Next Stop: Africa

Homeward Bound

2007-03-21T08:28:00.000-06:00

After almost 180 days away from Canadian soil, I'm about to make my triumphant return. I am in Cairo in Egpyt, sitting in a small but very slick internet cafe. It has been 6 months since I've used a computer even close to this quick... its like a home is teasing me just a little bit. Caitlin and I have spent the last 2 weeks roaming around Egypt trying to see as much as we could.

I've posted a few photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russf/sets/72157600013427371/

I'm leaving tonight and if all goes according to plan... getting home tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family, and to sleeping in my own bed. Take care, Russ.

Last day on the job

2007-03-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day in the village. It was quiet, and anti-climactic. I had a quiet day of tidying up my database project for deployment, and visiting with our home based care team one last time. I am going to miss this place. It has been an eye-opening experience to say the least.

Yesterday we took some time out to play soccer with the little kids in the daycare at the community centre. I thought I would post a final couple of photos.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Durban - the start of a 3 week trip home. We're in South Africa for another 5 days and then off to Egypt for 2 weeks of playing tourist again. Whee!

I can start to see the darkness at the end of my tunnel again :)

My HIV test

2007-03-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

3 months ago I handled a test tube marred with dried blood. The blood was being sent for CD4 counts, and was infected with HIV. I had a small open cut on the end of one finger... meaning there was a chance I was infected. It was my fault. I should have been wearing gloves.

So yesterday I got tested for HIV. In Ndawana HIV testing is not quite the same as it is in Canada. In Canada everything feels somehow detached: sterile, impersonal, and scary. In Ndawana, everything feels very real: it is dirty, personally invasive, and scary. There is a thin layer of dust covering everything. The layers of grime seems to accumulate instantly. The tester is always someone you know... in a town of 5000 people you know everyone... In my case it was Nontsikilelo, one of the ladies I've been working with for the last 4 months. Rather than send tests away to a lab, and have worrisome results relayed over the phone, in Ndawana you get to watch the HIV counsellor do the test. They explain to you how the test works. Your blood is placed on a small test tab, along with a buffer. The solution runs the length of the tab, covering two test areas. If there is a line in one test area you are HIV negative. If there are lines in both areas, you are HIV positive. It takes about 5 minutes. So for 5 minutes you have to make small talk in order to keep your mind off the test you are watching... to keep yourself from jumping to conclusions.

I'm sure the chances of me having been infected by the blood on that test tube were astronomically low... but since the van I was driving got hit by lightning last month I've stopped dismissing unlikely as impossible.

I lucked out. I only got one line. HIV negative.

Caution: Children playing...

2007-02-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun day. Edzimkulu has decided to build playgrounds for the playschool kids out of old tires. Its a fun change of pace. For our last couple of weeks here we are going to be painting tires, and digging them into the ground. This afternoon, we thought it might be fun to get the kids to help us do the painting... retrospectively, we should have bought water based paints. Whoops :)

Creepy crawlies...

2007-02-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

Coming to rural South Africa is about the people. But it turns out you have to have a pretty fair stomach for wildlife too. We've seen lots of things around the country, but this is a small sample of what we've seen at the volunteer residence....

Three weeks ago we ran into a puff adder, one of the more poisonous snakes you can find. It is estimated that 60% of snake bites deaths in Africa are attributed to this type of snake. This one was full-sized, measuring about 3 feet in length. He's the one on the left with the yellow markings. Two weeks ago I was walking out of the house when I heard what I thought was a cat hissing at me. I looked down, and low and behold - another poisonous snake - the night adder. He is relatively safe, and would prefer not to bite you. When threatened he makes a puffing sound.

Last week, noticing our nibble marks in our food - we decided to set some mouse traps. Imagine our surprise when we caught a rat the size of an eggplant.

Yesterday I was asked if I wanted to help catch a spider. I got a little container... and gasped when I saw a baboon spider. It looks like a tarantula, but has only a mildly poisonous bite. Its body is about the size of my thumb. This is a female, and it can live for up to 25 years.

The Most Racist Man in South Africa

2007-02-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

To say racism is a big issue in South Africa is a ridiculous understatement. Apartheid was one of the most reprehensible government policies in the previous century, and people who grew up under that regime are forever tainted.

Today I stopped by a repair shop to pick up a weed whacker and met the person I consider to be the most racist person I've met in my entire life. Since it wasn't me who dropped off the tool, I thought I should ask a little bit about the repairs... just in case there was anything special I should know. The owner of the shop replied: "The blacks ripped out the starter cord. If you give them a chance they will break anything... or steal it. You Canadians don't understand. But you will. Just stick around long enough..."

Before I could open my mouth, the woman behind me chimed in: "You got that right."

I briefly considered entering into philosophical debate but immediately reconsidered. I was outnumbered 5 to 1 by a queue of white South Africans and half of these guys were carrying chain saws or lawnmower parts. There was no way any amount of fast-talking from a foreigner was going to undo 40 years of ass-backwards conditioning these people had been exposed to from birth. Instead I kept my mouth shut while the two bigots exchanged stories of how "their blacks" had broken things that were previously considered unbreakable.

Its not always that overt or that extreme but racism leaks into South African life like water into a Vancouver basement.

In other news I caught an enormous spider today in one of the volunteer bedrooms. He is hairy and scary looking. I am planning to keep him long enough to identify him, so that I know whether or not he is poisonous. Pictures to come soon.

Stitches

2007-02-16T03:49:00.000-07:00

Photo stitching is a poor man's way to build a wide-angle shot. With a digital camera, its pretty easy if you have a snappy software program, like adobe photoshop. I have been experimenting with photo stitching since I got here 4 months ago. In some cases,you can see lines where the adjacent photos didn't line up as nicely as hoped... in others it is virtually seemless. I thought it would be neat to share some of my favorite stitches.

Blyde Canyon is located in Northern South Africa. We were told it was the 2nd largest canyon in the world (next to the Grand Canyon).

