Catch-up

Here is a photo catch-up to attempt to make up for some very bad blogging over the past few months.

1) Trip to Tanzania.  I led a training of trainers in Arusha, Tanzania on Pima Point-of-Care systems.  In February. Yes, that is a long time ago.
They are using a slightly modified version of the systems training package that we developed in Uganda, and it was fun to see how the model would work in a different context.  I didn't get to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro or Mt. Meru, but I did get to see them!  Maybe one of these days.

2. GHC 3rd quarter retreat.  The fellowship year is winding down!  We had our 3rd quarter retreat at Lake Nabugabo outside of Masaka.  Our end-of-year retreat is at the end of July -- I can't wait to see all the fellows from Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, and most especially the US (all the Africa fellows got to see each other in January).  I'm also excited to welcome the new CHAI Uganda GHC fellows - I think they are going to be great.

3. Kampala history tour -- Julie, one of my good friends here, organized a Kampala history tour for about 15 of us in April.  It was a lot of fun to be tourists in the city we live in and do the things we never otherwise get around to.  We visited the Gaddafi Mosque, Idi Amin's torture chambers, and the tombs of the kings of the Buganda kingdom.  We had a hilarious conversation with our guide about how they are destroying all the tombs (to be fair, most of them have already been destroyed and rebuilt) and rebuilding them with more authentic materials so that the UNESCO board will approve them as a heritage site.

4. Pima rollout -- the rollout of 250 machines is well underway.  There have been major and minor hiccups, but the fact that things are actually moving is really exciting.  I've been helping out with some trainings and with organizing the trainers, and it has been awesome to see facilities ready to put our systems in place and really doing a good job integrating the machine.  It is also tough to see facilities with far too few staff to implement the systems or with major issues (like no power within an hour radius) that will prevent them from using the machine well.  We have an intern coming on Sunday to work with me on reviewing the rollout, and I'm excited to get some preliminary data on what is going well and poorly in the rollout.

My co-trainer Stephen was an excellent model (and an excellent trainer), though he was kind of confused by my request to take a picture of him.

 Frank (second from right) is one of the best trainers I have worked with.  I love it when I get to work with trainers who really care about their work and really understand the key messages of the training package - their experience as lab technicians and health workers helps me better understand what the key issues really are.

5. The future.  It is looking like I will almost certainly be staying in Africa with CHAI beyond August in some form or another.  Some details need working out, but I'm excited to keep doing work I enjoy and care about, and to keep living in such an interesting place.  At the moment, I'm even more excited to come back to the US for a little while in August and see many beloved people.

This photo is meant to symbolize me looking towards the future....