We're thankful

I got home from Zambia around 6:30 pm on the day before Thanksgiving, and Cory and Alisha pulled up about an hour later. It was a blast.

From Lusaka with Love

I'm in Zambia this time, hurrying to post my pictures using some terribly slow internet so that they don't get overshadowed by Thanksgiving next week.


Since our test using mobile phones to collect data went well in Ghana, we're relying on them entirely this time, without paper forms for backup.


I've been leading the same activity I've done before -- we head out in teams to rural health facilities to get information on the availability of medicines, and to look at what the malaria burden is like among the patient population.




We pull random samples of patient books and look at aspects of patient management like what the presenting symptoms were, how they were diagnosed and what they were treated with.


It can be pretty daunting to try and assess the stock in some of these storerooms.


Looking at this picture of me running my mouth off to a room of people who surely have years more experience than I do makes me wonder how in the world I've ended up doing what I'm doing...I'm not complaining, I'm just truly unsure of how I ended up here.


In Choma, there's not much of a road to speak of sometimes


I didn't get a chance to check out what they had in this grocery store


I gave these little girls some smarties. It didn't really get them over their nervousness around this muzungu.


These giant old termite mounds were everywhere


This is my new best friend, who I worked with out here. He's dedicated his life to public health, and he spent a lot of years in Chiapas, Mexico as a doctor, and has the missing finger and scars to prove it. I must say, he also has the most attractive mullet I've ever seen.


He had me over to his home, and he and his Mozambican wife cooked me up some of the best Mexican food I've ever had.


All in all, I've really enjoyed Zambia. Lusaka is less crowded than Accra or Dar es Salaam were, and the people are very friendly. Beyond that, there is just the overall feeling here that conditions are getting better, and that the people I was working with are actually making a difference. It's been really satisfying.






P.S. Have I mentioned before how much I like the bananas in Africa? I used to think I liked bananas in the U.S., but now eating them is like trying to go back to watching regular TV after having high definition. There is just no comparison.

Yes, A Halloween Post in November

It may be November, but I couldn't let Halloween 2009 go unseen. So lets start at the very beginning of Halloween Week 2009.



Can any one guess what Megan was this year. A witch, yes for a time at the beginning of October until one day, we were looking at the witch costume online, and I scrolled down just a little to which Megan caught a glance of something pink, and it happened to be the most beautiful fairy costume. There was no turning back. There may have been some alterations to the fairy such as; princess fairy, witch fairy, rainbow fairy, but always a fairy.

Preschool Halloween Party.

Megan aka Rainbow Fairy strutting her stuff in the preschool parade.

Mrs Peetz and the whole class.
Megan is always happy to be in her costume unlike the sad little giraffe. I will say that we have gotten our money out of this costume.

Henry
Any guesses what Henry was, no not a bear, but the cutest curious little Monkey.

Dad was not a construction worker, but The Man in the Yellow Hat. Get it.

The dress rehearsal of Halloween: The Halloween Church Party.

Everyone tolerating Mom's pictures (some better than others).

The "how to" of treat or treating.

It didn't take Henry long to catch on.Now for the Big Night
October 31st

Megan and her buddy Unicorn Milan

The Loot
Megan had to empty her pumpkin mid treat or treating because her bag was to full to carry.

And last of all, the injustice of being the second child.

Happy Halloween, and Happy November!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and More Pumpkins

More of Virginia's famous farms. This time we were on the hunt for a great pumpkin, therefore my friend Amy and I loaded up the kids and headed out to Hollin Farm, complete with pumpkins, apples to feed the stinky pigs, a corn maze, and happy little explorers.
















Now that we had the pumpkins, we were ready for the famous Frost family pumpkin carving night. Megan, Henry, and James really got into it this year. Megan loved using the pumpkin knife, Henry loved the fire, and James fulfilled his dream of cheating and using a template.







Our cute little pumpkins.