The road to Ndawana (the village where we volunteer) was often covered by incredible storm clouds. While it is winter back home, it is still summer here, and afternoon thunder storms are a daily occurence. This is a 180 degree panorama. I love the fish-eye distortion of the foreground.

The community centre is the signature achievement of Edzimkulu to date. It hosts the library, the clinic, the office, and the daycare (the creche). In this shot you can make out 3 of the four buildings, along with the battery of solar panels between the buildings.

Table Mountain stands over Capetown, as the high point of the ridge that runs down to the southern most tip of Africa. This photo was taken during a marvellous sunset, shot away from Capetown over the Atlantic ocean.

Douglas Drift is where Chris and Jim Newton make their home. They host all of the Edzimkulu volunteers just south of Underberg. This is a view from just below their patio. You can see the charity's namesake, the Umzimkulu river. Though you can't make it out from this angle, Giant's cup - one of the more famous mountain features in the area is visible from the patio.

The day of the daycare graduation, hundreds of people came to the community centre to celebrate. A special tent was erected next to the centre to accomodate the event. This is a 360 degree panorama.

Thanda's funeral (as referred to in the previous post) was a very sad day for the volunteers. We were each allowed to drop a handful of soil on the coffin as the burial process began.

This final panorama stitch was taken from the 4th camp on Mt. Kilimanjaro, roughly 4000m above sea level. At this altitude, I found I had a constant throbbing in my head, and I was winded while attempting anything as strenuous as sitting up. This photo was my very first attempt at stitching. It is a 360 degree shot of the sunset.

Sad times

2007-02-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a sad day. We have just returned from a trip to the village of Ndawana for the funeral of one of our co-workers named Thanda. The beautiful, bright young lady of 32 was taken from us by HIV, another victim of terrible plague afflicting the region. Thanda had been reluctant to start ARV treatment, as the admission of her HIV status would have been a crushing blow to her mother.

It is a powerful and digusting thing to imagine an AIDS stigma so strong that someone who is paid to teach others about the condition is unwilling to undergo the treatment necessary to save her own life. Throughout December she was active and filled with vitality. By mid-January she had lost the strength to walk around, and was having trouble keeping down food, water or medication. She grew emaciated, her eyes sunken, her skin loose. By February she was gone.
Over the past 3 months since I arrived in late October, there have been 5 HIV related deaths in Ndawana. When Jim and Chris arrived here 3 years ago, it was common to have up to 8 funerals in a week. I suppose it is positive to think that the increased access to the health system and the distribution of ARVs are making a big difference in the lives of the people who are still around. People are living longer, and being HIV positive is not the death sentence it used to be. Somehow that doesn't feel like it helps when you lose someone you know and care about.

How to Drive in South Africa

2007-02-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

South Africa is widely known as one of the more dangerous places in the world to drive. The process of obtaining a driver's license is riddled with corruption at all levels... which I find to be shockingly absurd. Most of the people who have licenses got them by bribing an offical with the board of transport (I swear I'm not making this up). Up until recently, drinking and driving was frowned upon instead of punished, and from what I've seen, I believe most of the people believe the new stiffer regulations to be unfair. In protest to the new laws, they drink. And then they drive home. And to make matters worse, the roads in the rural areas are terrible. Some of the potholes on highways so large that I'm sure you could lose a tire in them. There are no gravel roads - just dirt roads (or mud roads if you catch them in the rain).

In the past three months Caitlin has had three flat tires, and a busted alternator. I have also had a flat tire, and last week I was driving the van when it got hit by lightning. I'm still trying to decide whether that was lucky or unlucky. It seems like it could go either way... lucky that all 15 people in the van made their way home from the hospital safely.... unlucky because the lightning fried a bunch of electrical stuff.

Working in a rural community involves a lot of driving. If we aren't moving people, we're moving food, or supplies... I got my driver's license at the tender age of 25 which meant that for several years, my good friends did a lot of picking me up and dropping me off. In a twist of cosmic justice, since coming to Africa, it seems as though all I do is drive other people around.

Just in case you decide to pop by for a visit:

Rule 1: Picking sides
Make sure you stay on the left side of the road.
The right side of the road is the wrong side to drive on.

Rule 2: Picking up strangers
Hitch-hiking in Canada is a thing of the past. Hitch-hiking in South Africa is how 90% of the people get around. Most people cannot afford to drive, and the road conditions make cycling quite impractical. Its quite common to have 8 to 10 people in the back of a pickup truck.

Rule 3: Passing
If someone is roaring up behind you, feel free to pull into the shoulder to let them pass. There are 3 sets of lines between each the lanes (1 more than I'm used to), and no one seems to have figured them out yet. So instead of using the lane dividing lines, most people use common sense. If the truck coming up behind you is bigger and faster, then get out of the way.

Information tracking in rural Africa

2007-02-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

READER'S NOTE: This post is a little on the technical side, so for those of you looking for a human interest story please scan down to one of the previous posts.

One of the projects I am supposed to complete during my stint in Africa is an information system to track people's health, and other relevant community statistics. Lots of great information had already been collected through numerous initiatives. The bits and pieces ranged from:

HIV testing records

orphans being fed by our orphan support program

orphan caregivers running on low budgets

persons who can or should apply for government grants

transport rosters to the hospital

basic contact information

We also wanted in include the new things we knew we were going to start measuring such as:

CD4 count levels

baseline blood statistics (LFTs, AMYLASE)

patient notes (from a doctor or nurse)

along with anything else that might arise.

The only critical design constraint was simplicity. Anything I would build would have to be so simple to explain, understand and use that the most novice computer user could pick it up. Most of the people in Ndawana have never seen a computer, let alone used one. Most of the volunteers with the organization are veteran computer users, but very few have had experience in a database environment.

This is the simplest I could conceive.
There are three main elements in the data model: people, events, and relationships.

These primary elements allow us to track almost all of the information we currently collect, and to connect them. It also enables us to do more robust data analyses, along with some basic genealogy. This simple database should replace countless paper lists, and summary level spreadsheets that have been used in the past 3 years. It should (fingers crossed) also be flexible enough to cpature information in a changing environment.

