I could most identify with and get a hold of how different life is here in Lesotho. I could never have survived in that setting. It was still a pretty incredible place though.

Much to our joy, we returned to find that Arden had made the most delicious dinner for us…chicken cooked in peanut butter, garlic, and ginger (since that’s all we had), boiled broccoli, and macaroni and cheese (Africa-style, which means very little cheese).

  Sunday, January 25, 2004

Besides lunch with some great people from the Pretoria UNDP, yesterday was pretty uneventful since nothing is really open on Saturdays. We had to walk pretty far before we found a place to buy some rice.

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But today was incredible! Words cannot describe how beautiful the country is. Outside of Maseru, the land is largely uncorrupted. It was the most beautiful day and the 40-ish mile northeast drive from Maseru to Maputeng was breath-taking. Shelley and I went way overboard on the pictures, so I’ve attached some as links! The road was actually very nicely paved the whole way to the hospital. Only the last stretch was what most would imagine a true African road, but after you see all the mountains it’s easy to understand why there are few paved roads, but you have to stick to them or walk.

Our welcome at Maluti hospital was a warm one. The hospital director, Dr. Hurlow, gave us a tour of the hospital. That’s when we first saw the waiting room. I could walk the length of the waiting room in 10 steps. There were 4 rows of benches packed VERY tightly with about 100 people just in that small space. That was not counting the overflow into the benches in the hallway or the extra kids waiting area they have at the pediatric ward. We then met Dr. Madala, an incredible person who is totally revamping the AIDS program there. We went to lunch at Dr. Hurlow’s beautiful home where we ate with his wife, Lynn (a physio therapist), and a wonderful 50-something couple, Dick (an evangelical pastor and social worker) and Pam (a nurse), from Madison, Wisconsin. They decided to join the Peace Corp when their youngest child graduated college and have committed 2 years to working in Lesotho. Boy do they have a view!

After lunch, we continued our tour and met several other doctors. We toured the area where woman stay during the end of their pregnancy. Some women live too far in the mountains to walk later in the pregnancy, so they’ll come and stay a month or even two months before they are supposed to deliver. They loved to see themselves in the digital camera! The pediatric ward was another fun stop.

On our way out we met with Mokhotu Makhalanyane (turns out “kh” is like that back of your throat, hocker sound) who is doing an amazing crop-sharing program to help the community help itself and help its orphans. Within this one district, there are 13,000 orphans, 10,000 of which have NEITHER parent. There is no orphanage in the district since the closest relatives or friends take in the orphans, but that also means that many children are being taken out of school (since adults are not willing to pay school costs for children who are not their own), and oftentimes they are physically and sexually abused. But besides the direct benefits, this agricultural program has actually reduced the number of abuses because the community is now accepting responsibility for protecting their orphans.


When we got home and ate a small dinner, Shelley and I were both craving sweets and broke into our stores for the kids. We had just decided she would get all the yellow Starbursts, I would get all the pink Starbursts, and we would split the orange 50/50 when we realized that we were planning the consumption of all the kids’ Starbursts. OOPS!