Thursday, November 13, 2008
Our trip is nearly at an end. Hard to believe we’ve been in country for 10 days already. On one hand, the time has flown by. On the other, feels like we’ve been here forever. It’ll be good to start home tomorrow. Another 23 hours on airplanes!
We survived this morning’s flight on Air Zimbabwe from Bulawayo back to Harare. This flight was much less eventful than the last. Boring is always good when on an aircraft. Flying over the country is disheartening. The land is brown in most areas, and in others, black due to grass fires. You see little green, just a few trees here and there. There are many streams and river beds throughout the country, but all appear to be completely dry – just dirt and clay. You can see dozens of large areas that have been cleared for planting at some time. Unfortunately, the land has not been prepared. There is no fuel for tractors to plow the fields, no seeds to plant, no fertilizer, no water for irrigation. We’re told this used to be the bread-basket of Africa, but for multiple reasons, little will be grown this year, contributing to the food crisis here. During the day, we visited one of the two public hospitals in Harare. This one is the largest hospital in all of Zimbabwe, and people are referred to it from all over the country. The hospital covers a huge area, and has over 1000 beds and in normal times a staff of over 3000 people. Today, this hospital closed its doors. It is accepting zero patients – no admissions, no quick consultations for minor illnesses, no trauma patients, no child vaccinations, no women in labor, none of the growing number of cholera cases. Nothing. They still have some patients in the wards, and they are caring for those folks the best they can until they can discharge them. The hospital closed because it has minimal to zero drugs and medical supplies. It’s staff can’t get to work because the cost of transport exceeds the amount the can withdraw daily from the bank. In order to get the money, they have to stand in line all day. In some instances, the amount of round-trip transport exceeds their monthly wage. This includes staff at all levels, from the janitor to doctors at the hospital. The few folks they have live near and can walk to work. The doctors are leaving as they are tired of being unable to treat people and seeing them die. During the discussion, the staff also talked about how people die and no one comes to claim their body. Families don’t have money to pay for funeral arrangements. The family "disappears" if the patient dies. The hospital announces names of the deceased on the radio for 3 weeks straight to try to get the family to come and claim the body, but if they don’t then the hospital has to arrange burial. Apparently, this can happen in hundreds of instances in a month. The hospital can’t deal with this either. They also talked of babies (sometimes older children) that are simply abandoned at the hospital. The staff then needs to treat the child if it’s ill, and then try to find a home for him or her. This adds one more depressing burden to the staff here.
Sorry for all the depressing stuff today, but can you imagine if the largest hospital in your city decided today to not open? No advance warning, just stop operating, and turn people who show up at its doors away, regardless of the severity of the issue? That’s what happened today. Worse, we drove by the other large referral hospital in the city, and it was dark and had an empty parking lot too. We didn’t stop and check, but we believe they are closed as well.
Time to go finish packing the suitcase and putting a few things together for our final day tomorrow. More general observations then!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Zimbabwe trip
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Today, I’ll share just some general observations about the country. In anearlier post, I mentioned that the inflation rate was a quadrillion percent. I think that was accurate last week, but this week, the paper says the inflation rate is a quintillion percent. Per the paper a quintillion has 18 zeros. One of the hardest parts of operating here is understanding what that means. People who are paid in Zim dollars, basically lose money within hours of receiving it. If it goes to the bank, it becomes basically worthless, as you can only withdraw 100,000 Zim dollars at a time. By the time you get your money out, the time value of money has completely worked against you. Even figuring out exchange rates is difficult. For instance, this morning at the hotel, we were told a small bottle of water was $5 US dollars. This was at both the front desk, and at one of the two hotel restaurants. Tonight, I asked to buy a bottle, but went into the bar vs. the restaurant. In the bar, a bottle of water was $1 US Dollar. All of these places are within the same small space. In fact, you can stand in the lobby and within 20 steps be in the door of any of the three. Even more amusing, the gentleman who wanted to take my $5 dollars at the restaurant walked me into the bar, and filled out the receipt to charge me $1 there. Now picture this for every commodity at every shop in every location in Zimbabwe. Many businesses will no longer accept Zim dollars. These are businesses both licensed to accept foreign currency, and those that are not. There are signs in the hotels that state Zimbabwe law requires foreigners to settle their hotel bill in foreign currency. Imagine passing a law that says if you visit our country, we will only allow you to pay in a currency other than ours. Checks are no longer accepted, nor are credit cards. It’s too great a risk for the business due to the inflation rate. Plus, the business couldn’t cash the check, as they can only withdraw a small amount per day. As close as I can figure now, $1 is equivalent to 1,000,000 Zim dollars. A business can only withdraw 1,000,000 Zim dollars per day. And to do that, they must wait in huge lines outside the bank to try to get in and withdraw the money.
Some businesses like hotels or airlines are now requiring payment up front and in foreign currency. In some instances, the payment is required at the time of reservation. We were talking with a gentleman in the airport on the way here that told us he had reserved a rental car, and had been called the night before and told the rental agency had cancelled his reservation. Their reasoning was that even though he had paid in advance (full amount), the payment was in Zim dollars, and therefore inadequate. They would reinstate the reservation only if he would pay up front in foreign currency. At the time of our discussion, the man did not know if they
company would refund the Zim dollars he had already paid, and he was trying to figure out what options he had. I don’t believe he’ll get that cash back, as it would take weeks for the rental agency to withdraw from their bank accounts enough cash to repay him when they can only withdraw small quantities of Zim dollars a day.
Imagine how depressing this is for people here. They may be paid, but can’t access their money. Businesses can’t pay employees because they can’t access foreign currency or enough Zim dollars to pay their employees. We’ve passed dozens of industrial sites, all closed due to economic
conditions. We complain about our economy and the cost of items, and even though we are paying more for items in the US than we were a year ago, we have a huge advantage. We at least know what the item costs and the cost doesn’t change hourly. We also have some understanding of the reasons behind price increases, and have an economic system that is comprehensible.
Not all of us agree with the increases, or like the current system, but it gives us a measure of stability regardless of our opinion. That stability is completely absent here and is driving people to go to extreme measuresto support their families.
More general comments tomorrow about life in Zimbabwe.
Today, I’ll share just some general observations about the country. In anearlier post, I mentioned that the inflation rate was a quadrillion percent. I think that was accurate last week, but this week, the paper says the inflation rate is a quintillion percent. Per the paper a quintillion has 18 zeros. One of the hardest parts of operating here is understanding what that means. People who are paid in Zim dollars, basically lose money within hours of receiving it. If it goes to the bank, it becomes basically worthless, as you can only withdraw 100,000 Zim dollars at a time. By the time you get your money out, the time value of money has completely worked against you. Even figuring out exchange rates is difficult. For instance, this morning at the hotel, we were told a small bottle of water was $5 US dollars. This was at both the front desk, and at one of the two hotel restaurants. Tonight, I asked to buy a bottle, but went into the bar vs. the restaurant. In the bar, a bottle of water was $1 US Dollar. All of these places are within the same small space. In fact, you can stand in the lobby and within 20 steps be in the door of any of the three. Even more amusing, the gentleman who wanted to take my $5 dollars at the restaurant walked me into the bar, and filled out the receipt to charge me $1 there. Now picture this for every commodity at every shop in every location in Zimbabwe. Many businesses will no longer accept Zim dollars. These are businesses both licensed to accept foreign currency, and those that are not. There are signs in the hotels that state Zimbabwe law requires foreigners to settle their hotel bill in foreign currency. Imagine passing a law that says if you visit our country, we will only allow you to pay in a currency other than ours. Checks are no longer accepted, nor are credit cards. It’s too great a risk for the business due to the inflation rate. Plus, the business couldn’t cash the check, as they can only withdraw a small amount per day. As close as I can figure now, $1 is equivalent to 1,000,000 Zim dollars. A business can only withdraw 1,000,000 Zim dollars per day. And to do that, they must wait in huge lines outside the bank to try to get in and withdraw the money.
Some businesses like hotels or airlines are now requiring payment up front and in foreign currency. In some instances, the payment is required at the time of reservation. We were talking with a gentleman in the airport on the way here that told us he had reserved a rental car, and had been called the night before and told the rental agency had cancelled his reservation. Their reasoning was that even though he had paid in advance (full amount), the payment was in Zim dollars, and therefore inadequate. They would reinstate the reservation only if he would pay up front in foreign currency. At the time of our discussion, the man did not know if they
company would refund the Zim dollars he had already paid, and he was trying to figure out what options he had. I don’t believe he’ll get that cash back, as it would take weeks for the rental agency to withdraw from their bank accounts enough cash to repay him when they can only withdraw small quantities of Zim dollars a day.
Imagine how depressing this is for people here. They may be paid, but can’t access their money. Businesses can’t pay employees because they can’t access foreign currency or enough Zim dollars to pay their employees. We’ve passed dozens of industrial sites, all closed due to economic
conditions. We complain about our economy and the cost of items, and even though we are paying more for items in the US than we were a year ago, we have a huge advantage. We at least know what the item costs and the cost doesn’t change hourly. We also have some understanding of the reasons behind price increases, and have an economic system that is comprehensible.
Not all of us agree with the increases, or like the current system, but it gives us a measure of stability regardless of our opinion. That stability is completely absent here and is driving people to go to extreme measuresto support their families.
More general comments tomorrow about life in Zimbabwe.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Zimbabwe, Part IV
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Well…. Another day with no internet connection. I’m hoping to be able to log on at the office tomorrow to send the notes from the last few days so they can be posted from home. Just finished killing all the bugs in the hotel room and brushing the dirt off the sheets, and reconciling myself to the fact the room is about 100 degrees in room temperature. The A/C has issues, and while there is a wonderful breeze outside, I can’t open the windows, or I’ll have many more small crawling friends sharing my room, some of which bite and can leave diseases I’d rather not be a part of. So now that I’m done complaining, it’s time to sit down, type this note to you, and then get some work done. I’m told by our host that this was once a very nice hotel, but even he is surprised by the changes in just a few months.
We visited the field again today, and met with a team at a hospital, a nursing school, and several home based Caregivers. Again, we were welcomed warmly by all, and were shown around their facilities. Their facilities were very clean, but again lacked many basic supplies. The team there is doing great work with what they have, but are impacted greatly by the lack of basic medicines. It is very draining to have people travel 10 or more kilometers to be seen by a doctor, only to be sent home with no medicines as the hospital has limited to no items. During our meeting with the Caregivers, I was again amazed by their dedication and the level of support they provide the community. Key health workers in the community help train them, and they provide essential care to those that are ill, generally those with HIV or AIDS. Here they run the home based care program a bit differently. They work in community teams, treating all patients within a given area. Each team may have up to 30 patients. Travel is hard as they must travel sometimes as much as 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) by foot to care for a patient or to check in at the rural health clinic or district hospital to get supplies.
Today was our last day in the field. Tomorrow we have more meetings in the office, then back to Harare for a final day and a half of meetings. More to follow about general comments about the visit. Hope everyone is doing well!
Well…. Another day with no internet connection. I’m hoping to be able to log on at the office tomorrow to send the notes from the last few days so they can be posted from home. Just finished killing all the bugs in the hotel room and brushing the dirt off the sheets, and reconciling myself to the fact the room is about 100 degrees in room temperature. The A/C has issues, and while there is a wonderful breeze outside, I can’t open the windows, or I’ll have many more small crawling friends sharing my room, some of which bite and can leave diseases I’d rather not be a part of. So now that I’m done complaining, it’s time to sit down, type this note to you, and then get some work done. I’m told by our host that this was once a very nice hotel, but even he is surprised by the changes in just a few months.
We visited the field again today, and met with a team at a hospital, a nursing school, and several home based Caregivers. Again, we were welcomed warmly by all, and were shown around their facilities. Their facilities were very clean, but again lacked many basic supplies. The team there is doing great work with what they have, but are impacted greatly by the lack of basic medicines. It is very draining to have people travel 10 or more kilometers to be seen by a doctor, only to be sent home with no medicines as the hospital has limited to no items. During our meeting with the Caregivers, I was again amazed by their dedication and the level of support they provide the community. Key health workers in the community help train them, and they provide essential care to those that are ill, generally those with HIV or AIDS. Here they run the home based care program a bit differently. They work in community teams, treating all patients within a given area. Each team may have up to 30 patients. Travel is hard as they must travel sometimes as much as 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) by foot to care for a patient or to check in at the rural health clinic or district hospital to get supplies.
Today was our last day in the field. Tomorrow we have more meetings in the office, then back to Harare for a final day and a half of meetings. More to follow about general comments about the visit. Hope everyone is doing well!
Zimbabwe, Part III
Monday, November 10, 2008
Greetings from Bulawayo! Flying Air Zimbabwe is an experience that could make one of our US air carriers look good! We arrived at the airport at 6am for a 7:30 flight, only to find out they’d decided they’d rather fly at 9:00. Apparently this is common. If you call in advance, you may be told a later time, only to arrive and find out they decided to leave as planned. We saw that happen to one couple while we were there. I’ve never flown a Chinese made airplane before, but I’ve decided now that I should never again complain about how loud an airplane can be. And don’t even get me started on the turbulence and landing!
Anyway, we made it here safely, and had an opportunity to visit with a hospital in the area. Again, it is a difficult situation, as there is few medical supplies or pharmaceuticals. We also noticed how young the doctors are in this hospital and the others we’ve been to. I didn’t mention yesterday, but in the afternoon we had a chance to meet with two local doctors that have formed their own local non-profit and have enlisted the help of many doctors and nurses in the area. They go out to rural areas 2 times per month and treat people in those areas. This is done in coordination with the appropriate people in the Ministry of Health. Those two doctors were very young as well. We were told that the country is also suffering from "brain-drain". Doctors know they can earn more money to support their families if they work in another country, so they leave Zimbabwe. They also leave because they get tired of trying to treat patients with no supplies. Basically, they get tired of seeing people die from easily preventable and / or treatable illnesses. We also saw a food distribution today. This is a time when aid agencies deliver food to a specific area of a district and then organize the people living in that area to come and pick up food (cooking oil and grain). The amount they pick up lasts 1 month, and is based on the size of their
families. Our understanding is this is the first food assistance this particular area has seen for some time due to various circumstances. People here are hungry. They can farm their land, but again, have no seed or fertilizer. It’s a hard situation.
One amusing story from today. As you drive along the "highways" here, you go through various police checkpoints. They can ask for a variety of things, but today, the checkpoint was checking for valid driver’s licenses and safe vehicles. As we pulled up and our host asked what they needed, the police officer responded with "I am doing a check for defective drivers and vehicles." Now I realize it’s probably not a good idea to laugh at a police check point in a foreign country, but the idea of searching for "defective drivers" humored me greatly. I think I’ll use this phrase when I return home. It is so much more amusing than just calling all those bad drivers back home "stupid". Anyway, we passed the inspection, allowed the police officer to have a bit of a laugh as well, and went along our way. Only 4 more days to go! Then back to the airport for the long trip home!
Greetings from Bulawayo! Flying Air Zimbabwe is an experience that could make one of our US air carriers look good! We arrived at the airport at 6am for a 7:30 flight, only to find out they’d decided they’d rather fly at 9:00. Apparently this is common. If you call in advance, you may be told a later time, only to arrive and find out they decided to leave as planned. We saw that happen to one couple while we were there. I’ve never flown a Chinese made airplane before, but I’ve decided now that I should never again complain about how loud an airplane can be. And don’t even get me started on the turbulence and landing!
