One of my roommates is a journalist and wrote a story about HIV/AIDS in Tanzania featuring yours truly and it made the front page of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix's weekend extra section.
Check it out here.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Kili (as everyone here calls it) is shy and elusive. It is often hidden behind clouds, but I managed to get a good shot recently - but still, it's only just peaking out. In real life, it inspires as much awe as the hype suggests. Incredible.
While my blog was on vacation...
I went on a one-day safari to Arusha National Park. It was AWESOME!! Tanzania has 14 national parks - the Serengeti being the largest and probably the most famous. Arusha NP is the second smallest park in Tanzania, but home to an amazing abundance of plant and animal life.
I can't explain how incredible it is to see animals roaming free in their natural habitat. After that, zoos just seem wrong.
This is us as we started out. (The roommates don't like having their pictures taken). Safari cars are cool because the top is removable so you can stand up and look out at the animals without getting out of the vehicle.
There are no lions and almost no elephants in the park (we didn't see any), but we still saw plenty to keep us open-mouthed in awe and in a perpetual state of "oh my god did you see that?!"
The giraffes were walking ON THE ROAD and didn't seem much daunted by our presence.
There were a lot of giraffes.
And zebras.
I have to put up one more picture of a giraffe. Those things are awesome. This one took an interest in the camera.
I was able to get pictures of warthogs, monkeys, baboons, cape buffalo (they look like they're wearing viking helmets), and some nice vegetation. We also saw lots of flamingos and other species of birds and monkeys as well as a waterbuck (kind of like a deer), but they were too far away or moved too fast for me to get a photo.
A la The Lion King, "when I was a young warthog....." I think they're so cute!
This is a black Colobus monkey - he looks a little scary to me. And also like he's related to a skunk
Baboons - they seem so normal here
But they apparently like it dirty too - no shame in the animal kingdom!
Vikings of Africa
Lush vegetation, honeycomb, and waterfalls were also part of an amazing trip.
This one has a parasitic viny overgrowth
So beautiful!
Bees were here
Wow. So amazing.
I can't explain how incredible it is to see animals roaming free in their natural habitat. After that, zoos just seem wrong.
This is us as we started out. (The roommates don't like having their pictures taken). Safari cars are cool because the top is removable so you can stand up and look out at the animals without getting out of the vehicle.
There are no lions and almost no elephants in the park (we didn't see any), but we still saw plenty to keep us open-mouthed in awe and in a perpetual state of "oh my god did you see that?!"
The giraffes were walking ON THE ROAD and didn't seem much daunted by our presence.
There were a lot of giraffes.
And zebras.
I have to put up one more picture of a giraffe. Those things are awesome. This one took an interest in the camera.
I was able to get pictures of warthogs, monkeys, baboons, cape buffalo (they look like they're wearing viking helmets), and some nice vegetation. We also saw lots of flamingos and other species of birds and monkeys as well as a waterbuck (kind of like a deer), but they were too far away or moved too fast for me to get a photo.
A la The Lion King, "when I was a young warthog....." I think they're so cute!
This is a black Colobus monkey - he looks a little scary to me. And also like he's related to a skunk
Baboons - they seem so normal here
But they apparently like it dirty too - no shame in the animal kingdom!
Vikings of Africa
Lush vegetation, honeycomb, and waterfalls were also part of an amazing trip.
This one has a parasitic viny overgrowth
So beautiful!
Bees were here
Wow. So amazing.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Uhai Centre and AAIDRO
I work at the HIV/AIDS unit (Uhai Centre) in the Catholic Archdiocese of Arusha Integrated Development and Relief Office (AAIDRO). As most of you know, Arusha is just west of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our skyline is dominated by a remnant of the same volcano family as Kilimanjaro – Mt. Meru. There’s no snow, but still beautiful.
Uhai means life in Swahili and the Centre works to improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. We work both in the office and in the field. In-house, we offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing (VCT), treatment for opportunistic infections, and give referrals. We have a small pharmacy but no lab, so we have to send people to hospitals or clinics to get a CD4 count, full-on HIV tests (if they think the rapid test we use may be wrong), get tested for tuberculosis, or anything else that needs lab work. A large portion of our work is done in the field. We do mobile VCT, provide education and sensitization seminars, facilitate support clubs for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) as well as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). We provide education support for some of these children and also provide some nutritional support for PLHA and OVC.
As you can see, there is quite a lingo of acronyms that comes with working in HIV/AIDS.
One of the activities we support is training home-based care providers for PLHA. We have been connected to a small group of these people who were trained a few years ago, but the grant we were just awarded will allow us to train 340 people in the immediate areas around Arusha. We hope that this will help to reduce the over 4,000 office visits we had last year by allowing people to receive care in their homes. The need is great not only for our clients, but all over the country – approximately 50% of all hospital beds in Tanzania are occupied by people who have illnesses related to HIV/AIDS.
Uhai Centre is funded almost exclusively by foreign donors. Our main supporters are CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), Misereor (a German Catholic aid agency), Trócaire (Irish Catholic aid organization), and the World Food Program. Our new grant is coming from a fund that 10 donors have contributed to, including the Canadian International Development Agency (yay Canada!)
Uhai Centre is only a unit within AAIDRO and there are many other projects that operate under AAIDRO’s banner. AAIDRO is currently undergoing a review process and contemplating alternative structuring of its programs and projects. I have been invited to contribute to these discussions recently and I feel very flattered that they have asked for my input.
