IMPORTANT POST TO BE READ!!!!!
Many of you have been complaining that I was not answering back to their emails.
I AM INNOCENT! The only provider I can usually open is laposte and seems that it is not the best one...so I have missed a lot of emails.
On my side I was also quite upset and thought that the rest of the world had forgotten me!
Well now that things are clearer follow these advices:
- Send email on laposte + gmail
- If you don't get any answer within 2 months send a comment to the blog
Keep in touch! Think of you and miss you...when are you people coming up here????
Cheers :-)
31 marzo 2007
After the BBQ...KARAOKE
Favourite after dinner in Myanmar is the KARAOKE. You can not throw a party without organizing one and the best restaurants will offer you the possibility to Karaoke at anytime...even though it can sometimes be so loud that there will be no way to speek to your neighbourg anymore.
Our Project coordinator definitely enjoy it.
And I did as well!
HAART Workshop
Today we had a great workshop in collaboration with AZG. Afterwards we organized a BBQ in our residence.
But what is this ????????????????????????
Never mind...I will eat it anyway!
On the road back from Moegaung
To relax from all the bumps of the road a short stop to a Pagoda. As you know you have to walk bare foot...and this pagoda is not really paved. So Imagine walking in a forest bare foot! You really have to deserve your Buddha and this is THE WAY!
Moegaung road on 4 wheels
Yesterday I was in Moegaung with Yangon team for a cross-visit in order to organize the center for HAART program...so we needed to go there with the BIG car...4 wheels! When you travel in the back you are sure to feel each single bumos from the road and eat as much dust as you can...but it was fun!
24 marzo 2007
The dream Team
We are proud to annouce that we spent the past two hours updating this blog for all of you...so to prevent us from becoming insane up here in Kachin, put comments!!!! Thank you in advance!!!
Cheers :-)
Cheers :-)
Kachin side effects...
This is what happens when you stay more than 6 weeks on a row in Kachin...
Before
...and After
And no one is spared...
Saturday night after dinner...
I think we are ready to go back to Yangon very very sooon!!!!
Before
...and After
And no one is spared...
Saturday night after dinner...
I think we are ready to go back to Yangon very very sooon!!!!
Kachin highway...
I few days ago I told you about my trips Myitkyina-Moegaung...here is our highway! When the speed reaches the vertiginous 60Km/h you can do it in 1h30!
WONDERFUL WOMEN in MY CIRCLE
Just saw this on my gmail account...date March the 8th, Women's International day!
From a very good friend to all my friends around the world ;-)
When I was little, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend, and
then I started to become a woman.
And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up, God would
show you the best in many friends.
One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man.
Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom.
Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be.
One friend will say, "Let's cry together,"
Another , "Let's fight together,"
Another, "Let's walk away together."
One friend will meet your spiritual need,
Another your shoe fetish,
Another your love for movies,
Another will be with you in your season of confusion,
Another will be your clarifier,
Another the wind beneath your wings.
But whatever their assignment in your life,
On whatever the occasion,
On whatever the day,
Or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair
pulled back,
Or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself ...
Those are your best friends.
It may all be wrapped up in one woman,
But for many, it's wrapped up in several...
Several from elementary school,
One from 7th grade,
One from high school,
Several from the college years,
A couple from old jobs,
On some days your mother,
On some days your neighbor,
On others, your sisters, or sister-in-laws, nieces, or aunts
And on some days, your daughters.
From a very good friend to all my friends around the world ;-)
When I was little, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend, and
then I started to become a woman.
And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up, God would
show you the best in many friends.
One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man.
Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom.
Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be.
One friend will say, "Let's cry together,"
Another , "Let's fight together,"
Another, "Let's walk away together."
One friend will meet your spiritual need,
Another your shoe fetish,
Another your love for movies,
Another will be with you in your season of confusion,
Another will be your clarifier,
Another the wind beneath your wings.
