The Harsh Realities of HIV

The SmartCare project’s primary goal is to help medical practitioners deliver “continuity of care” to every citizen of Zambia…loosely interpreted, this means providing a system by which no matter the clinic you go to for a given treatment within the country, the clinician there should be able to access your complete medical history and make good treatment decisions based on that information.  While I feel really lucky to be working on this project, reality bites when I hear stories like the one about our neighborhood guard. This gentleman basically keeps watch over the cul-de-sac that Chrys, Marjory and others live on.  We found out the other day that he and his wife had just lost a second child – to HIV.  The parents are both HIV positive and the virus is often transmitted mother-to-child.  They now plan to try for a third child, but have been counseled and plan to take the needed precautions at birth to avoid transmission again.  It breaks my heart – so much education and support is needed to avoid these sorts of tragedies – hopefully systems like SmartCare will play a part in delivering the kind of care needed to do this. In fact, one of the modules that is being developed currently is aimed at reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

A “Kitchen Party” – A Wedding Celebration

This past Saturday, the house was all aflutter because one of Marjory’s nieces is going to be married before long and the extended family of women were throwing a “kitchen party” for the bride-to-be.  From the sound of it this seemed comparable to a bridal shower – in fact Chrys, Karuna and I were invited but various things got in the way.  However we did have the pleasure of a bit of a fashion show as the women folk got all dressed up to party.  Marjory in particular stopped by just as she was heading out and looked like an African princess…well, I am not quite sure what one looks like but she was regal!  From what I gathered when the gang returned there had been much merrymaking, eating and I suspect some social drinking…when Chrys, Karuna and I came home from dinner at a local Indian restaurant (yummy food), we found Marjory totally crashed out on the front patio taking a bit of a snooze.  And a good time what definitely had by all.

Kalimba Reptile Park: Close Encounter with Pythons and Crocs

Our Sunday outing was quite an adventure.  James (our very favorite taxi driver and basically a member of the “clan”) took us out to the outskirts of Lusaka – over pretty bumpy roads – to the Kalimba Reptile Park.  Owned by a Brit and his Belgian wife, this little oasis is about 20km out of the center part of the city, and definitely not on the tourist map.  It did become clear, however, that Lusakans know about it and tourists with good local intelligence find and enjoy this spot very much. 

The grounds are beautifully kept, with picnic tables, covered eating areas and BBQs, a wading pool for the kiddies (or adults who are just too darned hot to care about appearances), a nice play structure, a big open field for playing soccer or dodge ball,  a billiard table, trampoline, and even a little café that will cook a nice barbequed meal for you.  There were a number of big multi-generation families and church youth groups there enjoying the day when we were there.

BUT…the real attractions at this park are the reptiles!  For what amounted to about four dollars a person (plus a tip), we got a guided tour of the residents of this compound…snakes of all kinds – some indigenous to Zambia, some not. Some very poisonous, others more benign.   You’ll see from the pictures here that we got to “play with” (and I use the term loosely) an innocuous grass snake…and a python – not so innocuous. Chrys is apparently not afraid of any creepy crawlers so she got to have the python hand around her neck while other onlookers freaked out in fear.  I was very satisfied with petting the end of the snake farthest from its head, thank you very much.  I was bold enough to let a little – almost cute – brown non-venomous slitherer try on my wrist for size, but I can’t say I was totally comfortable until he was rescued by our guide.

There were also box turtles big and small…and crocodiles…BIG crocs and small crocs – and lots of them.  Adjacent to the viewing areas, there is a working crocodile farm that houses about 10,000 (yes, five zeros) of these beasties. The crocodiles are bred and raised for their skins that are exported, and the meat is kept locally for consumption.  I will not repeat what Chrys said the meat tastes like – it’s too gross for print.  I was astounded at the size of some of the older critters on display – they can grow to weigh close to a TON!

Personally, one of my favorite things about the park were the warning signs posted all over – obviously someone had a great, though warped, sense of humor.

Cheers for now!