Upon leaving, I gave Charles instructions on how to proceed when I left. Things like checking to make sure all of the questions had been answered on every questionnaire, making sure someone witnessed the informed consent if the interviewee could not write, and mailing me the questionnaires.
The goodbyes were sad. The whole research team, plus Mary (an ECD coordinator for KASO) and Filipina (KASO’s secretary), escorted me to the airport. They all wore their Obama shirts and pins. Maria made me a huge bag of popcorn. I brought half of it out for us all to share while we sat in the waiting area after I checked my bags. The rest of it I stuffed into my carry-on and ate when I got home (yes, somehow I managed to get it through customs). While we waited for me to be able to board, I showed them all pictures from the whole project, including some videos of the community meetings, ECD and children’s corner. They loved it. Charles, Jonathan and Maria had a beer as they prepared to make me a “surprise.” They took my video camera and made a movie of some kind downstairs. They said I couldn’t watch it until I was back in the US. Maria gave me letters, one each for me, Tiane, Kim and Matt.
When I boarded the plane it was open seating, so I chose a window seat on the left side so I could see the people on the viewing deck. I couldn’t believe they were all still there, 7 people with big Obama faces on the shirts seeing me off. Having seen them wave excitedly at the plane that took off before I boarded, I knew they were waving goodbye as we took off and praying for my safe arrival.

I did not call anyone on the research team for a few days after I got back. However, I received several SMS messages from Maria letting me know that they missed me but that everything was going well. One day she said she had been scared because they ran into some Gule Wamkulu on a bridge at Kudoku village. I have talked with Charles several times now and the research is complete. They were supposed to be sending me the rest of the documents today and they should arrive in three days. The team was just finishing up a few things, particularly going to each village and thanking the communities for their participation.

Maria has interviewed for a position in a health survey. I was pretty excited to hear that her experience volunteering in the study may help her to get a job.

I'll post again with some preliminary results of the study!

The last day we split into two teams, I went with Charles and Jonathan to Mwachipa and Alton and Maria went to Fumbe. Although it was the most urban village we visited, the volunteers who escorted us to the participants’ homes at Mwachipa did not know any English. I used the little Chichewa I had acquired by then (mostly to amuse them) and they told me what I needed to know by pointing and pantomiming. We encountered one of the saddest situations in Mwachipa. We interviewed the grandmother of a two year old girl whose caretaker, her aunt, had passed away just a few days earlier. The girl’s mother died (of an eye infection) soon after she was born. So, this little girl had already been orphaned twice. The family never knew who the father was and the grandfather was away working in South Africa. I knew they were being cared for, though, because as we did the interview, a neighbor was laying new bricks around window.

I bought some popcorn from a lady in the village who was bagging it to take a street market. Village popcorn really is the best. A radio was playing somewhere and some kids came up to me while I was sitting outside waiting for Charles. They danced and danced and danced :).

kids kids kids

Deafening ear infections, disfiguring eye infections, mumps, hookworms, unspecified diarrhea, ringworm, colds that turn to pneumonia. Malaria. Things that could be prevented with a few simple enough if we cared enough interventions...soap, shoes, clean water, vaccines, antibiotics, a net and insect repellent. If I had been born here, I would have died 30 + times throughout my childhood. I would not have lived to see age 2. It's one thing to read statistics. It's something entirely different walking door to door seeing sick child after sick child after sick child and knowing that the nearest clinic is at least two hours away...

I'm still learning a lot every day. I changed my plane ticket again yesterday, so I am leaving on Tuesday instead of Friday. The team is sad about it, but I know they can do the interviews now just as well without me. They'll send me the data. I was hoping to stay until I got approval, but my meeting with the chairman was a waste of time. I'll refrain from posting about it on the internet, but if you'd like to hear me get on a soapbox please inquire within....