With five minutes of me shrieking having past, I am now calm enough to share the gross reality that my cat is a hunter. Some innate switch has turned on making her a ruthless feline on the prowl. Yesterday there were little yellow feathers strewn haphazardly all over my apartment and in recent days past, lizard tails abandoned in the corners. But by far, the least pleasant little guest is Jerry. At the exact moment, Jerry the mouse is trying to hide under the couch...but...wait, I have to pause to jump on top of the chair....
...I'm back. Ella has now caught Jerry in her mouth, and yet there is one smarter than the hunter...Kathleen. Please refer to the blog with the terror of the tarantula a few months back, when Kathleen braved the beast with a Maasai warrior carving. Unlike my skittish self, Kathleen caught Ella by the butt, leaving Ella to dangle with Jerry in her mouth. I think situations like these remind me that when searching for a roommate I should note, "Looking for someone who can act composed in situations of crisis, such as when a mouse is in your cat's mouth or a large spider invades your space."
Now that the lioness and her prey are safely outside, I have taken some photos of this fiasco. I'm being told to applaud her for a job well done. Gross, Ella, gross.
-dkm
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
3.5 Weeks (New Photo links at the bottom)
It is hard to believe that in just 27 days I'll be heading home, and yet so much will happen in these next few weeks. My year has been pretty incredible and I'll have a lot to look back on. One of these days, I'll sit down and write a reflective entry, but for now I'll dodge the sappy stuff and focus on the reality... I'm still here, cars still break left and right, we've got a new study to get on its feet, and about 7 new visitors en route!
I have spent most of the past week getting things in order for the new study for 2008-2009. I had new data cards printed up, met with the District Health Officers, engaged the right people on the production end to get the new food ready, and keep pestering the ethics committee for their final consent. Hopefully, in the next 10 days, everything will fall into place and by early June we will begin enrolling children in this new research program. We are now switching gears, focusing on children with severe malnutrition (I worked with the moderately malnourished kids mostly) and will be testing a new, less expensive version of RUTF for these children. This time, we will keep some milk in the formula, but will reduce it by 15% to lower costs.
Yesterday, our trusty ol' Nissan (the diesel one that had the gas tank incident, the broken springs, and other problems) gave us yet another story worthy moment. Nick was on his way out to Mulanje when a very funny thumping started...and then...the wheels stopped. Seems as though the "universal" (I think it is the piece that distributes power to the wheels), broke in half. A long piece of metal just fell from the bottom of the car. Liyaka and I to the rescue with tow rope in hand - we tied the Nissan to my car, I pulled and Liyaka took care of keeping the rope taut. By the time I get home, I'll be a mechanic.
Kathleen and I have gotten back in the groove of long runs, sometimes exploring new neighborhoods, sometimes staying with the routine route to the President's palace. We've been cooking some fantastic dinners with our new favorite thing being cabbage-based salads.
I put some new pictures up on Facebook. For those without an account, you can view the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2091829&l=cd625&id=3104564
And if you never saw these, here are some other good photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080138&l=e146e&id=3104564
Will write again soon.
-dkm
I have spent most of the past week getting things in order for the new study for 2008-2009. I had new data cards printed up, met with the District Health Officers, engaged the right people on the production end to get the new food ready, and keep pestering the ethics committee for their final consent. Hopefully, in the next 10 days, everything will fall into place and by early June we will begin enrolling children in this new research program. We are now switching gears, focusing on children with severe malnutrition (I worked with the moderately malnourished kids mostly) and will be testing a new, less expensive version of RUTF for these children. This time, we will keep some milk in the formula, but will reduce it by 15% to lower costs.
Yesterday, our trusty ol' Nissan (the diesel one that had the gas tank incident, the broken springs, and other problems) gave us yet another story worthy moment. Nick was on his way out to Mulanje when a very funny thumping started...and then...the wheels stopped. Seems as though the "universal" (I think it is the piece that distributes power to the wheels), broke in half. A long piece of metal just fell from the bottom of the car. Liyaka and I to the rescue with tow rope in hand - we tied the Nissan to my car, I pulled and Liyaka took care of keeping the rope taut. By the time I get home, I'll be a mechanic.