At this point the data prototype includes information on approximately half of the population. To date, I would hazard a guess that about 80% of my work on the project has been data entry related :) The prototype is a Microsoft Access solution, which will probably be sufficient for the short-term until the information needs change.

The model will be shared with all of the local clinics. In many of the local communities, there are no electronic files at all - just paper records. This would be a nice step forward. If I get a chance I will post a copy of the prototype once its finalized.

ARV rollout day!

2007-01-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a very big day in Ndawana.

Today Dr. Pitt, the doctor who attends to clinics in the local area, came to the community center to distribute Anti-Retroviral drugs to 17 patients. He has committed to return to the clinic every month to continue supporting these people along with any other patients that we can transfer into his care.

In total there are 80 patients in the village that are on some sort of ARV treatment. There are an additional 200 or so people that are known to be HIV positive that will eventually require some sort of ARV treatment. It is estimated there are roughly 1000 people who are HIV positive that we haven't yet tested who will also eventually require treatment.

This giant leap is important for a number of reasons:

For the people of Ndawana it improves the level of service to the patients. Rather than having to travel 100 km to collect pills, they can walk down the street to collect them.

For Edzimkulu it will help to alleviate some of the pressure of transporting people to the hospital every week. While hospital trips are always going to be important, it is not practical to continue to move vans jam packed with people order to pick up pills.

For the village, Edzimkulu and our interaction with the government: it is a very positive step towards being granted official clinic status by the Department of Health. This is a major piece of ammunition in the battle to attain some sort of political status from the powers that be in South Africa.

Today was a very big day in Ndawana.
It was really special to be a part of it.

HIV, ARVs and other scary medical acronyms

2007-01-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

In North America, HIV and AIDS seem to has-been discussion topics. You barely hear them mentioned anymore. I must admit that before I came to Africa I knew very little of HIV treatment. I had heard something about some sort a 'cocktail', but I didn't really know what that meant.

The impact of HIV and the spread of AIDS has been revolutionized by the distribution of Anti-RetroViral Therapy, sometimes called ARVs or ART. An HIV infection can take years to develop into full blown AIDS, at which point the body deteriorates rapidly. In North America, it is sometimes called an ARV cocktail because several drugs are used in conjunction. These drugs, taken daily for the rest of a person's life can take someone who is bed-ridden, weak and emaciated, and return them to living a healthy normal life. You can think of it a little like a car battery. When the battery is on its last legs, you might need to give it a boost. If the car gets a chance to run for a while, it will often charge the battery to the point where it is functioning regularily again.

ARVs are not a cure for AIDS. Once you get HIV, you have it for good. But consider the mother of a family of small children. If she passes away tomorrow, all of her children are orphaned. If she can extend her life by a year or two or maybe even 10, it makes a big difference to her family. In Ndawana alone, we estimate that there are between 300 and 400 children have been orphaned by AIDS. That's getting dangerously close to 10% of the total population. The majority of them live with Grandmothers (called GoGos) or other relatives, though in some of the sadder cases you see the older children raising their brothers and sisters.

Before Edzimkulu got involved 3 years ago, the following steps would have been required in order to get ARV treatment.

-Get tested for HIV
-Get your CD4 count tested
-Get your baseline bloods done
-Go to a literacy class on positive living
-Go to a literacy class on drug readiness
-Go to a literacy class on ARV adherence
-Get your first treatment

None of this was available in Ndawana. Each of these would have required a separate trip to the hospital 100km away, which would cost roughly 1/4 to 1/2 of a months salary for those people who happened to be employed (which are the minority). The literacy classes are not offered at regular intervals. If you showed up to get tested for HIV and it was obvious that you were infected with HIV and in need of treatment, in a best case scenario, you might have been able to get drugs in 3 to 4 months. 3 years ago before Edzimkulu was established, most of the people who passed away, died knowing what was killing them but were unable to move through the system fast enough to get treatment.

Today Edzimkulu does each of the first 6 items right in the village at the community centre. It is feasible to be seeing the doctor to be initiated on drugs with a single trip to the hospital only 2 weeks after the very first HIV test. With free weekly trips to the hospital, and a strong relationship with the department of health, the death rate due to HIV related illness in the village has dropped by 75%. Next year is going to be a big year for us. We are aiming to raise money to buy equipment to do blood testing locally in Underberg, meaning that wait times may disappear altogether - not only for the people of Ndawana, but the people in the entire district.

But its still an uphill battle. To date our team of home based careworkers have tested almost 1000 people from the population of 5000. Our estimates are that roughly 30% of the overall group are HIV positive, which means there are still more than 1000 of the remaining 4000 who need to get on some sort of treatment regimen before its too late.

There are many reasons the spread of HIV continues. Monogamous marriages are uncommon in Africa. In fact in the past, it was quite common for men to have multiple wives, let alone mistresses. contraception is virtually unheard of in most of the rural areas. In those areas where it is known, it is often frowned upon. And to make matters worse the poverty is so extreme it is acceptable for women to resort to prostitution to earn a living.

HIV and AIDS will continue to destroy lives for generations to come until there is a base level of understanding about how the disease works and how it can be controlled. No matter how much time we spend providing band-aids, we all know we are only putting off the bigger problems. Going forward in the next 3 years, the organization's main efforts will to be spent on educating and saving those people who are still HIV negative.

For more information on HIV and AIDS in Africa, I highly recommend reading Race Against Time by Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy on AIDS in Africa.

Tourist adventures

2007-01-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and I have returned safely from our trip around South Africa. We travelled on a backpacker bus, staying in hostels in seven different locations: Durban, Coffee Bay, Port Elizabeth, Storms River, Knysna, Stellenbosch and Capetown. Playing tourist for a couple of weeks opened our eyes to the other side of South Africa. It would have been nice to spend more time getting to know the country, but we didn't want to cut away too much of our volunteer time.

Durban is a city of 3 million people, of which 1.3 million are Indian - making it the largest Indian population outside of India. It is located on the coast, and gets some very nice weather. We stopped in to see Ushaka (the South African equivalent of sea world). It was pretty neat to see some of the same stuff we had seen whilst snorkelling and diving in Zanzibar. We managed to get lost looking for a restaurant we were stopped by an off duty police man... off duty because he had been shot 11 times trying to catch car jackers. What a crazy city.

