Saturday Feb 19, 2011

We spent a busy week at the lab.  Did a lot of training in large groups and individually.  Barb and I had dinner at the Ocean Basket during the week.  Saturday we went to the copper shop but nothing caught our fancy. Then we went to the mall, did a bit of shopping at the bookstore and had lunch at Nandos.  Now spending a quiet afternoon.

Things I have learned

A dazzle of Zebras
A herd of Elephants
A troop pf Baboons
A journey of Giraffes
A raft of hippos

More bits of relatively useless information

Chobe Park, Botswana

  Chobe was a great experience.  To get there, we were driven 45 minutes to the border and checked at immigration upon leaving Zambia.   Then we went to the river bank which was  a jumble of trucks  waiting for a  ferry which had room for 1 truck and 1 car.   We boarded a small boat and crossed the river.  A vehicle waited for us there and took us to Botswana immigration. After having our passports checked we walked through a disinfectant to prevent us from bringing foot and mouth disease into the country. (Note: this is different from Foot IN Mouth disease.)
  We drove another half hour and then boarded a small boat.  Our guide was named Moses and he was our guide for the water safari.  We again had to stop at a closet on the dock which was the office for the park  entrance by water.   We saw lots of Hippos, elephants, birds, and even a crocodile.  In spite of sun screen and a hat, I managed  to get a sun burn.
   Then a great lunch which included wildebeest steak, which was quite like beef and tasty.
A Safari in a land cruiser was the next part of our day.  We saw many Maribou storks, egyptian geese, baboons, and again lots of elephants in breeding herds with many very young animals.
   Finally back to the border to saw goodbye to Botswana, across the river and hello to Zambia  and into the bus that took us back to our hotels.  We arrived back at the Maramba lodge and were really exhausted. Dinner and to bed.
  I had wanted to attend the SA corps in Livingstone but the exhaustion was still present in the morning. Sorry folks in Livingstone that I did not meet you.  We spent a quiet day downloading our photos and reliving and laughing about the previous day.
  Finally to the airport and our flight back to Lusaka.
Still tired but happy.

Livingstone - Victoria Falls

Got up before 5 AM and left for the Lusaka airport at 6:15 AM.  Arrived in Livingstone at 9:15 AM.
We took a cab and checked in at the Maramba River lodge.  Barb and I are sharing a chalet and Pauline and Rinette are sharing a tent.
    I have trouble believing that we did this but after lunch we took a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls!   It was incredible!!!!.   They took videos of us getting on the flight and during the flight and are editing it for us and it will arrive at our lodge this evening.
   The other Mommas are now on a walk to the falls. This Momma thought we would all have more fun if I didn't try walking for an hour.   I sent my camera with them so I will see the falls up close that way.
    I am building up my strength for  the game drive and river trip tomorrow in Chobe national Park in Botswana.

Finishing another week in Zambia

  We presented our training session for staff.  The training was to start at 9 AM.  We were the only people in the room at 9AM.   Finally at 9:10 the first 2 participants arrived.  The boss then made a trip around the lab and sent employees to the training session.  EVentually we had 38 people present.
   I think they were energized to get to work on their SOPs.
After the session, someone asked Pauline if she spoke french.  She said yes can't you hear from my accent.  The young man said that he just thought she sounded that way because she was old.   Now I can't wait for my french accent to pop out as I am surely old enough.
      Tomorrow we leave for Livingstone and Victoria Falls.  Yippee!!!!

First training session given by mentors in Zambia

     Our first presentation went off without a hitch!  Barb did an overview of our work here. Pauline did a presentation on documents and records and I did the encouragement presentation with the little frogs who raced to the top of a high tower.
     We will repeat our presentation on Thursday for the staff.
     Finally I finished my WHO checklist for all of my 3 areas. Yippee!!!!!!
NO more peeing in the dark!   A light bulb was placed in the room with the toilet.  No need to get locked into the ladies room.   Say, this is one great lab!
     I think I will take a bike ride to know where this evening.  I need the exercise.
Last night we all felt like salmon for dinner but it was all gone -again when we ordered.   We will try again tonight, maybe our luck will be better.
            Another wonderful day in Zambia!!!

Well I rode 12 minutes to nowhere - sort of lame but more than nothing.

chinese restaurant and Monday at the lab

This was a good choice for dinner. The restaurant was very clean and open. The food was excellent and we had a great evening.
     After working with the Parasitology group We spent the afternoon preparing our presentations for tomorrow.  We are each doing parts of the presentation. barb will give an introduction and overview.  Pauline will do  document and records  and I will end up with an encouragement component of the presentation.  I love encouraging.  These are wonderful people and I believe they will succeed with a great deal of work of course.  I get to enjoy another wonderful day in Lusaka.
    Time to get ready for work so bye to my blogger friends.

