August 2007 Archives

Finally, a news article that portrays Botswana's PMTCT program in a positive light. I'll admit that there are plenty of challenges, but would also argue that not enough word gets spread about the program successes.

Everything the author wrote in the Globe article is true, true, true. Botswana has an very high burden in terms of mother-to-child transmission with nearly one-third of pregnant women who are HIV-positive. If nothing was done 35-40% of those women would transmit HIV to their infants; either during pregnancy, during delivery or through breastfeeding. That's 5,600 HIV infected babies a year. Evidence from the early infant diagnosis roll-out shows that the transmission rate in Botswana is probably closer to 4% now, so 560 infected babies. What an incredible result. The next hurdle is to get those infected babies on treatment which is tricky but Botswana has a big leg-up on that considering their already very successful national ARV program.

Click on the "continue reading" link to read the full-text of the article here.

The Zebras for Life--Test for Life campaign is continuing to do well. We had some great events while I was away. The response from Zebras fans, men in particular, is very encouraging. We are running out of materials and stretching our resources pretty thin. But hey, that’s a good thing.

The need for the Zebras campaign is that men in Botswana test for HIV in much few numbers than women. Many women elect to test for HIV when they are pregnant. Most men don't accompany their partners to antenatal care visits, nor do they use medical facilities as frequently as women. This accounts for one part of the testing gap. But even at voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) centres the clientele consists of many more women than men.

A lot of past outreach to men on testing has had very feminized messages about supporting your partner at antenatal care visits and such, which is important. However, we are trying to use a more masculine approach by using the Zebras (national football team) as role-models for HIV testing. We hope their celebrity and appearance in advertisements and at events throughout the country can push more men to test for HIV. The players are wearing “Botswana Blue” wrist bands as symbol that they know their status. Those that test are given a similar wrist band.

With a little help from “Lou”, we have a new logo…

and wrist band design.

Ke itse seemo sa me literally means I know my status.

Zebras for Life is the fans' mantra.

Actually, I can't even take credit for the chocolate chip cookies. It's Wendy's recipe, I'm telling you it's infallible. Whenever I tried baking chocolate chip cookies in the U.S. they'd either turn out too runny or too dry. Wendy's recipe turns out perfectly everytime (except for the times you forget they're in the oven and the cookies burn, but that's not her fault. :))

What I think is really amazing about the cookies turning out perfectly is that I'm baking them in a gas oven that has no temperature gauge. You know it's bad when the outside knob doesn't even have temperature readings, it just has the numbers 1-6. Our oven thinks nothing of the 1-6 levels and has pretty much two temperature settings: off and hot.

I've made Wendy's recipe so many times that I have it memorized. This comes in handy because I get so many compliments on the cookies that I often have to give the recipe out for others to try themselves. So, thanks Wendy for the great recipe that turns out perfect every time. :)

then add:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

mix together then add:
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 C flour

finally add:
1-2 chocolate bars, chopped

Form into 1" balls and bake on medium heat until done.

Duh-DUH-duh-CHUCK
Duh-DUH-duh-CHUCK
Duh-DUH-duh-SNAP!

I spent some time downloading a few guitar tabs from Ultimate Guitar during our visit to the states. In the past, I’d shunned internet tab exchanges. They’re wrong most the time. -or- Quit being so damn cheap and just buy the freakin’ songbook! -or- Any idiot could figure out that song!

Really, who the hell wants to sit at a desk for three hours awkwardly holding your guitar, a pencil and an eraser while constantly reaching for the back button on your music player? Can’t somebody else do it? (insert dork reference here). Once they’ve done the work and taken time to share it with the whole world you get to criticize them anonymously for only being 97% accurate. I saw their performance on Leno and he was clearly playing the Dsus2 in the 5th position not as an open chord, you imbecile. I think a lot of tabbers now try to pre-empt negative replies by declaring, “This is only my first tab….” BS. Maybe if they’ve posted the chords to Good Riddance it is, but certainly not if they’ve tabbed every lead part to Free Bird in explicit detail.

Anyway…I’m happy to share my new guitar strategy. Now I am only playing songs that are relatively recognizable, rhythmic and something people could sing along to. Lead playing is confined to hum-able solos or just improvising in the same mode and key. I wish I had this philosophy 10 years ago because nobody cares that I can play the interlude to One perfectly, 3/4 of the solo to Enter Sandman and every part of Even Flow, on an acoustic guitar nonetheless.

So I'm into Jack right now. But the CHUCKS are bit hard on my thin picks.

Photo: Me and my mini-Mart. Our house, with the jail doors and window bars, in the background. And a pick fatality attributable to Jack.

Wanted to share this article I just finished reading called "The Other Side of Hate" . Apparently the author won the 2007 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing for the article. It is by far one of the best articles I've read in long, long time. What I really enjoyed was how the author included the political history of Zimbabwe while keeping the focus on the two main characters. Ironically I found the link to the story on one of the scrapbooking blogs I read.

You can also find an interesting interview with the author of the article here with some more background to the story..

Brian just finished reading Alexandra Fuller's Don't Lets Go To the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood also with Zimbabwe as the backdrop.

Made it back to Bots. And apparently my bag has made it as well. Heather is on her way to the airport to pick it up. Let's just hope the lock is intact and nothing was stolen. But I'm already back to work and busy assisting with a workshop/study tour this week and trying to put together HIV testing events around the country. No time whatsoever for rest and reaclimation. Man, my head is killing me.

