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Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Surf Caburf
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Thursday, June 9, 2011
Chocquib Town In Tumaco
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Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Liberty leave cont'd...
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Washing Helicopters
Today was a much-needed day on the ship. I spent the morning attempting to contact my department at GWU which has proved to be more impossible than spending a day driving around narcotic-terrorist Colombia. If anyone can help me figure out how the department of global health manages to successfully evade students for prolonged periods of time I may have some useful Intel to pass on to our colleagues here...
After said failed attempt I decided to work out (re: do laundry) although I managed an hour at the gym waiting for the dryer. Just as good as running between my room and office. I sat with the pilots at lunch and volunteered to help wash the helos. So much fun! And not an easy job.
I'll also dig up pics from yesterday's fieldwork ashore, I managed to hit every site with a State Dept team and 2 trucks of anti-Narc specious teams. If you haven't yet, Google "tumaco, Colombia" for a taste of the region we're operating. Pictures coming!
After said failed attempt I decided to work out (re: do laundry) although I managed an hour at the gym waiting for the dryer. Just as good as running between my room and office. I sat with the pilots at lunch and volunteered to help wash the helos. So much fun! And not an easy job.
I'll also dig up pics from yesterday's fieldwork ashore, I managed to hit every site with a State Dept team and 2 trucks of anti-Narc specious teams. If you haven't yet, Google "tumaco, Colombia" for a taste of the region we're operating. Pictures coming!
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Saturday, June 4, 2011
Colombia!
GeoTagged, [S0.94111, E80.73206]
With some excerpts from a letter to my Kenya roomates:
Greetings from Tumaco, Colombia. It's a 45 min boat ride or 15 min helicopter trip to the site each day. I completed 6 interviews yesterday and transcribing/coding today. Things are going well, it's the craziest environment I've worked in yet. As I type my office is rolling back and forth in 15-foot swells as we're located in the highest point on the ship.
Life on the high seas can get lonely after living in a house of 12, but also loving the opportunity to meet new people. The stories of how everyone found themselves on this floating hospital of wonder are really incredible. Some have chosen to be here, others not.
Every night I climb into my 'rack' (bunk bed) and listen to my Kenya playlist while rocking to sleep. Up everyday at 5:30 a.m. to get to the mess decks for breakfast (4 flights of stairs up), then roll call with my team, called 'mustering' which is on the other end of the ship and 4 flights downstairs, then on to a boat/helicopter. Today I'm staying aboard to work, so up 8 flights of stairs to my office. If I leave something in my room or have to use the bathroom, it's another 8 flights of stairs across the other end of the ship.
And about laundry, be careful what you wish for! If you see the previous posts, I was quite excited not to be using a bucket anymore... Yes we have washers but the room is at the lowest point of the ship, on the other end (of course). From my room I take the dirty load up 3 flights, across the ship, and down 3. Clean load is up 3 down 3.
Each country has been really different with regard to site and patient population. The current site is heavily guarded with over 1000 Colombian military troops and additional support from NCIS (yep, like the tv show!) marine and air support. It's quite incredible to experience it every morning. The days are long and work is hard in the tropical (wet) heat but everyone is pulling together to complete the mission in the next 8 days.
I can upload one picture at a time on here, more on my Facebook as I take quite a few with the new smartphone and they load directly. By the by, that is the view from my office window of the helo picking up medical supplies for drop off at the site. They delivered everything needed for the entire site in one day.
Patients come aboard for sugary today and all operations are running at full speed. I'm looking forward to catching up on work and rest, tomorrow it's out to the site again!
More soon...
Calm winds and fair seas,
Dars
P.s. My mom is sending cookies, depending on how they hold up I may send hints for a ugali and kales care package ;) if you did't know, we have a regular US military address. Toys, snacks, gummy bears, and inappropriate inside jokes accepted.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Liberty leave
GeoTagged, [S0.94104, E80.73229]
Here's the view from the Hotel Oro Verde in Manta, Ecuador. It's the first 'liberty' (free time) for everyone who has been on the ship for the first two months + 3 rotations. Hard to believe how little time off is granted for considering they're working full time shifts 7 days/week.
Even onshore we have a strict set of rules:
-Must be in your bed (on the ship or in your hotel room) no later than 11, 12, or 1 depending on your rank (I'm considered an O-3).
