I arrived in NY on Sept 15th and was welcomed with a dinner party of my family and close friends. Surprisingly my sister came through with my niece from Cali and it was an absolute pleasure to see them.
Wrapping things up in SA was a bit difficult because I had to finally close one chapter of my journey that has been profound and engaging. However I know that the next chapter will be just as important.
---to be cont'd
Monday, September 17, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Reflection.
I cannot believe that I have approximately 4 1/2 weeks remaining on my "south african experience". Part of me wishes I can stay here longer to lengthen this journey, but another part of me knows that even if I had the opportunity to stay longer, leaving now is in my best interest. I feel this way because I believe that my time here has allowed to launch myself/life in a new direction with a different focus. A lot of my alone time has encompassed a tremendous amount of self-introspection to learn about me - my wants, desires, personal changes I would like to make - which I hardly ever had the time to do at home.
I must thank God as always for gracing me with this invaluable experience. When I think of all the hoops and hurdles I had to jump through and stumble upon to get here, I am amazed that I got here.
All I want to do now is savor every minute, second I have left here because who knows if I will ever be back.
I must thank God as always for gracing me with this invaluable experience. When I think of all the hoops and hurdles I had to jump through and stumble upon to get here, I am amazed that I got here.
All I want to do now is savor every minute, second I have left here because who knows if I will ever be back.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I've lost a bit of hope
Today I learned of the results of the MIRA trial which is a landmark trial that investigated the HIV and STI incidence in women using condoms only vs. women using condoms and diaphragms. The rationale behind the study is that the diaphragm would protect the cervix, which is considered to serve as an important avenue for HIV transmission in women. Hence, covering the cervix a woman's chance of HIV infection should decrease in theory. Unfortunately, this long-awaited study found no difference between its 2 study arms. HIV infection rates and pregnancy rates were similar.
However, the most depressing part of the results was that women were in fact GETTING INFECTED AND/OR PREGNANT. It troubles me that despite the fact that these women were educated about HIV transmission, condom use, etc the study found that condom use was very inconsistent and was actually lower in the intervention group (women using condoms & diaphragms). What the hell is going on? This study gives a small peek into how even with education and primary/secondary prevention measures women are still getting infected with HIV.
What can we do?
However, the most depressing part of the results was that women were in fact GETTING INFECTED AND/OR PREGNANT. It troubles me that despite the fact that these women were educated about HIV transmission, condom use, etc the study found that condom use was very inconsistent and was actually lower in the intervention group (women using condoms & diaphragms). What the hell is going on? This study gives a small peek into how even with education and primary/secondary prevention measures women are still getting infected with HIV.
What can we do?
Sunday, July 8, 2007
I am sorry...Africa.
Before I commence this blog, I must apologize for not blogging in 2 months. Anyways, here it goes....
Three weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to go on vacation with Anthony and my mother. First, Anthony and I went to Cape Town, 3 days later we were in Durban, where my mother joined us from the NY. After 5 days there, we returned to Jozi where Anthony left to go back to NY and my mother and I left for Zimbabwe 1 day later.
This vacation was much needed since this will probably be my last until graduation. Yikes!
Cape Town, was spectacular! The weather was amazing and we stayed walking distance from the beach! I did not want to leave. On our last night, we did a township tour of Langa. Our guide was well-informed and had tons of patience answering all of our questions. But what struck me was the seclusiveness of Langa! I must say, South Africa (SA) does a great job at hiding its poverty stricken areas. This is especially the case in Cape Town, where you forget you are in SA and feel you are in a small European coastal town. I am not sure about you all, but I hate being bamboozled! Until you move out of the center city of Cape Town and make efforts to go to a township, you will not see all of the real Cape Town. Not everyone is living lavishingly on beachfront properties but many are in informal settlements where their houses are built from metal scraps from a junk yard. Fortunately not all who live in a township live like this, some would be what we consider to be working, middle class folk who cannot afford to make the big jump from living in a township to a suburb. The inability to move then creates this inherent disadvantage since living in a township makes you to go to a township school where bantu education is still norm, a remnant of the pre-apartheid area. Bantu education leaves its pupils with poor foundations in science, math, essential skills and hence the poor likelihood of ever leaving the township due to unemployment or poor income.
What saddens me is that the only glimpse of a Cape Town township is on your way to or from the airport, where you can see the glistening metal roofs along the highway. After that you find yourself in the "Disney Land" of SA.
