Home and Back

We are back in Zambia after a great stay in the states through the month of August. Between us, we managed to visit 7 cities and see over 70 people!! We felt so lucky -everyone made a huge effort to avail themselves while we were in town, I guess we should go away more often because we felt like celebrities!! J We were able to visit some of our most missed places and do most of our favorite things – swimming in the cove at La Jolla, cycling along the coast, running at Torrey Pines, eating In-and-Out, hugging my nieces and nephew at night, sharing good food with family, and too many drinks with friends. They were really good times. We left feeling rejuvenated, ready to return to our far-away “home,” grateful for the familiarity and comforts of our true home with all of you guys.

We found Zambia heating up, preparing for October, our hottest month of summer. The mosquitoes are out in full force! After a few days in Lusaka to shake off the jetlag, Kimberly is off to Kitwe for a week-long Adult Antiretroviral Management Training. Dave is busy consulting with CRS as they finalize their 2009 Country Operating Plan. It looks like the US Government has granted another 48 million over 4 years of PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funding to be distributed among 15 resource poor countries. With our jobs secured and continued work to do in Zambia, we’ve begun wondering whether aid money is the answer. There is a “donor-dependant” mentality that may be impairing the country from creating their own solutions.

Other news here is that the Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, died during our holiday last month. He suffered a 2^nd stroke in June and was unable to recover. So now we face elections on October 30^th. The vice-president, Peter Banda, does not automatically take office since he was named by Mwanawasa after his election and he was not elected by the people. There are a number of candidates vying for the presidency, but we are assured that this coming election will be peaceful, as is the history here in Zambia. In fact, some Zambian friends have complained that their peers are often too passive in the presence of corruption like election rigging. There needs to be a balance between a passive response lending to a peaceful environment and the need for a more assertive protest for a just and equitable government.

We’re trying to get back into our fitness schedule after the heavy eating and relaxing we did in the states! This has been a bit tough with the wind and heat. We are missing the coastal breezes and the variety of food at our fingertips.

David is preparing to leave for Rwanda on October 6 for 7 weeks. He will be doing audit work with CRS as one of his short-term consultancy projects. .He is excited to visit Rwanda as it supposed to be beautiful. We are planning a trip to see the gorillas over the Thanksgiving holiday. After 4-5 weeks away through the month of August, we are waiting a bit to plan our next trip home. You are all welcome to visit us anytime. We would love your company.

We’ll be updating our smugmug link with some photos from home. Please keep in touch and share some of your favorites with us as well.

We love you!

~Kimberly & Dave

Caught somewhere between Independence, Heroes, and Unity Day…

We’re celebrating a nice long weekend here in Lusaka. Although we worked Friday, July 4^th, we managed to enjoy some American cuisine - burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and corn on the cob along with fireworks in Robb’s backyard Friday night. Today and tomorrow are Zambian holidays – Heroes Day and Unity Day so we are off work and just relaxing. One of our Zambian colleagues has invited us to a barbeque (or braii as they call it here) tomorrow so we’ll learn more about the history of these two days from a local perspective.

We are recently back from Tanzania where we spent the weekend before my birthday in Zanzibar. We had been there once before (last year right after moving here). This time we went to the northeast coast to enjoy the beach to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday. You can take a look at the resort at http://www.pongwe.com/gallery/. It was awesome. Maybe some of you are more tempted to come visit??!

Not much else is new… I’m still working in and out of Lusaka, spending 50% of my time in the bush at the mission hospitals throughout Zambia. The travelling has gotten pretty exhausting, but it is always worth it when I’m at the site. Being there, rounding with the nurses, clinical officers, and doctors, working side-by-side with them in their HIV clinics, and providing lectures for the staff is really why I’m here. There are times when I wonder why we are here, and times when I feel reminded that we are outsiders that are not always welcome, but when I am out at the sites, all of that falls away and there is a very real collaboration to provide patients with the best care possible… so needless to say, I love being out there

Dave has been busy working 10-12 hour days consulting for CRS. It started as a consulting job where he was providing financial expertise to the program manager that did not have a finance background, then she left the program, and they offered him her job. He declined, preferring to remain a project consultant, but has been filling in since she left. He’s had a ton of work, but will be changing projects in September. His new project will focus more on audit and requires he travel for 6 week stints. The first is to Burundi. It should be exciting!

Otherwise, we’re looking forward to coming home in August! I’ll be attending the World AIDS Conference in Mexico City the first week of the month, then traveling to Baltimore for some work at University of Maryland. Afterwards, the holiday begins, and I’ll head back to the west coast for a few weeks of vacation. Dave is heading to San Diego the 2^nd week of August. We are super excited to be in town for Angela and Cory’s wedding September 6^th, then we head back to Zambia on the 8^th. We are hoping that we’ll manage to see everyone when we’re in town – so look at your calendars and let us know!

