Tuesday, March 14, 2006


This is marjorie (majo). She has moved to live with here mother in Kalomo (south of where I live) so I will probably rarely see her any more. I made her smile which was an accomplishment. She also was staying at the compound where I stay.













This is Hamagaye (or raoul). i took this photo as a public health example.

He has been spraying cotton with extremely toxic chemicals with a sprayer that leaks onto your back (I have used it) and without shoes or protective clothing. This is an issue, but other things such as malaria, TB, and HIV are more likely to be significant cause of morbidity to him.











This is Mr. Wellington or Weka. He is staying at my compound but is moving to Luapula province very soon to stay with his uncle. The headmistress where I stay is his aunt. He lost both parents to HIV and is being helped by extended family. Judging from the roughly 20% of children at schools here being either single or double orphans, I'd say his story is not a rarity.







This is my yard in late January. Grass is still growing and growing and growing...
I walked to my maize field yesterday. Slight rain, sun peeking out from behind scattered clouds. The maize is past my head and thick cobs of maize are sprouting everywhere. A wind and rain day has knocked over some of my maize as the ground was loosened by the heavy rains.

I plucked two fat cobs and took them home to fire-roast and eat while hot. I was eating them and sitting in my cooking shelter thinking how nice village life is. The simplicity is something beautiful that I am trying to embrace with open arms. I was thinking about how tied to natural cycles I am when in the village, something that becomes lost when I am in the city. I don’t notice the rain, the wind, or the sun quite as I do when my doorstep is near the bush.

Recently, I have been working in the outskirts of the capital, Lusaka, assisting a volunteer in developing a survey to measure behaviors and beliefs related to HIV/AIDS in his ~7000 person catchment area. He is a crisis corps volunteer working with an NGO there. Crisis corps volunteers have completed a 2 year Peace Corps stint and are extending service in a number of “crisis” areas, such as HIV. My class work at Rollins as part of my MPH gives me background in this area; hence I have been requested to come to the capital as often as necessary to make an instrument that may be adapted or used by other volunteers or NGO’s here.

It is a bit tiring coming here out of the village and adjusting to urban life for a few days of work at a time, but I am glad my MPH is proving useful as there have already been things I was able to clear up regarding the survey. As a friend of mine says, “we don’t have resources to squander here”. This makes me want to squeeze as much out of this survey and make sure it is as systematic and thorough as we can make it.

I will be assisting in training surveyors and will also be assisting in training the new group of HIV/AIDS volunteers scheduled to arrive in June. I am busy, but happy that my brain and effort is being used for something that might positively impact the health of people.

I am well and turning 32 years old while in the city. I may celebrate by smiling, something commonplace that just feels good.

I once again hope this finds everyone well and I will eat a freshly roasted cob of maize for each of you. I know, the sacrifices that we make for friends.

Love, niko.
written February 15, 2006.

More time has passed.

I have been weeding my 200 x 3 meter field most of my waking hours. It is quite a bit of work and I am becoming quite strong and calloused.

This is the busy season for farming and most folks are in the fields from sunup to sundown. I have a great deal of respect for the manual labor that mostly women appear to do. I must say that people are surprised that a “white” can weed and do manual labor. People were expecting me to pass out or something or at least burn in the African sun, yet I just get darker and drink lots of water. This should change people’s perceptions of “whites” here.

The new school term has started, people are in the fields, and HIV work is slow. Mostly I am trying to network, form a coordinating body for HIV activities in my zone, learn Tonga, and try and aggregate and make sense of the copious amounts of data collected through the health services system.

I have finally started formal Tonga lessons with a teacher that is from the region where the original Tonga’s hail from. Apparently where I live is not where real Tonga’s are from, but rather where they have migrated. My understanding of what people are saying is increasing, as is my vocabulary. I plan on sitting for the Tonga exam given to grade 12 students in December and I want to receive passing marks.

Already rains this year appear better than last years. We have hope that the overall hunger here will be attenuated a bit.

My crop should be more maize than I can feasibly eat so I am looking into how it can benefit those in my community feeling the effects of HIV. I am also looking forward to making tamales and tortillas. That should trip people out.

On the public health side, there have been cholera outbreaks and some deaths near my district in the Kafue plains where the Kafue river runs. Some deaths due to bird flu have also been reported in northern Nigeria. I was in Thailand when it was breaking there. Everyone keeps poultry so has considerable ramifications as birds migrate down here.

Anyway, I’ll sign off for now.

Love. Niko.