-No more than 1 drink/hour
-Must be in uniform, ready to muster by 8am
-No food from non-approved restaurants (same goes for approved ATMs, there are only 2)
-Everyone must have a 'liberty' buddy that you are attached to at all times. There can be no more than 5 people in a group of buddies and one person per group of partnership must remain sober
...of course there are many more but would rather focus on all the fun we're having instead. Mike, Amy, Jeff, and I went to an amazing dinner last night at a tapas restaurant. The food was amazing and we made it through 3 bottles of wine and lots of dessert before heading off into the Manta night for dancing.
The scene is quite hilarious, considering the very small radius that is approved for hanging out and 1000 people who haven't had any free time = bars overflowed with Comfort folks and pure shenanigans.
More pictures soon - they're all on the cell phone!
Comfort in Ecuador
Ok... just got the blog app so maybe I'll actually keep up with this next trip better! Since the test app connects to this blog I'll purchase the full version later and start adding pictures.
For now here's the quick update: I'm on USNS Comfort for the "Continuing Promise 2011" mission in South/Central America. I got here 5 days ago and got my luggage last night... the ship is huge and if you know me well then it's no surprise that I get lost daily and nightly and someone get myself back to my 'rack' (bunk bed). The people on the ship are amazing and everyday I meet new people and see new places that are awesome.
More to come...
For now here's the quick update: I'm on USNS Comfort for the "Continuing Promise 2011" mission in South/Central America. I got here 5 days ago and got my luggage last night... the ship is huge and if you know me well then it's no surprise that I get lost daily and nightly and someone get myself back to my 'rack' (bunk bed). The people on the ship are amazing and everyday I meet new people and see new places that are awesome.
More to come...
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Life in Kisumu... one-month countdown!
It’s easy to take the day to day for granted and without even realizing it I’ve acclimated to life here in Kisumu. It’s to the point that the little quirks, actually the really strange things I encounter on daily basis, have stopped being cause for alarm or attention. I no longer care that we’re delayed from cows crossing or just lounging in the road and it’s actually part of my daily ritual to sit with my beverage of choice on the veranda waiting for the daily cow migration to pass the house. I love the cows!
Then there’s the burning piles of trash, including mounds of toxic burning plastic and black smoke, noticed but normal. I eat with my hands when I want to and when people say ‘hi’ I yell ‘I’m fine’ before they can ask. I say ‘asante’ instead of thank you and ‘habari’ or ‘mzuri’ when meeting up with friends. ‘sawa sawa’ means it’s all good and I don’t blink when it comes to negotiating prices. It’s funny because in Nairobi a couple weeks ago, waiting for Ar, Christine and I went on bargaining for a taxi from the airport for 15 minutes before we realized, like at home, the airport taxis are a fixed rate. What a rip off!
Then there’s the burning piles of trash, including mounds of toxic burning plastic and black smoke, noticed but normal. I eat with my hands when I want to and when people say ‘hi’ I yell ‘I’m fine’ before they can ask. I say ‘asante’ instead of thank you and ‘habari’ or ‘mzuri’ when meeting up with friends. ‘sawa sawa’ means it’s all good and I don’t blink when it comes to negotiating prices. It’s funny because in Nairobi a couple weeks ago, waiting for Ar, Christine and I went on bargaining for a taxi from the airport for 15 minutes before we realized, like at home, the airport taxis are a fixed rate. What a rip off! I have had in total 3 hot showers in the past 3 months, and one semi-warm or just less-than-freezing one on a little staycation a few weeks ago. But now it doesn’t matter—I thought about it this morning since I skipped my morning run to walk and call home instead. I did a bit of yoga but I definitely wasn’t breaking a sweat after the final stretch and jumped in the shower anyway. Freezing cold water but without the shock, I didn’t even lose my breath.
And washing clothes, in a bucket. Sawa sawa.
When I think about the strangest things from the last week, they’re actually quite familiar from home but in this context it’s strange and almost a little uncomfortable now. On Friday we attended a jazz benefit (complete with white linen tables, candles, red wine, and Mexican food) in the back yard of the CDC director’s house.