We spent New Years in a place called Coffee Bay. Unfortunately the backpacker lodge ran out of food, so we were treated to peanut butter and jam sandwiches for dinner. The backpackers put on a bit of a party with a fire dancing fellow, some African drummers, and a DJ. Before we left we went to see the Hole in the Wall, which we were told was one of the "must see" monuments the country has to offer.

Storms River is a natural paradise in South Africa - a part of the Garden Route. It reminded me a little of home. There are huge forests everywhere, and some nice walks along the coast through the Tsitsikamma national park. We took the opportunity to go on a canopy tour on zip lines through the tree tops. I also got to try the worlds highest commercial bungy jump of 216m... And we visited the "big tree", which is apparently the biggest tree in Africa. They say you need 8 people hand in hand to make your way around the base of it. They estimate it is 800 years old...

Capetown is a beautiful city. Table mountain, in the middle of the city offers incredible views of the city, the ocean and the sunset. Just outside the city you can visit Stellenbosch, the heart of the wine growing industry in South Africa. We spent an afternoon at the Kristenbosch gardens, which is quite similar to Stanley Park in Vancouver. We also visited the Cape Point - which is the southern most tip of Africa, and saw African penguins at Boulders Beach.

The most exciting part of the trip for me was going cage diving with great white sharks. They say December and January are the worst months to go, but we didn't have any trouble finding these guys. Predators from days gone by, they are usually around 4 m in length (about 13-14 feet). Cage-diving is somewhat controversial. Some people say shark diving is disturbing the shark's natural feeding patterns, causing an increase in the number of shark attacks on humans. The shark tour guides claim that the increase is due to increased populations of seals competing for food, and a general growth in the shark population due to restrictive fishing laws. In any event, the boat drags bait to attract sharks and then the tour guides pull the bait in front of the shark cage so you can get ringside seats to the action. The water was a touch murky (you could only see about 2m (6 feet) out into the ocean, but that is plenty far enough. These monsters come up looking for the bait and thrash around right in front of you. They are incredibly fast, and are downright violent. I got a few pictures with a disposable underwater camera, but they don't really do justice to the shivers that run up your spine when something 4 times your size breezes by silently inches from your face, looking for a lunch date.

Where the heck are we?

2006-12-27T04:14:00.000-07:00

In my recent posts, I have mentioned the names of places in South Africa. Unfortunately, most of them are quite small and don't show up on a map. Thank goodness for Google. I have doctored a couple of maps in order to give you a better idea of where I am.

We are working in South Africa, the southern most country in Africa.

The nearest major city is Durban, located on the eastern coast of South Africa. Pietermaritzburg is also in the immediate vicinity (150 km away), though it is a much smaller city.

We are located near the border of the country of Lesotho, which is a country nestled in the Drakensburg mountains. It is almost like a political island, bordered on all sides by South Africa.

There are three important Edzimkulu related landmarks that don't show up on the majority of maps.

Underberg (the volunteer residence) is a small town. It is a popular holiday spot for outdoorsy types, as it sits at the foot of the mountains.

Ndawana (the Village), which is often written as either Indawane, or Indawana, is where we go to volunteer. Despite having a population of approximately 5,000, it is almost impossible to find a map showing its location.

Centecow (St. Appollonaris Hospital) is the nearest hospital. We make a trip there once a week to transport people for medical care.

At least that's where we've been for the last 2 months. For the first couple of weeks of January, we will be touring down the coast to see other parts of the country before we hit the volunteering home stretch. And then at the beginning of March we leave for Egypt.

Christmas in South Africa

2006-12-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and I just spent our very first Christmas away from home. It was an absolutely perfect day, with blue skies and sunshine.

Our morning was exciting. We went to the village to drop off some chicken and cake at the orphan house, for their Christmas dinner. The orphan house is a very recent development for Edzimkulu. It was late November when the first three orphans moved in, Zinkle, Toghozo, and Emilhe.

The kids waited until we pulled in at 8am to open their Christmas presents. It was a lot of fun to see them open everything. We bought them new clothes. I can remember dreading getting clothes for Christmas. These guys loved their new threads.

Originally we had intended to bring in our gingerbread house. Unfortunately there was a bit of an accident. When we started icing the roof on Christmas morning, we inadvertently collapsed the roof! Now we have a fridge full of gingerbread house parts... which is really nothing to complain about :)

We were hoping we would get to see a Zulu Christmas service, but we had some trouble sorting out exactly where and when to go. We settled on coming home early to have a beer and do a little tanning on the lawn.

For everyone back home, Merry Christmas.

Wednesdays...

2006-12-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

I thought maybe I would walk through a day in the life of the volunteer for those of you craving a more complete picture of what Edzimkulu is doing here.

Wednesdays are busy days. Wednesdays are patient transport days between Ndawana and the nearest hospital St. Appollonaris. In order to make sure everyone gets through the queues to get treatment, it means we need to get there as early as possible.

Last week on this trip, the VW minibus bounced over a rock and dented the aluminum rim flattening the tire. Since then, the van has been running on the spare. VW rims are hard to come by in South Africa, so a replacement tire is at least a week away. This means we will have to put a tube in the dented rim to use in the event of an emergency, while the usual spare is pressed into full-time duty.

It is 5am. I need to figure out how we can get the newly tubed tire into the spot for the spare into its carrying space under the front of the vehicle. After a half hour of battling, I decide that this tubed tire is thicker than our usual spare. It simply doesn't fit. I should have stayed in bed...

It is 6am. Caitlin leaves Underberg for the village. Patients requiring critical care, and those on Anti-Retroviral Treatment for HIV will be waiting on the side of the road near their homes. She will arrive in the village near 7am, and will be fully loaded by 7:30am. A second vehicle is hired every week in order to maximize the number of people who will get to the hospital.