We hope you’re well. We miss you – despite our infrequent communication, the distance has definitely made us appreciate all of you even more.

~Kim & Dave

Catching up

Its been a busy few months (more like 5). We had our first visitors to Zambia -- Mom and Alex came out for an awesome trek through Tanzania and Kilimanjaro. For a great account of what hiking "Kili" is like check out....http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/26/magazine/20071028_KILIMANJARO_GRAPHIC.html#step1
We took a different lesser used route, the Rongai route, but the article sums up the experience pretty well. We had some great guides on the mountain and made a new friend. (See Remy, James, and Emma in the photos @ http://dave-n-kim.smugmug.com/)

Outside of Kilimanjaro, the most amazing site was Ngorongoro crater. Our pictures will do it more justice than words. Overall the trip was awesome, though I didn't have to brave Kenya days after the election mess that caused the recent violence, like Mom and Alex did.

First trip back to the States came and went all too quickly, and we didn't make it "home" to the west coast. We spent the Easter weekend in North Carolina with the Russell clan (and Sturgeons). Also luckily got to see most of my family during the short stay as they found flights out on short notice. It was great to see y'all.

Kim has been very busy with work, continuing her travels throughout Zambia (latest trip was to the 'Copperbelt', Mufalira up near Kitwe if Google Earth is handy).

I've given up on some of my ideas (i.e. pipedreams) for now and have started a real job at CRS, Catholic Relief Services, as a consultant. I'm to work with management on ad hoc projects, mainly compliance with federal grants and some finance. I've only been there two weeks but I'm pretty excited about it as its very different from anything else I've done.

One other bit of news is that we have a new cat, yes another one. This one was left on our door in a box. I had talked to a neighbor when we moved in about getting a cat. Well they remembered and now we have this little Tazmanian devil kitten; one floppy ear and she never stops eating.

We are planning to come back to visit in August. We'll plan on being there for at least two weeks probably based in San Diego.

Know that we have an open door and an extra bedroom for any visitors.

Tsalani Bwino. Stay well.

Christmas in Lusaka

Hello!

Here I sit in our living room to finally write our latest blog. It has been over a month since our last entry and we have managed to stay quite busy.

Our newest addition to the family, a 3 month old kitten named “Iwe” (in Nyanja it means “you”) is sitting on my lap as I type. I managed to convince Dave that we needed a kitten to warm up our home, especially at Christmas time (don’t tell Logan and Isabella!!). We had seen some strays running around at our gym and inquired. The waiter of the near-by restaurant took our number and said he would call if they were able to catch any of them. That same night (Dec 23) we went to pick up a tiny gray and white furball. She was eating a French fry as she sat trapped under a crate in the restaurant kitchen. All the workers laughed as I wrapped her in a towel and held her like a little baby – neither cats nor dogs are cared for much here. It’s been so great to have her company at the house. She was skittish at first, but has easily transitioned into a spoiled house kitty. She’s really playful and prefers wet food to dry food!

We celebrated Christmas in Zambia although really, our hearts were at home with you. We kept busy in Lusaka for the holiday. Munda Wanga (My Plot) is a wildlife preserve and botanical garden in Chilanga, just 20 minutes outside of downtown Lusaka. We went with friends and spent Christmas Eve day with 70 kids from 3 orphanages (age 1 yr to 10 yrs) – what a day!! Despite the rain, we had children hanging on to every appendage as we tredged through the gardens, past warthogs, antelope, bushback, lions, and a cheetah. We had lunch and played for hours with the kids. As the day went on, the curious but apprehensive faces turned into smiles and laughter. We learned from the “house-moms” that nearly all the children had not been out of the orphanage for years. Isaac, Elijah, Emmanuel, Joyce, Emilia, Mada, Angela, Simon, Cecilia… such amazing resilient spirits – honestly, I think it was more rewarding for us than for them. As we were leaving, Dave said he had his eye on FOUR! I’m sure he was joking, but it is heart-wrenching to interact with these little people, see them respond, and then leave them – all the while knowing we could intervene to make their life so much easier… we’ll keep you posted!

We started our day with our own traditional Christmas run, this year the raindrops cooled us off as we finished. We rushed over to Lubuto library to spend a few hours with the boys that stay at the Fountain of Hope orphanage next door. We opened the library and art room and took pictures as their chaperone passed out shirts that had been donated from European Union. All the boys proceeded to put the shirts on over their clothes, then posed for a snap of the group. We rushed home and prepared lasagna and carrot cake (our recent specialties) to bring to a friend’s place for Christmas dinner. It was a feast with 2 other couples, wine and laughter into the night.

We're missing you all. We'll write soon with details of our Tanzania adventure...

Until then, take good care,
Kim&Dave