But whatever their assignment in your life,
On whatever the occasion,
On whatever the day,
Or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair
pulled back,
Or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself ...
Those are your best friends.
It may all be wrapped up in one woman,
But for many, it's wrapped up in several...
Several from elementary school,
One from 7th grade,
One from high school,
Several from the college years,
A couple from old jobs,
On some days your mother,
On some days your neighbor,
On others, your sisters, or sister-in-laws, nieces, or aunts
And on some days, your daughters.
20 marzo 2007
Letters
It’s the right time to write! My parents will join me in Cambodia so send your letters, or whatever else you would like to send me, at my personal address in Paris before April the 11th and they will get all the way up here! Looking forward reciving news, pictures, books, articles and more!
What about my housemate?
Some of you asked me to tell a bit more about the person I am living with…If you were tired of myself, well I am proud to tell you that I found a housemate which is pretty much like me. So not one Princess Sissi but two in Kachin! We get along very well, and this is a great chance as we spend most of our time together, not only at work, but also at home, for tennis classes or during the WEs, sharing Kachin food or Chinese dumplings. She is a very sporty girl, she has been French fencing champion!!!! Not any girl eh! I almost met her as she was in the fencing Club where I wanted to start fencing in Paris a few years ago…but then I never did due to lack of time.
We make also a very good tandem in the kitchen…creative and resource full with the products that are locally available. What else, she is funny; we laugh frequently and like to watch the same kind of movies (which is also good as we have only one TV of course!)
Younger than me, she updates me on music and technologies (oui Toto j’ai toujours pas rattrapé le train technologique, mais je m’y rapproche…). But I am also proud to share my music…thank you Menina for your teaching in the NL, and don’t give up I still have a lot to learn!
Talking about music there is a Myanmar rock group which needs to be known, it’s called “Iron Cross”. Maybe someone can find it on You Tube…
Nevertheless we will be happy to take a break from each other in April. While I will be in Cambodia, she will be in Thailand. But after our holidays we are planning a few evenings out in Yangon (especially last Friday British Club’s evening) to party before coming back in Kachin.
Too bad she will leave in July :-( …we will meet somewhere else around the world!
We make also a very good tandem in the kitchen…creative and resource full with the products that are locally available. What else, she is funny; we laugh frequently and like to watch the same kind of movies (which is also good as we have only one TV of course!)
Younger than me, she updates me on music and technologies (oui Toto j’ai toujours pas rattrapé le train technologique, mais je m’y rapproche…). But I am also proud to share my music…thank you Menina for your teaching in the NL, and don’t give up I still have a lot to learn!
Talking about music there is a Myanmar rock group which needs to be known, it’s called “Iron Cross”. Maybe someone can find it on You Tube…
Nevertheless we will be happy to take a break from each other in April. While I will be in Cambodia, she will be in Thailand. But after our holidays we are planning a few evenings out in Yangon (especially last Friday British Club’s evening) to party before coming back in Kachin.
Too bad she will leave in July :-( …we will meet somewhere else around the world!
Trainings Trainings
A short post to thank my previous supervisors, and especially my PhD supervisor who is a constant source of inspiration for my trainings! Grazie Cecco!
A usual working week in Kachin
Since February the 11th that I am back here in Kachin things are getting well organizing work wise. My main objective is to train the staff in order to start HAART = highly active antiretroviral therapy, treatment for HIV. Our scope is to give access to HAART in a non-discriminative way, thus targeting in Kachin drug user’s population. As a matter of fact drug users have usually poor access to HAART all around the world because of misperception of the health care givers. DUs are thought to be a difficult population to treat because of their “chaotic lives” and poor adherence due to drug use. However it has been shown that when adequately supported in a good environment, they can achieve same levels of adherence and same HAART-induced responses as non-DUs. WHO stated as far as in 2004 that HAART should be accessed in a non-discriminative way and especially IDUs should not be an exclusion criteria. Now it’s “time to deliver”, as it has been said in the Toronto AIDS conference last August.
