I'm reading "28 Stories of AIDS in Africa" by Stephanie Nolen. She picked the number 28 to represent the 28 MILLION Africans afflicted by HIV/AIDS. It's powerful reading. At once heartbreaking and uplifting.
What affects a poor dirt farmer in Zambia affects us here in Disney World.
I have no illusions that I'm going to save the world. But I can't wait to throw in with this.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Another Day at the HIV/AIDS Clinic
Adults this time. Nice people. One lady told me she's been HIV+ for twenty years. I was struck today by two thoughts.
Number one is the "normalness" of these folks. With one possible exception you would never guess anyone I saw was HIV+. They could be standing in line next to you at the grocery. In the seat beside you at the movies. In the car behind you at the light. Prepping your food at a fine restaurant. You would never know. They work, go to school, live their lives. Just like you.
HIV/AIDS is an equal opportunity killer. It doesn't care if you are black or white, rich or poor, straight or gay.
That fact aside (and my second thought) I mentioned to the doctor it appears HIV/AIDS is an economic disease. It seems it disproportionally affects poorer people. Not necessarily because of the way they live. But more for the lack of education and opportunity. From what I've been reading it's like that in Africa too.
The clinic I've been visiting is nearer the inner city. Wealthier patients can see private physicians in their office, can drive out of town so no one will recognize them. Cover their tracks so to speak. At the clinic there is no pretension. The patients I've seen are pretty much open about their condition. Very little BS.
I find myself wanting to return. I add nothing to these people's lives. I just shadow the doctor and chat. Yet I feel good about going there.
Picking up some of the technical terms too. Viral Load: the lower the better. CD4 count: the higher the better.
Oh, yeah, HIV+ people HAVE handled your food.
Number one is the "normalness" of these folks. With one possible exception you would never guess anyone I saw was HIV+. They could be standing in line next to you at the grocery. In the seat beside you at the movies. In the car behind you at the light. Prepping your food at a fine restaurant. You would never know. They work, go to school, live their lives. Just like you.
HIV/AIDS is an equal opportunity killer. It doesn't care if you are black or white, rich or poor, straight or gay.
That fact aside (and my second thought) I mentioned to the doctor it appears HIV/AIDS is an economic disease. It seems it disproportionally affects poorer people. Not necessarily because of the way they live. But more for the lack of education and opportunity. From what I've been reading it's like that in Africa too.
The clinic I've been visiting is nearer the inner city. Wealthier patients can see private physicians in their office, can drive out of town so no one will recognize them. Cover their tracks so to speak. At the clinic there is no pretension. The patients I've seen are pretty much open about their condition. Very little BS.
I find myself wanting to return. I add nothing to these people's lives. I just shadow the doctor and chat. Yet I feel good about going there.
Picking up some of the technical terms too. Viral Load: the lower the better. CD4 count: the higher the better.
Oh, yeah, HIV+ people HAVE handled your food.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
My Education in HIV/AIDS
Today I "shadowed" a Pediatric HIV/AIDS physician at the local clinic. What an education. Met a lot of staff folks. All very dynamic, giving people.
But it was the kids that made the experience unforgettable.
I met a young teen-aged lady who found out she did NOT have HIV. Seeing the realization on her face was palpable. The relief that she was not going to die changed her whole persona. I said afterwards that as days go she had just had a pretty darned good one!
But there was also the cutest little three month old HIV positive baby boy, a sixteen year old HIV positive girl and a set of four-year-old identical twins in which one was HIV positive and the other HIV negative. All were in for treatment of non-AIDS type complaints, like colds or to check their blood levels. They were all symptom free.
It was an exposure to a world I have to date not known. This will be my life for the next two and a half years.
An interesting point: The doctor told me that due to the medications now available AIDS is a management problem in much the same manner as diabetes. Life expectancy will not be as long probably as it would if the patient was negative. Same as with diabetes. Plus we don't know what will be developed in the future in the fight. But , HIV positive folks can look toward living a basically normal life. Twenty years ago that was out of the question.
But for those of you who think AIDS is God's retribution for some kind of lifestyle, tell it to that three month old baby. Then go to Hell.
But it was the kids that made the experience unforgettable.
I met a young teen-aged lady who found out she did NOT have HIV. Seeing the realization on her face was palpable. The relief that she was not going to die changed her whole persona. I said afterwards that as days go she had just had a pretty darned good one!
But there was also the cutest little three month old HIV positive baby boy, a sixteen year old HIV positive girl and a set of four-year-old identical twins in which one was HIV positive and the other HIV negative. All were in for treatment of non-AIDS type complaints, like colds or to check their blood levels. They were all symptom free.
It was an exposure to a world I have to date not known. This will be my life for the next two and a half years.
An interesting point: The doctor told me that due to the medications now available AIDS is a management problem in much the same manner as diabetes. Life expectancy will not be as long probably as it would if the patient was negative. Same as with diabetes. Plus we don't know what will be developed in the future in the fight. But , HIV positive folks can look toward living a basically normal life. Twenty years ago that was out of the question.
But for those of you who think AIDS is God's retribution for some kind of lifestyle, tell it to that three month old baby. Then go to Hell.
Monday, January 07, 2008
New Link (To The Right)
Updated the page with the Lists of Books for 2008. I'll never hit 130 this year. You may notice a strong Africa/HIV/AIDS flavor this year.
Botswana calls.
Botswana calls.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
First Pet Peeve of the Year
POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS
Man, I hate those things! Does any power point presenter EVER NOT just read the damn thing? I will walk out on a power point every time. I don't care if the President of the United States (if we ever get one) is the presenter.