It is 7:30am. I leave for Underberg. In addition to being a hospital transport day, this is a day that a South African volunteer doctor, Dr. Biaggio, comes into the village for the day to see patients. Most of these patients do not have a pressing need to go to the hospital but still require medical care. He also sees those patients who cannot make the full day trip to and from the hospital. We pick him up because the roads out to the village are so bad, he would be sacrificing his car. Dr. Biaggio is a kind soul, with an intimate working knowledge of the Intuit product lineup. He is a passionate Quicken user, and an apologetic Quickbooks abandonner.

It is 9:00am. By the time we finally roll into the village, there are many people waiting to see the doctor. My day will be spent taxiing those people who are not mobile enough to make it to the clinic themselves. I have a small gang of children who are very excited to come with me. My first stop is Mr J. Mr. J had a stroke a couple of years ago, and has lost the ability to move the left side of his body. He has gradually been losing strength in his right side. He doesn't understand English and I don't understand Zulu, but we seem to get along pretty well. He is missing about 90% of his teeth, but that doesn't stop him from grinning whenever he can tell I've tried to make a joke. Mr. J has a wheelchair, so I get to wheel him from his house to the truck, and then from the truck to the clinic. The truck the clinic bit is tricky... I have to negotiate 20m of downhill through the mud and grass.

My second pickup is Mr. B. Like Mr. J, Mr. B has mobility problems. He is a giant man with am incredible smile. He and I have never met, but I have instructions to go find him. I pull the truck up about 2m away from him. Once I see him hobbling towards me supported by his cane, I decide I should pull in closer, in order to save time. Once inside the vehicle, I have to lift his legs into the truck one at a time. Mr.B used to be a construction supervisor. His english is quite good, but he is shy about using it because he makes mistakes. He has a fantastic nature, and we laugh and joke most of the way to the clinic. I drop him off about 20m away from the doors. At his regular walking rate, I estimate it will take about an hour of hard work for him to get inside. It doesn't seem fair. I make my way into the clinic, and swindle Mr. J's wheelchair away from him for 10 minutes so that I can wheel in Mr. B. This guy thought it was hilarious. He laughed like a little kid, the whole time... even when I slipped out of my flip flops and just about rolled him off the ramp into the rocks.

My third pickup was a three older ladies with various problems. The big highlights were when I started to ask them if I could take their pictures. The digital camera is a huge hit. Everyone wants you to take their picture all the time. They love being able to see the picture on the little view screen. Technology is slowly making its way out into the village. Cell phones and radios are the two most widely spread electronic devices. But cameras are luxury items. If you had enough money to buy a digital camera, you probably wouldn't be living in Ndawana.

It is 3:00pm and Dr. Biaggio has seen 30 patients, and is ready to go home. We drop off a group of about 10 people on the other side of the village in the Ngwagwane neighborhood. The town is quite spread out, and for most of these people it is probably a 5km walk from the community centre back home.

It is 4:00pm and I have arrived home safely. I have a few minutes to grab a snack and catch up on a couple of emails.

It is 5:30pm. Caitlin is returning from the hospital and is coming through Underberg with a van full of patients heading home. I meet her there to relieve her of driving duties. It will be dark soon and we generally prefer not to have women driving alone at night for obvious reasons. By the time I meet up with her, it has started raining. There is a thunderstorm almost every night in this region, as moist air from the coast is trapped against the mountain escarpment next to us. The highlight of the trip is a close call where the rear tire of the van goes over a muddy bit of the road which falls away on contact. For an instant it felt as though the van was going to end up in the ditch, but thankfully we slid through safely.

It is 7:30pm. I have finally made my way back home.

Most of the days out here aren't quite so hectic. Things will be much more regular once January rolls around and a full contingent of volunteers arrive. It will be a relief to have some extra hands around here again...

Caitlin and I have baked gingerbread to build a gingerbread house for the orphans for Christmas tomorrow. I will be sure to send pictures as soon as I'm able.
Happy Christmas Eve!

The Butterfly House

2006-12-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

We took a bit of a break this weekend, and went to visit the thriving metropolis of Pietermaritzburg. With a population of around 250,000 and only a couple of major streets, it felt a little bit like going to Red Deer for the weekend.

But it was far from disappointing. Pietermaritzburg is host to several very interesting historical monuments, a lovely art gallery, a fantastic zulu market, and (my personal favorite) - a butterfly house. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

There was also a separate section with Tamarind monkeys. These little fellows are native to Columbia and are quickly becoming endangered. This exhibit is part of a breeding program to help try to bolster the population. You can walk right up and touch them...

On a vaguely related note, here are a couple of links to the websites of Rob Cooper - one of the fellows from our Hands Across Africa group. Rob maintains a couple of websites:

Fat Loss Blog

Rob Cooper

And then there were 2

2006-12-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

At the end of November, Chris and Jim (our fearless leaders) abandonned us in search of fun and adventure. Looking to get away for the month of December, they packed their things into the tiny Uno, and made their way to the coast. Caitlin and I were left on our own to manage the operations of Edzimkulu (and the Newton residence) in their absense. For the month of December, we would be the only Canadian volunteers working in Ndawana.

And that's when the trouble started.

We were thrown into a Department of Health meeting, the morning Jim and Chris left. The Department was demanding applications by NGOs for funding for Home Based Care programs by Tuesday of the following week. On the one hand Edzimkulu had been hoping for an announcement like this for the past year. On the other, Caitlin and I were forced to drop everything we were doing to begin drafting a reasonable application.

But we managed.

However, while were at said meeting a construction crew came by the volunteer residence (the Newton's home) to remove some debris. The crew inadventently pulled up some stuff just under the surface layer of soil...

The main plumbing line to the house ruptured.
Then the power in our living space was pulled up.
Then the washing machine broke down.
Then the tractor needed new parts.
Then the solar batteries started to move into the red zone.
Then the van got a flat tire on the way to the hospital.
Then I ran over the cell phone with the van (whoops).
Then we were pulled over by the police and we forgot our passports back at home!

