Here Alex, I hope you're happy now.

A few months back, some friends who work for the US Embassy hosted a "Best and Worst of America" party in which we were all encouraged to dress up.  The hostesses themselves were super lame (sorry girls!) and just wore cheeky pro-gay marriage t-shirts.  There were, however, some fun tea-bagger costumes and I think I remember Sarah Palin making an appearance. 

Back in December when I was in the States, I had some post-Christmas money to burn at Sephora, the holy grail of makeup stores.  I bought some gold glitter gel eye liner, figuring I could use it at some point.  The Best and Worst of America party was my chance.  I decided to go as Ke$ha, that wonderful young woman who brought us American classics such as Tik Tok ("wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy, before I leave brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack") and Blah Blah Blah ("come put a little love in my glovebox"). 

If you're not familiar with Ke$ha's signature style of "crazy" - in which she tries overly-hard to convince you she's a Native American, drunk, high, hung-over, sleeping with a hobo, on meth, on coke, sleeping with your dad, etc. - let's just say it relies heavity on torn clothing, "morning after" hair, and glitter.  Lots of glitter.

This pretty much covers it all.

I'll admit it.  I kind of love Ke$ha.  Admittedly, she probably fell closer to the "worst" side of what America has to offer the world, but I can't really help myself.  She's not particularly talented, tries too hard, and her whole career is schtick, but she's a hell of a lot more fun than Paris Hilton or the Pussycat Dolls to dance to.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for mindless, well-done pop music.

In any case, here was my interpretation:

Apologies to Cher-Wen for having to be beside me in this picture

If you're curious about what I'm holding in my hand there, it's a bottle of Maker's Mark whiskey re-purposed to look like a bottle of Jack Daniels with a toothbrush taped to the side.  (Get it?  Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack.  GET IT?!)

Let's just say that....most people at the party were not dressed up like me.  I clearly had gone all out.  It was worth it though - getting to act like a complete asshole for the night was fun.  I get requests to bring this costume back almost every weekend. 

In all seriousness though, I could have written an A+ paper in college dissecting Ke$ha's resistance to the Male Gaze often portrayed in today's popular music videos by likewise objectifying men throughout the song:

 "I don't really care where you live at / just turn around boy / let me hit that / don't be a little bitch  with your chit-chat / just show me where your d*ck's at."

My favorite sentiment in the song, however, and perhaps the reason I love Ke$ha so much comes from this one line in Blah Blah Blah.  It echoes the exact feeling I've had so many Friday nights out on the dancefloor when men decide they really need to take the very moment you've finally let the week go to ask about where you're from and how you like DC:

"Music's up / listen hot stuff / I'm in love with this song / so just hush / baby shut up / heard enough."

A trip to Swahili-land - Part 1

After months of planning, looking up hotel reviews on painfully slow internet, working three jobs, waiting, thinking longingly about seafood, and approximately a hundred emails later, Alex came to visit me at the end of May.  He was a superstar (read: nutjob) and ran the Kigali half-marathon with me about 18 hours after stepping off the plane (a separate post on that later).  We took a mini-safari in eastern Rwanda and then spent a day roaming the hills of the north where I work.  And then, we set off for Zanzibar. 

Zanzibar.  A name filled with mystery and exoticism, just waiting to be culturally appropriated by white tourists from Europe and the States.  Representing the "zan" in Tanzania, Zanzibar island sits off the northern coast of mainland Tanganika (the "tan" in Tanzania).  Best known historically for its Swahili culture - a mix of African and Arabic traditions - Zanzibar has been used for many hundreds of years as a trading hub between the two worlds.  In the 1600's, the Sultan of Oman moved the capital of the empire to Zanzibar and started up a spice trade, importing plants and starting up plantations.  To this day, spices are Zanzibar's largest export.

Coconut trees on a spice farm tour

"Lipstick tree" seed pod

The juice is used as a food and lip dye.

On our requisite tourist activity Spice Tour, our guides must have shown us 25 different spices trees and fruits - cinnamon, vanilla, coffee, starfruit, cocoa, nutmeg, coconut, cloves.