The story continues folks but now into another country - Zimbabwe. I have my complaints about SA, but it is truly one of the most blessed countries on the African continent. On the other hand, Zimbabwe is SA's antithesis - consistently and desperately poor. My mother and I traveled there to visit Victoria Falls - considered one of the must sees of southern Africa. However it is probably one of the few reasons one would visit Zim (others are its nature/game reserves). Anyways, walking back to our hotel we encountered a young man who was selling souvenirs. He persistently bargained with me over the price of a wooden, although I was obviously not interested. "I will charge you $10American dollars for this, madam. Not too much? Ok, how about in rand?" I told him I did not have any dollars or South African rand, and that I was just not interested in buying anything. And then he said the most amazing thing of all, "How about you pants? I like your pants, let me have them. Or your shirt. I need clothes." I was in shock. Did this young man really ask me for the clothes I was wearing?! Truly, if I did not mind being naked, I would have given him my clothes, but the despair of the Zimbabwean people was obvious- that experience summed it up for me.
Questions poured into my mind. Why does it have to be this way? How could SA be so fortunate yet only mere hours away, Zim is struggling? Why did Oprah set up her school in SA and not Zim?
I then remembered in the late 1990s when present Zim President, Robert Mugabe, announced that he was kicking all of the white farmers off their farms and giving them to their "rightful" owners - the black African population. As a African-American and as an outsider, I thought that it was a courageous act of Mugabe. I agreed that the African soil was for black people and that it made absolute sense to take it back with force if necessary. However, now I realized that not only was this act courageous but was irrational and stupid! How can you give the land to people who were trained to nothing but be subservient to other peoples? How can these people know how operate a farm if they were never trained how to do it? In theory, his plan made sense but in reality he missed the mark - really, really bad.
I guess this explains the success of SA. When Mandela came in office, he preached nonracialism and respect for all the races of SA. He told black South Africans to forgive those who supported the apartheid regime and to move on and look forward to a better SA.
On my way to Zambian airport ( I traveled to Zim via Zambia), my heart saddened as I thought of Zim. Zim was a representative of what any African country could be, when she tried to remove the damages that European colonialism ravaged through its soil.
Will Africa ever be able to sustain itself? Will there ever be peace and prosperity amongst all its countries? I have no answers but I am hopeful. But all I could say was... I am sorry.
Three weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to go on vacation with Anthony and my mother. First, Anthony and I went to Cape Town, 3 days later we were in Durban, where my mother joined us from the NY. After 5 days there, we returned to Jozi where Anthony left to go back to NY and my mother and I left for Zimbabwe 1 day later.
This vacation was much needed since this will probably be my last until graduation. Yikes!
Cape Town, was spectacular! The weather was amazing and we stayed walking distance from the beach! I did not want to leave. On our last night, we did a township tour of Langa. Our guide was well-informed and had tons of patience answering all of our questions. But what struck me was the seclusiveness of Langa! I must say, South Africa (SA) does a great job at hiding its poverty stricken areas. This is especially the case in Cape Town, where you forget you are in SA and feel you are in a small European coastal town. I am not sure about you all, but I hate being bamboozled! Until you move out of the center city of Cape Town and make efforts to go to a township, you will not see all of the real Cape Town. Not everyone is living lavishingly on beachfront properties but many are in informal settlements where their houses are built from metal scraps from a junk yard. Fortunately not all who live in a township live like this, some would be what we consider to be working, middle class folk who cannot afford to make the big jump from living in a township to a suburb. The inability to move then creates this inherent disadvantage since living in a township makes you to go to a township school where bantu education is still norm, a remnant of the pre-apartheid area. Bantu education leaves its pupils with poor foundations in science, math, essential skills and hence the poor likelihood of ever leaving the township due to unemployment or poor income.
What saddens me is that the only glimpse of a Cape Town township is on your way to or from the airport, where you can see the glistening metal roofs along the highway. After that you find yourself in the "Disney Land" of SA.
The story continues folks but now into another country - Zimbabwe. I have my complaints about SA, but it is truly one of the most blessed countries on the African continent. On the other hand, Zimbabwe is SA's antithesis - consistently and desperately poor. My mother and I traveled there to visit Victoria Falls - considered one of the must sees of southern Africa. However it is probably one of the few reasons one would visit Zim (others are its nature/game reserves). Anyways, walking back to our hotel we encountered a young man who was selling souvenirs. He persistently bargained with me over the price of a wooden, although I was obviously not interested. "I will charge you $10American dollars for this, madam. Not too much? Ok, how about in rand?" I told him I did not have any dollars or South African rand, and that I was just not interested in buying anything. And then he said the most amazing thing of all, "How about you pants? I like your pants, let me have them. Or your shirt. I need clothes." I was in shock. Did this young man really ask me for the clothes I was wearing?! Truly, if I did not mind being naked, I would have given him my clothes, but the despair of the Zimbabwean people was obvious- that experience summed it up for me.
Questions poured into my mind. Why does it have to be this way? How could SA be so fortunate yet only mere hours away, Zim is struggling? Why did Oprah set up her school in SA and not Zim?
