Adventures with Electronics

One of our tasks here in Zambia was to prepare and implement a training for the field staff who will carrying out the ABCE costing study that IHME and the University of Zambia are collaborating on.  In addition to reading through and revising the (incredibly long) survey instrument, we had the added adventure of setting up all the electronics that will be used for data collection.

A coworker from Seattle came to help out with the training, bringing with him a suitcase full of GPS devices.  We lugged them home and proceeded to set them all out on the lawn behind our guesthouse, developing quite an assembly line for clicking through menus and waiting for them to find satellites.  Incidentally, Zimbabwe is the closest country to Zambia that Garmin GPS devices come pre-loaded with maps for.

The netbooks were supposed to arrive the next day, but there were some delays that held them up in Kenya.  For a week and a half.  And then customs in Zambia wouldn't allow them into the country without a substantial fee.  So we held the first two days of the training without the netbooks, and delayed the final day until they had arrived.  Which meant that Laura and I had the delightful task of unpacking, charging, and updating the netbooks all in the course of one evening.

Twenty-two netbooks arrived at UNZA:

And we brought them back to our guesthouse, where we promptly began unpacking them and plugging them in to literally every outlet in the house.

Many hours later, and after substantial amounts of grumbling at the internet, we packed them back up for transport to the final day of training.  Our trusty taxi driver, Steve, was only a little surprised to see all the boxes; he explained that one of his other clients had just moved a bunch of the exact same laptops that they were using for their own study.  I guess we've hit on a trend here. :)

Despite the logistical difficulties and some uncertain moments with the internet the night before, the last day of training went off without a hitch!

Lions and Tigers and Bears

...or rather, leopards and crocodiles and elephants (oh my!).  This weekend Laura and I went on our final Zambian adventure: a trip to Kafue National Park.  As with the trip to Livingstone, our adventure began at the Lusaka InterCity Bus Terminal.  With the added bonus that this time, we weren't going to a popular tourist destination; our cryptic directions from the camp were to "ask the bus driver to let you off at Kafue Hook Bridge," which was not a stop on the typical bus route.  Despite the fact that we had no idea how we would catch a bus back home from said random bridge in the middle of a national park, we decided to go forth with faith that the camp wouldn't lead us astray.

Clearly, Laura was excited to be leaving at 8.30 rather than 6 AM this time:

We quickly learned that a full bus is no impediment travelers in Zambia -- about an hour into the trip, a family of four convinced the driver to let them sit on the floor in the front.  I'm pretty sure they brought on a basket containing a chicken wrapped in a blanket.

The ride to the elusive Hook Bridge was surprisingly short (only 3 1/2 hours!), and we were relieved to find two workers from the camp waiting to pick us up.  We were shown to a little red tent equipped with two thin mattresses and covered by a thatch roof.  So far, so good.

After settling in a bit, we ventured over to the dining area, with a lovely view of the Kafue River and a few critters for company.  And we realized that tortilla chips and avocado go well together!

I was excited to finally get to use my water sterilizing pen before the evening game drive:

And finally, around dusk, we headed off into the bush for a game drive with our guides, Boyd and Gilbert.  They pointed out a warthog, impala, puku, and some elephants way off in the distance.  Boyd got really excited when we passed a "sausage tree," which grows long fruit that's edible to hippos and elephants, and made Laura hold one of the fallen fruits.

They're solid and incredibly dense, and we were both surprised at just how heavy it was.

We hung out by the river to watch the sunset...

... then continued driving and looking for birds and animals that are active at night.  Boyd drove while Gilbert shone the flashlight into the bush, first left, then right, then left... I started feeling like a dog watching a tennis match and was getting ready to give up on seeing anything really cool when we spotted a hyena near the side of the road.  Boyd explained that since hyenas are scavengers, they often trail lions or leopards in hopes that they can feed off their prey.  We continued on toward a part of the river where hippos tend to hang out, and just barely spotted one through the trees.  Just as we were about to move on, a leopard slinked (slunk?) over the rocks right where the hippo had been!  It clearly didn't like having the spotlight on it, and it continued moving through the trees along the edge of the river, making it really difficult to see.  We stalked it for about ten minutes, getting a few really good glimpses, then it settled down behind a tree so we decided to move on. We came across a few more creatures, my personal favorite being a white owl with freakishly red eyes, then arrived back at camp well after dark.

Assured that we were unlikely to be attacked if we walked from our tent to the bathrooms, so long as we shone our flashlights over the entire area and didn't keep going if we saw glowing eyes looking at us, we hurriedly got ready for bed, ate dinner in our tent, and turned out the lights, terrified to go out into the night again.  Apparently with good reason, because a few hours later we were awakened to the sound of cracking, ripping, and crunching.  An elephant (or two, or three) was outside our tent, eating the trees and grass a few feet away.  The amazing thing is that elephants walk so quietly that I couldn't hear it moving around at all, just breaking apart the foliage.  But the eating process was incredibly loud, and that combined with the other sounds of the night (hippos grunting, insects chirping, unknown animals seeming to cry loudly for minutes at a time) kept both me and Laura up for most of the night.