Fresh mace which encases the nutmeg

 We flew from Kigali (at 3am, with a lovely early-morning layover in Nairobi) into Stone Town, the "capital" of Zanzibar and its traditional hub of trading activity.  I was immediately reminded of Venice, Italy (also a historical trade hub and cultural mixing ground), where I had visited with my mother almost exactly a year before.  Stone was by far the most common building material and whole place just had a feeling of "old".  We checked into our hotel and were immediately upgraded to their executive suite.  Sweet! At that moment, I was really glad I'd decided to book the overnight flight from Kigali, because we must have been the first couple to check in that day.

Traditional Swahili style

Open-air shower

View from our room onto the Indian Ocean

The hotel was absolutely wonderful - full of old Arabic and African items (my favorite was an old Swahili swinging crib made of dark wood) and boasted an interior open-air courtyard with pool.  We never made it into the pool, but it was nice to look at.

By far my favorite aspect of our time in Stone Town (besides the fact that people loved calling Alex "rasta man" when in his button-down shirts, he was obviously about as far from rasta as you can get) was the architecture.  Stone Town is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites (primarily for its "outstanding material manifestation of cultural fusion and harmonization"), but I was surprised at how little real preservation has gone on.  I suppose you could argue that this simply reflects the fact that Stone Town is not a relic, but a still-living, breathing, working town.  Still, I couldn't help but wonder about what the state of it will be like in 50 or 100 years. 

It was clear that in its heyday of spice and slave trading, sultan-ism, and cultural fusion-ism, Stone Town was a wonderfully fantastic site.  Wealthy men owned entire multi-story buildings and were responsible for their upkeep.  I can't tell you how many times, on our trip, I'd look into what clearly used to be a breathtaking building, only to see ruin and disrepair inside.  I suppose when you no longer have a slave trade to support massive single family dwellings and those buildings get split up between multiple families, no one is charged with keeping the place up as a whole.  I'm not sure how you could manage to restore Stone Town to it's former glory without creating Arabic Disney world and kicking out all the locals in order to revamp their houses into hotels for foreigners.

Zanz is 95% Muslim - I kept my legs and shoulders covered in Stone Town

Perhaps the most well-known architectural hallmark of Stone Town is its doors. Traditionally a sign of wealth, many of the most impressive doors have been sold to collectors around the world.  I can understand why - they're absolutely gorgeous.  I'm a sucker for Arabic and Islamic artistic influence - somehow simple and intricate at the same time.

Much of our time in Stone Town was spent wandering around, taking pictures, enjoying fresh juice smoothies, exploring down alleyways, and poking our heads into touristy shops filled with much of the same schlock you'll find anywhere in East Africa.  A particular highlight was Forodhani Gardens at night - an open air seafood market filled to the brim with fisherman and their fresh catch of the day.  That was such an amazing experience it deserves a post of its own.  So for now, I'll leave you with the rest of the best of Stone Town.

Inside the sultan's wife's private bath

I decided I didn't need a shower.

No explanation needed.  One of my faves.

On the street

And finally, just because he will kill me, I would like to present Alex in his best spice formal-wear.

Corporate spice trading-ready.

Stay tuned for posts on the seafood market at Forodhani gardens, the rest of our trip, and the half marathon!

Photo of the Week

I have been SO bad with keeping up with thisaintnosafari I am ASHAMED!  I have so much to write about, and so much to do for work, and only EIGHT weeks to get it all in!  By hook or by crook (what does that even mean?), I will write here.  Probably tomorrow.  Or Thursday.  Until then, here's a picture I took from our hotel room in a recent trip to Zanzibar.

Shout-out of the Week: Angels Among Us

This week's Shout-out goes to my good friend Brad Snyder whose protracted journey to accompany Akaliza - a Rwandan orphan with a congenital heart defect - to the United States for surgery, was covered by the Chicago Tribune recently.  Brad is one of the most genuine and thoughtful people I've ever met and his ability to care about the plight of those less fortunate is amazing to watch.  Brad is the kind of person who gives and gives, even when he doesn't have much left over for himself, as you'll read in the article that covers December's harrowing journey.

Too long.

It's been seven weeks since I last updated This Aint No Safari.  In that time, my mom and aunt came to visit, I got slammed at work, and then started the long process of job searching.  I've been busy, that's for sure.  But with fewer than four months left in Rwanda before I head back to whatever awaits me in the States, I've got to get some ideas and memories down here.  So stay tuned for updates real soon!

Here's something to get us started.

Daisies with Virunga Mountains

Almost time.

