Friday, October 26, 2007

Oops

It's actually called "Project Peanut Butter" not, Peanut Butter Project. Sometimes I suffer from dyslexia.

Peanut Butter

Nigeria has the worlds highest number of malnourished children, about 6 million, according to UNICEF. There is something called the "Peanut Butter Project" started by Dr. Manary in Malawi, whereby malnourished children are given a peanut butter based supplement fortified with vitamins and minerals over a period of eight weeks. Eighty percent of the children eating a full diet of the peanut butter supplement meet their weight for height goal. To date, nothing like this has been done in Nigeria. With the help of some independent US sponsors, Faith Alive hopes to mirror the Peanut Butter Project to treat malnourished children here. Right now, Krysty and I are working on a proposal to do a trail with this product on children who are seen in various local hospitals. Faith Alive palns to producee the peanut butter supplement in their newly built Nutrition Unit located in the Faith Alive social services area. The peanut butter would be given to malnourished children coming to the clinic at no cost, as all services at Faith Alive are offered free of charge. Right now, I think they're waiting on a large sum of money needed to purchase the equipment necessary for producing the peanut butter mixture. Once that comes it should be off and running. Exciting stuff...

Friday, October 19, 2007

Rain and Raving

There's nothing like it really. That sweet smell. For about 5 minutes I was in a Colorado rain storm. It's funny how a smell can take you back like that. It was euphoric really. And then man with a megaphone started his weekly ritual. I don't think I've talked about this phenomenon. Anyone with a megaphone can go wherever they want and say anything they want until whatever time they want. Lucky for me there's one of these masterpieces attached to the church across the street from my flat. They "sing" mostly, which sounds like two tone deaf men trying to harmonize, whilst yelling. It's deafening. It's like the speaker is in my room, I'm not even kidding. My iPod can't even drown it out on full volume. Noise violation anyone? Other times they preach. It's like being center stage with a televangelist, substituted with Nigerian accent. There are also megaphones on wheels. Usually accompanied by a wheel barrel; one man driving, one man selling X product. My favorite was a guy camped in the middle of the market mit megaphone strapped to the top of his car. Hunched in the driver seat, feet hanging over the door going on and on about some supplement he was selling. Like nothing you've ever seen, I'm telling you.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Cops and Robbers

Last week I went to visit a pastor who had been shot outside his home. He had just come home from work when a bunch of thieves jumped him, shot him and forced him to open the door to his home. They took what you might expect, money, electronics, cell phones, etc. He was shot in the ankle, so we were bringing him crutches. That same day Blessing said in passing she lost someones e-mail address when she was robbed, as if it happens every day. They held a gun to her face and took her money and phone. The next day when I was working in the pharmacy, out of mere curiosity, I asked my friend Krysty if she'd ever been robbed-it happened to her twice. Granted robberies happen all over the world. I've just never known anyone who's personally encountered not only their thief but their firearm as well.
After days of passing pockets of trash along the road I asked if there happens to be a trash service in the area. I was told there is a government service that is supposed to come around once a week. But, because it's government and they get paid no matter what, they come around when they feel like it. Krysty was saying it's been 4 weeks since they last came. Needless to say the aromas are...fragrant. There are different waves, they're a sour milk smell, rotting sea food, feces (probably from the goats and chickens that roam the streets), your basic sewer smell, the gassy exhaust smell, burning trash smell and then the several smells that just don't have a name because there just aren't enough words to explain.
Another interesting phenomenon: motorbikes. They're EVERYWHERE. Like bees. Buzzing up and down, left and right. There's no "that is your lane and this is mine", no no. It's a total free for all. This morning I saw four kids on one bike, including the driver. The first kid was sitting on the handle bars followed by the driver and three kids sandwiched behind him. There was another time I was in the market and I saw a guy who had just purchased lawn chairs. The driver had two of them balancing on the handle bars and the guy was holding the other two over his head, cycle in motion. I fear for every one of their lives. I really do.
The NEPA is on and I'm paranoid it's going to switch off at any second and I'll lose all that I just typed; that happened the last time I tried to post something and I was so frustrated I just said screw it. I'm not going through the whole process of finding the generator in the dark, re-booting, re-typing, etc. So with that said, over and out.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I Can't Believe It...