Lusaka Citadel Corps

Feb 6, 2011  
   Another day at my new corps.  A brother in Christ was promoted to glory this week. He and his wife sat in front of me at church last week. This week it was just his wife, very sad.
   The sermons today were given by the finance secretary.  He even spoke about budgets and it was even very interesting.  He told little funny vignettes but they were in a local language so I was the only one who didn't laugh.   I do enjoy the corps. The praise and worship group, the choir, and band are excellent.
   Tonight we are planning to dine outside of the hotel at a Chinese restaurant.  The hotel menu is getting old so this should be a treat.
    I think we have a less than honest driver.  Last week he charged me 40,000 kwacha for the round trip to church and I gave him an extra 10,000. This week he tried to charge 80,000 kwatcha.  I don't mind being generous but I do not like to be tricked or cheated.  I will need to think about this.  I guess everyone with an angel's name - Gabriel - may not be an Angel.  I guess I need to pray for him.
    I was so happy to see the photo of the new daughter of my officers in Windhoek, Namibia.
Little Claire is so cute!  I can hardly wait to meet her in person.
  

Chiminuka

   Today was our first game drive at Chiminuka.  It was a small area to visit but we enjoyed the game.  Then due to the condition of the dirt roads we all had an African massage.  Chiminuka is quite close to Lusaka but it took 2 hours to get there because many kilometers were on dirt roads.
   I took photos but at the wrong setting.  They are only good for posting to the internet but not printing.  Anyway I have now corrected my camera for next week's trip.  I was very happy with the bird photos.
   They had a vehicle that had a ladder to climb to get in and out of  the van.  I managed but not easily.   Lunch at Chiminuka was a barbecue of ribs, chicken and game.  The cooking was excellent with many tasty side dishes of vegetables, include a wonderful curry.
  Reynet and Pauline were more adventurous than Barb and I. They took a boat ride on the lake.
It allowed them to see more waterbirds.
   What a wonderful and exhausting day!   I slept through until 5 AM, I was tired!
 

another commode story

   Those who know me will remember that some of my most difficult times in Africa have to do with the use of African toilets.  This a first and happened to my colleague.  This ladies room in the lab was bright and clean but the toilet is in a small room with no lights.   The ladies room is therefore locked with a key from the inside so the door to the toilet area can be left open.  Well my colleague locked the door with the key from the inside and completed her business, washed her hands and went to unlock the door to leave.  At this moment I was waiting patiently at the door for my turn.   For some reason the key no longer would open the door.  So my friend was stuck on the inside with the key and I was on the outside with no key.  At this point a lab employee came along to the rescue. She knew that there was just enough room at the bottom of the door to slip the key beneath it.  So that is what my colleague did and our savior unlocked the door to let my colleague  out and me in.  At this point I decided that I did not need to lock the door as I could pee in the dark.
     In spite of the lock issue, this is the best toilet that I have found in the facility.  It was clean, had a toilet seat and even toilet paper!
    I am definitely not accustomed to working every day. I have been so tired the last few days that I went right to sleep shortly after dinner, no blogs and very little e-mail.  But I am up at 4 AM getting ready for a nearby game drive and to update my blog.

WHO Checklist

      What a great day at work.  I have the privilege of working with some wonderful people.  We reviewed the WHO check list today and discussed recent improvement projects.
      Could it be that I am getting old?  I was soooo tired that I immediately slept upon reaching my room.
      We are planning some weekend trips, a national park day trip and a weekend in Livingstone.

A general lab meeting

     A new day and I feel rested.  Today we had a meeting with CDC,MOH and Lab supervisors and managers. We learned about the training and work that has gone on with the lab before our visit.  We heard about some issues and problems and devised a plan to begin with each lab section.
     I spent the afternoon with Charity in TB lab.  My initial assessment is that they are doing fairly well.  However, I readily could see the need for a quality manual and this is something we will focus on in the upcoming weeks.
     I am going to love it here. The people are warm and intelligent and willing to work to improve their lab.  Their willingness to make changes invigorates me.  My heart is really into this work.  Pray for our work here.  There lovely people deserve success and can achieve accreditation.
  
Our clothing:
    Somehow I thought it would be hotter than it is.  This is rainy season and the evenings are often quite cool.  I was glad that I had my hoodie sweatshirt.

Where will we live here?
     The place we were planning to stay was no longer available, so we will spend several weeks here at our hotel and will move Feb 17 to small apartments at the Shakespeare.  We looked at the apartments and are quite satisfied with our accommodations.  For awhile we were afraid that our lodgings would not be finalized any time soon.

Touring the lab

Jan 31, 2011
Today we met with folks at CDC.  We learned how important introductions are in this culture.  Without proper protocols of introduction, our work can be thwarted.  Our CDC guide did his best to allow us meet  those that we need to meet.
      Next we went to the lab and there were more introductions and we walked upstairs and downstairs and here and there.   I was totally exhausted by the end of the day.  My shoes were not proper to do this walking.  My feet hurt as well as other body parts.
     A bit bedraggled, I returned to the hotel and put my feet up and rested.  I met my colleagues for dinner.  Somehow there was a problem in the kitchen and we waited an hour and a half for dinner.
    After dinner it was back to the room to rest and catch up on the internet.  Well, this is Africa, and this turned out to be  a day with no internet.  Truth is, I was too tired.