Our team is already specialized in DUs’ care. Our clinic are not usual clinics but DIC = drop-in centers. The patient or client come in when he/she likes to get what he needs: general health care, voluntary counseling and testing, support group, relax and TV or painting sessions.
I am now giving several theoretical trainings on HAART and AZG (dutch branch of MSF = Médecins sans Frontières) will take care of the on-job trainings of our doctors and nurses. AZG has already a large program of HAART in Myanlar, 6000 persons on treatment, since 4 years.
So my usual schedule is: two visits per week to Moegaung, one in Ubyit and the rest of the time I am working in our head office in Myitkyina. Moegaung is about é hours away from where I live, so I leave early in the morning, spend the day there and come back in the evening. 4 hours of car (hopefully with a car driver) on one of the “highways” of Kachin…a large 1 and half road with a “few” holes. Really not bad! I will post a picture as soon as I will be in Yangon, you will see. One hour or so of training and discussion; then a bit of management with the project officer in charge of the DIC or with the senior nurse, and a check at the data collection. Whenever possible I spend a couple of hours in the clinic to check the practices and see what we can improve in clinical care. Once a month TB control with the TB nurse…Tuberculosis is of course a big problem which is increasing with HIV epidemic.
In Myitkyina I have to sort out protocols and procurement/forecast of the HAART drugs with the help of our Program Advisor, Solene, and our team in Yangon. So these days are usually full of computer work and emails…that’s why I don’t write to often on the blog; when I am back home I usually don’t want to turn the computer on again!
I am training not only doctors and nurses but also health educators which are on the first line of care as they are the closest persons to our target population.
WEs are not spared. On Saturday I organize a training with the three teams (Ubyit, Moegaung and Myitkyina, about 30 people overall)….Article discussions by the doctors and seminar on HAART. We have now a new psychiatrist which for sure will help a lot in the care taking of DUs. Looking forward starting the first patient on HAART…
Our team is already specialized in DUs’ care. Our clinic are not usual clinics but DIC = drop-in centers. The patient or client come in when he/she likes to get what he needs: general health care, voluntary counseling and testing, support group, relax and TV or painting sessions.
I am now giving several theoretical trainings on HAART and AZG (dutch branch of MSF = Médecins sans Frontières) will take care of the on-job trainings of our doctors and nurses. AZG has already a large program of HAART in Myanlar, 6000 persons on treatment, since 4 years.
So my usual schedule is: two visits per week to Moegaung, one in Ubyit and the rest of the time I am working in our head office in Myitkyina. Moegaung is about é hours away from where I live, so I leave early in the morning, spend the day there and come back in the evening. 4 hours of car (hopefully with a car driver) on one of the “highways” of Kachin…a large 1 and half road with a “few” holes. Really not bad! I will post a picture as soon as I will be in Yangon, you will see. One hour or so of training and discussion; then a bit of management with the project officer in charge of the DIC or with the senior nurse, and a check at the data collection. Whenever possible I spend a couple of hours in the clinic to check the practices and see what we can improve in clinical care. Once a month TB control with the TB nurse…Tuberculosis is of course a big problem which is increasing with HIV epidemic.
In Myitkyina I have to sort out protocols and procurement/forecast of the HAART drugs with the help of our Program Advisor, Solene, and our team in Yangon. So these days are usually full of computer work and emails…that’s why I don’t write to often on the blog; when I am back home I usually don’t want to turn the computer on again!
I am training not only doctors and nurses but also health educators which are on the first line of care as they are the closest persons to our target population.