We woke up bright and early for a morning boat ride, where we saw crocodiles, lots of cool birds, and the hint of hippos surfacing periodically.  I was rather skeptical about the whole boating thing, but Laura pointed out that it was wide enough that it would be really difficult to tip, and Boyd claimed that animals wouldn't jump in because they don't like the sound of the motor.

The boat originally belonged to the US military, and after purchasing it the camp took out out all of the "lots and lots of compartments for holding guns" to make it just a hollow shell.  We were cruising in style, sitting on plastic lawn chairs in the middle of the Kafue River:

One of my favorite sightings of the morning was the fish eagle, the national bird of Zambia.

We headed back to the Hook Bridge, and had a surprise elephant sighting (!) right along the main road just before we got to the bridge.

The thought of something that large right next to our tent is a bit daunting.  But we made it safely through our safari weekend, managed to flag down and get onto a bus as it passed, and came back to Lusaka without further incident.

Overall, a spectacular weekend!  Only five more days in Lusaka, then my excursion to Tanzania begins...

24 Hours in Livingstone

In an attempt to get out and see some of the country other than Lusaka, Laura and I headed down to Livingstone and Victoria Falls two weekends ago (I know, I'm awful at blogging).  We only had two days for the trip, so we woke up at 4:15 to catch the earliest bus possible.  All the locals had recommended Mazhandu Family Bus Services, which apparently is the only reasonable way to travel to Livingstone -- they're the most timely outfit that I've interacted with in the past month, and the buses are clean and relatively comfortable.  Despite my fears that there wouldn't be any bathroom stops along the entire 6 hour trip (I found a website that described how the women just squat beside the men along the side of the road), there were multiple stops, each with fee toilets of varying quality.  Nevertheless, I refused to drink any liquids until we got to Livingstone.

After a really bumpy but otherwise uneventful ride, we got to Livingstone and set about walking to our hostel.  Laura had drawn a lovely map before we left, but we hadn't really counted on a complete lack of street signs.  So we're walking along, wondering if we're anywhere near the right street, when a taxi full of people pulls over to talk to us.  The ensuing conversation went something like this:

Driver: You know, it's not safe to be walking around here.  There are a lot of people who could take advantage of you.  I'm concerned about your safety.  See, I'm a police officer.  Here are my handcuffs:  [[Pulls out fake-looking handcuffs and holds them up for us to see.]]

Us (not at all believing that this man was a police officer, judging by the fact that he was 1) in a bright blue car, the color of registered taxis in Zambia, and 2) clearly transporting a car full of passengers): Oh, we're just walking.  We want to explore the area.

Driver: No really, I'm a police officer.  [[To man in back seat:]] Get me my hat.  [[To us:]] See, I have a hat! You really need to be careful.  Here, get in my car and I'll take you where you need to go.

Us: Uh, thank you for the advice.  We'll be careful.

At this point he pretty much shrugged and gave up, and he drove away and we continued walking.  Along the way we accidentally discovered the District Health Management Team office, which is the central management center for all the health centers in Livingstone's district.

It turns out we were only sort of on the right street, and we ended up getting quite lost, eventually stopping to look at the map while trying not to look like we were looking at a map (you know, like tourists do), when a woman in a nearby yard insisted on learning where we were going and sending her son to help us find it.  Even so, we ended up having to go in the back gate because we couldn't figure out how to get to the front entrance.

Logistical difficulties aside, I was really pleased with the hostel.  It was a little oasis, complete with swimming pool, fire pit, pool table, restaurant and bar, and cute little huts.  And, of course, a giant couch-nook.

The Falls were absolutely gorgeous.  The surrounding land is really well preserved and maintained, with a number of paths that give you substantially different views.  Fairly early in our exploration, we came across a few baboons.  One of the tourists nearby warned us that they can be aggressive and snatch bags if you're not careful, but as far as I could tell they were just hanging out and ignoring the humans.

The bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe (with bunjee jumpers!):

I briefly considered bunjee jumping, but that's the sort of thing that you don't decide to do at the last minute.  Even so, bunjee jumping off of a bridge between two countries over one of the wonders of the world is difficult to pass up. Of course, we have the obligatory tourist shots:

(That last one's for Jeremy.)  The bus ride back was a good two hours longer than the bus ride there, since the driver went significantly more slowly and had a strange habit of stopping in the middle of nowhere to let passengers on and off.  But we made it back to Lusaka in one piece, decided the trip was absolutely worth it, and are planning our final outing to Kafue National Park for this weekend.

Only 10 more days in Zambia!  Time really flies...

Down the Drain

Tonight I noticed that the water in the sink spins clockwise as it drains.  Then I remembered that I'm in the Southern hemisphere and water supposedly drains in a different direction here.  Then I lamented the fact that not once do I recall noticing what direction the water drains at home.

So, folks at home, how doth your water spin?