Christmas was a toned-down affair at our house this year, at least in terms of gift giving.  Drinking, eating, and general revelry was a different thing altogether.  As my final gift, my mother gave me an amaryllis bulb with a note which said her big present to me would be her visit in March.  The note also said it would take 8 - 9 weeks for the bulb to bloom, the same amount of time until she'd arrive in Rwanda.  Clearly, I'm a little too excited about her visit, because it bloomed early!  Mom and her sister, my Aunt Joan, arrive in exactly two weeks.  I can't wait; it's going to be so much fun!

Almost six years ago, in 2005 when I landed in Kigali for the first time, I would have never, ever guessed that I'd keep coming back to this wonderful country, and that one day I'd get to show it to the people I love.

The much-famed Butaro Hospital.

In writing about work, I have often mentioned Butaro Hospital, Burera's district hospital which, until about a month ago, had been under construction.  The hospital, built by Partners in Health and designed by MASS Design Group , is big news in Rwanda.  It's the first hospital in the country (and probably in the entire region) designed from the ground up with the quality of patient care and the patient's experience in mind.  It was inaugurated by President Paul Kagame on January 24th, and I was lucky enough to get to be there (I've been working with the pharmacy during their transition from the old site to the new, shiny location).  A post specifically on the inauguration event will follow.

I'll let the professionals who have written news items give the back story and a lot of the details.  The South African Times put out an in-depth and well-written article about the hospital.  I really suggest you read it.  The New Times in Rwanda wrote a more brief article concerning the recent inauguration.  Partners in Health also has a fantastic write up as well as a slideshow with some truly stunning photos that I did not have the talent or the access to present to you myself.

If you don't have the time or the inclination to read any of the above articles (although you really should find the time), I will at least set the stage by saying that before Butaro Hospital, the district of Burera did not have a hospital nor a single doctor for its more than 400,000 residents, some of the poorest in an already poor country.  When Peter Drobac, the country director for Partners in Health Rwanda, was quoted in the South African Times article as saying "Butaro is an allegory for the rebirth of Rwanda itself", I don't feel like he's exaggerating.  Built on a former military base with some of the most incredible views in the district, Butaro really might turn out to be "Rwanda's Medical Miracle".

(As always, you can click on the pictures for larger versions)

 

This is the ambulance entrance, allowing emergency vehicles to pull directly up to the emergency room and operating theatres.  There are two operation rooms in the hospital.

You can immediately see that this hospital, while located in one of the most remote areas of the country, has a modern and aesthetic design.  The hospital was constructed entirely by hand using local labor and local materials (that's volcanic rock you see).  Over three thousand jobs were created for local citizens during its construction, giving people not only a source of income, but skills to gain employment in the future as well.

Creating a visually appealing and calm space was of paramount importance to the designers.  This tree, obviously original to the site, was saved by meticulously digging around its root system.  The site was originally at the level of the ground immediately around the tree - the rest was dug out.

Each ward is color-coded to facilitate patient flow and the ability for illiterate patients and family members to find their way around the hospital.  It's done in America all the time, but this kind of purposefulness in design, as it relates to the patient's experience, is unheard of in Rwanda.  Note that the Women's Ward is coded in orange...

...and also painted orange in the ward itself.  The beds you see, although simple by western standards, have the ability to elevate the patient's head and also have storage space built in, to help keep the ward more organized. 

It might surprise you to find out that hospitals and health centers rarely provide mosquito nets for patients to sleep under.  Although Burera is, in general, too cold to worry much about mosquitos, I think any self-respecting health institution should provide them just in case, as well as set the standard for practices we expect local people to follow.  It might also surprise to you know that the presence of clean sheets, blankets, and pillows, is also a bit of an anomaly.  Hospitals and health centers rarely have the money to provide complete bedding for patients (or the capacity to wash bedding once its used).  Some hospitals have even been known to RENT bedding during national assessments, and then return the bedding after the inspectors have left. 

It should also be mentioned that each bed has its own connection for oxygen, and the hospital has its own oxygen concentrator, so it doesn't have to transport oxygen tanks from Kigali.

While we're inside a ward, let's see what else is there.

These big ass fans are conveniently made by the company Big Ass Fans.  They spin at low velocities, but move large amounts of air to facilitate air transfer within the ward.  Not only in Africa, but all across the world, the issue of patients getting sick from air contaminated by other patients is a serious issue.  Tuberculosis and other air-borne diseases are present in Rwanda, and it's important to make sure that stale, contaminated air doesn't sit around, but rather flows back out of the ward.

