PMTCT Training

 

Well, after three weeks without internet access, I think the situation is finally fixed thanks to my fellow MCCer Ingo. He was able to get the dongle I purchased work with my ubuntu operating system! Thanks to him I should be in more regular contact.

I had my first official training in PMTCT (prevention of maternal to child transimission of hiv) last week. There were three of us from Macha hospital who went. Two midwives from maternity and myself. The people who led the workshop are with AIDS Relief, a conglomeration of NGOs who work with hiv care in Zambia. The workshop was coordinated by Catholic Relief Services. There were participants from two other Mission Hospitals, one run by the Sisters of Charity and the other I think run by the Sisters of the Holy Spirit. There were also people from a church affiliated organization that runs clinics in Livingstone and Lusaka.

It was good to meet other people from different places and hear how they do things and get new ideas for how to improve care. The workshop used to be two weeks, but due to budget cuts, they condensed it into one. That meant there were certain things we only touched on briefly. There was a big emphasis on counseling and education which I am glad to see. People need to be informed if they are going to make good choices for themselves and their babies. We also went over documentation and the myriad of registers and reports we are required to fill out. It was good to get clarification on many things.

We stayed at Tooter's Golden Pillow Lodge. How's that for a name? It actually was quite nice. We each had our own rooms with small bath, a fridge. There was tv and ac. The ac was only working part of the time because of the low voltage and power outages, but it was nice to have warm running water 24 hours a day to shower whenever I wanted. We were on the outskirts of a town called Monze. I walked into town a couple times, but the evenings were pretty low key. If I had had internet, I would have had plenty of time to catch up with you all. As it was I read, knit, studied a little Tonga and watched a lot of soccer and rugby games. So much so that I now understand rugby more or less. CNN was also showing at times, so I watched the 2^nd presidential debate, heard about the shooting of the school girl activist by the Taliban, and saw coverage of the awful bombing in Lebanon It was ironic, I had just met a Lebanese man the night before at his restaurant. The last evening we had a party and the Zambians all wanted to see the makuwa (white person) dance, so I indulged them to great hoots of laughter! Here it seems 95% of people are born with the ability to sing, dance and keep time. It was a good week, but I missed Macha and was glad to get home. Have been catching up at work.

It was nice that Wednesday was Independence day. A day off mid week was good especially since I had been gone so long. It has made today, Saturday much more productive for me. Zambia is 48 years old as a country. God-willing I will be here for the 50^th anniversary of independence. That should be an exciting time to be around.

Just a quick post to let you know I haven't forgotten you. The rains have begun here in Zambia. I have had a good strawberry harvest and the mangos are ripening. Hope you all are well as your seasons are also changing.