I then remembered in the late 1990s when present Zim President, Robert Mugabe, announced that he was kicking all of the white farmers off their farms and giving them to their "rightful" owners - the black African population. As a African-American and as an outsider, I thought that it was a courageous act of Mugabe. I agreed that the African soil was for black people and that it made absolute sense to take it back with force if necessary. However, now I realized that not only was this act courageous but was irrational and stupid! How can you give the land to people who were trained to nothing but be subservient to other peoples? How can these people know how operate a farm if they were never trained how to do it? In theory, his plan made sense but in reality he missed the mark - really, really bad.
I guess this explains the success of SA. When Mandela came in office, he preached nonracialism and respect for all the races of SA. He told black South Africans to forgive those who supported the apartheid regime and to move on and look forward to a better SA.
On my way to Zambian airport ( I traveled to Zim via Zambia), my heart saddened as I thought of Zim. Zim was a representative of what any African country could be, when she tried to remove the damages that European colonialism ravaged through its soil.
Will Africa ever be able to sustain itself? Will there ever be peace and prosperity amongst all its countries? I have no answers but I am hopeful. But all I could say was... I am sorry.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
We are not all Conservative Republicans...Believe me.
Every day at work, I have to defend the American people who actually have brains. Unfortunately due to the media, my South African colleagues consistently see a skewed view of America. Daily I find myself jokingly saying things like, "No, those are the ideas of the red states", "In NY, people do not think like that" or "Only the people that voted for Bush would do something like that". I actually find this quite disturbing b/c at least my colleagues have me in their midst to dispel all the "myths" of America, while there are millions of people out there who are alone with warped perspectives.
For example, my coworkers showed me a NY Times blog post that featured how Senator McCain fumbled when a reporter asked him about HIV prevention. Please check it out at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/mccain-stumbles-on-hiv-prevention/
They came to me asked why are Americans so clueless about HIV prevention. And of course before I even read it I had to tell them about the political platform of a conservative Republican on HIV/AIDS and how this is in line with McCain and NOT all of America despite what they think.
I think as Americans we need to learn how we are viewed by our international friends. Because of Bush, many people believe that Americans are conservative Republicans. Technically this is true since "we" voted for him. Right?? I have no idea how to change this, because we obviously cannot change the media. However I do hope that with the new presidential elections that we, the American people, make a serious effort to make an EDUCATED vote. I believe that the next presidency will be a pivotal point in American history.
In addition, Americans need to reevaluate the stigma that we have of HIV/AIDS. For conservative Republicans to state the prevention should be the #1 priority in Africa or even America is ludacris! So you are telling me that the wife whose husband infected her with HIV, should abstain from sex? Does that make sense?
For example, my coworkers showed me a NY Times blog post that featured how Senator McCain fumbled when a reporter asked him about HIV prevention. Please check it out at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/mccain-stumbles-on-hiv-prevention/
They came to me asked why are Americans so clueless about HIV prevention. And of course before I even read it I had to tell them about the political platform of a conservative Republican on HIV/AIDS and how this is in line with McCain and NOT all of America despite what they think.
I think as Americans we need to learn how we are viewed by our international friends. Because of Bush, many people believe that Americans are conservative Republicans. Technically this is true since "we" voted for him. Right?? I have no idea how to change this, because we obviously cannot change the media. However I do hope that with the new presidential elections that we, the American people, make a serious effort to make an EDUCATED vote. I believe that the next presidency will be a pivotal point in American history.
In addition, Americans need to reevaluate the stigma that we have of HIV/AIDS. For conservative Republicans to state the prevention should be the #1 priority in Africa or even America is ludacris! So you are telling me that the wife whose husband infected her with HIV, should abstain from sex? Does that make sense?
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Disparity
Since I have been here, I have seen approximately 6 Lamborghinis...more than I have seen in the states. Three of them this week alone. I thought this was supposed to be a developing country?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Thin Prep
To all of you non-medical folk this blog is concerning medical stuff but it still may be of interest to you so please continue to read. Today I found out something that really disturbed me. While I was at my desk, I overheard a co-worker talking about a new way to do Pap smears. I began to eavesdrop b/c I wanted to know about the latest medical technology. Anyways, I was shocked as he began to explain the "new" method to another doctor in the office. He stated, "Instead of putting it directly on a slide, you can put cervical cells in this type of solution which they can then fix on a slide. It is so innovative!" I was appalled at what I heard. Again, non-medical folk you may not get this, but please bare with me. I was shocked b/c the method he described is something that has been used in the states for years! Supposedly 10 years or so. And out here it is something that will not even be implemented for another 1 to 2 years! I could not believe this. In medical school, I learned of the numerous advantages of using this Thin Prep system which is so simple to use. In a country with a severely high cervical cancer rate, why don't they have it already! I am sorry this is b.s. In a country where some people can afford to drive a Lamborghini, the Thin Prep system should be used.
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