Anyway, we made it here safely, and had an opportunity to visit with a hospital in the area. Again, it is a difficult situation, as there is few medical supplies or pharmaceuticals. We also noticed how young the doctors are in this hospital and the others we’ve been to. I didn’t mention yesterday, but in the afternoon we had a chance to meet with two local doctors that have formed their own local non-profit and have enlisted the help of many doctors and nurses in the area. They go out to rural areas 2 times per month and treat people in those areas. This is done in coordination with the appropriate people in the Ministry of Health. Those two doctors were very young as well. We were told that the country is also suffering from "brain-drain". Doctors know they can earn more money to support their families if they work in another country, so they leave Zimbabwe. They also leave because they get tired of trying to treat patients with no supplies. Basically, they get tired of seeing people die from easily preventable and / or treatable illnesses. We also saw a food distribution today. This is a time when aid agencies deliver food to a specific area of a district and then organize the people living in that area to come and pick up food (cooking oil and grain). The amount they pick up lasts 1 month, and is based on the size of their
families. Our understanding is this is the first food assistance this particular area has seen for some time due to various circumstances. People here are hungry. They can farm their land, but again, have no seed or fertilizer. It’s a hard situation.
One amusing story from today. As you drive along the "highways" here, you go through various police checkpoints. They can ask for a variety of things, but today, the checkpoint was checking for valid driver’s licenses and safe vehicles. As we pulled up and our host asked what they needed, the police officer responded with "I am doing a check for defective drivers and vehicles." Now I realize it’s probably not a good idea to laugh at a police check point in a foreign country, but the idea of searching for "defective drivers" humored me greatly. I think I’ll use this phrase when I return home. It is so much more amusing than just calling all those bad drivers back home "stupid". Anyway, we passed the inspection, allowed the police officer to have a bit of a laugh as well, and went along our way. Only 4 more days to go! Then back to the airport for the long trip home!
Zimbabwe, Part II
Friday, November 6, 2008
Today we traveled to a region south of Harare. The area here is different than to the north. It is a much drier region, so less farming and more ranching. The area is beautiful, but incredibly dry as the rains have not started here yet. As we drove, we went over several bridges, but there was no water in the river and stream beds. The beds were totally dry, not even any mud. Just sand and rocks. We saw many head of cattle and goat, but there is nothing for them to eat, so they are incredibly thin. You can see their bones through their skin.
The people are hungry as well. We talked to a nurse today who runs a nursing school in the area we were in. The school is very nice, and very well run. They graduate multiple classes a year, teaching key nursing skills to people who then go and run all the rural health clinics. Unfortunately, she stated she may have to close the school and send everyone home as there is no food for the students or their families. If the students go home, there is no food there either. She doesn’t know what to do, as everyone is hungry and even if they had money, there is no food to buy.
Food is the largest problem here. The community is very forward thinking, very resourceful, and very interested in learning and improving their situation. They have big plans for growing, and the community is involved. It’s the first place I’ve been where the community has presented an entire plan for where they want to go and what they want to accomplish. It was really exciting!The food issues and economic challenges here are the issue, not the direction. We also visited a school, saw some wonderful dancing and heard some great speeches from the kids. At the end, the parents and community Caregivers told us they had pulled their food and made us a meal. This is food they do not have to spare, as they are missing meals most of the time. It is very rude to turn down a meal prepared for visitors, but we did not feel we could eat the food that they so desperately need. We finally convinced them that we were incredibly thankful and very honored, but needed them to use that food to feed their families today. Have a big party in our honor if that makes you feel better, but eat the food. We were allowed to leave with no hard feelings. I’m glad. That would have been a hard lunch to eat.
On our way home, we asked our host about the number of vehicles traveling southbound on the highway. He told us that many of the vehicles were traveling to South Africa to buy food. If someone can get enough money, they still can’t buy food in Zimbabwe, so they have to apply for a visa, travel south (or west to Botswana), buy enough food until they can travel south again, and return to their home. Traffic is heaviest tonight (Friday) going southbound, and then again Sunday morning going northbound as everyone returns. Can you imagine driving 6 or so hours just to get food?
We also learned how frightening it can be to travel at night here. The highway is a two lane road with only a small gravel shoulder. Speed limit is about 100 km an hour. It’s dangerous enough in the daylight, but at night, it’s incredibly worse. People, bicycles, and ox-carts still occupy the shoulder. There are no street lights, and fast moving traffic is trying to travel on the narrow roadway. Now imagine huge numbers of people trying to travel on this road to and from South Africa to buy food over a weekend. You can see evidence of many accidents on this road. When passing, people use their right turn signals (you drive on the left side of the road here), in order to help show oncoming traffic where your car is on the roadway. I’m glad I wasn’t driving!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Today is a free day. Our hosts picked us up at the hotel and walked around the city of Harare with us. It’s a very strange experience. On one hand, there are hundreds of people walking the streets with a purpose. They appear to have places to go and people to see. In many ways, it looks just like a downtown shopping area. But if you go into a shop, there are no people, and few items. We went into a clothing / shoe store. There were about 50 pair of shoes total in the store, and most looked like they had already been worn.
We asked what everyone was doing if they were not going to work on Saturday and not shopping. We were told that people are walking to the bank and /or were looking for people to exchange money from US dollars or South America Rahn to Zimbabwe dollars. You see long lines outside the banks where people are waiting to get cash. On Wednesday this week, the government increased the amount a person can withdraw at any one time from 10,000 Zim Dollars to 50,000 Zim dollars. Now that may sound like a lot, but as close as I can figure, today the exchange rate is something like 100,000 Zim dollars to $1 USD. I say today, as it appears the exchange rate changes hourly. The inflation rate here is over 1 quadrillion percent (per the official paper, so it may be higher). I don’t know about you, but I don’t even know how many zeros are in a quadrillion, let alone figure out how to do an exchange rate. Many people are paid in US or South African currency, but then have to either use it in stores that are licensed to sell in those currencies, or find a way to exchange it to Zim dollars. People here spend much of their available time either trying to figure out how to get money (and these are people that actually have money), or trying to figure out how to buy basic food staples. We went to a grocery store that was licensed to sell in foreign currency. There were many items on the shelves, but prices were incredibly expensive. Cans of vegetables were $2.50 each. Peaches were nearly $3 per kilogram. We’re told for food items the inflation rate here for the US dollar is almost 100%. I believe it for food items, although we didn’t see that for other items. So enough about the economy… After our walk around town, our hosts took us to the Woodlands Reserve. This is a small game park just outside of the city. We sat at an overlook and saw giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeests, etc. It was incredibly peaceful! We were told that we could do a walking safari through the park, but it was a bit expensive, so we chose not to. As we were sitting in the overlook, one of the park employees was telling us about all the snakes (cobras, pythons, and black mambas) and jackals in the park. I got to thinking about that, and wondered about the wisdom of the walking safari concept. I guess it’s environmentally friendly, but sounds like it could be a bit hazardous to your health!
We also went to a park of balancing rocks. At this park, you could get up close and take pictures of rocks balancing on top of one another. We’ve seen these rock formations as we traveled both north and south of Harare. No one seems to have any idea how they formed, so I’ll have to look it up when I can finally get on the internet. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to where they are. You’ll drive through reasonably flat areas, and then suddenly see some of these formations, and then they’ll end, and you’ll be back to flat areas.
So now, back at the hotel, and an afternoon of working and trying to do laundry in the sink. How exciting (not!)! We would go walk around some more, but it’ll start raining soon, and you sure don’t want to be caught outside in a rainstorm here. More tomorrow!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Went to church with our hosts this morning. It was a very nice service, although considerable calmer than the other church service I’ve been to in Africa. As is customary, when you visit a church here, you are called out, asked to introduce yourself to the congregation during the service, and then required to wear a nametag that says "visitor" for the rest of the service. I think I probably stuck out as a visitor without benefit of the nametag, but wore it anyway.
This church has 4 services each Sunday. They had to go to 4, and considered more, but we noticed there were many open seats. We were told that many people could no longer come to church as they were unable to get fuel to travel to church. I can’t imagine what that must be like for folks here. Church activities and fellowship are a huge part of who they are, so being unable to attend must feel very isolating. Spent most of the rest of the day working. One nice thing about being unable to access the internet is that you can’t get any new work. I am currently believing that I am totally caught up on e-mails. Yes, I realize I am living in an alternate reality, but it seems everyone here operates that way, so I thought I’d participate!
Early tomorrow morning we fly to Bulawayo, which is in the eastern part of the country. Maybe I’ll be able to connect there and not feel quite so isolated!
Today we traveled to a region south of Harare. The area here is different than to the north. It is a much drier region, so less farming and more ranching. The area is beautiful, but incredibly dry as the rains have not started here yet. As we drove, we went over several bridges, but there was no water in the river and stream beds. The beds were totally dry, not even any mud. Just sand and rocks. We saw many head of cattle and goat, but there is nothing for them to eat, so they are incredibly thin. You can see their bones through their skin.
The people are hungry as well. We talked to a nurse today who runs a nursing school in the area we were in. The school is very nice, and very well run. They graduate multiple classes a year, teaching key nursing skills to people who then go and run all the rural health clinics. Unfortunately, she stated she may have to close the school and send everyone home as there is no food for the students or their families. If the students go home, there is no food there either. She doesn’t know what to do, as everyone is hungry and even if they had money, there is no food to buy.
Food is the largest problem here. The community is very forward thinking, very resourceful, and very interested in learning and improving their situation. They have big plans for growing, and the community is involved. It’s the first place I’ve been where the community has presented an entire plan for where they want to go and what they want to accomplish. It was really exciting!The food issues and economic challenges here are the issue, not the direction. We also visited a school, saw some wonderful dancing and heard some great speeches from the kids. At the end, the parents and community Caregivers told us they had pulled their food and made us a meal. This is food they do not have to spare, as they are missing meals most of the time. It is very rude to turn down a meal prepared for visitors, but we did not feel we could eat the food that they so desperately need. We finally convinced them that we were incredibly thankful and very honored, but needed them to use that food to feed their families today. Have a big party in our honor if that makes you feel better, but eat the food. We were allowed to leave with no hard feelings. I’m glad. That would have been a hard lunch to eat.
On our way home, we asked our host about the number of vehicles traveling southbound on the highway. He told us that many of the vehicles were traveling to South Africa to buy food. If someone can get enough money, they still can’t buy food in Zimbabwe, so they have to apply for a visa, travel south (or west to Botswana), buy enough food until they can travel south again, and return to their home. Traffic is heaviest tonight (Friday) going southbound, and then again Sunday morning going northbound as everyone returns. Can you imagine driving 6 or so hours just to get food?
We also learned how frightening it can be to travel at night here. The highway is a two lane road with only a small gravel shoulder. Speed limit is about 100 km an hour. It’s dangerous enough in the daylight, but at night, it’s incredibly worse. People, bicycles, and ox-carts still occupy the shoulder. There are no street lights, and fast moving traffic is trying to travel on the narrow roadway. Now imagine huge numbers of people trying to travel on this road to and from South Africa to buy food over a weekend. You can see evidence of many accidents on this road. When passing, people use their right turn signals (you drive on the left side of the road here), in order to help show oncoming traffic where your car is on the roadway. I’m glad I wasn’t driving!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Today is a free day. Our hosts picked us up at the hotel and walked around the city of Harare with us. It’s a very strange experience. On one hand, there are hundreds of people walking the streets with a purpose. They appear to have places to go and people to see. In many ways, it looks just like a downtown shopping area. But if you go into a shop, there are no people, and few items. We went into a clothing / shoe store. There were about 50 pair of shoes total in the store, and most looked like they had already been worn.
We asked what everyone was doing if they were not going to work on Saturday and not shopping. We were told that people are walking to the bank and /or were looking for people to exchange money from US dollars or South America Rahn to Zimbabwe dollars. You see long lines outside the banks where people are waiting to get cash. On Wednesday this week, the government increased the amount a person can withdraw at any one time from 10,000 Zim Dollars to 50,000 Zim dollars. Now that may sound like a lot, but as close as I can figure, today the exchange rate is something like 100,000 Zim dollars to $1 USD. I say today, as it appears the exchange rate changes hourly. The inflation rate here is over 1 quadrillion percent (per the official paper, so it may be higher). I don’t know about you, but I don’t even know how many zeros are in a quadrillion, let alone figure out how to do an exchange rate. Many people are paid in US or South African currency, but then have to either use it in stores that are licensed to sell in those currencies, or find a way to exchange it to Zim dollars. People here spend much of their available time either trying to figure out how to get money (and these are people that actually have money), or trying to figure out how to buy basic food staples. We went to a grocery store that was licensed to sell in foreign currency. There were many items on the shelves, but prices were incredibly expensive. Cans of vegetables were $2.50 each. Peaches were nearly $3 per kilogram. We’re told for food items the inflation rate here for the US dollar is almost 100%. I believe it for food items, although we didn’t see that for other items. So enough about the economy… After our walk around town, our hosts took us to the Woodlands Reserve. This is a small game park just outside of the city. We sat at an overlook and saw giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeests, etc. It was incredibly peaceful! We were told that we could do a walking safari through the park, but it was a bit expensive, so we chose not to. As we were sitting in the overlook, one of the park employees was telling us about all the snakes (cobras, pythons, and black mambas) and jackals in the park. I got to thinking about that, and wondered about the wisdom of the walking safari concept. I guess it’s environmentally friendly, but sounds like it could be a bit hazardous to your health!
We also went to a park of balancing rocks. At this park, you could get up close and take pictures of rocks balancing on top of one another. We’ve seen these rock formations as we traveled both north and south of Harare. No one seems to have any idea how they formed, so I’ll have to look it up when I can finally get on the internet. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to where they are. You’ll drive through reasonably flat areas, and then suddenly see some of these formations, and then they’ll end, and you’ll be back to flat areas.
So now, back at the hotel, and an afternoon of working and trying to do laundry in the sink. How exciting (not!)! We would go walk around some more, but it’ll start raining soon, and you sure don’t want to be caught outside in a rainstorm here. More tomorrow!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Went to church with our hosts this morning. It was a very nice service, although considerable calmer than the other church service I’ve been to in Africa. As is customary, when you visit a church here, you are called out, asked to introduce yourself to the congregation during the service, and then required to wear a nametag that says "visitor" for the rest of the service. I think I probably stuck out as a visitor without benefit of the nametag, but wore it anyway.
This church has 4 services each Sunday. They had to go to 4, and considered more, but we noticed there were many open seats. We were told that many people could no longer come to church as they were unable to get fuel to travel to church. I can’t imagine what that must be like for folks here. Church activities and fellowship are a huge part of who they are, so being unable to attend must feel very isolating. Spent most of the rest of the day working. One nice thing about being unable to access the internet is that you can’t get any new work. I am currently believing that I am totally caught up on e-mails. Yes, I realize I am living in an alternate reality, but it seems everyone here operates that way, so I thought I’d participate!
Early tomorrow morning we fly to Bulawayo, which is in the eastern part of the country. Maybe I’ll be able to connect there and not feel quite so isolated!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Zimbabwe
4 November 2008
Greetings from Zimbabwe! Boy, does it take a while to get here! 23 hours of flying time and 9 hours of layovers, but arrived here smoothly and am now trying to stay up long enough to get adjusted to the time zone. We arrived a few hours ago, and went straight from the airport to the hotel. Don’t have much to share with you today, other than Harare seems to be a bustling city, lots of people and activity. Right now, I’m listening to the US elections on BBC news. You’ll be glad to know that all the way here (Heathrow, Johannesburg, and Harare), the election was front and center on every newspaper, and it appears to be the only thing happening in the entire world on the major news networks (CNN and BBC). Very different perspective when you hear about it from outside the US.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Harare is a very interesting city. It’s very western in terms of architecture. The hotel is in the downtown area, and there is lots of activity here from early morning until late night. You see many people walking and driving to work, shopping, etc. However, you hear on the local radio about water issues, and a cholera outbreak outside the city. This is in one of the areas we’ll be going in the next two days.