Overall, I am feeling very professionally satisfied. Although I have been here only a short time, some of my work is beginning to show results and it is exciting.
Uhai means life in Swahili and the Centre works to improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. We work both in the office and in the field. In-house, we offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing (VCT), treatment for opportunistic infections, and give referrals. We have a small pharmacy but no lab, so we have to send people to hospitals or clinics to get a CD4 count, full-on HIV tests (if they think the rapid test we use may be wrong), get tested for tuberculosis, or anything else that needs lab work. A large portion of our work is done in the field. We do mobile VCT, provide education and sensitization seminars, facilitate support clubs for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) as well as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). We provide education support for some of these children and also provide some nutritional support for PLHA and OVC.
As you can see, there is quite a lingo of acronyms that comes with working in HIV/AIDS.
One of the activities we support is training home-based care providers for PLHA. We have been connected to a small group of these people who were trained a few years ago, but the grant we were just awarded will allow us to train 340 people in the immediate areas around Arusha. We hope that this will help to reduce the over 4,000 office visits we had last year by allowing people to receive care in their homes. The need is great not only for our clients, but all over the country – approximately 50% of all hospital beds in Tanzania are occupied by people who have illnesses related to HIV/AIDS.
Uhai Centre is funded almost exclusively by foreign donors. Our main supporters are CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), Misereor (a German Catholic aid agency), Trócaire (Irish Catholic aid organization), and the World Food Program. Our new grant is coming from a fund that 10 donors have contributed to, including the Canadian International Development Agency (yay Canada!)
Uhai Centre is only a unit within AAIDRO and there are many other projects that operate under AAIDRO’s banner. AAIDRO is currently undergoing a review process and contemplating alternative structuring of its programs and projects. I have been invited to contribute to these discussions recently and I feel very flattered that they have asked for my input.
Overall, I am feeling very professionally satisfied. Although I have been here only a short time, some of my work is beginning to show results and it is exciting.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
…And I’m back!
So it seems that my blog took a summer vacation.
A quick summary. In the last three and a half months I have:
• Been to Dar es Salaam twice
• Been to Nairobi once
• Had three sets of multi-day meetings.
• Submitted and been awarded a US$200,000 grant for Uhai Centre to train home-based care providers of people living with HIV/AIDS
• Prepared and almost submitted a 3-year core funding grant for Uhai Centre (just waiting on the accountant for the budget)
• Been named representative of the CUSO cooperants’ association
• Been named the coordinator of a new network for HIV/AIDS organizations that have CUSO cooperants
• Participated in talks about restructuring AAIDRO
• Marked 7 months in Tanzania!
Ok – so maybe my blog took a vacation, but I have been really busy!
You’ll notice I’ve added a reading list. These are the books I’ve read so far – I’m averaging about 2 books a month. There’s a good mix of heavy and light subject matter. I’ve also put in parentheses if the book deals with Africa or HIV – in case any of you might be interested too.
Of my books so far, I highly recommend the following:
• 28 – The BEST book I’ve ever read that explains the many, many facets of HIV and its context in terms of people’s lives, politics and economics
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith – these books are hilarious and touching. I found these three in the Arusha Library. I’d love to read more of the series if anyone can find them for me
• A Great Feast of Light – I learned so much about Irish history in this book – a topic I knew almost nothing about before. Why did we learn French and British history in school and nothing about Ireland (or Scotland for that matter)? Plus, John Doyle personally sent it to me, which makes it even better (thanks John!)
• Books by MG Vassanji – A little dark, but in these books, Vassanji talks about the land and history of where I am right now. I picked up some Swahili words too.
A quick summary. In the last three and a half months I have:
• Been to Dar es Salaam twice
• Been to Nairobi once
• Had three sets of multi-day meetings.
• Submitted and been awarded a US$200,000 grant for Uhai Centre to train home-based care providers of people living with HIV/AIDS
• Prepared and almost submitted a 3-year core funding grant for Uhai Centre (just waiting on the accountant for the budget)
• Been named representative of the CUSO cooperants’ association
• Been named the coordinator of a new network for HIV/AIDS organizations that have CUSO cooperants
• Participated in talks about restructuring AAIDRO
• Marked 7 months in Tanzania!
Ok – so maybe my blog took a vacation, but I have been really busy!
You’ll notice I’ve added a reading list. These are the books I’ve read so far – I’m averaging about 2 books a month. There’s a good mix of heavy and light subject matter. I’ve also put in parentheses if the book deals with Africa or HIV – in case any of you might be interested too.
Of my books so far, I highly recommend the following:
• 28 – The BEST book I’ve ever read that explains the many, many facets of HIV and its context in terms of people’s lives, politics and economics
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith – these books are hilarious and touching. I found these three in the Arusha Library. I’d love to read more of the series if anyone can find them for me
• A Great Feast of Light – I learned so much about Irish history in this book – a topic I knew almost nothing about before. Why did we learn French and British history in school and nothing about Ireland (or Scotland for that matter)? Plus, John Doyle personally sent it to me, which makes it even better (thanks John!)
• Books by MG Vassanji – A little dark, but in these books, Vassanji talks about the land and history of where I am right now. I picked up some Swahili words too.
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