The sticks
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2009
1
6
8
Trip End
Apr 25, 2009
Mongu, Zambia
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Western Province is a pretty interesting place. Even though its a provincial capital, there really isn't much to it. It is on the Zambezi river, and fishing is the big industry there - and anytime you have a fishing industry, you have a lot of AIDS. There is a huge sexual network between the fishermen and the women who get their fish and bring it to market - in fact, that's the only way women can ensure they will be provided fish to sell. Crazy.
I'm not sure if I talked about our home-based care work yet. I think I did last week when I talked about the one home visit I went on. Anyways, the idea behind home-based care is that you've got all these people who are sick with AIDS, and the home-based care worker goes and visits them. They do palliative care when needed, make sure people are adhereing to their medication, give referrals for different health services, etc. Mainly, its like medical case management. With our OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) program, we visit homes of adults who are HIV-positive and provide services to their children as well - we make sure the kids have been tested, that the kids are taking their meds if they are HIV-positive, that the kids are in school, etc.
The cool thing is that these caregivers is that they are volunteers from the community where they work, so they know everyone and its all very grass-roots. The bad thing is these caregivers are volunteers and, while some are incredibly motivated and informed, others aren't - and while some give really great, comprehensive home visits, others just ask a few questions and leave. So a big part of us going out there was to try and figure out a way to 'standardize' the home visit, and make sure that each caregiver was asking about all topics that needed to be covered.
Anyways, so the trip entailed a lot of home visits. And I have to say, I've done my share of home-visits in the past, and have spent a lot of time in rural, impoverished villages. And its always a bit sad, but never has really affected me too much, until this trip. Visiting house upon house that was built out of sticks and mud, where people are living with AIDS, they don't have enough food to make their medicine effective, their kids aren't in school, their parents are dead, and it all just seems so hopeless. Even what we're doing just seems like a somewhat meaningless drop in the bucket. The days were tough - I confess to even getting a lump in my throat on a number of occasions because the problems are so overwhelming and the solutions just seem too unrealistc. Of course there were some uplifting moments, like visiting the ex-head teacher of a school who returned to her home village after she retired and is now volunteering her time at a community school (see attached video of impossibly adorable children). And the old, blind caregiver who visits homes with the help of her (very gay) young friend. That duo was a treat. But still ... count your blessings, people. We have it good.