I am just happy that I remember where I live, the names of my colleagues and how to speak Setswana. Though this pounding headaches is making everything much more difficult. I hope I can just make it through the day, and that I don't have obligations this evening, so I can crash.

After our eventful trip to Jo-burg we made it safely to Gabs yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, Brian's bag has not yet made it here. Of course you could almost consider it the policy of Botswana Air and South African Airways to not to bring your bag on the flight you come on so we weren't entirely surprised. My bag came ahead of me, but would not have been on our flight to Gabs had we made the original connection. Keep your fingers crossed that Brian's bag gets here (with everything in it ...)

Fanta was super excited to see us yesterday when the kennel returned her. She looks no worse for the wear and is being super needy for affection, even waking us up in the night to snuggle.

We're still adjusting to the time change. Went to bed at 7:30 last night and slept most of the way to 6:30 this morning. Not bad in terms of a good nights sleep, but I'm still exhausted!

Looking forward to getting back into a routine and adjusting to the colder weather!

We had a nice itinerary planned for our return trip. We doubled checked our flights late the night before and made all of the necessary arrangements...only to arrive at the airport and find out that our flight from Salt Lake City to Altanta was cancelled and that we were then taking a later flight to New York and connecting to J-burg from there. Freakin' Delta cancelled our Altanta flight 3 hours prior to take off! Those bastards! We got up at four-in-the-morning for nothing. But they assured us that everything would work through and gave us first class seats to New York...

At SLC we as we are getting our new boarding passes and checking-in our bags and the idiot at the counter forgets to put the tag on my bag before sending in down the conveyer belt. After handing us our passes he carries the tag and sets off around all the ticket counters to the back door to the baggage area. I am convinced that I will never see my bag again.

For those that know the story of our travel to the states, my bag dissappeared along the way only to show up a week later minus the luggage lock and a ziplock back of worthless African money (100 Kwacha, expired Zimbabwean dollors, a few Kenyan shilling and a Pula and Rand or two). I was going to give the worthless coins and notes to the neices and nephews because many had neat little African animals featured on them. It is kind of obvious that the money showed up on the scan of the bag and that it was pulled off the belt, lock cut and plastic bag stolen. This ridiculous theft delayed the bag from making the necessary connecting flights. Somehow the bag then wound up in Europe, Atlanta and finally in Salt Lake (unfortunately I was in Seattle by the time it arrive in there). Two years ago, something like that would have really pissed me off, now I guess I kind of expect those things to happen. I actually laugh at the thought of someone trying to exchange that kind of money, if that is event possible in such small amounts. Don't spend that $1.37 (minus $8.00 for processing fees) all in one place.

So we arrive in J-berg yesterday only to miss the last flight to Gaborone. Apparently Delta made an "illegal" flight transfer and did not alot us enough time to catch the connecting flight. We did manage to get a hotel/meal voucher for the night (but god knows what is happening right now to our bags).

We used the voucher for a free meal at Spur, a South African chain of "American-style" southwest-theme restaurants (the only thing more absurd is a medival-themed Hawaiian restaurant--if you know the referrence you are as big of a nerd as me). We realized quickly that we were going through some cultural shock. Maybe shock isn't the right word. Let's call it cultural readjustment or cultural rememBURRance. Heather asked for extra napkins (which are diapers) and I order a veggie burger (only to be told, "You realize it doesn't have any meat in it?")

Well, Heather wants to use the internet here at the J-berg airport before our flight. Gotta go.

Just want to get home, and if it is not too much to ask, see my bag again.

We're down to our last few days in the U.S. and trying to make the most of them! Went on a hike yesterday afternoon with my mom to Lake Mary. It's been a LONG time since I've been hiking in the mountains, what a great time. I'm going to miss the mountains back in Bots.

Now that I've discovered Google Video thought I'd share another Peace Corps slideshow. This one was made for our Close of Service conference in March and shown at the luncheon we had with H.E. President Festus Mogae. Just a fun thing to show off everyone who made it to the end. :)

Here's a little video slideshow that we put together to show family and friends during our visit home. Music by Freshly Ground and Malaika.

We've had many people mention that the email updates don't work - for some reason only I get emails when the blog is updated and nobody else! Fortunately I think I've found a way for everyone to receive email updates when we write something new. Just click on the link to the right , enter your email address and be sure to confirm your choice when the email comes to your inbox. If you're already "signed up" and not receiving emails you'll need to sign-up again. Enjoy!

Had a big family bbq tonight (Saturday) with some of Brian's extended family. In attendance:

• Dennis and Colleen Awsumb
• Us
• Guy, Erin and Parker (2) Kidd
• Jeff, Mickie, Tietjen (2) and Annabelle (3.5 mos) Kidd
• Jared, Katie and Hailey (2) Larsen
• Drue, Shantell, Kolby (11mos) and McKenzie (1 wk) Kidd

If you're counting that's six kids all 2 years old and under. Lots of new nieces and nephews to get to know! The bbq was very low-key with good food and the guys playing lots of badminton!

Took a short overnight trip to Cedar City on Tuesday and Wednesday. While there we took an unexpected detour to Cedar Breaks National Monument. It was absolutely breathtaking. I had forgotten how beautiful the entire southern Utah area is with the red rocks, juniper trees and mountains. We enjoyed catching up with former professors and reminiscing about the good ol' times of being poor, newly wed college students.

We're having so much fun I haven't even thought to post on here. Pictures above are from the Salt Lake Bees game we attended last Monday. Just over a week and a half left of the trip!