roadtrip to a new life

I roadtripped 2160 miles in three days last week with my dad. It was awesome. We basically followed Route 66 from beginning to end on accident. It was also kind of a donut tour because I am obsessed with donuts and we wanted to find the best in every state. My favorite response was from a guy in New Mexico we met at Big Lots. The conversation went like this:

Dad: "Hey, do you know any good donut places around here?"
Random Guy: "Donuts? This is Albuquerque!"

OK then. I am still not quite sure what this means, other than there are apparently no donuts in Albuquerque. How sad is that? New Mexico was awesome other than that. I can see why Georgia O'Keefe spent so much time there painting landscapes. Absolutely breathtaking.

Now I am here sitting on the rather cold green and brown and black linoleum floor of my room in my new apartment, trying to build up desire to unpack and waiting for someone from comcast to come and fix my tv. There was insane thunder and lightning outside last night, I was very thankful for a roof and a warm bed. I had earl grey and honey gelato at a local neighborhood shop yesterday, and saw the gas lights that line the street outside my apartment. A cop stopped me to ask me if I was lost while I was driving in my yellow car with California plates. I guess I dont fit in! I appreciated the gesture all the same. I am trying to get involved at a church, and after going to another "first time at {insert name here} church" yesterday I have decided I am tired of being the person that keeps moving around and having to recreate a new community in new places all the time. It is exhausting. I think that will be my life for a while though, and I am so excited to be here so hopefully the feeling will pass fast.

Work starts on Thursday, and I am pretty intimidated by the massiveness of the task in front of Rebecca (my work partner) and I. I really want to do this well, and the burden of potential is lying heavy on my shoulders. I can't imagine doing anything else though, so I guess that means I am in the right place.

The Comcast guy has come and gone and my tv is fixed. i gave him a cinnamon roll I had in the fridge. He said this is his eighth stop of the day, and I am the first person to offer him food and water and he had not had anything to eat all day. He was super happy. Moral of the story: if a comcast guy comes to your house, maybe ask him if he wants a sandwich.

Eid

This has been quite the week. I said goodbye to all the fellows last Monday and headed back to California. On Tuesday evening I did a presentation at my church (Thanks you to all who came! I really appreciate it) and have been spending the last several days trying to not think about the next eight months or saying the word malaria, and failing miserably. I can't not think about all that is to come because it is so important and I am so passionate about it. Oh well.

Eid was yesterday. That is the official end of Ramadan and fasting for Muslims. My mom decided to fast with me the final four days while I was with her here, and I thought that was a really cool display of understanding. What a crazy journey the last 30 days of fasting has been! Thinking about all the weird food we ate during Ramadan in Tanzania, then our deep dish pizza morning 4 am suhoor breakfast in Chicago with all the fellows, such wonderful memories. I was sitting at a Muslim Eid service yesterday thinking about how much my perspective on what community is has changed in the past month. I felt so welcomed being there, and it was very powerful to have the shared experience of Ramadan to talk about. I was thinking about how the "me" of two months ago probably would have been super uncomfortable and confused about what was happening and not know what to think; and now I feel like I understand a little bit of their story and respect the Muslim faith so much.

I hope I continue to learn and change and grow as much in the next eight months as I have in the past two. I have a feeling the best is yet to come. I mean, I am living in Chicago with the coolest roommate in the best apartment ever working at an awesome organization. How could things not be epic?

Stay tuned. Again.

sorry!

Sorry for the lack of posting. I hate reading someone's blog and have them have a long hiatus of time. In my defense, I literally have had zero time to do anything since arriving in Chicago. We have been having eleven hour training days, and with fasting on top of that I usually just crash at the hotel every night when i get back. I dont know how much more I can cram into my brain right now. I wonder if there is a limit to new things you can learn and think about in a given period of time. I think I surpassed that about three weeks ago! But I absolutely would not have it any other way.

The last two days have been spent doing presentations in front of all the fellows and staff in our pairs for the year. What an incredible group of people I get the privilege to work with. I am continually in awe of everyone's oratory skills, and the importance of our message. Yesterday one guy quoted a Canadian olympian who said; "The hardest moment of being a gold medalist is not the moment I crossed the finish line or started training, it is the moment I realized I could be a gold medalist." I feel a burden very similar to that right now. The reality is malaria has a huge negative impact on the world and a lot of people die. It doesn't have to be this way. And it can be drastically altered in the next ten years. And faith communities play an integral role in that. It is incredibly exciting but also horribly intimidating to know that in a lot of ways we as fellows are on the forefront of that fight and that my work this year can have a significant impact in saving lives.