And the Ritz crackers that mysteriously appeared at Nakumat supermarket--at home I don’t eat Ritz crackers but this morning on the ride out to the field someone brought a package and I devoured the little crunchy morsel of buttery goodness like I hadn’t eaten in days… When is the last time you ate a Ritz?! I also enjoyed a Trader Joe’s granola bar leftover from Ar and Shane’s blow through Kenya and right now I’m listening to a 2-year old podcast of West India Girl on KCRW and it’s dawned on me that the quick trip home and transition to the hospital ship might be tougher than I’d anticipated…
Anyway, we have a month left and it’s time to reflect and write. I’ll attempt to catch up on Life in Kisumu to illustrate that life in the rural west of Kenya is different but it’s not that bad, in fact life is pretty darn good! ...Oh! Here. Come. The. Cows. Right on time…
Thursday, March 3, 2011
99s International, Kenya style
Fulfilling my mom's cautious predictions, I have completely taken after my father. I've denied it for years, but when I started flying there was no looking back... In August 2010, I completed my private pilot's license, one day before leaving for grad school across the country. My dad was sitting on the tarmac when I landed with proud grin and a thumb's up... and it became official: I'm my father's daughter! 
Just as our dad used to drag us to little airports on 'discovery' road trips years ago, I have taken to finding and visiting local aviation outposts whenever possible. If I'm lucky, I'll even swing a quick flight. (On my cross-country drive from California to Washington, DC this materialized into a front-seat ride in a little rainbow-colored experimental aircraft, flipping upside down over my grandparent's farm in Kansas with Jim, the Flying Farmer. My mom was on the ground, waving and taking photos and, inevitably, praying. And now, in Kenya, the pursuit continues. This little post is dedicated to all my favorite lady pilots (Monterey Bay 99s, DC99s, Old Dominion 99s, and WAI)...and dad: photos from my first few days in Nairobi, trolling around the airport :) I hope to do some flying in the few days I'm back in Nairobi before heading home...
Flying lessons, anyone?
99s flying club...?
Safari bush-flying
Safari bush-flying
ACEA. Beryl Markham was
a lifetime member and inspiration
a lifetime member and inspiration
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Washing Clothes + Burning Calories... takes time!
Adventures documented yesterday...
It's 9am and I'm back in my pajamas in bed since classes are distance learning this week and in the heat it seems silly to 'work' in clothes and we don't have desks, still. And even if I wanted to dress up a bit, I couldn't because every last piece of clothing is saturated in orange Kisumu dust and in dire need of a soak. In the case of my favorite khaki safari pants (my roommate Chiara considers my entire wardrobe safari since I packed comfort-chic over cute-chic), I'll need to get creative. They ripped in my epic School Bus knee-bust so I'm down to two pairs of pants, safari green and safari brown, respectively. Anyway, the last sock is hanging and I'm back to my powerpoint slides on economic determinants of health, but not without a little reflection (and procrastination) first.
After weeks of consuming typical Kenyan fare in which the number one ingredient is corn oil combined with carbohydrates it's tough to reconcile why I haven't gained a pound, maybe even lost a few. At home we have access to organic foods and gym memberships. But here, 'working out' explicitly is a taboo activity (I'll address/link this later when I discuss our daily run and the attention it's garnered around town). After two months of living here, I submit that [the appearance of] being healthy is not some complex balance of squeezed-in gym routines and expensive dietary adjustments but just... living.
Take laundry. I actually substituted my running routine this morning to wash my clothes and I'm almost certain the calories burned were comparable. My routine includes filling a bucket with soap + water with as many articles as will fit and carrying said bucket downstairs to the backyard sink. I scrub each thing individually against itself, wring it out, and add it to bucket #2. Once everything has been scrubbed from the soapy bucket (and the water at this point is orange with dirt) I start the rinse cycle--rinsing and wringing everything again. Then it's on to the hanging, which entails bending over, grabbing and unwinding each article from the bucket and reaching up to hang it. If I start by 6:30am, I can be hanging by 7:30am when the equatorial sun is just becoming h-o-t. I've engaged my arms, legs, back, and I'm usually breaking a sweat after 15 minutes. Not bad!
Now take the day to day lives of people around town--in lieu of businesses with suits and fancy working lunches (they do exist, but it's rare), most people have to physically work really hard. To them, purposefully wasting energy to run around in gym clothes seems absolutely ridiculous. It's hard enough just getting through the heat of the day.
In another upcoming post, I'm planning to share the stories of four entrepreneurs I met over the weekend at World Bicycle Relief* who test-ride new bicycles used to sell, peddle, pick up, and push an eclectic variety of goods. Their stories are fabulous and their dedication to the entrepreneurial spirit and good old fashioned hard work is inspiring. Stay tuned for pictures and stories. In the meantime I have to go rescue my laundry (it dries here in an hour or less, no electricity needed!) and prepare for tomorrow's adventure to the post office. I'll skip running, again.
