Trip to Maputu, Mozambique!

Ok, I have been busy and not blogging as I should. So, I am going to go a little bit back in time and catch you all up to what Jim and I have been doing. At the beginning of February, I was hard at work at Manguzi Hospital - attending doctors meetings, going on trips out to rural clinics, observing tons of surgeries in theatre. It was really great. I felt like I was learning so much, and getting so much exposure. However, because I was working fulltime at the hospital, Jim was alone running Tholulwazi. It was a lot of work for him, and getting quite stressful. To take a break from it all, we attend the Marula Festival near the Zulu Chief's house (the Nkosi Tembe). It was such an intensely cultural experience. Men wore their skins and headresses, and carried their spears and shields. They wore furry sandals and dranks LOTS of marula liquor (a fruit here that they ferment at a certain time of year). The young women were topless and wore short beaded skirts. During the festival, there was lots of dancing, music, and drinking. Everyone wore a cup - in their belt loops, in their hands, in their pockets. And people would use anything as a cup - old tin cans, mayo containers, plastic pitchers, etc... The craziest thing was when a line of about 30 zulu women carried 25liter jugs of marula beer to a jojo (5000 liter container) and filled it (maybe not to the top - but you get the idea). Anyhow, it was quite an incredible event to watch. After that, we headed to Mozambique to camp for the night at a place called Ponta Malongane. It was a beautiful camp ground, right next to the beach. We camped with Colin, and two friends of our Johann and Marilize. We barbequed and sipped Savannah ciders while the sun went down. The next day we hung out at the beach, and then headed back to Manguzi.

The following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Jim and I worked at Tholulwazi in preparation for our little vacation. Colin was traveling to the capital of Mozambique for a job interview, and we decided to go along for the ride. We left Wed. afternoon and sne sketchy border post, one flat tire, and five hours later, we were there. The night we arrived was Jim's birthday, so we went to eat dinner at a fish market. It was so much fun! Mozambiquan people were just throwing raw fish, shrimps, squid, crab, etc... in our faces and yelling out prices. Eventually we chose a few things and had them cooked for us in a local restaurant. We did kinda get ripped off - but it was worth it. We ate so much seafood and just had a lovely dinner. Colin gave Jim a book, and I gave him some clothes and a nice letter. Back at the hostel, we enjoyed birthday brownies with milk and then headed to bed.

The next morning, we woke up at 5am to drive Colin to the airport. Then, we went back to sleep for a bit, went for a jog on the beach, and walked around Maputu. It is such a chaotic city, in that no one obey traffic laws and people are all over the streets sellings things. But, it was a wonderful chaos - filled with color and life. Plus, the portugese conquered mozambique, so the main language is portugeese - which is quite similar to Spanish. It was helpful to be able to use some of my language skills - but wow, I have already forgotten so much Spanish. Anyhow, before leaving the city Jim and I realized that we had forgotten to bring our ATM card and had very little cash! With some creative shopping and very limited spending, Jim and I made it to our destination - Bilene (a beautiful paradise) but couldn't fully enjoy it because we had next to no spending money. Regardless, the beaches were beautiful and Jim and I had a nice and relaxing Valentines Day.

We headed back to Maputu on Saturday night to pick up Colin. We were so happy to be back with someone with money - it was like a load lifted off our chests. We were so lucky to even have had enough money for petrol, food, etc. and didn't get some crazy fine for being tourists (which happens a lot with corrupt Moz. policemen) - it was a miracle. After our survival course had finally ended we enjoyed tea at the fanciest hotel in Maputu and had a nice dinner at a famous peri peri chicken place all on Colin (our saviour).

Finally, Sunday we drove back to Manguzi - after making a few stops along the way to Ponta Mamoli and Ponta de ouru (nice beach spots). All in all, it was a great vacation, and Jim and I both are dying to go back to Maputu.

A New Job, a New Car, and Waterfall Cave!

The past few weeks have been really exciting for Jim and me. Two weeks ago, we drove to Durban for the weekend and picked up Tholulwazi’s new Isuzu KB250 truck! It is a beauty, and has already been used quite a bit for the organization. Tholulwazi has just grown so much over the past few months, we were in desperate need for additional transport. Our prayers were answered when AVERT, one of our funders decided to fund a second vehicle. Finding the right one and purchasing it did take some time, but it is now in Manguzi and being used for good.

Last week was another exciting change for us. After giving it a lot of thought, I have stopped working full-time at Tholulwazi, and instead am working full-time as a medical student in the Manguzi Hospital. Jim is continuing to work at Tholulwazi, and I am helping a bit on the side. But, for the most part, I am working full time at the hospital – in wards, rural clinics, and the operating room. This past week, I spent most of my time with Joost, a Dutch doctor, who works in female surgical ward. Together, we did ward rounds, saw patients in surgery, and visited two rural clinics. Everything we do, every patient we see is so interesting, and I am learning a ton.