Kathleen and I have gotten back in the groove of long runs, sometimes exploring new neighborhoods, sometimes staying with the routine route to the President's palace. We've been cooking some fantastic dinners with our new favorite thing being cabbage-based salads.
I put some new pictures up on Facebook. For those without an account, you can view the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2091829&l=cd625&id=3104564
And if you never saw these, here are some other good photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080138&l=e146e&id=3104564
Will write again soon.
-dkm
Monday, May 12, 2008
A Special Thank You
Dear Jennifer,
I received your letter today! It was so exciting to get something in the mail. Thank you for thinking of me.
Hope all is well at home. See you in June!
-dkm
PS. Barb, I recognized your handwriting on the front... miss you too :)
I received your letter today! It was so exciting to get something in the mail. Thank you for thinking of me.
Hope all is well at home. See you in June!
-dkm
PS. Barb, I recognized your handwriting on the front... miss you too :)
The Big Decision
It is hard to believe that nearly a year has gone by since I started the painfully long process of applying to medical school. More than two years have past since I first started studying for the MCAT. And it is finally...finally...over. After hours of tearing my hair out, talking to every person on the planet willing to listen to my rationalizations, going back and forth...and back and forth again, I finally declined acceptances at 3 of the 4 schools, withdrew from 1 of 2 wait lists, and confirmed my seat at just one school.
I turned down Albert Einstein. This was probably the hardest one to decline. I had thought I wanted to go there the most - they have an incredible reputation for global health. But their match list was similar to all the other schools that I was accepted at, the students never seemed as happy as students at other schools, and I've heard mixed reviews of the administration. Still, it was the last one I withdrew acceptance from, and very hard indeed.
I turned down George Washington. I was probably most excited after interviewing here. The school is in the coolest location, everything is brand new, and they have so many very interesting programs for med students. Not to mention that the world headquarters for so many major global health players are in D.C. The problem is that the school was so expensive and living in D.C. would put me in more than $200K debt. A scary thought as I look a few years into the future.
I turned down Saint Louis University and withdrew from the waitlist at University of Vermont. And, thus, I have officially joined the class of 2012 at Stony Brook University School of Medicine! I'll remain with my fingers crossed tight for WashU (I'm on their wait list) but otherwise, I'm looking forward to living close to friends and family, saving LOTS of money, and being at a school where the students are so happy. I know that there are some incredible students there and very supportive faculty. It's hard to believe that after living 1/2 a world away, I'm literally coming home.
Well, just had to keep everyone posted. It has been a very long, very hard, and very tiring process.
Yay Class of 2012!
-dkm
I turned down Albert Einstein. This was probably the hardest one to decline. I had thought I wanted to go there the most - they have an incredible reputation for global health. But their match list was similar to all the other schools that I was accepted at, the students never seemed as happy as students at other schools, and I've heard mixed reviews of the administration. Still, it was the last one I withdrew acceptance from, and very hard indeed.
I turned down George Washington. I was probably most excited after interviewing here. The school is in the coolest location, everything is brand new, and they have so many very interesting programs for med students. Not to mention that the world headquarters for so many major global health players are in D.C. The problem is that the school was so expensive and living in D.C. would put me in more than $200K debt. A scary thought as I look a few years into the future.
I turned down Saint Louis University and withdrew from the waitlist at University of Vermont. And, thus, I have officially joined the class of 2012 at Stony Brook University School of Medicine! I'll remain with my fingers crossed tight for WashU (I'm on their wait list) but otherwise, I'm looking forward to living close to friends and family, saving LOTS of money, and being at a school where the students are so happy. I know that there are some incredible students there and very supportive faculty. It's hard to believe that after living 1/2 a world away, I'm literally coming home.
Well, just had to keep everyone posted. It has been a very long, very hard, and very tiring process.
Yay Class of 2012!
