Monday, March 15, 2010

Snippets from recent emails and letters detailing the past few weeks :)

Thursday, Feb. 18
I went up to the hospital in my town because the Mobile Clinic is always there on Thursdays and Dr. Monica said she wanted me to go sit with this FGH psychologist down by the mobile clinic and just listen and learn about how they talk to the patients that are about to start antiretroviral treatment. So I sat with this guy for a few hours and could actually understand all of his Portuguese and just listened to him explain about HIV and the treatment to these people, he’s just sooo good at his job! It was like the craziest thing, he would ask these people “so, do you know or do you remember what illness you have?” Most of the people were just all shy and wouldn’t even look him in the eye and just would say “yea, I have HIV.” And then couldn’t explain what HIV even was or what the difference between HIV and AIDS is..which I know, most people back home probably couldn’t either really, but I think if you had the virus you would educate yourself a bit and know then! So, he had to sit there and explain to all of them in like the simplest way possible that HIV is a bug that likes to eat things in your body and once you start to get other illnesses too than it turns into AIDS but by taking this medicine you can stay healthy and live a long time still and that HIV isn’t a death sentence anymore. The medicine doesn’t kill the bugs, you will have them your whole life, but the medicine will put them to sleep and they can’t eat if they’re sleeping. And then he was telling them that for the first couple weeks the medicine might make them sick, but to keep taking it because it will get better and help them and then he was trying to explain that the medicine needs to be taken every day, twice a day, 12 hours apart. He’d ask what time they wanted to take it in the morning and then say “Ok, so if you take it at 6 am, then what time do you need to take it at night?” and seriously, a lot of them couldn’t figure out what time to take it 12 hours later then! It’s just so crazy the lack of education here. I wonder how many of them even understand what he was telling them and fully comprehend what they have??!! For many of them he had to try and explain by using analogies and comparing it to malaria and a couple of them then would get all confused thinking malaria and HIV are the same or something. He would ask “what causes malaria?” and some people didn’t even know!! Anyhow, so then he had to ask stuff about if the spouse knows and if they have an “amigo other than their spouse, and if they do, it’s fine, it’s normal,” the patients would be all shy and obviously not want to talk about it and I’m sure many of them lied because they were too embarrassed or ashamed. It’s just crazy how so many haven’t told their spouse, mostly the women, because they’re just afraid the husband will be mad and blame and possibly even beat them. The doctor would tell them to try and get the husband or whoever in to get tested and fill out these forms asking them to come in but not writing what it’s for on the form, so basically they’re tricked in to coming in. I don’t know, it was just a crazy experience, it was the first time I’ve been around all the HIV type stuff you think of or hear about when people talk about Africa and the epidemic, it’s just effecting soooo many people it’s so sad, especially when the women come in with their babies that are HIV+ and were helplessly born into this disease!
Friday, Feb. 19
Friday I was supposed to go with Infinha to go search for these people that haven’t showed up for their hospital visits and find out why, and try to make whatever arrangements are needed to get them to come in, and just see if they’re still taking their antiretroviral medication or what the deal is…but of course that fell through. I went up there and sat for about 3 hours and finally gave up because the supposed car never showed up!
