Time Flies When...

Since my last entry, so much has happened that it will be hard to catch-up in one (readable) post. So here goes:

I opened my first site on Friday, July 27 in a village west of Blantyre called Mwanza. It is a relatively large district hospital, and we arrived early in the morning. Each Friday, a singing/acting/dancing troupe performs skits related to health topics. I enjoyed a small show about how important it is for husbands to respond to their pregnant wives. In the skit, a stubborn man ignores his wife and his dismissal of her needs ends with her dying from preventable causes during childbirth (if you took Dr. Wall's classes at WashU - this is Why Mrs. X died in action - and why I want to do international medicine). Anyway, this play drew a HUGE crowd of people and everyone was singing and dancing as they learned about this issue. Very creative way of educating people who live far off the paved roads.

At Mwanza, we screened somewhere around 120 children, of which about 20 qualified for my study. Today, in another village called Mwakwila we screened about 50 children and enrolled about 12. It probably doesn't sound like huge numbers, but things here grow by word of mouth and I am really excited about this initial turn out. Today many of the children were severely malnourished and many were HIV+, which makes them ineligible for my study. It is so hard to see so many moms come to the clinic with children who are so sick. But, at the same time, it is also so wonderful to see their huge smiles when peanut butter gets stuck to the roof of their mouth. There is so much work to do here, but even since last year when I was here, so much progress has been made.

In between these visits, I travelled to Lilongwe, the Capitol of Malawi, to meet with the US Ambassador, Alan Eastham and the Fulbright advisors. After a tough interview from Ambassador Eastham, I was warmly welcomed and it seems that there are a lot of organizations who have heard of this project. I am going to present to the alumni organization of Malawians who went on Fulbrights to the US. Also, the Rotary club and a few others have asked about the project - all very exciting!

So, that is the gist of the work here. It is a lot of traveling - many nights in bed by 9pm and up by 4am. Somehow, in Africa, it feels refreshing to go to bed early and wake up at sunrise. And, plus, it means back in the states you can call me as you go to bed and I am waking up!

Send some emails (DMatilsky@gmail.com) if you have a chance - or if you are ever at a Mobil station and venture in, pick up a $5 African calling card and give me a call! (011-265-9-921-656...dont forget the time change! 6 hours ahead of EST, and 7 after daylight savings - they don't do that in Malawi).

Miss everyone at home!

-DKM