-dkm
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Being Domestic
The past two weeks has kept me under house arrest as I try to transition into the next and final phase of my year in Malawi. It's so hard to believe that a year has nearly gone. Right now, Luca, Lucy, Rafael, and Henry are here on my porch, playing bawo and cards - Rafa couldn't walk when I first came, Luca could barely talk. Now they come every afternoon for a snack, a game, or just to laugh and sing outside my door. So when I had to make a test batch of new chiponde for Dr. M's next study (a version with less milk than we currently use, in order to reduce costs), what better group to ask to taste test than my little munchkins outside?
I mixed a batch of peanut butter in the kitchen (it tasted really good - especially since there was no added "medicine" - concentrated minerals and vitamins, and because it is 27% sugar) and brought it out to all the children to try. Luca, Lucy, Henry, Rafa, Nelia and even baby Maggie tried it - everyone loved it. Within just a few minutes, 1/2 pound of peanut butter was gone! I think I'll try playing with the oil content to see if I can make it a little less thick, but things are looking good for that recipe. The next step is to translate a recipe for .25kg of food to a recipe that makes 200 kg of food...
The rest of my days have recently been spent manipulating databases and writing my final report. Nick has taken over in the field with the site visits, which is sad for me, but very necessary for me to finish this work. Some days I feel like my brother when he watches the Giants lose a football game - I yell at Microsoft Excel and hate how Vista just makes everything difficult.
In the coming weeks, I need to get this report finalized, get the new recipe for chiponde up and running at the factory, get the research and ethics committee approval for the new study, have data cards and consent forms printed and organized, and orient the new people.
--> Very cute thing happening here: Rafael is around 1 year old, and the older kids have flipped my outdoor, wicker end table over, and have Rafa sitting on the table part while they pull him around by the legs of the table. When I asked what they are doing, they told me, "Rafa akuyendetsa galimoto!" "Rafa is driving a car!". They are so adorable.
Well thats a short entry for now, just felt like a break from the database.
-dkm
I mixed a batch of peanut butter in the kitchen (it tasted really good - especially since there was no added "medicine" - concentrated minerals and vitamins, and because it is 27% sugar) and brought it out to all the children to try. Luca, Lucy, Henry, Rafa, Nelia and even baby Maggie tried it - everyone loved it. Within just a few minutes, 1/2 pound of peanut butter was gone! I think I'll try playing with the oil content to see if I can make it a little less thick, but things are looking good for that recipe. The next step is to translate a recipe for .25kg of food to a recipe that makes 200 kg of food...
The rest of my days have recently been spent manipulating databases and writing my final report. Nick has taken over in the field with the site visits, which is sad for me, but very necessary for me to finish this work. Some days I feel like my brother when he watches the Giants lose a football game - I yell at Microsoft Excel and hate how Vista just makes everything difficult.
In the coming weeks, I need to get this report finalized, get the new recipe for chiponde up and running at the factory, get the research and ethics committee approval for the new study, have data cards and consent forms printed and organized, and orient the new people.
--> Very cute thing happening here: Rafael is around 1 year old, and the older kids have flipped my outdoor, wicker end table over, and have Rafa sitting on the table part while they pull him around by the legs of the table. When I asked what they are doing, they told me, "Rafa akuyendetsa galimoto!" "Rafa is driving a car!". They are so adorable.
Well thats a short entry for now, just felt like a break from the database.
-dkm
Sunday, May 4, 2008
I still have a little crazy in me
For most of the 10 months that I have been here, I've held up the act of being the researcher, looking towards beginning medical school, thinking of work day in and day out (minus a few moments - the trip to the Lake being one such example...). But yesterday, I forgot about the research and all its strings, and just had a blast for 24 full hours.