Wednesday, Feb. 24
Wednesday I was going to go with Marcel, the Brazilian Volunteer that works at the school, to Musaliwa, that village along the ocean and just bike there with the TCE Activistas to listen to their meeting. So we bike to this town and I just love the little village along the ocean there and the kids are just so cute, I just love them! I sat and listened to the TCE people teach this group about HIV andthey handed out paper and pens to all the people there so they could write stuff down and seriously, they had to go soooo slow and repeat everything over and over for the people to be able to copy down what he was saying, some didn’t know how to read or write and I could tell they felt a little embarrassed that they weren’t writing things down. So then some TCE person started talking to them about vertical transmission (parent to child) and is telling them that they can only pass HIV during birth but that it’s safe to breast feed because there’s no blood in breast milk so they can’t pass HIV then. I was listening thinking no, no, I must not be understanding it right or just hearing it wrong or my Portuguese is just not right or something??!! So I asked Marcel “are they telling them that breast milk doesn’t have HIV??” he’s like “yea” I thought I was going to have a heart attack! I was like, NOOOO, you have to correct them! So Marcel tries to tell them that it does have HIV so women that are HIV positive should find another mother that isn’t and have her breast feed for her or buy milk..which I also was freaking out listening to because somewhat ridiculous considering the cultural. HIV is so stigmatized here, it’s just not even really an option for women to ask another woman to breast feed her child because then everyone would know why! And buying milk isn’t an option either because it’s so expensive and people are way too poor here. I feel like all of this just confused them even more. They just changed the rule of what HIV+ women are supposed to do, which is breast feed either way for the first 2 years (this is for Mozambique) because it’s more dangerous if you don’t because it’s more likely the child will starve to death and it’s a somewhat low chance that they’ll get HIV if they’re taking antiretroviral medication.
Thursday, Feb. 25
I went up to the hospital to try and do something for the day and ended up taking patients weight as they came in for their consultation with Infinha. Not one person weighed over like 150 or 160 pounds, not even the men, I’d say the average was maybe a little over 100 pounds! It’s pretty sad, it’s because they have HIV and can’t eat and have so much weight loss from all the complications and stomach problems they have..so sad! A few ladies were in the 80s…it’s really sad! Oh, and Infinha and I were talking because he always likes to practice his English and ask questions about America. He was like “so..what is HIV like in America??” I tried to explain to him “well..less than 1% of the population has it there…and here it’s like 15-20% or more, so it’s wayyyy less in America..” Then he asked if someone with HIV from Africa is allowed into America….and this is the educated hospital staff, so great… then he asks what about malaria in America? I’d say the Mozambican educational system has a ways to go…
Friday, Feb. 26
Friday I went up to TCE to go to their weekly meeting and make sure someone set them straight about the HIV in breast milk incident and Marcel was there and planned on giving a talk about the subject so I was happy to hear it was being addressed.
Later on that evening, this TCE guy showed up at the restaurant place across from my house where the new ADPP Volunteer from Finland and I were hanging out and chatting. He was with some Mozambican friends and is just a nice guy that I always say hi to here and there and so they sat with us so we could chat in Portuguese to help the new volunteer practice and learn. Eventually the guy start talking about the other day when they said breast milk doesn’t have HIV and he’s like “yea, Marcel came and talked about it at the meeting,” and then starts telling me/asking me like “yea so when a mother is out at the machamba(like in the fields/crops) and she’s sweaty and has her baby tied to her back, and the baby starts crying and so she takes the baby and puts him/her to her breast to have milk and she doesn’t wipe the sweat off, that’s how the baby can get HIV?? She needs to wipe the sweat off her breast first..??” Needless to say, they are clearly still confused and I’m going to have to plan some kind of demonstration to make it clear!
Last week (Feb. 28-March 3) I had to be in Quelimane for a work meeting with FGH.
Monday, March 1
We were only supposed to have a meeting March 2nd and the other days were free days and needed for transportation for some of the Volunteers that are further out. So Sunday night when we all got there we went out to dinner and had a pretty late night, staying out chatting and just enjoying being with other English-speaking Americans!  Monday morning we were just lounging around at the hotel trying to watch a movie on my computer when another FGH volunteer comes in and says she just got a text from our boss saying we have a meeting at 2pm today, which is in an hour!! So we all run off to try and get ready. The Volunteers that have already been with FGH for a year tell us we’ll probably have to present to all our bosses in Portuguese on what we’ve been doing at site so far and our plans for the next 2 years!!
We got to FGH and our boss starts the meeting, which is with a bunch of higher-up bosses, some of which have flown in from Maputo! He said we’ll go around and hear about what we’ve all been doing and asks how long we each want to have to talk..20minutes each?? Or do we need more time than that?? Yikes!! We were all completely unprepared! When my turn came around I told them about all these projects I’m going to start and the organizations I’ve already started working with, then I told them my library idea and they seemed to love it, so hopefully that won them over!
