Wednesday, August 19, 2009

week 4

Wow, I've almost been in Malawi for a month! Time to renew my Visa in the next two days.

Some highlights from the last week-

Early in the morning on Friday Jonathan's daughter (9 months old) died of Malaria. It was a pretty big blow for the whole research team, so we took the next few days off. I know that the infant mortality rate here is high, but I think it was the first time that I personally knew someone whose infant died. Unfortunately, white people are such a spectacle in the villages that the team decided it would be best if matt and i did not attend the funeral or the burial.

So, Saturday Esau took us to Nkhoma mountain (there was no children's corner because of the funeral). The mountain was gorgeous, rolling moutains and grasslands as far as the eye could see. We climbed to a pretty high peak, saw some lizards, had some ash blow into my mouth from a fire far far away. It was really dissapointing, though, to think of the rest of the research team burying Jonathan's child while we were up there. Jonathan was the children's corner coordinator, so all of the kids from all of the villages came to the service. I used some of the donations I received from people back home for nutritional support to buy nsima and vegetables for the kids who attended.

Sunday was the burial. I convinced matt to brave the minubus system with me. We caught a minibus to Salima where we saw the lake. The best parts were running out of gas, the frankenstein sew-up of the super cracked glass, and the fact that we missed the last minibus back and ended up stuck overnight, having to get up at 4AM to catch a bus back in time for Monday.

This week we've been doing things like printing the documents so we're ready when approval finally comes through. Today we visited Jennifer, someone i worked with here last time and who has been very sick. We brought her some staples like cooking oil, eggs, tomatoes, hand soap, washing soap, pawpaw and tangarines. She was taking care of a baby who looked to be about 10 months old. I saw his full set of teeth, though, and then asked how old he was. He is two years old, can't walk, can't talk, tiny, absolutely beautiful. I so wish I was doing my research right now...

Tomorrow we're rebuilding one of KASO's centers that has fallen apart in Yapa Village. We're going to paint and make bricks and try to help get things going again... Then Friday we're touring Baylor Pediatric AIDS Clinic and visiting the Grassroots Soccer rehearsal (a program that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS while playing on a sports team). Saturday is children's corner.

...next week begin data collection????

Sorry for the lack of updates- internet stinks. I've spent all my internet cafe energy working on my proposal (clarifications for the IRB in Malawi).

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