Whew.

In other news, Mr. Blair is awesome. We got to hang out with him the other night and he listened to a lot of our stories about our relationships across faith lines with each other, as well as what we learned in Africa. A close friend of his said he could tell that he was really inspired by the things we have been learning. So cool. He said that even though he feels he has made many mistakes, he thinks that he has maintained a sense of optimism in the face of difficulty and that is what he charges us to maintain both in the work ahead both this year and throughout our lives.

More to come. In the next few days, I promise.

reunion

Habari from Zanzibar!

After a somewhat bumpy ferry ride on which they played Home Alone on the televisions, we made it here. This beautiful island is where I am for the next (and final) three days of my trip in Africa. They successfully eradicated malaria here on Zanzibar a few years ago, and we are learning about how that happened. This place is about 98% Muslim, so it is cool walking the streets during Ramadan. A lot of restaurants say "No service during Ramadan" or "only open after sunset." It is cool to be participating with this island in their holy month, and to not have to smell the awesome seafood cooking in the restaurants until after sunset when I am allowed to eat it too!

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the trip. I got to take my whole team back to the place I lived when I was here in 2007. This meant an incredible reunion for me with several of my friends i have been keeping in touch with the past two years. One girl in particular saw me, and started running to give me a hug. She has had a baby girl since I was here who I also got to meet. I had no idea anyone else would even remember me, but some stuff I drew (maps of the US etc) was hanging in the office, and they showed me pictures of me in a slideshow. It was so wonderful to see everything again. And I surprised my host mother by quickly stopping by her house. She dropped everything she was holding and said "Amy?!" It was awesome. They also had just hired a slave girl when i was there before and she was terrified of me and spoke no english. She is now a beautiful 18 year old who greeted me in english! We also visited a local dispensary and my good friend Don told me he has had malaria 7 times. In the last year. I told him next time I come back and ask him how many times he has been sick, I want his answer to be zero. He laughed and said he wished that could be true. It was a wonderful day overall.

We also recently visited the town of Bagamoyo, where an innovative malaria vaccine trial program is underway. What struck me the most was the people who are in charge of the program. Most were female muslim scientists. I loved that. And really respected that that was happening.

I have learned a lot here in my time in africa about malaria and its drastic affects on communities, and I am excited to take that info back with me to the States. Next post will be from Chicago!

diarrhea

We went to a rural dispensary yesterday. The line outside the door was huge for basic services and medications, but Charles, the only staff member there, stopped serving the people (much to my guilt) to give us a quick tour and answer our questions. He had on the wall in his office lists for the last three years of the top ten most common sicknesses people visiting the dispensary are suffering from. Regardless of age or gender, the number one illness on every list was malaria. So frustrating. These people will be so much more free once it is gone. I asked Charles if they had any health education classes and he ushered us to the backdoor where there were about 35 mothers crowded around with their children listening to a woman holding a small baby boy named Moses who had diarrhea. The session was about the basics of diarrhea and what you do to help your children when they get it. It was fantastic to see so many people there. And they were thrilled beyond words to greet us and hear Tim, the member of our team who is best at swahili make some small talk with them. As we were leaving I saw a little boy in a Superman shirt running around with his dad waiting their turn for service. He was so cute, and the image seemed to transcend being in Africa and made me think of any little kid with his dad anywhere in the world hanging out.

We got to attend TTCIH (Tanzania Training Center for International Health--the place we are staying) graduation. It was about four hours long and completely in swahili, but it was a cool moment to witness all these eager young health care workers excited to go out all over Tanzania and do good work helping people. This place is the cream of the crop as far as teaching goes, and I am excited for what those graduates will do for their country. One of them who is going into obstetrics told me his favorite thing about being a doctor is having a woman come in to the hospital as one person and go out as two. I thought that was awesome.

