Lundazi

Sorry I’ve been missing from the blogosphere. But, I’m back! I’ve uploaded a few posts written a few weeks ago and below are some notes from my last week in Eastern Province. I think I will try my hand at stream of consciousness posts – writing an actual post proves to be too draining at the end of the day. Plus, I can no longer sit comfortably on the couch in the evening because I run the risk of hypothermia! Yes – it is cold! I am wearing woolly sock and if I had a toque and mittens, I would wear them too. It is actually cooler in the house than outside (something to do with tile and concrete I think). Anyway, it’s cold and as someone who is not usually cold, I don’t really know what to do about my cold hands and feet. I don’t really like wearing socks, but it is getting to that, even to bed. Socks in Tropical Africa – yes, apparently so when it’s winter.

Notes from Lundazi:

• The road between Chipata and Lundazi is even worse during the dry season because I guess rain makes road muddy, softer and more forgiving. My colleagues and the organisation’s vehicle stayed in Chipata while I made the journey to Lundazi by bus. I think it’s scarier by bus because I have little control over the situation except to not the get on the bus in the first place. The bus spent most of the three hour trip with two tires on the road and two off, alternating on different sides of the road depending on the potholes. I tried to read but could barely finish a sentence before the bus veered to the opposite side almost giving me whiplash. This wasn’t the bus that I took, but one company has as its slogan – Safety First, Arrive Alive. Is that supposed to make me feel safer?
• Read Kapuscinki’s Shadow of the Sun. It is striking how I can look out the window and see the villages and scenes of “Africa” Kapuscinki vividly describes. You wonder how a book written in the late 50s can still describe today.
• First day I arrived in Lundazi someone from the hospital came by the office asking for gauze. A young boy came into the hospital with his face burned off. The hospital did not even have gauze. I handed whatever pieces of gauze I had in my first aid kit. It wasn’t sterile gauze, but I guess it’s something. Something is not enough. Boy oh boy.
• Ran into a few Peace Corps volunteers in the Lundazi area – impressed with their perseverance. However, not sure what the point is of putting a young American in the most rural of villages. Is Peace Corps more about cultural exchange than development? One girl biked all day just to reach Lundazi from her village.
• Peace Corps are very creative… or are bored out of their minds and going crazy. One girl is knitting hats for her village. Another has made all sort of items out of chitenge fabric – wallet, ipod holder, book covers.
• Climbed a boulder in a village to get cell phone reception.
• Visited a school where a number of children had scabies. Apparently, even more of a problem during rainy season. Went to see the nearest health clinic. Not exactly a clinic - no health workers, no supplies. What to do?
• Talked to a med student working at clinic. Some of the things she sees would make it difficult to sleep at night (won’t share any of those stories here). In a lot of the villages, a under-five clinic have been set up. That is, a clinic specifically for mothers to bring in their children to have their development monitored. The med student described a situation where severely malnourished children were coming into hospital with under-five cards that plot the progression of malnutrition. What?! There is monitoring, but no intervention. Women are trained to plot the dots, but are not trained them to read them. So, when the child’s weight drops below a healthy range it does not ring any bells because they are just dots. One four year old child came in weighing 8kg.
• Pumping water from a borehole is exhausting. Taking bucket baths saves water.
• I love Cranium! Should have brought the Cranium – Canadian Edition with me… wonder if it exists in travel size.
• Stars! The company of stars makes me feel alone, but not lonely.