Ngumbo Guest House

Even though four people from IHME stayed in this guest house before we showed up, I realized I had no idea what to expect as we arrived.  I knew that the beds had nets, and Megan had described the shower sans curtain and wall mount, but otherwise it was all a surprise.  So here's a glimpse into the world in which Laura and I will be spending the next five weeks.

There are three bedrooms.  Laura and I have the two that use the bathroom in the hallway, and the third is the master suite, with a walk-in closet and its own bathroom (complete with a shower stall!).  We've been told that Gil, the third roommate when Megan and Spencer were here, will be coming back soon to stay with us, but in the meantime we're expecting two new roommates to show up today or tomorrow to stay for a few days.

The outside of the house:

Here's the room that I'm using:

There's not much by way of drawers, but we didn't bring all that much stuff, so it works out rather nicely.  The bed is pretty comfortable, once you get used to the permanent buttocks indentation.  There are separate rooms for the toilet and the shower:

The shower setup makes it a little logistically difficult, but I'm incredibly happy that we have reliable hot water.  The kitchen is huge, and rather well equipped.  We've found both the can opener and knives to be completely ineffective, so we're left with a dilemma of how to cut our (two-headed!) pineapple and open the myriad canned goods that we bought on our first grocery outing.  A few kitchen-stocking purchases may be in order sometime soon.

And the living room is lovely, though the comfort of the couches and chairs is lacking.  We've taken to bringing out pillows and leaning against those, so that we have at least some sort of padding.

Overall, I think we're really lucky that we're able to stay in such a nice setup.  The only downside is that it's a long, dangerous walk to UNZA, so we have to take a taxi to and from work every day.  But IHME is paying for that, so it's not half bad!

Settling In

Things have been relatively quiet here while we've been settling into our new routine.  On Monday, Laura and I were supposed to meet with our collaborators at the University of Zambia (UNZA) to lay out a game plan for our stay.  We never quite managed to get in touch with them, so instead we decided to walk around a bit and explore.  About 10 miles (17 kilometers?) and two sunburns later, we ended up back home with the following observations:

• Everything is covered in dust.  Unless we wear sunglasses while walking, this includes our eyeballs.
• Drivers are crazy, and there's not really anything resembling speed limits, traffic control, crosswalks, or sidewalks.  Initially we couldn't decide whether we felt safer as passengers or pedestrians, but this walk made it very clear that we'd rather be inside the vehicles.  Walking along the side of the road works relatively well in most cases, but drivers don't pay much attention to pedestrians, and crossing the road is incredibly difficult because there are traffic circles rather than traffic lights or stop signs, so the flow of incoming traffic literally never lets up.

We finally started work on Tuesday, and our first lesson was that nothing ever starts on time.  So far, no matter the time that we've been told to be available (8, 8.30, 9...), things have started at 10.30.  It'll be a great source of amusement to see how long this phenomenon can continue.

Everyone at UNZA has been incredibly nice and wonderful to work with.  We're getting ready to pilot a costing study that aims to "provide quality evidence for improving the equity and cost-effectiveness of health systems."  I'm really excited to be able to see the survey development and implementation side of things rather than just the data analysis side.  So far, this has consisted of our spending two days looking through the 172-page survey questionnaire and compiling a list of clarifications and changes that should be made.  172 pages!  This is going to be one hell of a survey to take (we're currently estimating that it will take most health facilities multiple days to complete), but it should capture a lot of incredibly useful and relevant information that hasn't been collected before.

Time for bed, but first: more random observations!

• It's much colder than we expected.  Most days this week, the maximum temperature was around 72 degrees (22 C?).  This would be perfectly pleasant if we were outside in the sun, but we've been spending most days indoors at UNZA, where the windows are open and the breeze makes it quite chilly with a long sleeve shirt and a fleece.  At night the temperature tends to drop into the mid-40s, and there's not much in the way of insulation in our guest house (not to mention the fact that most windows don't close very effectively).  Needless to say, I've been wearing lots of layers to bed, and Laura and I immediately curl up in blankets when we get home in the evenings.
• The shower is ... interesting.  It's essentially just a tub with a shower head attachment.  No shower curtain, no hook on which to hang the shower head.  It's taking some getting used to, especially since I'm usually freezing by the time I get around to taking a shower at night.
• I have yet to see a mosquito.  Laura claims to have seen one in her room the first night, but I have a sneaking suspicion that all the mosquitoes in the house are being eaten by the giant spiders that like to hang out on the walls and ceilings.  I'm trying not to think about it. In the meantime I'm continuing to take my antimalarials and sleep under a bednet.
• Speaking of bednets, I feel like I'm camping every night when I crawl into bed.  We don't have bedside lamps, and even if we did it would require climbing out of the net to turn it off, so I've taken to wearing a headlamp to bed so I can read for awhile before sleeping.  I'm sure I look absolutely ridiculous with my sweatshirt hood pulled up and a flashlight on my forehead.  We'll see how long it takes for the batteries to run out...