Just hand me the thing. I can read it faster than you can anyway.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Before You Buy Your Next Hummer
Read this article from today's New York times by Jared Diamond.
Think about this: Have you read about the election riots in Kenya? Tribal. The Lou think they are being hosed by the Kikuyu. What's that have to do with Diamond's article?
When the natural resources run out civilization breaks down along tribal lines.
It's coming. Too bad we aren't allowed to visit Cuba legally. They are already living
the way we may be happy to in another twenty years. It's not so bad. If you don't mind riding your ox to work.
Think about this: Have you read about the election riots in Kenya? Tribal. The Lou think they are being hosed by the Kikuyu. What's that have to do with Diamond's article?
When the natural resources run out civilization breaks down along tribal lines.
It's coming. Too bad we aren't allowed to visit Cuba legally. They are already living
the way we may be happy to in another twenty years. It's not so bad. If you don't mind riding your ox to work.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
2007: The Year In Review
I thought I had established a pattern last year (2006) more or less of how the next few years would go. And on the face of it 2007 was just such a year. There was more traveling. More sights. More friends.
But, in April I got a crazy idea and applied to the Peace Corps. Faithful readers know I will be bugging out to Botswana this coming April. It's a 27 month commitment. Won't be back until June 2010. Of course there'll still be internet access, so the blog will live.
Nonetheless this post is about the past. So in keeping with my now three year tradition here is the breakdown of 2007 by the numbers (BTW, I just realized last year's post also said 2007 when I clearly meant 2006. I hold Jason, Hani and Mick responsible for missing that detail.):
Three trips outside the US. A fall from seven last year.
New Countries visited: 7 (lifetime total-43)
UNESCO World Heritage sites: 12 (lifetime total-50)
Blog posts: 124 (Man, I gotta do more work on that. I blame facebook for the drought.)
Nights on the road: 133
Airplane flights: 61
New friends: 234 (still an estimate)
Miles run: 2535 (My last decent year for a long time. Won't be running as much in Botswana I reckon.)
Lifetime total: 97,729 (If I can even run two or three miles a day in the Peace Corps I can still easily make my lifetime goal of 100,000.)
Books read: 130! (Boy, I really went after this one. My goal was 100. Instead of partying I spent New Year's Eve finishing Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential." The full list is on the Frazy.com link to the right of this page.)
There were some other things. I never made it back to Sri Lanka. That will have to wait for a future year. I still wish to return to my tropical island spiritual home.
I sadly said good-bye to the faithful Saps. Three months have gone by and I still can't get used to her not being here.
The house has sat on the market for a year with no activity. That's a huge disappointment. Looking back on what I wrote last year I was thinking of selling out and moving to Canada. As my friend Mark Schroeder says, I was OBE. Overcome By Events. Instead of British Columbia it will be the former British Protectorate of Botswana.
Still have one more US Educational Group swan song in March. Joseph is in mourning over that. My last trips to Jordan, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the ever popular Saudi Arabia. I've pretty much hit all their UNESCO sites anyway. (BTW, Botswana only has one: Tsodilo The Louvre of the Desert.)
I STILL have a lot of itches to scratch!
Come visit me in Botswana. You are welcome to my mud hut anytime! (Actually, it will be an apartment with running water and electricity.)
But, in April I got a crazy idea and applied to the Peace Corps. Faithful readers know I will be bugging out to Botswana this coming April. It's a 27 month commitment. Won't be back until June 2010. Of course there'll still be internet access, so the blog will live.
Nonetheless this post is about the past. So in keeping with my now three year tradition here is the breakdown of 2007 by the numbers (BTW, I just realized last year's post also said 2007 when I clearly meant 2006. I hold Jason, Hani and Mick responsible for missing that detail.):
Three trips outside the US. A fall from seven last year.
New Countries visited: 7 (lifetime total-43)
UNESCO World Heritage sites: 12 (lifetime total-50)
Blog posts: 124 (Man, I gotta do more work on that. I blame facebook for the drought.)
Nights on the road: 133
Airplane flights: 61
New friends: 234 (still an estimate)
Miles run: 2535 (My last decent year for a long time. Won't be running as much in Botswana I reckon.)
Lifetime total: 97,729 (If I can even run two or three miles a day in the Peace Corps I can still easily make my lifetime goal of 100,000.)
Books read: 130! (Boy, I really went after this one. My goal was 100. Instead of partying I spent New Year's Eve finishing Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential." The full list is on the Frazy.com link to the right of this page.)
There were some other things. I never made it back to Sri Lanka. That will have to wait for a future year. I still wish to return to my tropical island spiritual home.
I sadly said good-bye to the faithful Saps. Three months have gone by and I still can't get used to her not being here.
The house has sat on the market for a year with no activity. That's a huge disappointment. Looking back on what I wrote last year I was thinking of selling out and moving to Canada. As my friend Mark Schroeder says, I was OBE. Overcome By Events. Instead of British Columbia it will be the former British Protectorate of Botswana.
Still have one more US Educational Group swan song in March. Joseph is in mourning over that. My last trips to Jordan, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the ever popular Saudi Arabia. I've pretty much hit all their UNESCO sites anyway. (BTW, Botswana only has one: Tsodilo The Louvre of the Desert.)
I STILL have a lot of itches to scratch!
Come visit me in Botswana. You are welcome to my mud hut anytime! (Actually, it will be an apartment with running water and electricity.)
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