The Last Blog

First of all, sorry for the delay in writing this, we had very good intentions of writing it during our last week in Zambia, and then during our first week back in the UK, and then during our second week back in the UK….and here we are, six weeks later.  I partly blame the excitement of seeing our families and friends, the drama of the Olympics and the adjusting to starting back at work.  But to be honest, we’ve been putting it off because it’s really hard to think about.  I guess this is what it feels like to have culture shock.

As Dave and I sit on the sofa under a blanket watching E4 on our flat screen HD TV, it genuinely feels like we’ve never been away.  If it weren’t for the photos of us surrounded by Zambian villagers in a concrete block classroom 80 miles from electricity, I wouldn’t believe it had ever happened.  And to be honest, the thought of it all makes me feel so strange, I barely allowed myself to think about it for the first month after being back.  As I write this, it feels so surreal and I can’t say I like it.  It’s so hard not to feel guilty for spending what seems like a ridiculous amount of money on a new pair of jeans or a bottle of wine.  We have to keep reminding ourselves, and each other, that we now live in a totally different economy and constantly comparing our lives here to our lives there isn’t healthy.  It’ll definitely take some time to adjust, and maybe we shouldn’t try to adjust totally.  As long as we can find the right balance, I’m hopeful that we can maintain our renewed appreciation of home without the guilt of enjoying things that inevitably cost money.

You won’t be surprised to hear that our last clinic in Zambia finished with the ususal broken down car.  This time, the engine overheated so much that we had to abandon the Land Rover and get a bus home (I am of course cutting a long story short but I’m sure that anyone still reading this blog is rather bored of hearing about broken down vehicle stories).  A few days before we flew home, two of the On Call Africa trustees arrived to take over.  A lot had changed since they had set up the charity 18 months earlier and so it was rather a rush to get everything handed over, but we enjoyed sharing stories of our adventures and felt reassured by the fact that they had experienced almost all of the challenges we had during their time in Zambia (we were starting to think it was just us!).  Sadly we were unable to sell our personal vehicle in Livingstone so we set off to do the final drive on the Livingstone-Lusaka road, petrified about more breakdowns, collisions or driving disciplines.  I’m happy to say we had none, and quickly found a dealership who were happy to sell our car for us.  We spent our last couple of days in Lusaka getting pretty over-excited about coming home.  We’d had some amazing times, some awful times, and some pretty tedious times too.  But it was definitely time to go home.

So here we are, me settling into my new career in Public Health wondering how our society got into the situation where one of our biggest health problems is eating too much, Dave rushing round A&E wondering why patients are so rude to the staff working so hard at 4am on a Tuesday morning.  But every now and then, a little memory taps us on the shoulder to remind us to be grateful for the fact that eating in this country is such a pleasure, not a necessity.  Any food that I fancy, literally any food, I can have for dinner tonight, thanks to Mr Tesco.   And in our hospitals, there are boxes full of gloves on every clinic room corner, healthcare is truly free, and when a sick child is brought into A&E, specialists and treatments are on hand to save its life.  It’s good to be home.

Thank you so much to all of you who have kept up to date with our blog we really hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as we’ve enjoyed writing it.  We can’t begin to express to grateful we are for all your support and encouragement during our year away.  On Call Africa are going from strength to strength and have just recruited a new project coordinator to oversee the work in Zambia.  After spending six month working for them, we feel more than ever that they are a truly inspirational charity who are motivated by a passion for improving healthcare for those most in need.  But most importantly, this passion is grounded in an understanding that solving these issues is a very complex and very very long process.  We are happy to be able to continue to support them as their new international volunteer coordinators and look forward to helping them raise money for a much-needed new vehicle.

So it’s a last goodbye from our blog.  From Uganda, to Kosovo, to The Caribbean, to Zambia.  Maybe it was just a dream…..

International SOS

For those of you that have been in closer contact with us or have been following On Call Africa fortunes over the past 2 years – you will know that our time here has been plagued with vehicle problems. May saw us spend as more time with garages and mechanics, than we did with clinics and patients. The nature of rural healthcare will mean that until Africa gets a new road infrastructure, getting to and from clinics will always be a challenge.