Last weekend was the kicker. We had promised the 9 ladies who work in our home based care program that we would take them to Durban for the weekend (about 250km away). The weather gods frowned upon us, and threw rain and fog in our path. But our years of training in Canadian snow storms paid off. Our windshield wipers stopped working on the way home, and we were forced to peer through a window glazed by a thin wall of water for the remainder of the trip. White knuckle driving at its finest.

But we made it home.

And the plumbing line was repaired.
And the electrician fixed the power.
And the tractor parts were finally acquired.
And the solar batteries are getting closer to the proper charge.
And the van is running on its spare while a new rim is on order.
And the SIM card from the phone survived (while Chris and Jim purchased two new phones), meaning no real harm was done...
And the cops let us go with a stern warning about carrying your passports whilst abroad.

And if we can manage to load the super-extra-capacity, really-heavy-looking washing machine into the back of the truck tomorrow, and drag it 5km into town then we should finally be back at square one.

This busy pair of weeks also included all the regular stuff... carting food into 100 orphan families, making two day-long trips to the hospital, and collecting blood samples to be transported to Underberg...

Caitlin and I will be spending Christmas dog-sitting here at the Newton's ranch. It will be the first time either of us have been away from our families for the holidays. It will be tough to be so far away, and not to get to go through all of the wonderful ceremony that comes with Christmas... But then again, it will probably be sunny and +30 here. :)

Working for free has never been so much fun

2006-12-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Up until know I have been writing about my travels and adventures. I wanted to share a little bit about what kind of work I'm doing here.

I'm working with a group called Edzimkulu, an Edmonton based charity geared towards helping children who are affected by HIV. It was started by, the Newtons, a couple from Edmonton who decided to move to South Africa in 2003. They host people from Edmonton in their home in the South African town of Underberg to help people in the village of Ndawana, a beautiful little village of 5000, absolutely ravaged by HIV, and forgotten by the government. It is located approximately 45km away. Jim is a former University professor / Dean of Student Services, while Chris is a former project manager and sessional lecturer with the greenest thumb you've ever seen.

In the past 3 years they've done many things, though there are 3 signature projects which have really changed lives in Ndawana.

1) Constrution of the Community Centre. This is a collection of 4 buildings, which serve as a clinic, a library, a day care and orphan support centre, and a facility for light industrial training. Powered by donated solar panels, it is one of the few buildings in the region with full-time electricity.

2) The Container project. In March 2006, a railway container was shipped from Edmonton to Ndawana, filled with goods donated by generour Edmontonians. It included all sort of things from books, to bikes, to sewing machines, to clothes... The most popular items were the giant sign board, and the piano.

3) The documentation project. One of the first things the Canadians did was to do a census of the population to collect information about the people in the village. This information is invaluable in terms of deciding what types of projects to undertake... deciding how to help the people who need the most help.

I am working on a couple of projects here. The first is to create an information system to track people, and their health. Very few of the hospitals or clinics here maintain their records electronically. I am hoping this will be a big step for the people of Ndawana, and a small step for the neighboring health institutions - who should be able to replicate the model relatively easily. I'm hoping to have a working prototype ready for the beginning of January.

I will also be evaluating alternative methods of communication to the community centre. At present, there are no phone lines into the region, and the cellphone coverage is meager at best. There are a few products on the market that will help improve poor cell coverage, but I'm still not sure which one will best meet our needs.

But both of those projects are 2nd priority projects, occupying no more than half of my time. The other half is spent on some of the more regular tasks around the village which are more critical or time sensitive. These include things such as:

* shuttling people from the village to the hospital:
It is a weekly 100km trip, with 20 people shoved into an 8 person van, with the stickiest transmission you've ever seen. We try to divide the trip up into chunks, in order to make the day more manageable.

* moving blood from the village to the local clinic:
Since I've been here, we've been given permission to draw blood in Ndawana. Drawing blood for blood tests is necessary to monitor the condition of HIV patients. Your blood test determines your relative health. When you drop below a certain level (cd4 count below 200), then it is necessary to start Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). This will help you to stave off moving from HIV to full-blown AIDS. Its a big step for us, not only because moving blood is a lot easier than moving people, but because we're working towards being sanctioned as a medical clinic funded by the local government (as opposed to funded by charitable donations). Unfortunately, since we're a low budget operation, we can't always afford the nicest supplies. Here is the cold bag we use to move the blood.

* orphan feeding:
Edzimkulu provides food to 180 orphans in the village. The families are supporting orphans and are in desperate need of assistance. Every month, we pick up hundreds of kilos of food, in Underberg and bring it in to the village 45km away. Based on some back of the envelope math, the food we bring costs less that R2 per day per child... approximately $0.30 CDN. $10 will provide food for the child for one month. Today was an orphan feeding day.

I've had to do a couple of other odds and ends, including assembling a roto-tiller, filling out grant applications, and photocopying (finally something I'm qualified to do). It looks like I may luck out and get to do some bookkeeping too, if I play my cards right. A couple of weeks ago there was a graduation for the kids in the "creche" (the daycare that is a part of the community centre). This is shot of Jim doing protrait shots.

Happy Birthday!

2006-11-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

I have recently had the pleasure of celebrating my 29th birthday. For the past month, and for the next 3 upcoming months, we have been staying near a town called Underberg, doing work in a nearby village called Ndawana about 50km away. One of the recent pilot projects is an outreach program, whereby the people trained in HIV testing from Ndawana travel to surrounding villages to do testing. The only catch is that none of the testers can drive. Caitlin drew the short straw, and was the designated driver to a town just past Creighton, which is approximately 70km away, and about 50km from the nearest major centre, Ixopo, (pronounced e-"click"-opo) a city named for the sound a horse's hoof makes when it leaves the mud.

Did I mention that Caitlin has bad luck with vehicles? For the second day in a row Caitlin got stuck in the VW Combi van, with a group of five ladies and one fellow. The alternator was fried, and the van wouldn't run for more than about 100 yards at a time. So off we went to rescue her. Well actually, Jim went out to rescue her, and I tagged along.

