tired... so tired.

I've been working for about 13 days straight...

The pilot stage of the project (basically implementing a mini-version of the real survey involving only 100 people) started last Tuesday, August 29th. [The real survey will involve at least 1000 women.] The pilot lasted through Monday, Sep. 4, and it's been a scramble since then to enter the results as quickly and accurately as possible while continuing to manage the other remaining community health workers (CHWs). I'm somewhat sleep-deprived; numbers, data, contraceptives, images of Zambian babies, and African female names are swimming around in my head.

In general, I feel quite disconnected from the "real world,"... or more accurately the American media that I'm usually exposed to. I have internet access once a day for a couple hours if I'm lucky... which also means phone access is also limited... (though starting to use Skype instead of using inconvenient international calling cards.) It feels weird not knowing what's going on in NYC, America, etc. All I know about know is whatever I hear on Zambian radio, which is usually concerned with the upcoming presidential elections.

My world is now largely limited to a few environments:

1. the public health clinic next to the government-provided housing compounds (not nearly as violent or crowded as an typical urban ghetto in America... just more babies/young children and life-threatening disease) This is the homebase/meeting place from which we send out the teams of community health workers (CHWs) and surveyors (i.e. enumerators) to interview women about fertility preferences, contraceptive use, spousal communication, sexual history, etc. It's also a place where death and life mingle together... in one section are the wards where sick people lie and rarely get better... [mourning/grief over the dead are heard every couples of days... along with loud prayers by visiting pastors/churchmembers] ... and in another adjacent section is the family planning/child monitoring area... where I see unbelievably cute African babies being held/breastfed by their usually young, tired-looking mothers.

2. the research office of the social marketing NGO my research project is partnering with. (they provide us office space, administrative support, and human resources... i.e. the women who work for us). when I need to have a quiet, office environment to do data entry, look at data, organize my thoughts, and write email, I go here.

3. the comfort/shelter of the Kurian home, [as I might have mentioned before, they've already been an enormous source of emotional and spiritual to me....] After long, stressful, tiring days, I am always so glad to go back to a place that has become my African home away from home. if they are home, Mr. or Mrs. Kurian opens the door and waves as the taxi pulls up... one of them always makes me coffee or tea (always mixed with milk... ah.. milk tea) and often pulls up a chair... I tell them about problems/stresses I've had that day, and they give me support, encouragement, and advice. I've now become quite at home eating Southern Indian food every meal... and they are for sure my pseudo-"parents" here in Zambia. they and their daughter have already told me several times that they consider me a part of the kurian family.

4. the passenger side of the taxi as my "personal" taxi driver Joe drives me around (he's a trustworthy, nice, gentle young Zambian man who I call whenever I need to get somewhere quickly... and who's very happy for my consistent business.)

I wish I had my camera cable here so I could post pictures. But I can't for now...I must find some time to buy it somewhere or get it shipped here.
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Tonight I'm going to eat my first Chinese food since I've gotten here... meeting up for dinner with a girl who's working for IJM Zambia. (IJM = International Justice Mission, an organization of evangelical Christian lawyers dedicated to fighting domestic abuse, human/sex trafficking, and other human rights abuses in Southeast Asia, Africa, and some other places I think).

It'll be interesting to hang out with a fellow westerner/foreigner, since I spend most of my time with Indians and Zambians now.
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