The folks here are very friendly. They have a huge faith in God and are very resilient and resourceful. Everyone we met is looking to the future and to times when they will get through the issues currently facing the country, and into better times. They are an amazing group of people! Not much more to share today as we spent most of the day in the office. Tomorrow, we’ll be outside the city, and I can share more about our travels there. Just a few other interesting facts –
· you can go to a good Chinese restaurant anywhere, even in Zimbabwe
· internet service is difficult to impossible (the reason why you are getting this well after the fact!)
· Everyone here is very interested in the US elections and are all very excited that our election has confirmed President-elect Obama. We even saw t-shirts reflecting this today! They see it as a great thing for not only the US, but many other countries as well. One quoted a saying "When America sneezes, the whole world catches a cold", and then said we had just been given a dose of cold medicine to keep the US from sneezing. Now that’s a whole new way of looking at it!
More tomorrow!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Today was spent in a location a few hours north of Harare. You get a very different perspective of Zimbabwe when you travel outside the city. You see evidence that at one time, there were many farms, small houses made of brick, stone, or concrete. You see small town areas with banks(called investment centers) a general store, a butcher shop, and maybe a few other businesses. Today, these areas are like ghost towns. Most of the farm areas are not prepared. We’re told there is no seed or fertilizer for the fields, nor fuel for the tractors, so only small garden areas are prepared if anything at all. In the small towns, the shops appear to be vacant. Some of the buildings are now suffering disrepair. We stopped in one small area, and walked into the grocery. Only a handful of items were on the shelf, where we’re told at one point, the shelves were stocked full. None of the items were key food items (corn, flour, other staples).
We traveled out to meet people in a school and clinic in the area. The people amazed us! They are resilient, hardworking, caring, and smiling! I don’t know if I could smile if I lived as they are currently living. All look forward to a time when things will improve, and they believe that time will be soon. It’s hard to believe when you see schools with few to no books, libraries with only a handful of books. But the children at the school put on a performance for us, and they clearly showed they are learning incredibly well. They are smart, articulate, and ready to learn more to help their country.
The clinic was more difficult to see than the school. Very knowledgeable, competent nurses run the clinic. However, they have no tools to treat their patients. There were few drugs at the clinic we saw today, and they see up to 200 patients in a day, serving an area of maybe 7000 people total. They have no electricity, no communication, and the nearest water source is 2 km away. If they have a patient that has to go to the district hospital many kilometers away, they would have to walk, or be transported by ox drawn cart. The clinic cannot call the hospital, and cannot evacuate emergency cases. They simply treat the patient as well as they can, and pray for the best.
In the last few days, the area we were in has seen an outbreak of cholera. There have already been many cases, and they are afraid there will be many more. There are no drugs to treat the illness on hand. We were all cautioned to not shake hands with people. This was difficult for the people here, as properly welcoming visitors requires handshakes, smiles, and greetings, often followed by welcoming songs. A greeting without a handshake feels like no greeting at all! But after a few forgetful moments, and gentle reminders from the district ministry of health official traveling with us, people remembered to either touch fists or elbows as a sign of greeting.
On our way home, we took a slight detour and our host took us to see where some of the business people in the area live. What a difference! Many of these homes are 2 – 3 times the size of our homes in the US (maybe more!). The disparity between even middle class and the very wealthy in Zimbabwe is amazing, and when you compare it to the area we were at today, it’s even harder to comprehend.
I haven’t talked about the hotel we are in yet. It is rated as one of the best hotels in the world, according to all the signs in the lobby. It’s been here since 1915. Everyone is very nice, but technology seems to be a bit beyond the team here. So far, no access to the internet, which is why you all are reading a bunch of these notes all at once. Hopefully, I’ll be able to log on and post them soon.
Greetings from Zimbabwe! Boy, does it take a while to get here! 23 hours of flying time and 9 hours of layovers, but arrived here smoothly and am now trying to stay up long enough to get adjusted to the time zone. We arrived a few hours ago, and went straight from the airport to the hotel. Don’t have much to share with you today, other than Harare seems to be a bustling city, lots of people and activity. Right now, I’m listening to the US elections on BBC news. You’ll be glad to know that all the way here (Heathrow, Johannesburg, and Harare), the election was front and center on every newspaper, and it appears to be the only thing happening in the entire world on the major news networks (CNN and BBC). Very different perspective when you hear about it from outside the US.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Harare is a very interesting city. It’s very western in terms of architecture. The hotel is in the downtown area, and there is lots of activity here from early morning until late night. You see many people walking and driving to work, shopping, etc. However, you hear on the local radio about water issues, and a cholera outbreak outside the city. This is in one of the areas we’ll be going in the next two days.
The folks here are very friendly. They have a huge faith in God and are very resilient and resourceful. Everyone we met is looking to the future and to times when they will get through the issues currently facing the country, and into better times. They are an amazing group of people! Not much more to share today as we spent most of the day in the office. Tomorrow, we’ll be outside the city, and I can share more about our travels there. Just a few other interesting facts –
· you can go to a good Chinese restaurant anywhere, even in Zimbabwe
· internet service is difficult to impossible (the reason why you are getting this well after the fact!)
· Everyone here is very interested in the US elections and are all very excited that our election has confirmed President-elect Obama. We even saw t-shirts reflecting this today! They see it as a great thing for not only the US, but many other countries as well. One quoted a saying "When America sneezes, the whole world catches a cold", and then said we had just been given a dose of cold medicine to keep the US from sneezing. Now that’s a whole new way of looking at it!
More tomorrow!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Today was spent in a location a few hours north of Harare. You get a very different perspective of Zimbabwe when you travel outside the city. You see evidence that at one time, there were many farms, small houses made of brick, stone, or concrete. You see small town areas with banks(called investment centers) a general store, a butcher shop, and maybe a few other businesses. Today, these areas are like ghost towns. Most of the farm areas are not prepared. We’re told there is no seed or fertilizer for the fields, nor fuel for the tractors, so only small garden areas are prepared if anything at all. In the small towns, the shops appear to be vacant. Some of the buildings are now suffering disrepair. We stopped in one small area, and walked into the grocery. Only a handful of items were on the shelf, where we’re told at one point, the shelves were stocked full. None of the items were key food items (corn, flour, other staples).
We traveled out to meet people in a school and clinic in the area. The people amazed us! They are resilient, hardworking, caring, and smiling! I don’t know if I could smile if I lived as they are currently living. All look forward to a time when things will improve, and they believe that time will be soon. It’s hard to believe when you see schools with few to no books, libraries with only a handful of books. But the children at the school put on a performance for us, and they clearly showed they are learning incredibly well. They are smart, articulate, and ready to learn more to help their country.
The clinic was more difficult to see than the school. Very knowledgeable, competent nurses run the clinic. However, they have no tools to treat their patients. There were few drugs at the clinic we saw today, and they see up to 200 patients in a day, serving an area of maybe 7000 people total. They have no electricity, no communication, and the nearest water source is 2 km away. If they have a patient that has to go to the district hospital many kilometers away, they would have to walk, or be transported by ox drawn cart. The clinic cannot call the hospital, and cannot evacuate emergency cases. They simply treat the patient as well as they can, and pray for the best.
In the last few days, the area we were in has seen an outbreak of cholera. There have already been many cases, and they are afraid there will be many more. There are no drugs to treat the illness on hand. We were all cautioned to not shake hands with people. This was difficult for the people here, as properly welcoming visitors requires handshakes, smiles, and greetings, often followed by welcoming songs. A greeting without a handshake feels like no greeting at all! But after a few forgetful moments, and gentle reminders from the district ministry of health official traveling with us, people remembered to either touch fists or elbows as a sign of greeting.
On our way home, we took a slight detour and our host took us to see where some of the business people in the area live. What a difference! Many of these homes are 2 – 3 times the size of our homes in the US (maybe more!). The disparity between even middle class and the very wealthy in Zimbabwe is amazing, and when you compare it to the area we were at today, it’s even harder to comprehend.
I haven’t talked about the hotel we are in yet. It is rated as one of the best hotels in the world, according to all the signs in the lobby. It’s been here since 1915. Everyone is very nice, but technology seems to be a bit beyond the team here. So far, no access to the internet, which is why you all are reading a bunch of these notes all at once. Hopefully, I’ll be able to log on and post them soon.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Final Day in Zambia
Today was it! The final full day of this amazing trip before the long flight home. Just for fun (or for torture, depending on how you look at it), I added up the amount of time it’ll take to get back. I leave tomorrow about noon, and get home mid-afternoon Sunday. With layovers and flights, I’ve got almost 36 hours of travel time. How exciting….
We had another great day today. Many office meetings, but also two short road trips. The first was to visit a hospice facility. Initially, the clinic functioned totally as hospice care for those dying of AIDS. Now, many of the folks they admit initially are actually able to leave the clinic after starting the ARV therapy! The medicines by a government group, but all other items for the hospital are provided through monetary and product gifts. The facility is well maintained, and has beautiful grounds. It also has a positive message, as many people are now seen provided medicines, and then able to go home and live full, productive lives while taking the drugs. However, there were still several people in the hospice center that were dying.
We were taken to each and every one of the rooms to see the patients. Today, there were about 20 people in care. Only one had family present with them. Family visits are encouraged, but there is still a stigma attached to AIDS, plus some of these people come from very far away, so family visits are impossible. The disease, plus the difficult lifestyle takes a serious toll on their bodies. We’ve visited with people who are living in poverty, where life is so hard, they may not know if they will eat today. With each of these people though, life still sparkled in their eyes. Sometimes, it was pained, but life was there. This is the first place we’ve visited where people had no life in their eyes.
We then went to a community center. The center had a variety of services from sewing classes for women, to farming, to a small school, to a recreation room. The center started through a grant from a local group, and after several years, has now become self-sufficient. Even this is a struggle though. A month ago, floods covered the center grounds, and killed all the chickens they were raising for sale (total of 450 chickens), and now the center is working to find other income to support themselves. The team is resourceful, and I think they make it, but their story shows just how tenuous the balance is here.
Well…. We’ve come to the end of the journey. I obviously still have the flight home, but I don’t intend for that to be interesting enough to write about. I
Thank you all for traveling with me through Amsterdam, Dubai, Nairobi, and Zambia. In the last 19 days, we’ve been to one of Europe’s oldest cities and one of the world’s newest cities. We’ve been to one of the world’s richest countries, and one of the world’s poorest. We’ve seen areas of incredible beauty, and areas devastated by floods, poverty, and sickness. We’ve been to very permissive countries, to very restrictive countries. We’ve been to places moved by recent violence, and incredibly peaceful places. It’s a bit hard to process all that has happened on this trip, but sharing it with you will certainly help me remember all that I’ve seen.
Let me know how the blog concept works for you, as this is very new to me. I’m always happy to go back to e-mails! I can’t imagine I’d have anything to share unless (until) I travel again, so this site will probably be inactive for a bit, unless one of you can come up with something to write about. So send me an e-mail and let me know if you want to be on the list for future updates if I have the opportunity to travel again.
Can’t wait to see where we go next!
We had another great day today. Many office meetings, but also two short road trips. The first was to visit a hospice facility. Initially, the clinic functioned totally as hospice care for those dying of AIDS. Now, many of the folks they admit initially are actually able to leave the clinic after starting the ARV therapy! The medicines by a government group, but all other items for the hospital are provided through monetary and product gifts. The facility is well maintained, and has beautiful grounds. It also has a positive message, as many people are now seen provided medicines, and then able to go home and live full, productive lives while taking the drugs. However, there were still several people in the hospice center that were dying.
We were taken to each and every one of the rooms to see the patients. Today, there were about 20 people in care. Only one had family present with them. Family visits are encouraged, but there is still a stigma attached to AIDS, plus some of these people come from very far away, so family visits are impossible. The disease, plus the difficult lifestyle takes a serious toll on their bodies. We’ve visited with people who are living in poverty, where life is so hard, they may not know if they will eat today. With each of these people though, life still sparkled in their eyes. Sometimes, it was pained, but life was there. This is the first place we’ve visited where people had no life in their eyes.
We then went to a community center. The center had a variety of services from sewing classes for women, to farming, to a small school, to a recreation room. The center started through a grant from a local group, and after several years, has now become self-sufficient. Even this is a struggle though. A month ago, floods covered the center grounds, and killed all the chickens they were raising for sale (total of 450 chickens), and now the center is working to find other income to support themselves. The team is resourceful, and I think they make it, but their story shows just how tenuous the balance is here.
Well…. We’ve come to the end of the journey. I obviously still have the flight home, but I don’t intend for that to be interesting enough to write about. I
Thank you all for traveling with me through Amsterdam, Dubai, Nairobi, and Zambia. In the last 19 days, we’ve been to one of Europe’s oldest cities and one of the world’s newest cities. We’ve been to one of the world’s richest countries, and one of the world’s poorest. We’ve seen areas of incredible beauty, and areas devastated by floods, poverty, and sickness. We’ve been to very permissive countries, to very restrictive countries. We’ve been to places moved by recent violence, and incredibly peaceful places. It’s a bit hard to process all that has happened on this trip, but sharing it with you will certainly help me remember all that I’ve seen.
Let me know how the blog concept works for you, as this is very new to me. I’m always happy to go back to e-mails! I can’t imagine I’d have anything to share unless (until) I travel again, so this site will probably be inactive for a bit, unless one of you can come up with something to write about. So send me an e-mail and let me know if you want to be on the list for future updates if I have the opportunity to travel again.
Can’t wait to see where we go next!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Changing the Community
One more full day in Zambia, and I begin the trip home. On one hand, it’s hard to believe the trip is nearing its end. I still feel as if I have a lot to learn here. On the other hand, it’s been a long trip, and I’m definitely ready to come home and see my family!
Since I’ve brought you some sobering messages the last few days, I thought I’d change the tone a bit today. Most of our day was spent in the offices in meetings with national and regional staff, but we did have an opportunity to go visit a small community near town. In this community, a woman has started an amazing project to help widows, orphans, and vulnerable children. The group purchased some property in the local area that had functioned as a bar and brothel for some time. They’ve cleaned it up, and created a school for 1st through 5th graders, a kitchen where they make soy milk and other items for the children, and also sell to the local community, and a small business for many of the local women.
Let me take a quick detour to help you understand what we saw today. We’ve had a chance to visit two other schools here. In both cases, the children had no books and few supplies. I don’t think a single one of them had shoes on, maybe a few with flip flop type sandals. The library consisted of a small cabinet with a few books. The science lab was an old scale and a partial skeleton sitting on a cart. The buildings were in poor repair. All that said, the teachers were extremely dedicated. They would make their own lesson, or copy sections of textbooks to the chalkboard for the children to memorize. The children had made small examination booklets that they used for all their lessons. All of them had to show us what they were learning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many children in one place with such neat handwriting! It was obvious that despite the conditions, the teacher and the students were committed to education. (Don’t you wish you could bottle a bit of the dedication and take it back to the US???)