Unlike most places in Canada, if you leave a van on the side of the highway in the evening, there is a good chance you will find it stripped of parts by morning... if you find it at all. So we towed the van to the police station in Creighton and began our slow journey home in a small Mazda pickup truck (in South Africa people call them bahkis). With a total of 9 people in the car, four of us were forced to ride in the box of the truck. I was riding with 3 ladies: Nobudlhadlha, Babaloa, and Noncyeba (where the c is pronounced like the clicking sound you would make to call a horse). These three ladies are part of the Edzimkulu home based carer team. They work part-time (about 25 hours a week) for 600 rand a month. It equates to roughly $100... so if you do the math it works out to about $1 per hour. Their job is to mind an area of the community of about 500 people, and to ensure that those people who need medical aid are treated through either the community centre clinic, the monthly mobile clinic or the hospital 100kms away. Each of them is in the mid twenties and has at least one child. They are the sweetest ladies you could hope to meet. At least, I think they are... My zulu is coming along exceptionally slowly, and I can only understand them when they're speaking English :)

As we pulled out of Creighton, these three ladies heard it was my birthday and belted out the loudest version of Happy Birthday I've heard in the longtime.

I realized (again) that I am lucky to be here.
The people here genuinely celebrate life.
I have a lot to learn from them.

Weekend in Lesotho

2006-11-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

The kingdom of Lesotho (pronounced Le-soo-thoo) is a small country nestled in the Drakensburg mountains. It is wholly surrounded by South Africa. Throughout the tumultous history of the country, Lesotho remained autonomous; the protection of the surounding mountains acting as natural fortress. We came up to Lesotho through the Sani Pass, a route you are not allowed to attempt unless your vehicle is equipped with 4 wheel drive.

The country is unspoiled. There are amazing mountain views in all directions. We visited on a "cultural tour", meaning we had the opportunity to view some singing, dancing, and local handiwork. On the second day, we had a chance to go pony-trekking around the mountains. The big tourist attraction is the "highest pub in Africa".

Most of the homes are round huts made of stone with thatch roofing. The water is sourced from many local streams, fed by the regular rainfall, as the escarpment traps the passing humidity. There are no power stations nearby, though the odd home is equipped with some sort of generator. Most of the cooking is done using a wood burning or propane stove. Very few people can afford to drive... The roads we used were primarily frequented by sheperds moving sheep to be sheered or by travellers on horseback as opposed to vehicles. Prices of consumer goods are very low compared to Canada, reflective of the difference in wages. If we were to put it in terms of how long it would take someone in Canada to earn a full month's wages in Lesotho, most people would be done before lunch time on the first day of the month. At minimum wage, you would earn it at the end of a single 8-hour day.

It is a throw back to simpler times.

Safari through Kruger Park

2006-10-26T12:48:00.001-06:00

This is sooo exciting. I finally figured out how to get pictures loaded in bulk. I've loaded photosto http://flickr.com/ under the username russf.com.

For our first 4 days in South Africa, we went on a safari through Kruger park. We weren't quite sure what to expect, and we were a little worried we might have made the wrong decision when we saw some of the incredible pictures our friends took on safaris through Tanzania and Rwanda.

We were phenomenally lucky. Most people go out looking for the "big five" (originally chosen by English hunters as the most dangerous animals you can hunt). They are: elephants, rhinos, water buffalo, lions and leopards. We saw 3 of the big 5 in our first 15 minutes in the park. The leopard sighting was the most incredible.

Leopards are very hard to spot (terrible pun, I know). Usually you see them in the distance, in a tree - and then you can only see a tail or a leg or something. This one walked right in front of our van and then strolled off into the bushes.

We also saw a small family of cheetahs. Apparently there are only 200 cheetahs in the park (which is 20,000 km square), so the chances of seeing one is virtually zero.

At one point we came across a couple of male elephants pushing each other around. They weren't exceptionally violent, but they did put on quite a show.

Towards the end of our safari, we went in an open vehicle through a private game park - where people keep a selected group of animals. Its not entirely natural, and things are a little easier to spot. This is where we saw the elusive pangolin. Our guide said no one ever sees the pangolin. It is like an armadillo of some sort - with scales and stuff. We scared it a little and it rolled up into a ball.

The evenings were split between a couple of nights in a tent in a fenced in area of Kruger park, and then a luxurious game lodge. It was an unbelievable trip. This is the kind of adventure that makes everyone feel like they are 5 years old. We had a blast on the safari
You should be able to see all of my pictures here.
http://flickr.com/photos/87095495@N00/

I've only uploaded about 100 of the 1300 or so that I took and I've only uploaded low res versions. If you want a copy of a higher res version, please let me know, and I'll see if I can repost it.

I've been in Underberg for almost a week now. I believe most of the posts from here out will revolve around the volunteer experience. It has been very exciting so far... I'll write more soon :)

Zanzibar

2006-10-21T09:17:00.000-06:00

The name Zanzibar means "island of the blacks". It is just off the east coast of Africa, just off the coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar was a major slave trading port for the Arabs from the 1500s to the late 1800s. Nowadays it is more of a resort island, where people from around the world stop to take a break and enjoy the white sand beaches and the clear blue water. Zanzibar is famous for its doors - which are primarily Arab inspired from times long forgotten.

Our stop in Zanzibar was 6 days. We spent three on a fantastic beach on the north shore, and three in the major centre: Stone town. We did some fantastic snorkelling and some scuba diving, and we saw all kinds of fish I've only seen in the pet store... clown fish, parrot fish, lion fish, cuttle fish, a pipe fish, and a tiny little stingray. I felt like a little kid again.

We also went on a spice tour - where you get to see how many of the spices we use are grown. We saw stuff like vanilla, cocoa, pepper, vanilla, and cardamon. Our spice tour guide was a very interesting fellow (who overused the term "simply divine"). He spoke 6 languages but was frustrated because he was only qualified to conduct spice tours... I couldn't believe it.

Our final stop was at the monument dedicated to the slave markets. We had a guide walk us through the place where slaves were kept before sale. It was hard to believe people could treat other people so ruthlessly. 75 people were kept underground in a space no more than 3 feet tall, and maybe 80ft square. Wretched. Disturbing.