*I found WBR on accident while looking around the Google map of Kisumu for interesting things to do and got more than I bargained for that day. One of the advantages of being here, Kisumu in particular, is that every interesting NGO is on our street or at the very least, easily accessible. The team at WBR is amazing and this past weekend I spent two days hanging out, watching them assemble new prototype bikes, and interviewing the 'test riders' who use the bikes around town.
It's 9am and I'm back in my pajamas in bed since classes are distance learning this week and in the heat it seems silly to 'work' in clothes and we don't have desks, still. And even if I wanted to dress up a bit, I couldn't because every last piece of clothing is saturated in orange Kisumu dust and in dire need of a soak. In the case of my favorite khaki safari pants (my roommate Chiara considers my entire wardrobe safari since I packed comfort-chic over cute-chic), I'll need to get creative. They ripped in my epic School Bus knee-bust so I'm down to two pairs of pants, safari green and safari brown, respectively. Anyway, the last sock is hanging and I'm back to my powerpoint slides on economic determinants of health, but not without a little reflection (and procrastination) first.
After weeks of consuming typical Kenyan fare in which the number one ingredient is corn oil combined with carbohydrates it's tough to reconcile why I haven't gained a pound, maybe even lost a few. At home we have access to organic foods and gym memberships. But here, 'working out' explicitly is a taboo activity (I'll address/link this later when I discuss our daily run and the attention it's garnered around town). After two months of living here, I submit that [the appearance of] being healthy is not some complex balance of squeezed-in gym routines and expensive dietary adjustments but just... living.
Take laundry. I actually substituted my running routine this morning to wash my clothes and I'm almost certain the calories burned were comparable. My routine includes filling a bucket with soap + water with as many articles as will fit and carrying said bucket downstairs to the backyard sink. I scrub each thing individually against itself, wring it out, and add it to bucket #2. Once everything has been scrubbed from the soapy bucket (and the water at this point is orange with dirt) I start the rinse cycle--rinsing and wringing everything again. Then it's on to the hanging, which entails bending over, grabbing and unwinding each article from the bucket and reaching up to hang it. If I start by 6:30am, I can be hanging by 7:30am when the equatorial sun is just becoming h-o-t. I've engaged my arms, legs, back, and I'm usually breaking a sweat after 15 minutes. Not bad!
Now take the day to day lives of people around town--in lieu of businesses with suits and fancy working lunches (they do exist, but it's rare), most people have to physically work really hard. To them, purposefully wasting energy to run around in gym clothes seems absolutely ridiculous. It's hard enough just getting through the heat of the day.
In another upcoming post, I'm planning to share the stories of four entrepreneurs I met over the weekend at World Bicycle Relief* who test-ride new bicycles used to sell, peddle, pick up, and push an eclectic variety of goods. Their stories are fabulous and their dedication to the entrepreneurial spirit and good old fashioned hard work is inspiring. Stay tuned for pictures and stories. In the meantime I have to go rescue my laundry (it dries here in an hour or less, no electricity needed!) and prepare for tomorrow's adventure to the post office. I'll skip running, again.
*I found WBR on accident while looking around the Google map of Kisumu for interesting things to do and got more than I bargained for that day. One of the advantages of being here, Kisumu in particular, is that every interesting NGO is on our street or at the very least, easily accessible. The team at WBR is amazing and this past weekend I spent two days hanging out, watching them assemble new prototype bikes, and interviewing the 'test riders' who use the bikes around town.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Introductions...
Habari from Kisumu, Kenya. I'm a grad student at GWU in the MPH-GH, DME program spending my SSI with OLC Kenya. Translation for all you non-acronym types: George Washington University in the MPH-Global Health department, design/monitoring/evaluation track. This semester is our second semester intensive (SSI), Overseas Learning Collaboration (OLC) with Great Lakes University (GLUK) and the Tropical Institute for Community Health (TICH). And intensive, it is! One day of class in Kenya is equal to one week at home, squeezing a semester's worth of coursework into 2-3 week sessions-o-craziness. Add to that we're a group of 12 girls in one house, dealing with all manner of personal and familial challenges on top of the extreme stress of school, living in a bona fide developing country, and breaking the tip of the culture shock iceberg in time to re-experience it at home.