March 2
Tuesday we went to the office again and filled out these sheets in Portuguese with our goals for the 2 years and what projects we want to do. Then we had a talk about with our boss about any problems we’re having at site with our houses, counterpart, work, etc. I just said that I don’t always feel included with FGH because a lot of times they are in Macuse and don’t even tell me or try to have me come do stuff with them.
Monday, March 8th, 2010
A few ladies from the TCE group came to my house today and asked if I could help them get seeds for their fields. I spoke with FGH and am working on getting their supplies. The food grown would go towards helping HIV+ women, orphans, and other people in the community that are too ill to work. Next week I’m going to go out in the community with the ladies to meet some of the people that will benefit from their agriculture project and get all the information FGH needs from me.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
I’ve been having some “issues” with my maid and her daughters! They’ve been borrowing things from me a lot lately and now that I have a cat and need to leave the house key with them when I am away so that they can come in and feed her, they’ve been just helping themselves to whatever they are in need of and is available in my kitchen and bathroom! It started out just being a bit of oil or some sugar, soap, Q-tips, etc. Of course I always said yes and gave them whatever they needed…but now it seems they are using my things more than I even use them! Just recently I left to go to Quelimane for the weekend and came back to find a large amount of my oil gone and chocolates missing from the freezer that a friend from home sent me..I didn’t say anything because it’s not like I had taken an inventory of the things in my house and wasn’t sure they had been used and so I didn’t want to wrongly accuse them, but then the next weekend I left and came back to find my whole jar of sugar gone. Later that day, the girls borrowed my bike and returned it without telling me they popped the tire! The next morning the mother came over claiming something outside of my house needed to be fixed and that if I just gave her 50 mets she would get it taken care of.. First of all, I don’t think the thing even needs to be repaired, and secondly, if it does than it’s something the landlord should pay for. I could tell she was a bit upset that I wouldn’t just hand over the money to her and finally it all boiled over when she came to ask for my oil. I finally confronted her on all my missing items and said that I don’t know or care who did it but that it needs to stop! I told her that I feel like they are using my stuff more than I even use it and that I’ve had to go and buy more sugar and oil because of them! And it’s not just sugar and oil, I’ve let them get away with multiple petty little things, it’s just finally built up so much over these past 3 months! They think that just because I’m white I have all this money to waste away. I don’t think they understand I’m a fricken V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R! It’s just so irritating!
My neighbor brought over a lock for the kitchen door, hopefully it gets put on soon so next time I leave I can just lock the doors to my bedroom, kitchen and bathroom!
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
I stopped up at the school today where I’m having my JOMA group and spoke with the director, I mentioned my library project idea and she seemed very interested. I told her I was still in the process of looking at all the schools in Macuse since there are many, she immediately said “we don’t have one but we need one!” like she wanted me to end my search and chose her school, which I’m definitely leaning towards.. I know some of the kids at that school and the building structure is pretty good, I think it would be a good place to house a library. There isn’t a specific location for one right now, but the director said they could make space-not sure if that means turning one of the pre-existing rooms into a library or building a new area, either way, I still have a lot of planning before this project gets started. I am discussing this with my Assistant Peace Corps Director in a couple s at our In-Service Training Conference.
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
I had a pretty epitomized Peace Corps moment…goat killing. A bunch of the Zambezia Volunteers had a little weekend extravaganza to celebrate one Volunteers birthday and just spend some time together. Saturday morning, myself and 3 or 4 other Volunteers went and picked out a goat, we took it back to the house we were hanging out at and the guard/maid there slaughtered it for us! It was pretty disgusting! One of the Volunteers helped hold it down, but none of us were actually experienced or brave enough to do the actual deed! It was pretty gross but just another TIA (this is Africa) moment to add to my list!
It was a fun weekend, we made pizza, goat meat of course, tacos, and sangrias and just lounged around all day. We were at an NGO workers house, he’s from England I believe and had satellite TV (caught up on some MTV-so strange to see!) and used his internet…ahhh, the life of luxury!