It started on Friday night with a slumber party at Liz and Kathleen's - complete with cabbage salad at dinner (I know, that is the first food ANYONE would think of for a sleepover party right?). We stayed up too late, drank too much wine, and had a lots of girl talk. We woke up too late for a run (imagine, 7:30am on a Saturday is too late), so instead we made whole wheat pancakes and got dressed. Kathleen and I went off to a music festival in honor of the President's late wife, Ethel Mutherika, who died just one year ago. The festival was Woodstock done Malawi - rappers from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya. The best part of the show was far from the knock-off American gansta rap, but instead was the absolutely outrageous outfits that all the Malawian young adults sported. I'm not kidding - at 10 am we had a walking Vogue catalog. It was a total walking fashion show - almost as if the kids didn't realize that a) people don't actually buy the clothes and wear them as they are shown in fashion magazines and that b) even if you did wear something so ridiculous, it wouldn't be at 10 am in the middle of a soccer field. In any event, we got to see the President and his daughters, who made an appearance half way through the show.
After hours of listening to rap and watching (fairly decent) breakdancers, we thought the day was over. We made a nice dinner and decided we'd go out to this new bar down the street from Liz and Kathleen's house, called Mustang Sally's. We intended to be out for one drink only, but when we showed up, the owner told us they were closed for a "private function." We asked for a tour of the place (pretty swanky - indoor pool that changed colors, several levels and different bars, a great dance floor) and he told us that the President had closed the place down and that the cover for entry was $35, with all proceeds going to charity. It was the "after party" of the morning's music festival. We scoffed at the outrageous cover (for Malawi...this is INSANE) and we left. We pulled out of the parking lot, and then decided that we were making a huge mistake. THE PRESIDENT WAS HAVING A PRIVATE PARTY THAT WE COULD GO TO! After a quick make-up change, we went back.
As if being the ONLY (seriously only) 3 white expats in the bar wasn't enough, I decided to gain us even more notice. I took off my shoes, walked across the dance floor on my hands, and did the worm all the way back. A few backhandsprings here and there, and we had free drinks for the rest of the night. (We got the first few from some sketchy guys, and then a few more from some Ministers of Parliament). I danced with all the guys from the show earlier that day, even one of the rappers himself. In the words of Kathleen, "if there were such a thing as People Magazine in Malawi, we'd be in some of those featured pictures from VIP parties." It was so much fun, even if I didn't go to bed until after 2am.
This morning we went for an hour run, and then in the afternoon, my little munchkins came over for several hours of fun. We played Chipako (tag), Kachere (hide and seek), and Yohane even taught me to make nsima. We had a huge feast of nsima and egg/tomato/onion relish for lunch. We colored a bit, and then I sent them all home with popcorn and orange sodas. It was such a fun weekend!
Now, I'm sitting in the fancy hotel getting back to work again. I think I'll lay low for a bit...my friends think I'm crazy now.
42 days til I come home...
-dkm
It started on Friday night with a slumber party at Liz and Kathleen's - complete with cabbage salad at dinner (I know, that is the first food ANYONE would think of for a sleepover party right?). We stayed up too late, drank too much wine, and had a lots of girl talk. We woke up too late for a run (imagine, 7:30am on a Saturday is too late), so instead we made whole wheat pancakes and got dressed. Kathleen and I went off to a music festival in honor of the President's late wife, Ethel Mutherika, who died just one year ago. The festival was Woodstock done Malawi - rappers from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya. The best part of the show was far from the knock-off American gansta rap, but instead was the absolutely outrageous outfits that all the Malawian young adults sported. I'm not kidding - at 10 am we had a walking Vogue catalog. It was a total walking fashion show - almost as if the kids didn't realize that a) people don't actually buy the clothes and wear them as they are shown in fashion magazines and that b) even if you did wear something so ridiculous, it wouldn't be at 10 am in the middle of a soccer field. In any event, we got to see the President and his daughters, who made an appearance half way through the show.
After hours of listening to rap and watching (fairly decent) breakdancers, we thought the day was over. We made a nice dinner and decided we'd go out to this new bar down the street from Liz and Kathleen's house, called Mustang Sally's. We intended to be out for one drink only, but when we showed up, the owner told us they were closed for a "private function." We asked for a tour of the place (pretty swanky - indoor pool that changed colors, several levels and different bars, a great dance floor) and he told us that the President had closed the place down and that the cover for entry was $35, with all proceeds going to charity. It was the "after party" of the morning's music festival. We scoffed at the outrageous cover (for Malawi...this is INSANE) and we left. We pulled out of the parking lot, and then decided that we were making a huge mistake. THE PRESIDENT WAS HAVING A PRIVATE PARTY THAT WE COULD GO TO! After a quick make-up change, we went back.