WEs are not spared. On Saturday I organize a training with the three teams (Ubyit, Moegaung and Myitkyina, about 30 people overall)….Article discussions by the doctors and seminar on HAART. We have now a new psychiatrist which for sure will help a lot in the care taking of DUs. Looking forward starting the first patient on HAART…
03 marzo 2007
A usual saturday in Myitkyina
Many of you have asked to tell about how is everyday life up here. It is true that until now I had little time to really experience “everyday” life in Myitkyina…Workshop at the beach (no it was not Club Med ;-), then visit from the Headquarters, Workshop in Mandalay for team builduing for the Kachin team…Well I have been traveling quite a bit and been busy with rather unusual occupations for the mission.
So finally this WE is the one…a USUAL WE in Myitkyina. Ok you will probably find it not very exciting and you will probably be right…
Wake up around 7 or 8am…unfortunately our housekeeper comes around to change the ice in the icebox (no we don’t have a fridge as we don’t have 24h electricity….) and does the dishes also during the WE (which is extremely kind of her)…however my room is just next to the kitchen. Shouldn’t complain as I have a housekeeper, but well it is hard to be awakened so early on a Saturday, especially when you have spent the previous WE in a 19 hours Chinese train to Mandalay…
But let’s go back to my usual WE. I can not sleep anymore after 8am, as once the housekeeper is gone the church in front of our house opens its doors…and the songs start (in Kachin there are a lot of Christian). The only thing left to do is to wake up and to prepare breakfast. Mind it here, I have been eating so much lately that I have to …be on a diet! So no bread (which is homemade, we find flour here in the North because of the proximity of India) this morning only FRUITS! And one coffee…I am still Italian afterall.
A quick look at the telephone and you know that it is still out of order…so I jump on my bike and go to the office to call a travel agency in Yangon for my April break. We have a few days off for the so called Water festival = Burmese New Year. What happens then? People throwing water to you in the street…so usually all the expats do one thing…leave the country!!!!! I have finally decided to go to Cambodia, Angkor temples…hope to find a good deal. Who is interested to join me I will be there 13-22 April! As I am at the office I go through the emails of the few couple of days. I didn’t have time to check my working email as I have spent quite some time in the field, so I have a few things to get done for our new challenge…start antiretroviral therapy in Kachin! If everything goes according to the plans the first patient who will receive anti-HIV treatment should start his treatment May 15th! Until then a lot to do and mainly trying to update doctors, nurses and counselors…not to talk about logistics.
So I finally get a few emails through to Yangon, and get out of the office to go straight to my sport place…tennis court! Yeahp, I had to change sport but it’s fun and makes you run a bit. But definitely 11h30 it’s too late for a tennis lesson…it’s already getting quite hot up here! After receiving one ball in the eye (not big damage, do not worry)…I joing my colleague for lunch at our usual Sunday’s place…Chinese dumplings and grapefruit juice!
Back home for a little coffee and a hot shower (today we are lucky as the sun was shining…so hot water thanks to the solar panels! I finally get back to my bed for a nice nap…but it was written that today I shouldn’t sleep! First the phone rings…great we have the line back again…10 min later our guard appears with a man asking for “pocket” money as he repaired the phone line…ok…then 10 min later the phone rings again! Just a test from the guard to make sure that the phone DOES FUNCTION!
Once again I just get up and get dressed to go to the market. Colorful place, very good for your ego as all the women tell you that you are beautiful (the men would not dare…it is not very usual to flirt in the streets around here…) Fruits, vegetables…and butter. Ok let’s stop the diet for tonight; we will make a strawberry cake ;-) Some shopping for longyis and a stop at the tailor to have some tailor-made dresses…
Back home just on time to start preparing our dinner…Pate brisee for the strawberry cake, and some zucchini marinate and other veggies…just to compensate for the cake! Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, good everything is there.
Some international news from TV5 monde thanks to our satellite and eventually a DVD to finish the evening…when it’s not a DVD can be a book or a few words for my family and friends (now that the phone line is repaired I can finally get back to internet…but no more than one or two messages at a time as it takes me one hour just for these two messages…) Bedtime…10pm?!?! Yeahp!
That’s it… it was a usual saturday in Myitkyina.