The Rockies are in the World Series? Are you serious? I was watching BBC World news of all things when I hear "Colorado Rockies make it into the World Series for the first time in their history" My heart actually skipped a beat.
In other news, I've felt totally disconnected without the Internet. It feels like century since I was last on. There's just been a desktop set up in the guest house where I'm staying, so I think I'll be able to access more regularly. This is good news.
Last week I had my hair braided, with extensions. I feel like such an impostor. If you saw me right now you just might laugh. Fortunately for me, the Nigerians think it's fabulous. After sitting in a rusted tin chair for five hours, Blessing took me to a Salon to have the ends curled under. Now, I need to preface this with, most Nigerian women have their infants/toddlers with them wherever they go. At the clinic, at work, support group, all the time. With that said, it wasn't a surprise to see a toddler hangin out in the salon when we arrived. The interesting part came about when he needed to go to the bathroom. It went something like this: boy signals to mom he needs to relive himself. Mom pulls off his pants. Mom then hurls little boy by one arm into the backyard of the salon, by which little boy squats on the pavement and drops a load. It gets better. Older sister (I'm guessing) then goes out and washes away the little droppings with a bucket of water. Actually it took several, but nonetheless. It was incredible. I had a front row seat for the whole thing. Now back to the hair. When Blessing said I was to have my ends curled under, I honestly didn't think it through. What I mean by that is this-to curl ones hair with a your average curling iron would require electricity, of which is hardly ever on. So naturally the next best thing would be to roast a literal curing iron over an open fire to get the job done. I swear I'd see these things in a museum somewhere. It was a total trip. Women have told me my weave is supposed to last about two weeks. I'm thinkin, not so much. My Oyubo hair isn't holding up the way I'd hoped. I think it's coming out tonight.
Another bit of news, for the rest of the month I'll be working on a different project than the one previously mentioned. The guy who's currently in charge of the computer network is going to another organization. Apparently this happens quite a bit; Dr. Chirs said next to a government job, Faith Alive is the highest paying in Nigeria. But, what ends up happening is other international NGO's in Nigeria recruit talent from Faith Alive for a much higer salary. So anyways, this guy is leaving at the end of the month. Well, before he goes they want to transfer all their data to a new software program. But in order to do that they have to fix duplicate pharmacy records from the old one (the new program won't accept two records from the same day). That's where I come in. I go through line after line of duplicated records and combine them into one. There are over 1,500 duplicates (I counted). Twenty nine pages worth. I've been going at it for three days now, and I'm on page 9. Good times... In all seriousness though, it feels great to be productive. Be it ever so tedious.

Monday, October 8, 2007

One More Thing...

Real quickly, I'll be working on two projects over the next several months. The first is a project sponsored by Heart to Heart. They are providing some 7,000 doses of Tibozole, a medication used to treat oral thrush (common in HIV patients, they develop sores in their mouth and esophagus that are so painful they can't swallow food). There are 63 governmental HIV/AIDS sites in Nigeria; this project goal is to make contact with and distribute the Tibozole to 50 of them in the next month. Part of the agreement with Heart to Heart is that the drug will be free to all recipients and that we track it's distribution at all the sites via monthly reporting. I'll be traveling around with Ayo to the different sites introducing the drug and training them on how to do monthly reporting. Second project is with Tear Fund, a group based out of the UK. Details a bit more foggy, but basically the goal of that project is to start up an HIV/AIDS clinic in an area that has no access to testing, drug therapy, counseling services, ad subsequently little to no awareness about HIV, modes of transmission, risks of mother to child transmission, etc. There's a lot more to that one, but I'm fading.