As if being the ONLY (seriously only) 3 white expats in the bar wasn't enough, I decided to gain us even more notice. I took off my shoes, walked across the dance floor on my hands, and did the worm all the way back. A few backhandsprings here and there, and we had free drinks for the rest of the night. (We got the first few from some sketchy guys, and then a few more from some Ministers of Parliament). I danced with all the guys from the show earlier that day, even one of the rappers himself. In the words of Kathleen, "if there were such a thing as People Magazine in Malawi, we'd be in some of those featured pictures from VIP parties." It was so much fun, even if I didn't go to bed until after 2am.
This morning we went for an hour run, and then in the afternoon, my little munchkins came over for several hours of fun. We played Chipako (tag), Kachere (hide and seek), and Yohane even taught me to make nsima. We had a huge feast of nsima and egg/tomato/onion relish for lunch. We colored a bit, and then I sent them all home with popcorn and orange sodas. It was such a fun weekend!
Now, I'm sitting in the fancy hotel getting back to work again. I think I'll lay low for a bit...my friends think I'm crazy now.
42 days til I come home...
-dkm
Monday, April 28, 2008
Celebrating a p-value and other fine things
"p<0.0001. Extremely significant."
Read on and I'll explain, but first a quick recap of the Cape Town/ Blantyre experience with my mom, rob and Zach...
First off, if I could ever get pictures to load on this blog, I'd send you photos of the house we had in Camps Bay. In Rob's words, "it looked like MTV Cribs." The place was insane - two floors, stark furniture, balconies on both sides of the house (one looking up at Table Mountain, one overlooking the water), an infinity pool on the upstairs balcony, tall ceilings and glass walls. The downstairs was very open and very modern, the upstairs had 3 bedrooms each with its own bathroom. And there was an elevator IN THE HOUSE. It was amazing.
The wealth in Cape Town is astonishing. There were several Ferrari dealerships, with many of their prized engines perusing the downtown streets. There were Jags and Bentleys, and Mercedes were a dime a dozen. We arrived in Camps Bay after 11pm on Saturday evening. When the troops finally (finnnnnallllyyy) woke up on Sunday, we drove down to the Waterfront and admired the beautiful city. We listened to a young jazz band for a while and ate outside at an Italian inspired restaurant called Societi. I was asked if I was yet 18 before they would pour me a glass of wine...
On Monday, we did a little street shopping and ended up eating at an African game restaurant in the downtown part of the city. I think the hit of the night was ostrich steak, though there was no shortage of strange meat including warthog!
We spent Tuesday at Robben Island, South Africa's equivalent of Alcatraz in a way. Robben Island has been used for hundreds of years, with different purposes. In the beginning, it was an isolation island (7 miles off the mainland of Cape Town), where anyone with unidentifiable illness (like leprosy and TB) were cast away to die. It is now most famous for being the place where political prisoners were held during the South African era of apartheid. Nelson Mandela, Robben Island's most famed inmate, was kept at Robben Island for 18 years. We were given an incredible tour by two former prisoners, one who had spent 14 years on the island from the ages of 16-30. Mandela himself has been back to the island 14 times for visits, but no longer will ever return to the island. It was really incredible to hear the stories right from a man who had been imprisoned for so long in that very place.
Wednesday was possibly the best day. We hired a tour guide named Terry to take us through Cape Town's wine country. We started tasting at 9 in the morning and visited two extremely beautiful vineyards. The first was Fairview, where we had some stellar cheeses and tasted 8 or 10 wines. Our favorite was Cyril Black, a pinotage. We didn't spend much time at Fairview, but got a grand tour at KWV Vineyards. We saw every part of production from the oak barrels to the aluminum tanks. They have the largest barrels in the world, holding 208,000 liters in one barrel. We learned how different sources of oak infuse red wines with slightly different flavors. Again, our favorite was a pinotage called Cafe. It had lots of mocha and coffee aromas and flavors - delish!