Next stories coming soon…a usual weekday in Kachin and a usual day in Yangon (pretty different I can tell you…) and also…what you can find in your dish at lunch time (and subsequently why I have to go on a diet!)
Cheers to all!
So finally this WE is the one…a USUAL WE in Myitkyina. Ok you will probably find it not very exciting and you will probably be right…
Wake up around 7 or 8am…unfortunately our housekeeper comes around to change the ice in the icebox (no we don’t have a fridge as we don’t have 24h electricity….) and does the dishes also during the WE (which is extremely kind of her)…however my room is just next to the kitchen. Shouldn’t complain as I have a housekeeper, but well it is hard to be awakened so early on a Saturday, especially when you have spent the previous WE in a 19 hours Chinese train to Mandalay…
But let’s go back to my usual WE. I can not sleep anymore after 8am, as once the housekeeper is gone the church in front of our house opens its doors…and the songs start (in Kachin there are a lot of Christian). The only thing left to do is to wake up and to prepare breakfast. Mind it here, I have been eating so much lately that I have to …be on a diet! So no bread (which is homemade, we find flour here in the North because of the proximity of India) this morning only FRUITS! And one coffee…I am still Italian afterall.
A quick look at the telephone and you know that it is still out of order…so I jump on my bike and go to the office to call a travel agency in Yangon for my April break. We have a few days off for the so called Water festival = Burmese New Year. What happens then? People throwing water to you in the street…so usually all the expats do one thing…leave the country!!!!! I have finally decided to go to Cambodia, Angkor temples…hope to find a good deal. Who is interested to join me I will be there 13-22 April! As I am at the office I go through the emails of the few couple of days. I didn’t have time to check my working email as I have spent quite some time in the field, so I have a few things to get done for our new challenge…start antiretroviral therapy in Kachin! If everything goes according to the plans the first patient who will receive anti-HIV treatment should start his treatment May 15th! Until then a lot to do and mainly trying to update doctors, nurses and counselors…not to talk about logistics.
So I finally get a few emails through to Yangon, and get out of the office to go straight to my sport place…tennis court! Yeahp, I had to change sport but it’s fun and makes you run a bit. But definitely 11h30 it’s too late for a tennis lesson…it’s already getting quite hot up here! After receiving one ball in the eye (not big damage, do not worry)…I joing my colleague for lunch at our usual Sunday’s place…Chinese dumplings and grapefruit juice!
Back home for a little coffee and a hot shower (today we are lucky as the sun was shining…so hot water thanks to the solar panels! I finally get back to my bed for a nice nap…but it was written that today I shouldn’t sleep! First the phone rings…great we have the line back again…10 min later our guard appears with a man asking for “pocket” money as he repaired the phone line…ok…then 10 min later the phone rings again! Just a test from the guard to make sure that the phone DOES FUNCTION!
Once again I just get up and get dressed to go to the market. Colorful place, very good for your ego as all the women tell you that you are beautiful (the men would not dare…it is not very usual to flirt in the streets around here…) Fruits, vegetables…and butter. Ok let’s stop the diet for tonight; we will make a strawberry cake ;-) Some shopping for longyis and a stop at the tailor to have some tailor-made dresses…
Back home just on time to start preparing our dinner…Pate brisee for the strawberry cake, and some zucchini marinate and other veggies…just to compensate for the cake! Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, good everything is there.
Some international news from TV5 monde thanks to our satellite and eventually a DVD to finish the evening…when it’s not a DVD can be a book or a few words for my family and friends (now that the phone line is repaired I can finally get back to internet…but no more than one or two messages at a time as it takes me one hour just for these two messages…) Bedtime…10pm?!?! Yeahp!
That’s it… it was a usual saturday in Myitkyina.
Next stories coming soon…a usual weekday in Kachin and a usual day in Yangon (pretty different I can tell you…) and also…what you can find in your dish at lunch time (and subsequently why I have to go on a diet!)
Cheers to all!
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