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.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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!
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!
Friday, February 4, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
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.
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.
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