Thursday was ... interesting. Rather than just drive down the coastline (and follow the signs that were posted), we decided to use the GPS system (a Garmin) to direct us to the Cape of Good Hope. What should have taken 45 minutes, took hours. We were so lost! We drove all over the different districts of Cape Town and only made it to the cape moments before the National Park around it closed. But, it was worth it. The sights were breathtaking. It was sooooo pretty. You can only imagine what the first sailors who went all the way around the Cape from Europe must have thought. After a spectacular but rushed visit, we drove through the seaport towns and ended up eating right on the water in Calk's Bay at a wonderful restaurant called The Harbor House. I even had fish - cob. It was a great meal (beet, butternut squash and goat cheese salad...)
Terry was back on Friday to bring us to a game reserve. We went on a mini safari in a very African looking Land Rover vehicle. We saw lions, cheetahs, antelope, warthogs, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, vultures, elands, wildebeests, and other things. After the drive through the game park, Terry took us on the oldest road in Cape Town, Bains Kloof, a windy road through the mountains that was again spectacular.
Saturday morning we left before sunrise to get to the airport. Then it was back to Blantyre! Rob and Zach stayed only until Wednesday, but my mom stayed for the whole week. I took them out to see my sites, but the weather really didn't cooperate so nothing looked as pretty as usual. Zach didn't like my work because he didn't like to see the sick babies. Rob and my mom helped out a lot at the clinic. I took my mom to see Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, and we all made a visit to the orphanage next door, Open Arms (www.openarmsusa.org). It was great to have them here with me, and hopefully next time they will be able to see Mt. Mulanje, the Lake, Liwonde Park and Zomba...we did NO tourist things while they were here.
SO...THE P-VALUE!!!! This past weekend (from Saturday after I dropped my mom at the airport until Sunday mid-day) Dr. Manary and I worked and worked and worked on the data. The exciting thing is that all the data is now collected, analyzed and neatly presented in a few tables. What we found is that the new soy/peanut RUTF I've been working with this whole year is equivalent to the milk/peanut RUTF and far better than the current standard of care, the corn/soy blended flour. I was so excited when we had finally cleaned up the entire database, plugged and chugged all sorts of numbers and then the statistics came back in our favor! Fantastic!!!! I am now in the process of writing the report for USAID, which will hopefully then be published in a medical journal at home. This whole year...was SO worth it!
Now, I'm on to helping with the next major research project... we are going to try to make RUTF with less milk powder for severely malnourished kids to try and reduce the cost. It will be 10% milk and 15% soy, compared to the current formula of 25% milk. I have lots of work to get done before I leave!
Date of depature is set to be Monday, June 16. I can't believe a year went by so fast....
-dkm
Read on and I'll explain, but first a quick recap of the Cape Town/ Blantyre experience with my mom, rob and Zach...
First off, if I could ever get pictures to load on this blog, I'd send you photos of the house we had in Camps Bay. In Rob's words, "it looked like MTV Cribs." The place was insane - two floors, stark furniture, balconies on both sides of the house (one looking up at Table Mountain, one overlooking the water), an infinity pool on the upstairs balcony, tall ceilings and glass walls. The downstairs was very open and very modern, the upstairs had 3 bedrooms each with its own bathroom. And there was an elevator IN THE HOUSE. It was amazing.
The wealth in Cape Town is astonishing. There were several Ferrari dealerships, with many of their prized engines perusing the downtown streets. There were Jags and Bentleys, and Mercedes were a dime a dozen. We arrived in Camps Bay after 11pm on Saturday evening. When the troops finally (finnnnnallllyyy) woke up on Sunday, we drove down to the Waterfront and admired the beautiful city. We listened to a young jazz band for a while and ate outside at an Italian inspired restaurant called Societi. I was asked if I was yet 18 before they would pour me a glass of wine...
On Monday, we did a little street shopping and ended up eating at an African game restaurant in the downtown part of the city. I think the hit of the night was ostrich steak, though there was no shortage of strange meat including warthog!
