I finally began my African road trip through the southeast! I met up with the Dimmocks a few days ago and said good-bye to Mwawi, the nursery mother I had been living with. I was really happy to be back with the Dimmocks, taking hot showers and drinking coffee, eating rice and bread again.
I didn't get to reunite with Alice ("alice-ie"), but it is because she has been adopted and taken to Canada with her new parents. She was HIV positive and needed to get treated with ARV/Ts, so I'm happy she is gone. It was so sad to leave the mothers at the crisis nursery! They are so strong, independent and resilient--raising 6 or more kids, working long hours and fending off muggers on their commutes. They are also so kind to one another; it makes the working environment so nice when you can draw strength from one another.
After driving for 10 hours yday and two hours at the Zambian border, and arguing about the price of a visa, I am in Lusaka until tomorrow. We're driving to Livingstone, Zambia tomorrow and I will get to see Victoria Falls! Apparently there was a lot more tourism there, but now that Zimbabwe is so dangerous, there isn't as much shopping or hotels b/c the best views of the falls are from the zimbabwean side. Oh well. Also, we'll be going to Botswana the day after tomorrow and going to a game park there. Hopefully I'll see more than gazelles and elephants because I've seen enough of those in Zambia.
For all my friends, I have gotten my MCAT scores and don't have to take them again, yay! But, filling out secondary applications from computers in internet cafes has not been an enjoyable experience. I have to race to finish something before the connection is lost or the keyboard jams. I'm hoping to download more pictures and do more work when I am back in Joburg, which should be in a week.
My research went really well in Rwanda and I decided that my road trip to Lesotho would be a hiatus from research. So I am just taking pictures and playing with the dimmock kids while I'm on the road. Jack is 2 and acts like he is 45. He speaks in full sentences and has the cutest dimples. In Lesotho, Frank (Dr. Dimmock) said he can hook me up with UNICEF, WFP (World Food Programme), and other relief organizations and gvnmt/hospital officials.
I didn't get to reunite with Alice ("alice-ie"), but it is because she has been adopted and taken to Canada with her new parents. She was HIV positive and needed to get treated with ARV/Ts, so I'm happy she is gone. It was so sad to leave the mothers at the crisis nursery! They are so strong, independent and resilient--raising 6 or more kids, working long hours and fending off muggers on their commutes. They are also so kind to one another; it makes the working environment so nice when you can draw strength from one another.
After driving for 10 hours yday and two hours at the Zambian border, and arguing about the price of a visa, I am in Lusaka until tomorrow. We're driving to Livingstone, Zambia tomorrow and I will get to see Victoria Falls! Apparently there was a lot more tourism there, but now that Zimbabwe is so dangerous, there isn't as much shopping or hotels b/c the best views of the falls are from the zimbabwean side. Oh well. Also, we'll be going to Botswana the day after tomorrow and going to a game park there. Hopefully I'll see more than gazelles and elephants because I've seen enough of those in Zambia.
For all my friends, I have gotten my MCAT scores and don't have to take them again, yay! But, filling out secondary applications from computers in internet cafes has not been an enjoyable experience. I have to race to finish something before the connection is lost or the keyboard jams. I'm hoping to download more pictures and do more work when I am back in Joburg, which should be in a week.
My research went really well in Rwanda and I decided that my road trip to Lesotho would be a hiatus from research. So I am just taking pictures and playing with the dimmock kids while I'm on the road. Jack is 2 and acts like he is 45. He speaks in full sentences and has the cutest dimples. In Lesotho, Frank (Dr. Dimmock) said he can hook me up with UNICEF, WFP (World Food Programme), and other relief organizations and gvnmt/hospital officials.
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