Monday, July 28, 2008

Onde está a coração

Yesterday I went to another home -- I think I've probably blogged about at least two other "homes" by now. This home is where I stayed during my two month-long Peace Corps training: a cozy, woman-headed household in a little town about 45 minutes outside of Maputo.

It's remarkable how much it did feel like home: the kids ran out to greet me, my mom scolded me for not keeping in better touch and told me I should get married soon, and I was fed a big, greasy plate of spaghetti. I had brought a lot of toys for the kids, so we all played in the yard after lunch and got our hands covered in the red dirt that characterizes the village. I let the kids take some pictures with my camera, which they couldn't get enough of. They were too excited and impatient to learn the rules well, so there are a lot of pictures of torsos with no heads and ground with no figures, but there are a few that are surprisingly poignant. Here are 3 of mine followed by 2 of theirs.


In case you were trying to figure it out, frisbees, Silly Putty, and harmonicas all make great gifts for rural African kids. Trust me on this.



Mozambican girl plays frisbee: the dream realized!





Saturday, July 19, 2008

+ Jovem!



A colleague at the National AIDS Council invited me to his TV show, a talk show for youth, because this week's show would be about multiple concurrent partnerships -- the topic of my current research. Fantastic! I thought -- though I made sure he meant *in the audience* and not *as a guest speaker* before I accepted. Him being what I thought was your average beaurocrat, I assumed "+ Jovem" was a toned-down, government-run show. I was envisioning Charlie Rose set in Mozambique and focused on HIV/AIDS, with a live audience who would get the chance to ask some questions.

Well. So last night we arrived at the studio, I and a colleague from UNAIDS whom I had invited. The guard waved us in the front door, past a long line of young people; VIP treatment! A few other production aids walked us through the halls to the set, where we climbed onto the risers where the audience was seated. The youth started rolling in, raucus and excited, many dressed to the nines for their opportunity to be seen on TV. Jorge, the National AIDS council beaurocrat/TV host, started describing to all of us how the show would go. The special invited guests were the second-in-command at the National AIDS Council, and a representative from N'weti, an HIV/AIDS communication-oriented organization. There was also a woman from the Ministry of Health who would make a plug for a good hygiene campaign that was to start the following week. And, a DJ and a rap group... and two groups of Marrabenta singers... and another duo of scantily-clad female singers... and there would be T-shirts given out, and there was a large display of "Klin" detergent and two girls wearing Klin t-shirts which would have some camera time as a sponsorship deal. So, as with all things Mozambican, there were surprises, there was chaos, there were things happening which it was better to just take in and not question.

The show started with Jorge and a group of guys wearing sparkly blue vests doing a little choreographed dance, which completely cracked me up. Imagine yourself meeting a work colleague to discuss contacts and resources useful to your project. Then imagine that same colleague, a few days later, breakin' it down with a posse of sparkly-vested dancers. Classic.

The HIV-related conversation wasn't fantastic, especially because of the straight-laced, academic tack taken by the interviewees. The kids in the audience were more concerned with gossiping with each other and sending text messages. But they did have a chance to share their thoughts about multiple partnerships -- always poorly defined, but in their context meaning having more than one boy- or girlfriend at once -- and they seemed to be getting into it. I hoped the youth watching at home would have similar conversations with their families and friends.

One of Jorge's assistant approached my UNAIDS colleague, Katia, and I, and told us we would be asked questions. Despite our impassioned protests to not have to speak on national TV, Jorge insisted. Katia almost forgot the name of the special guest, but pulled it together to make a point about how we are trying to bring what have been private conversations into a public debate in order to confront the HIV emergency in Mozambique. Then the question came to me, as a foreigner, what were my impressions of what was going on here with all of these multiple partnerships?

Putting the question like that, there was really one answer I could give: Well, this isn't just Mozambique, and it isn't just Africa. It happens everywhere in the world, and it's a problem that the global community will have to tackle together. Despite this being the in-vogue theory as to why AIDS has taken such a hold on Africa (previous theories being unsafe blood supply and high rates of STDs), I do believe it happens everywhere, and, moreover, I believe it creates a culture of inferiority when the debate is framed as, "what is wrong with these Africans?" I've already met a sort of cultural defeatism when, as a Peace Corps volunteer, I told people that I had friends who were virgins at 23 because of their strongly-held beliefs. The answer I got was, "Well, maybe in America you can do that. Here, among us Mozambicans, it's not possible."