We spent Tuesday at Robben Island, South Africa's equivalent of Alcatraz in a way. Robben Island has been used for hundreds of years, with different purposes. In the beginning, it was an isolation island (7 miles off the mainland of Cape Town), where anyone with unidentifiable illness (like leprosy and TB) were cast away to die. It is now most famous for being the place where political prisoners were held during the South African era of apartheid. Nelson Mandela, Robben Island's most famed inmate, was kept at Robben Island for 18 years. We were given an incredible tour by two former prisoners, one who had spent 14 years on the island from the ages of 16-30. Mandela himself has been back to the island 14 times for visits, but no longer will ever return to the island. It was really incredible to hear the stories right from a man who had been imprisoned for so long in that very place.
Wednesday was possibly the best day. We hired a tour guide named Terry to take us through Cape Town's wine country. We started tasting at 9 in the morning and visited two extremely beautiful vineyards. The first was Fairview, where we had some stellar cheeses and tasted 8 or 10 wines. Our favorite was Cyril Black, a pinotage. We didn't spend much time at Fairview, but got a grand tour at KWV Vineyards. We saw every part of production from the oak barrels to the aluminum tanks. They have the largest barrels in the world, holding 208,000 liters in one barrel. We learned how different sources of oak infuse red wines with slightly different flavors. Again, our favorite was a pinotage called Cafe. It had lots of mocha and coffee aromas and flavors - delish!
Thursday was ... interesting. Rather than just drive down the coastline (and follow the signs that were posted), we decided to use the GPS system (a Garmin) to direct us to the Cape of Good Hope. What should have taken 45 minutes, took hours. We were so lost! We drove all over the different districts of Cape Town and only made it to the cape moments before the National Park around it closed. But, it was worth it. The sights were breathtaking. It was sooooo pretty. You can only imagine what the first sailors who went all the way around the Cape from Europe must have thought. After a spectacular but rushed visit, we drove through the seaport towns and ended up eating right on the water in Calk's Bay at a wonderful restaurant called The Harbor House. I even had fish - cob. It was a great meal (beet, butternut squash and goat cheese salad...)
Terry was back on Friday to bring us to a game reserve. We went on a mini safari in a very African looking Land Rover vehicle. We saw lions, cheetahs, antelope, warthogs, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, vultures, elands, wildebeests, and other things. After the drive through the game park, Terry took us on the oldest road in Cape Town, Bains Kloof, a windy road through the mountains that was again spectacular.
Saturday morning we left before sunrise to get to the airport. Then it was back to Blantyre! Rob and Zach stayed only until Wednesday, but my mom stayed for the whole week. I took them out to see my sites, but the weather really didn't cooperate so nothing looked as pretty as usual. Zach didn't like my work because he didn't like to see the sick babies. Rob and my mom helped out a lot at the clinic. I took my mom to see Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, and we all made a visit to the orphanage next door, Open Arms (www.openarmsusa.org). It was great to have them here with me, and hopefully next time they will be able to see Mt. Mulanje, the Lake, Liwonde Park and Zomba...we did NO tourist things while they were here.
SO...THE P-VALUE!!!! This past weekend (from Saturday after I dropped my mom at the airport until Sunday mid-day) Dr. Manary and I worked and worked and worked on the data. The exciting thing is that all the data is now collected, analyzed and neatly presented in a few tables. What we found is that the new soy/peanut RUTF I've been working with this whole year is equivalent to the milk/peanut RUTF and far better than the current standard of care, the corn/soy blended flour. I was so excited when we had finally cleaned up the entire database, plugged and chugged all sorts of numbers and then the statistics came back in our favor! Fantastic!!!! I am now in the process of writing the report for USAID, which will hopefully then be published in a medical journal at home. This whole year...was SO worth it!
Now, I'm on to helping with the next major research project... we are going to try to make RUTF with less milk powder for severely malnourished kids to try and reduce the cost. It will be 10% milk and 15% soy, compared to the current formula of 25% milk. I have lots of work to get done before I leave!
Date of depature is set to be Monday, June 16. I can't believe a year went by so fast....
-dkm
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