Pepani...it's been a while

(Pepani means "I'm sorry" in Chichewa).

It seems as though my routine blogging discipline may be slipping, but with all the hustle and bustle of new guests coming and going over the past 10 days, it's been difficult to find some time to write. Here's who has been in and out...

April 1: Great Birthday! Kathleen told me she'd meet me for a run in the afternoon, but in fact was at my house much earlier to decorate with balloons and a "Happy Birthday" Banner. She even had 3 presents for me to unwrap, which in Africa, is quite a treat! (Santa doesn't have directions to Blantyre, so wrapping paper seems novel). I got some trashy girly magazines, American candy (KitKat, Twix and Mentos) and even a gift certificate to have a manicure in Blantyre! Very creative! After a nice run, we went out for dinner with a few girls who are med students from Michigan State.

April 2: Nick arrived today. Nick is a student who will be working with the project until August and has come from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He is originally from a small place west of Toronto, and this is his first trip to Africa. He was in a one year masters program in global health. He arrived on a Wednesday- the day we go out to the village and stay at the Catholic mission. Given that Hannah had also arrived on a Wednesday and that she thought being brought out to the village from day 1 was really exciting, we spared Nick just a few minutes for a hot shower and to throw his bags down, and drove him up to Machinga. I think it was a bit more overwhelming for him (perhaps since Hannah had done lots of work in developing countries before), but he did great for the first day. Now, 10 days later, I have him driving (needed to learn to drive a manual), operating the site visits, and learning the day to day routine. This is all good news, as I am leaving for a one week trip to Cape Town on Saturday (more on this to come).

April 4: On Thursday evening, when I finally was back at a computer, I received an interesting email from a 4th year medical student from UMass who had just arrived in Zambia to do a 2 month elective. She had been in Zambia in 2007 for 4 months and had returned with the goal of starting a more effective nutritional therapy program in the area around Lusaka. She asked if she could visit Malawi. Being as I was only going to be in town for one more week, she decided to fly to Malawi on Friday (She flew to Zambia on Thursday). With very shaky and sporadic communications, she actually bought a ticket, and after lots and lots of delays, made it to Malawi late Friday night. It turns out - she's awesome! She had the most insightful questions, was really excited about the project, look lots of notes, and seems so cool. We talked about med school choices (I'm still undecided), went running, and she even taught me how to do a physical exam (sooo exciting for me!). She's been here for a week, and will head back to Zambia today to try to get an RUTF program running more smoothly. Talk about ambition!

April 6: Dr. Manary is back in town. Busy as ever, but really ready to concentrate on helping me complete the rest of my study and get the data analyzed a bit.

April 9: A guy named Pete arrived from Ithaca. He is in the business of food development and technology and will be collaborating with Dr. M to start PPB in Uganda. He has 4 children - two in their 30s and two under 10. He has food technology labs in Ithaca, NY, Naples, FL and Redding, England. I took him up to the village with us on Wednesday evening and he helped at the clinic on Thursday - which was huge. We had 180 children actually enrolled in the program (combining new patients, continuing patients and graduates of the program) and screened many, many more! What a day!

April 10: A business consultant from Pfizer came from Lilongwe. Charles is working for USAID and is a very prominent business man from the Upper East Side in Manhattan. He has travelled ALL over the world and has worked on incredibly large business acquisitions for Pfizer over the past 38 years. We took him out for a fancy shmancy dinner - 6 people, drinks, meals and desserts for $100. What a steal! He will be working with PPB to improve the business aspects of the organization.

Lots of small things have filled in the gaps here and there. The potential of Dr. M buying 4 new vehicles today is there, Sheena is back with a new, beautiful baby girl (Rabecca; Sheena is our housekeeper. She's been on maternity leave), and most excitingly - I go to Cape Town TOMORROW!!! My mom, brother and Rob are meeting me in the JoBurg airport for one week in South Africa. I'm so excited. We are scheduled to go to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held during apartheid, we'll see the Cape of Good Hope, the peninsula with all the South Africa penguins, and take a trip to the vineyards. The photos from Cape Town are all incredible, so I'm looking forward to a great escape! Then we'll return to Malawi to see what my year in Africa has been all about.

Well, that catches the blog up mostly. I owe all you people who are still reading this thing a good, funny, and short blog. It will come soon...I'll be on the lookout for some ridiculous African Moments.

And PS - Unkie...I still don't know where my brother came from, but I'm getting closer to the answer... :)

-dkm