Now let’s fast forward to today. Like the other school, most of the children in this school have lost at least one parent. Many have lost both, and are currently living in child headed households. Just like the other school, the children have no shoes. These kids have been through more at a very young age than some of us will go through in a lifetime. The difference is this school has received some money from a variety of donors. That money has been used to clean up the buildings, acquire a few books and a few tools. With a fairly small amount of assistance, and some dedicated focus, this school looks and feels completely different. Walls are painted bright colors. Children are playing games in the courtyard. Smiles abound everywhere. The difference is amazing. While you could see learning happening in the other schools, the learning is alive at this school.
Then it gets better! Many of the women in the area are widows with little ability to provide income for their families. Here, these women have come together and started their own business. They take plastic bags of all different colors (like the kind you get in the grocery store), cut them into strips, tie the strips together, and then crochet purses, hats, and handbags with the material. The group sells the bags in the markets, and then profits are shared within the group. I didn’t catch the exact breakdown, but some of the money goes to the group to help pay for the area, some of the money goes into a community account, and the rest (and it’s most of the total) is retained by the person who made the bag. While I don’t think this is self-supporting yet, I think it has every opportunity to be, and the women are able to care for their families, as well as contribute to the local community.
Just like the Caregivers you met yesterday, these women are community supporters. They are making change in their own communities by emphasizing education, good nutrition, health, and business. With a little focused support, these women are now doing it themselves. Isn’t it amazing what a little community can do?
Since I’ve brought you some sobering messages the last few days, I thought I’d change the tone a bit today. Most of our day was spent in the offices in meetings with national and regional staff, but we did have an opportunity to go visit a small community near town. In this community, a woman has started an amazing project to help widows, orphans, and vulnerable children. The group purchased some property in the local area that had functioned as a bar and brothel for some time. They’ve cleaned it up, and created a school for 1st through 5th graders, a kitchen where they make soy milk and other items for the children, and also sell to the local community, and a small business for many of the local women.
Let me take a quick detour to help you understand what we saw today. We’ve had a chance to visit two other schools here. In both cases, the children had no books and few supplies. I don’t think a single one of them had shoes on, maybe a few with flip flop type sandals. The library consisted of a small cabinet with a few books. The science lab was an old scale and a partial skeleton sitting on a cart. The buildings were in poor repair. All that said, the teachers were extremely dedicated. They would make their own lesson, or copy sections of textbooks to the chalkboard for the children to memorize. The children had made small examination booklets that they used for all their lessons. All of them had to show us what they were learning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many children in one place with such neat handwriting! It was obvious that despite the conditions, the teacher and the students were committed to education. (Don’t you wish you could bottle a bit of the dedication and take it back to the US???)
Now let’s fast forward to today. Like the other school, most of the children in this school have lost at least one parent. Many have lost both, and are currently living in child headed households. Just like the other school, the children have no shoes. These kids have been through more at a very young age than some of us will go through in a lifetime. The difference is this school has received some money from a variety of donors. That money has been used to clean up the buildings, acquire a few books and a few tools. With a fairly small amount of assistance, and some dedicated focus, this school looks and feels completely different. Walls are painted bright colors. Children are playing games in the courtyard. Smiles abound everywhere. The difference is amazing. While you could see learning happening in the other schools, the learning is alive at this school.
Then it gets better! Many of the women in the area are widows with little ability to provide income for their families. Here, these women have come together and started their own business. They take plastic bags of all different colors (like the kind you get in the grocery store), cut them into strips, tie the strips together, and then crochet purses, hats, and handbags with the material. The group sells the bags in the markets, and then profits are shared within the group. I didn’t catch the exact breakdown, but some of the money goes to the group to help pay for the area, some of the money goes into a community account, and the rest (and it’s most of the total) is retained by the person who made the bag. While I don’t think this is self-supporting yet, I think it has every opportunity to be, and the women are able to care for their families, as well as contribute to the local community.
Just like the Caregivers you met yesterday, these women are community supporters. They are making change in their own communities by emphasizing education, good nutrition, health, and business. With a little focused support, these women are now doing it themselves. Isn’t it amazing what a little community can do?
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Caregivers
Today we were able to spend another day in the field visiting Caregivers. These people are truly amazing. As we arrived in the village today, about 150 Caregivers had gathered under a huge tree at the edge of the main village area. This is a large part of the Caregivers that serve a community of about 15,000 people. Again, we were met with many smiles and handshakes, as well as singing and dancing. It’s a bit overwhelming to be welcomed in such a way. After all the introductions, the group wanted to hear a speech from us, their guests, and unfortunately, I was sitting in the wrong seat. As you all know, I am not the most eloquent person in the world, and words of wisdom were apparently required. I did my best, and while they weren’t words of wisdom, and can at least hope that they did nothing to negatively reflect on the amazing work they do. At least I remembered not to use “you all” in a sentence. Can’t imagine that translates well to the local language.
The Caregivers did skits showing what they do, and how they care for people. They were both funny, and very sad. They then shared about their needs, their challenges, and answered many questions from us about their roles. I could probably go on for pages about this meeting, and none of my words could adequately describe the overwhelming sense of compassion, dedication, and enthusiasm these people have for their work and their community.
Rather than use my words, let me use theirs. When answering the question, “What do you enjoy most about being a Caregiver?” one gentleman responded with the following: “I like my work. I often think of all the suffering and problems we have. I think about my children, and think that one day they will become orphans. I wonder who will care for them. I have ideas in my head about how to have community transformation, so that everyone knows we can all potentially be orphans. One day, I will need someone to care for me, and for my children. I am a Caregiver, because one day, I will need someone to care for me.” In both today’s meetings, and yesterday’s, we asked the groups how long they planned to be Caregivers. Without exception, the groups looked at us like we had asked the world’s dumbest question. One woman today responded, “Why would we stop being Caregivers? Our communities need us. I will never stop.”
Imagine sitting under a large tree on a wooden bench, hearing these words from people. The same people who just greeted you as if you were a dignitary, and from whom they wanted to hear great words of greeting and wisdom. Imagine them occasionally breaking into songs, made up on the spot, about how excited they are to have you come, and their excitement for the tools that you send them to carry on their work.
For those of you who have attended Caregiver Kit builds at your churches or schools, these are the people you are supporting. You know what goes in the kits – a few cotton balls, some notebooks, washcloths, medicines, flashlight, a prayer or encouragement card, etc. These are the tools these courageous people use to transform their communities. The prayer / encouragement card is carried around and read over and over again, until it falls apart. It is their link to you, and they value it immensely. You probably didn’t think about it when you filled out your card, but your words are treasured and made powerful through the work done here.
I don’t really remember what I said to them (speaking with no preparation in front of a rather large group can do that to you), other than at some point, I said I hoped to be able to capture everything they would share in a way that would allow me to effectively share their compassion, dedication, and enthusiasm to everyone from my home. I hope in the last two postings, I’ve been able to do just that. The next time you attend a Caregiver Kit build and enclose a prayer card in the kit, think about 150 smiling faces, under a large shade tree, singing and dancing in the face of adversity, with only a small kit and possibly a bicycle as weapons in the fight. These are the people who are educating the world about HIV / AIDS, caring for the disease’s victims, and caring for their children.
After our meeting, we had a quick tour of the local clinic (small clinic serving 15,000 people with the nearest district hospital 43km away), and were then served lunch. The clinic was in poor repair and had nearly nothing. I can’t imagine being treated there.
Lunch was prepared by the local community. We ate in one of their buildings made of mud / clay with a thatched roof. The food was very good. I’ve never had pumpkin leaves, nshima (a grain based food eaten with everything here), and goat, among other things. All washed down with Coca Cola. Even in the middle of Africa, Coke Is It (is that their tag line?)
The Caregivers did skits showing what they do, and how they care for people. They were both funny, and very sad. They then shared about their needs, their challenges, and answered many questions from us about their roles. I could probably go on for pages about this meeting, and none of my words could adequately describe the overwhelming sense of compassion, dedication, and enthusiasm these people have for their work and their community.
Rather than use my words, let me use theirs. When answering the question, “What do you enjoy most about being a Caregiver?” one gentleman responded with the following: “I like my work. I often think of all the suffering and problems we have. I think about my children, and think that one day they will become orphans. I wonder who will care for them. I have ideas in my head about how to have community transformation, so that everyone knows we can all potentially be orphans. One day, I will need someone to care for me, and for my children. I am a Caregiver, because one day, I will need someone to care for me.” In both today’s meetings, and yesterday’s, we asked the groups how long they planned to be Caregivers. Without exception, the groups looked at us like we had asked the world’s dumbest question. One woman today responded, “Why would we stop being Caregivers? Our communities need us. I will never stop.”
Imagine sitting under a large tree on a wooden bench, hearing these words from people. The same people who just greeted you as if you were a dignitary, and from whom they wanted to hear great words of greeting and wisdom. Imagine them occasionally breaking into songs, made up on the spot, about how excited they are to have you come, and their excitement for the tools that you send them to carry on their work.
For those of you who have attended Caregiver Kit builds at your churches or schools, these are the people you are supporting. You know what goes in the kits – a few cotton balls, some notebooks, washcloths, medicines, flashlight, a prayer or encouragement card, etc. These are the tools these courageous people use to transform their communities. The prayer / encouragement card is carried around and read over and over again, until it falls apart. It is their link to you, and they value it immensely. You probably didn’t think about it when you filled out your card, but your words are treasured and made powerful through the work done here.
I don’t really remember what I said to them (speaking with no preparation in front of a rather large group can do that to you), other than at some point, I said I hoped to be able to capture everything they would share in a way that would allow me to effectively share their compassion, dedication, and enthusiasm to everyone from my home. I hope in the last two postings, I’ve been able to do just that. The next time you attend a Caregiver Kit build and enclose a prayer card in the kit, think about 150 smiling faces, under a large shade tree, singing and dancing in the face of adversity, with only a small kit and possibly a bicycle as weapons in the fight. These are the people who are educating the world about HIV / AIDS, caring for the disease’s victims, and caring for their children.
After our meeting, we had a quick tour of the local clinic (small clinic serving 15,000 people with the nearest district hospital 43km away), and were then served lunch. The clinic was in poor repair and had nearly nothing. I can’t imagine being treated there.
Lunch was prepared by the local community. We ate in one of their buildings made of mud / clay with a thatched roof. The food was very good. I’ve never had pumpkin leaves, nshima (a grain based food eaten with everything here), and goat, among other things. All washed down with Coca Cola. Even in the middle of Africa, Coke Is It (is that their tag line?)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Some pictures of Amsterdam
A few pictures of Amsterdam. The internet connection is a little slow, so this is all for today.
Canal in Amsterdam. The buildings on either side were built in the 1600's.
Dutch Reform Church we went to in Amsterdam.
Courtyard around the Church
Canal in Amsterdam. The buildings on either side were built in the 1600's.
Dutch Reform Church we went to in Amsterdam.
Courtyard around the Church
Entrance to the courtyard and church from the street.
Visit to an African Village
Today we had an opportunity to visit a village and meet with a group of people that have been specially trained as Caregivers for those in their community. These people are volunteers, and provide education, care, and assistance primarily to people in their community suffering from HIV / AIDS. The people they assist may have the disease, or may be working with community members who have taken in children orphaned by the disease.
The Caregivers are amazing people. They are members of the community who give up their time to travel around by foot or bicycle to care for others. They all have families of their own, with the normal chores and responsibilities that come with caring for your family, your home, and your farm. One woman we spoke with has 10 children of her own, but still takes time each day / week to care for the rest of her community.
When they meet with their patients, they do anything from chop firewood, to wash blankets, find / provide food, help them bathe, and give them medicines. If the patient is severely ill, the Caregiver may transport them to the local clinic on their bicycle, or may go to the clinic after noting all symptoms in a notebook, to receive some medications to help treat the sickness. In the community we were in, all the Caregivers have bicycles donated to them through an organization we partner with. In many communities in Zambia and elsewhere in the world, the Caregiver is on foot as they cannot afford a bicycle, and none have been donated to that area.
Yesterday I commented that none of us can change the world, but we need to focus on the role we can play, changing the world one neighbor at a time. In Zambia, the Caregiver network is doing just that. After meeting with the Caregiver team, we were taken to visit a local family and their Caregiver. The family has three children, and the father is sick. The Caregiver visits them weekly, but will do so more frequently if his health deteriorates. This family receives a variety of help from the Caregiver, but it was clear that the Caregiver was making a serious difference in the family’s quality of life. We sat on small stools in front of their mud house, surrounded by chickens and pigs and listened as they shared their story. It is amazing what something so simple can do for a person.
Our role in this is to get the resources to people like the Caregivers we met with today. We can’t change the world from our homes in the United States (and a few of you are elsewhere around the world), but we can certainly work with others to find resources to send to people like our Caregivers. They are the ones that will ultimately make the difference, but can’t do it without their neighbors around the world.
On the funny side today, shortly after meeting with this family, we were provided lunch. It was from Subway. One moment sitting on a stool by a small house, the next, fast food just like home. We also had an opportunity to visit a school today and visit with some of the children. The funniest moment though was when we provided the head teacher with some Frisbees. Turns out, they don’t play much Frisbee in Africa, so we had to show them what to do with those strange plastic disks. I had a great time playing Frisbee with the head teacher and the other teacher on staff. Unfortunately, we were a bit disruptive to the kids who were supposed to be studying. I don’t think they get to see the teachers play much. And for those of you who have seen my incredible Frisbee throwing and catching ability, you’ll be happy to know that every pass was straight, and I caught every one thrown to me, even those that were a bit off the mark. OK, it’s not on film, but it’s true!
Tomorrow we visit another community. I’ll also be posting pictures in a few minutes. Hopefully you all can see them OK.
The Caregivers are amazing people. They are members of the community who give up their time to travel around by foot or bicycle to care for others. They all have families of their own, with the normal chores and responsibilities that come with caring for your family, your home, and your farm. One woman we spoke with has 10 children of her own, but still takes time each day / week to care for the rest of her community.
When they meet with their patients, they do anything from chop firewood, to wash blankets, find / provide food, help them bathe, and give them medicines. If the patient is severely ill, the Caregiver may transport them to the local clinic on their bicycle, or may go to the clinic after noting all symptoms in a notebook, to receive some medications to help treat the sickness. In the community we were in, all the Caregivers have bicycles donated to them through an organization we partner with. In many communities in Zambia and elsewhere in the world, the Caregiver is on foot as they cannot afford a bicycle, and none have been donated to that area.
Yesterday I commented that none of us can change the world, but we need to focus on the role we can play, changing the world one neighbor at a time. In Zambia, the Caregiver network is doing just that. After meeting with the Caregiver team, we were taken to visit a local family and their Caregiver. The family has three children, and the father is sick. The Caregiver visits them weekly, but will do so more frequently if his health deteriorates. This family receives a variety of help from the Caregiver, but it was clear that the Caregiver was making a serious difference in the family’s quality of life. We sat on small stools in front of their mud house, surrounded by chickens and pigs and listened as they shared their story. It is amazing what something so simple can do for a person.
Our role in this is to get the resources to people like the Caregivers we met with today. We can’t change the world from our homes in the United States (and a few of you are elsewhere around the world), but we can certainly work with others to find resources to send to people like our Caregivers. They are the ones that will ultimately make the difference, but can’t do it without their neighbors around the world.