Patients, who normally wear their own clothes during hospital stays, are given clean gowns/scrubs to wear at Butaro.  This makes it easier to figure out who is a patient, and keeps the wards smelling fresher and looking more professional.

Personally, my favorite ward feature are these awesome med carts, which I can say with confidence are likely the only ones existing in Rwanda outside of Kigali's private hospital, King Faisal.  I've gotten to design how these will be used (the small drawers you see on the front correspond to a patient bed) and they're an integral part of the patient medicine distribution and recording system we're putting into place.  These help us limit the number and quantity of drugs present in the wards to only those which are needed by the inpatients currently admitted.  In the hospital's old location, the internal medicine ward kept over 150 different drugs stocked on the ward at all times.  Now, we've limited that number to about 20 emergency injectables, in addition to the limited number of pills needed for the patients' regular prescriptions mentioned before.

 

Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health and one of my personal heroes, is known for liking ponds.  There are four different ones located throughout the hospital.

This general gathering area (veranda?) has a fantastic view, as does the patio outside of the laboring women's ward.  Perhaps I'll come here several days before my first due date just to wander around, look at Rwanda's beautiful scenery, and attempt to get the kid to drop.

This is a highly boring photo, but show Butaro's own personal cell phone tower.  We get impeccable cell phone service, as well as decently fast wireless internet thanks to the hospital's tower.  The hospital itself is wireless throughout, and each service has their own laptop, another integral part of the medicine organization and recording system we're putting into place.

I'll close with a picture of my favorite part of the whole hospital. 

It might seem a bit excessive to spend extra money building a children's play area, especially when there are so many other places you could put the cash.  However, when you consider the play rooms in hospitals in the States, full to the brim with books, toys, PlayStations and the like, it seems ludicrous that you'd NOT put in a place for fun and laughter for children when designing a hospital with the patient experience in mind. 

That's the thing that I love about getting to work at Butaro hospital.  It's not an example of what every hospital in Rwanda or the East African region will be, but rather what can and should be possible.

Finally, one of my favorite quotes from Paul Farmer himself:

"It's embarrassing that piddly little projects like ours should serve as exemplars. It's only because other people haven't been doing their jobs."

Help Publicize Global Health Corps' Application Deadline

Last year, on a Sunday night when I should have been lesson planning for my 120 eighth graders, I poked around on the Clinton Foundation website. I was burnt out on teaching and longed to do something related to health again. What I found was the Global Health Corps. I also found that the deadline for submission had already passed, been extended to the next Friday, and spent the next week furiously writing mission statements and begging for quick recommendations.A few months later, I was headed to Rwanda. I love my job.

The Global Health Corps seeks young people under the age of 30 (and with preferably a few years work experience behind them) to serve for one year in challenging and rewarding health-related development fellowships across East Africa and in the United States. This year, we have expanded to 70 positions, some of which are based in the First Lady of Rwanda's office! We work with large organizations (like the Clinton Foundation) to smaller, more grassroots one like Friends Women's Association in Burundi.

You can see a video about GHC here (featuring then-fellow, now my supervisor, Soline), or check out our incredible board of advisors here.

If you know anyone who might be interested, or anyone who KNOWS anyone who might be interested, please pass along the Global Health Corps webiste (www.ghcorps.org), and to contact me if they'd like more information.

Email: ali.tharrington@gmail.com
Skype: ali.tharrington

Shout-out of the Week

You surely recognize the name Barbara Bush from her family's prominent position in national politics over the past twenty five years.  She is one of the co-founders of my fellowship, Global Health Corps, and last week, she did something very brave.  She came out (no pun intended, or maybe it is) in support of gay marriage. 

This week's Shout-Out is for Barbara, because she has the guts to stand up for, in front of the entire nation and the world, what she believes in.  Whether it's equal access to healthcare for everyone, or equal access to making a lifetime commitment to the person you love, Barbara follows her heart.  Talk about letting your conscience be your guide.  To top it all off, she's incredibly down to earth, warm, and funny.  Love you Babs!

BUNNIES!

I'll let these videos speak for themselves.  Don't click unless you can handle the cute.



And just in case you didn't get enough.