Monday, Monday

Funny thing happened today...I was meeting with Ayo about some projects I'll be helping with (more to come on that later) when this woman walked into the room and asked me for my keys. Now, I know that I'd met her, but couldn't quite place who she was or why she might be asking for my keys. So I said, for...what? To which she quickly responded that she needed to clean and fill up my water (the big black barrel in the corner of my bathroom that I use for washing my face, bathing, flushing the toilet, washing my clothes, everything) That made sense, so I handed her my keys. It wasn't more that a minute after she left that I began thinking, I just gave away my keys! Why didn't I giver her my social security card and my passport while I was at it? I did that actually...when I first arrived. I'd been traving for 24+ hours and landed in Abuja at 4:30 in the morning. As I was standing in the ever long immagration line, random Joe Nigerian waves me to the front of the line to join the only other two white women in the place (of which I quickly discovered were also goinig to Faith Alive). He mumbled something in English or Housa, I'm not really sure, it was all the same to me at that point, then asked me to give him my passport and meet him at the front after collecting my bags. So, I handed him my passport. As I started walking toward the baggage claim, it caught up with me, I just gave him my passport...I thought, yep, that's it. I'm never leaving Nigeria. I got my bags and all the while frantically surching for Joe, who was no where to be found. As I started to gravitiate toward the herd of people at the exit, Joe, my Nigerian in shining armor showed up with my passport! I could have cried. To make another long story short, I got my keys back and all was well.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Days Seem Like Weeks

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but seriously...so much happens in a day. Let's see, went to the orphanage today. Couple things: Number one, there were not as many orphans as I thought there would be. We walked in to find three toddlers and one infant. There were five in all. Only one kid who was at school while we were there. He's 10 and has some pretty severe disabilities. From what I understood, the kids that were there were left on the street. People don't deliver their unwanted children directly to the orphanage. 
Next point, the toddlers weren't wearing diapers or pants or anything but a t-shirt. Just a bunch of little bare butts. So when they need to go, you know, they just go on the floor and crawl in the puddle or pile of whatever it turns out to be. The toddlers were on the floor when we walked in, I would say they were somewhere around 6months to a year? Both of them were gnawing on limes. When I say gnaw, I mean they were literally eating the rinds of whole limes. I took pictures. Still letting it sink in. 
When we first arrived I met a woman by the name of Blessing. Tonight she told us how she came to know about Faith Alive. She was married when she was 14 through an arranged marriage. She had three children with her husband before he died of AIDS. After he died, his family believed she was to blame for his death and no longer welcomed them in their home. Her pastor told her about Dr. Chris and Faith Alive and she came down to Jos without her children. She started on the ARV drugs, and went throughout the sewing school. At some point she went back to her village and took her children. The husbands family threatened to come after her and take her to court, but never did. Millions of stories like this I'm sure...

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Day ?

So, I don't know what day it is, Wednesday maybe? Whatever it is I know it hasn't been a week, which is weird because it feels like a month. I've seen/heard a lot of really tough stuff. Still processing...it's so extreme it's hard to internalize. Before now AIDS in Africa has been reports, stories, stats, etc. I knew it was real, but now...it's real. I went on HBC (Home Bound Care) visits today; these are people who are in outlying villages who are too sick to come in to the clinic. We visited two women; there is no way for me to put into words the way they looked, and I don't think I want to. One of the women, couldn't get out of her bed and was losing her hearing so we had a hard time talking with her. She had three children, 13, 6 and 1 years old. The thirteen year old was caring for the other two. The mother believes the daughter infected her with HIV and still holds it against her. If Faith Alive hadn't intervened when they did, they probably would have killed her. I guess this is one of many 'tribal' type beliefs about how HIV is contracted. Later in the afternoon we traveled about an hour and a half away to a site where Faith Alive will be building a hospital sponsored by Tear Fund (UK organization). P.S I'm supposedly assisting with this project, details not clear. It was a totally different atmosphere from Jos, we're talking grass huts and banana trees. Ayo told us that currently there are no social programs anywhere in the area-no hospital/clinic, no school for the kids, nothin. The kids are amazing, in that village, in Jos, everywhere we go. Whenever we walk by they wave and yell, "Ouyba! Ouyba!" (white person). It's funny...they're so excited to see you.