On the funny side today, shortly after meeting with this family, we were provided lunch. It was from Subway. One moment sitting on a stool by a small house, the next, fast food just like home. We also had an opportunity to visit a school today and visit with some of the children. The funniest moment though was when we provided the head teacher with some Frisbees. Turns out, they don’t play much Frisbee in Africa, so we had to show them what to do with those strange plastic disks. I had a great time playing Frisbee with the head teacher and the other teacher on staff. Unfortunately, we were a bit disruptive to the kids who were supposed to be studying. I don’t think they get to see the teachers play much. And for those of you who have seen my incredible Frisbee throwing and catching ability, you’ll be happy to know that every pass was straight, and I caught every one thrown to me, even those that were a bit off the mark. OK, it’s not on film, but it’s true!
Tomorrow we visit another community. I’ll also be posting pictures in a few minutes. Hopefully you all can see them OK.
Monday, March 3, 2008
A Clinic in Zambia
OK everyone. The vacation is over, and it’s back to some real work. But before we talk about today, go back to yesterday's posts. I figured out how to post pictures, so there's a couple from Victoria Falls and the safari at the beginning of the post now. I'll try to do more later, but the internet is a bit slow for pictures here.
On to today's activities.....
We started with a 2-hour drive to an area of Zambia where our office has programs. Several months ago, we were able to provide many medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to a hospital that was about to be closed due to lack of adequate items to care for the community. This is the only hospital for about 200 kilometers, so it is very important to the community. That donation helped get them through, and the clinic has been able to stay open.
First, we met the District Commissioner. He is something like the Governor of the district, and reports directly to the President of Zambia. We talked about the partnership of his district with our organization. It is a very exciting opportunity for both, and he is very concerned with ensuring we start by working with communities in the poorest areas of his region. He gave his formal permission to visit the local hospital.
A hospital in Zambia is nothing like a hospital in the US. This one is made up of several buildings that were once a farmhouse and grounds buildings owned by a British farmer. The buildings were made to a clinic in the 1950’s. There are very few medical supplies, or pharmaceuticals. Here, a simple pair of latex gloves can mean the difference between further spreading disease, or helping someone recover. It is hard to describe the scene. The first thing that hits you when you enter is the smell. In a US hospital, that smell is frequently antiseptic. Here, the smell is old. Then you begin to walk through the wards. The dental ward consists of a chair, and some old instruments. They do both basic work, and dental “surgery” which is mainly pulling teeth. This room is actually fairly bright. The next area is the maternity ward. There are two wards, the basic ward, and the “high cost” ward. The basic ward consists of a small room with 3 beds that have what looks something like an old gym mat on them. There are no instruments, just a few buckets on the floor. The beds are separated by shower curtains. The “high cost” ward looks much the same, except there is a small mattress on the bed covered in a sheet, and fabric curtains separate the beds. Next to this room is a small neo-natal unit with two non-functional incubators, and an old metal crib. Then you have the recovery room. This consists of about 10 beds in a small room with several women who have just given birth. They will all be discharged within 6 hours and sent home with their newborns. From this room, you can see the morgue, and hear the wailing. Someone died today at this hospital.
From there go out and see what’s probably best described as the out-patient clinic. There are about 20 people waiting to see the doctor or nurse inside. We were not able to go into this area. We also saw the surgical wards for children, men, and women (separate wards). Each was packed with beds, and was very dark. Luckily today, many beds were empty. However, it’s rained a lot, so the malaria cases will fill them soon.
It’s not really possible to describe this hospital. As someone in my group put it today, you can see all the pictures, and hear all the stories, but you don’t really get the full impact until you get the sights, sounds, and smells all in one. And then you begin to wonder how the work we do can actually make an impact on something that seems so big. Remember, this is just one hospital, in one district, in one country, on one continent. In my job, my role is to serve similar communities in countries world-wide. It’s almost unfathomable. How do you allocate finite resources across so many countries, when the decision on that allocation can literally mean life or death? Then you meet the people on the ground, and realize that the only way to do this is to work with one person at a time. I think we all need to remember that when we think about change. We want to change the world single-handedly, but that’s not what we’ve been called to do. Our roles are to change the world, one neighbor at a time through whatever gifts, talents, abilities, and resources we’ve been given. I guess this doesn’t diminish the enormity of the problem, but it certainly puts it into a perspective that we humans can get our minds around.
So now that I’ve thoroughly depressed all of you, it’s time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow is another day of community visits, this time to visit Caregivers, schools, orphanages, and local clinics. I’m sure I’ll have more to give you to think about tomorrow. Guess the vacation is over for you readers as well!
On to today's activities.....
We started with a 2-hour drive to an area of Zambia where our office has programs. Several months ago, we were able to provide many medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to a hospital that was about to be closed due to lack of adequate items to care for the community. This is the only hospital for about 200 kilometers, so it is very important to the community. That donation helped get them through, and the clinic has been able to stay open.
First, we met the District Commissioner. He is something like the Governor of the district, and reports directly to the President of Zambia. We talked about the partnership of his district with our organization. It is a very exciting opportunity for both, and he is very concerned with ensuring we start by working with communities in the poorest areas of his region. He gave his formal permission to visit the local hospital.
A hospital in Zambia is nothing like a hospital in the US. This one is made up of several buildings that were once a farmhouse and grounds buildings owned by a British farmer. The buildings were made to a clinic in the 1950’s. There are very few medical supplies, or pharmaceuticals. Here, a simple pair of latex gloves can mean the difference between further spreading disease, or helping someone recover. It is hard to describe the scene. The first thing that hits you when you enter is the smell. In a US hospital, that smell is frequently antiseptic. Here, the smell is old. Then you begin to walk through the wards. The dental ward consists of a chair, and some old instruments. They do both basic work, and dental “surgery” which is mainly pulling teeth. This room is actually fairly bright. The next area is the maternity ward. There are two wards, the basic ward, and the “high cost” ward. The basic ward consists of a small room with 3 beds that have what looks something like an old gym mat on them. There are no instruments, just a few buckets on the floor. The beds are separated by shower curtains. The “high cost” ward looks much the same, except there is a small mattress on the bed covered in a sheet, and fabric curtains separate the beds. Next to this room is a small neo-natal unit with two non-functional incubators, and an old metal crib. Then you have the recovery room. This consists of about 10 beds in a small room with several women who have just given birth. They will all be discharged within 6 hours and sent home with their newborns. From this room, you can see the morgue, and hear the wailing. Someone died today at this hospital.
From there go out and see what’s probably best described as the out-patient clinic. There are about 20 people waiting to see the doctor or nurse inside. We were not able to go into this area. We also saw the surgical wards for children, men, and women (separate wards). Each was packed with beds, and was very dark. Luckily today, many beds were empty. However, it’s rained a lot, so the malaria cases will fill them soon.
It’s not really possible to describe this hospital. As someone in my group put it today, you can see all the pictures, and hear all the stories, but you don’t really get the full impact until you get the sights, sounds, and smells all in one. And then you begin to wonder how the work we do can actually make an impact on something that seems so big. Remember, this is just one hospital, in one district, in one country, on one continent. In my job, my role is to serve similar communities in countries world-wide. It’s almost unfathomable. How do you allocate finite resources across so many countries, when the decision on that allocation can literally mean life or death? Then you meet the people on the ground, and realize that the only way to do this is to work with one person at a time. I think we all need to remember that when we think about change. We want to change the world single-handedly, but that’s not what we’ve been called to do. Our roles are to change the world, one neighbor at a time through whatever gifts, talents, abilities, and resources we’ve been given. I guess this doesn’t diminish the enormity of the problem, but it certainly puts it into a perspective that we humans can get our minds around.
So now that I’ve thoroughly depressed all of you, it’s time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow is another day of community visits, this time to visit Caregivers, schools, orphanages, and local clinics. I’m sure I’ll have more to give you to think about tomorrow. Guess the vacation is over for you readers as well!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Victoria Falls and Safari
Today was our tourist day. We started with a trip to Victoria Falls. This is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Dr. Livingstone gave the falls the current name, but the locals call it the Mist That Thunders.
The Falls are on the Zambezi River, which separates Zambia from Zimbabwe at this point. It’s the rainy season right now, so the falls were very full. As you enter the park and get to the first observation point, it’s amazing how you can see the falls, the river, the spray, rainbows, and the blue sky that seems to go on forever. There are several points to view the falls and many walking trails. I took pictures where I could, but in some of the areas, you couldn’t even see the falls due to the amount of spray from the water hitting the bottom of the falls. As you get closer, you get wet from just a mist, but as you continue walking, you get absolutely drenched! At one point, you come to a bridge where you can cross the river to get a look at the Falls from the other side. The spray was so heavy at this point, you couldn’t see the falls at all, and it was like standing in a shower with incredibly hard water pressure. In fact, I think I’d have been drier if I had simply climbed in the shower with my clothes on!
After viewing from the falls side, we were able to cross around, and view the river before it goes over the Falls. This was beautiful as well. This time of year the river is incredibly wide. We asked some questions about how it looks in the dry season. We were told that there is basically only a few trickles that go over the falls in that time of year. In fact, people can walk most of the way across the top of the falls on the rocks. One gentleman told us that a hotel right on the river’s edge on the Zimbabwe side actually puts tables and chairs out on the rocks and serves dinner! If you look at the pictures, you’ll find this hard to believe that the water level could be that different.
After the visit to the falls, we went on a safari to a national park. Turns out the park entrance is about 500 meters from our hotel, and part of the boundary runs directly behind the hotel. We saw several baboons right at the entrance, so figure the distance from where I’m typing this to where they, and many of the other animals could be roaming is probably between 250 and 500 meters. Kind of amazing!
I don’t think I’ll ever look at the zoo the same way again. We had a wonderful driver who took time to tell us a lot about all the animals, their habits, and a bit of Zambia history. During our 2 ½ hours, we saw giraffes, zebras, impalas, monkeys, baboons, wildebeasts, and several different types of birds and butterflies. Unfortunately, no hippos, rhinos or elephants today. There is only one rhino in the park, and he was in an area where the truck couldn’t go. The river was also moving too fast to see the hippos. We probably drove right by several, but the water was too turbulent to see them from the road. We were told the elephants don’t like the mud (??) and tended to not be in areas where we could see them this time of the year.
Overall, it was an amazing, and relaxing day. Spent the rest of the day just sitting outside listening to music and reading. Kind of nice after 11 days of traveling.
The Falls are on the Zambezi River, which separates Zambia from Zimbabwe at this point. It’s the rainy season right now, so the falls were very full. As you enter the park and get to the first observation point, it’s amazing how you can see the falls, the river, the spray, rainbows, and the blue sky that seems to go on forever. There are several points to view the falls and many walking trails. I took pictures where I could, but in some of the areas, you couldn’t even see the falls due to the amount of spray from the water hitting the bottom of the falls. As you get closer, you get wet from just a mist, but as you continue walking, you get absolutely drenched! At one point, you come to a bridge where you can cross the river to get a look at the Falls from the other side. The spray was so heavy at this point, you couldn’t see the falls at all, and it was like standing in a shower with incredibly hard water pressure. In fact, I think I’d have been drier if I had simply climbed in the shower with my clothes on!
After viewing from the falls side, we were able to cross around, and view the river before it goes over the Falls. This was beautiful as well. This time of year the river is incredibly wide. We asked some questions about how it looks in the dry season. We were told that there is basically only a few trickles that go over the falls in that time of year. In fact, people can walk most of the way across the top of the falls on the rocks. One gentleman told us that a hotel right on the river’s edge on the Zimbabwe side actually puts tables and chairs out on the rocks and serves dinner! If you look at the pictures, you’ll find this hard to believe that the water level could be that different.
After the visit to the falls, we went on a safari to a national park. Turns out the park entrance is about 500 meters from our hotel, and part of the boundary runs directly behind the hotel. We saw several baboons right at the entrance, so figure the distance from where I’m typing this to where they, and many of the other animals could be roaming is probably between 250 and 500 meters. Kind of amazing!
I don’t think I’ll ever look at the zoo the same way again. We had a wonderful driver who took time to tell us a lot about all the animals, their habits, and a bit of Zambia history. During our 2 ½ hours, we saw giraffes, zebras, impalas, monkeys, baboons, wildebeasts, and several different types of birds and butterflies. Unfortunately, no hippos, rhinos or elephants today. There is only one rhino in the park, and he was in an area where the truck couldn’t go. The river was also moving too fast to see the hippos. We probably drove right by several, but the water was too turbulent to see them from the road. We were told the elephants don’t like the mud (??) and tended to not be in areas where we could see them this time of the year.
Overall, it was an amazing, and relaxing day. Spent the rest of the day just sitting outside listening to music and reading. Kind of nice after 11 days of traveling.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Travel to Livingstone, Zambia
Today was a mix of work and fun. We went to a market this morning where they sold many things made locally. It was quite interesting to see all the different types of baskets, bowls, jewelry, and cloth for sale. This particular market was held in an open field near town, and only occurs one weekend per month. The quality of the products sold was great!
We then started the 6-hour drive to Livingstone. It’s about 500 km from Lusaka, on the Zambia / Zimbabwe / Botswana border. Along the way, we stopped in a small village near one of our area offices to meet with some of the office representatives, and a family from the local village. One of the members of this family had been disabled for many years, and had to either drag himself along the ground, or have someone carry him. We brought him a wheelchair that had been received in a recent shipment of product from the US. We pulled the chair out of the truck, put it together, and then helped him get situated. One of the area managers who could speak the local dialect talked him through how to use it, and even in the soft sand, he was able to quickly move around. It’s hard to know what to do when you watch a person receive so much happiness from something so simple.
After our stop, we continued on to Livingstone. We arrived too late in the day to see the falls, but will do so tomorrow. Livingstone is a tourist destination. The hotel in which we are staying is more like a serious of bungalows, with open-air patios, pools, and fountains. As the hotel is still partially under constructions, it is currently one of the least expensive places in town. When it is completed, my guess is this will become a very expensive resort type area. As I sit here and type this, it’s hard to believe that I am currently sitting in one of the poorest countries in the world, and that we spent part of the afternoon changing a family’s life, just by delivering a simple wheelchair. It’s hard to get your mind around. As I type this, I can hear the constant waterfall at the pool right outside my door.
Tomorrow is a fun day. We’ll go see Victoria Falls, and then do something else in the afternoon. And I promise to figure out how to do the picture thing soon!
We then started the 6-hour drive to Livingstone. It’s about 500 km from Lusaka, on the Zambia / Zimbabwe / Botswana border. Along the way, we stopped in a small village near one of our area offices to meet with some of the office representatives, and a family from the local village. One of the members of this family had been disabled for many years, and had to either drag himself along the ground, or have someone carry him. We brought him a wheelchair that had been received in a recent shipment of product from the US. We pulled the chair out of the truck, put it together, and then helped him get situated. One of the area managers who could speak the local dialect talked him through how to use it, and even in the soft sand, he was able to quickly move around. It’s hard to know what to do when you watch a person receive so much happiness from something so simple.
After our stop, we continued on to Livingstone. We arrived too late in the day to see the falls, but will do so tomorrow. Livingstone is a tourist destination. The hotel in which we are staying is more like a serious of bungalows, with open-air patios, pools, and fountains. As the hotel is still partially under constructions, it is currently one of the least expensive places in town. When it is completed, my guess is this will become a very expensive resort type area. As I sit here and type this, it’s hard to believe that I am currently sitting in one of the poorest countries in the world, and that we spent part of the afternoon changing a family’s life, just by delivering a simple wheelchair. It’s hard to get your mind around. As I type this, I can hear the constant waterfall at the pool right outside my door.