In our first session, we had Environmental/Occupational Health with a midterm after day 3 and a final on day 10. Quantitative Analysis consisted of learning a new software program (STATA) a midterm, final, and killer project: multivariate regression analysis defining relationships in the DHS survey for Bangladesh fertility rates. 3 weeks, done and done.
Our second session was a leap in the other direction: policy analysis. Not just your run-of-the-mill policy course but a 3 hour daily grind involving critical thinking and smart debate. After the three previous weeks of jam-packed fact memorization, and regurgitating them in exams, critical thinking was a challenge for everyone. Take the facts presented in the case and dig deep. Deeper. And render explicit the problem, it's causes, the solution, and its impact. By day 8 (equal to week 8 at home) we came up against the toughest subject yet: ethics. I'll get into it in a separate post, but the question by the end of three hours was this: Is it ethical for us to be here? For us to just be here, living, and going to school?
Everyone's been asking what I'm doing here and that's just it, I'm living here and going to school. I'm also seeing, doing, experiencing, adventure-ing as much as I can. I've learned more about myself, by being pushed into 'checking myself' on a daily basis, more than in the past 27 years (save for a few near-death experiences my mom would rather not relive). And in this short time I've come to the conclusion that to be successful in the future, to truly live with purpose and contribute and do something meaningful, I have to commit myself to continuous 'checking in.' In the last few months here I'll finally catch up on some of the things we're doing and attempt to translate what's going through my head along the way.
I hope that by sharing these thoughts, along with news and pictures and on-goings, I'll provide some food-for-thought along with the usual entertainment. If you know me, which you probably do if you're reading this little blog, I've already gotten in and out of a few sticky situations, broken some rules, dabbled with an international romance (or two) and busted a knee for the SECOND time in Africa :) Life's not easy here, it could be harder, but it's not easy and it leads to opportunities for reflection not easily enjoyed (or appreciated) back at home.
Habari from Kisumu, Kenya. I'm a grad student at GWU in the MPH-GH, DME program spending my SSI with OLC Kenya. Translation for all you non-acronym types: George Washington University in the MPH-Global Health department, design/monitoring/evaluation track. This semester is our second semester intensive (SSI), Overseas Learning Collaboration (OLC) with Great Lakes University (GLUK) and the Tropical Institute for Community Health (TICH). And intensive, it is! One day of class in Kenya is equal to one week at home, squeezing a semester's worth of coursework into 2-3 week sessions-o-craziness. Add to that we're a group of 12 girls in one house, dealing with all manner of personal and familial challenges on top of the extreme stress of school, living in a bona fide developing country, and breaking the tip of the culture shock iceberg in time to re-experience it at home.
In our first session, we had Environmental/Occupational Health with a midterm after day 3 and a final on day 10. Quantitative Analysis consisted of learning a new software program (STATA) a midterm, final, and killer project: multivariate regression analysis defining relationships in the DHS survey for Bangladesh fertility rates. 3 weeks, done and done.
Our second session was a leap in the other direction: policy analysis. Not just your run-of-the-mill policy course but a 3 hour daily grind involving critical thinking and smart debate. After the three previous weeks of jam-packed fact memorization, and regurgitating them in exams, critical thinking was a challenge for everyone. Take the facts presented in the case and dig deep. Deeper. And render explicit the problem, it's causes, the solution, and its impact. By day 8 (equal to week 8 at home) we came up against the toughest subject yet: ethics. I'll get into it in a separate post, but the question by the end of three hours was this: Is it ethical for us to be here? For us to just be here, living, and going to school?
Everyone's been asking what I'm doing here and that's just it, I'm living here and going to school. I'm also seeing, doing, experiencing, adventure-ing as much as I can. I've learned more about myself, by being pushed into 'checking myself' on a daily basis, more than in the past 27 years (save for a few near-death experiences my mom would rather not relive). And in this short time I've come to the conclusion that to be successful in the future, to truly live with purpose and contribute and do something meaningful, I have to commit myself to continuous 'checking in.' In the last few months here I'll finally catch up on some of the things we're doing and attempt to translate what's going through my head along the way.
I hope that by sharing these thoughts, along with news and pictures and on-goings, I'll provide some food-for-thought along with the usual entertainment. If you know me, which you probably do if you're reading this little blog, I've already gotten in and out of a few sticky situations, broken some rules, dabbled with an international romance (or two) and busted a knee for the SECOND time in Africa :) Life's not easy here, it could be harder, but it's not easy and it leads to opportunities for reflection not easily enjoyed (or appreciated) back at home.
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