Last Wednesday, after watching about 5 C-sections, a skin graft, and a few tubal ligations – I was actually allowed to scrub in on a surgery. I literally scrubbed my arms and got all sterile! Then, I helped the doctor complete a tubal ligation. Although my part was extremely minimal (hold gauze or a retractor) it was so amazing to be part of a surgery. I was pretty nervous with this person just lying in front of me with a big incision, while we dug around in her abdomen. But, after working for about 30 minutes to locate her fallopian tubes to tie off, the surgery was a success.

After such an eye-opening week at the hospital, we visited our ecologist friend out in Tembe Elephant Park on Friday. We had a nice chat with him and with another friend, Glinton, who is a helicopter pilot who flies over game reserves, counts animals, and does conservation work. They are both such intriguing guys with awesome jobs, it is always fun to talk with them. Then, on Saturday a big group of us drove to Waterfall Cave, a beautiful spot about 2 hours away. We hiked down to the cave and camped there for the night. It was so nice to swim in the pool of the fall and jump off the cave rocks into the water. We had a delicious braii (barbeque) and slept in gossamer mosquito nets in the cave. It was a magical trip. The next day we hiked out (just 45 minutes) and drove back.

And now, its back to work. I am heading to OPD to see patients who have come to Manguzi Hospital for daily appointments and then plan to watch some ENT surgeries later today…should be fun. Hope you all have a great week!

Orphan Christmas Party

Orphan Christmas Party

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. Jim and I have had a whirlwind holiday, but it has been incredible! But first, let me back track. Tholulwazi hosted its second annual Orphan Christmas Party on Dec. 20 at the TU Community Center. We invited and transported over 300 orphaned and vulnerable children to the Centre for the event and provided each of them a Christmas present (including some type of toy, sweet, and clothing).

In addition to the actual Christmas presents, the kids all had the opportunity to play games and win prizes including the basketball shoot, bobbing for mangoes, the water balloon toss, and the pinata. We also had a great DJ and a group of traditional dancers who performed.

Thanks to the donations of local Manguzi grocers and the hardwork of the TU cook staff, everyone in attendance (all the kids, TU staff, Home Based Care workers, Board Members, DJ, etc…) enjoyed a delicious meal of rice, chicken/beef, salad, cake, and juice. The party ended with an intense freeze dance/dance off competition which was amazing to watch.

The day was just full of smiles, laughter, and fun. It was such an honor to take part in this event and help spread joy around Christmas time. The party helped me reflect on the meaning of Christmas and to be grateful for all my blessings; but, to be mindful that with such blessings I have an enormous responsibility to help those less fortunate. I hope these pictures invoke this same sense for all of you.

Again, happy holidays to you all!

A few more pictures

Just wanted to add a few cute pictures. The top one is of kids participating in a Memory Box Children's Camp, and the second is our school coordinator, Mr. Nkosi Dlamini, working with his Soul Buddies Support Group.

Tembe and Tholulwazi

Jim and I had a great weekend in Tembe Elephant Park. We stayed from Friday to Sunday. The park was beautiful, but unfortunately it rained almost the entire time we were there. It was quite out of the ordinary and really bad timing because in the rain, the animals all hide deep in the bush. So, after three three-hour game drives, all we saw were giraffe (3), one elephant, tons of buck, and then small animals like monkeys, birds, etc. It was a little disappointing not to have seen any rhino, water buffalo, or lion, but it was still a great time. We ate delicious food and got to know a Dutch doctor named Joast from Manguzi and his girlfriend, Judith. They are a fun couple, and Judith is actually going to start volunteering with Tholulwazi. She is very artsy and has agreed to work with our HIV Drama Group. She has been in lots of plays in the past and has great ideas for this drama to really influence people’s decisions and desire to test. She is also very computer savvy, and I think she’ll eventually help with maintaining the Tholulwazi website and database.