The full set of Zanzibar photos can be viewed here:

Zanzibar photos

Kilimanjaro... to Zanzibar

2006-10-09T11:11:00.000-06:00

The mighty hike of Mt. Kilimanjaro finished yesterday. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. You have a number of potential climbing routes. The one we chose was a 7 day hike, 5 days and one night going up, and 2 days coming down. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa, at 5895m - one of the world's largest dormant volcano. I am eager to share pictures and stories about the whole trip but for now, I will keep my stories limited to the summit trip.

The fifth day of hiking ended early at 2pm. Barafu camp is at roughly 4800m, so the air is considerably thinner than at sea level. We were told to get some rest in our tiny tents (where it was possible for both head and feet to touch the ends) - the next 24 hours would be difficult. Sleeping was near impossible. After planning a trip like this for so long, it was hard not to be excited about finally making it to the top. Our group was relatively large - with 20 hikers in total. Our crew was composed of a wide variety of hiking experience, age and general fitness levels. The only truly common theme uniting us all was the Hands Across Africa project (http://www.handsacrossafrica.org).

We had a quick dinner around 5pm. People were nervous and the conversation in the dinner tent was non-existent. After dinner we packed our day-packs for the final ascent. The plan was to start hiking at 11pm, using the light of the full moon to make the final leg of the journey. The goal was to summit near 7am to catch the sunrise. This last chunk of the climb was rumored to be the hardest - very steep, thin air, and consistent sub-zero temperatures (often dropping to -20 degrees C).

Very few people were able to get any more sleep. When we began the hike, it was immediately clear that things were going to be hard. The wind had picked up and was gusting across the peak at extreme levels. Our guides would later confide that in 10 years of guiding, and 5 years of portering they had only seen winds like that 3 times. Dust from the lava rocks was being thrown about, limiting your visibility to the feet of the person directly in front of you.

I began to have trouble right away. My stomach was producing air bubbles, forcing me to try to burp them up in order to regulate the pressure. As you gain altitude, your body tries to regulate pressure through burping, farting, and yawning. Its a lot like popping your ears. The air was much thinner, and taking a breath was often unsatisfying. Its quite concerning when you take a breath of air and don't get all the oxygen you were expecting. I found myself wanting to hyperventilate in order to try to fill my lungs. Taking water from the hydrating hose coming out of my backpack was frustrating. In order to drink, you need to trade one breath - if you want to take a big drink you need to skip a couple of breaths. Invariably this would lead to brief panic, and more hyperventalation.

We plodded through the darkness stopping hourly to adjust our clothes. Most people were wearing between 5 and 7 layers of clothing - including thermal underwear, fleece, sweaters, wind layers, and down jackets. After the first hour, one of the hikers was forced to return as he had the flu. Most of the group was suffering from frozen fingers and toes. Though the temperature was only -11, the ~80kmph winds were making the conditions absolutely frigid. The climb is exceptionally exposed, with little relief from the cold.

By hour 5, I started to have more serious troubles. My stomach bubbles had continued and I was not able to properly evacuate the gas build-up. I started to feel sick. I began to vomit, at first evacuating the immediate contents of my stomach. I was encouraged to continue by the guides, who suggested that drinking water would make me feel better. Stumbling through the darkness I agreed.

Vomitting is one of the most common signs of altitude sickess. Caused by changes in air pressure, altitude sickess affects all climbers to a certain degree. Possible outcomes include lungs filling up with liquid, the brain being deprived of neccessary oxygen, or even death. Once it sets in, the common cure is to begin your descent (return to a more stable pressure).

By hour 6, things had deteriorated. I had been vomitting again, and was forced to admit, that this was most likely the altitude sickness every climber dreads. Being only 2 hours from the summit, I was going to have to decide whether to continue or to head back. Caitlin (my girlfriend) looked very concerned, and wanted me to return. Matt (a medical resident in the group) mentioned that there was some risk of permanent damage, and also believed I should descend. It was a hard choice. There was a big part of me that wanted to continue. It is likely that had I kept going, I would have made it with no lasting effects. But I began to consider my family and friends back home. It would not be smart to continue, and I knew it. After roughly 45 hours and almost 4000 vertical meters of climbing, I would be leaving only 2 hours and 2 walking km (400m of vertical distance) from the top. At 6am, I went down.

In total 17 of the 20 climbers made it to Stella point (the edge of the crater at the summit), and 8 continued all the way to the Uhuru summit (the highest point in Africa).

Caitlin and I have made our way to the tropical paradise of Zanzibar. We are slowly recovering from the big hike. We will be here until the end of the week, after which we be making our way to South Africa for a quick safari and ultimately the volunteer location with Edzimkulu (http;//www.edzimkulu.org) in Ndawana.

Photos from the adventure:

Be good. Russ

Stopped in Kenya... for a minute

2006-09-29T22:50:00.000-06:00

On the east coast of equatorial Africa, you will find Kenya. The airport in Nairobi is a hub through which most of the African air travel is completed... If you're going anywhere here, you're coming through the Kenya airport. In a sweet twist of irony, they crank the 80s station throughout the whole place... I'm listening to Peter Cetera and Whitney Houston, and feeling right at home.

So I have a funny story. Caitlin and I planned to leave London two days ago... but we made a bit of a booboo. We got halfway to the London airport, and we realized that we still had a full day left. Whoops. What would you do with a free day in London? Stumped? We were... we found a bookstore, picked up a travel book, and did the first thing it recommended anyone passing through London do: go to the British Museum.

I am glad we saved the British Museum for our "bonus" day. Had we visited it any earlier, I would have insisted we go back at least once. It was incredible. We saw the rosetta stone. The real rosetta stone. We made it through 3 exhibits (Egypt, Greece, Africa) before we were forced to turn back to try to make our flight. We could have spent a week there and not seen everything.

So in about 1 hour, we fly to Kilimanjaro. We get a couple of days to acclimate, and the hike starts on Monday. After that we will be zipped off to Zanzibar for a few days. I will be sure to post again once I arrive there if I'm able.