So, that's the story of my 15 minutes of fame in Mozambique. A statement about global unity on + Jovem, and I think the Portuguese grammatical errors were minimal!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck....



These were anonymously left at my doorstep last night... Thing is, there are three women living in my house, and none of us has any idea who they might be from. At least it provides us with some entertainment.

Points if you can sing the line following the title!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Update: spontanous cure!

Good news: As of this morning, my phone is demonstrating complete, spontaneous cure! All the names are coming back. Phew. Old age will be put off for awhile yet. No word as to what triggered it, but perhaps it was the certainty of knowing its diagnosis. :)

And, just to make sure I haven't offended anyone, this wasn't meant to trivialize dementia, which is no doubt an extremely difficult thing to deal with for patients and their families and loved ones. It was more to demonstrate how warped a med student's view of the world is, when she looks at a phone and thinks neurology.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Diagnosing

I guess you know you're a med student when it's all about the diagnosis. Lately I've been trying to diagnose everything: I diagnosed my roommate's ear pain (bacterial otitis media resulting from URI), my cold (mostly URI symptoms with some GI -- I think it was a coronavirus), my everlasting psychological angst (still up in the air).

Today I found myself diagnosing my phone. I guess the case presentation would go something like this:

7 y.o. phone presents with lack of memory recall. Symptoms appearing gradually over the last week, easily noticeable to owner. No significant past medical history, aside from some possibly damaging drops on the ground. Family history unknown (any registered problems with basic Nokias?). Memory recall impaired only when calls or messages appear, in which case number is correct but appropriate name not matched. Name appears without problems in stored list.

Diagnosis: phone seems to be experiencing declining memory consistent with dementia. Oh, my poor phone.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Development ideals and master's theses

Earlier this week on a conference call, my co-investigator on the project we're working on shocked me into embarassment. He spoke of the importance of involving the National AIDS Council in all steps of our project, adding that we should avoid conference calls from Americans to Americans -- calls like, well, the one that was taking place right then.

The reason this embarassed me so much was that I had been totally preoccupied with fighting for my own place in this project. As a student, it's hard to have one's voice heard against those with more experience, more letters after their names, and more publications under their belts. I never wanted to carry out a project on my own, because, let's face it, those letters and publications do mean something, and whatever project I worked on singlehandedly would be bound for disaster.

But I didn't want to end up anyone's research assistant, either. With so many high-profile scientists on the project, I could picture myself relegated to a position as someone's errand-runner, reporting back every day, until my job was done and the real, higher-level analysis fell onto someone else's plate. So I'd begun to assert myself, to think of the project as "mine", to plan out the next steps quickly so that I could retain some control.

The problem was, any project that has as its goal improvements in the health or well-being of a population really should belong to that population, and not to some ambitious master's student. In my determination to make this project "mine", I'd lost sight of the fact that the problem, its study, and its eventual solution, is all theirs. This project belongs to the people of Mozambique, and to claim otherwise is to do the Mozambican people, and the entire ideal of international development, a huge disservice. If any interventions, and the research they are based on, are to be successful, they must come from within.

And so I am learning to be at peace with a master's project that has two levels: one, the research itself, which I am aiding in the execution of; and the other the process of working with individuals within governmental and non-governmental institutions, of understanding people's concerns and interests and finding solutions together. It is both a great challenge to find the time and energy to work with others on their terms, and a relief to know that the burden of this research is not on my shoulders alone. I am learning to love my role as consultant to Mozambique, and whatever happens with the research, I know there will be good stories to tell at the end of the process.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Unbiased reporting?

Look closely at the pictures of the candidates in this story, published in one of the largest-circulation newspapers in the country, about Obama leading polls in a few key states.



If this were the NY Times, there would be international outcry. Seeing as this is Mozambique, the main implications were my roommates and I laughing about it in our kitchen.

What would grandpa say?

I couldn't resist this when I saw it in the grocery store.



My grandpa, a connoisseur of Jewish deli corned beef, would roll in his grave.