On Saturday, between game drives, Jim and I had to drive back to Manguzi for a funeral. The Zulu family Jim lived with last year is going through a very tough time. His “sister” just had a baby three months ago named Nigagela, and she has been very sickly. She has been in and out of the hospital until finally last week she was admitted and then discharged because she was doing better. However, the next night, she was brought back to the hospital with her stomach swelling and her not being able to urinate or pass anything. Then slowly her organ systems just started shutting down, and she passed away. Jim and I first heard this story and didn’t understand. What was wrong with this little baby and could anything have prevented this? After talking with a few people, we started to guess what may have actually been happening. Jim’s “sister” (the mother of the child) is a nurse at the hospital, but all throughout her pregnancy she refused to test for HIV. So, we suspect she is HIV+ and so was the baby. We often hear that teachers and nurses are the hardest people to convince to test, and it is so heartbreaking. There are drugs here in South Africa – AZT and Neviropene – that if given to a pregnant HIV+ woman, they can prevent mother to child transmission up to 90% of the time. But, people here are so scared to test and for other people to know they tested or know they have the disease that instead they sacrifice the health of their children because of their own fears. Another suspicion about the baby’s death is that when the child’s stomach was swelling during its final hospital visit, there were markings around the child’s belly button. The doctors suspect the family brought the baby to a witch doctor who poisoned the child with an herbal enema. Sadly, this is not uncommon. Our area is filled with “Sangomas” or witchdoctors who do all types of “healings” which usually aren’t good – especially for children because they have no way of measuring dosage for people.

Anyhow, because of all these factors it was a difficult funeral to attend – the death of an innocent child, as well as the discovery that a close friend is HIV+. For the funeral, the tradition is to first meet at the mortuary, sing songs, and then load the casket to go to the funeral. During this time, some family members bring branches from a specific tree and wave them over the body. They believe the soul of the person is captured in the branch and then they bring the “soul/branch” back to their house so the person can live in their house forever. This goes along with a lot of the culture’s reverence for their ancestors – often to the point of worshipping them.

After the time at the mortuary, everyone drove in a line to the father of the baby’s house, where there was an enormous tent set up. People wail at this place, expressing their grief very publicly. Then, there is a service in the tent and a big meal. We didn’t stay for the entire ceremony; however, because we had to get back to Tembe for the game drive. Overall, it was a strange weekend for us – great because of our little getaway but emotionally draining because of the funeral. But, I guess that is just how things are here – we are exposed to heartbreaking suffering, poverty, and disease – but we still have to carry on.

This week at work we are all planning for the Christmas party. Yesterday we got 5 boxes of candy donated which will be great for the kids and a different store donated three boxes of clothes. Additionally, we have a 2-week Life Skills Course taking place in the center and in the library with a total of 100+ high school students. Finally, Jim and I are doing some training with Joi (the old Program Coordinator) on maintaining the website and using photoshop. So, as usual there is a lot going on, but I can’t complain because next Friday we go on leave for two weeks. We hope you all are having lovely holiday seasons and getting ready for Christmas.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

So, somehow it is already December, and the Tholulwazi year is coming to a close. The time has really flown, but it has been exciting. The entire staff is gearing up for our annual Orphan Christmas Party (which will take place on Dec. 20), and Jim and I are struggling to finish all the end of the year reporting. It is really insane how much you must do to run a business. Especially when you just have two people to do all the finances, human resources, program management, reporting, fundraising, organization projecture, website, database, etc... But, we are learning a lot, and I guess it is a very real introduction to the world of NGOs.

It has been a while since I posted, so let me back track a bit. Jim and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with about 40 other people from the Manguzi Hospital. Another American and her parents cooked a feast, and by the end of it we were stuffed. It was tough being away from home, but my family took lots of pictures of their Thanksgiving to help me feel like I didn't miss it totally. The following week, we went out to a beach called Bongah Neck around 7pm to watch loggerhead and leatherback turtles lay their eggs. We walked for nearly 3 hours to find them, but it was beautiful to watch. The turtles were enormous and kind of prehistoric. I really felt like it was a once in a lifetime experience.

The following weekend, Jim and I went on an amazing bike trip. We went with two other couples and we cycled around 30 miles uphill (in incredible heat). The plan was to cycle up to this place called Waterfall Cave and camp out. Then, the next day we were going to cycle back. But, after a series of unfortunate events ending in our support vehicle breaking down and thus not being able to deliver our camping gear, we packed all our bikes in a car and drove back down. Jim and I were the only amateur cyclists and gosh - we were dead! It was such hard work, but we did enjoy some beautiful views.

This week we have just been working long hours and getting excited for this weekend. We are going to Tembe Elephant Park (a game park with tons of animals including the big five - rhino, lion, elephant, buffalo, and leopard). While we are there, we will stay in this great little wooden cabin and enjoy exciting game drives (driving around in open vehicles to look at the wild animals) and delicious meals. It will be quite luxurious! The place is running a special this weekend which is why we are able to do it.

Anyhow, that is about it for us. I just want to ask that you all keep Jim's old Zulu family (the Ntenbanes) that he used to live with in your prayers. His "host sister" just had a baby about 2 months ago, and the baby passed away yesterday. It has been really difficult for the family, and they need lots of support.

Hope you all have a great week!