Tomorrow is a fun day. We’ll go see Victoria Falls, and then do something else in the afternoon. And I promise to figure out how to do the picture thing soon!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Arrival in Zambia
Arrived in Zambia this afternoon. Not much to tell you about today, other than it is still the rainy season here, so arrival was in the middle of a pretty good thunderstorm.
This area is also very green, and beautiful. The area we are currently in has several western style shopping malls. The one closest to the airport amused me. There was a Woolworths, a Subway, and a grocery store, among other clothing and shoe stores. Just like home, right? And then we arrived at the Holiday Inn…..
Had dinner at an Italian restaurant, but have been told that we will experience Zambian food later in the week.
As it’s the weekend, tomorrow morning, we are leaving Lusaka, and will spend the weekend in Livingstone, some 500km from here. Livingstone is on the Zambia / Zimbabwe border, and is the home of Victoria Falls. I’m told this is larger than Niagara Falls in the US. It’ll take us most of the day Saturday to get there, and Sunday will be a fun day. Looking forward to a day without meetings.
This area is also very green, and beautiful. The area we are currently in has several western style shopping malls. The one closest to the airport amused me. There was a Woolworths, a Subway, and a grocery store, among other clothing and shoe stores. Just like home, right? And then we arrived at the Holiday Inn…..
Had dinner at an Italian restaurant, but have been told that we will experience Zambian food later in the week.
As it’s the weekend, tomorrow morning, we are leaving Lusaka, and will spend the weekend in Livingstone, some 500km from here. Livingstone is on the Zambia / Zimbabwe border, and is the home of Victoria Falls. I’m told this is larger than Niagara Falls in the US. It’ll take us most of the day Saturday to get there, and Sunday will be a fun day. Looking forward to a day without meetings.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Why is it important to put fuel in the taxi?
Hello everyone! This is my last night in Nairobi, and then off to Zambia for 9 days before the trip home! And just when I thought you’d have to listen to more boring stuff about peaceful demonstrations and security briefings, we managed to have a little adventure!
On the way back from our meetings today, our taxi dies in the middle of a four-lane road in rush hour traffic. Rush hour traffic is very slow, just like the US, but made far more entertaining by the people, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles weaving in-between the cars. Add to that a bit of rapid lane changing by most of the drivers, and you’ve got quite a show! All that said, they do follow the lines in the road and the traffic signals much better than what I observed in my previous trip to Africa. People still squeeze by each other very closely. You’d swear you were going to hit the car, pedestrian, bike, etc. you are driving by, but somehow you always squeak by. I did learn the difference yesterday between a close call and a near accident. We frequently have close calls – that’s coming to within 3 inches of whatever is nearest you. A near accident is when you come within less than one inch. We had a near accident yesterday. No seatbelts in the back of the taxi cab, but my knees and shoulders stopped me against the seat just fine. All’s good, but it was a good lesson. I have decided I am never going to drive in Nairobi. Add all that I said above to the fact they drive on the left side of the road, and I’d have guaranteed accident!
OK. Back to the taxi. So the taxi dies in the middle of the four-lane road. The driver spends about 5 minutes cranking the engine to try to restart it. Then he thinks to put on his flashers. Several close calls here as traffic tries to maneuver around us. He then gets out, puts the hood up, and begins to pull off pieces of the car. It is quickly obvious that he and I probably have about the same level of mechanical skill. We can both pull the pieces off and put them back where we found them. Actually, I may have more. As I looked over his shoulder, I observed that the gas needle was pointing squarely at the large “E” on the fuel gauge. He gets back in the car saying over and over “Serious. Oh! This is serious!” We are thinking this is not good. We suggest that it is because he is out of gas. He assures us that the line isn’t really on “E”. It just looks like it.
After about 5 more minutes of cranking the engine, getting out, pulling pieces off, putting them back on, yelling in Swahili on his cell phone, and repeating “Oh, this is serious”, we are approached by a Nairobi police officer. The officer did not think we should be sitting in the middle of a four-lane road in the middle of rush hour with the hood up. Or at least that was my interpretation of the Swahili with the hand gestures. A moment or so later, the driver begins to push us. Unfortunately, that is directly into the next lane of traffic. More honking and close calls. The officer wants us to jump the hard curb, and put the car on the sidewalk, but the driver can’t get enough speed to do it. We finally get to the next intersection (the entrance to the University), jump the curb, get the car on the sidewalk (displacing the pedestrians), and stopped. About 15 minutes later, we finally get the call that the new taxi is here, but unfortunately, can’t get to where we are because of traffic and one way streets, so we grab our things and walk down the main highway to find the new taxi. Imagine the stares!
It then took forever to get to the hotel as we were then stopped by the Parliament building. There was a motorcade leaving as the traffic was stopped out front. The driver told us that was the President of Kenya and Kofi Anan leaving after the completion of the peace talks. I don’t know if it was really them, but there were several cars, all with flags on them.
Good news today about the peace talks. An agreement was signed, so everyone here is very happy about peace being restored. No demonstrations today, and everyone we talked to seems very happy about the way things have turned out.
Except for our entertaining drive home, it was a very quiet day. A few parting thoughts about Nairobi. I think this would be a very interesting city to return to when the political climate settles a bit. The city is incredibly green with beautiful flowers, lots of parks, and the main city is very modern. When you drive a bit outside the main city, you do see slum areas, people living in metal shacks, trash on the roadside, etc. We did see some of this today as the taxi drive to the office involved an off road trip down a barely two lane dirt road. The driver wanted to avoid the traffic jams.
That’s about it for today. Hope to be able to log on from Zambia, but uncertain if the hotel will have internet access. I’ll post again when I can get on line.
On the way back from our meetings today, our taxi dies in the middle of a four-lane road in rush hour traffic. Rush hour traffic is very slow, just like the US, but made far more entertaining by the people, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles weaving in-between the cars. Add to that a bit of rapid lane changing by most of the drivers, and you’ve got quite a show! All that said, they do follow the lines in the road and the traffic signals much better than what I observed in my previous trip to Africa. People still squeeze by each other very closely. You’d swear you were going to hit the car, pedestrian, bike, etc. you are driving by, but somehow you always squeak by. I did learn the difference yesterday between a close call and a near accident. We frequently have close calls – that’s coming to within 3 inches of whatever is nearest you. A near accident is when you come within less than one inch. We had a near accident yesterday. No seatbelts in the back of the taxi cab, but my knees and shoulders stopped me against the seat just fine. All’s good, but it was a good lesson. I have decided I am never going to drive in Nairobi. Add all that I said above to the fact they drive on the left side of the road, and I’d have guaranteed accident!
OK. Back to the taxi. So the taxi dies in the middle of the four-lane road. The driver spends about 5 minutes cranking the engine to try to restart it. Then he thinks to put on his flashers. Several close calls here as traffic tries to maneuver around us. He then gets out, puts the hood up, and begins to pull off pieces of the car. It is quickly obvious that he and I probably have about the same level of mechanical skill. We can both pull the pieces off and put them back where we found them. Actually, I may have more. As I looked over his shoulder, I observed that the gas needle was pointing squarely at the large “E” on the fuel gauge. He gets back in the car saying over and over “Serious. Oh! This is serious!” We are thinking this is not good. We suggest that it is because he is out of gas. He assures us that the line isn’t really on “E”. It just looks like it.
After about 5 more minutes of cranking the engine, getting out, pulling pieces off, putting them back on, yelling in Swahili on his cell phone, and repeating “Oh, this is serious”, we are approached by a Nairobi police officer. The officer did not think we should be sitting in the middle of a four-lane road in the middle of rush hour with the hood up. Or at least that was my interpretation of the Swahili with the hand gestures. A moment or so later, the driver begins to push us. Unfortunately, that is directly into the next lane of traffic. More honking and close calls. The officer wants us to jump the hard curb, and put the car on the sidewalk, but the driver can’t get enough speed to do it. We finally get to the next intersection (the entrance to the University), jump the curb, get the car on the sidewalk (displacing the pedestrians), and stopped. About 15 minutes later, we finally get the call that the new taxi is here, but unfortunately, can’t get to where we are because of traffic and one way streets, so we grab our things and walk down the main highway to find the new taxi. Imagine the stares!
It then took forever to get to the hotel as we were then stopped by the Parliament building. There was a motorcade leaving as the traffic was stopped out front. The driver told us that was the President of Kenya and Kofi Anan leaving after the completion of the peace talks. I don’t know if it was really them, but there were several cars, all with flags on them.
Good news today about the peace talks. An agreement was signed, so everyone here is very happy about peace being restored. No demonstrations today, and everyone we talked to seems very happy about the way things have turned out.
Except for our entertaining drive home, it was a very quiet day. A few parting thoughts about Nairobi. I think this would be a very interesting city to return to when the political climate settles a bit. The city is incredibly green with beautiful flowers, lots of parks, and the main city is very modern. When you drive a bit outside the main city, you do see slum areas, people living in metal shacks, trash on the roadside, etc. We did see some of this today as the taxi drive to the office involved an off road trip down a barely two lane dirt road. The driver wanted to avoid the traffic jams.
That’s about it for today. Hope to be able to log on from Zambia, but uncertain if the hotel will have internet access. I’ll post again when I can get on line.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Changes in Nairobi
Good evening from Nairobi. Today’s comments will be much shorter as I’m a little tired tonight. The way mattresses are made here must be a bit different. I lay down on the bed last night, and thought I had missed and hit the concrete floor. I didn’t know they could make mattresses out of boards! I’ve slept more comfortably without a bed before!
Anyway, we went to our meetings this morning, and were notified that we would need to go back to the hotel and check out. The hotel is in an area of town that is hard to get out of in a hurry if we needed to. There have been some additional political issues here in the last few days. For those of you watching the news Kofi Anan has been in town negotiating with the two parties claiming victory in the last election. Apparently, he called them off late yesterday. In addition to that, today is election day in Nairobi for the position of Mayor. My understanding is this is also a bit of a hot race. And finally, the opposition party from the elections in December called for peaceful demonstrations here tomorrow (Thursday).
Bottom line is the hotel was located in a wedge of what appeared to be one-way streets across from three banks and a mall. If people chose to congregate in the mall or in front of the banks and cause problems tomorrow, we would not be able to leave the hotel until everything ended. So, back to the hotel for us, a quick collection of our things, check out, and back to our meetings. Other hotel arrangements were made at a hotel closer to the airport along the main highway. Part of that strategy is we could make a quick dash to the airport if we were told to depart the country.
So now that I’ve got everyone all excited, let me share that the elections today seemed to go OK (at least haven’t heard anything yet), and the opposition leader cancelled the demonstrations for tomorrow. It appears we are back to business as usual in the morning. And the good news is I now have a bed that is at least as soft as lying on a mat and sleeping bag on the grass (HUGE improvement over last night), and an air-conditioned room. Amazing how a little “peaceful demonstration” threat can turn out to be a huge blessing! Don’t worry. We will still be very watchful tomorrow. No large crowds, and we are not going anywhere near the main part of town. Just to the office and back to the hotel. If the security group feels there is any risk to us, or the employees here, we will be told to stay home, and we will simply work from the hotel all day tomorrow.
Now for a little about Nairobi… It’s an interesting mix of old and new. There are many modern buildings, but also some very run down areas. From my hotel room, I can see downtown Nairobi. It looks fairly large with many multi-story buildings (guessing 20 or less floors). From one side of the hotel, you can look out across a very flat, brown landscape (picture west Texas). From the other side, you see into town, and the view very green, with lots of flowering plants. The people here are friendly, so it’s hard to fathom how they can be fighting with each other so much due to the elections. We’re told that most of the fighting has been in the western part of the country, but that there is also danger in the city, although the danger is to those of certain ethnic groups in the country, not other foreigners.
As you drive around, you do see people from all over. There are restaurants and other businesses representing Asia, Europe, and other areas of Africa. For lunch, we ate at an Ethiopian restaurant for example. That is interesting food. We were served on a single large plate covered with a type of pancake made from rice, covered in various sauces and meats. You pull off pieces of the “pancake” and then pick up the sauce and meats / vegetables with the pancake. No silverware is provided or needed. Not often you eat a meal with your coworkers from a single plate, all with your fingers. It was good food – you all will have to try it.
That’s it for today. One more day in Nairobi, and then it’s off to Lusaka, Zambia!
Anyway, we went to our meetings this morning, and were notified that we would need to go back to the hotel and check out. The hotel is in an area of town that is hard to get out of in a hurry if we needed to. There have been some additional political issues here in the last few days. For those of you watching the news Kofi Anan has been in town negotiating with the two parties claiming victory in the last election. Apparently, he called them off late yesterday. In addition to that, today is election day in Nairobi for the position of Mayor. My understanding is this is also a bit of a hot race. And finally, the opposition party from the elections in December called for peaceful demonstrations here tomorrow (Thursday).
Bottom line is the hotel was located in a wedge of what appeared to be one-way streets across from three banks and a mall. If people chose to congregate in the mall or in front of the banks and cause problems tomorrow, we would not be able to leave the hotel until everything ended. So, back to the hotel for us, a quick collection of our things, check out, and back to our meetings. Other hotel arrangements were made at a hotel closer to the airport along the main highway. Part of that strategy is we could make a quick dash to the airport if we were told to depart the country.
So now that I’ve got everyone all excited, let me share that the elections today seemed to go OK (at least haven’t heard anything yet), and the opposition leader cancelled the demonstrations for tomorrow. It appears we are back to business as usual in the morning. And the good news is I now have a bed that is at least as soft as lying on a mat and sleeping bag on the grass (HUGE improvement over last night), and an air-conditioned room. Amazing how a little “peaceful demonstration” threat can turn out to be a huge blessing! Don’t worry. We will still be very watchful tomorrow. No large crowds, and we are not going anywhere near the main part of town. Just to the office and back to the hotel. If the security group feels there is any risk to us, or the employees here, we will be told to stay home, and we will simply work from the hotel all day tomorrow.
Now for a little about Nairobi… It’s an interesting mix of old and new. There are many modern buildings, but also some very run down areas. From my hotel room, I can see downtown Nairobi. It looks fairly large with many multi-story buildings (guessing 20 or less floors). From one side of the hotel, you can look out across a very flat, brown landscape (picture west Texas). From the other side, you see into town, and the view very green, with lots of flowering plants. The people here are friendly, so it’s hard to fathom how they can be fighting with each other so much due to the elections. We’re told that most of the fighting has been in the western part of the country, but that there is also danger in the city, although the danger is to those of certain ethnic groups in the country, not other foreigners.
As you drive around, you do see people from all over. There are restaurants and other businesses representing Asia, Europe, and other areas of Africa. For lunch, we ate at an Ethiopian restaurant for example. That is interesting food. We were served on a single large plate covered with a type of pancake made from rice, covered in various sauces and meats. You pull off pieces of the “pancake” and then pick up the sauce and meats / vegetables with the pancake. No silverware is provided or needed. Not often you eat a meal with your coworkers from a single plate, all with your fingers. It was good food – you all will have to try it.
That’s it for today. One more day in Nairobi, and then it’s off to Lusaka, Zambia!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
From Dubai to Nairobi
I forgot to tell you yesterday about our accommodations here in Dubai. We are staying at a hotel in the “old city”. The rooms are not in the fancy hotels, but this “room” is actually larger than our first apartment, and has a dining room, living room, kitchen, bedroom, and two bathrooms (950 sq ft total). I actually took pictures because I have a hard time believing this is a common “room”.