Matty & I have gained a huge insight into the running of a charity during our time in Zambia and whilst we have learnt a lot and enjoyed the ‘bigger picture’ stuff, we found ourselves getting a bit claustrophobic in the OCA office. Matty’s frustration levels reached a stage where she agreed to join me and go to a local bar to watch Sudan v Zambia at football. I think it is fair to say that most of the best OCA Africa ideas are found in the pub – and it was there that we met our new international partners and friends.

We agreed to meet with a Belgian friend of ours. She had an American couch surfer was staying with her. He had been motorcycling from Cape Town to Uganda and had met some Dutch girls who were travelling the same way. It was the Dutch girls who had a Landrover.

Sabine & Puk are the ‘Women on Wheels’ (WOW). Fulfilling a life time ambition to travel from Cape Town to Amsterdam they have put together a purpose built vehicle. (wow-arica.org) In many ways it is identical to our Landrover – apart from all of the broken/shaky bits are new/shiny. Fortunately for us the women on wheels were more concerned with the plight of rural Africans with no healthcare than the wellbeing of their shiny vehicle and after just a few minutes of us complaining about our car – had they offered to escort us on clinic. Not only were they willing to transport us from site – to-site, but both had an interest in healthcare and wanted to be as involved as they could.

So approx 48 hours after meeting Sabine, Puk & Anthony, we were crammed into the back of their Landrover/motorhome. We didn’t really know much about our new companions. They seemed normal enough – but we were a bit concerned about how they’d cope with the bush – and what they’d make of our make-shift clinic.

They were incredible. The problem with having just 2 of us is that there is a lot to do when you run a clinic. To see and treat the patients – takes at least two doctors. Everything else, from registering the patients, managing the queue, moving the furniture and running the lab also needs doing. From dawn until dusk they laboured for On Call Africa. Within an hour, they could speak more Tongan than we could (the Dutch girls – obviously the American has similar language skills to us!) Within a couple of hours, they were doing Malaria tests, counselling patients for HIV testing and anything else we asked of them. Towards to the end of the day, they were running short of activities – so they re-built one of the villagers’ wheel chair – so that it would run faster!

The most valuable part of their input was their desire to help with the education of the school kids. The head teacher had approached us on our arrival and asked if we could do some education on sexual health as there had been some ‘problems’. With almost no idea what this meant and only a vague idea of what might be culturally appropriate for a sex education lesson for rural Zambian teenagers –we spent our first evening preparing a lesson. Matty and the WOW took the girls whilst Anthony & I had a man –to- man chat with a class full of boys.

One of the great things about African school is that a lot of kids take a long time to complete it. You can drop out for a year or two and return for a bit more when it’s convinient. Consequently, we stood up in front of a class ranging from 12 year olds through to kids that were about 35! Either way, it went well. Despite a small mishap with a condom demonstration that involved a very over ripe banana disintegrating during condom application – which may have sent a confusing message to the impressionable younger members. The kids engaged well and we were quietly surprised at how little people knew about HIV and other STI’s. The questions flowed and the take up for HIV testing was encouraging. If we’re going to stop HIV spreading; knowing whether or not you have it – is a good place to start.

 

The great thing about this week’s clinics was the international collaboration that got us there. Despite the different nationalities, religious views, language barriers and cultural divides – we all wanted the same thing. We were complete strangers – but we had all landed in the same continent (which obviously has some desperate problems), and we all wanted to do what we could to help.

I doubt On Call Africa has all the solutions to all of Zambia’s’ problems, and I’m sure  that some poor teenagers are now a bit terrified of condoms – but if we are going to improve things –then this attitude of collaboration, trust and friendship is a good place to start. Too often, charities get caught up in the logistics of making their projects measurable or writing policies to make them attractive to donors. This week we just joined forces with some complete strangers with a common goal – and got on with it!

So – we must end this blog with a heartfelt – ‘Thank you’ to Sabine, Puk, Anthony (and ‘Willem’ – their trusty landrover.) Without whom , On Call  Africa wouldn’t have been possible this month.