We gave small presentations today to some of the main doctors that have helped us with training the last two weeks. As we stood up there in partners and shared, the lead doctor expressed how powerful it is that we are Muslims and Christians and other religions doing this together. I feel like since being here I have already forgotten how unusual this group is. They are all my friends now and of course we dont see eye to eye on theology and God, but it absolutely has not stopped us from being friends and wanting to tackle poverty and malaria together. A good reminder that this job is so important, and our working together is not the norm.

Yet.

Nazareth

We visited a leprosarium on Saturday. It was called Nazareth. Leprosy still exists in the world, but thankfully the cases are decreasing every year. I was prepared to feel very overwhelmed, but it seemed to be a place filled with hope. We were greeted upon entering by a very friendly man with no toes or fingers who showed us a new contraption that has just been invented that helps him to eat on his own. basically it is a velcro strap that ties around what is left of his hand, and then things like a toothbrush or comb or spoon can be attached to it. So cool. He modeled brushing his teeth for us very proudly. The rather abrasive and intense man who ran the leprosarium, Enoch, showed us all around and I met a bunch of people. What struck me the most was how welcoming the residents were to us. Many are staying there for the rest of their lives, and they happily showed us their beds and few possessions. I was also very impacted by the people who were working there. many had leprosy themselves (like the cook) but were serving the others and cleaning wounds. What a fantastic example of dignity. Just because someone is deemed "unfit" or "unusable" by society does not mean they cannot serve others. I saw that in action at Nazareth. And I think that plays out in lots of different situations of prejudice or misunderstanding, not just leprosy. It was a Catholic place, and I felt overall that they really caught the vision of being the hands and feet of Jesus on earth. The people who live there are people. Not hideous or forgotten creatures unworthy of anything. They had a garden overflowing with veggies, and a caring staff. Everything obviously wasnt perfect, and they are very poor, but it was a really cool place nontheless.

We went on a long hike today in the Udzungwa Mountains. We went to the top of a waterfall and looked out over sugarcane plantations and small villages. My partner and I talked to our guide a bit about malaria, and he thought that if you just drink enough water once you are sick, it will go away. I told him if he sees his friends doing this, he should tell them to go the hospital. A lot of people around here simply don't know that. Education is such a key part of ending deaths from malaria. And we had a session on anemia in class on Friday. Turns out getting rid of malaria will also cause a sharp decrease in anemia patients in the hospitals, freeing the doctors to admit more sick people.

I love being here again. I feel like I am kind of holding my breath and I am not really aware of it, and when I get to Tanzania suddenly there is this large exhale. It is really wonderful.

Time for bed. 4 am Ramadan breakfasts come early.

entomology

We learned all about the entomological side of things this week. That means we looked at a whole bunch of dead and living mosquitoes and learned all about what this facility is doing in research. It was so bazaar. I would walk up to a cage of mosquitoes, breathe, and they would all flock to the side of the cage closest to the heat from my breath. Gross. And weird that something so small can cause so much pain and death for so many. But Tanzania just received over 100 million US dollars from WHO to help get bed nets to everyone, so that is awesome news. One of WHO's directors visited this research facility run by the same people at a different location a few weeks ago and was very impressed. She says she looks forward to coming back in 2015 and celebrating the end of malaria deaths in Tanzania. Me too!

We went on rounds (kind of) with medical students on Wednesday in the hospital. I spoke with a lot of different people with all sorts of different ailments from burns to malaria to fractures. All ages. There was a painting on the wall of starving children with big red X's through them, followed by a picture of a smiling fat baby and instructions on how to get food for your kids. Probably not something I would see in the US! It is culturally normal for people to just hold hands here, but it was still kind of odd for me to be walking around this busy hospital with my male med student translator holding my hand. A typical day here is usually classes taught by the hospital doctors and researchers, and visiting the hospital wards or going and talking to kids at a nearby school.

Yesterday we went to the local mosque and spoke with the Imam and some of his assistants. They were very kind to us. He told us how he knew the mosque would be happy to help with health care needs for the community, like distributing bed nets, and they would be willing to work with the local catholic church, but they had never been asked by anyone to do so. There is so much potential there for effective change and inter-religious collaboration. It is exciting. And we took a super awesome/incredibly akward group picture afterwards that included the men and women separated by a huge amount of space and the assistant Imam staring straight at the ground. You will have to see it at some point. It kind of makes you uncomfortable just looking at it. We laughed for a long time.