While we’re still on the subject of Dubai, some of you asked about the Hotel Burj Al Arab. We did see it. This is a giant hotel (3rd tallest hotel in Dubai) that is shaped like a giant sail. We took pictures of it from the road that is the stem of the palm tree island. We also saw the giant mall that has the ski slope in it. Yes, you can even ski in Dubai. We also learned today that all the building in Dubai actually does NOT come from oil. They have built it on a free market economy with zero taxation. Seven Emirates started the hub with just basic port facilities. Over time, they began to import labor, and work to attract business. Labor is brought from countries like Sri Lanka, Bangledesh, India, etc. The workers live in housing paid for by the companies that hired them. They work and send money home to their families. Now, Dubai is attracting big business, particularly to stage goods made in India and China and then ship them to Europe and Africa. The new airport I talked about yesterday is actually co-located with the port, making it the only place in the world where the hubs for shipping by air, land, and sea are in the same place. That’s amazing!
One more thing about our visit in Dubai. During one of our meetings yesterday, we were talking to a gentleman from Afghanistan. The team was asking about how he would travel back, and he proceeded to describe trying to get a transit visa through Iran to drive back to his town in Afghanistan. Going through Iran is very important, because to enter directly to certain areas of Afghanistan and driving is very dangerous. As he described this, at one point he told us that if you are stopped, the Taliban soldier takes your cell phone and calls someone at random in the address book. When the person answers, the Taliban will ask the person on the other end what you do for a living. If you work for a company or have a “threatening” profession, you may be killed. Of course, the organization we work for is one of those on the “threatening” list. Unfortunately, he had not been able to get the appropriate visas to transit Iran, so he is working to make sure he can fly another way to avoid driving. He described this in a completely “matter-of-fact” way. To me, that was almost as disturbing as the concept itself. I can’t even imagine living in a situation like that.
So, today we left Dubai, and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. As you may imagine, this is quite a change. We didn’t have much time during daylight hours today. First impressions are it is very flat, and also very green, with many bushes and flowers alongside the roadways. I think we are a bit outside the main city, but this is still a fairly well developed area. I could see the main city in the distance, and there are many tall buildings. I’m told it is fairly modern. Perhaps I’ll be able to see some of it before we leave.
The hotel we are in is very nice. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s not a 950sq ft “room”, but it does have it’s own bathroom with at least some hot water, a bed, and a beautiful breeze. The grounds are wonderful as well, many trees, green grass, lots of shade. I have a nice courtyard right outside my window. Unfortunately, no A/C, and I have to close the window at night for safety and to prevent mosquitoes from entering the room, but it’s not too hot, and the ceiling fan helps.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. If you can’t post to the blog, you can always e-mail me as well. Talk to everyone tomorrow!
While we’re still on the subject of Dubai, some of you asked about the Hotel Burj Al Arab. We did see it. This is a giant hotel (3rd tallest hotel in Dubai) that is shaped like a giant sail. We took pictures of it from the road that is the stem of the palm tree island. We also saw the giant mall that has the ski slope in it. Yes, you can even ski in Dubai. We also learned today that all the building in Dubai actually does NOT come from oil. They have built it on a free market economy with zero taxation. Seven Emirates started the hub with just basic port facilities. Over time, they began to import labor, and work to attract business. Labor is brought from countries like Sri Lanka, Bangledesh, India, etc. The workers live in housing paid for by the companies that hired them. They work and send money home to their families. Now, Dubai is attracting big business, particularly to stage goods made in India and China and then ship them to Europe and Africa. The new airport I talked about yesterday is actually co-located with the port, making it the only place in the world where the hubs for shipping by air, land, and sea are in the same place. That’s amazing!
One more thing about our visit in Dubai. During one of our meetings yesterday, we were talking to a gentleman from Afghanistan. The team was asking about how he would travel back, and he proceeded to describe trying to get a transit visa through Iran to drive back to his town in Afghanistan. Going through Iran is very important, because to enter directly to certain areas of Afghanistan and driving is very dangerous. As he described this, at one point he told us that if you are stopped, the Taliban soldier takes your cell phone and calls someone at random in the address book. When the person answers, the Taliban will ask the person on the other end what you do for a living. If you work for a company or have a “threatening” profession, you may be killed. Of course, the organization we work for is one of those on the “threatening” list. Unfortunately, he had not been able to get the appropriate visas to transit Iran, so he is working to make sure he can fly another way to avoid driving. He described this in a completely “matter-of-fact” way. To me, that was almost as disturbing as the concept itself. I can’t even imagine living in a situation like that.
So, today we left Dubai, and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. As you may imagine, this is quite a change. We didn’t have much time during daylight hours today. First impressions are it is very flat, and also very green, with many bushes and flowers alongside the roadways. I think we are a bit outside the main city, but this is still a fairly well developed area. I could see the main city in the distance, and there are many tall buildings. I’m told it is fairly modern. Perhaps I’ll be able to see some of it before we leave.
The hotel we are in is very nice. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s not a 950sq ft “room”, but it does have it’s own bathroom with at least some hot water, a bed, and a beautiful breeze. The grounds are wonderful as well, many trees, green grass, lots of shade. I have a nice courtyard right outside my window. Unfortunately, no A/C, and I have to close the window at night for safety and to prevent mosquitoes from entering the room, but it’s not too hot, and the ceiling fan helps.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. If you can’t post to the blog, you can always e-mail me as well. Talk to everyone tomorrow!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Our Day in Dubai
Arrived in Dubai this morning just after 6am. Dubai is 12 hours ahead of Seattle time, and 3 hours later than Amsterdam, so I think my body clock is a bit confused now. It could also be that when you log onto the google blogger in Dubai, all the characters come up in Arabic. After clicking everything on the screen, I finally found the right button to get logged in to do this. Someone will have to tell me how to make this thing come up in English right away. I was able to figure out the Dutch words in Amsterdam, but Arabic was a bit beyond me. And wait until the next stop where everything will likely be in Swahili!
Dubai is amazing. The first thing that grabs you is the sheer size of the airport. As soon as you depart the airport, the next thing is the amount of construction going on here. One of our group had read that 40% of the world’s cranes for use in building skyscrapers were located here. Now that we’ve had a chance to drive around a bit, I believe it. I’ve never seen so many buildings under construction at one time!
We asked about the level of construction, and our taxi driver told us that 5 years ago there were no tall towers. Today, I stopped counting at 50 skyscrapers. One of the buildings is already 175 stories tall (we’re told it’s the tallest building in the world), and there is a crane at the top of it because they are going to add to the tower. As I looked up at the crane, I think it’s already as high in the air as we were when we jumped out of the airplanes at Army airborne school!
We also asked about the people here. We’re told that only 20 to 25% of the population is from UAE. The other 80% are foreign nationals. We met probably 40 people today, and not one of them was actually from here.
It’s odd going from a city where the new buildings were built in the 1800’s, to a city where nearly everything is less than 3 years old. It does appear that they have a plan, as there is a highway system and a light rail system under construction. I just can’t figure out who all is going to live and work in all these buildings! On top of building in the desert, they are building islands off the coast. Some of you have probably seen the show about the palm tree island being built (I think it was on the Discovery Channel). We had a chance to drive onto the island today and took some pictures of the buildings. They are all huge! The taxi driver told us that the rent is about $1,000,000 per year!
With all this money, it is interesting that Dubai is also trying to work with a variety of humanitarian agencies. Our meetings today were in an area called “Humanitarian City.” This is an area provided by the government of Dubai where several non-profit agencies have offices. The area is very nice, but it’s hard to reconcile all the building of huge opulent buildings, and the creation of a small humanitarian city.
Last thing about Dubai for today. We were asking about all the construction around the Humanitarian City area. Turns out, it is now in the middle of what they called, “the new city center”. The city has apparently decided to move the city center, so that is driving significant construction. They are also working on a new airport that is supposed to be five times more capacity than the current airport. The current airport looks brand new, and most of the buildings in the “old city” were built in the last 5 years. Can you imagine if we just decided that Seattle needed a new city center, so we just started building about 50 skyscrapers, highway systems, and light rail all at once? I guess being in the desert helps (the mountains would probably be a limiting factor in starting a new Seattle), but I don’t think we’d even be able to coordinate the permitting processes let alone the dollars to start billions in new construction simultaneously.
This is definitely an amazing place….
Tomorrow morning, back to the airport and off to Nairobi, Kenya. Talk to everyone then!
Dubai is amazing. The first thing that grabs you is the sheer size of the airport. As soon as you depart the airport, the next thing is the amount of construction going on here. One of our group had read that 40% of the world’s cranes for use in building skyscrapers were located here. Now that we’ve had a chance to drive around a bit, I believe it. I’ve never seen so many buildings under construction at one time!
We asked about the level of construction, and our taxi driver told us that 5 years ago there were no tall towers. Today, I stopped counting at 50 skyscrapers. One of the buildings is already 175 stories tall (we’re told it’s the tallest building in the world), and there is a crane at the top of it because they are going to add to the tower. As I looked up at the crane, I think it’s already as high in the air as we were when we jumped out of the airplanes at Army airborne school!
We also asked about the people here. We’re told that only 20 to 25% of the population is from UAE. The other 80% are foreign nationals. We met probably 40 people today, and not one of them was actually from here.
It’s odd going from a city where the new buildings were built in the 1800’s, to a city where nearly everything is less than 3 years old. It does appear that they have a plan, as there is a highway system and a light rail system under construction. I just can’t figure out who all is going to live and work in all these buildings! On top of building in the desert, they are building islands off the coast. Some of you have probably seen the show about the palm tree island being built (I think it was on the Discovery Channel). We had a chance to drive onto the island today and took some pictures of the buildings. They are all huge! The taxi driver told us that the rent is about $1,000,000 per year!
With all this money, it is interesting that Dubai is also trying to work with a variety of humanitarian agencies. Our meetings today were in an area called “Humanitarian City.” This is an area provided by the government of Dubai where several non-profit agencies have offices. The area is very nice, but it’s hard to reconcile all the building of huge opulent buildings, and the creation of a small humanitarian city.
Last thing about Dubai for today. We were asking about all the construction around the Humanitarian City area. Turns out, it is now in the middle of what they called, “the new city center”. The city has apparently decided to move the city center, so that is driving significant construction. They are also working on a new airport that is supposed to be five times more capacity than the current airport. The current airport looks brand new, and most of the buildings in the “old city” were built in the last 5 years. Can you imagine if we just decided that Seattle needed a new city center, so we just started building about 50 skyscrapers, highway systems, and light rail all at once? I guess being in the desert helps (the mountains would probably be a limiting factor in starting a new Seattle), but I don’t think we’d even be able to coordinate the permitting processes let alone the dollars to start billions in new construction simultaneously.
This is definitely an amazing place….
Tomorrow morning, back to the airport and off to Nairobi, Kenya. Talk to everyone then!
The Anne Frank House
We started off this morning by taking the tram to the Anne Frank House. This is the house where her family and another spent most of World War II in hiding. For those of you who’ve read her diary, the place where they were hiding is actually bigger than I pictured it, but it is still very small. Hard to believe 8 people could fit in this area. When you tour the house, you start on the bottom floors, which was Mr. Frank’s jam factory. Now think about this, most of the houses in Amsterdam are either three or six meters across in the front (about 9 to 18 feet). This house is 18 feet wide, but is probably twice as deep. The stairs between floors is incredibly steep and narrow. Now imagine that this building was used as a manufacturing facility. In fact, some of the buildings in Amsterdam today are used as warehouses. It’s amazing when you think of our big manufacturing facilities.
Anyway, back to the Anne Frank house. After you go through the manufacturing area, offices and storerooms, you eventually get to the landing with the moveable bookcase. This bookcase concealed the entrance to the secret annex. You climb a very narrow, steep set of stairs (picture stairs in old houses in the Midwest going up to the attic), and then you enter the annex area. This consists of five small rooms. While I envisioned it even smaller, I can’t imagine living with eight people for several years in a space that small! The last part of the exhibit shows where each of them went after they were found. As everyone knows, only Otto Frank survived Auschwitz.
After touring the house, it’s hard to know what else to write about it, other than to describe it like I did above. I have a hard time getting my head around it. The house was built in 1635, and the rear annex (where they lived) was rebuilt in 1739. It served many purposes (including as a horse stable), and then in 1940, purchased by Frank Otto. Living in a 400 year old home, being confined to 500 sq ft with 8 people for a period of 2 years, knowing if you were found, you would most likely be killed. It’s simply something that many of us from the United States can’t fathom, from the age of the home, to having our freedom removed, to facing death if you’re found.
Later in the day we went to the Rijksmuseum. This is another art museum, including many famous Rembrandt paintings. I think I talked enough about art yesterday, so I’ll only include the uninformed opinion that Rembrandt is a much better painter than Van Gogh. I make this statement simply because Rembrandt uses more colors and seems to do a better job of coloring within the lines. In all seriousness, even I was able to get that he was famous for his ability to use a technique to make light appear to come from the painting, and in some cases was actually able to even understand what story he was trying to share!
Now that I’ve offended all the art people reading this, I’ll quickly run through the rest of our day. We still had time before we had to head to the airport, so we tried to find old churches. For church services in the morning, we went to the English Reformed Church. The building was actually in a small courtyard off the streets. You entered the courtyard through an arched doorway off a small square. This entered into an open courtyard, with a beautiful small church in the middle. The church was built and held it’s first service in 1607. The building was beautiful inside as well. Sorry, no pictures as they were not allowed to be taken inside the building. Here’s the website with more info about the church http://home.tiscali.nl/~t451501/ercadam/content/building.htm. You can download a pdf file with detailed info if you’re interested.
I guess no trip to Amsterdam is complete without at least one story of going completely the wrong direction. We were looking for other old churches that we could go inside, as several people had told us they were all open for viewing. On our map was one called “The Old Church.” We found one that we thought was it, but it wasn’t open, so we started down the street looking down side streets for others. We finally saw one and sure enough, it was the Old Church. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go in due to an organ concert in progress, so you’ll have to enjoy it with me on the internet at the following link http://www.oudekerk.nl/. It was built in the 1300’s, and was currently under renovation.
I tried to take pictures, but don’t think they’ll be very good as you couldn’t stand far enough away from the church to get a good picture. The city of Amsterdam (in the 1600’s) began to build up around the church, so the nearby buildings are very close. Unfortunately, they are also now the edge of the red-light district. The front door to the church is directly across from, and less than 50 feet from the Prostitute Information Center, the sign for which is displayed prominently out front of the building. There are a variety of other creative venues all around the church, including multiple coffee houses. In Amsterdam, coffee houses do not sell coffee, but a wide variety of “soft” drugs. Amsterdam is unfortunately very permissive in what they allow, and you can smell and see it all (even if you don’t choose to) in that area of the city. We chose to depart the Old Church, but decided not to walk back the way we came in, resulting in all of us spending a lot of time looking at the sidewalk until we came back to the main street again. The area is not well marked, so there were families with children also walking in the area. It’s really kind of sad to have so large an area of a beautiful city with such activity prominently displayed.
OK. Enough for today. Back to the airport and the red-eye flight to Dubai. More to follow tomorrow!
Anyway, back to the Anne Frank house. After you go through the manufacturing area, offices and storerooms, you eventually get to the landing with the moveable bookcase. This bookcase concealed the entrance to the secret annex. You climb a very narrow, steep set of stairs (picture stairs in old houses in the Midwest going up to the attic), and then you enter the annex area. This consists of five small rooms. While I envisioned it even smaller, I can’t imagine living with eight people for several years in a space that small! The last part of the exhibit shows where each of them went after they were found. As everyone knows, only Otto Frank survived Auschwitz.
After touring the house, it’s hard to know what else to write about it, other than to describe it like I did above. I have a hard time getting my head around it. The house was built in 1635, and the rear annex (where they lived) was rebuilt in 1739. It served many purposes (including as a horse stable), and then in 1940, purchased by Frank Otto. Living in a 400 year old home, being confined to 500 sq ft with 8 people for a period of 2 years, knowing if you were found, you would most likely be killed. It’s simply something that many of us from the United States can’t fathom, from the age of the home, to having our freedom removed, to facing death if you’re found.
Later in the day we went to the Rijksmuseum. This is another art museum, including many famous Rembrandt paintings. I think I talked enough about art yesterday, so I’ll only include the uninformed opinion that Rembrandt is a much better painter than Van Gogh. I make this statement simply because Rembrandt uses more colors and seems to do a better job of coloring within the lines. In all seriousness, even I was able to get that he was famous for his ability to use a technique to make light appear to come from the painting, and in some cases was actually able to even understand what story he was trying to share!
Now that I’ve offended all the art people reading this, I’ll quickly run through the rest of our day. We still had time before we had to head to the airport, so we tried to find old churches. For church services in the morning, we went to the English Reformed Church. The building was actually in a small courtyard off the streets. You entered the courtyard through an arched doorway off a small square. This entered into an open courtyard, with a beautiful small church in the middle. The church was built and held it’s first service in 1607. The building was beautiful inside as well. Sorry, no pictures as they were not allowed to be taken inside the building. Here’s the website with more info about the church http://home.tiscali.nl/~t451501/ercadam/content/building.htm. You can download a pdf file with detailed info if you’re interested.
I guess no trip to Amsterdam is complete without at least one story of going completely the wrong direction. We were looking for other old churches that we could go inside, as several people had told us they were all open for viewing. On our map was one called “The Old Church.” We found one that we thought was it, but it wasn’t open, so we started down the street looking down side streets for others. We finally saw one and sure enough, it was the Old Church. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go in due to an organ concert in progress, so you’ll have to enjoy it with me on the internet at the following link http://www.oudekerk.nl/. It was built in the 1300’s, and was currently under renovation.
I tried to take pictures, but don’t think they’ll be very good as you couldn’t stand far enough away from the church to get a good picture. The city of Amsterdam (in the 1600’s) began to build up around the church, so the nearby buildings are very close. Unfortunately, they are also now the edge of the red-light district. The front door to the church is directly across from, and less than 50 feet from the Prostitute Information Center, the sign for which is displayed prominently out front of the building. There are a variety of other creative venues all around the church, including multiple coffee houses. In Amsterdam, coffee houses do not sell coffee, but a wide variety of “soft” drugs. Amsterdam is unfortunately very permissive in what they allow, and you can smell and see it all (even if you don’t choose to) in that area of the city. We chose to depart the Old Church, but decided not to walk back the way we came in, resulting in all of us spending a lot of time looking at the sidewalk until we came back to the main street again. The area is not well marked, so there were families with children also walking in the area. It’s really kind of sad to have so large an area of a beautiful city with such activity prominently displayed.
OK. Enough for today. Back to the airport and the red-eye flight to Dubai. More to follow tomorrow!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Touring Amsterdam
Today we had a great day walking around Amsterdam. We figured out how to take the train system today, saving much money and time. Our first stop was the Rembrandt house. This was the house Rembrandt bought in 1639, but was later sold when he went bankrupt. He was already famous at this time, but did paint some of his paintings here. Unfortunately, we ended up not paying to go on the tour, but it was interesting to see the outside.
We then went to the Anne Frank house, but again, didn’t go in due to the huge line. We’ll be going back there tomorrow morning when it first opens, so more about that tomorrow.
After more walking and looking at all the wonderful buildings, we finally got to the Van Gogh museum. This building houses more than 200 paintings, most by Van Gogh. For those of you who know something about art, there are also paintings done by Gauguin, Millet, Rembrandt, Monet and others. They also had a special exhibit of paintings by John Everett Millais. He’s the person who painted Ophelia, a work inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Now as most of you know, I don’t know much about paintings and artists. To be real honest, I didn’t get most of the van Gogh paintings. He was an evangelist, a teacher, an art dealer, and then decided at 27 he’d like to be an artist. He took up painting, and the museum proceeds to walk you through his 10-year art career, which ended tragically when he took his own life. The museum shares where he got his inspiration, and then shows how he progressed in his learning of various painting techniques. At the risk of sounding total uninformed (and probably ignorant), while it was an interesting journey to watch him learn to paint, I still wasn’t able to appreciate the greatness of his technique by the end of the exhibit. I did learn that he did several paintings heavily influenced by Japanese designs. I think these were his best and most interesting, but I’m not sure real art professionals would agree.
On the other hand, the Millais paintings were amazing. They were more like photographs done in oil. While I will probably never understand the nuance of color, style, technique of all this art stuff, I could certainly appreciate the technique and the beauty of the paintings. If you want to see more of what I’m talking about, check out the link to the museum at www.vangoghmuseum.nl.
We also had time to take a canal boat for about 1 hour all around the city. I was amazed at the number of house boats on the canals! The ride was wonderful and we were able to learn a bit about the city as we went. It was neat to be able to ride along and look at all the different buildings, many of which had dates showing they were built in the early 1600’s. You can also see over the years that many of them have started to settle, so some lean quite a bit. They lean both left and right, and from front to back. The style of the buildings throughout the city is just like the pictures you always see. I always wandered if those were just one small area, but in fact, the entire main city has similar architecture. Tomorrow, I hope to get a few more pictures of some of the buildings, and then when I can log onto the internet next, I’ll try to post some to this blog.
Tomorrow night, we are off to Dubai, UAE. That should be quite a culture difference! Our flight is overnight, and then straight to the meetings for the day. Hopefully, I’ll be able to log on and tell you about Dubai on Monday night. If not, then I’ll send you a note from Nairobi on Tuesday evening!
We then went to the Anne Frank house, but again, didn’t go in due to the huge line. We’ll be going back there tomorrow morning when it first opens, so more about that tomorrow.
After more walking and looking at all the wonderful buildings, we finally got to the Van Gogh museum. This building houses more than 200 paintings, most by Van Gogh. For those of you who know something about art, there are also paintings done by Gauguin, Millet, Rembrandt, Monet and others. They also had a special exhibit of paintings by John Everett Millais. He’s the person who painted Ophelia, a work inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Now as most of you know, I don’t know much about paintings and artists. To be real honest, I didn’t get most of the van Gogh paintings. He was an evangelist, a teacher, an art dealer, and then decided at 27 he’d like to be an artist. He took up painting, and the museum proceeds to walk you through his 10-year art career, which ended tragically when he took his own life. The museum shares where he got his inspiration, and then shows how he progressed in his learning of various painting techniques. At the risk of sounding total uninformed (and probably ignorant), while it was an interesting journey to watch him learn to paint, I still wasn’t able to appreciate the greatness of his technique by the end of the exhibit. I did learn that he did several paintings heavily influenced by Japanese designs. I think these were his best and most interesting, but I’m not sure real art professionals would agree.
On the other hand, the Millais paintings were amazing. They were more like photographs done in oil. While I will probably never understand the nuance of color, style, technique of all this art stuff, I could certainly appreciate the technique and the beauty of the paintings. If you want to see more of what I’m talking about, check out the link to the museum at www.vangoghmuseum.nl.
We also had time to take a canal boat for about 1 hour all around the city. I was amazed at the number of house boats on the canals! The ride was wonderful and we were able to learn a bit about the city as we went. It was neat to be able to ride along and look at all the different buildings, many of which had dates showing they were built in the early 1600’s. You can also see over the years that many of them have started to settle, so some lean quite a bit. They lean both left and right, and from front to back. The style of the buildings throughout the city is just like the pictures you always see. I always wandered if those were just one small area, but in fact, the entire main city has similar architecture. Tomorrow, I hope to get a few more pictures of some of the buildings, and then when I can log onto the internet next, I’ll try to post some to this blog.
Tomorrow night, we are off to Dubai, UAE. That should be quite a culture difference! Our flight is overnight, and then straight to the meetings for the day. Hopefully, I’ll be able to log on and tell you about Dubai on Monday night. If not, then I’ll send you a note from Nairobi on Tuesday evening!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Amsterdam – Days 1 and 2
We had a great flight in from Seattle, and immediately went into a long day of meetings for work. To be honest, I don’t remember a lot from yesterday. When we finally got to the hotel last night, we’d been up for about 36 hours, with only a short nap on the plane here. My only initial thoughts were “Wow, the weather is just like Seattle!” and “It’s really flat!” I’d say both of those probably don’t qualify as incredibly profound thoughts…. Other general thoughts – everyone here speaks English. Folks are very friendly and helpful. Public transportation is wonderful, and much cheaper than taxis (a 20 minute ride was about 40 Euro, or about $66 US. The lower value of the dollar right now makes this a very expensive place! And everyone here knows more about the US politics, and especially our upcoming election than I think many Americans know.
At the end of the day, we had dinner in a very nice place in downtown Amsterdam. We then had a nice walk to the bus station. One of our hosts was walking us to the station to make sure we didn’t get lost. The streets are very narrow, and can be confusing (imagine 36 hours no sleep, a dinner, and trying to read street signs in Dutch).
Today, we caught the train and traveled to Lelystad for a series of meetings with two of our partners. Lelystad is a small city on “reclaimed land”. This means that the entire area used to be under the sea, but sea walls were built and the land was drained. Our host said it took 10 years for the land to completely dry. The area is beautiful, but looks a lot like suburbs in the US. In fact, one of the areas we drove by was an outlet mall with many of the same stores you would see at a US outlet mall. Even the same concept, put it about 40 minutes drive away from a large city, preferably in a more rural area, and see if everyone will come. Unfortunately, from the looks of it, I think it is getting the same results. At mid-day on Friday, no one was coming. Maybe it’s busy on the weekends….
Tonight we had dinner in a restaurant in Haarlem. This is not pronounced like Harlem in New York. Double emphasize the “a”, make the “r” really hard, and almost swallow the “m”. No I won’t demonstrate when I return, as I am not able to say it correctly, although I did practice. This restaurant was across from a beautiful church. The church campanile was playing as we arrived. I hadn’t heard campanile bells since I left KU! The restaurant building was over 200 years old. It used to be a place where they printed money for Holland, and has now been turned into a hotel and restaurant. Unfortunately, it was too dark for pictures. We arrived at dinner at about 6:30, but by the time the entire process finished it was after 10pm. Dinners are long affairs here, and people generally don’t go to dinner until later. The restaurants both nights didn’t really start to fill up until 9pm. For me, that’s more like bed time!
Saturday we will have time to visit some of the sites in Amsterdam. More to follow tomorrow!Carol
At the end of the day, we had dinner in a very nice place in downtown Amsterdam. We then had a nice walk to the bus station. One of our hosts was walking us to the station to make sure we didn’t get lost. The streets are very narrow, and can be confusing (imagine 36 hours no sleep, a dinner, and trying to read street signs in Dutch).
Today, we caught the train and traveled to Lelystad for a series of meetings with two of our partners. Lelystad is a small city on “reclaimed land”. This means that the entire area used to be under the sea, but sea walls were built and the land was drained. Our host said it took 10 years for the land to completely dry. The area is beautiful, but looks a lot like suburbs in the US. In fact, one of the areas we drove by was an outlet mall with many of the same stores you would see at a US outlet mall. Even the same concept, put it about 40 minutes drive away from a large city, preferably in a more rural area, and see if everyone will come. Unfortunately, from the looks of it, I think it is getting the same results. At mid-day on Friday, no one was coming. Maybe it’s busy on the weekends….
Tonight we had dinner in a restaurant in Haarlem. This is not pronounced like Harlem in New York. Double emphasize the “a”, make the “r” really hard, and almost swallow the “m”. No I won’t demonstrate when I return, as I am not able to say it correctly, although I did practice. This restaurant was across from a beautiful church. The church campanile was playing as we arrived. I hadn’t heard campanile bells since I left KU! The restaurant building was over 200 years old. It used to be a place where they printed money for Holland, and has now been turned into a hotel and restaurant. Unfortunately, it was too dark for pictures. We arrived at dinner at about 6:30, but by the time the entire process finished it was after 10pm. Dinners are long affairs here, and people generally don’t go to dinner until later. The restaurants both nights didn’t really start to fill up until 9pm. For me, that’s more like bed time!
Saturday we will have time to visit some of the sites in Amsterdam. More to follow tomorrow!Carol
The story behind the title
You are all probably wondering why I came up with such a strange title for this blog. Back in college, I seemed to consistently lose laundry in the dorm, socks being the main item lost. After a while it became quite the joke! My roommate that year and I also seemed to collect a lot of interesting stories and observations about our classes, teachers, and campus life in general. Some of those stories are still quite funny. Others weren’t funny at the time, nor are they today, but were great life experiences that I know helped shape me, and I’m certain did the same for her.
One day we were joking around and started talking about how we should one day all write a book about our experiences, not necessarily for publication, or for anyone else to read, but just because it would be fun. We eventually got around to talking about what we might title our books. Of course it was laundry day, and after losing a few more socks in the dryer, I half out of annoyance, and half joking said I was going to call mine “The Dryer Eats My Socks.” She decided she would write the sequel, “And the Washer Spits Them Out Again”, but then decided she couldn’t really write her life experiences and say it was a sequel to mine because that didn’t make sense, so she picked a different title, although I can no longer remember what it was.
Anyway, 20 years later, the title still sticks with me, and as I will probably never actually write a book, and you can’t really title a series of individual e-mails, I figured this blog thing was a close as I’d get.
So that’s the story! Probably not as exciting as you were hoping for, but isn’t it funny the memories that stick with you for so long? I’ve long since lost track of my roommate, can’t remember any of the Calculus, German, or “Fun with Ancient Rhetoric” class I took in college that year, and still don’t know where all those socks went. Al Gore hadn’t even invented the Internet yet! But from that silly series of events 20 years ago, you get the title of this blog, and I get a chance to share a little of my life with you.
Have a great day!
One day we were joking around and started talking about how we should one day all write a book about our experiences, not necessarily for publication, or for anyone else to read, but just because it would be fun. We eventually got around to talking about what we might title our books. Of course it was laundry day, and after losing a few more socks in the dryer, I half out of annoyance, and half joking said I was going to call mine “The Dryer Eats My Socks.” She decided she would write the sequel, “And the Washer Spits Them Out Again”, but then decided she couldn’t really write her life experiences and say it was a sequel to mine because that didn’t make sense, so she picked a different title, although I can no longer remember what it was.
Anyway, 20 years later, the title still sticks with me, and as I will probably never actually write a book, and you can’t really title a series of individual e-mails, I figured this blog thing was a close as I’d get.
So that’s the story! Probably not as exciting as you were hoping for, but isn’t it funny the memories that stick with you for so long? I’ve long since lost track of my roommate, can’t remember any of the Calculus, German, or “Fun with Ancient Rhetoric” class I took in college that year, and still don’t know where all those socks went. Al Gore hadn’t even invented the Internet yet! But from that silly series of events 20 years ago, you get the title of this blog, and I get a chance to share a little of my life with you.
Have a great day!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I've Arrived!
Well sort of... I've been told that I need to fully join the 21st century, and use a blog to talk about my travels on this next trip. So for those of you who like blogs, I'm now using this. For those of you who don't, ask a kid. They'll give you instructions. Just remember though, if you're reading this, you were at least able to follow my e-mail directions well enough to get on here the first time. You may as well keep logging in.
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